The Best Chicago Albums of the 2010S
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CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE | JANUARY | JANUARY CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE The best Chicago albums of the 2010s THIS WEEK CHICAGO READER | JANUARY 30, 2020 | VOLUME 49, NUMBER 17 TO CONTACT ANY READER EMPLOYEE, E-MAIL: (FIRST INITIAL)(LAST NAME) IN THIS ISSUE @CHICAGOREADER.COM PUBLISHER TRACY BAIM EDITORS IN CHIEF SUJAY KUMAR, KAREN HAWKINS Hunger for You draws on her early Anniversary, Meth, and more CREATIVE LEAD RACHEL HAWLEY MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO ARTS & CULTURE experiences with charismatic 41 The Secret History of THEATER AND DANCE EDITOR KERRY REID 11 Visual Arts The legacy of the spirituality. Chicago Music Slide guitarist CULTURE EDITOR BRIANNA WELLEN Museum of Science and Industry’s 19 Review Verböten is a 1980s John Littlejohn brought Mississippi ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAMIE LUDWIG SENIOR WRITERS MAYA DUKMASOVA, LEOR GALIL, Black Creativity exhibition is built punk musical that feels more like an country blues to Chicago. DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, MIKE SULA on cultural representation and af er-school special; The Leopard 43 Early Warnings Avail, DaBaby, EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE S. NICOLE LANE innovation. Play, or Sad Songs for Lost Boys Stephen Malkmus, and more just- LISTINGS COORDINATOR SALEM COLLO-JULIN CONTRIBUTORS ED BLAIR, NOAH BERLATSKY, digs the real American dirt. announced concerts LUCA CIMARUSTI, MARISSA DE LA CERDA, MARI 20 Picks Find your heart’s desire 43 Gossip Wolf Luf werk mourn the COHEN, JOSH FLANDERS, SHERI FLANDERS, JACK onstage in February vanishing ice caps with a Pritzker HELBIG, IRENE HSAIO, CATALINA MARIA JOHNSON, MONICA KENDRICK, STEVE KRAKOW, SUE KWONG, 22 Plays of Note Grease defi es Pavilion installation, beat-scene NOËLLE D. LILLEY, JAMIE LUDWIG, FOOD & DRINK expectations; Roe is built for series Kinky Yeti throws itself a MAX MALLER, ADAM MULLINS-KHATIB, 03 Restaurant Review Lao entertainment, not detailed history; birthday party, and more. J.R. NELSON, JEFF NICHOLS, MARISSA OBERLANDER, MATTHEW SIGUR, CATEY SULLIVAN Peng You fi ghts for your right to and If/Then is undercut by shallow ---------------------------------------------------------------- dumplings. storylines and forgettable music. DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & PROGRAMS NEWS & POLITICS KRISTEN KAZA 06 Joravsky | Politics Contrary to SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR JANAYA GREENE MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR what Hillary said, you don’t have to YAZMIN DOMINGUEZ be liked to get stuff done. FILM ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TARYN ALLEN 13 Oscar Shorts The Oscar- ADVERTISING Nominated Documentary Short 312-392-2970, [email protected] Films program explores the ties that CLASSIFIEDS: [email protected] bind amid tragedy and struggle SALES DIRECTOR PATTI FLYNN 14 Ranking Ben Sachs’s favorite VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AMY MATHENY movies of the decade CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGER TED PIEKARZ 16 Movies of note Blake Lively SENIOR ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES OPINION LENI MANAA-HOPPENWORTH, LISA SOLOMON can’t save The Rhythm Section from MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE 44 Savage Love Dan Savage CLASSIFIED SALES MANAGER WILL ROGERS committing the cardinal sins of spy 24 Best of the 2010s The Reader off ers advice to someone whose fi lms; Mackenzie Davis gets lose in polled dozens of critics to arrive at threesome-loving boyfriend respects NATIONAL ADVERTISING VOICE MEDIA GROUP 1-888-278-9866 the meandering plot of The Turning. an absolutely indisputable ranked some guy more than boundaries. VMGADVERTISING.COM 08 Dukmasova | Politics Who list of several hundred records JOE LARKIN AND SUE BELAIR needs Facebook and Russian trolls that will defi nitely not start any CLASSIFIEDS ---------------------------------------------------------------- when Illinois election laws sow THEATER arguments. 46 Jobs DISTRIBUTION CONCERNS plenty of bad faith? 17 Dance Kimberly Bartosik’s I 38 Shows of note Sessa, the 46 Marketplace [email protected] 312-392-2970 CHICAGO READER L3C BOARD PRESIDENT DOROTHY R. LEAVELL TREASURER EILEEN RHODES SECRETARY JESSICA STITES AT-LARGE SLADJANA VUCKOVIC CONSULTANT CAROL E. BELL ---------------------------------------------------------------- READER (ISSN 1096-6919) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY CHICAGO READER L3C NOTE FROM AN EDITOR 2930 S. MICHIGAN, SUITE 102 CHICAGO, IL 60616 312-392-2934, CHICAGOREADER.COM AS WE AT the Reader head into 2020, a spirit of outside contributors. Everyone chose annually. The project’s online form in partic- COPYRIGHT © 2020 CHICAGO READER of transformation and renewal prevails. In their ten favorite Chicago albums of the ular will not only stick around longer than PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT CHICAGO, IL keeping with that spirit, we’re publishing past ten years, and we compiled all those this paper will be on the streets but will also ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHICAGO READER, READER, AND what as far as anyone here knows is the picks into a ranked list of several hundred include streamable music from 50 records REVERSED R: REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ® fi rst music critics’ poll in the paper’s nearly releases. We hope that this list will provide we’ve decided to spotlight. May it serve as 50-year history. Initially the brainchild a durable tool for discovery, rather than a gateway into the richness and depth of of Reader senior staff writer Leor Galil, it disappearing into the memory hole along Chicago’s music community at least until ON THE COVER: ILLUSTRATION BY JASON WYATT with the glut of year-in-review pieces that we build the next one in 2030—if not longer. FREDERICK. FOR MORE OF JASON’S WORK, GO TO quickly grew to involve nearly half the edi- CARGOCOLLECTIVE.COM/JWFREDERICK torial department and dozens upon dozens music journalists are obligated to churn out —PHILIP MONTORO 2 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 23, 2020 ll LPY| R W. Chicago -- oldfriendchicago.com FOOD & DRINK TK TK The jiaozi come ten to a bowl in an inky bath of soy and black vinegar. JEFFMARINIFORCHICAGOREADER RESTAURANT REVIEW my fear my family would not be able to eat continent—dumplings are a virtual human Lao Peng You fi ghts for your my grandmother’s food as she got older,” says right. But here in Chicago, real, handmade Eric Wat. The Wat brothers’ dumplings are at Chinese dumplings of quality are rare outside the practical and spiritual heart of their new of Chinatown. Apart from specialists such as right to dumplings Ukrainian Village restaurant Lao Peng You, the great Qing Xiang Yuan Dumplings, they’re which means “Old Friend.” But they’re not not terribly common there either. A Ukrainian Village specialist doughs it real good. exactly their grandmother’s dumplings: “My But these are jiaozi—silky, two-pleated, Nai Nai always said if we knew how to make half-moon purses clutching firm, often fra- By MS her food we wouldn’t need her anymore,” he grant farces: beef and cilantro; pork and dill; says. “So she wouldn’t tell me what she was egg, mushroom, and chive; among four others. can make OK dumplings, I guess, but I Daniel and Eric Wat learned to make dump- doing. I made jiaozi my whole life just trying They come ten to a bowl swimming in an inky wouldn’t dream of letting my mother-in- lings from their grandmother while growing to recreate something that was close to what bath of soy and black vinegar, shimmering law try them. Her daughter makes them up in the western suburbs. She learned to she’d do.” with amoebas of chili oil that in composite way better than I do, but there’s nothing make them from her mother while growing With at least one variety for each letter isn’t nearly as fierce as it looks. It doesn’t like Omma’s mandu, which have nostal- up near Shanghai and brought her skills along of the alphabet (quenelle, xiao long bao, matter. The broth is an ideal amniotic wait- Igia on their side. via Hong Kong. “I started cooking because of zongzi)—and their ubiquity on almost every ing room to stage these delicate dumplings, ll JANUARY - CHICAOREADER3 Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants FOOD & DRINK at chicagoreader.com/food. Brenda Siharath prepares dumplings fi lled with pork and dill. JEFFMARINIFORCHICAGOREADER bobbing safely until plucked by chopsticks And among the northern Chinese restaurants matic-infused soy, black vinegar, and chili with fermented broad bean paste, the deep and swiped through the clear, ruby-red house- that have taken hold in Chinatown over the oil—that’s present across their menu. “If you bowl sprouting with a bouquet of fresh, green made chili oil, which is also not as savage as last eight years, they aren’t the fi rst to strike like one thing you should probably like every- cress. it looks. This liquid presentation solves the ground outside of Chinatown (Lincoln Park’s thing we o er,” says Eric. “The concept was There’s a handful of familiar smaller plates: problem of perishability in an item that may relatively new Xi’an Dynasty Cuisine was fi rst, sort of modeled after a taqueria, where you sliced beef shanks in chili oil; cold chicken be just as delightful when steamed or pan- along with a similar dumpling soup). use a few ingredients and create a multitude spiced with citrusy green peppercorns; cold fried but is more prone to drying or tearing. Two varieties of bing are of a northern style of dishes. You only have to decide what kind of steamed eggplant; or creamy housemade tofu. The brothers say they’re not focusing on themselves: chubby coiled flatbreads rolled textures or fi llings you want.” Along with its focus, there is a pervading any particular regional Chinese cuisine. “We and pan-fried to order with a thick, crackly But it is dough that distinguishes Lao Peng restraint across Lao Peng You’s menu. Sichuan are Chinese Americans after all,” says Daniel. exterior and slightly gooey doughy interior You, which extends to noodles as well, from a peppercorn freaks, chili fi ends, and tweakers “We grew up eating a mixture of di erent re- studded with cumin-y lamb bits or green pile of chewy, cold shoelace-gauge tentacles might look at some of these dishes and expect gional Chinese dishes.” onion.