Chicago singer-songwriter Neal Francis isn’t particularly religious, but the church has had a deep impact on his music. As a child piano prodigy, Francis learned to play the pipe organ at the Catholic church he attended with his family, an experience that helped fuel his budding love of performance—since then, he’s sat in with local […]
Author Archives: Jamie Ludwig
Posted inMusic
Chicago rockers Touched by Ghoul make up for canceling the world with a raucous New Year’s Eve show
Can some people subconsciously sense what the future holds? It’s fun to consider, especially in the context of something as good-natured as the new second album by Chicago art-rockers Touched by Ghoul: it bears the unintentionally prophetic title Cancel the World. Vocalist and guitarist Angela Mullenhour (formerly of Sybris), guitarist Andrea Bauer (formerly of the […]
Posted inMusic
Dan Sartain’s posthumous Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise shows why his songwriting will live on
It took only the opening bars of the first Dan Sartain record I heard, 2006’s Join Dan Sartain (released on the illustrious Swami Records), to hook me on the music of the Alabama songwriter. His sharp, sometimes dark lyrics, his soulful and magnetic voice, and his ability to spin timeworn styles such as blues, rockabilly, […]
Posted inMusic
David Weathersby, documentary filmmaker
David Weathersby is a filmmaker and founder of video production company City Vanguard, which focuses on documentaries about underrepresented communities of color. In 2018, he received a Black Excellence Award for The Color of Art from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, and in 2019, his documentary Thee Debauchery Ball won the audience award […]
Posted inMusic
Dave Gahan & Soulsavers refresh familiar tunes on Imposter
If you’ve followed much of Dave Gahan’s career, “subtle” and “understated” probably wouldn’t be the first words you’d use to describe his style or sound. As lead singer of pioneering synth-pop outfit Depeche Mode, he’s one of the most iconic front men of the past four decades, with a larger-than-life baritone voice that’s as darkly […]
Posted inMusic
Mouth Congress confront anti-abortion violence and bigotry in “The People Have Spoken”
As the far right wages war on women and transgender people, attacking their civil rights and access to reproductive healthcare—to the extent that Roe v. Wade could be overturned between my writing this sentence and your reading it—very little of what’s making the news feels empowering, much less joyful. So the new video for “The […]
Posted inMusic
Monolord find universal truths in a conflicted world on Your Time to Shine
The doom scene has long played host to more than its fair share of the “leave politics out of music” crowd. But when online magazine Astral Noize asked Gothenburg stoner-metal trio Monolord whether they’d describe themselves as a political band, drummer Esben Willems replied, “Who isn’t? I think all bands are political in some sense. […]
Posted inMusic
Jessie Montgomery, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence
In April, violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery was named the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence. Montgomery will split her time between New York and Chicago throughout her residency, which started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2024. She gave this interview while in town to prepare for the first concert of the CSO’s […]
Posted inMusic
Cimafunk brings his uplifting Afro-Cuban funk fusions to Chicago in advance of El Alimento
Erik Alejandro Rodriguez, who performs as Cimafunk, is a prominent figure in a rising generation of Cuban artists, and his fusions of Afro-Cuban musical traditions with funk, hip-hop, and African rhythms have a fresh and uplifting vibe. Rodriguez’s stage name comes from the Spanish word cimarrón, which translates to “wild” or “untamed” and in the […]
Posted inMusic
Adia Victoria’s bluesy new A Southern Gothic begs for repeat listens
All music worth listening to reveals more about itself with repeat listens, and sometimes our interpretation of it changes with time and our own growth. This is true for albums that lay out what they’re about as though they had a sandwich board for cover art, and it’s doubly so for albums full of intriguing […]
Posted inMusic
Joe Camarillo’s friends and bandmates come together to celebrate the drummer’s life and music
Since the start of the pandemic, Chicago has lost an incredible number of artists whose contributions to the local music community helped shape the sound of the city and beyond. They include drummer and vocalist Joe Camarillo, who passed away in January following a stroke. Since the mid-80s, when he was a high school student […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s Wingtips bring a little light to the dark synth-pop of Cutting Room Floor
In 2021, the idea of editing yourself can sound cynical—it’s been tainted by social-media influencers who manufacture images and videos of a blemish-free life of luxury while struggling to make ends meet offline. But on their brand-new second album, Cutting Room Floor, dark Chicago synth-pop duo Wingtips suggest that self-editing can be part of a […]
Posted inMusic
Buddy Miles wrings every drop of emotion from “The Segment”
I was walking through Fulton Market on my way home from a work event a few weeks ago when “Yes, I Know” floated out into the summer air from the PA of a nearby restaurant. The song appears on Jiaolong, the 2012 full-length debut of Daphni, a dance-music project by Dan Snaith of Caribou. It’s […]
Posted inMusic
Jonn Wallen of Oui Ennui has released 18 records since contracting COVID
Chicago multi-instrumentalist and producer Jonn Wallen, who records and performs as Oui Ennui, has been writing music since he was five. Working mostly with synths and computers, he makes maximalist compositions he describes as “paintings.” In September 2019, he gave his first public performance in more than a decade as part of the Plantasia event […]
Posted inMusic
Sasha Daltonn, jazz singer and founder of the Chicago Gospel Music Festival
“We weren’t only honoring Professor Dorsey—this was a major event introduced by the first Black mayor of the city, and it needed to be outstanding.”