In November 2021, news broke that filled the Chicago house-music community with pride. Hometown house legends Ten City were nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronica Album for Judgement, their first full-length studio recording since 1994. Many Chicago fans remembered that around the time of the group’s formation in the mid-1980s, their producer, house pioneer […]
Tag: WBMX
Posted inArts & Culture
Revolution Chicago doesn’t fully capture the fervor of house music’s early days
Mickey “Mixin'” Oliver’s new autobiographical musical has charm, but is too talky.
Posted inMusic
Eighties R&B band Ready for the World take a dive into 21st-century jams
UPDATE Monday, July 8, 12:45 PM: Both concerts by Ready for the World have been canceled. Refunds available at point of purchase. Ready for the World’s single “Tonight” was all over the radio in 1984, but due to its lyrical content it unfortunately was not allowed at my summer camp: “Did he say ‘wet’?” a […]
Posted inMusic
Plugging into Chicago’s forgotten house venues
A tour and oral history of the long-gone spaces that birthed one of the foundational sounds in modern pop
Posted inMusic
Marcus Mixx has lost his home, but he still has house
Marcus Mixx’s early records fetch hundreds of dollars apiece from a cult of collectors, but he just wants a space of his own to make his new tracks.
Posted inMusic
Chicago label Still Music rescues decades of house history from a south-side storage locker
Dance-music fiend Jerome Derradji Still is restoring dozens of decaying reel-to-reel tapes featuring unissued tracks and mixes from the genre’s early giants.
Posted inMusic
Pastor T.L. Barrett cut a widely sampled gospel-funk album in 1971
Pastor T.L. Barrett has been a lot of things: an activist preacher, a top-shelf gospel-funk musician, a convicted scammer.