Not Normal Tapes gives itself a year to live, Rabble Rabble reunite to benefit Resilience, and more.
Tag: Vol. 49 No. 4
Issue of Oct. 24 – 30, 2019
Posted inFilm
Still ghoulin’ after all these years
A sven-tillating conversation with Chicago’s legendary horror host, Rich Koz, on 40 years of Svengoolie, celebrity fans, and BERWYN!
Posted inMusic
Remembering drummer, pharmacist, activist, and seeker Alvin Fielder
A charter member of the AACM and a longtime partner of saxophonist Kidd Jordan, drummer Alvin Fielder was an encyclopedia of jazz history with an eye on the future.
Posted inFilm
Movie Tuesday: The lighter side of class conflict
Five films that successfully temper heavy social analysis with laughs.
Posted inMusic
Cult songwriter Amy Rigby makes her book debut
Amy Rigby’s new memoir, Girl to City, crackles with the kind of sharp insights and perfectly chosen details her fans already love.
Posted inArts & Culture
Jane Eyre brings a feminist vision to the Joffrey—but only to a point
Cathy Marston’s staging features brilliant duets, but her take on Charlotte Brontë’s classic has some limitations.
Posted inNews & Politics
Striking teachers say paychecks are the least of their problems
At an Englewood elementary school, teachers and staff describe working conditions that hurt kids most.
Posted inMusic
JPEGMafia offers an escape from single-genre monotony on the eclectic All My Heroes Are Cornballs
On his new third studio album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, Brooklyn-born, Baltimore-based hip-hop artist Barrington Devaughn Hendricks, aka JPEGmafia (Peggy for short), offers an escape from the monotony of music that’s restricted by genre. Hendricks dives headfirst into his attention-deficit-fueled opener, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot,” which is the album’s most concise […]
Posted inMusic
Brutus’s atmospheric blend of postrock and posthardcore makes a singing drummer cool for the first time ever
There are few things less cool than a singing drummer. Drummers already have it bad enough; they’re typically pushed into the background, the last member of a band to get any attention or credit. The only people who really care about them are other drummers, and then only on occasion. I’m a drummer myself, so […]
Posted inMusic
Rhiannon Giddens honors the African and Arabic influences in American roots music on There Is No Other
Classically trained vocalist and masterful banjo and fiddle player Rhiannon Giddens is celebrated as one of the leading proponents of what’s variously called Americana or roots music. Though her aesthetic has wide appeal, she toughens it with her uncompromising determination to bear witness to the ongoing (and too often neglected) Africanist voice and history in […]
Posted inMusic
New Zealand singer-songwriter Jonathan Bree brings his discontented chamber pop to the States
When New Zealand singer-songwriter Jonathan Bree began his solo career in 2013, his creations were almost diametrically opposed to the poppy, upbeat material that he’d crafted in the Brunettes, his longtime project with Heather Mansfield. His first two LPs were melancholy and dour, casting his deep, gloomy, discontented croon in a dark light. But on […]
Posted inMusic
Sabaton celebrate 20 years with a tonally inconsistent but informative power-metal take on WWI
Sabaton are celebrating their 20th year of existence in style. The Swedish power-metal band kicked off 2019 with the launch of their own YouTube channel, which focuses on the history that fuels their songwriting, and in July they released their ninth album, the World War I-inspired The Great War. Sabaton are no stranger to exploring […]
Posted inMusic
As DJ Roc, Clarence Johnson has helped make footwork a global phenomenon
As DJ Roc, Chicago producer Clarence Johnson helped mold footwork and provided the support it needed to become an international underground phenomenon. He started making juke tracks in the early 2000s, but just a few years later he adopted the faster, battle-ready footwork sound. Johnson strengthened the footwork scene in 2005 by cofounding production collective […]
Posted inMusic
Atlanta’s Young Thug remains a peerless force in modern hip-hop
Young Thug doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone anymore. In the early 2010s he emerged from the hotbed of Atlanta, the city that’s largely set hip-hop’s tone this decade, and his every heart-wrenching warble and hair-raising screech seemed to add speed to his ascent. His fluid flow has inspired some of Atlanta’s latest rising […]
Posted inMusic
UFO celebrate 50 years of rock on their Last Orders tour
Sometimes an anniversary celebration can also be the perfect time to end a chapter. Such is the case with strident UK rock band UFO, who turned 50 this year and are on the road with what they’ve claimed will be the last tour with their one constant member, gritty-voiced vocalist and front man Phil Mogg. […]