Here are some book-related, word-inspired, and otherwise literary Chicago events to help kick off 2022. Each event is open to the public, but registration or tickets might be required (and you’ll want to support the writers by buying their books!). Wed 1/19, 6:30 PM: City Lit Books co-presents its regular Poetry Salon in an online […]
Tag: Vol. 51 No. 7
Posted inMusic
Violist Jessica Pavone brings good vibrations to the new When No One Around You Is There but Nowhere to Be Found
About a decade ago, back trouble forced Jessica Pavone to stop playing viola for nearly two years. Since her return, the impact of music upon the health and well-being of both performers and listeners has been one of the New York-based artist’s essential concerns. When she was composing the material for her most recent ensemble […]
Posted inMusic
Krautrock legend Michael Rother and electronic explorer Vittoria Maccabruni make weird beautiful music on As Long as the Light
I was a wee lad with little journalism experience in 1998, when I interviewed German guitar god Michael Rother, who’d cofounded pioneering experimental rock outfits Neu! and Harmonia in the 70s. Not only did I hit him with a cliched question about his biggest influences, but I also pressed him when he said that no […]
Posted inMusic
On the new W, Boris find serene sounds amid their continuous sonic explorations
As Boris continue to steer in and out of avant-rock territory, the 30-year-old Japanese band increasingly splinter genre ideas and expectations fans might foist upon them. The trio have been prolific during the pandemic, releasing nearly a dozen albums whose variety almost necessitates a disregard for boundaries: they include studio full-lengths, EPs, and live and […]
Posted inCity Life
A needle in a haystack
Who knew finding all the materials to make one cross-stitch pattern for a kid’s room would be so hard? Lauren Venell, 41, learned it the hard way—she almost gave up on the project given how difficult her search was. And that’s a lot to say since Venell does not seem easily intimidated by a challenge. […]
Posted inMusic
Emily Blue makes 80s pop for every era on The Afterlove
I won’t pretend it’s possible to rank pop music from different decades in a defensible way, but Emily Blue’s new self-released third album, The Afterlove, makes a great case for the whimsy and arena-size ambition of the 1980s. Blue largely eschews nostalgia, despite using synth sounds from a bygone era, instead reimagining the futuristic idealism […]
Posted inArts & Culture
From the Dan Clowes Collection
If you head down to the basement of Chicago Comics, past the endless rows of back issues and vintage titles waiting to be priced, you’ll find 15 white boxes. They contain a pretty standard collection of 60s and 70s comics—Thor, Conan the Barbarian, X-Men, MAD magazine. But these comics have a special allure. They belonged […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s Kreutzer Sonata play hardcore for the whole gang
Chicago four-piece the Kreutzer Sonata play raw hardcore in clipped, stentorian bursts so that each song exposes new gristle. On the new Cradle to the Grave (No Time/Don’t Panic), hammering drums sprint in Tasmanian-devil circles, austere guitars scorch the fastest path to the next melody, and Adam Kreutzer hollers lyrics about the woes of the […]
Posted inMusic
Hana Vu carves new pop landscapes with Public Storage
Storage units, with their heavy padlocked doors and stockpiles of intimate possessions, are ripe for metaphors about emotional compartmentalization. On her debut album, Public Storage, Los Angeles guitarist and songwriter Hana Vu finds inspiration there, drawing on memories of the storage units her family used during their frequent moves and her subsequent feelings of displacement. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Thinking of us
Barbara Kruger, collagist, conceptual artist, and Futura Bold Oblique font savant, will turn 77 two days after her exhibition “THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU.” closes at the Art Institute of Chicago on January 24. The expansive exhibition, which opened in September after being delayed almost a year by COVID-19 concerns, is […]
Posted inMusic
Yellow Eyes front man Will Skarstad gets indulgent in his solo project, Ustalost
New York City black-metal band Yellow Eyes stand out from the pack with the opulence and indulgence in their brutality. Their topsy-turvy song structures, sweeping melodies, and epic structures bring a sense of grandeur to their take on what’s often a stark genre. Somehow the solo project of Yellow Eyes singer Will Skarstad, which he […]
Posted inMusic
Four Chicago venues join forces for a celebration of local rock, metal, and punk
Update, January 10: The Save the Rock ‘n’ Roll Festival has been postponed. The new dates are Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 1. In April 2020, just weeks after COVID-19 shut down the live-music industry, four Chicago venue operators—Louie Mendicino of Cobra Lounge, Herb Rosen of Liar’s Club, Robby Glick of Reggies, and Dave Hornyak […]
Posted inNews & Politics
What my hand telephone doesn’t know about Ann
My 91-year-old neighbor on hardtack, comradery, and the possibilities of outer space
Posted inStaff notes
A note on this week’s cover
Our cover this week was born out of a sense of uncertainty, something most of us have been feeling for about 22 months now.
