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There’s a good reason everyone loves Drake’s hyperpersonal rap-sing bangers
The jury’s still out on whether Kiki loves Drake or not, but it’s pretty clear that the rest of the world does, and with good reason. On his fifth official full-length release, this summer’s Scorpion,...
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Cheick Hamala Diabate brings out the sound of Mali in American soul music
A lot of the roots in American roots music stem from Africa, as Malian-born D.C. musician Cheick Hamala Diabate demonstrates whenever he goes onstage. Diabate plays the banjo and the instrument’s...
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Wicker Park's Ina Mae Tavern is New Orleans in a bottle
NOLA native Brian Jupiter (Frontier) gives authenticity to this Cajun-creole spot in the former Beechwood Inn. There's a spooky ghost sign on the back brick wall at Ina Mae Tavern & Packaged...
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In The African Company Presents Richard III, black performers wear, and then...
Two dueling theater companies debate who owns Shakespeare. Based on true events in 1822 Manhattan, The African Company Presents Richard III, written by Carlyle Brown, tells the tale of two rival...
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Meet Juan(ito) Doe chronicles the lives and loves of Chicago Mexican-Americans
Playwright Ricardo Gamboa and the cast have created interesting, flawed human beings. First produced last fall at the Free Street Storyfront space in Back of the Yards, this remarkable revival...
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Shape-shifting postpunk band the Men find new paths to explore with this...
In a recent Ghettoblaster interview with Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi, who cofront postpunk band the Men, Perro described the creative approach that’s led the group to produce its stylistically...
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Chicago rap legend Bump J relaunches his career with I Don’t Feel Rehabilitated
At the end of “Crown,” on G Herbo’s debut album, Humble Beast, the Chicago rap star ad-libs an anecdote about walking home from school one day as a child and becoming starstruck at the sight of...
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New York saxophonist James Brandon Lewis moves easily between past, present,...
In the last few years saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has emerged as a versatile force, a musician fluent in the postbop spirit of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane who can easily adapt his sound to a...
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Chicago art-pop duo Ohmme assert themselves as one of the city’s best bands...
Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart are only in their 20s, but both of them have already become stalwart figures on Chicago’s music scene, nonchalantly cutting across disparate communities. Cunningham...
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David Bazan’s resurrected group Pedro the Lion makes its first big return to...
Since singer-songwriter David Bazan dissolved his most popular band, Pedro the Lion, in 2005 he’s continued to make the kind of intimate, self-questioning indie-rock that Pedro was known for, just...
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Chicago-blackened death-metal band Mantianak make the music of nightmares
This Chicago-blackened death-metal outfit takes its name from an evil Malay spirit, the vengeful vampiric ghost of either a stillborn baby or a woman who died in childbirth. To embody this nightmarish...
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Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux gives the local premiere of her score for the...
Anyone who regularly reads my writing in this paper probably knows about my growing admiration for Haley Fohr, a vocalist, composer, and improviser whose stunning creative growth over the last few...
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Arborea guitarist Buck Curran expands his meditative solo practice on Morning...
In his long-running duo Arborea, guitarist Buck Curran skillfully spun lines of gossamer beauty and tenderness into a sparkling blanket under the sweet cooing of his musical collaborator and...
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Rocker Alejandro Escovedo draws from his family history to meditate on the...
On his forthcoming release The Crossing (due September 14 on Yep Roc), veteran Austin rocker Alejandro Escovedo refracts his life as a second-generation Mexican-American in a concept album about two...
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Ne-Hi side project Flamingo Rodeo releases its breezy debut
In Ne-Hi, the local dreamy postpunk four-piece cofronted by singer and guitarist Mikey Wells, everything falls into terse rhythms and complex, rigid arrangements. So it makes sense that on Said...
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American Primitive guitarist Daniel Bachman dramatically opens up his sound...
Virginia guitarist Daniel Bachman regularly demonstrates curiosity and practice outside of the hazy contours of the American Primitive style of acoustic guitar made famous by John Fahey. While those...
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Omakase Yume sets a new bar for Chicago
The West Loop spot and a forthcoming restaurant in Logan Square are among Chicago’s first stabs at a dedicated omekase restaurant. In the early 1800s in Tokyo, sushi (as we would come to know it) was...
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Round Robin offers improvised duets from Chicago jazz, rock, experimental,...
In 2010 Adam Schatz, a New York musician who’s been one of the driving forces behind NYC’s sprawling Winter Jazzfest, launched Round Robin, a program focused on free improvisation where musicians with...
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Seun Kuti keeps the Afrobeat concocted by his father, Fela, nicely simmering
Afrobeat scion Seun Kuti turned 35 early this year, and he’s already nearly two decades into his career. In 1997, when he was just 14, and he took the reins of his father Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s...
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Chicago experimentalists Mako Sica find a sweet spot with master...
Since I first encountered it nearly a decade ago, I’ve repeatedly tried to engage with the music of Chicago trio Mako Sica. The determinedly exploratory ensemble couches improvisational impulses...
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