Philip Montoro

Chicago

Music Editor at Chicago Reader

Music editor, union unit chair, Chicago Reader. Opinions my own. He/him/y'all. [email protected]

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Articles

Valentina Magaletti seeks the poetry in percussion at her solo Chicago debut

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Local promoters Lampo and the Renaissance Society are bringing drummer and sound artist Valentina Magaletti to Hyde Park for her first solo concert in Chicago. Born in Italy and based in London since 2000, Magaletti is a restless shape-shifter and voracious collaborator (she’s described herself as “really easily bored”), and in more than two decades of music making she’s crossed paths with dozens if not hundreds of artists, among them Nicolas Jaar, Bat for Lashes, Jandek, Nídia, and Susumu Mukai.
Chicago Record Report: April 2025

2 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Chicago Record Report is a monthly series highlighting some of the new local music that has caught the ear of Reader staff. The alt-rock duo of Claire Molek and Jason Savsani thought they were isolating themselves in a secluded Victorian mansion in rural Illinois to record their third album, but they quickly got the sense that they weren’t alone.
Obituary hit the road to celebrate a founding document of death metal

2 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Over the past two decades, Florida Man has emerged as a mythical avatar of disorder—he might throw a live alligator through a Wendy’s drive-through window or break into jail to hang out with his friends. But go back another 20 years, to the mid-80s, and you’ll find a bunch of Florida men doing something arguably weirder and definitely cooler: inventing death metal.
More Eaze & Claire Rousay leave their comfort zone to make a comfortable record

1 month ago | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Experimental musicians Mari Maurice and Claire Rousay are now based in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, respectively, and they both have extensive discographies of their own. But when they began releasing collaborative records in 2020, they lived in Texas.
Guitarist Jules Reidy makes songs that mirror the ecstatic liminality of surrendering to love

1 month ago | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Jules Reidy makes intimate songs fraught with dissonance and tension. They sing through Auto-Tune, digitally mapping their gentle voice onto the familiar intervals of equal temperament, while their customized electric guitar plays in just intonation.
Rewind: Punk is dead! Long live punk!

Dec 24, 2024 | chicagoreader.com | Jessica Hopper |Philip Montoro

Jessica Hopper has been an important national voice in feminist music criticism since the 2010s, when she became the first music editor at Rookie magazine and assembled teams of top-shelf talent at Pitchfork and MTV News. But 20 years ago, Hopper was still freelancing regularly for the Reader, and she wrote this lively scene report from Warped Tour.
Bin Chen, The Solar-Cell Chemist

Nov 13, 2024 | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Bin Chen, 33, is a research associate professor in the chemistry department at Northwestern University, where he manages a team of 30 people within the 80-member lab led by Canadian scientist Ted Sargent. The team is developing materials used in renewable energy applications, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office. Chen focuses on perovskite solar cells, a relatively new technology with great potential to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Ishmael Ali, cellist and cocurator of Elastic’s Improvised Music Series

Mar 21, 2024 | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Improvising cellist and guitarist Ishmael Ali moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Chicago in 2013 to study music at DePaul, and he’s lived here ever since—except for a brief stint in New York that ended early in the pandemic. Like most improvisers, he plays in lots of different ad hoc combos, but his steady groups include omnivorous fusion band Je’raf, vocals-and-strings ensemble Akjai, and improvising trio Hearsay (with drummer Bill Harris and turntablist Allen Moore).
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum resurrect their chimerical ‘rock against rock’ after 13 years

Mar 1, 2024 | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

If you aren’t still in thrall to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum from their first go-round, then I can only assume you don’t know who they are—and now that they’ve reunited after 13 years, you have the enviable opportunity to see them for the first time. SGM play “rock,” in a certain sense, but their gloriously strange music overflows that meager container.
Joseph Guzman: The Star Partyer

Dec 25, 2023 | chicagoreader.com | Philip Montoro

Born and raised in Pilsen, Joseph “Astro Joe” Guzman is founder and CEO of Chicago Astronomer, a crew of experts and enthusiasts that since 2004 has collectively served as resident astronomer for the Chicago Park District, the 606 trail, and many other institutions and organizations. He’s been a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador for close to 15 years and the sole astronomy instructor for After School Matters since 2017. In 2023, he was named a Latino Leader by the Chicago Latino Network.