My Kind of Sound compiles more than a decade worth of “The Secret History of Chicago Music,” the illustrated column by Steve Krakow (“Plastic Crimewave”) that has been printed bi-weekly in the Chicago Reader since 2005. There is much to discover in these stories; amidst the slighted fame, botched contracts, overdoses, and break-ups, Krakow spotlights the glory that exists in making music.

Some of these musicians made considerable contributions to Chicago's music culture, rivaling those of the legends we all know and collect. And some of them didn’t, but Krakow insists that you know about them. There’s little-known folk duo Hollins and Starr, who recorded a single, perfect LP and promptly disappeared; rock group The Lemon Drops, decimated by their own recording contract; the supergroup Thunderpussy, who toured in a pink school bus and broke up after their bassist quit; and the should-be-famous June Shellene, who opened for the likes of B.B. King and Jefferson Airplane, and waited over forty years to release a solo album.

Each of the more than 200 columns included in My Kind of Sound were painstakingly constructed by Krakow in his signature scissor-and-glue process, the same he employs in his long-running psychedelic zine, Galactic Zoo Dossier. Charmed though his process may be, Krakow’s gigantic love for music and the people who make it is serious and staggering and the resulting collection is as fun as it is important. Jim DeRogatis of Sound Opinions ays it in his foreword: "Those of us who care about the good stuff know what [Krakow] has done, and we love him for it."

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