Nature’s Neighbor has always been the work of Mike Walker and friends. Last month he released a new album called Jade that featured Daniel Lee and Terrill Mast. It was a beautiful Lo-Fi, acoustic, adventure.

On February 11th he will be releasing a new album called Ur that promises to take his sound in a whole new direction. For this outing he has enlisted the services of some of the city’s finest. Ur will feature Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (guitars, piano, drums, bass), James Collver (korg, sound effects), Sen Morimoto (saxophone), Cheer Zhao (lyrics, vocals), Conor Mackey (bassoon), Vivian McConnell (flute), Daniel Lee (cello), Seth Engel (drums, guitars, rhodes, bass, sampler, vibraphone, piano) and of course Mike himself on everything else.

They recently released the album’s first single, “Floating Continent”, and it blends Orchestral Rock, Psych Pop, and more.

Joe Cardigan recently released a new single called “Up All Night”. He blends Pop, R&B, and Dance music in a wonderful way.

You can catch Joe headlining the Artist Collective Showcase on February 1st at Bourbon on Division.

Metalcore band Still World released their debut EP A New Beginning back in October and recently released a reimagined version “Pale Blue”.

You can catch Still World at Beat Kitchen on February 18th opening for Tanzen, Archers and Sharptone Records signees, Crystal Lake. This will be the band’s first live performance and one that should not be missed.

Los Black Dogs are preparing to release their debut single, “Fuego”, on February 9th. This is Rock and Roll of Juan Valdez (vocals/voz), Ricardo Orozco (guitar/guitarra), Joel Ezquivel (bass/bajo), and Gerardo Varela (drums/bateria).

You can catch Los Black Dogs on February 9th opening for Dead Lucid, Bryce Cashman, and The Footlight District at Liar’s Club.

Divino Niño has released a new single and video for a track called “Foam” via Winspear.

You can catch Divino Niño at Thalia Hall on April 11th.

Brittany Campbell recently released a video for “Mean” from her 2018 album Stay Gold. The video was directed by Laura Gordon for Weird Life Films. We thought it would be the perfect time to reach out and ask Brittany a few questions about the video, her duo called Mermaid, and life in Chicago. You can read the full interview here and you can check out “Mean” below.

Photo by Lawrence Ageyo

Ben Billington (Quicksails, Tiger Hatchery), Mark Shippy (Invisible Things, US Maple) & Daniel Wyche are preparing to release their sophomore album “The Eventual Warp Cat” via No Index on February 15th. The spacey, improvisational noise rock trio released their debut back in 2017 and are returning with a darker and somewhat themed effort. Below you can stream the album’s first single “Freaky Dot Patterns”.

You can catch Billington/ Shippy/ Wyche at The Hideout on February 12th with Couteau Sang and Mode Hexe (James Wetzel of Melkbelly).

Color Card recently released the first single, “Glass”, from their forthcoming album, Smush. This album is due out on February 5th, and will be the band’s first release since 2016 and first as a 4 piece band.

This is the synth-filled dream pop of Eden Sierotnik, Kyle Irwin, Eric Streichert, and Johnny Seguin.

Death Metal band Hate Force has released the first single, “Stolen Valor”, from their forthcoming self-titled debut album. The album will be released on February 22nd via Closed Casket Activities.

This is the side project of James Pligge of Harm’s Way along side of Drew Brown (Weekend Nachos, Like Rats) and Todd Nief (Like Rats). The trio formed back in 2014, played a few shows and released a demo. It is great to see this project final come to fruition and produce a full album.

Twin Talk has released a third single and title track from their forthcoming LP, Weaver. The single is accompanied by a beautiful video which was Produced and directed by Sean Pierce and Zach Harris and featuring a sculpture by Maren Celest.

Twin Talk is the improvisational jazz of Dustin Laurenzi (tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet), Katie Ernst (bass, voice), and Andrew Green (drums, percussion, gankogui bells).

You can catch Twin Talk on Feb. 10th at The Hideout for their album release event.

White Ppl recently dropped their debut single called “ilovemybb”. This folk-tinged hip hop of Cado San, Elly Tier, and Ano Ba.

Loona Dae has released her debut EP, “Moonflower”. This is powerful, soulful R&B and an amazing debut from this former member of The Highness Collective. Loona dropped two singles in 2018, but has really come into her own with this new EP.

You can catch Loona at Rutcorp (3012 South Archer Ave) on February 16th.