Tag: Vol. 36 No. 4

American crime thrillers have grown so bloated with pop culture and testosterone that these three Danish noirs are arresting for their spareness and close attention to character. Nicolas Winding Refn made his feature debut with Pusher (1996, 105 min.), the tale of a wild-living Copenhagen dealer (Kim Bodnia) whose business debts spiral out of control […]

Take a mix of funk and hip-hop rhythms laced with New Orleans street beat, slather it in tried-and-true harmonies for five horns, and keep it airy enough to incorporate Basie-style riffs and Balkan counterpoint. Voila, Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet–a hearty hybrid of latter-day rhythms grafted to jazz melodies and chords. Anchored by Hammond organ and […]

“When men die, they enter history. When statues die, they enter art. This botany of death is what we call culture.” So begins the commentary of this remarkable French documentary (1953, 30 min.) about African sculpture, directed by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais and shot by Ghislain Cloquet. It’s the first major work for all […]

Johnny Rawls came of age during the classic soul era of the 60s, serving as a guitarist and bandleader for groups founded by O.V. Wright and Little Johnny Taylor. Since going solo in the 80s he’s grafted pop and rock stylings onto that sound, but on his latest album, this year’s Heart & Soul (Deep […]

Tony Sam, cofounder-producer of Chicago Underground Comedy, attracts the city’s funniest amateurs and rising professionals even though his show’s less than two years old. He bills CUC as “alternative comedy,” in part because of its bar setting, and challenges comics to present brand-new material and avoid “tired premises.” This week’s particularly strong lineup includes Sam, […]

With its zealous horns, rampaging accordion, circusy swing, and overheated gutter-poet melodrama, this supersize New York punk-cabaret band has something to irritate just about everybody–its cheeky, casually dissolute swagger even manages to make the switchblade-sharp instrumental technique on display seem annoyingly show-offy. But despite all that, the music’s as infectious as a virus (and I […]

The relentless deluge of hype that’s surrounded the Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant)–people calling it their Born to Run or comparing singer Craig Finn to Springsteen, Pitchfork handing out its highest rating of the year–is the sort of thing that would normally make me hate a record by association alone. But it’s […]

All stars in their own right as soloists, pianist Yefim Bronfman, violinist Gil Shaham, and cellist Lynn Harrell (replacing Truls Mork) are touring together as a supertrio, like many before them. Their Chicago program consists of Mozart’s sunny Trio in C Major, Schubert’s intoxicating Trio no. 2, and, even more appealing, Shostakovich’s profoundly personal and […]