A Sunday Halloween had two tracks set out before it. It could have brought an amplification of the Sunday condition–that cloud that accompanies the ending weekend might be especially pointed in the […]
Review: Sylvan Esso Thrills the Aragon Ballroom
Sam Kayuha
Review: Death Valley Girls Conjure Halloween Vibes
Death Valley Girls asked for the ignition of the smoke machine and lower lights before they began their set at the Beat Kitchen Sunday night–but if you got there halfway through, it […]
Review: Lala Lala Steps Out at Empty Bottle
Friday Night at the Empty Bottle seemed like the destined moment for Lala Lala’s underground buzz to overflow. It had been hedging that way for years–since 2014 when the droning, smirking first […]
Review: Rolling Blackouts at Lincoln Hall
Rolling Blackouts Costal Fever ran through a rollicking set to a sold-out Lincoln Hall crowd which bounced along. The Australians are touring on the back of their debut full-length “Hope Dreams,” released […]
Review: Gaslight Anthem Brings Nostalgia to Riviera
I came to the Riviera Theatre Saturday night expecting to be an impartial observer to the beginnings of late aughts nostalgia. The sentiment that began to bubble when Obama left office is […]
Review: Ezra Furman Lights Up Beat Kitchen
Wicker Park Fest swallowed up Milwaukee Ave. from Paulina to Damen this weekend, drawing throngs to catch the likes of Against Me!, Snail Mail and Porches at the three-day event. Also on […]
Review: Grapetooth’s Coming Out Party
Grapetooth is technically made up of just Clay Frankel and Chris Bailoni, but its show at Lincoln Hall Saturday night made the act seem much more like a community project. For one […]
Review: Haley Heynderickx Breathes Fresh Air
Since the Greenwich Village folkies put the aesthetics of beat literature to music in the early ‘60s, a cavalcade of singer-songwriter successors has followed. Stylistically, little has changed. Limiting oneself to guitar and […]
Review: An Eclectic and Stacked Lineup Treats Cobra Lounge
A caravan of four stellar bands rolled through Chicago last night, stopping at the Cobra Lounge long enough to provide a sold-out crowd the opportunity to blow some steam out of its […]
Review: Priests Bless Lincoln Hall
Much of punk’s initial beauty was in its breaking of the fourth wall that arena rock had built–it allowed the kid who could barely form a power chord to start a band. […]
