Last month Bathetic Records released a split cassette featuring Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings and our Campfires. Yes a cassette tape, and that lo-fi hiss lends itself nicely to the laidback ‘60’s folkadelic style. It was printed in an edition of 100 and has already sold out. This follows closely on the heels of their cassette ep, Burning Rivers, TV Flickers, Drifting Off to Bed, that they released through Leftist Nautical Antiques. Campfires is defiantly a band on a mission this year.

Tomorrow, legendary punk band Naked Raygun will enter Transient Sound Studios to record a slew of songs for release on their ongoing 7” Series. The first 7” (their first recordings in 20 years) sold out in record time and the 2nd in the series will be released on vinyl and digitally on June 15th. The band is as crisp and aggressive as ever. They’ll also be filming a video for one of the new songs, but it has not been revealed which song it will be. During a recent two night stand at the House of Blues in Chicago, Naked Raygun debuted their first new songs in seventeen years. The crowd loved it and these singles will surely be well received. Later this summer, Raygun descends on Europe and the UK.

Are you looking for honest and hard-hitting rock music? Well, Scissors might have what you are looking for. They are releasing their new album, You Can Make It Dangerous, this Saturday, but you can stream it for free in multiple locations. To celebrate the release the band is performing at The Beat Kitchen this Saturday (Mar. 20th). Despite the albums title, this is release is perhaps the bands most accessible album. The band seems to balance punk with elements of pop and anthem rock. Everyone in attendance on the 20th will receive a free copy of You Can Make It Dangerous.

One of the more anticipated releases of the Spring has to be the new album from Canasta. The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather will be released on May 8th and the band recently gave fans a little sneak peak by posting three tracks on their website. The first track, “Mountains of Molehills”, is a shimmering ‘70’s AM pop gem complete with horns and piano. “Mexico City” is an all out indie rock assault and never gives up. The last track they posted is my favorite. “Becoming You” is a slow burning, atmospheric ballad that is simply irresistible. The album promises to be worth the wait.

Canasta will be celebrating the release on May 8th at Schubas with two separate shows. The first will be with Gregory and the Hawk and is 18 ad over, and the second will be with Brighton MA and will be 21 and over. Best of all, a copy of the CD will be FREE with each and every $14 ticket!

The third installment of Small Chicago is live and it features the incredibly talented band Brighton MA. The band performed three tracks in the Small Chicago’s basement studio and completely rocked each of them. Check out the session here.

Brighton MA will be performing a 17 and over show at Subterranean on March 26th.

Growing up a kid in Chicagoland without cable or any access to MTV I got my music fix by taping (yes, vhs) episodes of JBTV and watching them endlessly. Jerry Byrant is a Chicago legend in my mind, but still, after 25 years, has not received the attention and recognition he deserves. For the launch 25th season Jerry has added a few new hosts ((including Q101 DJ Ryan Manno and Lawrence Arms frontman Brendan Kelly) and in turn has revamped the show and its visibility. They are increased the size of the crew producing the show. This relaunch will hopefully gain JBTV a whole new audience and keep the show thriving for another 25 years.

Portugal. The Man is the featured guest, with Chicago band Treaty of Paris on the JBTV soundstage, and Jerry taking a look back at the last 25 years on the show. JBTV airs five times a week on cable channels 25 and 62, and we just started streaming full episodes online at JBTV Online.

You have to love what Brooklyn’s Factory 25 is doing to preserve the historical archives of music. This is especially valuable for us in Chicago when they present a project like the DVD they released last Fall, You Weren’t There A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984. The documentary was fascinating and hopefully exposed many of you to a side of Chicago music that you may had not been that familiar with. Two of the bands featured in the documentary were Tutu & The Pirates and DA. Next month (April 17th), Factory 25 will be releasing two albums of music by these bands and in turn exposing a whole new generation of punk fans to their sounds. Tutu & The Pirates, Chicago’s first anti-lectual sub-urban insult rock band and perhaps even its first punk band finally gets its due in their first 17-track LP compilation of demos (from ’77/’78), practice tapes and live material (from ’78). They quickly became the go-to opening band when acts like The Ramones and The Pretenders came to town. DA came along a few years later and played a part in Chicago’s post-punk scene. The label will be re-releasing DA’s album “Exclamation Point”. If you preorder this album you will get the Original Pressing of the "Dark Rooms" 7”.

These are both exciting releases for punk rock fans, music historians, and Chicago music in general.

Man, it is videos like this one that could put me out of a job! Kidding aside, The Chicago Roots Collective is doing an outstanding job promoting, encouraging, and supporting each and they are hosting an event this Friday at Subterranean. It features four great Chicago bands, Miranda Rae, Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts, Derek Nelson & The Musicians, and The Shams Band. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door.

Yesterday Maps and Atlases announced that they had signed with Barsuk Records and will release their debut album this summer. Barsuk is currently home to bands like Ra Ra Riot, David Bazan, Mates of State and many more. This announcement was timed perfectly and will surely be buzzing around SXSW next week while they play their six different showcases.

Are you looking for something to do this Saturday? Do you love to dance and listen to the best in Chicago hip hop? Lincoln Hall is home to this year’s Claychella event and the line-up is insane and the event, taking place tomorrow March 13th, is free between Noon and 10pm and only $5 from 10pm to 2am. Featuring Flosstradamus, Hood Internet, Million $ Mano, Hollywood Holt, Mic Terror, and so many more top acts. Sponsored by Everyone Is Famous this event promises to be action-packed and a lot of fun.

One of my favorite acts appearing at Claychella is Moneypenny. Don’t miss their SXSW mixtape download it at their myspace page.

The latest ep from Panda Riot, Far & Near, maintains their signature wall-of-sound sonic base, but pushes their sound into a cleaner more developed realm. There is a driving undercurrent of pure pop sounds that makes this ep more accessible than anything else the band has done. The first track that jumps out in this way is “Motown Glass” and in fact this sonic cocktail and name sake fuzz is almost completely gone on this one. The song instead is driven by this funky drummer, this groove that hadn’t been present in their prior releases. It so exciting to see a band progress and grow into style like this, and Panda Riot is still growing and changing with show and song.

Panda Riot will release Far & Near on May 11th. This is their first release since 2007’s She Dares All Things.

Sometimes it takes a deadline to inspire something great. I am sure that is one of the motives of the recent RPM competition. The challenge was to create an album in one month basically to prove you can. Many musicians took up the challenge and one of them was our own Kid Static. The resulting album, Hypnotized, finds Static (aka Moses Harris Jr.) creating ten tracks that are very different than what you except if you are a fan of his work with Yea Big. These tracks stick close to the roots of hip hop and even to r&b and avoid many of the electronic glitchy elements Yea Big brought to the production. The finished product doesn’t feel like and album that was quickly thrown together. I image some of this had been floating through his thoughts for a while. I am glad he finally let it out.

You can name your price and purchase Hypnotized through Bandcamp and support this great Chicago emcee. Today (March 11th) is the last day to enter the Coach House Sounds contest to see Kid Static record a live session with CHS this Saturday. Email them at coachhousesounds@gmail.com to enter. The winner will be announced tomorrow on their site.