In one word I would have to say haunting, but the twelve solo album from Chris Connelly, How This Ends, is really much more. Spanning more than 50 minutes, but containing only two tracks this album is epic and apocalyptic. It’s an album that contains no songs by design, but instead is home to a long poem that is repeated, spoken and sung, by a number of contributors. The poem is dark and speaks of death, genocide, homicide all planned and unplanned.

Musically the album is filled with sounds, noises, and even brief moments of beauty. It spans the sonic range from subduded electronics to free jazz horns to manic industrial noise to gracefull piano, and is always changing. To help with all of this Chris enlisted the like of Izi Coonagh (Sugar Bullet), Tania Bowers (Via Tania), James Marlon Magas (Magas, Lake of Dracula), Gordon Sharp (Cindytalk), Zak Boerger (These Wonderful Evils), Bill Rieflin (R.E.M., Ministry, Swans), Brent Gutzeit (TV Pow), Sanford Parker (Minsk, The High Confessions), and David Levine (Mucca Pazza).

Connelly has this to say about his new album, "I wanted to compose without any regard to the song-form." The result of that goal is a piece of music like no other, and one that has to be heard to be understood.

How This Ends will be released by Lens Records on July 13th.

Chicago born, but currently Brooklyn living, Bill Brenmar has been ripping it up lately. He is the drummer for These Are Powers, but is making a name for himself with his remixes. In the last few months he has received a ton of attention for his mixes of song by Blondes, Aaliyah, and Yeasayer. Brenmar has also composed several original tracks, and we can only hope for debut ep or album in the near future.

Ok Go has released a video for their track “End Love”. Possibly known more for their videos than their music, this one finds the group practicing their moves in the park in Datarock-esque tracksuits. However, there is a video contest that goes along with this that you can check out on Facebook.

Hey Champ have released the video for their track "Neverest" from their debut album Star which will be released on July 13th. The album can be preorder right now on the band’s website for just $4.99.

Prior to the band’s appearance at Summerfest on the 26th they will be performing at the Art Institute on June 25th.

Finally the much anticipated and very trippy new video from YAWN for their track “Kind of Guy” has been released. Don’t forget to download their debut ep and the remix ep for free at their website.

Sean Hernandez has released three vinyl projects in his career as Chicago Skyway, but these releases show a clear reverence for the history of house music in Chicago. His latest effort, Wolfgang Hair Ep, was released in March by Uzuri Recordings and is a fine mixture of deep house, acid, and experimentation. Hernandez is among a growing number of producers in the city working hard to preserve the sound and the history of house music.

This week’s installment of Giant System Chicago features the music of Rabble Rabble.

Rabble Rabble is playing a free show on June 21st with Jeff The Brotherhood, Natural Child, and State Champion at Empty Bottle.

If that bit of news from Indian and These Are They left you wanting more hard hitting metal than may I suggest the latest ep from Millions. It was released back in March by Brutal Panda, and is full-blown in your face aggressive metal. Panic Room is sure to leave you in a state of panic and ready scream.

Millions will be playing at Ronny’s on July 5th.

The End Records have released the details of the new album from These Are They. Disposing of Betrayers is the follow-up to their 2009 album Who Linger, and focuses on Chicago’s deep and complex history of organized crime. The lyrics through the new album will utilize and rediscover actual events taken from newspaper articles. Here is what vocalist Paul Kuhr had to say about the album, “Taking a topic like Chicago crime history, and still making it a death metal record, posed more of a challenge for Steve and me, who wrote all the lyrics. I think the crushing production, aggressive riffing and drumming, and the interesting topic all came together to create what I feel is an amazing recording. I’m quite proud of this one.” The album will be released on September 14th.

Tracklisting:
The Massacre
Behind the Door
The Sins of My Brothers
No Angels to Catch You
By Phaeton’s Design
Cranial Hemorrhage
La Mano Nera
Evening Widows
Disposal of Betrayers

I recently had the opportunity to ask the band California Wives a few question and here are the results. The band is performing at Beat Kitchen on June 25th with You Can Be a Wesley as part of Jonny Rumble’s record release show.

California Wives are: Jayson Kramer (vocals, keys, guitar), Dan Zima (bass, vocals), Hans Michel (guitar, keys), Joe O’Connor (drums).

Last week Relapse Records announced that they had signed Chicago metal band Indian. The band will be heading to Semaphore Recordings in early October with engineer Sanford Parker to record their first full-length album for Relapse. Indian formed in 2003 and has self-released a 7” EP followed by three full-length albums on Seventh Rule Recordings. Indian are among the confirmed guests at this year’s Kuma’s Corner Anniversary Block Party held in July at the famous heavy metal eatery in Chicago, IL. Other musical guests include Earthridge, Red Fang, The Atlas Month, and more. Complete show details will be announced soon on Kuma’s website.

Justin Bieber has joined the local band Kid, You’ll Move Mountains! Ok, not really, but the band has launched a fun campaign to try and get Mr. Bieber to appear on stage with them at Summerfest this year on June 27th. KYMM plays the Cascio Interstate Music/WMSE/Shepherd Express Stage @ 9pm and Bieber plays Marcus Amphitheater @ 7pm, so it makes sense that he would want to stop by a rock out with the local favorites, right?

If you support this theory join the band’s facebook group and let them know.