Kim Kelly, author at Chicago Reader

The protest songs that drove the Wobblies a century ago are still lighting fires

by Kim Kelly April 26, 2018August 18, 2021

Labor firebrand Joe Hill wrote some of the most enduring anthems in the IWW’s Little Red Songbook—and today’s activists carry on his legacy.

Music

The most painfully slow albums of 2015

by Kim Kelly December 17, 2015August 18, 2021

It’s been a brutal year. A lot of darkness has crossed our thresholds, so that even when we make time to celebrate—to embrace life and joy—we can never entirely escape all the reasons to do the opposite. With winter poised to strike and our TV and computer screens continually stained with what look like signs […]

Music

Why Merle Haggard is the baddest outlaw at a festival full of punk rockers

by Kim Kelly September 9, 2015August 18, 2021

And no, it’s not just because he spent three years in San Quentin.

Music

Robin Thicke’s morbidly fascinating Paula and 15 more record reviews

by Leor Galil, Peter Margasak, Monica Kendrick, Kevin Warwick, Luca Cimarusti, Bill Meyer, Kim Kelly and Erin Osmon July 1, 2014August 18, 2021

This month’s release roundup includes White Lung’s witchy two-minute mantras, Monarch’s crawling tectonic doom, and Sir Michael Rocks’s bleakly sunny party rap.

Music

Lily Allen’s almost annoyingly catchy Sheezus and 15 more record reviews

by Peter Margasak, Leor Galil, Miles Raymer, Bill Meyer, Kevin Warwick, Luca Cimarusti, Kim Kelly, Tal Rosenberg and David Whiteis May 19, 2014August 18, 2021

This month’s stack of record reviews will get you better acquainted with Ben Frost’s defibrillating body music, Dawn Golden’s alchemical electro-pop, and lots more.