At Kitsune, Iliana Regan conjures another world
The small North Center spot is an izakaya drawing on the midwestern larder. Kitsune, the new restaurant from Elizabeth chef Iliana Regan, could be a set piece from The Man in the High Castle, the 1962...
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New York trombonist Ryan Keberle explores his affinity for the folkloric...
In the liner notes to his most recent album, Azul Infinito (Greenleaf), trombonist, bandleader, and composer Ryan Keberle tells the unlikely story of how, as a 19-year-old Portland native, he became...
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Egyptian oud master Tarek Abdallah and percussionist Adel Shames El-Din...
Time and global communication are among the elements threatening ancient musical traditions, especially in politically turbulent nations under autocratic rule. American access to these riches is being...
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The Orwells are a rock band happily toeing the blurry line between proper and...
What’s long made this Elmhurst-bred fivesome so kinetic is that hidden within plain sight of their arena-ready garage-loyal melodies and Mario Cuomo’s cheeky, apathetic sneer is the capability or,...
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Rapper-producer Ausar Bradley excels at being a self-questioning student of...
Ausar Bradley started his University of Illinois college career in fall 2014, and he’s devoted his creative energy to rapping for even less time. But on his second mixtape, The 6 Page Letter, he shows...
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Bassist Pascal Niggenkemper transforms his instrument into a tactile...
In 2015 Franco-German bassist Pascal Niggenkemper dropped a bracing solo album called Look With Thine Ears (Clean Feed), serving up 13 visceral, aggressively tactile studies of his instrument. With...
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Swedish psych-rock band Dungen created an original score for the pioneering...
Between the release of their 2010 album Skit I Allt and the 2015 gem Allas Sak, excellent Swedish psych band Dungen were enlisted to create an original soundtrack for German director Lotte Reiniger’s...
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LA rap group Clipping keeps making noise after their MC’s breakthrough turn...
In the years following their volcanic 2014 Sub Pop debut, CLPPNG, LA group Clipping got swept up in the tidal wave of a massive cultural phenomenon: Hamilton. Between albums Clipping rapper Daveed...
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Cellist Erik Friedlander embraces repetition and lyricism in his latest trio
Erik Friedlander’s vibrant tone, vivid pizzicato, and fluid bowing have made the cellist a first-call accompanist for John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Laurie Anderson, and the Mountain Goats. He’s also...
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Sound artist John Chantler reflects on leaving behind one’s homeland
While in New York in January I caught a performance by Stockholm-based sound artist John Chantler, who hunkered down behind a small table outfitted with two small analog synthesizers and a computer....
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The Tossers return for their annual Saint Patrick’s Day show, this time with...
You might already know that Chicago’s premier Celtic-punk band the Tossers—our own south-side Pogues kin who predate fellow travelers like the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly by several years—put...
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In Zhao Liang’s ecological documentary Behemoth, we’re the monster
Eye-popping images dominate this film about the ecological ravages of Chinese coal-mining. By the time you read this, Donald Trump may already have announced our withdrawal from the Paris climate...
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Producer Octo Octa tempers moodiness with a genuine sense of wonder
Much of the press surrounding Octo Octa has focused on her gender transition, as detailed in an expansive 2016 feature for Resident Advisor. Less noted, however, is the way Maya Bouldry-Morrison’s...
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Nils Økland pushes traditional Norwegian folk in hypnotic new directions
There are few sounds that hypnotize me more than the Hardanger fiddle, a traditional Norwegian violin fitted with additional strings that run beneath the fret board, generating a dense web of ghostly...
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Quiote’s offbeat Mexican food pairs perfectly with agave spirits
The multifaceted Logan Square concept from former Salsa Truck owner Dan Salls includes a basement bar with a wealth of mezcal. I have friends who say they can drink mezcal all night and never get...
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Patty Carroll’s ‘Anonymous Women’ spotlights the binds of domesticity
The photographer contends with sexism through distorted portrayals of midcentury housewives. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs during the 1950s and '60s, photographer Patty Carroll lived in a...
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Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov applies his virtuosity to Schumann,...
The “classical piano virtuoso” feels almost like a marketing cliche at this point, but at the ripe old age of 26, Russian prodigy Daniil Trifonov embodies the role as much as anyone alive today. On...
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The Daniel Schnyder chamber opera Charlie Parker’s Yardbird receives its...
Contemporary jazz saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder’s 90-minute chamber opera about legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker was first performed in Philadelphia in 2015, and it’s...
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Mathy meanderings and atmospheric interludes flavor Without Waves’ Lunar
This Chicago progressive-metal quartet commanded a lot of ears with their 2011 debut, Scab Platter, and its follow-up EP, 2014’s The Entheogen. Now they’re set to celebrate the release of their...
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The improvisational Boxhead Ensemble return to the scene of their first...
It’s been 20 years since Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back first screened in Chicago. A black-and-white documentary about the encroachment of modernization on America’s last frontier, it was...
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