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Acid King and Rezn join forces for a night of heavy psych at Reggie's
San Francisco’s mighty, shaggy—and a little bit unnerving—stoner powerhouse Acid King haven’t released a new album since 2015’s landmark Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everything (Svart Records). A...
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Shakey Graves trades his stark indie folk for dreamy psych on Can’t Wake Up
Alejandro Rose-Garcia emerged from the Austin music scene in 2011 as Shakey Graves, combining blues, folk, and indie rock—his performances were as bare-bones as his bedroom recordings, his soulful...
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Author & Punisher makes heavier-than-ever extreme cyborg industrial metal...
Since 2004, San Diego’s Tristan Shone has been transforming himself into an extreme industrial metal cyborg he calls Author & Punisher. A mechanical engineer by trade, Shone built a series of...
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Serengeti says farewell to his colorful, unforgettable fictional character,...
Serengeti’s “Dennehy” is a thing of wonder, not only because it’s a love letter to Chicago but also because it’s where Serengeti (born David Cohn) becomes the character Kenny Dennis, a middle-aged,...
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Jazz pianist Robert Glasper combines tradition and innovation with his...
Each generation of jazz players includes at least a few epoch-defining pianists, and right now, we’re living in the age of Robert Glasper. His long-standing trio with bassist Vicente Archer and...
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Postrock, dark Americana, and burgeoning romance unite Emma Ruth Rundle and...
On tour in support of her third LP, the newly released On Dark Horses (Sargent House), singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle brings her captivating guitar sounds and ghostly vocals to the Empty Bottle...
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Norway’s Cortex puts the fun in fire music
Norwegian quartet Cortex play music rooted in aesthetics that were crafted generations ago. You can hear the stop-start structures of Ornette Coleman’s classic recordings for Atlantic in trumpeter...
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Jenny Magnus stays behind the scenes of the charmingly absurd (Not) Another Day
The Curious Theatre Branch cofounder's latest puts the "opera" in soap opera. Jenny Magnus, who's spearheaded the invaluable Curious Theatre Branch for 30 years, has always performed in her own plays....
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BigMouth asks you to consider what Socrates, Malcolm X, and Ann Coulter have...
Valentijn Dhaenens's one-man show is designed to start a conversation. Seventeen famous names appear on a digital blackboard hung behind a long table. You may try to find the unifying principle among...
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On the subject of sex trafficking, Monger pulls no punches
Mary Bonnett's play cycle continues. Chicago playwright Mary Bonnett's new drama, the fourth in a cycle examining the myriad consequences of sex trafficking, is exponentially more intricate and...
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Brett Schneider's brand of magic creates Communion
The "shared hallucinations" feel like real illusions. Brett Schneider promises an evening of magic—card tricks, mind reading, and small-scale hypnotism—but what he delivers is something much richer...
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The ghost stories in Second Skin move from creepy to compelling to haunting
Playwright Kristin Idaszak weaves together horrors real and imagined. The selkie, in Celtic lore, are magical creatures formed from the souls of people drowned at sea. They're capable of changing from...
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Even after a century, Arms and the Man can still bring the laughs
City Lit Theater's production highlights the genius of George Bernard Shaw. Even the name George Bernard Shaw sounds ho-hum to most people. It's got the intrinsic fustiness of barrel staves and buggy...
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River North barstaurant Good Measure marks the return of talented chef Matt...
But the short menu offers just a glimpse of the chef’s unique talents—for now. But I want trofie!," I pouted and figuratively stamped the floor when I saw there was no pasta on the menu at Good...
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The 2018 Hyde Park Jazz Festival celebrates tradition and innovation in its...
In its 12th year, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival continues to program a diverse lineup of jazz artists. Over the course of the two days, the event will showcase over 30 acts at various venues in Hyde...
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Face-tatted Soundcould rapper Lil Xan is having a woozy moment
In an era of emotionally vulnerable, face-tattooed Soundcloud rappers, Diego Leanos, aka Lil Xan, is currently leading the pack. On his first official album, this spring’s Total Xanarchy, the...
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Chicago’s O’My’s make soul music for Tomorrow
Singer-guitarist Maceo Haymes and singer-keyboardist Nick Hennessey are journeymen musicians whose work behind the scenes backing musicians onstage—they occasionally performed with Chance the Rapper...
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BTS became America’s favorite K-Pop group this year
On Sunday, May 6, while the world woke up to the peerless video Childish Gambino released for his song “This Is America,” I noticed something briefly trending above it on Twitter: “Singularity,” the...
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Lala Lala’s new The Lamb mixes darkness with the light
From her first dreary-but-dreamy garage-rock single as Lala Lala, 2014’s “Fuck With Your Friends,” it was clear Chicago musician Lillie West was planting the seeds of something great. Since then she’s...
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Amyl & the Sniffers search for new highs in Aussie garage punk
One night in February 2016, a group of friends and roommates in Melbourne, Australia, decided to have some fun and play a little music. By the next day they’d recorded and released an EP, Giddy Up,...
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