One of our favorite records of the week, Detirot indie darling Stef Chura delivers an excellent effort with Midnight.

The Empty Bottle is hosting her on July 5th. Tix are $10.

Cali punk rockers Plague Vendor run full steam ahead into By Night. Strap on your moshing shoes and give this one a spin.

Check out Plague Vendor at Beat Kitchen on October 5th. Tix are $15.

Incredibly infectious indie pop out of L.A., French Vanilla blends the punch of horns with a danceable beat on their sophomore effort How Am I Not Myself?.

This Los Angeles quartet is opening for Stef Chura at The Empty Bottle on July 5th. Tix are $10.

Who doesn’t love the grungy punk throwback of Dinosaur Pile-Up? If so, move on and miss out on the raw power of Celebrity Mansions.

Dinosaur Pile-Up will be at Tinley Park opening for Shinedown and Badflower on July 14th. Tix are $25 and up.

Club Nites is as addicting as raw indie rock gets. Vancouver quartet Dumb plays our favorite way: loose and lump-inducing.

You can catch Dumb at The Burlington on June 25th. There’s probably a cover.  

Together & Apart is the debut album by PicaPica. It somewhat operates in the folk realm with beautiful harmonies by Josienne Clarke and Samantha Whates. Adam Beattie (guitar) and Sonny Johns (bass), help take PicaPica into other realms that are not limited to the indie folk world.

-MVM  

PicaPica does not have any upcoming shows in Chicago, but fingers crossed something changes.

Twelve years was worth the wait as Luna Low is Art of Fighting’s best record yet. The Melbourne quartet’s new album is sure to make you fall in love all over again.

Berlin electro experimentalists Brandt Brauer Frick return with Echo and it’s a phenomenal mind trip.

Jam conosiours will dig the deep resources that San Diego trio Chon harvest on their self-titled fourth record.

The House of Blues is hosting these jam mavericks on June 28th. Tix are $25.

Seth Olinsky aka Cy Dune is a guitar virtuoso and Desert shows off every skill in his toolbox.

With an indie garage rock sound and some haunting vocals from fronter Leslie Hong, Heybaby made us wait four years for full length They Get There, their follow up to the excellent Sleepy Kids.  

They’ll be at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee on July 10th. Tix are $10.

Eternal Summers lead singer Nicole Yun stretches her legs on her own with the excellent Paper Suit.

The full length debut from Cali five piece WASI is a genre mashup of epic proportions. Riot Pop is overflowing with punk, hip-hop, indie rock and more.

Mattson 2, comprised of twins Jared and Jonathon, continue their journey through psych-jazz with Paradise and offer a sunny disposition to start the summer. This is the first album where we start to see them adding lyrics to their songs which adds a new characteristic to the ever-evolving duo.

-MVM

Mattson 2 will be playing at the Empty Bottle on July 3rd, Tickets are $12.

Damn Tall Buildings are American music. With every influence imaginable blended into their newgrass sound, the Brooklyn string quartet just doesn’t stop surprising on Don’t Look Down.

Japanse post-rock that is right up our alley. LITE produces the kind of addictive sonic multitudes on Multiple we just can’t get enough of.

Pipe-eye is the side project of King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard’s Cook Craig. Inside/Outside is Craig’s third release and is trippy and psychedelic as ever. Sounding like an amazing trip while at a carnival, these side projects of Gizz members continue to get weirder and weirder, and we love it.

-MVM

Catch Cook Craig AKA Pipe-eye on tour with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Aragon Ballroom August 24th.

Recorded in his home studio, Low Hum’s debut full length Room To Breathe, is just the type of layered indie rock that we can sink our ears into.