Chicks on Speed 99 Cents (Chicks on Speed Records) The shopping season is upon us, a grim reminder that ours is a fat, frivolous, reckless nation, drunk on debt and self-destruction. Still, eve...

Arcade Fire Funeral (Merge) Funeral, the first CD from Montreal's the Arcade Fire, came out in September, and already it's induced scores of worshipful music writers to churn out drool-slick ...

n Greg Fundis and company, known to the rest of the world as 56 Hope Road, make another Springfield appearance on Friday at Jazz Central Station, atop the mighty Hilton. The Chicago-based group ...

Carla Bruni QuelquÕun mÕa dit (Na•ve/V2) Don't hate Carla Bruni because she's beautiful. If you're going to hate her, there are plenty of other, better reasons. The 36-year-old Italian-born, Fr...

• Just get out of the way there, Junior. Blues Power is all fired up, with four of central Illinois' finest muzeekans goosing the throttle, chomping at the bit, and turning up the heat. Frank He...

Various Artists The Late Great Daniel Johnston Discovered Covered (Gammon) History will prove you poor enlightened blue-staters right someday, but that's cold comfort now, when Christian nutjob...

• Here's a chance to watch someone sing for someone else's supper: Gary Burt, the Prairie Crooner, romps through the Sinatra catalog to help raise funds for the Episcopal Food Pantry. Burt, a so...

Augie March Strange Bird (spinART) Don the bard mantle at your peril, rockdudes. Before you break out the thesaurus, think of the sick-making excesses of Rush. Think of Lou Reed's recent Edgar ...