Meanwhile, the duo’s music has sharpened its focus, and is now unmistakably a product of the “think locally, play globally” neopsychedelic subculture: their latest, Damon & Naomi With Ghost (Sub Pop), commits to record their long-running collaboration with that Tokyo-based deep-psych collective. In addition to their home studio, they operate a small press, Exact Change, that specializes in little-known avant-garde literature by the likes of Ubu Roi playwright Alfred Jarry and surrealist painter Leonora Carrington Krukowski is also editor of the classical section of Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine, strangely enough, and has managed to broaden the range of discussion there beyond any reasonable expectation. That only makes Damon & Naomi’s music feel more like a remote oasis, peopled with what Kerouac called “the unspeakable visions of the individual.” Ever since Galaxie 500–the trio of Damon Krukowski, Naomi Yang, and Dean Wareham–broke up in 1991, Wareham has pursued pretty standard careerist indie rock in Luna, but Krukowski and Yang have followed a more idiosyncratic and demanding muse. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & RecreationĪs cultural values, rapturous beauty and the minute examination of dream states don’t enjoy much currency these days–well, it’s an ugly world, and an impatient one.Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.Get your Best of Chicago tickets! Line-Up Announced > Close

Black Postcards by Dean Wareham