It’s tax day! How many of you are skipping work to finish your taxes at the last minute? Well, Archie Powell & The Exports have released a perfectly timed video.

Paper Thick Walls is releasing their debut album on May 3rd, and they have scheduled to play 150 shows this year in support of the album. The album is entitled "A Thousand Novels", and is one of the most mature debuts I’ve heard in awhile. The album was masterfully produced by Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case). The harmonies of Kate Schell and Eric Michaels perfectly weave in and out of this band indie pop gems.

Paper Thick Walls will be performing at The Hideout on May 6th with Derek Nelson & The Musicians.

The latest addition to the Small Chicago project comes from The Henhouse Prowlers. They are well established in the bluegrass community and delivered a great performance. 

Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross is a side project from Dexter Tortoriello of Houses. The debut ep from the project, Blow, was released this week through Mad Decent.

Tonight (4/15) at The Beat Kitchen Tim Larson and The Owner/Operators celebrate the release of their new album, A New Deal. This is the band’s first album in four years and it finds these folk and country tinged musicians on top of their game. What I like about Tim Larson is they way he tells a story. On A New Deal he draws from current and very relevant subject to tell the story of Chicago right now. "Own To Rent" kicks off the album with a tale of hard times and the album continues on from there.

Tim Larson and The Owner/Operators (4/15) and performing tonight at Beat Kitchen with Ohio’s Wolf Ram Heart.

This ep was released by Rock Proper last month and features one of my favorite weekend songs. "What So Special" perfectly captures that lazy feeling you get when you know it is ok to relax, but you still feel like you should be doing something. Love Story In Blood Red is mainly the work of Jason Frederick and these song span over a decade in time., but still feel fresh and inspired.

You can down the entire ep "Hot Cha" from Love Story In Blood Red and Rock Proper here.

I am loving the textures and layers that fill the debut ep, Ten Thousand Years, from Heavy Ghost. The band is the latest edition in Chicago’s push to rule the new psych-rock movement. However, Heavy Ghost pushes further into electronic and dance impulses. They are drawing comparisons to Boards of Canada mainly for the track below and I can’t argue. As you get further into the ep you find the band has several different flavors and sounds and all of them are solid and complex. With both Jonathon Freund and Caden Moore signing on different tracks the band can tackle any number of sounds, and the two play off of each other perfectly.

Ten Thousand Years can be found here for name-your-own-price.

Scattered Trees have announced the winner of their video contest from the track "Four Days Straight". The winning video was directed by Markus Kneer. The contest was run by Consquence of Sound and the band’s label Roll Call.

Scattered Trees will be celebrating the release of their album Sympathy at Schubas on April 30th.

Blane Fonda has launch a campaign to fund their debut full-length album through Kickstarter. The campaign is accompanied by great animated video that tells the story of Blane Fonda.

The band is performing on April 23rd at Ricochet’s for Paper Machete.

If you are looking for something to do tonight I would recommend check out The Bright White at Beat Kitchen. The band released their debut ep, Until Then, back in February and has been drawing comparisons to Oasis, The Killers, and other mega bands ever since. They very much have the feel of a band about to take off.

The Bright White is playing tonight, 4/13, at Beat Kitchen with Skybombers and La Scala. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $10.

Shapers debuted their new video for the track "Jar". They track appeared on their recent debut Little, Big. The band also appeared over at Daytrotter and played four great tracks this week. 

Shapers are hitting the road with Tobacco & Beans and that combination is coming to Lincoln Hall on April 15th.

The post-metal trio Russian Circles are back in the studio working on their fourth full-length album. The band is working with Brandon Curtis (The Secret Machines & Interpol) again who is mixing the new collection at Phantom Manor. This will be the bands first album exclusively released on Sargent House. The band will be co-headlining a European tour this summer with Boris.