Music Top 5: February 2023

1
VIAGRA BOYS
(Salt Shed)
The Swedish post-punk ensemble is touring its new album, “Cave World,” which satirizes our paranoid cultural moment; not that that moment doesn’t satirize itself, but these guys are both funny and fierce.
February 24

2
ROYA NALDI
(Epiphany Center)
The jazz chanteuse has carved out her own irresistible corner of the nostalgic market—reviving the century-old blues and honky-tonk of iconic divas like Bessie Smith and Mildred Bailey… with an irresistible postmillennial sheen.
February 15

3
RUBBLEBUCKET
(Thalia Hall)
The dance-pop band who asked to bring a confetti cannon to their Tiny Desk concert has grown up: their new release, “Earth Worship,” spins songs around sustainability. Fortunately, it’s also still bright, weird, tuneful and funny.
February 17

4
PUSH PUPPETS
(Evanston SPACE)
The Palatine-based indie rockers paradoxically blend gorgeous harmonies and effervescent earworms with lyrics about loss, loss and regret. Not only does it work, it occasionally reaches a kind of pop euphoria.
February 17

5
ATTICUS LAZENBY
(Sleeping Village)
The composer and multi-instrumentalist is one of those ravenous talents who consume genres like breath mints; his 2021 album “Tomorrow, Today” is a stylistic roller coaster, held together by a coherent, and commanding, point of view.
February 12

Robert Rodi

Robert Rodi is an author, spoken-word performer and musician who has served as Newcity’s Music Editor since 2014. He’s written more than a dozen books, including the travel memoir “Seven Seasons In Siena,” and his literary and music criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Huffington Post and many other national and regional publications.
Contact: robert@newcity.com