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Home » Best of Chicago » Music & Nightlife 2015 Critics' Picks

Category: Music & Nightlife 2015 Critics’ Picks

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best new music blogger

by Philip Montoro June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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 […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best new south-side nightlife spot

by Tal Rosenberg June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Peter Margasak June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Luca Cimarusti June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Leor Galil June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Ryan Smith June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Philip Montoro June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Leor Galil June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Steve Krakow June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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 […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best lasers at an underground rave

by Tal Rosenberg June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Luca Cimarusti June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Britt Julious June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Peter Margasak June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Britt Julious June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

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

by Leor Galil June 24, 2015August 18, 2021

“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 […]

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