2020 in Review: What We Liked in Music
Much like everything else in 2020, music was a little weird. Amazing albums came out bereft of the typical touring cycle and songs got lost under the weight of COVID […]
The Foons’ New Single “Shapes” Delivers Gripping Synth Heavy Sounds
A long time ago (last year) in a galaxy far, far, away (Ukrainian Village), I saw the Foons perform the opening set at the Empty Bottle. It feels like a […]
Review: Karim Sulayman Sang Beautifully in Chicago Artists Workshop Performance
Chicago’s four-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird unveiled their Chicago Artist Workshop virtual concerts on Tuesday evening with Rebuilding/Crossing Bridges, a concert that featured a performance by another Grammy Award […]
Chicago’s Slow Pulp Takes You to the ‘Moveys’ on Their Long-Awaited Debut
The buzz on Slow Pulp reached me via friends before their traditional publicity push, and the snippets I heard excited me, but none of that could have prepared me for […]
Review: Third Coast Percussion Premiers Two New Works
As part of Bowling Green State University’s 41st annual New Music Festival, Chicago’s Grammy-Award winning Third Coast Percussion quartet offered a performance of several works commissioned by or written for […]
Kurt Elling’s 25th Anniversary Virtual Tour: Steppin’ Out While Stayin’ In
If all was right with the world, jazz vocalist Kurt Elling would be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Close Your Eyes — his first album on the Blue Note label — before […]
Miranda Winters of Melkbelly Steps Into the Spotlight on Her Latest Single
Melkbelly, the somewhat genre-less and thrilling Chicago-based band that Miranda Winters sings and plays guitar with, is truly a monster of the local scene (in all the good ways). So […]
Review: Cedille Records Continues Excellence With New Releases
Update: Since this review was published in September 2020, Pacfica Quartet’s Contemporary Voices CD won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Congratulations to Pacifica Quartet and everyone […]
Multi-Media Experience Merged Wine, Art, and Bratwurst on a Roll Over Beethoven
Beethoven 250: Wine and Art, a “multi-sensory artistic experience” presented online on June 18 by In the Realm of the Senses, succeeded as a musical performance—and as performance art. While […]
Fantasize Your Ghost Reminds You Just How Great Ohmme Is
Evolution can be scary, especially with bands whose sounds you hold near and dear. But when it comes to Ohmme, the musical project of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, evolution […]
Wyatt Waddell Urges You to Stand Against Divide and “FIGHT!”
We’ve going through a difficult time. Not just the past few months, but for the entire history of our country. Currently it has reached a boiling point, another boiling point […]
Ohmme Take a Quarantined Trip in the Video for “The Limit”
It doesn’t feel like all that long ago since Ohmme released their incredible album Parts. In fact if you were to have told me it’s been nearly two years since […]