Leor Galil

Staff Writer and Journalist at Chicago Reader

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Chicago Reader writer. No premieres, no masters.

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Articles

Taigo Onez, DJ, producer, and label head

4 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

In the 1980s, when he was still a teenager, Englewood native Taigo Onez got involved in Chicago music by joining what’s now the city’s oldest hip-hop community group, Chi-ROCK Nation. He dabbled in every hip-hop element—breaking, DJing, MCing, and graffiti writing—but he’d adopt music as his calling card. He made beats for emerging local MCs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during which time he also had a foot in Chicago house—and back then, those two scenes saw each other as rivals.
Best public display of affection for house music

1 month ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

In March 2023, when Preservation Chicago included the modest brick building at 206 S. Jefferson on its annual list of historic local buildings most in danger of demolition, it sparked a worldwide outcry. That’s because this unassuming structure used to be the Warehouse, the club that incubated what’s now known as house music.
Best zine for getting a grip on the midwest rave ecosystem

1 month ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

I love absorbing as much about dance music as I possibly can, even beyond writing about it for my day job. I occasionally cover the subgenres that have grown out of house and techno, but even if I dedicated my whole beat to them, I’d fall short of the Talmudic focus required to get the full picture. So I really appreciate the folks documenting the dance scene with a wider net.
Best book about Chicago DIY by someone who’s lived it

1 month ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

To love DIY culture, you have to make peace with loss. DIY venues tend to have short lifespans, like bivouacs set up in basements, backyards, lofts, and warehouses, and everyone knows the end could come in a year or a week.
Chicago's Tobacco City mature their resplendent Americana on Horses

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

Chicago Americana outfit Tobacco City drew me in with the rootsy ensemble performances on their 2021 debut album, Tobacco City, USA. On their new second album, Horses (Scissor Tail), Tobacco City pare down a bit to focus on guitarists and lead vocalists Lexi Goddard and Chris Coleslaw.
Phoenix band Glixen make shoegaze big enough to rip a hole in the atmosphere

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to play shoegaze that sounds exciting in 2025, and Phoenix four-piece Glixen prove it. As Gen Z has discovered the decades-old genre, Glixen have ridden this wave of interest—and in 2023, hip Philadelphia label Julia’s War reissued their new EP, She Only Said, on vinyl, which helped cement the band’s reputation. But I think Glixen would have national profile even if shoegaze weren’t having a revival, because their cocooning walls of sound absolutely rip.
Death's Dynamic Shroud build entire galaxies in progressive electronic music

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

Progressive electronic project Death’s Dynamic Shroud began as a one-off in 2014. At the time, the electronic-music community was obsessed with vaporwave, a soporific subgenre whose touchstones included chintzy 80s synths and smooth jazz. Founding DDS producer James Webster thought most of the vaporwave he’d heard sounded like the score to the late-90s Dreamcast game Shenmue, and he used that as the jumping-off point for a send-up of the style.
Southern California band Modern Color bend posthardcore toward pop

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

Turnstile’s crossover moment in 2021 cast a powerful spotlight on a blossoming new world of hardcore. The bands didn’t have a unified sound, but because Turnstile had broken out with the radio-ready hooks of Glow On, anyone else willing to lean into clean production and pop songwriting could benefit from the resulting surge of interest.
Los Angeles quintet SML carry the creative spirit of Chicago jazz

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

Jazz quintet SML operate out of Los Angeles, but they can’t be untangled from their Chicago roots. Chicago label International Anthem released the group’s 2024 debut, Small Medium Large.
SahBabii keeps striking sparks with his slippery spitting

2 months ago | chicagoreader.com | Leor Galil

Chicago-born rapper Saaheem “SahBabii” Valdery broke out in 2017 with “Pull Up Wit ah Stick,” an irresistible earworm that reached number eight on Billboard’s Next Big Sound chart. He uses the sort of syrupy flow popular in his adopted hometown of Atlanta, but his velvety voice makes him stand out—on “Pull Up Wit ah Stick,” he can melt into the hazy, chiming synths or shift into attack mode to to slice the air with his syllables.