Update: This concert has been postponed until Saturday, September 30. It’s no easy feat to capture the energy of Tank & the Bangas’ live shows on vinyl, but the New Orleans-based band’s third studio album, last year’s Red Balloon (Verve), comes close. In contrast to the 2020 EP Friend Goals, where band members wrote the […]
Author Archives: Kirsten Lambert
Posted inCity Life
Summer in the city: youth edition
Ah, summer vacation: the time of year when Chicago’s youth are free from the confines of school—but aren’t allowed to be in Millennium Park after six at night on weekends (or anywhere in public after 10 PM) without an adult present. What’s a teen to do during the lazy hazy days of summer? FREE TIME […]
Posted inMusic
Aimee Mann poignantly confronts mental illness on Queens of the Summer Hotel
Aimee Mann pairs her exquisitely crafted lyrics with unforgettable melodies, but her tunes often aren’t what you’d call light romps. The singer-songwriter started her musical career in the 80s as front woman of post-new-wave dance-pop band ’Til Tuesday, then went solo in the early 90s. On her tenth solo album, Queens of the Summer Hotel […]
Posted inMusic
Garbage indicts social injustices on No Gods No Masters
When Garbage broke out with their self-titled debut album in 1995, their alluring but abrasive sound—dark power-pop melodies topped by Shirley Manson’s alternately growled and whispered vocals—enticed listeners like sweet pink candy with a messy center. Their second album, 1998’s Version 2.0, expands on this recipe of fuzzed-out guitar and distorted vocals with multilayered tracks […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Remembering Michael Martin
From Chicago to New Orleans, the performer, playwright, director, producer, and raconteur created deep connections.
Posted inMusic
Tank & the Bangas embrace connection and the wacky side of isolation on Friend Goals
When New Orleans band Tank & the Bangas invited their friends and family to help them cover Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s pop classic “What the World Needs Now Is Love” in January, they embraced the song’s earnest call for kindness, sprinkled in spoken word urging people to come together in peace, and wrapped up […]
Posted inMusic
Fantastic Negrito merges rootsy sounds on his new Have You Lost Your Mind?
Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Xavier Dphrepaulezz, better known as Fantastic Negrito, takes us on a trip through his consciousness on his latest album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (Cooking Vinyl/Blackball Universe). He confronts heavy issues such as mental illness, addiction, and gun violence, and filters them all through the lens of his own life […]
Posted inMusic
Twenty One Pilots get conceptual on Trench
Beyoncé has her Beyhive and Taylor Swift fans call themselves Swifties, but no current pop fandom rocks ski masks or face paint quite like the Skeleton Clique—the devotees of Twenty One Pilots, the Columbus-based duo famous for obscuring their faces with dramatic skeleton makeup and other disguises onstage. Members of the Clique follow the band […]
Posted inMusic
Day of the Dowd 2 aims to stock the shelves at Pilsen food pantry
When Chicago drummer Gerald Dowd released his first full-length album, Home Now, in 2014, he threw a daylong release party with the tongue-in-cheek name Day of the Dowd. Over the course of 13 hours, Dowd sat in with 16 of the artists he’s accompanied during his long career, including children’s musician Justin Roberts and alt-country […]
Posted inMusic
Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard puts her soul into Jaime
The thought of publicly airing painful events from your past may make you cringe, but soul baring can also be cathartic or even necessary. Brittany Howard, the guitarist and front woman of Alabama Shakes, shares a glimpse into some of the challenges she’s faced on her new solo album, Jaime (ATO), named for her sister, […]
Posted inMusic
UK singer-songwriter Barns Courtney explores existential themes on 404
After Dave Grohl broke his leg early in the Foo Fighters’ 2015 tour, he performed the rest of the dates with his leg in a cast, sitting on a throne of his own design. Singer-songwriter Barns Courtney took Grohl’s shtick up a notch after breaking his foot jumping from the stage at Milwaukee’s Summerfest in […]
Posted inMusic
Genre-crossing musician Gary Clark Jr. shows his versatility on This Land
Good luck slapping a label on Gary Clark Jr. The Austin native won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2013, but his music cuts across genres, including blues, rock, and hip-hop. In the 2015 Rolling Stone mini documentary Gary and Eve, Clark says he once imagined following in the footsteps of a soulful […]
Posted inMusic
With All Blues, Peter Frampton honors classics amid his own loss
Peter Frampton’s got a right to sing the blues. The versatile guitarist recently revealed he has a degenerative muscle disorder called inclusion body myositis, which means his fingers might eventually stop letting him play his treasured instruments, including his iconic Les Paul. The diagnosis is a cruel blow for Frampton, who while still a teenager […]
Posted inMusic
‘Diamond’ Diana Ross marks a half century of ruling the stage
This year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival seemed beset by bad juju: the Rolling Stones begged off due to Mick Jagger’s heart surgery, and Bob Seger bowed out, blaming a scheduling conflict. But Diana Ross, fresh off her “Diamond Diana” residency in Vegas, showed up in a big way. In the first Jazz Fest […]
Posted inMusic
Rock and baseball greats team up for the annual Hot Stove Cool Music benefit
You never know who might show up at Hot Stove Cool Music Chicago, an annual benefit concert that brings the city’s baseball and music communities together to support nonprofits helping urban youth and families. In past years, Eddie Vedder has crowd-surfed, Jimmy Chamberlin has hit the skins, and Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson have played […]