Chicago Calling - June 2026
Wendy Eisenberg / More Eaze, TV Pow, Magic Tuber Stringband and more come to town
After a couple of months of ever-shifting weather, I think it’s safe to say it’s finally summertime in Chicago. I’ve been pretty ambivalent towards the summer for most of my life (I struggle with not having a lot of structure and also I grew up in the disgusting swamp humidity of DC) but I’ve grown to love it since moving here. The beginning of summer here, when you can see people start to open up and spend more time outdoors, the heat potent but not yet oppressive, is the best time of the season. And on top of that, we’ve got some great shows to look forward to this coming month, so much so that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just three. So here we go.
Wendy Eisenberg and More Eaze at Empty Bottle - 6/10, 9 PM
Everyone’s favorite left-field music couple comes to Empty Bottle on June 10th, both on the heels of absolutely phenomenal new albums. Wendy is a former interview victim and More Eaze is someone you’ll be reading about here in more detail very, very soon, and if you read this newsletter in the first place you’re probably already very familiar with both of these artists, so I’m not going to go into much detail here. But while I’ve been fans of both of them for years now, I feel like recently I’ve been witnessing both of them pushing themselves and the musicians they work with to new creative heights, and it’s a thrill to see. So yeah, I’ll definitely be at this one.
TV Pow at Elastic Arts - 6/18, 8:30 PM
Here’s an upcoming show that is just 100% my kind of shit. For those who aren’t familiar (which is likely far too many of you) TV Pow are a very Chicago-coded answer to the wave of uber-minimal improvised electronic music that emerged out of onkyo and older groups like AMM and Voice Crack. They’ve worked with artists like Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide and Stiluppsteypa, and, along with Olivia Block, Kevin Drumm and Jim O’Rourke, they’re a key part of why Chicago may very well have been the center of experimental music in North America in the late 90s / early 00s. On June 18th they’ll be kicking off a tour at Elastic, along with performances from Open Seki and Matthew Davis. They’re still doing great work today but they play fairly rarely, so this could be the most can’t-miss show of the month.
Magic Tuber Stringband at Constellation - 6/22, 8:30 PM
Magic Tuber Stringband are one of those groups where I’ve had a million opportunities to see them live but for some reason or another it’s never worked out, so I’m glad they’re coming back to Chicago in late June. The field of ambient-adjacent instrumental guitar pastoralism is probably one of the most oversaturated zones in music today, but Magic Tuber Stringband gracefully avoids falling into the familiar pitfalls. Their music is achingly gorgeous, but with a sinister undercurrent that keeps it from ever feeling new-agey or sentimental like a lot of the “ambient americana” gloop out there. It also engages with the politics of Appalachia in a way that feels genuine and moving, never sounding forced or like an artist statement set to music. But above all, they’re also just really curious, forward-thinking musicians who are clearly interested in expanding the creative potential of what can sometimes be a formulaic method of music making. They’re the real deal, in other words.
Here’s some other shows I didn’t have space to cover in detail but are nonetheless worth your interest:
Alex Cunningham & Weasel Walter / Andrew Scott Young / Kwan/Beisel/Harris trio at Marmalade - 6/2, 8:30 PM
Donkey Basketball / naturalblkinvention / Rikki G. Godd at California Clipper - 6/4, 9 PM
AIRMW Arts Initiatives Presents: Bass Dreams minus B + BYSH at Elastic Arts - 6/5, 8:30 PM
Lily Finnegan Double Drum Quartet album release show at Constellation - 6/17, 8:30 PM (I wrote the liner notes for this!)
Murderpact / Guttr / Anti-Soul Organization / Tasha’s Hideous Laughter at Premises - 6/18, 9 PM
John O’Neill / GS70 / existence decay at Elastic Arts - 6/20, 8:30 PM
Improvised Music Series: Tri-Centric Experiencer’s Unit, Lion’s Head at Elastic Arts - 6/25, 8:30 PM