Experimental musician Jordan Reyes has dipped his fingers into many genres. His early works display his devotion to the modular synth, but he’s increasingly branched out in unpredictable directions, like flood waters overflowing a creek. The Chicago-based musician (and occasional Reader contributor) delved into dark ambient on 2020’s Fairchild Soundtrack + Border Land (a score […]
Tag: Lia Kohl
Posted inMusic
Bandcamp Fridays enter their third year
I still can’t do anything but guess about the long-term significance of last month’s news that Bandcamp has been acquired by Epic Games. Or maybe I should say “worry,” not “guess.” I cherish Bandcamp because it caters to artists who have little to no interest in the mainstream music business, and I don’t want that […]
Posted inMusic
Shane Parish brings electrified sea shanties and improvisational explorations to Elastic Arts
There’s no pinning down Shane Parish. On acoustic guitar, he spins webs of bright, densely packed notes; plugged in, he dips into a deep well of jagged rhythms, gnarled chords, and elongated ribbons of humming sound. Stylistically, he seems equally at home meditating upon American folk tunes, negotiating high-speed hairpin turns with mathy combo Ahleuchatistas, […]
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A concert-by-concert guide to the Frequency Festival
After a COVID gap year, the Frequency Festival returns on February 22. The six-day event is an outgrowth of the Frequency Series, which is programmed by former Chicago Reader staff music critic Peter Margasak and hosted by Constellation. Founded in 2013, shortly after drummer and promoter Mike Reed opened the north-side venue, the series presents […]
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New-music combo Honestly Same debut their improvised meditations
Update Thu 1/20: The Honestly Same concert tonight has been canceled because one of the group’s members has been exposed to COVID. Gossip Wolf has yet to hear a note from Honestly Same, but the temptation is strong to refer to the five-piece improvising collective as a supergroup—kind of like Temple of the Dog for […]
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Edgar Miller’s handmade homes have become wellsprings of inspiration for local artists
Like a scarlet pane of firelight shining from a brick-and-mortar facade, a red door on the 1700 block of North Wells announces the presence of a little piece of magic in the Old Town neighborhood. “You just walk beyond that barrier and you leave your life behind—a calm washes over you and you’re in this […]
Posted inMusic
Daniel Wyche makes guitar ambience you can feel at home in
“A home is a place that’s full of people,” says Chicago guitarist, composer, and improviser Daniel Wyche. “I’ve been inspired by my grandparents’ hospitality. They had this need to welcome tons of people into their home. That’s cultivating what family means.” The first track on Earthwork, Wyche’s new album on local label American Dreams Records, […]
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Chicago musical wonder Macie Stewart takes command of her path on Mouth Full of Glass
Macie Stewart has her hands in so many different musical projects it’s a wonder she finds the time to sleep. She coleads enchanting art-rock band Ohmme, of course, which she cofounded with Sima Cunningham in 2014, but aside from her best-known gig, Stewart plays violin in a duo with cellist Lia Kohl, makes up one-third […]
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Ayanna Woods raises funds to capture ten years of songwriting in the studio
Ayanna Woods raises funds to capture ten years of songwriting in the studio, Fulton Street Collective hosts an exhibit of photos by four jazz musicians, and more.
Posted inArts & Culture
Food, health, sleep, and screens: We Series focuses on the essentials
Anything goes during this evening on Twitch.
Posted inMusic
Andrew Tham, composer, performer, and cofounder of Parlour Tapes
“I was just livestreaming myself from my room for eight hours a day, just to see what it felt like. It was weird.”
Posted inMusic
Cellist Lia Kohl on a joyful live series that randomly collides improvisers
Current musical obsessions of drummer Tim Daisy, cellist Lia Kohl, and Reader music editor Philip Montoro
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Homeroom’s Physics for Listeners series connects local trio ZRL with four disparate composers
Homeroom’s Physics for Listeners series connects local trio ZRL with four disparate composers, the Plastic (Crimewave) Ono Band releases its fourth tape-only split, and more.
Posted inMusic
Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl play with 30 cellos in a swimming pool
Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl play with 30 cellos in a swimming pool, the rejuvenated Skin Graft Records drops a Chicago vs. New York compilation, and more.
Posted inBlogs
Singer-guitarist Haley Fohr hunts for a path forward with a colorful Hideout residency
Fohr’s three freewheeling Wednesday shows feature guests such as Hamid Drake, Tim Kinsella, and Olivia Block, plus an eight-piece version of her Circuit des Yeux band.