While Chicago indie supergroup Doom Flower were getting to work on their new second album, Limestone Ritual (Record Label), they hit a speedbump that would’ve killed a lesser band’s momentum. As Tribune critic Britt Julious reported in a November profile, drummer Areif Sless-Kitain couldn’t make it to the recording sessions, and because he’s such a […]
Tag: trip-hop
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Chicago electronic group Courtesy go pop but stay weird
Chicago group Courtesy have always staggered and glitched across the line between experimental and pop electronics. Their first album, 2011’s Idmatic (Tape Deco), recorded by members Drew Ryan and Kirk Rawlings in Memphis and Chicago, is filled with ambient drone and feedback noise but also illustrates their pop sensibilities; on “Sisters,” for instance, percussive clang […]
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FKA Twigs returns with her beautiful, multidisciplinary, and theatrical Magdalene tour
FKA Twigs is a singular force in ethereal, otherworldly trip-hop and avant-pop. Born Tahliah Debrett Barnett in Gloucestershire, England, the British singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, and director seems nearly unparalleled in her creative drive—and that’s illustrated by her current tour. Named after the new Magdalene (Young Turks), her second LP and first in five years, […]
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Two decades later, Massive Attack’s Mezzanine retains its paranoid power
When a band hit the road to celebrate a milestone anniversary of a monumental album, they’re of course trafficking in nostalgia—and the musicians usually share in that rosy glow with their fans. This tour by UK trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack is belatedly celebrating the 20th anniversary of their beloved third record, 1998’s Mezzanine (Virgin), but […]