Tag: Entertainment

By: Simrah Qasim

CHICAGO — On Saturday, April 12, the Los Angeles-based ensemble League of Musicians (LA LOM) brought their vibrant, genre-blending sound to Chicago’s Vic Theatre in Lincoln Park, captivating a lively crowd of local music lovers.

LA LOM is composed of three LA natives,  Zac Sokolow (Guitar), Jake Faulkner (Bass), and Nicholas Baker (Drums/Percussion).  Their music consists of a blend of Afro-Cuban Jazz and Cumbia, as well as sounds from Mexico and Cuba. 

The three first began playing together in 2019 when performing covers of 1950s and ’60s soulful ballads they heard on an “oldies station”, K-EARTH 101, in their hometown. 

The trio performed five nights a week in a hotel lobby on Hollywood Boulevard. From there, they started experimenting with a myriad of different genres. 

Sokolow, Faulkner, and Baker quietly made their way onto the brightly lit stage of the Vic theatre. Sokolow looked to his bandmates before playing the first few notes to “Cafe Tropical.” 

Baker nodded his head with each tap of the congas, adding a touch of Afro-Cuban influence to the otherwise cumbia sonidera sound. 

Cumbia Sonidera refers to a style of music that originated in Mexico City through the vibrant street music scene involving live performances, DJS (sonideros), and sound systems. La LOM is heavily influenced by this genre and often incorporates it into their music.

There were so many aspects to this experience which set it apart from concerts I have attended in the past. What stood out to me the most was the way the members of LA LOM interacted with their music and each other. The band was able to create an environment in which the audience could focus solely on the music and how it makes them feel, rather than the artists who are performing it. 

Watching Sokolow strum the guitar, I saw his body language display a love for music that I have rarely seen. The three musicians swayed and danced with every note they played, feeling the rhythm, as though they were one with the audience.  

Under the bright neon lights, La LOM performed more of their instrumental renditions, showcasing their carefully crafted repertoire. Weaving together a multitude of cultures—many of which shape the city of LA—the trio incorporated an assortment of instruments, including the congas, bass, violin, and drums. 

The beauty of La LOM isn’t just their ability to successfully blend together different sounds, cultures, and styles, but also the emotion they are able to invoke. For many, La LOM’s music exists as a symbol for romanticism and nostalgia. 

Though the culture of Chicago and LA might differ, the emotional resonance of the music remains the same. When La LOM left the stage, the energy in the room remained quiet but palpable. For that brief time, they’d bridged the gap between cities, blending influences and stories to create something both unique and familiar.

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By: Emma Higgins

Emma: Do you mind Introducing yourselves and what you play in the band?

Jim: I’m Jim, I play bass.

Blake: I’m Blake, I play drums.

Grant: I’m Grant and I play guitar and sing.

Emma: And then my first question is, what inspired the name of your new album?

Grant: We were stranded in Darian, Georgia, a little outside of Savannah, and we were in a KFC, and we were talking about we were just posted not doing anything. And, somebody had joked, like to pass the time, like we could hold up a sign that says free help. And it kind of spoke to me in a way that just, that’s all that music sometimes is. It’s free help.

Emma: I really appreciate that response. And I think that’s like a really cool thing that you were inspired by something, even though it was sort of an unfortunate event you put yourself in. My next question is, what are you looking forward to most with your upcoming shows?

Jim: Well, we’re done as of right now, so we’re going to go home, and I’m looking forward to making time to relax. I’m looking forward to our homecoming show. 

Emma: Wow. I didn’t realize this is actually your last one. And my last question is specifically for you (Blake). Because I’m a former drummer, what advice can you give to younger aspiring musicians?

Blake: Drummers specifically? Practice a lot and play to your favorite songs. I mean, I learned how to play drums from playing “Garage Band”. You know, like, I feel like drumming is, like just an expression of self. Like you don’t have to be technically good to be a good drummer. You just got to be cool.

Emma: That’s very true. I don’t think I’ve ever met a drummer that isn’t really cool or super inspiring in some way, because it is such an expressive art form.

(The boys embrace) 

Jim: Blake inspires me everyday to be better, I love my homies.

Emma: You guys are like the definition of besties, I love it. Is there anything else you’d like to say to our listeners in Chicago or your hometown folks?

Grant: Shout out Chicago! Shout out Minneapolis. Shout out Dylan, Chaz and Boman for being on tour with us. Shout out Jim and shout out Blake and shout out you for doing this interview. Thanks for the time.

Emma: Thank you very much, guys!

By: Sam Taffet

CHICAGO– From the moment I saw Chelsea Grin, I was thankful for my newly purchased earplugs. Not to muffle their incredible sound, but to make sure my ears would be still working so I could catch them on their next tour.

If you’ve never listened to deathcore, imagine the most amplified guitars ever, pummeling blastbeat drums, and endless crazy riffs. For me, the vocals are one of the most defining characteristics of deathcore: full of deep growls, shrieks, and pig squeals, just adding to their impressive wall of sound.

I noticed that my earplugs would be essential right as their final opener, Shadows of Intent, stepped foot onto the stage. The song that stood out the most during their set was “The Heretic Prevails,” which opens with a captivating piano riff, guitar, vocals, and features a beautiful breakdown at the end. Before the set, I was under the impression I didn’t know any of the openers of the night, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn I had two of their songs saved, which excited me even more for them.

After a brief wait between sets, Chelsea Grin appeared, with the crowd erupting in excitement. The vocalist immediately caught my attention, utilizing a raised platform throughout the show that not only brought him closer to the audience, but also amplified his stage presence and drew my focus to his impressive performance. As their set began, I noticed that Chelsea Grin kicked things off with many of their songs I already knew, which instantly captivated me to their performance.

They opened with a string of newer tracks, “Hostage” and “Sing to the Grave”, setting a great tone for the show. It felt like the perfect way to start the show, performing two of their biggest songs to excite the crowd. Throughout the night, the energy was amazing, with several walls of deaths breaking out the pit during their heavier songs, with vocalist Tom Barber repeatedly calling for them and hyping up the crowd. Each time, fans would clear out a space in the center of the pit and slam into each other with full force, all for the sake of having fun to the music.

Although I wasn’t familiar with most of the songs that followed, Chelsea Grin’s performance was so captivating that several new tracks stood out, which are now on repeat for me. One that especially caught my attention was “Across the Earth.”The song opens with a powerful, drawn-out piano intro that builds anticipation before beautifully blending into the rest of the song. I love how all the musical components come together seamlessly in this song, especially with the vocals featuring a “blegh,” one of my favorite vocal inflections of deathcore.

During Chelsea Grin’s final song, someone in the crowd got injured, causing the band to pause their final song to make sure that everyone was safe.

Not knowing what to do, I took that as my cue to head out of the show a little early.

In the end, even with the brief interruption, Chelsea Grin’s show was incredible, and they’re definitely worth catching on their current tour. If you get the chance, don’t miss out on experiencing their amazing performance.

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By: Darci Michon

CHICAGO—Since their start in 2018, The Linda Linda’s have taken the modern punk rock music scene by storm. The band is made up of Lucia de Garza (guitar/vocals), Mila de Garza (drums/vocals), Bela Salazar (guitar/vocals), and Elosie Wong (bass/vocals), whose ages currently range from 14 to 20 years old. The quartet has had a very impressive career, opening for bands such as Bikini Kill, Green Day, The Rolling Stones, and Paramore. In March, the teenage rockers set off on their first-ever headlining tour. 

This past Sunday, April 13th, The Linda Linda’s stopped in Chicago, and took the Metro by storm. The night opened with Chicago’s own Adan Diaz and Baltimore-based band Pinkshift as the supporting acts. Between Diaz’s high energy indie-rock and Pinkshift’s fast-paced grungy pop-punk, the crowd was warmed up and excited for The Linda Linda’s to kick off their set.

As soon as the quartet walked onto the stage, the crowd erupted into a burst of energy, and the band launched into their song “No Obligation,” the title track of their latest album of the same name. The track, fronted by Wong, showcases the bassist’s raspy voice with uplifting lyrics that livened up the crowd and got them dancing. 

While a lot of The Linda Linda’s songs have political undertones attached to it, they are able to provide inspiring insight that is wise beyond their years. 

Throughout their career, The Linda Lindas have appeared on several musical projects including A24’s “Stop Making Sense” tribute album, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of “The Talking Heads’” concert documentary. During their performance, The Linda Lindas played their cover of “Found a Job” from the tribute album. The song, led by Salazar, was an example of pure, unbridled joy that absolutely wowed the audience

Throughout their set, the lyrics “We rebuild what you destroy” would appear on the backing screen in reference to their song “Racist, Sexist Boy.” With songs such as “Resolution/Revolution” and Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl,” The Linda Lindas not only signal a call for change, but encourage the audience to take action and stand up in the face of injustice. 

Two standout moments of The Linda Lindas’ set were, “Too Many Things” fronted by Mila de Garza and “Don’t Think” fronted by Lucia de Garza. While both songs deal with the challenges and hardships of being in this world, there is something amazing about people from all different generations and backgrounds singing about these themes that makes one feel less alone.

A truly beautiful part of the show was the never ending pit that took place in the middle of the floor. However, this was not your traditional punk rock pit. Instead of moshing, everyone was dancing. The entire floor was made up of groups of friends holding hands, jumping, and dancing around, all while singing profound lyrics about growing up, empowerment, and friendship. 

It is so important that in this chaotic world full of negativity, that we are able to build communities and connect over art and music such as The Linda Lindas to express ourselves and empower one another.

While watching the band, you can’t help but smile when thinking about how far they have come in such a short time and at such a young age. Each member is an integral part of the band and their stage presence both individually and as a whole is a force to be reckoned with. The Linda Lindas’ performance at the Metro was one of the most fun shows I have ever been to. They are not only speaking their minds to fight against injustice and discrimination, but the quartet is doing it with an optimistic energy and look on life that I think everyone could learn from. 

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By: Cassie Limberakis

CHICAGO– On Wednesday April 2nd, I had the chance to see “The Army, The Navy” at Beat Kitchen for their first ever headline show. This tour celebrates the release of their second EP “Sugar for Bugs.” 

“The Army, The Navy” is made up of childhood friends Maia Ciambriello and Sasha Goldberg. They met through a shared singing coach and have since been inseparable. They write songs about everything under the sun, including dead baby rats. The song “Vienna: In Memoriam” is about a deceased baby rat killed by their house cat in New Orleans. 

The opener for this show was Aggie Miller, a folk musician from New York. A friend of Miller named Emma accompanied Miller on guitar with her viola. Her sound can best be described as a hybrid between Andrew Bird and Joni Mitchell. 

After the show ended, Miller stuck around at the merch booth to connect more deeply with fans. 

Goldberg and Ciambriello then came onto the stage wearing oversized versions of their tour merch. Their harmonies are intricate and methodical. Their music also has a pulse, inviting movement. 

Near the end of their performance, they did a mashup of their song “40%” and “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child. This mashup was inventive and witty, inviting everyone on the floor to sing and dance in unison. Each note and accent is deliberately written, meant to evoke some sort of emotion in the audience. 

Both members of the band are natural musicians, allowing their musical intelligence to shine through within their writing. In the track, “Persimmon” the lyrics “What’s a flame to a candle if you’re melting regardless” refers to the inevitability of strong human emotion affecting life actions. 

“It’s giving boygenius, in a dissonant and cool way.” Said 16-year-old concert goer, Evelyn.

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By: Ella Grace

CHICAGO– On Friday, April 4th, Caravan Palace brought electro swing to a packed crowd at Chicago’s House of Blues. In fact, it was so full, I could barely see the stage. My first time at the venue, I was immediately struck by its maximalist decor. Every wall was covered in colorful, eclectic, kitschy art, including paintings, statues, and even religious iconography.

Electro swing is a subgenre of electronic dance music (EDM) that mixes jazz influence, usually in the form of samples, with house music. Hailing from France, Caravan Palace is probably the most popular electro swing group to date. One of my go-to artists in middle school, Caravan Palace has not been a consistent presence in my playlists more recently, so when I saw their current tour included Chicago, I got excited for a little nostalgia trip. Middle school Ella dreamed of seeing them live.

As the lights came down and the show began, a long recorded music intro kept the audience in anticipation before the band came out on stage, opening with a jazz manouche-inspired track. The six-member ensemble included Arnaud “Vial” de Bosredon on guitar and synths, Charles Delaporte on bass and synths, Martin Berlugue on trombone, Lucas Saint-Cricq on saxophone, Zoé Colotis on lead vocals and clarinet, and Paul-Marie Barbier on keyboards, percussion, and electric vibraphone. Throughout the show, all of the musicians doubled on other instruments, showcasing their multi-talented prowess. In addition to producing the music, they also all contributed to the visual aspect of the show with coordinated dance moves throughout.

Lead singer Zoé Colotis also pulled off multiple costume changes. Starting off in a sparkly black oversized jacket, she later took it off to reveal a sparkly silver romper. Towards the end of the show, she added a black blazer over the top of that, and fit in one more costume change to a black leather mini skirt and sheer black blouse. She showcased these all against a static backdrop of the male instrumentalists in matching white collared short-sleeve shirts. The final visual element that tied everything together was some exceptionally detailed and dynamic lighting.

Caravan Palace performed many of their big hits from across multiple albums throughout their discography including “Black Betty,” “Rock It For Me,” and “Fool.” They performed several tracks from their album titled <l°_°l> including “Wonderland,” “Midnight,” and “Aftermath,” as well as their number one top track “Lone Digger.” I think the woman next to me spoke for many in attendance when she shouted “Oh! This is my favorite song!” as they began that track.

With bumping disco/house beats, the jazz influence came across mostly through samples, walking basslines, horn solis, and swing feel. In jazz, the same tune generally doesn’t sound exactly the same twice, due to the improvisational nature of the music. As a result, live performances usually do not sound exactly like recorded versions of the same songs by the same artists. The goal of the performance is to spontaneously create something new. 

Conversely, Caravan Palace’s performance stuck very close to their recorded tracks, replicating them almost exactly, which is impressive in its own right and is often very hard to do well. They relied heavily on samples and other pre-recorded material to achieve this, and the live instrumentation acted almost more as decoration on top rather than the core sound all of the time, to no degradation of the overall energy of the performance.

It can be challenging to perfectly mix so much live instrumentation, acoustic and electric, with so much pre-recorded audio, and initially, I was disappointed with the overall sound. The horns and vocals sounded a bit muddy, and I could barely hear them over the electronic sounds. The sound improved marginally as the show progressed, and I also noticed a significant improvement when I moved from the balcony to the main floor, suggesting the acoustics of the hall played a part in the mixing issues as well. 

Towards the end of the set, halfway through one of Caravan Palace’s first big hits “Brotherswing” (from their debut self-titled album), the sound completely cut out and they had to stop the song. Maintaining complete composure, Colotis explained that they had had some bus trouble earlier in the day and arrived late to the venue, missing their soundcheck, which explained all of the mixing issues. I do not envy the engineer who had to mix their complicated sound on the fly. Happily, the sound was restored and the band restarted the song. The mix sounded much better to me after that and there were no more technical issues.

“You have been the best audience. Keep being happy. The world needs peace and love. Just dance!” Colotis told the crowd before the last song. 

After the song, she said “merci beaucoup,” before exiting the stage with the rest of the band. It seemed like the end of the show, but as the crowd chanted “One more song!” a pre-recorded track began to play with a male voice saying “Oh no, we’re not done yet…” The band re-emerged and launched into “Comics” from <l°_°l>. In fact, the “one more song” chant earned the crowd at least three more songs.

After the last of these, the band took a big bow to ceaseless cheers and applause from the crowd, but the show was not quite over yet.

“We try to spread love through our music,” Colotis began before explaining that the band had seen a posting on social media from a couple who met at one of their Chicago shows three years ago. They invited the couple up on stage and sure enough, the man got down on one knee and proposed! Not to be outdone, his partner responded by pulling out a ring of their own and joining him on one knee! The audience unsurprisingly went crazy at the engagement. What a way to end the show!

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By: Leonardo Fontane

CHICAGO–On Saturday March 30th Asian Improv aRts Midwest and Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) teamed up to present a listening party of recently digitized tapes from the Fred Anderson Trio at the Velvet lounge circa 1998-2001.

This event was a way to present a viewing of recently found footage from the 1998 Fred Anderson Trio’s performance in Osaka Japan. Long standing bassist of the Anderson Trio and founder of AIRMW, Tatsu Aoki, was present for this event. Even being able to bring out the bass he used for the performance.
Part of what made this screening so special is the fact that both Aoki and Fred Anderson have had such an impact on music in Chicago. Anderson was an esteemed player who acted as a mentor for many musicians in the city.

He founded a club called, “Velvet Lounge” which acted as a space to allow for young players to stretch their wings and play different styles and ideas without shame. They could also hear Fred’s group put on stunning sets weekly.

Aoki is also an extremely well-respected artist not just for his incredible playing ability but also for his work uplifting Asian arts in the city A beautiful part of Aoki’s attendance was his ability to give fresh insight into the history of the Osaka performance experience.

The concert itself was programmed and set up by fellow musician, Yoko Noge, Noge was able to coordinate the travel of over 60 Chicago musicians to Japan for a multi day festival. Some of the festival’s activities included musicians visiting local schools to teach and interact with students as well as multiple large showcases.

Aoki explained how the Anderson Trio attracted fans from all over Japan with even people from Tokyo taking bullet trains out to Osaka for the performance. After Aoki’s brief history of the event the viewing of the performance started, and with it the audience was whisked back in time to a truly breathtaking set of music.

Starting with a driving Latin feel that was bolstered by Aoki and drummer Hamid Drake’s extremely strong rhythmic feel. An enticing instrumentation of just bass drums and sax allowed this set to have a looser feel without a chordal instrument to set as many boundaries to the sound.

As a result, Anderson’s playing in the first half of the set was able to effortlessly stretch from sections of very sparse phrasing with great deals of space into large tightly knit chromatic lines.

Through minutes of open space Anderson cleverly played off the accompaniment from Drake, each able to truly build and carry a complex conversation over the backbone of Aoki’s playing.

After a nearly twenty-minute experience from the trio Drake closed the first half with a hard-hitting solo filled with complex rudiments while maintaining an unwavering groove.

The second half of this set was started by a moving Aoki bassline which set a strong feel into your body. It was here in the performance where one viewing this recording could understand the attraction of the Trio for so many people in Japan.

The ability Anderson, Aoki, and Drake possessed as one playing unit presented itself as a reason to pay attention to the music that was being born in Chicago. One living entity of sound, expression, and emotion the Trio’s set contained an essence only those who fully understand their fellow bandmates can achieve.

After another beautifully crafted solo from Anderson the set ended with a very large round of applause in Osaka. Being able to experience this legendary performance from such important Chicago figures highlights exactly why the preservation efforts from ESS to digitize tapes is so important.
Both Tatsu and the viewing gave key information on the late 90s scene of jazz in Chicago, as well as leaving a listener with much to think about.

The work done by AIRMW is also a testament to this music culture as they provide a space for these events that must be uplifted so that every person may experience music’s magic.

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