Nyarlathotep wrote:
No problem! My relentless hedonism can at least help somebody out :P
Relentless Records is your best bet for CDs/vinyl/cassettes/etc. It's right at North and Damen and is pretty big... they have a pretty good metal selection though it's not their main focus. You can also take the train up to the California stop (two stops towards O'Hare, ~5 minutes, or about a mile walking) and stop at Bucket o' Blood (and make a side trip to next-door Revolution Brewing) - that's a good place though it's super tiny. I scored a copy of Fatal Portrait there in pretty good condition.
The Pelican/Life&Times/Pinebender show in chicago was insanely good last night. Thanks so much for the Flat Iron suggestion. That place is a no brainer. I put $10 in the jukebox and listened to metal/stoner/sludge/noise/classic rock for a couple hours prior to the show, than went back after the show. I thought The Subtaranean was really fucking cool. And the sound was good. The whole vibe of the crowd, employees, and bands was really fun. If capacity is 375 at that place, there was maybe 175-200 last night, so we could walk around easily. Get to front of the stage anytime I wanted. We hit The Smoke Daddy yesterday afternoon. Cool place, good to really good BBQ, but not great, which is sort of what I expected. Totally dug it. Had a burger at Rudy's today in the loop, which was fantastic.
Pinebender were like shoe gaze trance like mellow space rock with elements of noise and heavy. Absolutely classic Midwest/Chicago rock. Totally into them. Cool dudes too. Life & Times sounded good as usual, but they played their latest album front to back, which is ok but not great, and 1 other song. Pelican destroyed. "Dead Between The Walls" might have been the best live rock song I've ever seen. Stopped in Reckless Records for a few minutes. What a unique joint.
I fucking love Chicago. Such a great city. This trip was all that and than some.