After Chicago political hardcore powerhouse Racetraitor disbanded in 1999, a fog of legend grew in their wake. Motivated by their frustration at the bilious 2016 presidential campaign cycle and the fury and urgency of the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement, the band reemerged with a fiery reunion a couple weeks before the election, but they […]
Author Archives: Monica Kendrick
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London label Touch brings its 40th-anniversary celebration to the International Museum of Surgical Science
London-based Touch isn’t a record label in the traditional sense; it’s far more multifaceted. It might be more accurate to describe Touch as a collective that also extends into publishing, performance curation, and site-specific multimedia events driven by a loosely defined stable of international avant-garde electronic and sound artists, who include guitarist and producer Fennesz, […]
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The sum of Patti Smith’s work has more weight and depth than ever
Patti Smith hasn’t released a new album since 2012’s Banga, but the Chicago-born punk singer and poet has stayed extremely active as a photographer, activist, and author. She’s published six books in the past decade, and her latest, 2019’s Year of the Monkey, is a riveting memoir. Set in 2016, it’s a picaresque ramble through […]
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Chicago’s Huntsmen delve deeper into their lush metal storytelling on The Dying Pines
Huntsmen’s distinctive, delicious sound mixes turbocharged gothic country with sophisticated, dynamic doom metal wrapped in horror-tinged Americana atmospheres. Following two EPs, 2014’s Post War and 2016’s The Colonel, the Chicago band received rave reviews for their 2018 debut full-length, American Scrap. Their epic 80-minute concept album Mandala of Fear, about a battle-scarred veteran trying to […]
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On Comedian, Without Waves make mood-shifting prog metal that’s no laughing matter
I can hardly believe it’s been five years since I previewed Without Waves’ previous album, the 2017 release Lunar. When the Chicago progressive-metal quartet leapt back into the saddle for their third full-length (their second for Prosthetic), that time seemed to just melt away: the new Comedian is one of the best records I’ve heard […]
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Chicago’s Nequient want to rile you up with Darker Than Death or Night
Chicago’s Nequient hit the ground running in 2015 with the EP Infinite Regress. By the time of their 2018 full-length debut, Wolves at the Door, they’d solidified into a brutal, versatile metallic-hardcore unit. They’d also established their studio methods and favorite producers (Pete Grossman at Bricktop Recording), and they accumulated some DIY touring experience. The […]
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Matt Pike of High on Fire makes his solo debut with a psych-rock blowout
Matt Pike has had a long and storied career as a member of pioneering stoner-metal trios Sleep and High on Fire. But the pandemic has been hard on team players, and so this year the guitarist and vocalist is releasing his first solo album, Pike vs the Automaton—a heartbreaking work of cabin fever. He recorded […]
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The Chicago Psych Fest returns to the Hideout with a reunion by one of Chicago’s best modern psych bands
For 12 years, the Chicago Psych Fest has provided a great way to check out some of the city’s best psychedelic and experimental rock bands. The 2022 edition features a one-off reunion of the Great Society Mind Destroyers, whose headlining set will be their first gig together in 11 years—reason enough by itself to come […]
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Progressive death-metal band Monochromatic Black deliver the brutality on Vicissitude
In 2018, Long Island progressive death-metal band Monochromatic Black threw down the gauntlet with a video for their debut single, “The Herd,” announcing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The following year, they released their first EP, Pneuma, to considerable acclaim: it’s an intense, versatile, and strikingly assured burst of brutality that hit […]
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Four Chicago venues join forces for a celebration of local rock, metal, and punk
Update, January 10: The Save the Rock ‘n’ Roll Festival has been postponed. The new dates are Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 1. In April 2020, just weeks after COVID-19 shut down the live-music industry, four Chicago venue operators—Louie Mendicino of Cobra Lounge, Herb Rosen of Liar’s Club, Robby Glick of Reggies, and Dave Hornyak […]
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Stoner-rock supergroup Stöner light up 2022 with a New Year’s Day concert
California power trio Stöner are a new band of road-tested musicians. The collective resumé of guitarist and vocalist Brant Bjork, bassist and vocalist Nick Oliveri, and drummer Ryan Gut sprawls across the ranks of stoner-rock royalty: they’ve played in the likes of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, and the underrated Hammerface. So […]
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Dynamic guitarist Nita Strauss will shred your face off
Los Angeles-based guitarist Nita Strauss has made her name as a session player and composer of music for video games and indie film. She’s also been Alice Cooper’s guitarist since 2014, and as she fought her way up through the competitive world of studio musicians and hired guns, she became the first woman to have […]
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Baroness play fan-picked favorites on their first tour since the pandemic
Savannah metal band Baroness have named all their albums after colors, which before you even press play can evoke a sort of psychedelic synaesthesia and prepare your mind for what it’s about to receive. Led by guitarist and vocalist John Dyer Baizley, who’s also unquestionably one of the greatest album-cover and poster artists of his […]
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Circuit des Yeux transforms isolation and grief into absorbing musical ambition on -io
Chicago vocalist, guitarist, and composer Haley Fohr is such a creative force that she can’t be contained by one persona—in addition to performing as Circuit des Yeux, she uses the alter ego Jackie Lynn to tell musical tales from the points of view of characters that feel personal yet slightly removed. Fohr began her new […]
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Queer country pioneers Lavender Country return to the Hideout
I’m wary about jumping on the “nature is healing” train, but I have to admit that when I heard the news that groundbreaking gay country band Lavender Country were returning to the Hideout stage for the Cosmic Country Showcase, it felt like a pretty big ray of hope—every time they’ve graced this festive event with […]