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Israel’s melting pot cuisine is finally done right at Galit
Zachary Engel brings modern Israeli cooking to Chicago via Zahay and Shaya. While it took me almost six months to get to it, Chicago stubbornly avoided the modern Israeli cuisine movement in the...
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Cave In’s Final Transmission is a tribute to late bassist Caleb Scofield,...
The winding story of Boston band Cave In is full of massive triumphs and heartbreaking pratfalls, and they’ve kept on trucking no matter what comes their way. Formed in 1995 as an extreme metalcore...
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Chicago bedroom-pop wonder Victor Internet caps off a banner year with...
For those who frequent the spaces where Chicago’s hip-hop, indie-pop, and dance scenes converge, the title of Victor Internet’s latest release, last month’s EP Victor’s Debut, will seem like a...
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Finnish xenonauts Oranssi Pazuzu make black metal for exiles to the Delta...
In the context of black metal, the term “cosmic” has been diluted into worthlessness. When I applied it to Oranssi Pazuzu in 2013, I still thought it referred to an identifiable flavor of evil...
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Charli XCX wants to be the future of pop
When Charli XCX dropped the single “Blame It on Your Love” on May 15, she posted an Instagram story of herself posing with guest vocalist Lizzo and a sign reading “Bout 2 Save Pop Music.” The British...
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Two of Chicago’s rising dark rock groups collaborate in the studio and onstage
It would be worth an outing to the Empty Bottle just to see two of the most compelling bands Chicago has produced in recent years on one bill. Dark postrock trio Lume entered the fray last year with...
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Pharmakon makes noise that vomits and bleeds
For New York noise artist Margaret Chardiet, aka Pharmakon, the body is a wet, alien thing that hangs on the self like meat on a butcher’s hook. Her defining album, 2014’s Bestial Burden (Sacred...
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Norwegian math-dance duo Aiming for Enrike bring their booty-moving beats to...
Oslo’s Aiming for Enrike accomplish a lot with a little: though they’re just a duo, armed with guitar, drums, and a small infantry of effects and loop pedals, they craft detailed, propulsive, dancy...
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Chicago rapper Vic Spencer sounds unstoppable on Bah Wounds
It can be daunting to try to keep up with prolific Chicago rapper Vic Spencer, who chews urgently through his lines like his head is so overstuffed with ideas it could burst open. Spencer drops three...
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Tegan and Sara mine the past for Hey, I’m Just Like You
The last time Canadian twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara came through Chicago, they were on the road celebrating the tenth anniversary of 2007’s The Con. At the time, it seemed like a fairly standard...
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Bossa IV main man Matthew McGarry reinvigorates his indie-rock sound after a...
Singer-songwriter Matthew McGarry caught my ear in 2012 with the charming, unruffled indie-rock tunes he released as Upholstery & Carpet Cleaning. By 2015 he’d dropped that name in favor of Bossa...
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Sicangu Lakota rapper Frank Waln chronicles the sounds of the seventh...
Sicangu Lakota rapper, producer, and engineer Frank Waln celebrates and bears witness to the survival of Indigenous peoples in his compositions. Born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South...
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Zamrock legends W.I.T.C.H. make their U.S. debut
Zamrock is an old strain of African popular music that’s increasingly returning to the spotlight. The term references its country of origin, Zambia, as well a particular funky brand of acid rock.…
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Super Tasty brings sex education to Constellation
Learning about your bits just got a little bit more fun. Those familiar with talk shows know what to expect. Bright lights, a small stage, a comfy couch, a few guests, and a charming host.…
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Desperate debauchery haunts this Cabaret
Encroaching fascism and gender fluidity make for a timely revival with Cowardly Scarecrow. Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company turns Chief O'Neill's Attic Bar into the Kit Kat Klub circa 1931 in its...
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A small pond makes a great home for Big Fish
It flopped on the Great White Way, but BoHo Theatre's production finds the heart in this musical about tall tales and father-son relationships. Based on Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel and Tim Burton's...
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Two sisters clash over the limits of faith in science in Mosquitoes
Lucy Kirkwood's drama has bite in Steep Theatre's U.S. premiere. Science plays like this one by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood often hinge on the idea that the most staggeringly powerful technology...
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A streamlined version of A Doll's House races through Writers Theatre
Even without a door slam, Henrik Ibsen's classic hits home. To view Nora Helmer's girlish high spirits as proof of immaturity is as much a mistake as viewing Blanche DuBois's flights of nostalgia as...
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Sherlock's Last Case puts the Baker Street genius in a tight spot
As First Folio's droll and dark production demonstrates, he rather deserves it. The joke goes that someone could win the caption-a-cartoon contest in the New Yorker every week by going with "Christ,...
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The Hound of the Baskervilles gets a faithful and atmospheric staging
Terry McCabe's adaptation for City Lit is minimalist but effective. Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 thriller is one of those classics most people are more familiar with from their often tarted-up screen...
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