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Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Rockefeller Chapel
Last summer, I took a ride all the way to Bloomington, Indiana, and back just to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor perform in a fairly small rock club, the Bluebird. This month, the Montreal rock...
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Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Maiden Radio at the Vic
Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) returned to Chicago on Feb. 18, playing a concert at the Vic with the same band he played with last summer at the Old Town School of Folk Music — “The Bonny...
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Lawrence Peters Outfit at the High Hat Club
The Lawrence Peters Outfit plays old-fashioned country music on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the High Hat Club, a new bar in the spot where Katerina’s used to be, 1920 W. Irving Park Road. I...
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Eleanor Friedberger at the Empty Bottle
Eleanor Friedberger, who plays in the Fiery Furnaces with her brother, Matthew Friedberger, has also made three solo albums — including a fine new one called New View. She performed her solo music Feb....
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Neko Case and Robbie Fulks at the Tivoli Theatre
Neko Case said she was playing “deep cuts” at her concert Feb. 25 at the Tivoli Theatre, a grand old cinema in suburban Downers Grove. And indeed, Case performed several obscure tracks from her...
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Frequency Series Festival of Chicago New Music
“New music” seems to be catching on lately as a label for the stuff that we used to call “20th-century music.” Neither label really works, but what else should we call the new music composed for...
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Music Frozen Dancing 2016
For the last three years, the Empty Bottle has hosted an outdoor winter concert called “Music Frozen Dancing.” It’s a somewhat ridiculous idea, but the free event has drawn fairly big crowds even when...
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Le Butcherettes at Subterranean
Le Butcherettes, the Mexican garage punk band led by the phenomenal Teri Gender Bender (aka Teresa Suárez), returned to Chicago on Thursday, March 3, for a show at Subterranean. I saw this group at the...
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Reginald Robinson at First Unitarian Church
Some audience gasped as the ragtime pianist Reginald R. Robinson made an announcement at the beginning of his concert Saturday, March 12, at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago: This would be one of...
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Wussy at the Red Line Tap
The great Cincinnati rock band Wussy has a new album out, Forever Sounds — an outstanding follow-up to its 2014 album Attica! — and the group returned last week to its usual Chicago venue, the Red Line...
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Spunk at Constellation
The concert Wednesday, March 16, at Constellation was the first U.S. performance by Spunk, a quartet of Norwegian woman who have been improvising music under that name since 1995. Actually, as it...
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Freakwater at the Hideout
Freakwater is the sound of two pining, earthy, twangy voices coming together — the voices of Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin, who formed this country-music band in Kentucky back in 1985, together with...
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The Necks at Constellation
The Necks have been improvising beautiful music for many years now. You might call them a jazz trio — after all, they do follow the standard lineup of instruments you’ll see in many jazz trios: piano,...
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Songhoy Blues at Martyrs’
There’s a serious and sobering story behind the band Songhoy Blues. These four musicians are in a sort of exile — as the title of their 2015 debut album, Music in Exile, suggests — having fled from...
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Record Store Day 2016
My photos of musical performances I saw on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 16 — mostly at Permanent Records, plus a picture of the UnGnomes’ set at Laurie’s Planet of Sound. Jim Becker Hydrofoil...
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OBN IIIs at the Empty Bottle
My photos of the OBN IIIs on Saturday, April 16, at the Empty Bottle. Opening act Sueves Opening act MAMA
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The Coke Dares at Logan Arcade
Years have gone by since the last time when the Coke Dares played in Chicago, but the trio returned on Friday, April 22, and played two sets at Logan Arcade. As the night began, guitarist Jason Evans...
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Woods, Ultimate Painting and Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker at Lincoln Hall
My photos of Woods, Ultimate Painting and Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker on Saturday, April 23, at Lincoln Hall. Woods Ultimate Painting Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker
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Klaus Johann Grobe at the Empty Bottle
The Swiss group Klaus Johann Grobe played its first U.S. show ever on Tuesday, April 26, at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Chicago also happens to be where the group’s American record label, Trouble in...
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Cross Record at Schubas
In 2013, I saw a couple of concerts by Cross Record, a group led by the promising Chicago singer-songwriter Emily Cross. (See my blog posts about her shows in January 2013 at Township and in August...
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