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Don’t let anyone tell you what Chicago rap is till they see Kweku Collins and...
When the morning show on Fox 32 invited Chicago rapper and Pivot Gang member Joseph Chilliams to perform on October 3, his appearance was hooked to an informal celebration of the 2004 comedy Mean...
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One member lighter, Brockhampton return with their fourth studio album,...
Just months after Los Angeles-based boy band Brockhampton headlined at Chicago’s House of Blues this February, founding member Ameer Vann was accused on social media of sexual misconduct by several...
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Nine Inch Nails serve up three nights of industrial rock fury and catharsis
It’s no surprise the raw aggression that catapulted Nine Inch Nails into mainstream success in the early 90s is still coursing through its founder, Trent Reznor, during this fall’s Cold and Black and...
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Yaeji brings new blissed-out, bilingual house on One More
I’m a little mesmerized by Yaeji. The New York-based producer and visual artist mixes geometric, house-influenced beats with quiet, reverb-drenched pop hooks, and switches off between singing verses...
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Mitski continues shows the shape of indie rock to come on Be the Cowboy
At 27, indie rocker Mitski Miyawaki is green enough still to be an unknown—at least to the young pop fans who caught her opening performances during Lorde’s recent arena tour—but established enough...
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Bosnian singer Božo Vrećo brings a subversive genderfluid spirit to...
Bosnian singer, dancer, and style icon Božo Vrećo has struck gold in his homeland and beyond by bringing a youthful, genderfluid, and subversive sensibility to sevdah (also known as sevdalinka), a...
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Molly Nilsson embraces the future on Twenty Twenty
In the autobiographical writings of historian Edward Gibbon published in 1786, the author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire wrote, “The present is a fleeting moment, the past...
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Ladies of LCD Soundsystem DJ a Halloween night of celebration and empowerment
This fall, two members of LCD Soundsystem, keyboardist Nancy Whang and synths and electronics player Gavin Rayna Russom, are on the road as a DJ duo. Billed as Ladies of LCD Soundsystem, the tour...
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Lake Street Dive turns rock into torch songs and back again
Rachael Price might not be a household name, but the Boston singer is one of the greatest American singers alive. Her rich, dexterous alto can caress a jazzy change, rough up a soul groove, or shout...
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The Goon Sax give a sophisticated twist to Australian indie rock on We’re Not...
I’m starting to wonder whether Australia has ever produced a bad band. One of the latest crews of Aussies to catch the attention and affection of American indie-rock lovers is the Goon Sax, a trio of...
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Remy Bumppo builds a stunning new Frankenstein
There's not even a hint of Boris Karloff. Remy Bumppo Theatre Company presents Nick Dear's stunning minimalist reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic fable about male hubris. From the opening...
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On his debut album, Mudboy, Sheck Wes raps like his hometown, New York City,...
Harlem rapper Sheck Wes became one of rap’s biggest rookies this year thanks to the sleeper hit “Mo Bamba,” a rager about his childhood friend Mohamed “Mo” Bamba, the Orlando Magic center. Sheck...
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On Obey Exploded View keep you following their industrial-influenced noise...
Exploded View write many components of their songs to sound as though they’re falling away at a far distance. The trio’s sparse rhythms and fluttering electronics often melt so deep into the...
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Guitarist and author Alan Licht plugs back in
Alan Licht’s recording career stretches back to 1990, when he appeared on two seven-inch EPs by the group Love Child. One was a collection of cute, bouncy songs cleaved by Licht’s volcanic guitar...
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Chicago rapper-singer Rich Jones gets better with age on The Shoulder You...
In the past few years Chicago rapper-singer Rich Jones has increasingly softened his delivery and drawn out his vocals. These days, it can be difficult to trace the strains of rap DNA that remain...
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Indie instrument innovators Buke & Gase reinvent themselves in advance of...
Named after their signature homemade instruments—the buke, a six-string baritone ukulele, and the gase, a guitar-bass hybrid—Buke & Gase blend quirky indie rock, off-kilter time signatures, and...
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Virginia doom quartet Windhand deliver their most hook-driven songs to date...
Doing my home state proud since 2008, Virginia grungy doom quartet Windhand have just released their fourth full-length, Eternal Return (Relapse), which follows their breakout album, 2015’s Grief’s...
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Jazz guitarist James Blood Ulmer brings his harmolodic stylings to any genre
James Blood Ulmer is quite an exceptional musician. As the first guitarist to play with legendary jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman in the 1970s, he adapted harmolodics, a style of free jazz pioneered...
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Former noise-rockers Odonis Odonis go full-on 90s industrial on No Pop
When Toronto trio Odonis Odonis emerged with their 2011 debut LP, Hollandaze—a blast of fried, buzzsawed Jesus-and-Mary-Chain-worshipping surfgaze—their harsh, distortion drenched punk fit in nicely...
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Multidisciplinary Chicago artist Tasha comes into her own as a musician on...
Chicago singer, songwriter, poet, and activist Tasha Viets-VanLear knows the personal is political—though there’s not much of a chance to completely sidestep politics when you’re a young, queer woman...
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