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Barrence Whitfield and the Woggles bring the scream and shout to Chicago
During the garage-rock boom of the 90s and 00s, the Woggles made frequent visits to Chicago from their Atlanta home base. Though their stepped-up twist beats and occasional choreography drew...
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Belgian DJ Charlotte De Whitte finds a spark in techno’s dark corners
Hailing from Ghent, Belgium, Charlotte De Witte began DJing in 2010 under the moniker Raving George—she felt she’d have more of a chance landing gigs using a typically masculine name rather than her...
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Veteran hard-bop pianist Johnny O’Neal makes a rare Chicago appearance
Pianist Johnny O’Neal seemed destined for success when he moved from his native Detroit to New York in 1981 and scored a regular gig at the Blue Note, where he played behind heavies including Dizzy...
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In its ninth year the North Coast Music Festival shows why it’s one of...
The average music fest can live and die based the strength of its lineup, but North Coast Music Festival is no average festival. Now in its ninth year, North Coast has found a sweet spot in our...
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Seattle organist Delvon Lamarr brings serious funk to his nimble organ trio
Although the sound of the jazz organ trio—where the keyboardist lays down bass lines with foot pedals while a guitarist plays chords and a drummer adds propulsion—has never gone away, it has changed...
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Scorched Tundra Festival celebrates heavy sounds from Chicago and beyond with...
This two-night metal festival, curated by metal and beer enthusiast Alexi Front (also the beer director for Kuma’s Corner restaurants), operates in both Chicago and Gothenburg, Sweden. In just seven...
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Sophisticated Norwegian pianist Håvard Wiik debuts a new project with a group...
Pianist Håvard Wiik, a Norwegian native who lives in Berlin, is best known for his key role in the Scandinavian free-bop quintet Atomic, for which he writes much of the material. In that context he’s...
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Prolific Chicago indie-rocker Jason Balla expands his catalog with his new...
Chicago indie rocker Jason Balla divides his time between Britpop-inflected four-piece Ne-Hi, atmospheric postpunk three-piece Dehd, and reverb-drenched duo Earring, all of which have made prominent...
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You & Me masterfully bridges theater and improv comedy
Michael Patrick Thornton invites everyone from theater newbies to high-powered actors to play alongside him. There's nothing written in stone about improv comedy being a young person's game, but more...
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Let’s Eat Grandma Navigate the Digital Maelstrom with savvy on I’m All Ears
The pop-song chorus is one of the most direct forms of communication humankind has ever produced. Slam a simply worded message into a hook, make it catchy, and it can become part of the cultural...
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Horse Lords saxophonist Andrew Bernstein delivers a different strain of...
Saxophonist Andrew Bernstein is a major contributor to the churning intensity of noisy Baltimore art-rock band Horse Lords, and while the music on his forthcoming second solo album, An Exploded View...
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Odetta Hartman holds her bricolage of folk, electronic beats, and field...
In our posteverything world it’s hard to envision the current model of a New York-style artistic vagabond—a creative who had a bohemian childhood and found ways to connect the detritus of the past...
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The Art Institute presents a dazzling, 12-performance showcase of music by...
In recent years the sprawling variety and prolificacy of works by musician, composer, and community force John Zorn, have been showcased in appropriately ambitious, multiconcert marathon events...
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Chicagoland’s favorite pop-punk misfits make a scene with Mania
In December 2017, months before BTS became the first K-Pop band to hit number one on the Billboard 200, BTS member RM collaborated with Fall Out Boy on a remix of their single “Champion” for the...
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Donald Glover’s musical endeavors finally reflect his artistic power
Donald Glover has emerged as one of the most talented forces in entertainment this century, but by and large the music he’s created under the name Childish Gambino has landed awkwardly. As an actor,...
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Progressive bluegrass combo Punch Brothers settle into a hybrid sound with a...
I’d hoped to make it through my life without hearing a host of A Prairie Home Companion break out in a rap, but with the new Punch Brothers album All Ashore (Nonesuch) that desire has been shattered....
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San Francisco soft-grunge outfit Culture Abuse just wants to have fun
In 2014 defunct music blog Stuff You Will Hate predicted young musicians would begin a new wave of music called “soft grunge" by breeding Puget Sound rock with midwestern emo. Though some bands...
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Arlington Heights native and saxophonist Brian Krock leads a Chicago-based...
It’s no secret that in today’s world running a big band is a daunting prospect. It’s difficult enough to wrangle 18 musicians together to perform, let alone rehearse complex, harrowing scores, not to...
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Philadelphia shoegazers Nothing take a step back on Dance on the Blacktop
In 2016, Philadelphia neo-shoegaze band Nothing released a their second studio album, Tired of Tomorrow—a triumph of modern rock. Blending the wall-of-sound influence of massive-sounding 90s bands...
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San Soo Korean BBQ is next generation
The scion of Chicago’s oldest live-coal gogi jip ("beef house") has set up shop in River West. Some years ago some friends used a credit card to pay the check after an epic feast at San Soo Gab San,...
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