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Conflict’s uncompromising anarcho-punk is as relevant as ever
London’s Conflict are one of the original anarchist punk bands, and though it’s been nearly four decades since they formed, their Thatcher-honed rage feels as relevant in today’s world as ever. Driven...
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Chicagoan Defcee raps with purpose and zeal on A Mixtape as God Intended, Vol. 1
Chicago rapper and educator Defcee is one of the great talents in this city, and he so actively supports the local music community you’re even more likely to catch him rocking in crowds than...
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Juan Wauters finds his voice while creating music throughout Latin America
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Juan Wauters moved to Queens, New York, with his father in 2002, when he was 17, and worked alongside him at a picture-frame factory to save money to bring over the rest...
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Bingo knows what you need: Taiwanese cheese tea and Malaysian noodles
Resistance is futile. Pretty soon you're going to have to confront cheese tea. It's not as disturbing as it sounds.…
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Chicago surf misfits Ovef Ow fight for your right on Crash the Party
Chicago foursome Ovef Ow evolved out of Me Jane, a postpunk band that specialized in the kind of chilly, danceable melodies that emanated out of Manchester in the 1980s. For the name of their new...
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Scuzz-metal supergroup Hitter keep it simple and nasty
When I first heard of local outfit Hitter coming together with Adam Luksetich of Foul Tip on guitar, Madalyn Garcia of Lil Tits on bass, Ryan Wizniak of Meat Wave on drums, and Hanna Johnson of...
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Get your mind warped at the tenth anniversary of Chicago Psych Fest
For ten years now, Chicago Psych Fest has been warping minds. Organized by musician and artist (and longtime Reader contributor) Steve Krakow and local artist Matt Ginsberg, the three-day-long...
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Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins shows why he's one of the best in town with...
Mick Jenkins has become one of the best rappers in town (if not the country) by making music that comes across as if he’s inviting you into a deep conversation. With songs that take on race, consent,...
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The Devil Makes Three trade their folksy minimalism for full-bodied rock on...
The members of the Devil Makes Three grew up in New England but formed their trio in California in 2002. They’ve since moved their home base to Burlington, Vermont, and their crisscrossing migrations...
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Ten years after his breakthrough, Minneapolis rapper P.O.S brings his...
When he released his 2009 LP Never Better (Rhymesayers), Minneapolis MC and rock musician P.O.S (born Stefon Alexander) had already made a name for himself on his own and with Doomtree, his...
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Faces of the Bog are back in action with their brilliant psychedelic sludge
For a long time I thought the name of this local psychedelic-sludge powerhouse was related to the “bog people”—those scarily well-preserved ancient corpses that turn up from time to time in peat bogs...
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Representatives from two sides of jazz pull it together at the Whistler
One of the jazz world’s less fortunate elements is the antipathy that often arises between its mainstream and progressive wings. The straight-ahead crowd decries radicals for going too far and losing...
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West-side MC El Hitta brings a melodic intensity to Owe Nobody Nothin
When west-side rapper El Hitta dropped his breakthrough single, “Aww Yea,” in July, he put it out under his original name: El Hitla. “Everybody wanna name theyself off the bad guys,” he told the...
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Ólafur Arnalds makes new new-age music for gentle seekers
At one time, Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds's music, with its gently surging melodies and contemplative prettiness, might have been categorized as new age. But these days that appellation is...
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Come Hell or High Water, Tekki Lomnicki, and Tellin' Tales Theatre will...
These storytellers at the Fillet of Solo Festival defamiliarize their audiences' view of the world. Tekki Lomnicki is a brilliant solo performer and the creator of Tellin' Tales Theater, which has...
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In Red Rex, Ike Holter’s Chicago Cycle gets meta
A play about a storefront theater playing in a storefront theater Ike Holter's Red Rex, the sixth in his seven-play Chicago cycle set in the fictional neighborhood of Rightlynd (aka the 51st Ward), is...
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Boy Harsher explores love and pain through nightmarish pop on Careful
Don’t let the name fool you—the feverish, furious electronic nightmare-pop produced by the Massachusetts duo Boy Harsher leaves the gender binary feeling as antiquated as a phonograph. Vocalist Jae...
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Kitka celebrate winter with a mix of seasonal sounds from across eastern Europe
This Oakland-based women’s choir specialize in vocal traditions from eastern Europe, including styles from Russia, the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey. Like their compatriots Le Mystere de Voix Bulgare,...
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Rapper Jayaire Woods continues to prove his name should be known throughout...
During the fading final notes of “Big Plans,” the cloudy closing track on Jayaire Woods’s August EP Woodside Lane, a coterie of the rapper’s pals shouts the song’s succinct chorus a cappella. The...
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Hawaiian master guitarists bring their warm island sounds to a cold Chicago...
George Kahumoku Jr., Nathan Aweau, and Kawika Kahiapo are masterful slack-key guitarists whose music embodies Hawaiian traditions, and between the three of them, they certainly have the accolades and...
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