Lorena Cupcake at storebrandsoda.com @lorenacupcake Lorena Cupcake, 28, founded Store Brand Soda with the even more pseudonymous Hotdish Ramone in August 2014, inspired by the combo of music calendar and […]
Category: Music & Nightlife 2015 Critics’ Picks
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best new south-side nightlife spot
The Promontory 5311 S. Lake Park 312-801-2100 promontorychicago.com Whatever your feelings are about the food and drink at Hyde Park’s the Promontory, you’d be hard-pressed to find much wrong with […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best musical anniversary
The 50th year of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians With the exception of the anniversary of my marriage, I tend to be pretty ambivalent about such celebrations—they […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best punk-rock LGBTQ night
Glitter Creeps “I would have killed for a rock ‘n’ roll-themed gay night when I was 21!” says Donnie Moore, front man of local punk band Absolutely Not and founder […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best honorary member of Chicago’s footwork scene with a day job at a steel mill in Gary
Jlin Its Chicago roots notwithstanding, footwork is a global phenomenon now, with vital communities popping up as far afield as Japan and Poland. So it was no leap at all […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best reason to hang out at an arcade bar after midnight on a school night
Killer Queen at Logan Arcade 2410 W. Fullerton 872-206-2859 loganarcade.com Even drinking the beer with the highest alcohol content at one of Chicago’s ever-growing roster of arcade bars can’t mask […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best consequence of a broken HVAC system
The new Elastic Arts space @elasticarts Last summer the Elastic Arts Foundation suffered many stifling nights thanks to windows that didn’t open and a failed HVAC system that left its […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best way to footwork in an art gallery during off-hours
The Era’s Lab Sessions 2233 S. Throop highconceptlaboratories.org Last year footwork collective the Era launched Lab Sessions, an intermittently operating club night that brings the hyperfast, athletic style of dance […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best transcendental deep-space synth trip
Matchess It’s always nice when a solo project comes into its own, and Whitney Johnson, aka Matchess, has taken off into the stratosphere. Better known as the singer and violist […]
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Best lasers at an underground rave
The Rubicon A few months ago, a group of friends whispered something about heading to an underground party called the Rubicon. I couldn’t go that night, but thinking that I […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best group of veterans of the Blue Man backing band
Electric Hawk Drummer Noah Leger, who plays in ultraminimal postpunk outfit Disappears, holds down a day job behind the kit in the Blue Man Group’s onstage backing band. In 2009, […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best nomadic collective for weird, druggy, hard-hitting underground techno
Tied When this clandestine collective of “like-minded people tied together” first appeared, it was to throw parties that bounce from one nondescript location to the next, start at hours during […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best classical label
Cedille Records @CedilleRecords Founded in 1989 by James Ginsburg, Cedille Records is hardly a secret in the world of classical music, where it’s widely recognized as one of the most […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best progressive cumbia and tropical bass night
CumbiaSazo 1572 N. Milwaukee 773-489-3160 doubledoor.com Hosted by Double Door every fourth Saturday of the month, CumbiaSazo is part live music performance, part dance instruction, and part art exhibit, all […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best instructional dance video
“Big Sexy Slide” by DJ Maine @maineofficial In late 2013, bop kings Dlow and Lil Kemo combined their wild, euphoric dancing with the sort of party rap that’s made for […]