New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Metal band Sacred Monster has released a live album called The Monster Lives. The album was recorded across two shows at Live Wire and Cobra Lounge earlier this year, and features tracks from their 2019 album, Worship the Weird.
The album was released back in March but the band announced last week that it was being released on gold vinyl via the Italian label Ordo MCM.
Sacred Monster is Robert Nubel (Guitar), Ted Nubel (Drums), Adam Anderson (Vocals), and Bill Moreno (Bass Guitar).
Amory Sivertson’s music draws you in with its soothing elements: bright and supple piano arpeggios at its foundation, uplifting harmonies that dance about, and Amory’s acrobatic lead vocals glowing throughout. The Boston-based singer-songwriter’s latest single “Walk in the Woods” confidently displays all of Sivertson’s strengths as it builds to a grandiose finale that is as cathartic as it is mesmerizing. Amory blends elements of folk and pop music with a distinct class that elevates her sound and gifts listeners luxurious compositions. The artist had been away for some time, with “Walk in the Woods” her first release in eight years, and is now back to tell her journey—the new song a precious fragment of that. We are looking forward to new songs by Amory; in the meantime, we are streaming her new track below. – Rene Cobar
Blonde Redhead fans will delight in seeing Kazu Makino step out on her own and perform her solo material at Rough Trade on October 11th. Makino has released her first solo album called Adult Baby, which contains much of the same entrancing psych artistry that her band’s fans have come to expect. Adult Baby takes that to the next level, as Makino plans to release a visual aspect to the record as well. The artist has already released the video to "Come Behind Me, So Good!" as part of that visual album; as if the faux-Satanic tint to the backwards-masked-sounding lyrics wasn’t enough, in the video, Makino gyrates in a sheer outfit before the altar and the image of Jesus as other revelers sway in time with her. Take a look at the video for yourself, and go see her at Rough Trade on October 11th. – Will Sisskind
The Neo-Soul trio Half Stop recently released their self-titled debut EP. This is the new jazzy project from Paul Beckman (drums), Xander Beberman (synth), and Will Cabaniss (electric piano and vocals)
Denver-based, Chicago-born EDM producer Homemade Spaceship (aka Rob Levere) has released a new EP called “Please Abduct Me”. This is his first new release since 2017’s “Cosmic Latte”.
Below is the Cait Falconers created video for the EP’s opening track “Sit By My Fire”.
You can catch Homemade Spaceship at Bourbon on Division on November 23nd with LWKY and MIDIcinal.
Who do we have here? Funky soul fellow Otis McDonald (moniker of Joe Bagale) is kind of rockin’ our world. He’s got a new album coming out, People Music, that we’ve got our hands on and we are dazzled. The strength in his vocals is enough to make you shed a happy tear. McDoland’s moniker is an homage to both Shuggie Otis and Michael McDonald. He says, “Even though I am a modern artist, I always pay reverence to all of the greatest artists that have come before me. Call it tangibly rooted in nostalgia while pushing forward. I want to make popular music something that is meaningful again." We’re sharing this cover of “A Day in the Life” because it’s not what we were expecting at all, and that basically sums up our entire listening experience to this fellow. We’d like to think that he’s making our dear Prince proud; there’s D’Angelo vibes, and modern-meets-old school funky jazzy moments with fascinating, solid compositions. McDonald is having a record listening party at Bar Shiru tomorrow night for the release of his vinyl (which goes out nationally this November) and we’ve gotta say that there is no better place to listen to anything vinyl than at Shiru. Production nerds know what I’m talking about. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor
Brand new experimental folk rock group Glutenhead released their debut album “Glugen Frau” last month. The band explains the history of the album title:
“The phrase Glugen Frau first came up in my life innocuously, when I was eighteen and in Berlin. In a moment of manic while ordering at a restaurant, realizing I didn’t know any german, I asked for the food to be “Glugen Frau.” 5 years later, it was time to look up what it meant.”
The rough translation is "Glimmering Woman” You can expect it all on this album as you can tell from the track “how it feels” which contains a variety of influences. Give ‘er a spin and see what you can gather from Glutenhead. – Kris Gies
Samuel Sandoval’s new full-length record, Current Pretender, is a sonic stained-glass window into the colorful mind of a young man wrestling and dancing with existentialism. The anthology is track after track of therapeutic acoustic guitar-led confessions and realizations: tracks like “I Mime” tip-toe instrumentally among bizarre ambient sounds and Sandoval’s layered-pensive vocals. As esoteric as some tracks can be, others like “Falling Asleep to Your Parents Watching TV Pt. 1” are gorgeously composed, with honey-sweet piano melodies and soothing flowing-water samples creating a cave of wondrous sounds. Much like life itself, Connecticut resident Samuel Sandoval’s record encompasses beauty, ugliness, weirdness, love, hope, and existence as you want to see it. We are streaming the indie-folk tune “Madam Day” from the new album below. – Rene Cobar
Binary Canary is preparing to release a new album, iterative systems, via Carrier Records on October 4th. You can currently stream the album’s opener “I” and the album’s neat two minute centerpiece “metal” below.
This is the improvised collaboration between electronic artist Ted Moore and Saxophonist Kyle Hutchins.
This is the duo’s first album since 2017’s “bc+1” and It was recorded back in July 2018 at CHIME Studio at University of Chicago.
You can catch Binary Canary at Constellation on November 3rd.
Based out of Charlottesville, Kate Bollinger‘s jazz-infused blend of indie pop marks the end of summer with the release of her EP I Don’t Wanna Lose. The EP’s five tracks provide a relaxing and introspective soundtrack for the cooling temperatures and the dying of days on the beach as the leaves start to fall. The EP’s final track "Talk About It" is an upbeat song for taking a walk in the autumn breeze. Take a listen to it below, and check out the B-side version on Kate’s Soundcloud for an even more chilled out groove. – Will Sisskind
District 97 announced a Fall Tour UK to promote their new album, Screens, which will be released on October 4th. This is the band’s first album since 2015’s In Vaults, and the first single, “Forest Fire”, is available below.
This is the Progressive rock of Leslie Hunt (Lead and Backing Vocals), Andrew Lawrence (Keyboards, Additional Guitar), Jim Tashjian (Guitar, Backing Vocals), Tim Seisser (Bass), and Jonathan Schang (Drums, Percussion_.
You can catch District 97 at Reggie’s Rock Club on October 13th as part of the three day Progtoberfest V. They will also be opening for Flying Colors on October 17th at the Arcada Theater in Hunt’s hometown of St. Charles, IL.
Ness Heads has released the first single, “Pull Me Up”, from her forthcoming EP, “Numb”, which is due out October 25th.
Ness Heads is the raw Hip Hop of Humboldt Park’s Vanessa Ortiz, and when talking about this new single she had this to say; “I was basically begging the person to be patient with me… She ended up walking away instead of waiting it out so I wrote a sad song about the feelings I had going through it”.
You can catch Ness Heads at Schubas on October 17th with Khary and Ajani Jones.
