2020
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
JANUARY - MAY
This year was a challenge in many ways. A pandemic on a global scale erased the life we all knew, putting millions out of work. Homebound and isolated we turned even more inward to our social media and online lives. As summer came, the cauldron of systematic racism this country has been brewing for centuries overflowed again into the streets. The largest mass protests since the end of the Vietnam war turned some cities into warzones as struggling and angry masses flooded the streets. Chicago was not exempt from the looting and state sponsored violence from police on protestors that plagued the cities of our country during the long summer of 2020. A bubbling up of decades of oppression and repression. Then as the anger started to dissipate and the protests slowed, the most contentious election in over a hundred years hit a peak, and divided our already fractured country even more. To say this year has been a challenge is to underestimate its impact.
As a live music magazine we struggled with the shift to a life with no shows. We found our footing covering new releases and interviewing musicians, but as the movement began to gain steam we went on an extended hiatus. Covering music didn’t seem very important at the time. It was a distraction from the real work to be done in the streets and non-profit organizations. We wish we could have done more to support these actions, but we did what we could from our avenue. Trying to lift the spirits of Chicago through covering it’s local music scene.
This is our chance to look back at 2020, breath a sigh of relief and look to the future. To a time when we will get to see all these great bands once again. Some amazing music was released this year. Much of it was made in 2019, true; but there are a few projects listed here that were born out of the immediacy of creation within an emergency. This is by no means a comprehensive list of Chicago music this year, these are the records we loved, and the first two and a half months of show memories that had to hold us over for the rest of the year and beyond. So without further adieu, here is our Year In Review: 2020: January thru May.
-Kyle Land
Editor and Co-Founder
A note on links: Album titles are linked to Bandcamp so you can check out the art and purchase some music. These artists need our help more than ever. For many of them playing shows was a way of life, and it will have been over a year before any of them get to play another.
Buttons under shows will take you to the show article!
JANUARY
Bad Ambassadors
Shoebox Records
This album is packed with the music of the future. If you can see beyond the smoke and haze of The Great Dumpster Fire of 2020, you’ll see a shining beacon in the distance. That beacon is this EP. “Up For You” is where it’s at and deserves plenty of airtime on any DJs turntable. “Mornings With You” is sweet and delicious while “Pardon” drops like big rain drops on a hot Chicago summer day. This EP is a start to finish party in a box.
-Aaron Pylinski
****
Tomorrow never knows
Lincoln Hall / Schubas / Sleeping Village /
The Metro / The Hideout
January 15th - 19th
****
Ian’s Party
Subterranean
and Chop Shop
January 3rd -5th
Space Gators
Midwest Action
A damn good time from a conflagration of minds behind some of the scenes most compelling indie psych rock acts like Faux Furrs and Namorado. A Chicago supergroup that owes its sound to the earliest forms of Psych Pop that came out of England in the mid ‘60s including The Kinks and The Yardbirds combined with the surf grooves of Brian Wilson and Dick Dale. If you have no idea who any of these acts are, you’ll probably still enjoy Space Gators. One of the year's most enjoyable debuts.
Engine Summer
Air Scotia Records
“When you’re an indie band, you’re a small fish and there’s an enormous pond; and you can go your whole life and zero point one percent of the people that like your genre of music are going to hear your band. It’s on you to increase that number. To play your music in front of more people”.
The Hazy Seas
Self Release
FEBRUARY
Telethon /
Devon Kay and The Solutions / Big Sky Hunters
G-Man Tavern
February 6th
Air Credits
Wasteland Radio New Archives
If you haven’t kept up with ShowYouSuck’s Insta handle during COVID, you ought to. It’s nothing short of a glimpse into his everyday thought process. Outside of that, you’ll get why Air Credits’ Wasteland Radio New Archives is cemented in this best-of list. Teamed up with The Hood Internet, this album rectifies a free flow genre and unwillingly found itself comfortably at home during a pandemic. “Wall” has top honors from me, but it’s hard to say what is the best cut on what sounds like a best-of album.
-Aaron Pylinski
Beach Bunny
Mom + Pop Records
Many people try to play it cool and hide the crazy that being in a relationship can bring, but not Lili Trifilio (aka Beach Bunny). She takes all those feelings we don't want to admit and puts them into a bouncy catchy rock. Honeymoon may be full of love songs, but love is intoxicating and confusing and painful. There are so many ways a relationship can fail. And if you are prone to anxiety, dwelling on the seeming inevitable end is hard to avoid. It can be so easy to give in to our insecurities and self-sabotage what we love. Beach Bunny gives it all voice and helps us reclaim our power over those feelings. Because even if they make us feel helpless, we know we aren’t. Because we aren’t alone. Beach Bunny understands us.
PANACHE PLANNED PARENTHOOD BENEFIT
Lincoln Hall
February 14th
Post Animal
Polyvinyl
These local psych rockers might not have made the same splash with this one as their breakout When I Think Of You In A Castle, but it’s even more fabulously proggy, with plenty of headbangers. Maybe a bit too weird for the general public, with some very ‘80s synth pop influences showing through, backing off from the multi-guitar attack they made their name on. However, Forward Motion Godyssey reflects a band on the verge of finding an original sound. A confluence of influences that turns out a wholly original vibe.
-Kyle Land
Cloud Cruiser
Self Release
Girl K / Sports Boyfriend / Floatie
Sleeping Village
Febuary 16th
DRAMA
Ghostly International
Faux Furrs / Daydream Review / Flora / Breether
Subterranean Downstairs
Feb. 19th
Ohmme / Dehd / Spencer Tweedy
Pitchfork 15th Anniversary Show
Chicago Athletic Association
February 20th
North by North
Double Hex Records
I was so happy to have seen North by North at the Empty Bottle when they released Get Weird. The album crams in all the power of a live show into one neat package. What a pleasure. The album opens with “Bad Vibes” and you immediately get the sense that NxN didn’t come to fuck around. Nate Girard and Kendra Blank play so seamlessly together and it shows at every turn the album takes, especially when “Hiss Hiss Rattle” hits. Get Weird is a garage rock album and pumps out proudly a sound synonymous with hard work and Chicago.
-Aaron Pylinski
BIPOC Punk Takeover
Art Institute
February 21st
MUSIC FROZEN DANCING
Empty Bottle
February 22nd
****
Ratboys
Top Shelf Records
The record release show for this album was nothing short of bitchin’. With Advance Base and Slow Mass opening for Ratboys, it was almost a dream come true. Sadly, it now seems like a dream. I digress, Printer’s Devil is a saint of an album and deserves to be shroud in holy white light. The whole band comes to play through the first three songs of the album, but yields ever so slightly in “A Vision” to showcase Julia Steiner’s angelic voice. I mean, wow! The track that really encapsulates the beauty of the record is, “Anj”, a story of friendship, trust, and knowing that we’re in this together. Printer’s Devil will make a New Year’s playlist or two, just to serve as a reminder that there was still something beautiful to come out of 2020.
-Aaron Pylinski
Jeremy Cunningham
Northern Spy
Ratboys / Slow Mass / ADvance Bass
Lincoln Hall
February 28th
Je’raf
Amalgam / No Index
A confluence of genres so vast it would take awhile to list them. Let's just say Je’raf mirrors the scene in every way possible. Bringing together two of the brains behind Blacker Face (PT Bell) and Cordoba (Brianna Tong) on vocals, and a legit journeyman rhythm section in Eli Namay (bass) and Bill Harris (drums) with killer horns by David Fletcher and Wills McKenna, rounded out by the incomparable Ishmael Ali (guitar, electronics). Every single member deserved to be listed because each is essential to the creation of the viscous sonic bloom that is Je’raf.
March
Ruby Watson
Why? Records
The most melodic of the Why? Records crew, Ruby Watson’s sophomore effort is a wide departure from his work with fellow label brother Joshua Virtue in Free Snacks. Deftly serious and self-analyzing, Watson turns phrases like a wise-beyond-his-years street prophet. He pins sample laden beats that flow with mellow hooks that let his words flash. While “the foot” is the first appearance of The Why Footclan on record, capturing a bit of the raw energy that exudes when Virtue, Watson, Malci, and Davis hit a stage together.
Speed Babes
Self Release
“The initial idea for Speed Babes was, in fact, to do just that. Create and release music as quickly as possible - and TRY to capture that vibe that happens when you first write a song - that energy that tends to quickly fade when you start to try to make a song technically perfect.”
Impulsive Hearts
Midwest Action
“I write music to escape depression, so when I'm writing or recording I do everything possible to help foster that escape. I want drums to be loud and fast, I want the melody to seem happy, I want to set the scene that will help us all escape to that beach together. I'm doing that intentionally because when I'm playing these songs live I want to be having fun too. If I'm playing all my sad jams back to back I feel depressed. I cry! So I want to run away from that as quickly as I can, and the music helps.”
ROOKIE
Bloodshot Records
Classic rock in 2020? ROOKIE is your answer. The soundtrack to all of our backyard barbeques and late night drinking jags, this full length debut from the jumpsuit clad lads got us through the long concertless summer. With their polished songwriting and relentless charm ROOKIE hits on every level. If you don’t love this record, rock n’ roll is just not your bag. Hit this and call us in the morning.
Our Last Show of 2020
So Pretty / The God Awful Small Affairs / Diaherra Sprinkles
Empty Bottle
March 11th
The God Awful Small Affairs
Red Gate Woods:
Love Songs and Intrusive Thoughts
Self Release
“I walked out of the session an hour later thinking: “I hope one of those songs turns out.” In that moment, I was so happy for how soft I had been with myself. I wanted to catch exactly how I was feeling that day and to do that I wanted to not chastise myself for any mistakes or any moments my voice felt constricted.”
BLØØDH¥PE
Dark Circles Records
“Ether was considered the fifth element in classical science. Earth, water, fire, and air were all terrestrial, things you could smell and taste and feel. Ether was the mysterious force through which all energy flowed and which gave things life. If you want to conceive of it in modern scientific terms, I think of it as the electromagnetic force.”
The Curls
Self Release
“I’ve always been obsessive about politics and comedy but find it hard to translate in song without sounding like an insufferable dope. I think we’ve socially and politically been heading in this absurd, terrifying direction for a long time now. But the masks have really come off now as far as our institutions go and a lot of people seem to be noticing so maybe it’s a good time to make art about that.”
Pledge Drive
Self Release
It’s a feat to capture live energy in the studio, but these six badass punks seize the raw power of their shows on this banger of a record. Whether it’s a rant on vegetarian doubters, government conspiracies, internet searches and identity theft, or pyramid schemes, vocalist Kelli channels her rage into a Poly Styrene style wail and chant. While the saxophone also brings in X-Ray Spex influence, a classic sound with a new found focus.
-Kyle Land
Deeper
Fire Talk Records
Auto-Pain is my absolute top album of the year. Deeper rocked every song from this album at a Lincoln Hall show and I got weak in the knees. I can’t say there’s a standout track because it’s a standout album. And let’s not forget the video for “The Knife” is top-fucking-notch! What makes Deeper a seminal tour de force in the Chicago music scene is their dedication to a hard-hitting sound that harkens the profound heartiness of the Windy City.
KeiyaA
Forever Recordings
One of the best records of the year to come out of the ever expanding Chicago alt-R&B scene. The velvet vocals, stirring lyrics, and groovy beats from KeiyaA made this debut a clear highlight. Taking a trip through the mind of a young strong black woman, Forever, Ya Girl was required listening through the lonely summer. Gorgeously produced by the artist with assists from dj blackpower and dj cowriiie, containing shades of Badu, D’Anglo, and Muldrow, KeiyaA is a must follow for anyone who enjoys smooth R&B with an edge of passion.
Various Artists
Self Release
One of the first benefit pandemic compilation records to come out of Chicago, this one was put together by Tenci to raise money for Brave Space Alliance and Black and Pick Chi, two LGBTQ organizations helping in the good fight. With nineteen tracks from indie heavy hitters like Fran, Liam Kazar, Mia Joy, Sima Cunningham, Joey Nebulous, Izzy True, Moontype, and more, it was well worth the NRP tag, to feel good about giving whatever you could afford to these worthy organizations and getting some excellent music in return. A theme that lasted throughout 2020.
****
So Pretty
Self Release
Yet another record release show that I was lucky enough to see before Satan’s a-hole cousin, Covid showed his ass and shut the whole thing down. I’ll dry my tears and just say that a band as powerfully motivated and talented like So Pretty, it’s no surprise an album like V.S. ME showed up on this list. Every song offers a glimpse into the band's taste with opener, “Enough” broiling the blood or the reggae-esque “Cool Dude, You’re Projecting” solidifying So Pretty’s depth of talent.
-Aaron Pylinski
FACS
Trouble In Mind
FACS builds their darkly shimmering post-rock mystique to a peak on this third record from the trio of vets who have been pumping their fuzzed out, ear rattling jams since 2018. Calmer than last years effort Lifelike, Void Moments explores the deep recesses of sonic dissonance and Brain Case’s (guitar and vox) lower registers, though Noah Leger’s drums always give the tracks a tribalistic vibe that Alianna Kalaba’s throbbing bass floats through effortlessly. Their most cohesive album to date puts FACS in the upper echelon of Chicago acts; and FACS Lincoln Hall 2020, recorded for the STAGED series, is a must listen.
-Kyle Land
Ester
Midwest Action
Lyrically complex. Instrumentation so lush it pulls me into the layers and swirls. Vocals powerful, rounded, and yet textured. These are the pieces that come together for Turn Around. Ester’s lead vocalist and songwriter, Anna Holmquist, is examining their transition into adulthood. The themes of change and growth run thick: “Everyday I get taller and better” (“The Space”), “I want to grow and grow and grow” (“Wildfire”). But Holmquist’s songs are asking for reassurance, exploring how the choices they make will define what kind of person they are becoming, “Tell me I’m different from them, let me be someone who lives with abandon...Despite every minute I’m lonely I want to make home here” (“The Space”). What better time than a new year to come back to this album and do some contemplation? When you look at the past year, what will you find? And even more importantly, how will that perspective inform what you want for the next?
April
NNAMDÏ
Sooper Records
BRAT simply blew me away with the very first track, “Flowers to my Demons.” The delicious chewy acoustic guitar riff took me by surprise. Suddenly, I had to open my mind as to what NNAMDÏ’s sound encompasses. It is deeply envirgorating to be surprised by an artist you love. And the intense satisfaction when the bumping bass kicks in and NNAMDÏ seamlessly transitions to “Gimme Gimme.” “NNAMDÏ came through with the hot sauce / Damn I'm the shit and you know that.” Just in case you were worried this album was going to be a complete departure, NNAMDÏ doesn’t waste time re-establishing the body-moving beat. This is why I fell in love with NNAMDÏ’s music. The rest of the album explores this full spectrum experimental post-genre world. It is a clear expression of a unique voice. It grabs you like a giant cartoon hand popping out of a jack ‘n the box. Surprising. Delightful. Silly. Strong. Uncontainable. Simply the best to come out of Chicago in 2020.
Melkbelly
Carpark Records
This is a layered album. It’s bolstered by musical layers of power, poetry, and mischief. The way they pour into every creative crevasse of the audible sound space makes PITH an experimental fan’s fantasy dream come true. Middle Brow Bungalow partnered with the band to release a partner beer that hinted at a fruity pale ale. “Sickeningly Teeth” is a standout on the album, launching an onslaught of metal goodness. When I saw Melkbelly live in December 2019, I was blown away by their ability to shake the earth. I saw them again during Covid on a Hideout stream and they damn near crashed my computer. Power points all around!
Serengeti and Kenny Segal
Cohn Corporation
If you think Serengeti’s mystique stops at “Dennehy” you are dead wrong. Adding another page to his Kenny Dennis legend, the veteran emcee weaves his titular, thick headed, conspiracy spewing blowhard character with the shopping obsessed Ajai, as they trade emails over a purchase, and so much more. More than a comment on consumerism and internet culture, Serengetti uses his trademark list raps over beats by L.A. producer Kenny Segal to fabricate a reflection of our confusing and compulsive times.
Joshua Virtue
Why? Records
The first of several pandemic records from the most prolific of the Why? Records crew. Virtue released this album to raise money for his mother, sister, and grandmother who live in Florida and had little income during the quarantine Spring. Though it was written and recorded quickly, Jackie’s House has all the elements that make every Why? project a must listen: sick sample laden beats, personally reflective rhymes and a blend of immediacy and artistic intensity.
-Kyle Land
Jackie Lynn
Drag City
A very different project than Haley Fohr’s experimental work as Circuit des Yeux, Jackie Lynn is a character driven act that centers on the titular heroes continuing adventures that began on the self titled debut in 2016. Bringing together disparate elements to form a discofied country synth opus, Fohr and her collaborators from Bitchin Bajas (Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan, and Rob Frye) transform the cocaine kingpin Jackie Lynn into a long-haul truck driver with tales of the road, wrapped in a dream. A beautiful record full of complexly layered tracks with Fohr’s haunting drawl and low end delivery, Jacqueline clearly shows the breadth of the talents involved.
Working Mother
Tumbleweeds & Regret
“I think the depth you hear comes from the long musical history we each have with one another. Chuck and Melissa have played together for over 20 years. Rachel and I are at 6. Chuck and Rachel have played in another band together for over 10 years, and Melissa was their first bassist. Ryan and I go back a decade as well. There's a familiarity, trust and comfort there that I think comes through when we play.”
Low Swans
Self Release
The pressure in the current media world to be both VERY definitive about your "brand", your "point of view", your "style" is just... incredibly off-putting. It's not real life. Especially because the new media world also requires that we constantly "evolve" our brand/style/point of view. It just seems too disingenuous. I try to examine what we're doing as little as possible while we're working on it.”
Jordan Reyes
American Dreams Records
“Much of what I was doing on Close and Closer was making consonant stems and percussion. I would create a synth part from one oscillator, then another, then another, then another, then another, and I would weave them in and out, all the while manipulating things like a filter cutoff, modulation, and adding some randomization. I recorded these songs live, and some took a handful of takes after creating all the stems, and some I nailed on the first shot.”
Outronaut
Records Underneath Records
“What I always liked most about cartoons and the other television I watched as a kid was the music. The original Spiderman cartoon had incredible, menacing jazzy music, and I had revisited that stuff a few years ago. The vast majority of it still isn’t commercially available- you just find it on YouTube, but it was a big inspiration for OUTRONAUT, along with The Shadows, a pre-Beatles British guitar band, whom I never heard as a kid.”
Bonelang
AntiFragile Music
LOcal H
AntiFragile Music
NONE OF YOUR CONCERN
Self Release
The debut EP from these masked electro wonders is as serious as they come. Having plagued the dance floor for a short time, but leaving an impression wherever they go, this doom edged electro duo produces thick waves of distorted beats that are sure to invade the brain with their sheer understated intensity and dark groove.
-Kyle Land
C.H.E.W.
Iron Lung Records
A blistering five songs slammed onto a 7” that clocks in at nine minutes, C.H.E.W. produces some of the best hardcore to grace a Chicago stage. Fronter, Doris Jeane may have the most rad pipes in the history of punk as she is able to rip through each track with an unfettered passion. You can just feel her vocal cords shredding as her bandmates slay each track with utter abandon.
May
ONO
American Dreams Records
Celebrating 40 years, founding ONO members P Michael Grego and travis have been producing confrontational experimental protest music since 1980. While the membership around them has shifted over and over since their beginning, the two have found a niche in the ever evolving psych/experimental Chicago scene as elder statesmen. Recorded over three years, their latest achievement Red Summer is at once historical and prophetic. There was no way to know ONO would release a project so long in gestation a month before the largest scale protests since Vietnam would roll across cities around the world. Beginning with the sale of the first black slaves in this country in 1619 to modern day racist societal norms and beyond, ONO documents the history of American racism through the personal and synonymous. Possibly the most important record of the year, from Chicago or anywhere.
VV Lightbody
Acrophase Records
Make a Shrine or Burn It maintains V.V. Lightbody’s gentle tones that are central to her “nap rock” sound, but there’s a clear evolution with this album: more dynamics. There is a clarity in the recordings and the songwriting is tighter. From first song to last, the grooves are so strong, they pull me in and get me swaying. Throughout the album harmonies and instrumentation add a depth to Vivian McConnell’s vocal sound. From husky crooning that would make ole blue eyes blush, to clear soaring tones, her vocals have more attitude and confidence. Lyrically, she taps into an empathy we can all share and feel less alone. It feels like such a rare gift. Boy did we need it this year.
HITTER
Self Release
Need some metal in your diet? Look no further than throwback thrashers HITTER. Like they’ve stepped out of a time machine, their pure early ‘80s heavy metal sound explodes on this full length debut. Hanna “Hazard” Johnson’s wail works perfectly with her bandmates' tight riffs and pounding rhythms. All veterans of current or defunct acts, HITTER seems to be the perfect outlet for hammering out some stress and having a damn good time. Fist in the air, hair flying, as we headbang right along.
-Kyle Land
Cafe Racer
Born Yesterday Records
A maze of swirling guitars and driving psych beats, Cafe Racer capture their vibe perfectly on sophomore effort Shadow Talk. Expertly sequenced it flows from track to track with a distinct ease, making it as cohesive as records get. Gorgeous melodies and layered jangled guitars ride atop the guiding low end, all building to the ten minute opus closer, that really stretches their wings and makes the sound soar.
-Kyle Land
She Speaks In Tongues
Self Release
“I wanted to try just recording the songs, one after the other, just as I perform them live, so I could retain the flow and energy that I bring to the music when I perform. After several attempts and noodling with the mic and pedal, we finally hit some kind of magic flow. There's a tarot card like this, the 8 of Wands. Just ZOOM! BAM! All flowing in the right direction.”
Fire-Toolz
Hausu Mountain
A one-woman sonic wrecking crew, Fire-Toolz combines the spaciness of ambient with the ear splitting hell of grinding industrial to produce a truly original sound. Not all of Angel Marcloid’s work takes the two extremes to the level they appear on Rainbow Bridge, but it’s a testament to the experiment that is Fire-Toolz that she has found a way to combine the polarizing opposites of her work and make them gel to perfection.
-Kyle Land
Various Artists
Why? Records
A who’s who of the artistic crowd that Why? Records runs with, this collection could easily serve as an entry point into the local indie scene. Opening and closing with Why Footclan tracks and plenty of meat in the middle from Daymaker, Sex No Babies, NNAMDÏ, Rich Jones, Cordoba, CJ Run, Jordanna, LOWERLIPDRIP and so much more. All proceeds go to the Chicago Community Bond Fund, so you have no excuse to not hit up this killer mix.
Retirement Party
Counter Intuitive Records
Retirement Party doesn’t hold back on Runaway Dog. I can feel their hearts reaching out in the guitar symphony, pulsing with glistening pop-emo-punk glory. The lyrics are contemplative, empathetic and struggling with the inequities of life. Check out “Old Age.” It slows down a bit and lets us feel the beauty of their sound. Perfectly balancing moments of vocal clarity, clear jangly guitar riffs, and back into that full wall of sound. The guitar scape bounces and echoes with expansive fuzz. I breathe deep and let the sound fill my lungs, surging into my body with a cathartic power everytime Avery Springer sings, “painstakingly unfair, don’t have to know the day by day of what happens to individuals, well what happens? / news hit me like a sucker punch to the face /distance served no better on a silver plate / and the spoon is rusted in a funny way.”
Varsity
Run For Cover Records
Varsity kicked up the energy with Fine Forever. During an interview, the band told us they feel they really hit a stride recording this album, doing much of the tracking live, and capturing the magic of their live performances. Lyrically, Stef Smith finds inspiration in a hypothetical situation and creates a story with her songs. The lyrics are specific and open ended at the same time. But I gotta bring it back to the stellar musicianship of the band. Check out the extended smooth jam at the end of “The Memphis Group.” It had me swaying with saxophone induced bliss, while atonal undertones built tension as the music seemed to be drifting towards a psychedelic precipice. I felt them hugging the cliff, threatening to break into chaos. Their talent and obvious group cohesion swirls through this album and is what puts it on my best of 2020.