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Midwife turns loss into atmospheric dream pop on Forever
In December 2016, a fire ripped through Oakland arts space Ghost Ship, killing 36 residents and guests who were attending an underground electronic show. As the tragedy was picked up by mainstream...
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Oranssi Pazuzu voyage beyond black metal to a sound all their own on the new...
When I wrote about these Finnish xenonauts last October, on the occasion of the only stateside tour in their 13-year history, I called their music “wormhole black metal”: “Oranssi Pazuzu plunge you...
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Charles Rumback’s trio reconciles freedom and lyricism on June Holiday
Like many other participants in Chicago’s contemporary jazz scene, drummer Charles Rumback is both a sideman and a leader. Whether backing singer-songwriters such as Steve Dawson and Angela James,...
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Waxahatchee’s new Saint Cloud explores new beginnings, musically and personally
Katie Crutchfield has taken a huge step forward. The sound of her new album, Saint Cloud (Merge), her fifth under the Waxahatchee name, is a far cry from the ragged glory of her previous records,...
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Wrekmeister Harmonies face the darkness before the dawn on We Love to Look at...
Enigmatic former Chicagoans Wrekmeister Harmonies recorded their seventh full-length, We Love to Look at the Carnage (Thrill Jockey), in a cold, isolated farmhouse in upstate New York with producer...
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Prolific Chicago rapper Adamn Killa makes his own fun in self-isolation on...
On March 11, prolific Chicago rapper Adamn Killa debuted a new dance on Triller that he calls “Hit the Adamn,” performing it to a sample of his new song of the same name. In the clip, Adamn cocks his...
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Jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver explores electronica on Signs
Drummer Gerald Cleaver has explored the edges of jazz in a career that’s already stretched over more than four decades. On last year’s What Is to Be Done (Clean Feed Records) he joined saxophonist...
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Dua Lipa channels disco clubs and Jazzercise on Future Nostalgia
British singer Dua Lipa released her second album, Future Nostalgia, on March 27—a week earlier than she originally planned, but right on schedule to give the world a much-needed dose of bubblegum...
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Feminazgûl spins anarchy, feminism, and literature into atmospheric black...
Margaret Killjoy, the self-described “mistressmind” of North Carolina–based Feminazgûl, announced on March 16 via Facebook that due to the pandemic-slash-shitstorm, her atmospheric black-metal band...
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Haley Fohr joins forces with Bitchin Bajas on Jacqueline, her second album as...
A few years ago, Haley Fohr, who makes experimental rock music under the name Circuit des Yeux, introduced a new project where she inhabited a drifter-turned-drug-pusher alter ego named Jackie Lynn....
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Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs conjure the kind of wild shows we miss...
It may be a while before the sort of all-out raging rock show that’s so hot and packed you leave smelling like other people’s sweat is once again part of human existence, but Newcastle Upon Tyne...
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Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia is a luminous anthem to resilience
Contemporary music informed by cultural traditions that have withstood the test of centuries uplifts my spirits like nothing else; in these times, it seems to hold a magic that can help us all...
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Chicago rapper and cult legend Sharkula focuses his flow on BBQ Fingaprints
If you spent much time in Chicago’s artsier north-side enclaves, you’ve likely crossed paths with Chicago rapper Brian Wharton—he goes by Sharkula, but he’s also sometimes known as Thigahmahjiggee....
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Serengeti brings Kenny Dennis back for a trip through the world of hypebeasts...
In the mid-2000s, local rapper Serengeti imagined rapping as a character named Kenny Dennis, a 50-something with a thick mustache and an even thicker Chicago accent. Ever since Kenny made his debut on...
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The Bobby Lees refresh garage rock for the next generation and everyone else
Upstart garage punks the Bobby Lees formed after guitarist-vocalist Sam Quartin moved to Woodstock, New York, and took a suggestion from a friend to recruit her new band mates from the local School of...
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Chicago producer and bandleader Peter Cottontale blends hip-hop, gospel,...
A lot of theories about how Chicago hip-hop was supposed to operate have been shattered by the events of the past decade—the idea that only one local rapper in a generation could make it big, for...
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Texan interdisciplinary artist and guitarist Sandy Ewen releases her first...
Sandy Ewen’s music is a constant series of negotiations. She’s constantly seeing what new sounds she can get out of her guitar, using found objects such as steel-wool scrubbing pads, dowels, bolts,...
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Chicago hardcore veterans Like Rats go full-on death metal on Death Monolith
Chicago’s Like Rats have been at it for more than a decade. Comprised of current and former members of earth-shaking metal and hardcore acts such as Weekend Nachos, Hate Force, and High Priest, the...
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Orkesta Mendoza blends vintage sounds to create a groovy boogie-woogie border...
The first time I saw Orkesta Mendoza was at SXSW about five years ago, and the group had already perfected an enormous, vintage Latin big-band sound and intense, punk-like sensibility unparalleled in...
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V.V. Lightbody perfects her hypnotizing ‘nap rock’ on Make a Shrine or Burn It
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vivian McConnell comes from a musical family, and she began enmeshing herself in Chicago’s music scene in the early 2010s, around the time she moved here from...
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