Gorillaz share the star power at Northerly Island
On Gorillaz's first tour nearly two decades ago, flesh-and-blood musicians played behind a scrim while their cartoon alter egos — Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D — took center stage. On...
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Fleet Foxes go deeper but lose some luster on ‘Crack-Up’
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function," F. Scott...
Saba creates like there’s no time to waste
Saba's music holds two seemingly opposite ideas — tragedy and triumph — in close proximity. There are moments when Saba has to step back and appreciate that he is a...
Nick Cave: Catharsis and loss at the Auditorium
Nick Cave waded into the crowd countless times Friday at the Auditorium Theatre, and each time the singer in the suit was transformed: preacher, pugilist, dastardly villain, bereaved parent. This...
Review: Lorde and the ‘Melodrama’ of innocence lost
Four years after "Pure Heroine" made Lorde a 16-year-old star with a knack for a celebrating a generation on the cusp of adulthood, she returns with the darker, more troubled...
Bonzie’s latest album a coming-of-age jam
Bonzie's second album, "Zone on Nine," could be described as a coming-of-age album, an ode to freedom — personal and artistic — and the struggle to fend off those who...
Chuck Berry’s final album a mix of glory-days references, a few surprises
Chuck Berry's surprise announcement last October that he would release his final studio album this year was made all the more poignant by his death March 18 at age 90....
Lizzo finding rap success in her own way
Lizzo may be making some inroads into the mainstream, but she's doing it by owning and often accentuating her differences. She's that rare rapper-singer who can also lay down a...
U2 at Soldier Field: Still searching for answers at ‘Joshua Tree’
U2 doesn't do nostalgia, or so the Irish juggernaut has claimed. So what's this business of dusting off its biggest-selling album, "The Joshua Tree," on its 30th anniversary? There's a...
Benjamin Booker wants to be more than a ‘Witness’ on new album
When the going gets topical, Mavis Staples seems to be the go-to singer for artists looking for a little historical veracity. Such is the case with the title track from...