soul music Archives - Chicago Reader

Chicago band the O’My’s make effortless, magical soul

by Cristalle Bowen November 28, 2022December 7, 2022

The O’My’s sound like a band reincarnated from generations ago, as if they were dreamed up by a kid who knows too much about their grandparents’ past. How do they do it? Wisdom, skill, poise, restraint, and hazy fun pepper their music and demeanor. Their members may have been born after the “boomer” generation, but […]

Music

Blues and soul-blues group Mzz Reese & Reese’s Pieces will hit your sweet spot

by David Whiteis November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

Singer Mzz Reese has become a Chicagoland favorite for her burnished alto voice, expansive blues and soul-blues repertoire, and playfully flirtatious, warm-hearted stage presence. But what really sets her apart is the professionalism of her show. Reese and her band—waggishly christened Reese’s Pieces—charge through a tightly constructed set consisting of well-known standards and too-often-neglected soul […]

Music

Leela James makes vital modern soul on See Me

by James Porter July 26, 2021August 18, 2021

Since Leela James put out her debut album, 2005’s A Change Is Gonna Come, the soul siren has released a steady stream of music, exploring new stylistic elements while staying remarkably focused. In a press bio from 2010, she said, “My sound today may be different than where I was five years ago, but my […]

Music

Harry James of Chandeliers draws from soul, jazz, and ambient on his solo debut

by Leor Galil February 3, 2021August 18, 2021

New Jersey native Harry James Brenner found his footing in Chicago’s music scene partly by playing in art-rock group Chandeliers; he joined in the mid-aughts as a percussionist, and he’s since played keys for them too. The sharply defined clatter of Brenner’s drums has kept Chandeliers’ mercurial instincts from running away with them, giving even […]

Music

Chicago soul man Nate Barksdale makes smooth sounds to get us through the city’s coldest months

by Leor Galil October 16, 2020August 18, 2021

On the eve of the first day of fall, prolific Chicago soul man Nate Barksdale self-released Summer Was Over Before It Started. The pandemic eliminated so much of what Chicagoans cherish about the city’s warmest months, but Barksdale’s supple blend of neosoul melody and hip-hop percussion, wrapped up in R&B smoothness, captures the wistfulness that […]

Music

Eccentric Chicago musician Zango the Third warps soul, pop, and lounge into strangely magnetic songs

by Leor Galil May 1, 2020August 18, 2021

Chicagoan Frank Zango possesses something like magic: under the name Zango the Third, he’s able to create oddly soothing, stylistically scrambled outsider-soul songs fast enough to fill several full-lengths a year. In early April, he self-released his second album of 2020, Aunt Ida’s Asteroid Mixtape, where he continues to stretch to the outer edges of […]