Greg Kot – Page 33 –

Annie Clark, singer and songwriter known as St. Vincent, performs at the Chicago Theatre on Jan. 12, 2018, in Chicago.

St. Vincent breaks the ice with her guitar, more personal songs at Chicago Theatre

December 15, 2018 at 12:20 a.m.

St. Vincent’s guitar is more than just an instrument. In her hands it’s a sound machine, a feral voice, an emotional necessity. On Friday at the sold-out Chicago Theatre, it...

Jeff Rosenstock’s prog-punk wages war against futility

December 15, 2018 at 12:13 a.m.

Jeff Rosenstock opens “POST-” (Polyvinyl) with a brief spoken-word introduction followed by a seven-minute multipart track that howls and staggers, a punk-prog manifesto that smashes together big guitar chords, cowbell-driven...

Lido Pimienta — a misfit finds a home on stage

December 15, 2018 at 12:03 a.m.

When Lido Pimienta’s album “La Papessa” won the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, Canada’s top music award, no one was more surprised than the Colombian-Canadian singer herself. She topped entries by...

Bill FitzGerald’s an all-Americana club owner

December 17, 2018 at 11:17 p.m.

The bad news is that FitzGerald’s, the revered yet forever funky roadhouse club that has hosted hundreds of concerts since 1980 in west suburban Berwyn, is for sale. The good...

Ron Gallo performs on the third day of Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park on Saturday, August 5, 2017.

From Kendrick Lamar to Randy Newman, the concerts that made 2017 memorable

December 15, 2018 at 9:08 a.m.

As we prepare to roll into a new year of concerts, here are my favorite shows from 2017: 1. Kendrick Lamar at United Center, July 27: He was a man...

Melkbelly's James Wetzel, from left, Liam Winters, Miranda Winters and Bart Winters in Gompers Park.

Melkbelly leads top 10 Chicago indie albums

December 17, 2018 at 10:25 a.m.

It was another bountiful year for Chicago's independent music. Here are the 10 local indie releases that I most enjoyed: 1. Melkbelly, “Nothing Valley” (Wax Nine): Singer-guitarist Miranda Winters, guitarist...

"No_One Ever Really Dies," the latest release by N.E.R.D.

N.E.R.D. presents Pharrell Williams at his trippiest

December 17, 2018 at 6:43 p.m.

Not many albums could survive Ed Sheeran performing reggae, but Pharrell Williams always took chances — not all of them successful — in N.E.R.D. Despite the Sheeran gaffe, “No One...

Knox Fortune — from behind the scenes in Chicago music to making a scene

December 17, 2018 at 6:25 p.m.

If you ask Knox Fortune, perhaps the least interesting item on his resume is winning a Grammy Award for his work on Chance the Rapper’s “Coloring Book” album in 2016....

The National performs at the Civic Opera House on Dec. 12, 2017.

The National: Intimacy and desperation collide at Civic Opera House

December 17, 2018 at 6:14 p.m.

The National isn’t a particularly political band. But there was a moment Tuesday in the first of two shows at the Civic Opera House where the quintet just couldn’t help...

Killer Mike, left, and El-P of Run The Jewels perform in early 2017 in Chicago.

Run the Jewels, Ted Leo, Kendrick Lamar top the pop recordings

May 13, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.

Each year, tens of thousands of albums are released, which means it’s impossible to listen to them all. So to proclaim one album or one list as a compilation of...

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