Hood Smoke has released the first single, “Lone Lorraine”, from their forthcoming LP, Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, which is due out August 23rd via ears&eyes Records. This is the band’s third studio album and first since 2018’s Cannonball Porch.

Hood Smoke is the soulful rock of Bryan Doherty (bass, vocals), Michael Caskey (drums, piano), Jim Tashjian (guitar, vocals), Matt Gold (guitar, lapsteel), Rob Clearfield (organ, Wurlitzer), Allison Orobia (vocals), and Anthony Gravino (guitar, tambourine).

You can catch Hood Smoke at Hungry Brain on August 23rd.

Hardcore Punk group Shots Fired! Shots Fired! Has released the first single, “Black Friday All Star”, from their forthcoming EP which is due out August 30th via No Trend Records.

You can catch them on August 17th at The Burgundy Room in Waukegan as part of Shredfest 2019.

Rock trio Aweful released their debut single, “Me Me Me”, last week. This is the work of Traci Trouble (HotLips Messiah), Lucy Dekay (Mystery Actions) and Izzy Price (Velcro Lewis Group). The single is taken from the trio’s debut EP, which will be released on August 2nd via BeerCan.

You can help Aweful celebrate the release of their EP on August 1st at Empty Bottle with Touched By Ghoul, Boybrain, and DJ Andy Ryan.

Doom Metal trio The Hands Resist Him released their debut full-length album, Stone Hands, earlier this month. This is the group formed by guitarist/Bassist Eric Mayer, who is now joined by Alex McGady (vocals, guitar), and Ashwinn Torke (drums).

The album’s opening track and lead single, “Collapse”, is a ferocious 11 minute journey through the world of dark and explosive metal. It is also a great introduction to what this trio can do if you are not familiar with their 2018 EP, “Taker"

Mark Nelson (aka Pan•American) has begun to release old recordings on his bandcamp. The first was made available a couple of weeks ago and is the first ever Pan•American release, “Kidnap!”, which was previously a cassette only release from the Mid-90’s on an obscure Richmond label called Tenderette.

“Kidnap!” is a beautifully lo-fi single with the sounds of a typewriter through out and is backed by the ambient b-side “Casino”.

Elijah Berlow recently released a video for a new song called “So Romantic”. The video was filmed in the woods of New Glarus, WI and features Scotty Quill on guitar.

Last month Elijah released a new single called “Roadkill” and a live EP recored at VCR.

Blacker Face has released the video for the lead single, “Tantric Suicide”, from their forthcoming LP, The Distinctive Juju. The video is a fun take on the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts, as they present their “Not-Tiny-Desk” video.

The LP is due out October 18th via Sooper Records, and this will be the band’s debut for this fantastically supportive local label.

You can help Blacker Face celebrate the release of The Distinctive Juju on October 18th at The Hideout.

Photo by Sam Callahan

BJ the Chicago Kid dropped his major label debut album, 1123, today, July 26th. We first wrote about BJ way back in 2011 when he dropped “The Life of Love’s Cupid”, and he has really come a long way since that moment.

This new album features contributions from Buddy, JID, Anderson.Paak, Eric Bellinger, Kent Jamz, Rick Ross, and Afrojack. In addition, on the album’s latest single, “Worryin’ Bout Me”, BJ teams up Offset to bring his brand heavily RNB-influenced Hip Hop to the world.

You can catch BJ the Chicago kid at House of Blues on November 30th.

LURK has signed with Pure Noise to release their latest EP, "Electro-Shock". This is Noise Rock with a good dose of Punk thrown in.

LURK is the work of Kevin Kiley (Vocals), Dan Durley (Bass), Pedro Unzueta (Drums), Alex Rackow (Guitar), and Kevin Maida (Guitar)

You can catch LURK at Underground Lounge on July 31st

WaterRR (aka Rashid Hadee) has released a new concept album called “Sunday Breakfast”. Complete with an orange juice colored cassette (only 30 copies), the album covers all of bases from “Wake N Bake” to “Biscuits” to “Avocado Toast” to “Blueberry Blunts”. This is all a part of good breakfast, kids tested head approved, and total fire.

WateRR has been prolifically as of late, dropping “The Dispensary” back in February and also dropping a collaborative album with Detroit’s Ty Farris this month called ”Bulls vs Pistons”.

Emcee and Producer Rob Love dropped his debut EP called “Leverage” earlier this month.

Love has been releasing a string of single over the last couple of years, including the 2017 hit “Let Me Know”, but this is his first EP, and first new music since 2018’s single “Boy Meets World”.

Ex Okays have released a new EP called “Good/Old Days”. The group released a single called “Involvement” earlier this year, but this is the first album from the group since 2017’s “Friends” EP.

Ex Okays is the work of Aidan Cahill, Dominic Folino, Doñovan Thomas, Elias Snyder, and Johnny Cummings.

You can catch Ex Okays on July 27th to celebrate the release of their EP at Nude Beach (you need to DM the band for details) with French Police and Town Criers.