Born from the ashes of Rapper Chicks, one of the city’s best and most slept-on rap groups of the past decade, Big Silky reintroduces two members of that crew, Psalm One and Angel Davanport. On their debut EP, Big Silky Vol. 1, written in tribute of former bandmate Henny B (she passed away in 2018, […]
Tag: Vol. 49 No. 31
Issue of May. 7 – 13, 2020
Posted inMusic
Death metal supergroup Umbra Vitae blend catharsis and fun on Shadow of Life
The beauty of musical collaboration is that you can never totally anticipate what will happen, even when the people coming together have established aesthetics of their own. Some groups devise a concept and never stray from it, while others incorporate unexpected twists and turns—and Boston postmetal project Wear Your Wounds (started by Converge front man […]
Posted inMusic
Country mainstay Pam Tillis hits her stride on Looking for a Feeling
If you’re going to put out your first solo album in 13 years, you’ll probably want to make sure it includes a few songs that will appeal to your longtime fans. What country audiences want is obviously a moving target—country has been shifting toward including independently minded crossover pop artists such as Kacey Musgraves, so […]
Posted inMusic
Kris Esfandiari of King Woman and producer Darcy Baylis combine forces in Sugar High
Kris Esfandiari is no stranger to side projects. Since cofounding doom-metal band King Woman in 2009, she’s released solo material under the names Miserable, Kris, Dalmatian, and Nghtcrwler. Her latest project, Sugar High, is a collaboration with Berlin-based songwriter and producer Darcy Baylis, whose credits include recordings by Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and Camp Cope […]
Posted inMusic
Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn bring China and Appalachia together
Trump hates China in order to better hate the United States; by blaming the Chinese for the virus, he can pretend he’s not at fault for our own dead and our own misery. In that poisoned atmosphere, the new self-titled album by Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn isn’t just a relief but a call to […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Three walks in the woods
The Forest Preserves of Cook County, which cover 70,000 acres, are an inexhaustible source of social-distance-compliant space.
Posted inMusic
Chicago indie rockers Cafe Racer meld psych, shoegaze, and Krautrock to summon hypnotic bliss
Psychedelic Chicago indie rockers Cafe Racer emerged from a young north-side scene obsessed with garage; in fact, guitarist-vocalist Michael Santana previously played rugged, bratty garage pop in the three-piece Grosse Pointe. When he burned out on that band’s sound in 2015, he started working with guitarist-vocalist Adam Schubert—a prolific musician with a lo-fi solo project […]
