Lately it seems like every “lost” recording, no matter how inconsequential, is getting pushed on limited colored vinyl for a crass Record Store Day cash grab. Beneath the hype, “archival releases” are too often just so-so live jams or half-baked outtakes by established artists—and it’s usually clear why they hadn’t been released before. That’s what […]
Tag: Steve Albini
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Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang livestream their traditional solstice duo
Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang livestream their traditional solstice drum duo, Che Arthur of Pink Avalanche drops two instrumental solo EPs, and more.
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The cosmic egg hatches on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was designed by the folks at Experimental Sound Studio.
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Laura Jane Grace grapples with modern times on the urgent, stripped-down Stay Alive
Lockdown has been hard on Laura Jane Grace. The front woman of Against Me! and Devouring Mothers is a natural performer with a strong social-media presence, but lately her Twitter account has been full of laments for the pre-pandemic live-music experience. On October 1, she surprised her fans with Stay Alive, a raw, stripped-down acoustic […]
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Metro hosts a memorial for musician and mensch Rob Warmowski
Metro hosts a memorial for musician and mensch Rob Warmowski, Jeremiah Meece of The-Drum teases an imminent album of spooky electro, and more.
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Obnoxious punks the Mentally Ill made history with ‘Gacy’s Place’
These Deerfield maniacs debuted in 1979 but didn’t play live till 2007, when they helped celebrate a documentary about early Chicago punk.
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Famous feline Lil’ Bub gets her own arcade game—built by Chicago’s Logan Arcade
Logan Arcade owner Jim Zespy collaborated with the Internet-famous cat’s owner, Mike Bridavsky, to create the game.
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How the Reader reviewed Exile in Guyville when it first came out
Nobody bothered to acknowledge what young women already knew: Liz Phair wasn’t singing for Steve Albini. She was singing for us.
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The Third Coming of the Jesus Lizard
On the eve of their latest return home, the Jesus Lizard talk about why they chose Chicago—and how they became its most beautiful noise-rock monsters.
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Gifts that sing—are you listening?
The best best box sets of 2017 include 11 CDs from David Bowie’s Berlin period, 529 tracks of live vintage country from Louisiana Hayride, Roland Kayn’s 14-hour electronic masterwork, and the most complete portrait yet of Hüsker Dü’s early years.
Posted inBlogs
Hideout Block Party, Splatter Theater, and more of the best things to do in Chicago this weekend
Shen Wei at the Auditorium Theater, Dia de los Muertos celebration at the National Museum of Mexican Art, and more happenings from September 22-24
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Postpunk oddballs the Bonemen of Barumba played ‘barbecue music from hell’
Early-80s weirdos the Bonemen of Barumba attacked pigs’ heads with axes onstage and shared a label with Big Black and the Dead Milkmen.
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Erin Osmon’s Jason Molina: Riding With the Ghost follows the rise and fall of the beloved singer-songwriter
On Saturday at Quimby’s, Reader writer Erin Osmon reads from her first book, Jason Molina: Riding With the Ghost.
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Angel Marcloid of Fire-Toolz on the voyages of a digital native
Current musical obsessions of Resonance Series cocurator Ben Baker Billington, Angel Marcloid of Fire-Toolz, and the Reader’s Luca Cimarusti
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The Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair hit the road together, 22 years after an infamous takedown in the Reader
Twenty-two years ago, Steve Albini called the Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair “pandering sluts.” At least they didn’t turn out to be flavors of the week.