Talent Scouting at Lollapalooza

Every April, Lollapalooza rolls out its festival lineup on a glorious wave of breathless hype, sending thousands of music aficionados flocking to Chicago to dance, sing, and drink booze at high noon.  While the headlining groups may pack crowds and eclipse media attention, the festival also acts as a critical springboard for emerging artists, creating an opportunity for festival-goers to catch early incarnations of what may prove to be next year’s headlining attractions.  As perhaps the most infamous Lollapalooza graduate, Lady Gaga rose from the ashes of her 2007 performance only to command the Parkways Foundation main stage with pyrotechnics, giant angler fish, and fully fledged theatrical gusto a mere three years later. Comebacks aside, Lollapalooza has granted many side-stage performers a foothold in the nation’s musical psyche—singer Ke$a’s 2009 stint on the BMI stage helped launch her glitzy, gutterpunk-pop into the top 40 charts, while folk troubadour Elvis Perkins amassed a large following after his 2006 performance. Drawing on this time honored tradition of break-out stardom, Eleven caught up with three of Lollapalooza 2010’s up-and-coming performers to wax poetic on fame and fortune.

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This entry was written by Annie Rose Fondaw, posted on September 14, 2010 at 11:37 am, filed under New Music and tagged , , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Q+A: Local Natives

An eclectic combination of driving beats and delicate harmonies, Local Native’s album Gorilla Manor has been in high rotation since it’s release last month.  We spoke to the band about playing gigs worldwide and crafting a unique, debut album.

How is your tour going?  What’s it like playing at big festivals like SXSW?

We’re just finishing up our UK tour, which is actually our first headlining tour, so we’re pretty excited.  When we get back to the states, we’ll be going back to SXSW, which was a great experience for us last year.  The Chapel performance we did there ended up being one of our favorite shows that we’ve ever done.

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This entry was written by Annie Rose Fondaw, posted on March 16, 2010 at 9:35 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Q+A: Volcano Choir

Volcano Choir

Photo by Cameron Wittig

Volcano Choir, the union of instrumental rock group Collections of Colonies of Bees and indie-folk luminary Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), started simply from an electronic tape trading project.  But the band’s sound is far from plain -layers of light electronic tones, guitar, and percussion mixed with the intimate resonance of Vernon’s voice make Volcano Choir’s debut album, Unmap, a sonic masterpiece.  Eleven spoke with guitarist Chris Rosenau about the collaborative efforts in the creation of Unmap and how to come up with a good, fitting band name.

Volcano Choir – Island, IS

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This entry was written by Annie Rose Fondaw, posted on December 2, 2009 at 7:20 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged , , , , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.