Live Music Thursdays

Last Thursday we featured JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound performing their song "Everything Will Be Fine" in WBEZ's Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio.

Chicago band JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound has been making its mark around the world lately. Eight Forty-Eight spoke with band members about their sound and how soul and other forms of music inspire them.

Cut Copy's electronic pop music is at the top of the charts in its home country of Australia. They're not quite that well known in the U.S., but they do play their share of large headlining gigs. This summer the group had one of the top billings at Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival.

Chicago is a city that's always been welcoming to instrumental rock bands. Following in Chicago's tradition of vocal-free bands like Tortoise and Pelican, CAVE carry the non-jamband torch proudly. The quintent performed a few songs recently for Eight Forty-Eight.

Two weeks ago we brought you Handsome Furs' performance of "Bury Me Standing" from their Sound Opinions session. This week Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry are back in our Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio performing "Memories of the Future."

Jim DeRogatis isn't just WBEZ's music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions; he's also the drummer for punk rockers Vortis. For those who like their music loud, fast and in their face then, Vortis could be the ticket.

Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry must really like spending time together. Not only are the pair musical partners in Handsome Furs, they're also a married couple. Now that Boeckner's main gig with Canadian indie rockers Wolf Parade is on hiatus the couple is spending a lot of time together.

Last week we brought you Iron and Wine's intense version of "Woman King" from their Sound Opinions session. After having videos of each song from their session posted online for a week, it looks like their performance of "Tree By The River" is actually the people's favorite.

Iron and Wine has come a long way since 2002. Originally the bedroom-folk project of film professor Sam Beam, the band has grown into a major-label powerhouse.

Though summer technically extends a few more weeks, Labor Day is for most the end of the season. In Chicago it means the beginning of our long descent into winter.

Our concert with Shara Worden's project My Brightest Diamond was two weeks ago, but we're still blown away by her performance. This week we present a different side of her aesthetic with "The Ice and the Storm" from 2008's A Thousand Shark’s Teeth.

Last week WBEZ hosted the August installment of Goose Island and The Empty Bottle's music.friendly.dancing concert series in our Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio: an intimate show from My Brightest Diamond.

Damon and Naomi, formerly of Galaxie 500, showed up for a low-key, relaxing performance at WBEZ...the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Most of the office had checked out, so the laidback tone of the duo's song "A Second Life" (off of the 2005 album, The Earth is Blue) seemed fitting.

Last summer Bethany Cosentino's surf pop band Best Coast broke through the indie rock glassceiling and onto the Billboard charts. The infectious tunes on their debut full-length Crazy For You provided a perfect soundtrack for sunny summer days.

Today we dust off a great video from our vaults of The Swell Season performing at Lincoln Hall last summer. The group consisting of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová played their Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly" after a screening of their film Once.