rock music Archives - Chicago Reader

Tourists walking on a bridge within Millennium Park in Chicago, trees have autumn leaves

Queer Art Party, Afrofuturist performance, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Zine Not Dead

by Micco Caporale and Salem Collo-Julin October 9, 2022October 9, 2022

Palmer Square Art Fair and Queer Social Club are teaming up to debut Queer Art Party at Sleeping Village (3734 W. Belmont). From noon-5 PM, vibe out to queer art, music, food, and community. You’ll have a chance to get your makeup done or portrait taken. Herbivore Chicago will be on hand providing plant-based comfort […]

Music

Chicago native Addy Harris makes tender, commanding indie rock as Rat Tally

by Leor Galil August 15, 2022August 15, 2022

Addy Harris sings with a dewy softness in her group Rat Tally, but you can hear and feel the iron will behind her performances even over a roaring rock band. On Rat Tally’s debut album, the brand-new In My Car, the Chicago native sets diaristic confessions to sometimes tender, sometimes hard-edged indie-rock melodies that draw […]

Music

Chicago duo Cleared atomize their stark rock sound on The Key

by Bill Meyer November 10, 2020May 3, 2022

Recording studios have reputations, and Chicago’s Electrical Audio is well-known as the place to go if you want to capture how your band really sounds. But when Michael Vallera and Steven Hess of local duo Cleared entered that establishment in spring 2019, they were in the early phase of a transformation. Their first four albums […]

Music

Tawny Newsome and Bethany Thomas make thoughtful, soulful rock on Material Flats

by James Porter October 28, 2020October 6, 2021

Tawny Newsome and Bethany Thomas became friends in the 2000s, when they put in time as backup singers for a long list of forgotten bar bands, and in 2017 they both appeared on Jon Langford’s album Four Lost Souls. But it’d be a mistake to pigeonhole them as supporting players—their soulful voices have always commanded […]

Music

Let the bird take the wheel on the gig poster of the week

by Salem Collo-Julin October 7, 2020August 18, 2021

This week’s featured gig poster was created by Chicagoland graphic designer Mereya Lachel Goetzinger-Blanco, incorporating art by Frederick McDonald.

Music

Dutch dark rock band Dool explore the evolution of the soul on Summerland

by Jamie Ludwig April 3, 2020August 18, 2021

Helmed by charismatic vocalist and guitarist Ryanne van Dorst, Dool combine pop hooks with heady lyrics and complex songwriting that draws from the underbelly of metal, psych, doom, occult rock, and more. Formed in Rotterdam in 2015 by members of Dutch rock outfits Elle Bandita, the Devil’s Blood, and Gold, the band (whose name translates […]