Music

Learning to Mourn Michael A trip to his boyhood home makes the world's most alien superstar seem human again.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Best of Chicago: Music The best hip-hop act, band name, place to buy ethnic music that's not a record store, and much more

The List
This week's best live bets, including Explosions in the Sky, Sunn 0))), Richie Hawtin, Jay-Z, and more

Secret History of Chicago Music J.B. Hutto
By Plastic Crimewave

Early Warnings Find your concert, buy your ticket.

Search our music listings.

On the Blogs
Peter Margasak's Post No Bills

Crickets, from the Reader's music staff

Recently in Music

The Keys to the Clubhouse Jessica Hopper's new book demystifies the music biz for girls (and boys too).
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Mika Miko A Q&A with the LA band, which plays the Beat Kitchen on Monday, 6/22
By Reyan Ali

Big Kids If the garage-rock scene had a deep end, the teenaged Smith Westerns would be ready for it.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Why Don't We Talk About the Turtles? Elijah Wald's new book, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, explains how the uncool music of yesteryear shaped what we listen to today.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

All Caught Up Cornetist Josh Berman got a late start in jazz, but you can't tell from his debut album as a bandleader.
By Peter Margasak

Hell's Handmaidens Novice promoters Jackie Kilmer and Nicole Chambers throw what might be the world's first black-metal and noise fest.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Local Release Roundup The Cool Kids' ambitious new mix tape, Lord Mantis's black hole metal, and more
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Hip-House Finds Its Decade Twenty years after gangsta rap drove them apart, dance music and hip-hop are back together.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Comp Time Mutant garage from Detroit, disinterred soul from Wichita
By Brian Costello

Been Caught Pandering Jane's Addiction: manufacturing the impression that we care if they go away
By Jessica Hopper

Wilco Comes Alive Ashes of American Flags makes clear that with this band, the show's the thing.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Loss Leaders Free online-only tracks from Naledge, both Cool Kids, Flosstradamus, and Japanese Cartoon
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Long-Haul Truckers Local trio Vee Dee stretch out with a double album that might finally earn them a following outside the garage-rock scene.
By Brian Costello

Grounded Again If Marshall Preheim can't find a legal way to keep the AV-aerie open while he gets it licensed, it might not survive the wait.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Music and Movies Matter And Bulgarian native Ilko Davidov, cofounder of this week's Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, grew up not taking either one for granted.
By Ed M. Koziarski

The Slow Listening Movement A former Reader contributor proposes an antidote for MP3 fatigue.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Solving the Puzzle That Is Pop Azita’s third album for Drag City is her most natural sounding yet.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

More Teeth Live Nation and Ticketmaster together could exert a dangerous amount of power over the music business.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Local Release Roundup Mic Terror’s King of the New School, Blueberry Fist's Blueberry Fist, The 1900s' Medium High, Speck Mountain, Some Sweet Relief
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Short Takes on Recent Reissues Detroit rockers Death presaged punk, Indiana's Zero Boys epitomized it, and Volcano Suns carried it into the indie era.
By Peter Margasak

Back to the Grind Reviving hardcore, Harpoon gives it an electronic tweak.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Chicago Hip-Hop's Demilitarized Zone Andrew Barber's Fake Shore Drive forum has room for every faction of the local scene.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Pop White People Like Precious anachronisms, whistling, the approval of both NPR and and the Gray Lady—what's not to like about Andrew Bird?
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Leaving Camp Antony Hegarty sings earnest torch songs for the natural world: A review of The Crying Light by Antony & the Johnsons
By Noah Berlatsky

Less Intelligent Dance Music Telefon Tel Aviv discovers the virtues of good old-fashioned songwriting.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Critics' Cage Match Don't settle for another boring ten-best list.
By Jessica Hopper & Miles Raymer

Best of 2008 The top 40 albums of the year, from Matana Roberts to . . .
By Peter Margasak

A Few of My Favorite Things Taking the measure of 2008 calls for more than just a list of albums.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Are You There, G-Rod? Bird Names front man David Lineal reaches out to the beleaguered governor in song with the album For the Love of Rod.
By Liam Warfield

Neoprimitive Pop Golden Birthday builds its sound around the cozy murk of overdriven cassette tapes.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Q & A with Mercury Rev
By Lisa Torem

Whither the Album? Chuck Klosterman says Chinese Democracy is the format's last hurrah. Kanye proves him wrong.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Punk on the Inside No Age proves it's the spirit that matters, not the clothes or the chords.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Plus: Photos of the punk show of the decade by Clayton Hauck

Braxton and the Beast Once upon a time, a major label not only signed but supported one of the most uncompromising radicals in jazz.
By Peter Margasak

Space Dancehall MC Zulu works on Planet Lazer Bass, but he lives right here.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Local Release Roundup Anathallo's eclectic indie pop, a split single from two Milemarker vets, Yung Berg's latest mix tape, and more
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Q&A With Robyn Hitchock
By Lisa Torem

Outsider Punk Twenty years after John Henry Timmis IV put out his final single, somebody finally cares.
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A Big Band, Bent Dutch pianist Michiel Braam drafts Chicagoans into his long-running "anti-orchestra" for an Umbrella fest experiment.
By Neil Tesser

Kill It Again The latest incarnation of Chicago's independent-promoter ordinance may seem relatively harmless, but there's still no reason to let it pass.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Criminalizing Culture The new federal intellectual property act promises to do for music what Homeland Security did for air travel.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Watch My Meme How the Web is changing black youth culture, and vice versa.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

They Like That Old-Time Rock 'n' Roll Catfish Haven moves past indie rock to 1978.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Short Takes on Recent Releases Hybrid street music from Kinshasa, meticulous jazz from Norway, and a lavish tribute to a neglected country pioneer
By Peter Margasak

Soul Train Local The show that put black music on TVs across America got its start in Chicago—and even after it moved to LA, Chicago kept its own version running daily for nearly a decade.
By Jake Austen

Metal Shop Seventh Rule releases punishing music in beautiful packages.
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer
Chill the Funk Out The latest from Shape Shoppe: Chandeliers' The Thrush. Plus: Metallica: The Loud Album
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer
A Hole in the Shape of "All Summer Long"
How Kid Rock’s rejection of iTunes let anonymous session musicians beat him on the charts with his own song.

Local Release Roundup
Anthemic synth-punk, sweet sneaker hip-hop, bearable bummer rock, and more

The Chicago Way
Now that he's been dubbed one to watch, DJ-producer Willy Joy wants to help the next guy in line.

A Blast From Blaxploitation's Past
A Chicago band you never heard of recorded a smokin' soundtrack for a movie that never got made.

Pagan Death Cult
What could Greenwich Village folk and South Korean black metal possibly have in common?
Reviews of Karen Dalton's Green Rocky Road and Pyha's The Haunted House by Noah Berlatsky

Rooting for the Big Guy
Why local music fans should be glad Jam won the battle for the Uptown Theatre
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Africa on the Ground
Tiny reissue labels dig past the canon to the undiscovered treasures of the continent’s golden age.
By Peter Margasak

The Man Who Makes It Happen
Mike Reed’s best known as the guy who assembles the Pitchfork Music Festival, but in his spare time he performs miracles for the local jazz scene.
By Peter Margasak

It's All World Music Now
How technology is turning the tables on the Westernization of pop
Sharp Darts by Miles Raymer

Best of Chicago Readers' and the Reader's picks best rock act, best MC, best DJ, and more.