What’s New

Trumpeter Jacob Wick grew up in the Chicago area and now lives in Mexico City. Like his contemporaries Birgit Ulher, Peter Evans, Axel Dorner, and Nate Wooley, he employs extended techniques that enable him to produce sounds very different from conventional brass playing. His vocabulary encompasses coarse-grained ribbons of frayed wind, rhythmic puffs that resemble a steam engine in action, fluttering snatches of nascent melody, and the occasional brazen trad-jazz lick; with his command of circular breathing, he can keep a steady stream of sound going for upwards of 20 minutes. But he’s not interested in merely wowing people with musical prowess; particularly in solo performances, such as those captured on the 2019 LP Feel (Thin Wrist), he invites audiences to step into his shoes and experience things queerly. In the LP’s liner notes, he describes his ideal performance as a process: “queer sound–>queer time–>queer space.” By challenging received ideas (about how a trumpet sounds, about how long a phrase can last), he also invites listeners to develop an awareness that everything around them needs to be understood on its own terms, not according to assumptions about what’s expected. For his first Chicago appearance in almost two years, Wick will first play solo, then with drummer Phil Sudderberg. Their 2019 collaborative tape, Combinatory Pleasures (Astral Spirits), engages pithiness as rigorously as the trumpeter’s solos do duration. One prescription guides their otherwise wide-open improvisations: as soon as the music they’re playing approaches definition, they stop. This concert is part of the 2020 Frequency Festival, booked by former Reader music critic Peter Margasak as an extension of his year-round series. v

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Sound artists Oren Ambarchi and Crys Cole have both had thrilling careers. Ambarchi has run experimental label Black Truffle for more than a decade, and he’s collaborated with a wide array of avant-garde luminaries, including Sunn O))), Keiji Haino, and Keith Rowe and John Tilbury (both veterans of long-running UK improvising group AMM). Last year, the Australian musician released the resplendent solo LP Simian Angel (on Austrian label Editions Mego) right in the middle of summer, which felt like perfect timing: its two long-form pieces invoke hot, humid weather. “Palm Sugar Candy” weaves conga, guitar, and gauzy synths into a meditative tableau, inviting listeners to soak in every curious melody and texture. Crys Cole, born in Canada and based in Berlin, has also taken part in impressive collaborations over the past decade, including the duo Ora Clementi with Australian composer James Rushford, but her solo albums are some of her most exciting. Like Simian Angel, her upcoming Beside Myself (Students of Decay) features two pieces that each take up a full side of an LP. “The Nonsuch” is inspired by aural hallucinations and conjures its queasy atmosphere with squabbling electronics, field recordings, ASMR-like vocalizing, and unidentifiable noises, all of which combine to give it a hypnotic, inscrutable mystique. The artists will each play a solo set to kick off Chicago’s annual Frequency Festival, booked by former Reader music critic Peter Margasak as an extension of his year-round series. Ambarchi will improvise with a guitar, a Leslie cabinet (an amplifier that uses rotating horns or drums to produce tremolo with a literal Doppler effect), and other electronics; Cole will present an electroacoustic set combining live and prerecorded elements. Her goal, she says, is to induce listeners to focus deeply on the music, such that their perceptions of space and time are altered. Given that Frequency Festival is known for highlighting the most exciting artists in forward-thinking music, it couldn’t have chosen two better acts to kick off its 2020 edition. v

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Illinois has seen surrounding states like Iowa and Indiana open up their sportsbooks throughout the state for the legalization of gambling. Meanwhile, residents here have been waiting for the day where it will finally be legal.

That day should soon be coming.

Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker expects that the sportsbooks in the state will be ready to open just in time for the start of March Madness which begins on March 17th. His press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, released this statement:

“The governor is pleased that Illinois sportsbooks will open for business by March Madness, generating revenue to rebuild universities, hospitals, and other facilities across the state,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s press secretary, ahead of Tuesday’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in which the Phase 2 sports rules will be addressed after their inclusion into the state’s registry.

“Illinois’ largest-ever capital plan, with investments in every part of the state, Rebuild Illinois was supported by Democrats and Republicans alike because it will create and support over half a million jobs over the next six years,” Abudayyeh added.

This is big news for bettors in the state of Illinois as it not only means that gambling will finally be legal but it will be ready for one of the biggest gambling events of the year as well as the start of baseball season.

Just last month, the Illinois Gaming Board received applications for sports betting licenses from three casinos in the state: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, the Argosy Casino in Alton, and Elgin Riverboat Resort, which runs Grand Victoria Casino. Per USBets.com, it appears as if Argosy will be the first one to open with Grand Victoria and Rivers set to be ready for March Madness as well.

It sounds like it’s finally happening, folks.

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