Om Archives - Chicago Reader

Heavy sounds to shake Garfield Park Conservatory

by Monica Kendrick March 9, 2020August 18, 2021

Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, this show has been postponed to a date to be determined in the future. Ticket holders should check with their point of purchase for refund or exchange information. It’s only March, but this lineup will be hard for any other heavy rock show in 2020 to beat. […]

Music

They came, they saw, they smoked: Sleep celebrate their decade-long reunion and impending hiatus at Thalia Hall

by Jamie Ludwig December 21, 2019August 18, 2021

Most band reunions don’t live up to the hype, but most bands aren’t Sleep. In the early 90s, the Northern California trio—bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros, guitarist Matt Pike, and drummer Chris Hakius—laid down a guttural strain of Sabbath-worshipping blues metal, filtered through a crusty psychedelic lens. They broke up in 1998 following a years-long […]

Music

Unsolicited advice for Riot Fest’s bookers

by Salem Collo-Julin, Leor Galil, S. Nicole Lane, Jamie Ludwig and Philip Montoro September 5, 2019August 18, 2021

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.

Music

Swiss saxophonist Urs Leimgruber applies extreme sounds to diverse circumstances

by Bill Meyer May 17, 2019August 18, 2021

Soprano and tenor saxophonist Urs Leimgruber has covered a lot of ground since he first recorded in 1974. On his earliest recordings, with Swiss jazz-rock group Om (which predates by decades the heavy American band of the same name), he played muscular solos over surging rhythms. Since the 90s he’s used several groups—including Quartet Noir […]