Soundboard Calendar
| Today 05.20.13 | Tuesday 05.21.13 | Wednesday 05.22.13 | Thursday 05.23.13 | Friday 05.24.13 | Saturday 05.25.13 | Sunday 05.26.13 |
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There’s an ongoing symbiosis between two peculiar populations of (mostly) young and female Tumblr users: those who post fashion-inspiration pics from Harajuku alongside glitchy animated GIF art and vintage photos of Aaliyah and Britney, and those who belong to the burgeoning pack of musicians hoping to emulate those singers’ pop success while maintaining at least a hint of art-damaged weirdness. British singer Charli XCX is one of the latter crew’s most notable personalities. »
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Chicago’s superb Third Coast Percussion, recently named ensemble in residence at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, concludes its concert season with one of its most eclectic, melodic, and forward-looking programs. The centerpiece of the evening is Dmitri Tymoczko’s Röckdöts, whose high-energy, high-volume collision of tuned percussion, piano, and clattery kit drumming borrows the feel of complicated prog rock. »
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When Philadelphia modern-soul singer Bilal Oliver released his 2001 debut, 1st Born Second, he was poised to be the next big thing out of the Soulquarians collective, which also included D’Angelo, ?uestlove, and J Dilla. But during the decade that he kept his modest following waiting for a second album, the jazz-bred vocalist seemed to do little more than sing hooks on hip-hop tracks for artists such as Common, Little Brother, and Clipse. »
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The sophomore album from prolific chiptune band Anamanaguchi, Endless Fantasy, is an endurance test. Yes, you could probably parlay that statement into a load of analogies to eight-bit video games, but the more relevant fact is that listening to 22 songs of glitchy synths, galloping rhythms, and what occasionally amounts to Nintendo-based dubstep—the title track has its fair share of “drops”—is like parking in front of an orchestra of strobe lights for nearly 80 minutes. »
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When the last book in the Harry Potter series came out in summer 2007, a friend started habitually pointing out people reading it in public, and it seemed like we couldn’t get on a train without seeing one or two. Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing the same thing for Acid Rap, the new second mixtape from 20-year-old Chatham MC Chancelor Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper—I’ve heard it leaking out of strangers’ headphones on the streets and on the el so often that I’m beginning to believe that Chance is as ubiquitous as Harry. »
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Guitarist Gilad Hekselman, making his Chicago debut as part of this week’s Israeli Jazz Festival, represents the leading edge of mainstream jazz, with dazzling chops, inexhaustible melodic imagination, total mastery of harmony, and deep knowledge of jazz history. Since moving to New York from Israel in 2004, he’s worked with the likes of Ari Hoenig and Anat Cohen, but it’s with his own group—bassist Joe Martin, drummer Marcus Gilmore, and often tenor saxophonist Mark Turner—that he shines brightest, extending a lineage established by Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel. »
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Nothing makes you cooler than getting to hear a record as soon it drops, right? Saki hosts a listening party for JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound's spanking-new album, Howl, out on Bloodshot. »
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For the past few years Mavado has been in the same predicament that’s afflicted so many other dancehall superstars: he’s practically a demigod in Jamaica, but barely anyone in the U.S. knows who he is. This is despite the fact that his American fan base consists not just of dancehall geeks but also of massive rap stars. Jay-Z and Drake are fans, Snoop and French Montana have both featured him as a guest on songs, and hip-hop kingmaker DJ Khaled has signed him to a record deal. »
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Electric Daisy Carnival with Above & Beyond, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Kaskade, Michael Mayer, and others Chicagoland Speedway May 24 1
The Electric Daisy Carnival has its roots in the 90s underground rave scene in southern California, but since the 2008 edition—which by the estimate of its promoter, Insomnia, brought out 65,000 attendees, or twice the expected number—it’s become the preeminent name-brand festival in stateside EDM culture. Every year it expands into new cities, and this year is its inaugural Chicago edition. »
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Though long overlooked in music-history books, Milwaukee’s Die Kreuzen were a crucial part of the posthardcore puzzle. Formed in 1981, they released their self-titled debut, which laid out the connections between hardcore and metal, in 1984—by which time labels such as SST, Touch and Go, and Homestead were all releasing records by independent bands that had emerged from punk but bucked its limitations. »
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This scrappy instrumental trio was born in 2009 as the rhythm section of the Horse’s Ha, the elegant folk-rock group fronted by Janet Bean and Jim Elkington. As Stirrup, though, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, bassist Nick Macri, and drummer Charles Rumback have a sound of their own. »
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5/19 is sold out.
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Pianist Gerald Clayton has recorded every one of his three albums since moving from his native Los Angeles to New York seven years ago, and in that brief time his music has undergone a dramatic transformation from brisk and lively post-Oscar Peterson postbop to burnished, thoroughly contemporary jazz that borrows rhythmic ideas from hip-hop and dices them up with staggering technique. He pushes even further on his latest album, Life Forum (Concord Jazz), beefing up his core trio of bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown with three horn players (trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonists Logan Richardson and Dayna Stephenson) and two vocalists, Gretchen Parlato and Sachal Vasandani, who add refined wordless singing. »
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Pianist Gerald Clayton has recorded every one of his three albums since moving from his native Los Angeles to New York seven years ago, and in that brief time his music has undergone a dramatic transformation from brisk and lively post-Oscar Peterson postbop to burnished, thoroughly contemporary jazz that borrows rhythmic ideas from hip-hop and dices them up with staggering technique. He pushes even further on his latest album, Life Forum (Concord Jazz), beefing up his core trio of bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown with three horn players (trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonists Logan Richardson and Dayna Stephenson) and two vocalists, Gretchen Parlato and Sachal Vasandani, who add refined wordless singing. »
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When the last book in the Harry Potter series came out in summer 2007, a friend started habitually pointing out people reading it in public, and it seemed like we couldn’t get on a train without seeing one or two. Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing the same thing for Acid Rap, the new second mixtape from 20-year-old Chatham MC Chancelor Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper—I’ve heard it leaking out of strangers’ headphones on the streets and on the el so often that I’m beginning to believe that Chance is as ubiquitous as Harry. »
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Electric Daisy Carnival with Above & Beyond, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Kaskade, Michael Mayer, and others Chicagoland Speedway May 24 1
The Electric Daisy Carnival has its roots in the 90s underground rave scene in southern California, but since the 2008 edition—which by the estimate of its promoter, Insomnia, brought out 65,000 attendees, or twice the expected number—it’s become the preeminent name-brand festival in stateside EDM culture. Every year it expands into new cities, and this year is its inaugural Chicago edition. »
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