As we navigated shutdowns and venue closures throughout 2020, many of us observed that time seemed to slow down. But when it comes to dilating time, COVID-19 is a rank dabbler compared to Pelt. Even in their early incarnation as a Sonic Youth-inspired noise-rock band based in Blacksburg, West Virginia, they were prone to sludgy […]
Tag: Bill MacKay
Posted inMusic
Tim Kinsella’s Friend/Enemy re-emerges after 18 years with koans about America’s nightmare
Immediately after the 2016 presidential election, Tim Kinsella and a coterie of collaborators gathered at Chicago’s Minbal studios to work through their feelings about America’s new nightmare. It took them two days to record an album of solemn, fretful indie rock, and then it took them more than three years to release it. HIH NO/ON […]
Posted inMusic
Eye Vybe Records doesn’t need you to pretend Christmas is fun
Eye Vybe Records doesn’t need you to pretend Christmas is fun, Comfort Station throws a holiday benefit show with a dazzling lineup, and more.
Posted inMusic
Bill MacKay and Katinka Kleijn document their dynamic duo with an album
Bill MacKay and Katinka Kleijn finally document their dynamic duo with an album, friends band together to help Jazz Showcase founder Joe Segal with medical bills, and more.
Posted inMusic
Guitarist Bill MacKay and banjo player Nathan Bowles promise to take you all over the map with their new duo
Even if you don’t know their names, you may already have heard Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles. The former is a local guitarist whose versatility has enabled him to conjure late-night streetscapes with poet Dmitry Samarov, make like the Velvet Underground with Circuit des Yeux, and roll with the mercurial jams of folk-rocker Ryley Walker. […]
Posted inMusic
The Jazz Festival’s orbit bustles with too much music for one weekend
Jazz Fest’s ten days of neighborhood concerts, satellite shows, and aftersets include Kidd Jordan, Angel Bat Dawid, Jeff Parker, Marc Ribot, and Ben Sidran.
Posted inMusic
On his new Fountain Fire, guitarist Bill MacKay follows his own wandering direction
Like many avant-garde-leaning guitarists, Bill MacKay exudes the spirit of a wandering player walking the earth, at peace with pulling up a rickety stool and shuffling through a dusty acoustic jam with whomever he happens to encounter along the way. A frequent collaborator with local savant Ryley Walker (the pair have made a small selection […]
Posted inMusic
Hogg drop a new LP of tense, ritualistic throb ’n’ roll
Hogg drop a new LP of tense, ritualistic throb ’n’ roll, Elastic Arts hosts the 15th annual Sonic Celluloid multimedia mashup, and more.
Posted inMusic
Chicago rapper the Boy Illinois headlines his first show since dropping the triumphant Windy EP
Chicago rapper the Boy Illinois headlines his first show since dropping the triumphant Windy EP, three current and former Chicagoans set a piece of Finnegans Wake to music, and more.
Posted inBlogs
Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker push back against winter’s bleakness with their second annual holiday party
Chicago guitarists Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker invite musical friends of all stripes to the Hideout on Friday for a night of holiday cheer.
Posted inMusic
Guitarists and pals pull their individual aesthetics closer together on their second collaborative album
Guitarists Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker have been playing together for years, and their lovely second collaborative album, SpiderBeetleBee (Drag City), beautifully bridges the gap between their backgrounds. MacKay, a Pittsburgh native, has musical roots in jazz, while Walker pursues a cosmic folk-rock sound indebted to experimental troubadours such as Tim Buckley, John Martyn, and […]
Posted inMusic
On his charmingly low-key Drag City debut, veteran Chicago guitarist Bill MacKay shows his full range
For years Bill MacKay has soldiered on as one of the most skilled and tasteful guitarists in Chicago, a player who fluidly moves between jazz and rock while making several stops in between. He’s gained attention for his quartet Darts & Arrows—a tuneful fusion band that somehow bridges a gap between Larry Coryell’s early work […]
Posted inMusic
This year’s Winter Block Party celebrates women in Chicago hip-hop
This year’s Winter Block Party celebrates women in Chicago hip-hop, the eighth Chicago Psych Fest fogs up the Hideout, and more.
Posted inMusic
Guitarists Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay whip up some sorely needed holiday cheer
Guitarists Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay whip up some sorely needed holiday cheer, Timbuck2Forever returns to Metro to honor the fallen Chicago DJ, and more.
Posted inBlogs
This drawing of John Hulburt celebrates the release of John Hulburt’s record
This week’s gig poster was drawn by George Hansen.