Magician Paige Thompson takes over the artist-in-residence slot at Chicago Magic Lounge (5050 N. Clark) with her show A Paige in Time, opening tonight at 7 PM and running Wednesdays through 12/21. Thompson combines autobiography with sleight-of-hand to illustrate the moments “that have motivated her to pursue her passion and fuel the inspiration for her […]
Tag: Lincoln Hall
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Half Gringa drops a new single and plays a pandemic-delayed album-release show
Gossip Wolf has been following the work of local singer-songwriter Isabel “Izzy” Olive, aka Half Gringa, since she was still calling her project Tin Silos in the mid-2010s. Since adopting the Half Gringa name, Olive has been on an incredible hot streak: her 2017 debut, Gruñona, earned a spot in the Reader’s sprawling list of […]
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Chicago dance-pop duo Drama return to the stage to showcase their pre-pandemic album
We’ll never know what might have been for any of us had 2020 turned out a little less soul crushing. But it feels extra bittersweet to imagine the possibilities for Chicago duo Drama, who released their debut album, Dance Without Me (Ghostly International), just before lockdown. Since joining forces in 2014, vocalist Via Rosa and […]
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Ratboys celebrate their tenth birthday in a virtual living room at Schubas
Ratboys celebrate their tenth birthday in a virtual living room at Schubas, Northwestern’s New Music Conference returns in online form, and more.
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If enough of us celebrate Independent Venue Week, we might have one next year too
For Independent Venue Week, the Reader has rounded up some favorite stories about Chicago music venues past and present.
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Want live music back? Wear a mask and call Congress.
Staff from 22 Chicago music venues talk about how far they still are from normal—and what it’ll take to keep them around till we all get there.
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Ratboys have been forced off the road, but they’re still on the rails
Chicago indie rockers Ratboys recently released their best album yet, and though they can’t tour, they’re finding ways to stay connected to their fans.
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Baltimore indie group Lower Dens use synths to navigate a complex world on The Competition
Lower Dens emerged out of Baltimore’s fertile underground music scene in 2010, and they’ve since built a catalog of immersive, slow-boiling indie rock elevated by Jana Hunter’s inviting, resonant vocals. During the first half of the 2010s, they dropped three albums, which makes the four-year gap between 2015’s Escape From Evil and last year’s The […]
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Chicago’s Ratboys become the toast of the national indie scene with Printer’s Devil
Guitarist-vocalist Julia Steiner and guitarist David Sagan met as first-year students at the University of Notre Dame in 2010, and they’ve since become ingrained in Chicago underground rock. Under the name Ratboys, they made themselves a home in the emo scene in the mid-2010s, playing country-flecked indie songs and drawing in a couple prolific collaborators […]
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On Beware of the Dogs, Australian singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly bridges the gap between debatable and relatable
UPDATE: Tuesday, January 14, 12:50 PM:: Stella Donnelly has canceled her U.S. tour for health reasons. Paul Cherry has replaced her as the headliner of this show. Stella Donnelly’s truth creeps up on you. The sound of her voice over her gentle, electrified folk-rock guitar is like a chill that runs up your spine to […]
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Caroline Polachek from Chairlift explores the pain and pleasure of love on Pang
Caroline Polachek might be the queen of crushes. As half of the synth-pop duo Chairlift, she wrote cheeky sleeper favorites such as “Crying in Public” and “Bruises” in the late 2000s, before branching out into solo work, taking opera lessons (inspired by a Handel aria in the soundtrack of the 2009 Lars von Trier film […]
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Las Cafeteras don’t believe in borders, musical or otherwise
Chicano indie-folk band Las Cafeteras formed in 2005, after their members forged friendships while taking classes in traditional music, dance, and art at Los Angeles Mexican American cultural center the Eastside Cafe. The six-piece have built a signature hybrid sound rooted in the Afro-Mexican genre son jarocho, which employs a rich mixture of indigenous themes […]
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Kaina gives her soulful R&B the intimacy of real and chosen family
On her debut album, Chicago singer-songwriter Kaina takes strength from her favorite people: her friends and collaborators, her childhood mentors, her immigrant parents.
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Comics artist Corinne Halbert on her favorite maggot-filled monster
Current musical obsessions of Teen Movie Hell author Mike McPadden, comics artist Corinne Halbert, and Reader listings coordinator Salem Collo-Julin
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Why won’t City Hall fight for Chicago’s homegrown music scene?
The Chicago Independent Venue League shouldn’t have to push back against the Live Nation handouts in the Lincoln Yards development—but City Hall doesn’t protect Chicago’s homegrown music scene.