Posts

Baltimore experimental electronic duo Matmos have released a steady stream of albums over their 25 years, many of which feature guest artists, but on the new The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form they’ve brought in enough collaborators to fill a house party. They made the album in part from submissions by 99 musicians Matmos had invited to send virtually any sound recording of their choice, as long as it had a tempo of 99 beats per minute....

Schoolchildren are introduced to Shakespeare as literature, which might not be the best idea. I slogged through King Lear in college, and then again this summer on behalf of my book group. In the interim, I was riveted by Robert Falls’s 2006 production at the Goodman. Lines I don’t follow on the page I reread until I parsed them; onstage they tumbled by, revealed in the acting. As theater, King Lear surrendered its secrets....

Chicagoan Mike Walker has led Nature’s Neighbor for more than a decade, working with a revolving-door cast of musicians who’ve helped him realize his liquid indie-pop sound. But as much as the project is his brainchild, its new album, Otherside (Tai Duo Music), wouldn’t exist without longtime collaborator Terrill Mast. Early last April, Mast texted Walker from his home in Virginia about writing a song together, and despite Walker’s initial hesitance, the endeavor snowballed into a full-length record that demonstrates how far the two musicians’ intimate trust has taken them....

“Troubled Waters,” an eclectic package of films currently streaming on FilmStruck, collects eight crime, mystery, and thriller stories set (at least partially) on boats. We’ve scuttled three of them, leaving five to set sail for dark waters and on-screen squalls. Macao Josef von Sternerg attempted to re-create the ambience of his 1930s Paramount period for this 1952 RKO production; there’s no way of knowing whether he succeeded or not, because the film was recut by producer Howard Hughes, with additional scenes directed by Nicholas Ray....

There are so many intriguing elements to Ravenswood’s Band of Bohemia that it’s easy to see why this endlessly gestating project was one of the most anticipated openings of 2015. A pair of Alinea vets launch a “culinary brewhouse” in a former cookie factory hard by the Metra tracks. Tapping into the national craft beer fixation, they’ve decided their food should be paired to complement their house-brewed suds—not the other way around....

Last year LA singer and composer Julia Holter underlined her stunning development as an art-pop auteur, matching her ethereal melodic sensibility with small-scale orchestrations on her live-in-the-studio album In the Same Room (Domino). The collection featured deft reinventions of songs from her previous two recordings, with new arrangements that completely refresh some of the material. With Holter’s focus on sophisticated pop songs it’s been easy to forget that she has a strong background in more experimental composition; she studied under Michael Pisaro at CalArts and possesses a sharp post-Cagean creativity she now mostly deploys in her collaborations with others, such as the suite of songs written by Chicagoan Alex Temple that she performed with Spektral Quartet a few years ago....

In a December episode of new WGN podcast The Cornerstore (hosted by journalist Tara Mahadevan and Young Chicago Authors artistic director Kevin Coval), Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins talks a little about his frustrations with Cinematic Music Group. He began working with the Brooklyn-based hip-hop indie in 2014, and it released his breakthrough mixtape, The Water[s], his 2015 follow-up, Wave[s], and his debut studio album, 2016’s The Healing Component—though by 2016 his relationship with the label had soured....

Saul Williams is a one-man multimedia juggernaut: he’s had successful careers as a screenwriter and actor, but he’s earned his greatest fame as a poet and MC. His new sixth studio album, Encrypted and Vulnerable (Pirates Blend), includes a track whose title aptly sums up his musical evolution: “Experiment.” Though Williams’s first major recording was a collaboration with KRS-One (“Oceans Within,” from the soundtrack to the 1998 film Slam, which Williams cowrote and starred in), he has largely bypassed the usual musical routes followed by hip-hop artists....

Time to plan the week. Here’s some of what we recommend: Tue 5/10: Neil deGrasse Tyson, the king of the universe (or at least the king of the knowledge of the universe), discusses the science behind the mysteries of space tonight at the Chicago Theatre (175 N. State). (UPDATE: Sold out) 7:30 PM For more stuff to do this weekend—and every day—check out our Agenda page.

Q: I’m female, 26, and in an open marriage with a wonderful man. I have a recurring fear that he’ll get some other woman pregnant and she’ll refuse to abort. I trust him, but condoms break (or get holes poked in them). He inherited serious money from his father, and his father got “oops’d” into having three kids. I would immediately divorce my husband if this happened. (Yes, I’m an asshole, but my life plans have NEVER included children, step- or otherwise....

Remarkable Norwegian singer Susanna Wallumrød, who usually records under her first name, has spent the past decade and a half triangulating between several compelling personas, though it’s always clear as day who you’re listening to—her crystalline voice is just as clear. She first made waves in 2004 leading Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, a duo with keyboardist Morten Qvenild of In the Country fame. They combined sorrowful, gorgeous originals and occasional inventive covers at a molasses-slow pace, their lovely melodic shapes moving so patiently they seemed like frozen clouds....

The Back Room Deal features radio personality and longtime Reader political writer Ben Joravsky arguing local Chicago politics with Reader staff writer Maya Dukmasova. With sharp wit and stinging analysis, Joravsky and Dukmasova cut through the smoky haze of the elections to offer you a glimpse of the current Chicago races—ward-level and, of course, mayoral. Will these historic elections be determined in back-room deals, like so many in Chicago’s past?...

Femifest, a DIY music and art fest hosted by Bad Witch Club, started as a high school benefit concert in Des Moines, Iowa, before moving to Chicago in 2018. Now in its fifth year, the sold-out fest strives to stay true to its original intention of “promoting the safety and liberation of marginalized artists and fans.” Friday night performers packed Auxiliary Art Center in Avondale for a raucous dance party littered with Pixy Stix and doughnuts....

This morning, the Pitchfork Music Festival announced its lineup for 2021, which includes most of the acts scheduled to play in 2020—with some notable exceptions. Erykah Badu replaces the National as the headliner of the festival’s closing night, St. Vincent takes the Saturday-night headlining slot previously held by Run the Jewels (who are playing at this year’s Riot Fest instead), and Phoebe Bridgers wraps up Friday night instead of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs....

Advocates of drinking apple cider vinegar cite all kinds of health benefits, from reduced blood sugar to cancer prevention. But when Jenn Fink of Pub Royale was challenged by Brett Lichnerowicz of Luxbar to create a cocktail with the vinegar, she immediately thought of a drink popular in colonial America: the shrub. Made by combining fruit, vinegar, and sugar, shrubs were either mixed with soda water or used as a cocktail ingredient; they fell out of favor after refrigeration became common but have seen a resurgence in the last few years or so....

Iron Chic’s songs move with the exhausted triumph of an Olympic athlete who’s completed the 100m butterfly race with cement blocks attached to her arms and legs. Weight is imprinted in the music; the guitars heave skyward, the rhythm section perilously pushes forward, and front man Jason Lubrano’s burly vocals muscle their way through charged instrumentals. The band’s third album, the recent You Can’t Stay Here (SideOneDummy), is anchored by loss....

Theater (Kerry Reid) Silent Theatre Company brings back its immersive site-specific show from last fall, which Reader critic Max Maller described as “an astonishing play.” Set during the funeral of Pastor Eddy, Nell Voss’s play (which she also directs), allows the audience to follow congregants around the church, overhearing conversations and piecing together the relationships behind the tragedy. Unlike past Silent Theatre productions, this one does, naturally, feature spoken (if incomplete) dialogue....

Chemistry is everything in romance. The folks at Oak Park Festival Theatre prove this again and again over the course of their well-paced, nicely costumed, but ultimately disappointing revival of Shakespeare’s oft-produced comedy (directed by Melanie Keller) about two very different couples and the obstacles they encounter as they try to, well, couple (or, in the case of one pair, avoid coupling). There is just no chemistry between either set of lovers in the show....

In 2018 Nick Cave opened a new portal into his world with a question-and-answer newsletter titled the Red Hand Files. As queries from fans flooded in, Cave dutifully replied with poetic meditations, splashy Polaroids of his opulent Brighton home, and the occasional errant one-liner that shed new light on the mystique that he’s meticulously cultivated for 40-plus years. On February 25, Cave revealed one of the most momentous installments of the Red Hand Files: the surprise release of Carnage, a collaborative album with longtime cohort Warren Ellis that he describes as “a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe....

Leonard C. Goodman is a Chicago criminal defense attorney and co-owner of the newly independent Reader. Since the coronavirus forced businesses to shut down, our economy has lost 40 million jobs, and millions more workers have had their wages cut or been forced to work part-time. Desperate to maintain their profits, many large corporations are planning additional massive layoffs. The temporary relief provided to working people included onetime $1,200 stimulus checks and $600 unemployment supplements that expired this summer....