When Santigold emerged in the late 2000s, her hip alterna-pop seemed to waltz out of left field, incorporating elements of every genre she could put her hands on: punk, hip-hop, new wave, dub, and whatever else wasn’t nailed down. More than a decade later, it’s clear to see how her genre-smashing music paved the way […]
Tag: punk
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Ruido Fest celebrates the diverse sounds of Latin alternative music in its return to Union Park
Ruido Fest stands out as more intentional and visionary than most of Chicago’s destination festivals. When it launched in 2015, it was billed as the country’s only three-day outdoor music event focused entirely on Latin alternative music, though that description only hints at what to expect. Ruido Fest’s eclectic international lineup crosses generations and genres, […]
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Melbourne punk trio Clamm show how much they care on their new second album
Trying to make sense of the times can feel like an exercise in futility, but it can also be a powerful tool of self-expression. That’s the modus operandi of Clamm, a young Melbourne three-piece founded in 2019 by two childhood friends—guitarist and vocalist Jack Summers and drummer Miles Harding—and soon rounded out by bassist Maisie […]
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New west-coast punk supergroup Plosivs includes members of Rocket From the Crypt, Pinback, and more
The pandemic has shattered so many bands that any project that’s come together since March 2020 represents a small victory. And when the project in question is as much fun as Plosivs—a new four-piece consisting of vocalist and guitarist Rob Crow, vocalist and guitarist John Reis, bassist Jordan Clark, and drummer Atom Willard—the victory isn’t […]
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Dan Sartain’s posthumous Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise shows why his songwriting will live on
It took only the opening bars of the first Dan Sartain record I heard, 2006’s Join Dan Sartain (released on the illustrious Swami Records), to hook me on the music of the Alabama songwriter. His sharp, sometimes dark lyrics, his soulful and magnetic voice, and his ability to spin timeworn styles such as blues, rockabilly, […]
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The most disturbing punk song that ever came from Waukegan
I can’t tell you precisely how I came across URBN DK, but I’ve thought of them often since I first felt the creeping dread of “World Gone Crazy,” off the Chicagoland punk band’s 1982 self-titled seven-inch. URBN DK were hardly the only local punks to saturate their music with depravity—Deerfield’s the Mentally Ill, for instance, […]
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Bad Noids give you something non-terrible to scream about
Hollering along with Bad Noids’ punk rock is more fun than arguing with COVID deniers—and it’ll probably do more good.
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Guitarist Sunny War boils life down to its essence on Simple Syrup
The Nashville-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Sunny War is known for her clawhammer fingerstyle guitar playing, vivid autobiographical lyrics, and distinctive sound that starts at the crossroads of blues, country, folk, and punk, and only expands from there. She left home as a teenager to busk on Venice Beach and in San Francisco with friends she […]
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Nick Acosta, publisher of New Morality Zine
“I started my zine when I moved to Chicago. . . . I thought, ‘What is something I can do by myself yet still contribute?'”
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The life and death of Rancho Huevos
Bridgeport DIY house Rancho Huevos nurtured an antiauthoritarian community for nearly two decades. Now it stands vacant and slated for demolition.
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Dave ‘Medusa’ Shelton was a fairy godmother to Chicago’s club scene
Dave Shelton didn’t just found the legendary Medusa’s—he also helped everyone in his orbit shine like a star.
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When the world feels barren, Chicago punk veterans the Lawrence Arms build hope
Chicago punk trio the Lawrence Arms formed in 1999, and they’re aging remarkably well. Rather than settle for the kind of navel-gazing that’s common among bands of their vintage—commemorating, say, the milestone anniversary of an old favorite album with a long tour—they’ve continued to evolve as they make new music. On their seventh album, Skeleton […]
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Chicago punk was born queer
How three gay bars—La Mere Vipere, O’Banion’s, and Oz—became the cradle of the city’s punk scene
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Orkesta Mendoza blends vintage sounds to create a groovy boogie-woogie border scene
The first time I saw Orkesta Mendoza was at SXSW about five years ago, and the group had already perfected an enormous, vintage Latin big-band sound and intense, punk-like sensibility unparalleled in the Latin scene. Led by bandleader, singer, and guitarist Sergio Mendoza (a longtime member of Calexico and Devotchka), the Tucson indie mambo group […]
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Nnamdï grows up on Brat
Prolific musical polymath Nnamdï uses his new solo album to teach himself something about work-life balance.