Greg Kot – Page 72 –

How Janet Jackson took control again with Jam and Lewis

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Jimmy Jam knows Janet Jackson well enough to know what works. Their first few albums, including "Control" (1986) and "Rhythm Nation" (1989), were basically three-person operations: Jackson, Jam and coproducer...

Leon Bridges performs at the Vic on Oct. 27, 2015.

Leon Bridges keeps his soul smooth at the Vic

June 16, 2018 at 1:02 p.m.

Leon Bridges took time between songs to mention Sam Cooke at his sold-out performance Tuesday at the Vic Theatre, as if his debt to the late Chicago soul great weren't...

The Chills return with a world of worry on ‘Silver Bullets’

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Dunedin, a coastal town in New Zealand, produced an inordinate number of distinctive bands that had a profound impact on '80s indie rock. Even amid this sea of innovators, which...

Adele’s new song ‘Hello’ a safe balancing act

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

"Hello," she's back and playing it safe. With her new single, released in the early hours of Friday, British singer Adele announces that the four-year wait for the follow-up to...

Soul singer Leon Bridges performs at the Green Mill in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood on April 29, 2015. The Texas-raised artist is set for a return Chicago engagement at the Vic Theatre.

Singer Leon Bridges goes from dishwashing to soul mining

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

About a year ago, while taking meetings with record companies interested in releasing his debut album, Leon Bridges was working as a dishwasher in Fort Worth, Texas. Last December, after...

Joanna Newsom arrives at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2015, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Joanna Newsom’s world in clearer focus on ‘Divers’

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Joanna Newsom is surely the only orchestral-harp playing, bird-watching, fairy-tale loving best-seller in indie-pop. In the months before the arrival of her fourth studio album, "Divers" (Drag City), she appeared...

The Ex and Ken Vandermark trample genre borders together

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Andy Moor, longtime guitarist in The Ex, is on the phone from Amsterdam while under attack by wild fungus. "Oww! I just rubbed my eye and it's burning because of...

Review: ‘Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink’ by Elvis Costello

May 9, 2019 at 5:45 p.m.

First impressions die hard. In the late '70s, Elvis Costello tattooed himself on the consciousness of a group of teenagers huddled in front of a foot-high stage in a bad...

Protomartyr finds hope amid rubble in ‘The Agent Intellect’

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Protomartyr kicks off its third studio album, "The Agent Intellect" (Hardly Art), by inviting the baddest of the bad to speak. The narrator in "The Devil in his Youth" lurks...

Titus Andronicus is triumphant in tragedy

May 13, 2019 at 2:22 p.m.

Patrick Stickles went overboard on Titus Andronicus' latest album, "The Most Lamentable Tragedy" (Merge), which spreads a 29-track, five-act rock opera about manic depression over 93 minutes. Now he can...

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