A year after the death of pioneering Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, a posthumous album highlights his work with younger generations.
Category: The Listener
Posted inMusic
Catherine Ringer keeps Les Rita Mitsouko’s music alive
Catherine Ringer’s famous duo, Les Rita Mitsouko, are no more—but she performed their punky, jazzy synth-pop songs for a recent live release.
Posted inMusic
Time to dissolve your brain with ridiculous noise rock
The new album from Austin “supergroup” USA/Mexico is the musical antidote to consciousness.
Posted inMusic
Dale Jenkins’s private-press postpunk finally gets a proper reissue
Dale Jenkins’s 1985 oddity was released last week in an expanded version by Spanish label Guerssen and Chicago-based label Got Kinda Lost.
Posted inMusic
James Brown’s “Funky President (People It’s Bad)” is unfortunately relevant again
Written shortly after Nixon’s resignation, James Brown’s “Funky President (People It’s Bad)” speaks to today’s political corruption too.
Posted inMusic
Black Country, New Road bring the heat to the polar vortex
Rowdy UK postpunk band Black Country, New Road dropped their eagerly awaited debut album on Friday.
Posted inMusic
This carousel calliope has a message for you—and you’re not going to like it
Sometimes you learn more from a machine when it stops working.
Posted inMusic
Chicago rapper Monster Mike takes on the porpoise police
Monster Mike’s new video, by local crew New Trash, may be your only chance to see a rapper duel a cetacean with katanas.
Posted inMusic
Battle Hag capture the sound of an ascent from the underworld
On the new Celestial Tyrant, Sacramento metal Battle Hag look to Greek mythology for a story of renewal.
Posted inMusic
Q: What do you listen to for self-care? A: Saxophone rock from 1981
The letter “Q” may be ruined, but the conspiracy can’t have Quarterflash.
Posted inMusic
A music poll to start 2021
Did 2020 set the bar low enough that it’s safe to hope this year will be better?
Posted inMusic
A new Chicago punk and metal compilation benefits local music venues
A new two-disc compilation from Angry Peasants hopes to help “save CIVL-zation.”
Posted inMusic
Neptunian Maximalism deliver a funeral rite for the human species
Neptunian Maximalism’s recent triple album, Éons, imagines a future Earth dominated by hyperintelligent elephants.
Posted inMusic
Daniel Knox’s new single holds up a mirror to a year of unraveling
“Fall Apart” will appear on Daniel Knox’s next album, Won’t You Take Me With You, which is due in January.
Posted inMusic
Fringe Christmas music is the best Christmas music
Chicago singer-songwriter Ian Iversen does his part to redeem Christmas music with the cheeky retro new wave of “Santa.”