If you perk up when you hear the phrase “Bandcamp Friday,” then you probably already know that its 25th iteration arrives November 4. For 24 hours, the digital retailer passes along its usual share of sales revenue to the independent artists and labels whose work has made the platform such a success. (Epic Games purchased […]
Tag: Open Mike Eagle
Posted inMusic
Comic art rapper Open Mike Eagle keeps on fighting
Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based rapper Open Mike Eagle is a seemingly inexhaustible font of laugh-out-loud one-liners, and he delivers as always on his latest album, Component System With the Auto Reverse (on his own Auto Reverse label). You need to be careful drinking anything while listening to it, lest uncomfortable snorking ensue when the rapper gets […]
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Angela James’s big voice fills her new album with wide-screen melancholy
Gossip Wolf doesn’t parent any wee pups that need nighttime lullabies, but the gentle hush of the children’s music on Angela James’s 2019 album, Quiet Nights, is enrapturing no matter your age. On Friday, April 22, the local singer-songwriter releases her fourth LP, Now That I Have You, where she returns to making outstanding music […]
Posted inMusic
Why do indie musicians put up with penny payouts?
Streaming your favorite artists’ music is the least helpful way to support them. But they can’t abandon those platforms, because we won’t.
Posted inMusic
Nacrobats alumni celebrate the history and legacy of their Chicago hip-hop crew
Hyperprolific rapper and Culture Power45 label co-owner Marcellous “Infinito 2017” Lovelace and Chicago hip-hop scene player Sterling “Pugs Atomz” Price are both former members of the Nacrobats crew, and when Lovelace asked Pugs last year about releasing a vinyl compilation of old Nacrobats tracks, it kicked off a wave of celebrations that will continue through […]
Posted inMusic
Veteran hip-hop producer Blockhead knows how to reenergize instrumental music
New York producer Tony “Blockhead” Simon has invigorated America’s underground hip-hop scene for two decades—he started out as a close collaborator of famously slippery lyricist Aesop Rock, and more recently he’s provided beats for hard-edged rapper Billy Woods. Over the years, Simon has also learned how to transform the gritty, big-footed underground hip-hop sound into […]
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Gifts to teach hip-hop heads their history
Each of these reissues helps unfold a different chapter in the rich narrative of the Chicago hip-hop scene.
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.
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Local punks Droids Blood add new variety to their dark, deranged hardcore
Local punks Droids Blood add new variety to their dark, deranged hardcore, DJ Kool Hersh drops the expansive mix Attack of the Chicago Boogie, and more.
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The Reader’s guide to the 2018 Pitchfork Music Festival
For 2018, Pitchfork bolsters its usual smart bookings with a strengthened commitment to inclusiveness and community: the lineup has more locals than ever, and more than half the acts include women.
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Open Mike Eagle teaches the Pitchfork crowd about Chicago public housing
Open Mike Eagle shares some of the research behind his album-length love letter to the Robert Taylor Homes.
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Chicago DJ and producer Fess Grandiose shows why he’s a beat-scene leader with Front Room Methodology
In May, the New York Times reported on a surge of teenage Europeans who run YouTube channels that live-stream music 24 hours a day, operating in a legal gray area reminiscent of 20th-century pirate radio stations. Chief among these channels is the UK-based College Music, the operator of two live streams including “24/7 lofi hip […]
Posted inBlogs
The Pitchfork Music Festival announces its 2018 aftershows
Headliners of Pitchfork’s 2018 aftershows include Japanese Breakfast, Girlpool, and Kweku Collins.
Posted inArts & Culture
Hannibal Buress is bringing it all back home
With his return to Chicago, Hannibal Buress is reconnecting to his roots on the west side.
Posted inMusic
Open Mike Eagle revisits the traumatic destruction of the Robert Taylor Homes on Brick Body Kids Still Daydream
Atop a low-groaning guitar that lumbers through “My Auntie’s Building,” Hyde Park native Open Mike Eagle raps, “They blew up my auntie’s building / Put out her great-grandchildren / Who else in America deserves to have that feeling? / Where else in America will they blow up that village?” He’s specifically referring to the Robert […]