Looking for some things to do? Consider these options! We found some happenings all over the map this time around, including Evanston, Back of the Yards, downtown, Logan Square, South Shore, and the universe of the internet. FRI 5/20 The Unitarian Church of Evanston (1330 Ridge, Evanston) is hosting its annual rummage sale today until […]
Tag: Vol. 51 No. 16
Issue of May 12, 2022
The Sound Issue
An audiologist’s study of over-the-counter hearing aids, a guide to radiator noises, an investigation of ShotSpotter, and much more
On the cover: Illustration by Joe Mills. For more of Mills’s work, go to joemills.com
Find a print copy of the Reader.
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Posted inMusic
Chicago bassist Nick Macri celebrates some roots and branches on his first solo release
Chicago bassist Nick Macri is the model of versatility. He has appeared with a formidable gallery of jazz, folk, and rock musicians, including Ken Vandermark, James Elkington, Laetitia Sadier, Bobby Conn, and instrumental combo Stirrup. Adept on electric bass guitar and acoustic double bass, he can be unassumingly supportive or assertively tuneful, depending on what […]
Posted inMusic
Cave In rise from the ashes with their most direct and focused release to date
The title and story behind Cave In’s 2019 LP, Final Transmission, led many to believe that the eclectic rock band’s two-and-a-half-decade run had come to an end. Following the tragic passing of bassist and vocalist Caleb Scofield in 2018, the group fleshed out the last demos they’d made with him and turned them into a […]
Posted inMusic
Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo take a farewell tour before an indefinite hiatus
Earlier this year, Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo announced that they would go on indefinite hiatus following their 2022 tour. It’s always surprising when a successful, globe-trotting band call it a day at the top of their game, and their multitudes of fans got pretty upset in response to the news. Over the past decade, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Loving, repeating, collaborating, and intimacy
In a new exhibition, longtime collaborators Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger created an immersive multimedia installation that explores intimacy, distance, and the fluctuations between. The above comic captures their reflections on making together and materials in play. Text from the comic is transcribed here to ease readability. Our collaboration developed organically. We were both ceramic […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Bewjeweled butt plugs and the war on abortion
This is a column about worries.
Posted inMusic
Elastic Arts’ AfriClassical Futures series continues with the Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker
Since January 2020, vocalist Julian Otis and Elastic Arts executive director Adam Zanolini have programmed AfriClassical Futures, a series offering an antidote to the overwhelming whiteness and deadness of the classical canon. Each AfriClassical concert invites a Black artist working in or springboarding from the Western classical tradition for an intimate live performance and conversation, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
True biz? There’s a lot to learn in Sara Nović’s new book.
“Eyeth—get it? In the Deaf storytelling tradition, utopia is called Eyeth because it’s a society that centers the eye, not the ear, like here on Earth.” That’s the opener to “Ear vs. Eye: Deaf Mythology,” one of the many brief lessons sprinkled between the chapters of Sara Nović’s realistic fiction novel True Biz, released March […]
Posted inMusic
London label Touch brings its 40th-anniversary celebration to the International Museum of Surgical Science
London-based Touch isn’t a record label in the traditional sense; it’s far more multifaceted. It might be more accurate to describe Touch as a collective that also extends into publishing, performance curation, and site-specific multimedia events driven by a loosely defined stable of international avant-garde electronic and sound artists, who include guitarist and producer Fennesz, […]
Posted inCity Life
Broken Nose, American Writers Festival, and a Crystal Ball
Looking for some mid-month fun? Check out the following events and ideas. FRI 5/13 Broken Nose Theatre continues its season with the Chicago premiere of Zoe Kazan’s dystopic drama After the Blast, directed by JD Caudill. In light of the leaked SCOTUS draft decision on Roe v. Wade, Kazan’s story about a couple forced to […]
Posted inMusic
Adult. delve into grief and darkness on their latest album, Becoming Undone
It’s tempting to call Adult. electroclash; the synth duo of Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller debuted in 1998, coinciding with the style’s peak, and they’ve collaborated with notable groups in the genre such as Fischerspooner and Ladytron. But while the Detroit-based husband-and-wife team share some traits with the genre—particularly the way they pair an […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Deeper research and a politics of care
In the summer of 2020, the people of Chicago rose up in support of Black life, with thousands taking part in dozens of actions across the city. That season of uprisings had curator and cultural producer Ciera Alyse McKissick thinking about Black people moving through space: about how Black migration and travel has been a […]
Posted inCity Life
The glowing citizen
Walking down North Avenue with his bulky Home Depot purchases in tow, George Blakemore sparkled in a glistening metallic-toned ensemble he painted himself. “I think that we all are artists,” he said. “We all use our imagination and we all are creative. There was a Black gentleman that died called Mr. Imagination who would say […]
Posted inMusic
Ele Matelan tells stories with sound effects
Ele Matelan didn’t plan on making a career out of sound effects. Like a lot of Chicago theater artists, she moved here after college (at Southern Methodist University) to pursue acting. She also did some stage management for her SMU pals who had formed the House Theatre of Chicago in 2001. But one winter night […]