Communion: Anything For You, Leaves Everything On Me
Communion‘s debut video for their latest cassette tape Anything 4 U is anything but saintly. It’s sinister and seductive. At best, the almost two minute video for the song “Head Held […]
Let The Funk Be With You: Songhoy Blues’ Story Unfolds Through Soul
Minutes before Songhoy Blues made their way center stage to appear before an eager, excited crowd, I saw them huddled together behind a pair of windows placed above Martyrs’ kitchen doors. From […]
The Artemis Quartet Perseveres After Tragedy
The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet offered a program of sunshine and suspense to kick off its North American tour at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall on Friday. Following the tragic […]
Junior Boys at Metro Chicago: Program Me into Light
Two modest Canadian guys named Junior Boys filled Metro Chicago Wednesday night with syncopating synth pulses, and vocals that made the audience below me feel like a tide. Behind Vocalist, […]
Grant Park Music Festival Offers Something for Everyone in 2016
Carlos Kalmar returns to his 17th season with the Grant Park Music Festival for an interesting and varied program for the summer of 2016. From an opening display of Mussorgsky’s […]
Preview: Ian Vanek (Japanther) and Howardian Tomorrow @ Subterranean
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGlsP_kZyYo&w=560&h=315] Ian Vanek started Howardian with his brother in 1993. He was 12 years old. Still, his early experiences seeing Nirvana perform and having the members of Mudhoney talk […]
weAREproductions Damns Love, Lies in Fleetwood Macbeth at Public House Theatre
Writer/director and weAREproductions co-founder Ricky W. Glore has set the Scottish play in a 70s radio station. King (Duncan, played by lanky Aaron Sarka) is the reigning disc jockey with […]
The Eclectic Sounds of the Millennium Park Summer Music Series
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has released a partial line-up for the Millennium Park Summer Music Series. The event will offer free concerts at the Jay Pritzker […]
Bottom Lounge Goes Nuts For CHON
I’ve never been quite sure how to characterize CHON‘s music. Is it instrumental metal with jazz and classical tendencies? Is it lounge music played on electric guitars, backed by ferocious […]
Gogol Bordello in Chicago: Celebration without a blackout
Gogol Bordello transformed the Metro Chicago stage Wednesday night into a street performance, as my preview for this concert predicted. Each band member had his or her own bottomless tank of […]
Gogol Bordello at the Metro Chicago: “It’s a celebration despite all odds”
Preparing for a performance on stage is to Gogol Bordello as breaking bricks is to martial arts. It’s natural. “I don’t do anything in particular” to prepare, said Gogol Bordello […]
The Hideout Gave Eight Chicago Bands A Great SXSW Sendoff…And They Thanked Us Handsomely
As I walked into The Hideout around a quarter to seven last night, I almost immediately ran into Crown Larks frontman Jack Bouboushian, one of the nicest guys you’ll meet […]