Music we Missed

We at CCS may have stepped away for a few months, but the Chicago music scene kept on churning. So many stellar records and projects dropped while we were on hiatus, and we would be remiss if we didn’t feature some of them here. So kick back, plug into the playlist we made, click those links, and buy these artist’s work. All of them are deserving of your hard earned bucks.

Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood
LIVE
International Anthem

Released on Halloween, this amazing live recording from the 2019 JazzFest Berlin is the Queen of Chicago nu-jazz leaving every ounce of sweat and blood on the stage.

Rich Jones
How do you sleep at night? 
Self Released

An all-star affair from one half of Bad Ambassadors, his first solo drop in two years. A collab with beat maestro Montana Macks, How do you sleep at night? features some of Chicago’s most talented up and coming and established hip-hop artists. Chill beats to the last drop, with acid tinged lyrical acrobatics. Looking for an entry into the local hip-hop scene? This is the perfect toe dip.

Video Dave
Hella Personal Film Festival 2
3rdEyelander Productions

Recorded during the early pandemic lockdown, while he was appearing with Open Mike Eagle on his Drive Time Radio Insta show, Chicago native Video Dave captures the loneliness and isolation we all felt when our lives were instantly altered. 

Sonny Falls 
All That Has Come Apart
/ Once Did Not Exist
Pt. 1 and Pt. 2
Plastic Miracles

Released as two EPs with another on the way, Hoagie Wesley Ensley’s project Sonny Falls has new recordings that take the model set in 2018’s excellent Some Kind of Spectre and blows it up into sweeping indie epics chock full of characters you know, familiar scenes from your city street, and all the feelings you deny having.

Growing Concerns
Poetry Collective
BIG DARK BRIGHT FUTURES
Self Released

Make this album a priority. Listen to it right now. Buy it if you have the funds. McKenzie Chinn and Mykele Deville split lyrical beauty that borders between poetry and hip-hop soundcraft while Jeffery Michael Austin’s beats add a whole other level to the proceedings

Sen Morimoto
Sen Morimoto
Sooper Records

One of Chicago’s most original and engrossing acts, Sen Morimoto’s second proper record comes as a self-titled opus of smoothness with features from consummate collaborators KIANA, NNAMDÏ, Lala Lala and more. Sooper Records keeps outdoing themselves.

Joel Ross
Who Are You? 
Blue Note Records

With his second Blue Note release, Chicago born vibist Joel Ross once again crosses the boundaries of what can be done with mallets with over an hour of original compositions that once again push the art to new levels.

Pool Holograph
Love Touched Time and
Time Began to Sweat
Sunroom

Angular in all the right ways, Pool Holograph’s latest is a minimalist post-punk affair; so clear each instrument is easily identified as they meld into a single organ of emotional punch.

Joshua Virtue / Malci 
Together, With Great Feeling
Why? Records

Whenever Why? Records releases a new project it’s bound to be excellent, and when two of the four founders join heads it’s time to tune in and leave all expectations at the door. Pushing the boundaries of what hip-hop can be.

REZN
Chaotic Devine
Self Released

Pure dark metal spiritual mastery with plenty of that signature REZN saxophone. This record got us through month...7 of the pandemic, yeah it took a second to acknowledge it’s been that long. A gorgeous journey from start to finish, Chaotic Devine is an upper echelon record.

Good Fuck
Still at the Rough Cusp of Renaissance
Self Released

Born from the couplage of experimental electronic miastro Jenny Pulse and emo punk legend Tim Kinsella, Good Fuck still know how to empty a room with their latest effort. Still at the Rough Cusp of Renaissance may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is no denying it’s powerful grooves and magnetic beats.

Breether 
Through A Screen
Self Released

A funky bedroom pop journey down the soul of Zac Bron. The follow up EP to January’s more expansive The Love Department, further flushing out the trippy, intimate sound of an up and coming artist.

Chinarose
Satori Mountain
DoomWave

Need a radio rock fix without the cliches and rampant repeats? Psych rockers Chinarose are your answer. A groove inducing quartet that just doesn’t quit. 

Rich Robbins
How RU RN?
Self Released

A sample filled, self produced mixtape from one of Chicago’s up and coming emcees (with production help from since’93 and Groupthink), How RU RN? has moments that show star potential.

Speed Babes
UK?
Self Released

Sounding like it was recorded in a sewer pipe under Reed’s Local, Speed Babes stays true to their roots with a blistering twelve track burner. Their third of 2020!

The Tomblands
Fall In Love
Inflatable Garden

Fuzzy guitars are a Tomblands hallmark and they are on full display in this four song EP. Layered over their two drummers to make a couple beautiful tracks to get you through the winter doldrums.

Post Child 
Goners EP
Self Released

Somewhere between post-rock and grunge lies Byran Alvarez’s Post Child. With Goners EP he captures a meditative state that we should all seek to emulate at the moment.

Half Gringa
Force to Reckon
Self Released

We should all be as strong as Half Gringa’s driving force, Isabel Olive. If you still haven’t plugged into this record, now is the time.

Spun Out 
Touch the Sound
Self Relesed

If Spun Out can survive this moment they have one of the brightest futures in the Chicago scene. Touch the Sound is a killer debut from three of the minds behind NE-HI and a whose who of Chicago scenesters as collaborators.

Devon Kay & The Solutions
Limited Joy
A-F Records

Not many punk bands feature horns AND synths, but Devon Kay & The Solutions are anything but normal. Six dudes that clearly love playing together.  

Diarrhea Sprinkles 
Put a Mood Ring on a Hotdog
Self Released

Punk at its rawest and most righteous. Only two songs pop the two minute mark, with plenty of hilarity and tongue in cheek sarcasm to go around.

Sophagus
Air
Self Released

A synth spectacular, Sophagus has hit new heights with this short but sweet EP.

Sex No Babies
Scene Three
Self Released

The third chapter in a vignette release from the art hop mavens that are so genreless they border...well...just... PRAISE ART!  

Ganser
Just Look At That Sky
felte

Pounding into your skull with the utmost precision, Ganser has a way of sticking with you. Just Look At That Sky is one of the year’s best records out of our packed scene.

Cold Beaches 
Drifter
Stay Hungry 

Can you say badass? Cause Sophia Nadia is one. Nadia’s writing and performance on Drifter is the catchiest and most repeatable record of the summer by far.

Bosley Jr. 
Appreciation Post
Self Released

Punk is necessary, needed, and not to be underestimated; and Bosley Jr. does a damn good job of making some of the best damn punk in Chicago right now.

NNAMDÏ
KRAZY KARL
Self Released

BRAT was his pop release, Black Plight his punk, and KRAZY KARL dives headlong into his math/experimental rock roots with a beauty of an instrumental record. The vanguard of cool, the maven of the Chicago scene, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya has made 2020 his bitch.

Typesetter
#7
Self Released

A five tune EP punctuated by four live tracks makes up this cassette/digital only release from one of Chicago’s most exciting and well honed live acts.

Time Thieves 
Space
Anxious & Angry

One of this year’s most impressive Chicago debuts. Time Thieves border between pop punk and the mathy style jams that have become a stalwart of the scene. A combo that rarely leads to success, but they ride the line to perfection.

We’ve got a few reviews on the way from records we want to dive into from this period. Stay tuned for reviews on the new records from Dehd, Boundary Waters, and David Quinn coming this week!

If we missed your album release please let us know and we will try to fit it in somewhere. Please submit here!