Conor Mackey plays guitar in postrock group Monobody, which is how you know he has unpredictable energy"any musician tasked with creating rogue jazz flourishes and postmetal freakouts while …
It's music festival season again, and of course we're still in the middle of a pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 222.3 million U.S. residents are fully v…
After nearly two years on electronic monitoring, Jeremey "Mohawk" Johnson's ankle bracelet is finally off. The post 'All I feel is loss' appeared first on Chicago Reader.
For more than a decade, Chicago multi-instrumentalist and engineer Jake Acosta has been a key player in a loose federation of subversive musicians. He's done a lot of crucial work running re…
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist Sam Thousand moved to Chicago from Texas in 2009, and within a year he'd joined hip-hop fusion outfit Sidewalk Chalk. He's since become deeply e…
After D.C.-area rock group Two Inch Astronaut went on hiatus in 2018, Sam Goblin decamped for the midwest and began making music as Mister Goblin. He's settled in Indiana, but to assemble hi…
I can't imagine summer in Chicago without the Chosen Few Picnic & Festival, and that's not just because this grassroots house-music gathering is celebrating its 30th annual installment (…
In February, teenage Chicago indie rockers Dwaal Troupe contributed a tender, dusty tune called "Everyone Forgot but You" to Porcelain Songs, a 30-track compilation made by fans of enigmatic…
Chicago dance-music veteran Ron Trent creates deep house that can keep a dance floor jumping for hours while simultaneously maintaining an intoxicating tranquility. Since the early 90s, Tren…
Between Drake's sleepy Honestly, Nevermind and Beyoncé's "Break My Soul," a lot of people have something to say about house music lately. (And while I can't say I have thoroughly read every…
In 2015, when Chicago R&B wunderkind Ravyn Lenae was just 16, she self-released a sophisticated, vigorous EP called Moon Shoes, singing about romance and longing with the grace and lucid…
Jeremey Johnson has chronicled nearly two years of pretrial house arrest. The post 22 months appeared first on Chicago Reader.
In the 2010s, Rory Allen Phillip Ferreira became a national force in underground hip-hop rapping as Milo. He retired that name in 2018 and now performs as R.A.P. Ferreira, but the whimsical,…
Chicago trio Dehd sound like they're trying to levitate by fusing the ineffable but often incompatible powers of frigid postpunk and wispy indie rock. Dehd are dedicated minimalists: their l…
In the past year or so, whenever a friend has asked me to recommend music, I've pointed them at Chicago multi-instrumentalist Jonn Wallen, who creates omnidirectional experimental electronic…
In July 2019, Chicago indie-rock trio Horsegirl played the eighth annual Square Roots Festival. At the time, live shows were the only way to hear the group's taut but disarming dream pop, wi…
Chicago band Gentle Heat play no-nonsense indie rock that captures the allure of a towering blaze in the space of a single spark. On their new full-length, Sheer (Flesh & Bone), they pac…
Eli Schmitt, 20, moved to Chicago a couple years ago to attend DePaul, where he studies journalism and art history. In that time he's become a crucial connector in an emerging youth arts mov…
I heard a lot about the glory days of the Fireside Bowl even before I moved to Chicago, and I loved the way the venue brought together bands from disparate subscenes with almost every show. …
Matthew Rachman Gallery documents the architectural creations of Chicago's ultimate outsider artist. Last summer, Intuit began exhibiting nearly a dozen Wesley W…