Our (fairly) regular roundup of Music & Arts related news from Chicago-based web media, featuring thoughts and insight from some of the city’s most dedicated writers.
- Our guide to Record Store Day
Record Store Day has been getting more hectic and harder to enjoy, but we’re here to help.
by Reader staff
Record Store Day, which falls on April 20 this year, has turned into a zoo. It’s no longer the domain of giddy discophiles who sweat uncontrollably upon hearing the words “limited” or “out-of-print”—those folks were overwhelmed by the crowds after the first installment in 2008.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ] - Record Store Day special releases that are extra special
Record Store Day special releases include Charlie Poole’s pre-Depression banjo, the GZA’s chess set, and “Gay Fish.”
by Kevin Warwick, Peter Margasak, Miles Raymer, Leor Galil and Luca Cimarusti
At the Drive-In, Relationship of Command LP (Twenty-first Chapter) This reissue of At the Drive-In’s magnum opus—first released in 2000 on the Beastie Boys’ long-defunct Grand Royal label—is an obvious result of the band’s popular yet short-lived 2011 reunion (or cash grab, depending on your perspective). A must-have for any early-aughts posthardcore fan, Relationship of Command is a moody, restless confluence of ragged guitar melodies and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s powerful vocals, which are trippy but not yet Mars Volta trippy.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ] - Quadrophonic Excursions: Takehisa Kosugi at Lampo
Takehisa Kosugi — composer, violinist, creator with electronics, Fluxus member, and founder of legendary Japanese groups Group Ongaku and the Taj Mahal Travelers (an AMM-like group who performed all over Europe and Asia, and eventually did visit the Taj Mahal), performs this Saturday at the Graham Foundation‘s Madlener House (4 W. Burton Pl., Chicago) as part of Lampo‘s Winter/Spring season. Kosugi will perform works spanning 30 years, many written for the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham, the close confidant and collaborator with John Cage, revolutionized dance as Cage did music and composition, and his dance company consistently worked with the most cutting-edge composers in the world — check out the 12CD boxset Music For Merce (New World Recordings), which features Kosugi, for proof.
In concert, Kosugi will perform four pieces of electronic music, using “homemade audio generators, ready-made sound processors and light/sound interactive materials.” Lampo’s hardy four-channel speaker setup will immerse guests in a strange, bubbling cauldron of rising and cresting electronics. The five pieces to be performed are “Cycles” (1981), “Streams” (1991), “Op Music” (2001), “Music For Nearly 90, Part-A” (2009), and “Octet” (2011).
Tickets are free, but require RSVP. Reserve tickets HERE. The performance begins and 8. Stop by a little early and take a look around at the lovely Graham Foundation building and the many free art and photography exhibits on display.
Here is a 2003 performance of 2001’s “Op Music.”
Digest powered by RSS Digest