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Current DJ: Andy Vaso
Daft Punk Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger from Discovery (Virgin) Add to Collection
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Musically, Chicago is a city where there’s always a lot of things happening. Collaborating on new records is like sharing space on the “L.” The latest example is artist Kywo, who just released his Pearl EP. Vocalists from Cleveland and New Orleans lend a hand along with local musicians Keiya, ShowYouSuck and more. The end result is an album that reaches across genres for an electro-groovy experience.
Kywo’s latest (along with new releases from Ghastly Menace, Minsk, and Razorhouse) is available for listening on CHIRP Radio, both in rotation and by request – give us a call at 773-DJ-SONGS!
It's never too early in the year to get your Hardcore fix. We certainly can't wait until this summer's festival season to get laoud. That's why it's a very good thing that Harm's Way's third album Rust is now out on Deathwish Inc. It is quite loud and quite satisfying. The band brings the noise while working in other musical ingrediants like Metal and Industrial...there's even a track with a female lead vocal...! You can hear Harm's Way and a lot of other stuff on CHIRP Radio!
One of Jazz music’s best drummers just released a new album on International Anthem. Makaya McCraven’s record takes a collage approach to this record by combining recordings of various performances around town into a looped, sampled, spliced tougher groove. Working alongside fellow Chicago bright stars like Matt Ulery and Marquis Hill, McCraven shows how improvised music is not just alive and well but thriving in the new century. McCraven’s new album In the Moment is currently in rotation on CHIRP Radio!
In Tall Buildings is the nom de plume of Erik Hall, a Chicago singer-songwriter who has just released his second album, Driver on Western Vinyl. At the center is still Hall’s smooth, folksy tenor, laden with echo and delivering his winsome and winning melodies, but the sound is less bare bones than on his eponymous debut, released in 2010 by Whistler.
Driver brims with additional electronic effects and sports a more lush layering of musical richness, but the arrangements are never busy enough to distract from the solidness of songs. During a particularly rhythmically intricate number, Hall sings that “it’s unmistakeable, I understand, the sea will take a toll, when you hit land.” The world-weariness of his delivery blends well with the recurrent lyrical motif of the world’s eroding effect on humanity, but let’s hope this young talent doesn’t let the world wear him down too much.
Driver does pack a speedier, more linear punch where its predecessor was content with a more leisurely stroll through a foggier forest. His debut was so good, it's just great to hear Hall on record again, and if anything Driver is even better.
"The Way to a Monster's Lair" featuring Matt Ulery (bass) and Quin Kirchner (drums)
ONO have been a Chicago institution since they formed in January of 1980, mixing experimental noise, industrial, and what the band calls “avant gospel,” surely a reference to frontman Travis’ operatic voice and the band’s tendency to incorporate performance art into their live shows. The band's importance to the history of experimental music in Chicago is undeniable, and they can also be considered within the context of their contemporaries in No Wave bands in New York City.