Features

Quantazelle: Machine Woman

"I had a Commodore 64 computer when I was six and haven't gone more than four months without a computer since then," says 27-year-old Liz McLean Knight, who says she spends anywhere between seven and 16 hours a day behind the gleaming silver keys of her laptop.

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Filed under: feature
Tags: experimental techno, Kero, Liz McLean Knight, Mireya Acierto techno, Modsquare, Quench, subVariant, Tyra Bangs
10/03/2005

Syndrome: Curing Ailing Wardrobes

I've spent more weekends than I'd like to admit aimlessly wandering city streets, searching for the item that will both affirm my connection to and set me apart from the masses. It's part of the culture of the urban hunter/gatherer; it's as significant, in its own way, as whittling fertility figurines of soapstone may have once been.

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Tags: Adam Rajcevich, Chicago, clothing, Cody Hudson, Creative Rescue Organization, fashion, fashion designe, Kelly Marie Breslin, Luke Cho, Ray Noland, Syndrome
09/30/2005

Watchers: The Punk-Funk Gospel

While New Yorkers boast about the excess of talented bands coming from their metropolis, it wasn't that long ago that Chicago represented the heliocentric center of the indie rock universe. And even though labels like Touch & Go, Thrill Jockey and Kranky are still releasing urgent and challenging music, ironically it's New Jersey label Gern Blandsten that's home to Watchers, one of Chicago's most compelling and genre-killing quintets.

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Tags: Afrobeat, Damon Locks, Disco, dub, Dunes Phase, Fred Armisen, funk, Gern Blandsten, punk, rock, Saturday Night Live, Soul, Steve Marchese, Talking Heads, The Eternals, The Minutemen, To The Rooftops, Trenchmouth, Watchers, Wayne Montana
09/30/2005

Hefty Records: Looking to the Future

What's not to love about a label bold enough to release records by jazz trombonist Phil Ranelin and dirty techno-meister T. Raumschmiere? Despite, or perhaps because of, brash eclecticism, John Hughes III's Hefty Records has cultivated a dedicated following in the fickle world of independent labels. This year, Hefty celebrates 10 years of releasing records by bands like Telefon Tel Aviv, Savath & Savalas and Hughes himself as Slicker.

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Tags: Chicago, David Black, Hefty Records, John Hughes III, Peter Nicholson, record company, Savath & Savalas and Hughes, Slicker, Telefon Tel Aviv
09/29/2005

Pit Er Pat: Magic and Mystery

Pit Er Pat's music achieves a strange kind of alchemy. Their new album, Shakey (Thrill Jockey)–which follows last winter's mostly instrumental "Emergency" EP (Overcoat)–pieces layers of bass, drums and keyboards into a skittering tableau that flits between post-rock, free jazz and indie rock influences without pledging allegiance to one. The effect is calming and frenetic at once, and at times somber, thanks to the plaintive vocals of keyboardist Fay Davis-Jeffers. Read more »