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Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: DJ Rashad
Chicago Footwork pioneer DJ Rashad left us much too early. Growing up in a community that continues to face Herculean challenges, he was a victim of overdose at the age of 34. But his influence continues to be felt by fans and collaborators. Teklife, the crew of artists and dancers Rashad helped found, has just released Afterlife, a collection of tracks that feature his collaboration with different musicians and of the sound he helped create, a world of digital soundscapes frenzied and lightning-staccato one moment and languidly surreal the next, the sound of a community on the edge that cannot be stopped from making art. Tracks from this compilation are now being played in rotatio and by request at CHIRP Radio.org.
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesCHIRP Battle of the Bands 2016: Round Three
Congratulations are in order for Flesh Panthers. Those scuzz-rock fiends are the only band to from last year's third round to make the trip again this year. They're joined by seven newcomers from across Chicago's music scene, including a boatload of fellow DIY firebrands (Lil Tits, Ego, Swimsuit Addition), some radio-ready power-poppers (The Kickback), a cerebral hip-hop assassin (Psalm One), and Chicago's greatest living soul singer (Mavis Staples).
Only half of these would-be titans can become this year's Last Four. Which ones, you ask? Well, that's all up to you. Voting for Round Three closes on Sunday, April 17 at 6 p.m. You know what to do; now do it.
The Wilco Regional
#5 Seed: The Kickback
Third Round Song: "White Lodge"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: The mighty South Dakota Coyotes.
#6 Seed: Psalm One
Third Round Song: "Voyeuristic"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: Florence Griffith Joyner. Get it, because she can flow? FloJo? I'll see myself out.
The Kanye Regional
#8 Seed: Lil Tits
Third Round Song: "Were Werm"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: Ronda Rousey, but less good-natured.
#6 Seed: Flesh Panthers
Third Round Song: "Elevator Girls"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: The living embodiment of the crowd at Disco Demolition Night.
The Chance Regional
#5 Seed: Ego
Third Round Song: pick one.
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: That squirrely kid in the jean shorts who hangs out at the one neighborhood basketball court in your hometown that still has a chainlink net.
#3 Seed: Tortoise
Third Round Song: "Prepare Your Coffin"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: Fellow esoteric oldster Phil Jackson.
The Mavis Regional
#1 Seed: Mavis Staples
Third Round Song: "You Are Not Alone"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: Fellow Chicago institution Ernie Banks.
#6 Seed: Swimsuit Addition
Third Round Song: "I Turn To Art"
Sport Figure We Think of When We Hear Their Music: A murderous gang of Baseball Furies from The Warriors.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesWhat’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (Week of April 11)
Upcoming Events
- CHIRP Radio welcomes The Mountain Goats to three sold-out shows at City Winery on April 11th, 12th, and 13th
New Media
- Melanie Kruveli interviews Fake Limbs
- First Time: First Blood with Meredith Kachel
- Dylan Peterson visits Sonnenzimmer
- In Rotation: Impulsive Hearts
- Friday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Izzy Stadlin Edition
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Izzy Stradlin Edition
Great news, everybody! Guns N’ Roses has finally reunited!! Well, most of them anyway. Even with a so-called “classic era” lineup, the group that annihilated the late ‘80s / early ‘90s LA Rock scene and will be coming to a Coachella near you is missing one important piece - founder and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. He and Axl Rose formed the band from the remains of Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns, and was with the group through their most explosive period when they became the biggest Hard Rock band in the world with the albums Appetite for Destruction, G N' R Lies, and Use Your Illusion I and II.
Despite their tabloid-ready personal disputes and hedonistic excess, GNR was the real deal and a worthy sucessor to the titanic Arena Rock bands that came before like Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. Stradlin left the band in 1991 because he wanted to get sober, and has since launched his own solo career while occasionally rejoining his old bandmates for occasional gigs. But not the upcoming 2016 tour, which he has confirmed he will not participate in. Sometimes, you can’t go home again, and when you’ve got a full life of your own, that’s not at all a bad thing.
Today is Izzy’s birthday, so let’s celebrate by taking your MP3 player, pressing the "shuffle" button, and sharing the first 10 songs that play:
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: Impulsive Hearts
It's always nice to get in on the ground floor of listening to a new band that's just starting out. This is the case with Chicago band Impulsive Hearts, originally a solo project of Danielle Sines that has built itself into a trio. The band wraps their romantic musings in a haze of guitar noise and distortion with a driving beat. It's a formula of Pop-Punk melancholy that can help point the way from Winter to Summer. Tracks from the debut EP from the band in its current form, Sorry in the Summer, are available for listening in rotation and by request on CHIRP Radio.