Upon first listen, The National do not feel like a large-sounding band, but on their fourth and most accomplished album, they defy that notion amazingly through restraint and refinement. This is one of the best grower albums of the year, one that reveals...

Off her new album, "Good Girl Gone Bad", Rihanna's "Umbrella", which features Jay-Z, rocked the pop charts this summer. As a result of this success, the album was overplayed on virtually every Top 40 radio station across the country. The song is cleverly...

Very few rap albums are timeless in the sense that their themes are universal enough to be understood by any individual. However, Common's latest album, "Finding Forever," generates an extraordinarily euphoric sensation that prompts the listener to confront...

How can we talk about summer music in Chicagoland without mentioning Lollapalooza? And how can we talk about Lollapalooza without mentioning Parisian dance moguls Daft Punk? The two deejays who rarely tour, especially in America, co-headlined the first...

Fergie: Big Girls Don't Cry Finally a Fergie song that doesn't showcase her spelling skills! "Big Girls Don't Cry" has been a Top 40 number one hit for several weeks this summer and is a first in Fergie's collection of radio singles that slows down and...

Ryan Adams has historically released amazing songs on good albums, but he's never really released a truly amazing album. "Gold" and "Heartbreaker" both come close, but the former was too long and the latter retained a bit too much twang from his Whiskeytown...

After "Arular" made her a household name for hipsters in 2005, M.I.A. proves she's more than a one-album fluke thanks to her ambitious, experimental and dangerous sounding sophomore album, "Kala". Listening to the rhythmic assaults of "Bird Flu" and "Boyz"...

On Aug. 23, Target, 2555 Sycamore Road, played host to the indie-rock band Light Pollution and electronic artist Son of Starkiller. The two bands played at opposite corners of Target as part of a promotional event. According to Store Manager Carol Van...

Rating: 8 / 10 "Superbad" is essentially a two-hour movie filled with crude humor, underage drinking, drug use and the plight of three friends attempting to lose their virginity before they go to college. At no point is the story watered down to appease...

Despite DeKalb's high waters, Beatlemania came alive Saturday afternoon with the three-hour performance of American English at Cornfest. The Beatles tribute band played to a crowd of more than 400 fans, ranging from diaper-aged toddlers to punk-rock teens...

Rating: 9 / 10 Once again, Jason Bourne is on the run and trying to find his lost identity. On Aug. 3, Matt Damon returned to the screen as Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Ultimatum." During the course of this 111-minute film, there are a few slow-moving...

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia | We are sitting at the Cochabamba pub Dali on Friday night, drinking liters of Taquina beer and playing Liar's Dice with Alejandro, a younger middle-class Bolivian who lives in a loft apartment with some friends, living it up "the...