Loraine James makes kaleidoscopic music defined by frenetic, glitched-out beats. Despite its restless sense of perpetual movement, the London producer’s music is transparently emotive; every turbulent arrangement allows for a narrative that conveys anxiety, anger, and giddiness, even as the sound and aesthetic of a track is often icy and austere. After breaking through with the 2019 LP For You and I, James has released a string of EPs, and the latest, Nothing (Hyperdub), is her most exciting yet: a lean collection of four songs that expands the scope of her capabilities as a producer and features an eccentric cast of guest vocalists....

Michael Gibson/FXX Josh (Jay Baruchel) is unlucky in love. And most other things. Nothing exacerbates the millennial male’s misconception that the world revolves around him quite like a freshly broken heart. Take Josh Greenberg, played by the adorably droopy Jay Baruchel, on the new FXX comedy Man Seeking Woman. When the lovable loser is given the heave-ho by his girlfriend Maggie, it’s like a rain cloud is following him everywhere he goes....

While doing some online research on Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, a poem Mickle Maher cribs and corrupts to singular effect in his nearly perfect new play Song About Himself, I clicked onto a website called articlemyriad.com, which purports to be “the authoritative source for original and insightful articles and ideas on a broad range of topics related to the humanities.” Some unseen roving intelligence—the one that skulks behind nearly every website, throwing up enticements to click on things other than what you’ve sought out—suggested a different articlemyriad essay, unrelated to Whitman....

Philip Montoro Music editor S. Nicole Lane Even as a 29-year-old woman, I find Riot Fest to be the most comfortable. I’m comparing it to the other big fests like Lolla and Pitchfork. Leor Galil I hadn’t spent much time with the carnival aspect of the fest until last year, when my friend brought me and her four-year-old daughter on a couple rides. And I gotta say, watching Digable Planets from a Ferris wheel is a memory I’ll hold on to for a long time....

In a 2016 interview for Lewis University’s online arts journal, Jet Fuel Review, Chicago polymath Damon Locks spoke about running into celebrated artist Kerry James Marshall in a local comic book store. Locks, a vocalist, musician, and visual and video artist, was gratified to discover that they share the habit of checking out the comics, but that’s not the only thing they have in common. Both men have used their art to challenge stereotypical representations of Blackness by creating nuanced depictions of the diversity and complexity of the African-American communities in which they live....

Ripley Johnson has said his Portland quartet Wooden Shjips made its latest album, V. (Thrill Jockey), under a cloud—figuratively and literally. His band was still grappling with the initial implications of the Trump presidency while ash from forest fires that engulfed much of the countryside surrounding his hometown rained down and cast a fog over the city. The album cover features a giant hand making the peace sign—a colorless yet triumphant symbol within a vivid jungle of psychedelic sci-fi trees and stones—and in the press materials he’s asserted that the mesmerizing grooves of the music were intended as an act of resistance to the tumult of both the national political climate and their physical surroundings....

Summer is a time for us to celebrate our bodies and their metabolisms. We can expect the summers to be hot, and, just like many people around the world and in generations past and a few by ecological choice or economic need, find relief in fans, open windows, breezy stoops, the shade of trees, and cool drinks. Drying Fermentation You’ll need a thermometer for this one.

One indication that Lori Lightfoot is not your standard politician came at the end of the Chicago Teachers Union’s forum in December, when mayoral candidates were offered the chance to ask each other questions. Like most of the other candidates in the race, she’s never held elected office, but she does have an extensive background in government—in her case, in criminal justice and as a troubleshooter in some of the city’s most challenging agencies....

F or years, Keith Huff was your typical Chicago playwright, slogging along with script after script at storefront after storefront. Then, in 2007, he came up with A Steady Rain—the tale of two corrupt Chicago police detectives forced to confront their criminal incompetence—and all that changed. A Steady Rain went to Broadway in 2009, with a cast consisting of Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig; by 2010, Huff was writing for AMC’s Mad Men....

The world is littered with adaptations of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, but the Greek myth is just a seed for the creator-directors of Rooming House, Julia Rhoads of Lucky Plush Productions and Leslie Buxbaum Danzig, a cofounder of 500 Clown. Over its brisk 75 minutes their light-footed, sometimes cheeky production grows into something expansive and challenging, exploring deeper aspects of storytelling and human behavior through Lucky Plush’s signature blend of insight and play....

Outlaw country first pulled out of the truck stop almost half a century ago now, but you wouldn’t know the genre was middle-aged (and often paunchy) from listening to the Brothers Osborne. The Maryland duo has the spirit—and at least some of the facial hair—of the men who played outlaw country in the 70s, making a groovy, dusty blend of southern-fried rock, soul, and the Grand Ole Opry. “Weed, Whisky, and Willie,” off the 2018 album Port Saint Joe (EMI Nashville), locks into one of those easy Waylon grooves as T....

Welcome to the Reader‘s weekday news briefing. Spokesman: Durbin has credibility, GOP senator Perdue does not Ben Marter, a spokesman for Senator Dick Durbin, attacked Republican senator David Perdue for saying that he did not hear President Donald Trump refer to African countries as “shithole countries” in a closed-door meeting on immigration Thursday. “Credibility is something that’s built by being consistently honest over time. Senator Durbin has it. Senator Perdue does not....

They hosted their first virtual event last week with Jenny Brown, author of Without Apology, and Annie Finch, editor of Choice Words. The event was a fundraiser for the Chicago Abortion Fund and was cosponsored by Chicago DSA Socialist Feminists. “We’re trying to tie our virtual literary events to a group organizing on the ground in the city to both support their work financially and raise awareness of their work in the community,” Solheim says....

In conversation, Princess Nokia (born Destiny Nicole Frasqueri) is soft-spoken and thoughtfully tackles subjects like blackness and urban feminism. But get on her bad side, and she’s lethal. In February 2017, the underground rapper from Spanish Harlem punched an audience member for mouthing sexist obscenities and in October, she slapped another man for making racist remarks on the train. Frasqueri owns the dualities of her personality in interviews and in her lyrics, and she always expresses exactly how she feels....

Q: I’m a 19-year-old bisexual woman really into orgasm denial and edging. With the recent Tumblr ban on all NSFW content, I have no idea where to indulge my kinks and find my community. I’ve never needed to go anywhere else to find porn, explore my sexuality, and be surrounded by supportive people—and now I’m at a loss. A few Google searches have been really disheartening. Clearly I’ve been spoiled by all the easily found porn made by women, for women on Tumblr....

There is a great deal to like about Haven’s Kiss by Guillermo Calderón, directed by Monty Cole, about two Syrian couples who meet to watch a popular soap opera but whose lives become a soap opera, overly dramatic and comical. Youssif (Salar Ardebili) loves Hadeel (Arti Ishak), but she’s with Ahmed (Cole), who may or may not love Bana (Cassidy Slaughter-Mason). It’s a love rhombus. The acting is delightful, the first act very funny and engrossing, and the physicality both sensual and silly....

See the Chi-Town native in conversation at one of the many events happening this week. Here’s some of what we recommend: Wed 3/7: What would you do if you discovered your father penned an erotic book under the name Rocky Flintstone? Start a podcast about it? British comedian Jamie Morton did just that, and during the live show My Dad Wrote a Porno at Chicago Theatre (175 N. State), he and his friends read and reenact scenes from the sordid tome....

ARTIST: Trek Matthews SHOW: Chikamorachi & Jeff Tweedy and Lia Kohl & Haley Fohr Duo at Hideout on Wed 12/13 MORE INFO: trekmatthews.com Hideout Inn JUST ANNOUNCED Jeff Tweedy will be joining the duo of Darin Gray (Jim O’Rourke, Dazzling Killmen…) and Chris Corsano (Rangda, Six Organs of Admittance, Thurston Moore…) aka Chikamorachi for a…

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.