Thu 12/12: Drake at the United Center
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Toronto singer/rapper superstar Drake comes to the United Center after his tour was postponed this fall. “Defenders of ‘real’ hip-hop have been up in arms about Drake ever since his breakout 2009 mixtape, So Far Gone, with which he first found substantial success with brazen pop hooks and a deeply unhard image—and thereby became one of a long line of artists who’ve ruined rap music forever,” says Miles Raymer. “His latest LP, Nothing Was the Same (OVO Sound), sometimes seems like an album-length trolling of his haters in the way it juxtaposes conservative hip-hop touchstones—Houston rap, the Wu-Tang Clan—against sensitive-guy deep thoughts that occasionally reach James Taylor levels and cover art that might as well have been stolen from a 70s jazz-fusion LP. At the same time, Drake and longtime producer Noah ’40’ Shebib have darkened the mood since 2011’s Take Care, with beats that are both minimalist and sonically luxurious, making Nothing Was the Same one of the year’s best headphone records.”
It’s that time of year again: for Chicago’s favorite beer-soaked garage-rock Christmas carolers, the Snow Angels, to come out of hibernation. “Now in their 11th year, the Snow Angels remain devoted to smearing Christmas cheer all over ragged, bluesy, garage-influenced covers and originals—delivered with a soulful growl and a hearty belch or three from sleigh-bell jingler Santa Coz, aka Outer Minds drummer and occasional Reader contributor Brian Costello,” writes Kevin Warwick. “Also featuring current and former members of Vee Dee, Mannequin Men, and Bare Mutants, the Snow Angels enlisted an assortment of guests to play and sing at their tenth-anniversary show, but according to Costello they’ll be getting ‘back to basics’ this year. I encourage you to leave what the ‘basics’ are to your imagination, but I feel comfortable guaranteeing ‘CTA X-mas Train’ (a rare expression of CTA love during the Ventrapocalypse), ironic Christmas outfits and decorations, plenty of punning, and nine flying reindeer soaked in canned beer.”
