Kyle Gilkeson

Amon Tobin

Concert Photos: Amon Tobin @ Congress Theater (Chicago, IL)

We’ve been talking about it for months, and it finally happened: Amon Tobin brought ISAM to Chicago. Named after Tobin’s latest album, the multimedia masterwork has been making the rounds (mostly in Europe) since June, but now audiences in the US are getting a taste of the immersive performance.

Amid a geometric configuration of cubes, upon which colorful, dynamic visuals were projected, Tobin worked from a laptop station. The music, composed primarily of manipulated, non-instrumental field recordings, paired with the projection mapping to create a mesmerizing synthesis of sound and light. You can read all about Tobin, his latest album, and the ISAM tour in our recent feature story. Design studio Leviathan has a full list of credits on its website, so you can see who was responsible for the killer visuals. Photographer Wallo Villacorta captured these images at the Congress.

Amon Tobin

Phantogram

Concert Photos: Phantogram @ Metro (Chicago, IL)

With a new six-song EP, Nightlife, due out November 1, New York-based indie-pop duo Phantogram is currently on a US tour with Reptar and Exit Music. Save for a pair of singles earlier this year, Nightlife is the first release for the band since its debut, Eyelid Movies, in 2010. It reprises the same successful synth-pop formula, with Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel trading vocals over electronic beats and layers of bubbling, shoegaze-y trip-hop. Photographer Elizabeth Gilmore captured these shots of the band during its recent stop at Metro in Chicago.

Phantogram

Portishead

Concert Photos: Portishead @ Aragon Ballroom (Chicago, IL)

[Chromatic, our 400-page exploration of musicians and color, is out now. Order here!]

In its recent sold-out return to Chicago, experimental trip-hop band Portishead proved that fans’ interest is at an all-time high, despite the release of just one studio album in the last 14 years. Third, which came out in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim, has buoyed the British group through myriad festival appearances and a curatorial/headlining role for two All Tomorrow’s Parties this year. On 11/14, the band will release a limited-edition two-track record entitled Chase the Tear via XL. All proceeds from the release will go to Amnesty International.

The group’s current tour is its first in North America in more than a decade. Playing in front of a massive projection screen on the sprawling Aragon stage, the members of Portishead (plus three additional musicians) were visually amplified, towering visages in black and white.

Portishead