Chicago Crowd Surfer
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Chicago Crowd Surfer provides a glimpse into the Chicago music scene with all sorts of content. Featuring interviews, premieres, show experiences, and album reviews from Chicago artists and acts touring through our deep scene and storied city.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST’S SOCIALS TO SEE IF THEY HAVE A LIVESTREAM ON THE WAY!
Added This Week: We talked to Sunshine Boys about their new album Work and Love , and Working Mother out of Berwyn talked to us about their new EP Lover Lover. Get down to the interview section for the links!
We premiered the new Speed Babe video! Check it out below!
Sonny Falls talked with us about his new singles and the Hoagie Show podcast. Scroll down to the interview section and scope it!
Check Out: New album reviews are in, and we’re catching up on local releases with write ups on the new records from NONE OF YOUR CONCERN, C.H.E.W., PEEL, Bonelang, Jordan Reyes, Jackie Lynn, Errant, KeiyaA, and WAY more! Plenty more reviews on the way from quarantine!
Get a Load of: Softette premiered their new single “Pilots” b/w “Gone Gone” with us! Read an interview with the trio while you listen to their pop hooks.
We spoke with Liam Kazar about his new tune and video “Shoes Too Tight.”
Keep Seeing Live Music!
Coming soon . . . Life in the great quarantine continues… follow us on Instagram for news on livestreams and new releases from Chicago!
Single
⬐ Premiere ⬎
Sometimes bands are formed out of the necessity to create. The urge to connect with each other through music is undeniable. Such was the the case with Softette which came to be in 2017 as a creative outlet before members Jeff Graupner (keys) Bret Koontz (guitar) and Sydney Roth (drums) went their separate ways. Graupner started to play with The Hecks, Koontz journeyed through various projects including sideman to Maria Jacobson in Fran, and Roth moved back to Portland. Recruiting Hecks drummer Zach Herbert to replace Roth they recorded these two shining pop numbers back in 2018 and never released them. Now seemed as good of time as any to share, and we’re helping the trio premiere their new single!
Take a listen here or on Spotify at the image link to be transported by the glimmering sounds of Softette, as you
read the interview!
Video
⬐ Premieres ⬎
Speed Babes
“Don’t Wanna Be Scene”
Chicago punk rockers Speed Babes are the epitome of their name, releasing music at an insane clip. We’re premiering their new video “Don’t Wanna Be Scene” from their record 1981, released at the beginning of March. Shot in a session with two other videos over three hours, it’s a hilarious depiction of how the trio would act on the red carpet. If you don’t know Speed Babes, this burner of track is the perfect introduction to their raw punk sound and give no shits attitude. Watch the video and then catch up with Jesse, Dave, and Mike in the interview!
Read The Interview!
Carlile
“SPare Me”
Two artists from Chicago, who now reside on opposite coasts, have come together to produce the visually stunning video of Carlile’s electro pop anthem “Spare Me.” A stand alone single from last Spring the song tells the story of an ex who won’t stop meddling in a new liaison. Under the direction of award winning designer, illustrator, and art director Mack Neaton, her directorial debut is a lavish affair with striking images and a sense of dread set in the backdrop of a dinner where “nothing is edible.”
READ MORE ON SPARE ME!
Album Reviews keep rollin’ in!
Plenty more on the way as 2020 keeps coming with so much new music!
Read the Reviews!
⬐ feature ⬎
Five Cent Deposit
COVID-19 and the
Chicago Music Scene
Hand Sanitizer on stage at Empty Bottle 3/11/20 / 📷 : Aaron Pylinski
Though we are apart as a community, it is in our blood to keep connected through our common musical interests.
⬐ Interviews ⬎
Sunshine Boys
“Our previous groups all shared that big, ringing sound of guitars and drums and melody...This is fresh, this is us as we are now. All that experience is in there: all the things we love about writing and playing music, and perhaps all the things about inner band strife that we wish to avoid.”
- Dag Juhlin
Read The Interview!
****
Working Mother
“I think most of our songs draw from things we've personally done, felt, seen, and lived. Life is pretty good about giving you a story, if you're open to it.”
- Sarah Jean Stevens
📷 : David T. Kindler
📷 : Emma Bilyeu
“I've been talking to friends a lot lately about the appeal of releasing a single. Because it is its own standalone thing it frees you up to experiment in ways that, while it might not work in the context of a full length record, it broadens the general sonic world of a project and can further inform a full length.”
- Ryan Hoagie Wesley Ensley
The Curls
“...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.”
- Mick Fansler
📷 : Samer Almadani
📷 : Alexa Viscius
Liam Kazar
“ I really had no idea what kind of music I wanted to make next. I don't mind wasting my time but I feel really bad wasting other's. So a solo venture with some choice collaborators seemed appropriate. I spent a lot of time searching and I'm happy I did. I know myself so much better now. Then again, we're all getting to know ourselves better right now.”
- Liam Kazar
Joshua Virtue at Ian’s Party 2020 / 📷 : Aaron Pylinski
“My mom, like most people, has a severely limited income right now so it was literally out of necessity. As far as the actual content of the album, if my perspective has shifted, it’s just shifted more deeply into using art to help others mentally, emotionally, and physically on a grassroots level.”
- Joshua Virtue
“The world is crazy right now. People are on edge and scared. The only thing we can do to combat that is spread positivity. We have to get through this one way or another. I'd rather do it with love and compassion instead of fear and selfishness.”
- Joe Mango
“I try to bring the personal ideas into a bigger picture or vice versa. This album is definitely weighted to the personal. For example "I Don't Wanna Be Alone" seems very personal. It is. But it's also meant to be a comment on social media. The dichotomy of all humans wanting human connection yet doing it in a relatively isolated way.”
- Jon Scarpelli
📷 : Colin Kicklighter
“These organizations are doing such important work, for people who are oppressed and unrepresented. They're leading the charge and developing programming for LGBTQI POC to build toward their liberation. It was really hard for me to decide which places/people to help during a time where so many are in need of aide, but for me it made the most sense to focus on orgs who are consistently working with people who didn't have access to certain things even before the pandemic”
- Tenci (Jess Shoman)
“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. I sat on my favorite seat in the back of the Pink Line thinking: “If just one of those songs is something I can be proud of, it’ll be a blessing and I could use it to promote my acoustic tour.” I floated home feeling loved by myself and dreaming of the cross-country solo tour I would take in 2 months time and the single I might be able to release beforehand. Both of those did not happen.”
- Missy Preston
📷 : Nando Espinosa Herrera
⬐ SHOWS ⬎
SO Pretty
The God Awful Small Affairs
Diarrhea Sprinkles
Empty Bottle
March 11th
So Pretty / 📷 : Aaron Pylinski
It is always exciting when a band you love performs. When they are doing a record release there is a special energy. So Pretty took two years to make VS Me, and the atmosphere wasn’t just celebratory, it was a party. There was dancing and singing and thrashing, echoing the energy of So Pretty’s performance. They threw themselves around the stage with abandon. The way they moved balanced the violence with silliness. A pure expression of the music and emotions.
Sexfist
GMan Tavern
March 10th
Sexfist / 📷 : Tina Mead
Don’t be fooled by the squirm-inducing moniker, Sexfist is anything but painful or sadistically sexual. (That isn’t entirely true.) The entire preamble to the show included making up your Sexfist name and checking out merch in the Sexfist mini mart where you can purchase from a bevy of fist-themed shirts, non-functioning condoms, and stickers to say a few.
Elijah Berlow
Sophie Rae
Hungry Brain
March 6th
Elijah Berlow / 📷 : Aaron Pylinski
The Hungry Brain is a sleepy speakeasy and the perfect setting for laid back folk on a Friday night. As Elijah Barlow and crew warmed up over the soft reggae tones of Peter Tosh playing over the house speakers, the evening’s mood was subtly pouring out like molasses onto the cold Chicago pavement outside.
Cult of luna
Emma Ruth Rundle
Intronaught
House of Blues
March 4th
Cult of Luna / 📷 : Mick Reed
Cult of Luna was on stage and ready to go before I had finished the beer that I had ordered during the waning minutes of Rundle's set. Cult of Luna are god damned professionals, and if their record set up time for a six+ member band didn't sell you on this fact immediately, the meticulous cacophony they create should finish the job.
NEWS & NOTES
The Chicago music community lost a friend and stalwart supporter this week. Christen Thomas, a former talent buyer for Empty Bottle and the Metro and member of post-hardcore specialists Storm Clouds has passed. May we all meet at the great gig in the hereafter. Goodnight Christen. Much love to you.
Arts For Illinois announced a program yesterday to help with funding for individual artists and organizations! DONATE TODAY! APPLY TODAY! GET THE WORD OUT!
In other news, White Mystery announced they are going to release 420 live songs on 4/20 at 4:20PM. Yeah, somehow this news doesn’t surprise us, and we’re looking forward to headbanging that day away to the tune of 30 live records! How many hours is that….
Last week Emulsion Lab dropped their first teaser for Bad Animal, a film by Remsy Atassi starring Mykele Deville, with music from tons of Chicago artists like The Palmer Squares, Malci, and Pixel Grip among others. This will be our film to see this year!
White Mystery Released a feature for free on YouTube and it’s as trippy and original as Alex and Francis themselves! Check it out! What else do you have to do… You can’t leave the house…
See you at the show Chicago!