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Do facts have a future? The New York Times focused its business section on the question Monday, with columnist Jim Rutenberg describing “the realm of the true and how all sides would define it” as the battleground in the “hyperpartisan debate to come under a new president.” Rutenberg wondered if the news media is up to the challenge of “maintaining a fact-based national debate.” “There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth,” wrote British novelist Doris Lessing....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Illinois GOP congressman on Moore: “This is a bridge too far and the Republican Party ought to disown every aspect of him” Illinois Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger is calling on his party to “disown” Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexually assaulting several women when they were teenagers. “Roy Moore needs to step aside now....

Chicago sound wizard Mark Solotroff has been wielding his powerful electronic grimoire since the mid-80s as the leader of Intrinsic Action, Bloodyminded, and Anatomy of Habit. He’s also collaborated with a who’s who of industrial and metal artists, including the Atlas Moth, Indian, Locrian, Plague Bringer, Wrekmeister Harmonies, Brutal Truth, and the Body. Then there are his side projects: in the past couple years, he’s remastered the extensive body of lo-fi synth music he released under the name Super Eight Loop, put out an album with dark-synth trio Nightmares, and revived his Milan-Chicago postindustrial collective Ensemble Sacrés Garçons, who put out their first album in 25 years....

Chicago producer Steve Poindexter helped mold the raw underground sound known as ghetto house during its formation in the late 80s. His irreplaceable 1989 Work That Mutha Fucker 12-inch is a standard-bearer in ghetto house—the title track propels forward atop dirty, interlocking drum patterns, brittle hi-hats, and a sample of the words “work that mutha fucker” sporadically played on a loop. Poindexter crafted an arsenal of tracks he’d play live, but not all of them saw a physical release....

Schrockc84/Wikimedia Commons The John Hancock might put its distinct signature on official landmark status. Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • About how music distorts our sense of time (and that the most dangerous music to listen to while driving is Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” because of the changing tempos)? —Aimee Levitt • Or watch this poetry-festival performance by high school students explaining how American media portray the social oppression of people of color?...

Nisian Hughes Wendy Whelan in motion Last fall, at 47 years old, Wendy Whelan retired from the New York City Ballet after 31 years, 22 of those as its principal dancer. Whelan’s career began in 1986 when she became a member of the New York City Ballet corps de ballet. Being promoted to principal dancer in 1991 led to numerous iconic performances and achievements, among them originating more than a dozen feature roles in Christopher Wheeldon ballets and being honored with a Bessie Award....

Chicago rapper Goody first caught my ear two years ago with a couple Soundcloud tracks that demonstrated his natural gift for setting a mood. On the single “All I Know” he sounds headstrong but touched by tragedy, and his lyrics combine triumph and regret: “I took stress and pain and whipped it to cocaine and cut it up, and now I’m giving you my lifeline.” The song’s invigorating instrumental plasters together slow-motion synths and blurred vocal samples, underlining the fact that not everything he raps about can be connected to a clearly defined emotion....

Our culture generally doesn’t consider 22nd anniversaries especially momentous, but I’ll take any excuse to see some of the most important figures in footwork, juke, and ghetto-house history—and that’s exactly who DJ Clent has brought together for this year’s Litnic, a daylong picnic that celebrates the 22nd anniversary of his label and collective, Beatdown House. In the mid- to late 90s, Clent took ghetto house’s grimy, salacious sound in nervy new directions, helping shape its rhythmically complex offshoots juke and footwork....

With the recent Full Upon Her Burning Lips, the three-decade career of Seattle drone band Earth seems to have come full circle: the record’s minimalist style is reminiscent of their 1991 debut EP, Extra-Capsular Extraction. Founded by guitarist Dylan Carlson in 1989, Earth helped pioneer droning, ambient forms of metal, often incorporating loads of distortion and feedback in their musical experiments. They released three full-lengths, including the landmark 1993 LP Earth 2, before experiencing a lull in output in the late 90s....

In a recent interview with the Yale Center for Faith & Culture’s podcast For the Life of the World, pianist Julian Reid described the way mourning informed the thematic underpinnings of The Eternal Boombox, a new self-released EP by his Chicago-based band, the JuJu Exchange. The members of this jazz combo also draw upon their experiences outside jazz: Reid is assistant music director for Kelley Chapel United Methodist Church in Decatur, Georgia; his drummer brother, Everett, studied jazz and performing arts technology at the University of Michigan; and producer and trumpeter Nico Segal is a crucial member of Chance the Rapper’s band, the Social Experiment....

Founded as a four-piece in New York City in 2002, quirky electronic math-rock band Battles soon established itself as a force in its genre thanks to its multilayered melodies, cavorting grooves, and danceable beats. Founding keyboardist and vocalist Tyondai Braxton—who also played guitar, along with Ian Williams and Dave Konopka—departed after the band’s successful first LP, 2007’s Mirrored (Warp), leaving a trio of Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), Konopka, and drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet and still in Tomahawk)....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, September 16, 2016. Rahm was not happy when a WGN Radio host called him on air at two in the morning WGN Radio host Patti Vasquez decided to call Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home phone number live on her show around 2 AM on September 2. He answered the phone and they spoke very briefly, but he was not pleased—an Emanuel aide called the station the next day to say so....

In the context of black metal, the term “cosmic” has been diluted into worthlessness. When I applied it to Oranssi Pazuzu in 2013, I still thought it referred to an identifiable flavor of evil psychedelia, but now it just means “the guitarist has the correct effects pedals”—the same way “jazzy” means “a saxophone is involved” and “operatic” means “somebody took voice lessons.” So I propose calling the music of these Finnish xenonauts something more specific: wormhole black metal....

The output of local label Hausu Mountain ranges as widely as the psychedelic folk of Eartheater‘s RIP Chrysalis (2015) and the assaultive techno of Davey Harms’s Cables (2016). The common thread linking most of its releases, though, is an aesthetic of studied avant-garde hermeticism: everyone on Hausu Mountain seems to be sliding down their own tunnel to their navel. Not only does it sound like Eartheater has never met Davey Harms, but you’d also suspect that neither of them has ever met anyone....

The two short, rarely-seen comedies on this engaging bill share a common plot point. In each, a young man is put on trial before a jury of his peers for misdeeds the jurors themselves could be guilty of, or at least sympathetic to. The Devil and Daniel Webster, Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1938 stage version of his 1936 story, is set in 1841 New Hampshire. It tells of a farmer, Jabez Stone, whose marriage party is interrupted by the arrival of Satan....

2020 started off so well. January and February were great months for 27-year-old rapper, dancer, and performance poet Del Marie. After years of performing at small live events, things were finally coming together for her. She had branched out from performance poetry to writing and singing her own songs and had recently completed a video of one of her songs, “Black Wall Street.” The video, which featured both Del Marie rapping and documentary footage shot at Chicago Black-owned businesses, dropped February 28....

As Thanksgiving bombshells go, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool’s letter of apology regarding his role in “invoicegate” isn’t anywhere near as explosive as the release of the Laquan McDonald video. In 2016, Claypool, Emanuel, and Ronald Marmer, the chief lawyer for CPS, decided to sue the state on the grounds that its funding formula discriminated against low-income black and Latino kids in Chicago. Claypool seemingly was still determined to hire Jenner & Block....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Rahm promises that food trucks will have to follow the rules After an investigative report by the Sun-Times and ABC7 Chicago found food trucks regularly breaking the rules laid out in the city’s food truck ordinance, Mayor Rahm Emanuel says all of the issues can be solved by a crackdown on trucks violating the rules. The investigation found that trucks breaking rules on time limits and the established “mobile food vehicle stands....

The Seldoms are no strangers to political themes: Stupormarket (2011) explored the nation’s economic crisis, Exit Disclaimer (2012) focused on the debate surrounding climate change, and Monument, a 2008 work revived in 2013, took on consumerism and the environment. What’s different this time around is the contemporary dance company’s specificity. Instead of tackling a broad subject, with Power Goes artistic director Carrie Hanson and her company zero in on one political target—Lyndon B....

Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images To nobody’s surprise, Chris Christie announced he’s running for president. • That Donald Trump seems to be modeling himself after Chris Christie? —Drew Hunt • This oral history of the hilarious midaughts mockumentary series Yacht Rock? —Ryan Smith