Latest news with #BonIver
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Live music for summer 2025: 10 must-see concerts in Chicago beyond the fests and arena shows
This summer's concert slate points to a transition that continues to slowly unfold locally and around the country. Shying away from big festivals, artists are opting for standalone tours or participating in smaller, manageable package bills. That's welcome news for music lovers who prefer the equivalent of a savory main course to a prix-fixe buffet. And great for anyone looking to catch performers in more intimate environments where headliners can stretch out with a dedicated show. In the next few months, Chicagoans have no shortage of first-rate options in smaller venues purpose-built for music — and, in most cases, at prices that remain below the three-figure threshold. Here are 10 such stops that should be on your shortlist: Samia: 'I wanna be untouchable,' Samia sings in the first verse of the opening cut of her third LP, 'Bloodless. 'I wanna be impossible,' she wishes two stanzas later. The Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter doesn't hurt for confidence, though she has plenty of doubts, regrets and misgivings. Plenty of 20-something indie-pop tunesmiths fit that mold. Yet few possess the imagination to loosely base a record around the bizarre concept of bovine excision and leverage it as a metaphor for reconciling one's prior relationships with and senses of the opposite sex. Melodic, rich, bittersweet, hushed, intimate, albeit insistent: Samia's voice offers another reason to lean into the narratives. Album art and merch that evoke the dark designs preferred by Norwegian black metal bands lend further credence to her ideation. Alison Krauss & Union Station: The last several times Alison Krauss came through Chicago, she partnered with Robert Plant in support of the duo's surprise second duet record. Though the possibility of a third go-round with the former Led Zeppelin legend cannot be dismissed, the Illinois native recently reconvened with her longtime ensemble Union Station for their first LP ('Arcadia') in 14 years. The songs' myth-busting notion that hardship riddled the 'good ol' days' carries weight in our current age. For the group's first tour in a decade, dobro and lap-steel virtuoso Jerry Douglas receives deserved co-billing with the headliner. And newcomer Russell Moore steps in on co-lead vocals and guitar for former stalwart Dan Tyminski. You won't find a better excuse to connect with the premier purveyors of bluegrass. Kathleen Edwards: Sometimes, you need to follow your heart, not what other people want or expect you to do. Kathleen Edwards quickly established herself as one of the wittiest, spunkiest and craftiest singer-songwriters during the early 2000s. She issued four acclaimed albums that culminated with an effort ('Voyageur') spearheaded by Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon. Then, just like that, she dropped out. Or rather, she opened the cleverly named Quitters, a coffee shop outside of her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian operated the cafe as she slowly returned to music, releasing 'Total Freedom' (2020) and a covers EP this spring. Edwards also sold Quitters, remarried and started writing again. All positive developments for anyone drawn to smart, crackling country-rock and incisive, self-assured narratives. MJ Lenderman: Current indie-rock darling MJ Lenderman used a childhood fascination with the game Guitar Hero as a springboard to learn about predecessors who influenced his own work, which he started documenting on a laptop in fifth grade. After paying his dues in the North Carolina club circuits, Lenderman soon gained a wider following in 2022 after making his first properly recorded album ('Boat Songs'). The ascendency of the shambolic collective Wednesday, which Lenderman joins in the studio, and the fact that he unleashes memorably ragged, go-for-broke guitar solos further raised his profile. Last fall's 'Manning Fireworks,' brimming with penetrating character studies, exquisite detail and barbed humor, signaled the 26-year-old Lenderman had officially arrived. Obligatory magazine profiles, best-of-year nods, meme posts and a sold-out tour provided confirmation. FKA Twigs: FKA Twigs began dancing professionally as a 'tween, advanced to performing for global stars like Kylie Minogue and Jessie J, and got her solo break after playing at a party connected to a fetishwear company. Unsurprisingly, body language, fashion and sensuality serve as principal impetus behind everything the British multi-instrumentalist/singer touches. Especially the club music on 'Eusexua,' an electronically sculpted journey that spotlights her finessed vocals, reveals introspective lyrics and rearranges house, ambient, techno, dubstep and synthpop motifs at will. Built for headphones, FKA Twigs' textured sonic portraits transform into ethereal and empowering physical experiences when the singer gets to act them out onstage. Alabama Shakes: For reasons nobody can explain, promising rock bands that form in the 21st century inevitably have short lifespans. Alabama Shakes count themselves among those ranks. Led by vocal dynamo Brittany Howard, the quartet electrified crowds and won over audiences with two studio albums, particularly the aptly titled 'Sound & Color.' Then, just as the group appeared to leap from mid-sized hall to arena status, it went on hiatus. Howard busied herself with a solo career. Circumstances turned bleaker for former drummer Steve Johnson. Now operating as a trio, Alabama Shakes seek to rekindle their old spark on their first tour in more than eight years — one they hint will involve old and new material. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: If you were fortunate to catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs in their prime at Metro way back in April 2003, you witnessed the band's dervish of a singer, Karen O, attack with a blend of grit, humor, brazenness and New York City-style cool that felt too real and spontaneous to be anything else. Don't bet on the vocalist summoning the ghosts of her younger self here. Instead, the edgy trio plans a tactic that on the surface sounds like the exact opposite: reconceptualizing favorites and deep cuts with piano, strings and acoustic guitars. An arty retort to carefree nostalgia, or the next logical step for a group that seldom adheres to convention and values surprise? Yeah Yeah Yeahs' penchant for unpredictability says all bets are off until the shows happen. Pelican: In its most basic form, Pelican is a rock band that doesn't use a vocalist. Beyond that, the quartet endures as one of the most dynamic, diverse representatives of this city's creative climes. Cheekily characterized as 'Post-Emo Stoner Deathgaze' on its Facebook page, Pelican skirts simple description. Having evolved beyond the churning metal of its early era and even dared to adopt classically inspired motifs, Pelican functions as a two-way bridge to Chicago's hard-nosed noise-rock of the late '80s and anything-goes Fireside Bowl scenes of the mid/late '90s. Melodic devices and mysterious intrigue augment the quartet's palette. Another reason to cheer on the local heroes? The release of 'Flickering Resonance,' its first record with original guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec since 2009. 100 concerts for Chicago summer 2025 — starting with music this weekendKing Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: Depending on the source, lo-fi cult favorites Guided by Voices have released somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 studio LPs, 20 EPs, four box sets and dozens of singles during an on-again, off-again legacy that stretched to the early '80s. Which means at the rate they're going, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard will lap their prolific forebearers in roughly five years, all the while adding chapters to their 'Gizzverse,' a fascinating galaxy with recurring characters, stories and themes. The forthcoming 'Phantom Island' marks the enviro-conscious sextet's 27th album since 2010 and witnesses the shape-shifting Australians lean in symphonic directions. At this ambitious outing, the Chicago Philharmonic helps the collective bring it to life. Expect fireworks without the boom. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Elder statesmen Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore make up in pedigree what they lack in mainstream-name recognition. Alvin's sparkling resume includes a stretch co-leading the seminal roots-rock outfit Blasters; stints in the Los Angeles punk collective the Flesh Eaters; and having songs from his deep solo catalog hand-picked for revered television series such as 'The Sopranos.' The 80-year-old Gilmore counts membership in 'alt-country' forefathers the Flatlanders; Grammy-nominated records that double as middle fingers to the Nashville establishment; and a memorable acting turn in 'The Big Lebowski' among his achievements. Together, the explorers channel the aura of the lonely highways, high plains dustiness and bordertown barrooms that populate their bluesy folk and cosmic country.
Irish Examiner
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: A process lies behind every perfection, it's why we jump through hoops
"For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun." — John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel, The East of Eden Letters. I have seen the band Bon Iver many, many times. So many times, you could say I discovered them long before they became de rigueur for deep-thinking empaths with a penchant for lumberjack shirts. Yeah, I was there when Justin Vernon — the band's creative north-star — lived above an Eircom store off Eyre Square in Galway way back in 2001. He does not know it, but I'm pretty sure we chased the same girls, and certainly locked eyes more than once over a Taco fries in the wee hours outside Abrakebabra. I might even have been in Taaffe's the night he met Emma, the girl who broke his heart so bad he disappeared to the woods to write one of the greatest break-up albums of all time, For Emma, Forever Ago. Bottom line, I was there from the start — from before the start — so when Vernon and his band come to town, I'm there, the guy at the back who catches his eye during the encore and raises a glass to his tortured genius. I quietly sneer at his new fans — hipster dilettantes, all — and head for the exit early, content that I've kept up my end of a non-existent relationship. 'You've done good, kid,' I say aloud to myself, to him, to nobody. And indeed, he has. His latest album, Sable, Fable recently dropped to universal acclaim. One track in particular — 'Speyside' — provided the soundtrack to what was an incredibly brutal few months at the back end of 2024, as the world seemed to implode from within. One lyric hung like the perfume of an ex on a sweater you never want to wash: - 'As I fill my book/what a waste of wood/nothing's really happened like I thought it would.' Yeah, there's pain and there's poetic pain and then there's Bon Iver's music. A whole different kind of pain, all the more beautiful for it. Obsession with process One thing I've come to learn to love from Vernon is devotion to process. At a concert a few years ago, my eye was drawn to the side of the stage before the main event, and a pair of screens depicting a rather unremarkable scene; a man — maybe Vernon, maybe not — shooting a basketball in a backyard. In the corner of the screen was the shot count. Filmed in real time, the footage was set against a backdrop of daylight fading to evening, before receding to nightfall, the shooter backlit against a streetlight. The scene continued for almost half an hour before Vernon took to the stage with his band, scored by nothing but the expectant din of the thousands present. Understanding Vernon's obsession with process, I understood this was not absentminded filler, but a fable all by itself. The shooter was one of us, clearly amateur and imperfect in his motion; but, watching him as the sun set was to bear silent witness to mundane beauty; a silhouetted man clearly passionate about his own process, sometimes missing, often scoring, perpetually striving to be better. All the while nobody in the arena paid any attention. Watching it was the perfect prelude to what was to follow. Vernon, like the anonymous man with the basketball shooting hoops, has always been one of us, just set apart by a God-given talent that has often threatened to suffocate him A friend recently gifted me a copy John Steinbeck's Journal of a Novel. Every working day for ten months in 1951, Steinbeck wrote a note to his friend and editor Pascal Covici to warm up. It was a way — he later said — to get his writing brain in shape 'to pitch a good game.' Well, it worked, as he got his best book out of it. While one wonders what a contemporary version of that journal might look like — 'Dear Pascal. Hit snooze button five times. Woke late. Scrolled X. Deleted X. Downloaded TikTok. Deleted TikTok. Bought dog toys on AliExpress. Don't have dog. Tried to buy dog online. Can't. Looked out window. No writing today. Best, JS' —the gift has proved the perfect accompaniment to my own doomed pursuit of perfection. If for no other reason, then to remind that we all want the same thing. Whether we write, read, or draft solicitors' letters for a living, each one of us engages in that thing we call 'process.' Artists — successful artists like Vernon — can often give the act a gravitas that makes it alien because, well, they're geniuses. But — and I think this is what I understood from the man with the basketball — regardless of talent or audience or ovations — most of our working life is spent underneath a streetlight shooting threes, over and over again. Maybe, 389 shots in, we discover something. And that is why we keep going.
Fast Company
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
9-to-5 jobs, ChatGPT, and preventive Botox: Gen Z is not falling for any of this ‘propaganda' in 2025
A new TikTok trend, set to a snippet of Charli XCX's 'I Think About It All the Time' featuring Bon Iver, sees users, particularly Gen Z women, sharing lists of 'propaganda' they're not falling for in 2025. One list, shared by TikTok creator Lxyzfbxx, includes the 'clean girl look,' 'the normalization of OF [OnlyFans],' and 'preventative Botox,' among other things. Another user listed 'organic deodorant,' 'Teslas,' and 'mouth tape' among the modern-day propaganda. A third user included 'push-up bras,' 'being anti-sunscreen,' and 'branded sweatshirts.' A fourth took aim at 'working,' 'a 9-5,' and 'employment.' From social media trends to beauty standards, internet users are drawing attention to the capitalist, political, and aesthetic pressures that they're subjected to daily, and they are de-normalizing those they see as unhealthy, undesirable, or just cringe. 'Propaganda I won't be falling for': How did the trend start? While it's hard to pinpoint exactly where the trend began, it's clear that it's caught on: If there's one thing social media loves, it's a hot take—and it can be on anything from working a full-time job to singer-songwriter Benson Boone. For instance, 2024 was the year of the 'in' and 'out' lists. Now, with the hashtag 'propaganda' currently at over 240,000 posts on TikTok, we have the 2025 version of a similar trend. However, what is and what isn't propaganda varies wildly, depending on whom you ask. The comments section below many of these videos is a hotbed for debate. 'Sorry but i WILL be falling for the Labubu propaganda everytime,' one person commented under a list that included the viral dolls. 'I hate to admit it but Dubai chocolate is soooo bomb,' another commented under a propaganda list that included the pistachio-flavored chocolate. Take these opinions with a rather large pinch of salt. One frequent name that appears on many of these lists is singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. Does that mean the poster actually dislikes Abrams's music? Not necessarily. As one TikTok user told The New York Times: 'I think sometimes the internet just likes to have a running gag.' (Jumping on the Gracie Abrams hate train, in other words, might just be good for views.) Casey Lewis, of the youth consumer trends newsletter After School, did the legwork and tallied up the most commonly mentioned 'propaganda' across hundreds of TikToks. The top 10 list she compiled included matcha, the tradwife movement, MAHA-adjacent trends like beef tallow and anti-seed oil, author Colleen Hoover, and milk (both of the oat and cow variety). Coming in at the No. 1 spot, to no one's surprise, is ChatGPT.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Is Whole Milk Propaganda? What About Gracie Abrams?
Lip filler, people who aren't cat people, the societal expectation for women to shave their legs, working a 9-to-5 job. On TikTok, users have recently begun lining up their dislikes and branding them with an eye-catching term: propaganda. In thousands of videos, many of which are set to a snippet of Charli XCX's 'I think about it all the time featuring bon iver,' users present a list of things they have deemed 'propaganda I'm not falling for.' With the context of only a few words of text on a screen, the topics span across genres, with common examples including milk (both plant-based and from cows), Labubus, artificial intelligence, politics, run clubs and the male loneliness epidemic. Delaney Denton, 22, said when she first saw one of the videos she thought it was 'kind of iconic' and was inspired to make her own, which now has nearly a million views. 'I think it's putting a spin on things that just feel a little off in our society but aren't necessarily propaganda,' Ms. Denton said of the trend. The concept isn't exactly new. Social media aficionados will probably remember the 'in' and 'out' lists that were an inescapable start to 2024. And people are often looking for new ways to classify their opinions, as is the case with the recent rise of 'coded' language online. It's unclear exactly where the propaganda trend began, with several users each referencing a different post that inspired them to make their own. But multiple creators said they saw the trend as a way to highlight views they hold that may deviate from societal norms. Michael Zimpfer, 21, said he tried to pick a topic he thought people would agree with. He took aim at the 40-hour workweek, with separate entries on his list for 'a 9-5 job,' '40 years of working,' and '2 weeks pto.' He said he then watched as 'generational battles' over work culture unfolded in the comments of his video. Maya Brooks, 22, whose list included organized religion and 'modesty & rise of conservatism' said she received the most responses to a line she included about women feeling pressure to shave their legs. 'I've had videos go this viral before, but it was really interesting to see so much discourse about leg-shaving,' Ms. Brooks said. After reading angry comments, she decided to make two follow-up videos addressing the topic. Despite the pushback, she said, she enjoyed creating a space for people to discuss expectations of women. Ms. Brooks's video was one of many that opened a door to discussions related to women's health and beauty standards. Another was Moriah Ruedenberg's; her list included fat shaming, lip filler and trad wives. 'I think that it feels good to help women put words to the ways that they're feeling,' Ms. Ruedenberg, 20, said of the outsize reaction to her video. 'I wished that I had had somebody to help me with that when I was a little bit younger.' Many lists also had another common inclusion: the singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. For Mr. Zimpfer, whose reference to Ms. Abrams was the only nonwork-related term on his list, it was meant to spark interest in his video — and not necessarily a reflection of disdain for the artist. 'I spelled her name wrong — I was just being silly and funny with that aspect,' he said. 'I was like, 'Oh, I can put this in middle of the list and it'll kind of stand out like a sore thumb.'' Ms. Denton, 22, who also put the singer on her list, said she did so to signal to others that she was on the same page as many others making the lists. 'I think sometimes the internet just likes to have a running gag,' she said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lynx partner with folk band Bon Iver to address gender inequities
The Minnesota Lynx and the indie folk band Bon Iver announced a first-of-its-kind and multiyear partnership on Monday that's focused on addressing gender inequities. The partnership, which begins in 2025 and is the first between a WNBA franchise and a Grammy-winning band, aims to address gender inequities that have resulted from domestic and sexual violence, sex trafficking, health care disparities and barriers within education and leadership, per the Lynx, and they'll spotlight several nonprofits — the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, She Rock, She Rock and Girls Taking Action. Bon Iver has been a frequent supporter of women's shelters and its "2 A Billion" campaign will donate $250,000 in grants to 10 nonprofits in Minnesota and Wisconsin that support survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Justin Vernon, the lead singer and founder of the band, said in an interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews that addressing gender inequities has always been something he's cared about deeply. "Growing up, I was raised by a real feminist mom, and seeing those things has always just been something that I've been really passionate about," Vernon, a noted Lynx fan, told Andrews on the network on Monday. The partnership will also include player involvement at the nonprofits and the annual Lynx Changemakers Summit, which aims to expand investment in women's sports. 'We are incredibly excited about this innovative and first-of-its-kind partnership, centered around community impact and the cultural connection of sports and music. (Vernon) is an incredibly passionate supporter of the Lynx, and our complete value alignment has allowed us to create a partnership focused on meaningful societal change,' Lynx president of business operations Carley Knox said in a statement. 'I think the Lynx — way before I got here — has always represented standing up for what is right, social justice, closing the barrier with inequity, and especially on the women's side," Lynx star Napheesa Collier told Andrews on ESPN. "Standing up for women and empowering them. ... And then I think merging like music and basketball, there's so many similarities in that, where of course we work in different fields, but we have like the same goal.' Find out more about the partnership here.
