Bad Animal feels like the natural progression for their fledgling production company [Emulsion Lab], marrying the indie music locus that inspired their start with the drive for creating projects that rival the scale of their DIY counterparts.
Tag: Mykele Deville
Posted inMusic
What the Hideout means to me now
Last Wednesday, multidisciplinary artist Mykele Deville went public in a detailed Instagram post about his traumatic experiences at the Hideout, where he worked as programming director from summer 2021 till March 2022. The next day, the Hideout issued an apologetic response. I find the venue’s response inadequate, but I encourage you to read both posts. […]
Posted inMusic
Rapper and poet Mykele Deville signs on as the Hideout’s new booker
Rapper and poet Mykele Deville signs on as the Hideout’s new booker, ghetto-house pioneer DJ Deeon makes his debut for the Teklife label, and more.
Posted inMusic
Hospital Bracelet break out while locked down
The pandemic separated the members of Chicago emo trio Hospital Bracelet almost a year before their thrilling debut album made a splash in the scene.
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s Growing Concerns Poetry Collective use kindness to unite people against bigotry
The three members of Growing Concerns Poetry Collective all juggle other practices outside their collaboration. Their CVs are too extensive to discuss exhaustively, but poet McKenzie Chinn has built a career acting onstage (she’s a Goodman Theatre regular) and on TV (she has a recurring role on CBS’s Chicago-based drama The Red Line). She also […]
Posted inMusic
Drummer Jeremy Cunningham releases a dense but delicate jazz record to honor his late brother
Drummer Jeremy Cunningham releases a dense but delicate jazz record to honor his late brother; the Black, Brown, and Indigenous Crew rocks the Vaginal Davis exhibit at the Art Institute; and more.
Posted inMusic
Musa Reems and David Ashley bolster the lineup for one of the winter’s best Chicago rap shows
Chicago rapper-singer Rich Jones brought his multigenerational monthly hip-hop series All Smiles to a close in April 2019, but its spirit lives on at this Subterranean show he’s headlining. The bill includes great local MCs who might not otherwise have any reason to cross paths, beginning with up-and-comer Musa Reems. On his recent self-released EP, […]
Posted inMusic
Unsolicited advice for Riot Fest’s bookers
Riot Fest has its traditions, and it’s hard to hate Andrew W.K. or Gwar—but here are some bands we’d like to see.
Posted inMusic
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions, “posi-djent” act Harm Less celebrates a new album, and more.
Posted inMusic
Rap that asks the right questions
The fledgling Why? Records crew—Davis, Malci, Joshua Virtue, and Ruby Watson—are already making some of the city’s most compelling and idiosyncratic hip-hop.
Posted inMusic
Chicago rapper-producer Malci polishes up his frenzied outre sound on Papaya!
In 2017, Chicago rapper-producer Malci dropped his impressive third album, Do You Know Yourself, smoothing cacophonous shards of samples into outre-pop songs with an oddball charm. Malci has plenty of comrades in the local scene, some of whom he’s turned into collaborators too: he produced almost half of Mykele Deville’s February record, Maintain, and he […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago rapper Mykele Deville shows why he’s one to watch this year with Maintain
Any media outlet referencing west-side native Mykele Deville should be required to include a brief of his CV, partially because he’s established himself as proficient in several roles: poet, actor, educator, and rapper. And with the remarkable growth he shows on his new seven-song album, Maintain (on local DIY label No Trend), I imagine Deville’s […]
Posted inMusic
The Growing Concerns Poetry Collective celebrate their debut again—this time on vinyl
The Growing Concerns Poetry Collective celebrate their debut again (this time on vinyl), power-pop four-piece Gal Gun drop their first full-length, and more.
Posted inMusic
Stories from Chicago’s favorite rock ’n’ roll clusterfuck
Underground rock festival Ian’s Party is run mostly by volunteers, which helps it feel like a community instead of a branding exercise.
Posted inMusic
The Growing Concerns Poetry Collective ask all races to fight racism
Mykele Deville, McKenzie Chinn, and Jeffrey Michael Austin—aka the Growing Concerns Poetry Collective—tell stories for black folks that aim to reach everyone.