Identity, versatility, and productivity intertwine in the music of Patrick Shiroishi. Best known as an alto saxophonist, the Los Angeles-based musician plays five different saxophones, guitar, and keyboards. His ever-growing discography includes 65 album-length releases with his name on the cover, and that number balloons to more than 100 if you count records where he’s […]
Tag: Sumac
Posted inAgenda
Red herrings, Indonesian food, postpunk, and postmetal
If you’re still COVID-hesitant about sitting in the dark with strangers at the theater, then A Theater in the Dark is here to help! The company, which focuses on creating original audio dramas, returns with A Matter of Red Herrings, a 1920s-style detective noir comedy by Greg Garrison about a pair of gumshoes in Chicago […]
Posted inMusic
Sumac headline a night of dynamic, heavy music
The title track of Sumac’s latest album, 2020’s May You Be Held (Thrill Jockey), is a tough-love affirmation built for trying times, when soothing sounds just don’t cut it anymore and you need self-care that’s more like the cathartic group therapy you might find in a Klingon gladiatorial arena. The postmetal power trio use punky, […]
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Era- and genre-defining posthardcore act These Arms Are Snakes hit the road on a reunion tour
Formed in Seattle by former members of technical hardcore powerhouse Botch and mathy indie-rock outfit Kill Sadie, These Arms Are Snakes defined an era and a movement of thinking person’s heavy music during their initial run from 2002 to 2009. Injecting the knotty complexity of their previous bands with a swing and throb befitting the […]
Posted inMusic
Bandcamp Friday soldiers on
The nation may be diseased and broken, but you can still use your Bandcamp dollars to do a small kindness for musicians and labels.
Posted inMusic
On May You Be Held, Sumac are a beast of free improvisation, noise, and metal
There’s a lot of room in the vast and aesthetically diverse landscape of metal, but one powerhouse trio occupies its own sound-deconstructing universe: Sumac. The heady metal-centric music that guitarist and vocalist Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom), bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles), and drummer Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) churn out is such a left-field beast […]
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Celestial sludge-metal supergroup Old Man Gloom return after tragedy with two new full-lengths
Metalcore supergroup Old Man Gloom have often fallen silent for years at a stretch, but for two decades now they’ve occasionally emerged from the depths with an offering of their signature celestial sludge. This summer they’re delivering new material as a pair of albums, an approach they’ve used twice before (with Seminar II and Seminar […]
Posted inMusic
Scorched Tundra Festival celebrates heavy sounds from Chicago and beyond with plenty of beer
This two-night metal festival, curated by metal and beer enthusiast Alexi Front (also the beer director for Kuma’s Corner restaurants), operates in both Chicago and Gothenburg, Sweden. In just seven years it has racked up an impressive ten installments. This year’s Chicago edition represents the heavy music of our hometown along with plenty of visitors. […]
Posted inBlogs
The gig poster of the week towers above the desert
This week’s featured gig poster was designed by local artist Daniel MacAdam of Crosshair screen printing.
Posted inMusic
Now Is Podcast host Ben Remsen on the jazz giants who walk among us
Current musical obsessions of Axons drummer Amanda Kraus, Now Is Podcast host Ben Remsen, and Reader music editor Philip Montoro
Posted inMusic
Sleater-Kinney’s clear-eyed, open-hearted No Cities to Love and 11 more record reviews
Eight Reader writers tackle a dozen new releases, including John Carpenter’s first music not for film, Aine O’Dwyer’s improvisations on pipe organ, and a reissue of Del Shannon’s 1968 psych-pop masterpiece.
Posted inFood & Drink
Key Ingredient: Francis Brennan tarts up doughnuts
Challenged to cook with sumac, Do-Rite Donuts chef Francis Brennan tarts up long johns with the acidic Middle Eastern spice.
Posted inFood & Drink
Key Ingredient: Smen
Joseph Rose of Lockwood funks up his act with smen, a fermented butter traditional in North Africa and the Middle East.
Posted inBlogs
Noon-O-Kabab’s delivery/takeout satellite open for business
Noon-O-Kabab’s delivery depot has opened.