I’ve never forgotten Jim Magas’s first Chicago band, Lake of Dracula, but it’s been interesting listening to him try to find his voice in the years since–especially because he seems to discover it multiple times on each new record. And the voices he’s found on his new May I Meet My Accuser (Imaginary Conflict) are, as Mr. Van Vliet might say, the best batch yet. Inspired by dance music but by no means bound to it, Magas makes the best kind of electronic whackery, turning monomaniacal fixed beats into a surreally horny and viscerally wise urban blues....

When he arrived in Chicago in 1997, Chungjun “Ben” Li was appalled at what passed for Chinese food here. Searching for a taste of home, he instead found restaurants that “served me sweet-and-sour chicken, chop suey, or egg foo yong,” he says. “I was so disappointed, because I don’t know what is that. When I saw the food I couldn’t eat it.” Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Li grew up in Chongqing, a large city in southeastern Sichuan that’s now a separately governed provincial municipality....

Back in 1982, when Ozric Tentacles were making their name on the English festival circuit, they seemed like a throwback–the last gasp, perhaps, of the grand, gently weird British space-rock tradition. But traditions like that have very, very long institutional attention spans, and so with 24 years of personnel changes behind him, guitarist-keyboardist Ed Wynne is still steering his unwieldy ship on its never-ending voyage, powered by the steadfast love of European hippies....

BRIGHTON, MA Brighton, MA | Loose Tooth Records Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » With a slew of guests drawn from the ranks of jazz musicians and backpacker-approved indie rappers, WYLA?, the sophomore album from local hip-hop producer Copperpot, has all the earmarks of a self-important mess, but surprisingly it actually bumps. The erstwhile Daniel Kuypers uses his instrumentalists–a jazzer-approved lineup including Frank Rosaly, Josh Abrams, and Tortoise members Jeff Parker and Dan Bitney–to flesh out soul-inflected beats built from greasy bass lines and J Dilla-ishly diced guitars....

One of the most familiar scenes in the Tarzan movies is Tarzan swinging through the jungle on vines. My friends and I were discussing this and came to the conclusion that there aren’t any vines in America strong enough to swing on, but maybe there are in Africa. Are any vines growing in trees strong enough to swing on? –ShonEncinas, via e-mail Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Vines first....

As a founding member of Audio Sports–an oddball hip-hop trio with Boredoms ringleader Yamatsuka Eye and producer Nobukazu Takemura–Japanese-born producer Aki Onda crafted masterful sampladelia that showed off his striking facility with modern electronics. But his recent solo work draws on more primitive technology. Since the 80s Onda has used a simple cassette recorder to chronicle whatever sounds strike his fancy as he travels around the globe, stashing the informal travelogues in a cardboard box....

Even while hailing the return of patent leather, leopard prints, black nails, difficult silhouettes, outrageous platform heels even strippers wouldn’t wear–everything that appeals to a girl’s sinful side–I’m bracing myself for the inevitable backlash. Soon prim, pastel, beribboned innocence will be hot again. And when that day comes, probably the only designer capable of making me wish I were a good girl will be Danielle Weingarten, proprietor of the French-inspired label Siahou....

The Fox River is better off without any dam impoundments. According to data collected by the Illinois Natural History Survey during 2002-’03 and reported in the winter issue of its newsletter, areas behind the river’s dams “contain less diverse and more [pollution-]tolerant invertebrate and fish communities than free-flowing sites. Sport fish (smallmouth bass, walleye, and channel catfish) are less abundant in impoundments.” Since a flood took out part of the South Batavia dam in the fall of 2002, “the impoundment has become shallower and flow has greatly increased....

This is the third band trumpeter Dave Douglas has brought to town in a little over a year–the way he jumps from project to project would be exasperating if each group weren’t so fully realized. His eponymous quintet is where he shows off his straight-jazz chops, and Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf), which came out earlier this month, is the best of its three albums. That’s thanks in no small part to a change in the group’s lineup: new saxophonist Donny McCaslin, a youngish journeyman who’s turned up in a multitude of New York ensembles since making a name for himself with vibist Gary Burton, tops his predecessor, Chris Potter, by combining rhythmically thrilling phrasing with a tight, blocky tone that’s as tough as granite....

At a time when branding has become a philosophy of life (show your best, obscure your worst), questions of identity and perception are especially intriguing. Avery Crozier’s Eat the Runt serviceably explores the malleable meanings of gender, sexuality, race, and religious affiliation in the context of a job candidate’s interviews. But Crozier’s also devised a gimmick that directly confronts audience members with their prejudices: each night’s crowd casts the show by voting with electronic touch pads after mini auditions....

Fixer-Upper Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » The Beach Cafe, which shares space with Theater on the Lake and functions as its lobby, used to offer patio dining with decent food and an outstanding view: water and sky stretching to the east, the beach and the Hancock building to the south, rollerbladers and cyclists parading by under your nose. Followed by a performance of off-Loop theater, it was an idyllic, uniquely Chicago experience....

On the surface, New York singer-songwriter Jesse Malin’s persona seems a simple enough amalgam of dueling De Niros: the fast-talking fuckup (Mean Streets’ Johnny Boy) and the alienated loner (Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle). But the real key to both Malin’s strengths and weaknesses lies in his past: prior to his current incarnation as a Lower East Side troubadour, well before his years as a dreadlocked punk fronting major-label contenders D Generation, Malin was a 15-year-old prodigy leading the 80s hardcore outfit Heart Attack....

The first hour of this production is slow going. Director Jonathan Wilson’s vigorous, emphatic cast spend most of that time acting past one another. And playwright August Wilson fills the hour with aimless chatter and melodramatic eruptions before finally creating a truly dramatic scene: convicted murderer Booster, released from prison after 20 years, returns to Pittsburgh only to discover his dad’s disowned him and there’s a pending city demolition order on the family’s struggling cab business....

Vibraphonist Joe Locke likes to say that he graduated from the “university of the streets,” and he did play for tips with legendary New York sidewalk saxist George Braith in the early 80s; in any case, he skipped the famous music schools (and college entirely, for that matter). That background helps explain his mix of edgy attitude and artistic innocence, and perhaps also his onstage flamboyance, both sartorial and physical. With a barely reined-in energy and some strong ideas, Locke has found his own voice–though maybe “voices” is the better word, since he’s gone in many different directions, with varying levels of success....

“The Prophet said, ‘Keep my temple doors open, and I will drive them in.’ I intend to hold my end of that bargain, and he will keep his.” —Reuben Johnson-Bey, November 15 Something is really off when filmmakers identify more with a psychopath’s crazy skills than with what makes such a person tick. Substitute the Coen brothers’ editing machine with Javier Bardem’s retractable stun gun and you’ll see what I mean....

This week Mission of Burma released one of the most anticipated records in recent memory–ONoffON (Matador) is the seminal Boston postpunk outfit’s first new studio album in 22 years. Plenty of rock reunions embarrass everyone involved, but MoB’s return to the stage and studio has been a success with fans and critics alike–and for Chicago producer and musician Bob Weston, who’s been working with the band since early 2002, it’s been a dream come true....

Abbe Prevost’s tragic 1731 novel about a young woman torn between the love she discovers with a poor student and the seductive pleasures of wealth inspired three operas. Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, his first big hit, is the most passionate. The first act is a little slow moving–this isn’t La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, or Tosca, though there are hints of them–and the two leading roles are very demanding, probably the main reason it hasn’t been performed here for 28 years....

Monika Bukowska, 25, moved to Chicago’s west side from Poland when she was eight years old. She lives in Wicker Park, works in retail, and fronts the band Brilliant Pebbles. Pippi Longstocking meets glam superhero meets space sorcerer. Ripped-up, taped-up stuff with fancy. I always have elements of animals. I’m superstitious. For shows, I always wear tails. It’s playful, but that’s also my animal essence. I believe that a lot of what I like comes from growing up in the 80s in communist Poland and being “privileged” to get cool and colorful clothes and toys from America....

Lead Story Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Oklahoma state representative Mike O’Neal, married with three children and author of the state’s proposed “Defense of Marriage Act” (an anti-gay-marriage statute), was charged with felony sexual battery in February for grabbing a woman’s buttocks in an Oklahoma City hotel bar. When the victim and another woman fled, the 55-year-old O’Neal allegedly chased them into an elevator and tried to force his way inside the car....

I play a middle-aged Judy Garland in this show I’m doing here called Judy’s Scary Little Christmas. Not only did I have to learn how to sing like Judy (it’s all about getting the emotion across), but I was determined to at least capture the essence of her look. It wasn’t easy–I’m a blue-jeans-and-baseball-cap-wearin’ kinda gal. I usually wear no makeup, and have these big, bushy, put-Brooke-Shields-to-shame eyebrows. So they took me to this place where they cut ’em, waxed ’em, shaped ’em, and dyed ’em....