Riding a Wave of Buzz: A Preview of U.S. Girls at Empty Bottle
This could be the last chance to catch indie contender Meghan Remy at a midsize club like the Bottle, as her growing buzz and sound will inevitably bring her to larger venues.
A Whole Wide World of Wisdom: A Preview of Wreckless Eric at The Burlington
The man born Eric Goulden continued to follow his singular musical muse, releasing albums of new material every few years. Early 2018 welcomed the latest Wreckless Eric album, “Construction Time & Demolition.” And while forty-plus years after his debut single, Eric hasn’t left his punk roots behind, his latest album remains true to the Class of 1977 DIY ethos
Crosstown Classics: Previews of Steve Earle at Old Town School and Dessa at Subterranean
While Dessa and Steve Earle might be on flip sides of the musical and gender coins, they both translate the political to the personal and, to some extent, back again.
Giants of the Pop World: A Preview of They Might Be Giants at The Vic Theatre
It’s a challenging path to create music that’s rocking, funny and sophisticated. And it’s an even more daunting challenge to achieve any kind of commercial success when doing it. But Brooklyn-based They Might Be Giants has spent the better part of the last three decades being the exception to those rules.
Back in the Mix: Chicago Mixtape Returns, via Spotify
Seven years to the day since the project first started, Chicago Mixtape returned from its hiatus with a new look, a new Spotify-based format, and a new goal: to expand to other cities.
Second Genesis: A Preview of The Musical Box at the Arcada Theatre
Capturing the look, the sound and the entire ambience of progressive-era Genesis, The Musical Box takes the tribute concept to its logical end.
Music Top 5: March 2018
Justin Timberlake’s latest album, “Man of the Woods,” intros a career-altering frontiersman persona.
Whose Blues: The Politics of Race and Rhythm
At a recent gathering, I remarked that March seemed more than usually abundant in serious, grade-A, sandblast-your-soul blues musicians, and offered up as examples Albert Cummings, Nick Moss and Joanne Shaw Taylor—only to have an acquaintance sniff in dismissal, “Carpetbaggers.”
Way Beyond Cool: A Preview of Music Frozen Dancing at Empty Bottle
Empty Bottle’s “Winter Block Party” is either absolutely insane, or brilliant staking out a currently-unoccupied bit of calendar for the years when global warming has turned our traditional music-festival months up to broiler-oven temps, leaving February as a warm reminder of what Chicago summers used to be.
Major Pop Victory: A Preview of Gin Blossoms at the Arcada Theatre
A quarter century after its release, the band performs the entirety of its second album, 1992’s “New Miserable Experience,” which today sounds more like a greatest-hits collection than a set of songs written and recorded within a relatively tight time frame.
