In July 2019, Chicago indie-rock trio Horsegirl played the eighth annual Square Roots Festival. At the time, live shows were the only way to hear the group’s taut but disarming dream pop, with its windswept-lakefront sound—and they’d only performed a few of them. They hadn’t released any music, not even to stream, and unsurprisingly they’d […]
Tag: Brian Case
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Hannah Sandoz releases a new collection of melancholy avant-garde folk
Hannah Sandoz releases a new collection of melancholy avant-garde folk, the famous Danny’s Smiths Night comes back for one evening at the Empty Bottle, and cult house artist Marcus Mixx looks for help with a new apartment.
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Facs light a beacon with a new album of dark postpunk
Facs light a beacon with a new album of dark postpunk, Equity Arts hosts a talk about nurturing community cultural spaces, and more.
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A eulogy for Danny’s Tavern
For decades, Danny’s nurtured a devoted and welcoming community of music lovers—but it couldn’t survive the pandemic.
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Emerging Chicago band Lifeguard play noisy, retro-leaning rock without getting stuck in the past
Chicago band Lifeguard make the kind of noisy, brooding rock that’s been foundational to generations of punk and indie bands, all the way back to the dawn of hardcore and no wave. On their self-released debut album, Dive, Lifeguard dispense driving bass lines that could enliven even the dreariest postpunk tune, impassioned drumming that ratchets […]
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Disappears, White/Light, and Steve Shelley drop a collaboration recorded 11 years ago
Disappears, White/Light, and Steve Shelley drop a collaboration recorded 11 years ago, two-thirds of Weatherman share their first music since moving to a medieval French village, and more.
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The new Facs album, Void Moments, shows the Chicago trio at their apex
The Facs formula has always been stark minimalism. On their first two albums, the Chicago trio—currently drummer Noah Leger, guitarist-singer Brian Case, and bassist Alianna Kalaba—built every track on tense rhythms, simple bass throbs, barely-there guitar plinking, and direct spoken-word vocals. It was like they were casting moods more than writing songs. The formula worked […]
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Dangerous DJ rigs on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was designed by Chicago artist Bill Connors.
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Chicago postpunks Facs cut their last tether
Chicago postpunks Facs inherited members from Disappears, but for the new Lifelike they’ve found the personnel and the sound to become a self-contained band.
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Post-Disappears trio Facs celebrate a stark new album with a new lineup
Facs plays a record-release show for Negative Houses on Friday at the Empty Bottle, and it doubles as the local debut of new bassist Alianna Kalaba.
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Great Chicago label, meet great Chicago band: Trouble in Mind signs Facs
Trouble in Mind signs Facs, Chicago shops celebrate Cassette Store Day, and the Eradicator drop a self-titled album.
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International Anthem brings punk idealism to progressive jazz
Chicago label International Anthem puts in the sweat to bring progressive jazz the audience it deserves.
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Back from hiatus unscathed, the Poison Arrows drop their first album since 2010
The Poison Arrows drop their first album since before their hiatus, Drag City and Neil Hamburger celebrate a rediscovered glam-rock weirdo, and more.
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Lowhangers vocalist Cassandra Mukahirn on an even grosser version of Flipper
Current musical obsessions of Lowhangers vocalist Cassandra Mukahirn, Rectal Hygienics drummer Omar Gonzalez, and Reader associate editor Kevin Warwick
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Sonnenzimmer cofounder Nick Butcher on one of the TR-808’s earliest star turns
Current musical obsessions of artists Nick Butcher and Alex Valentine and Reader music critic Peter Margasak