The New Folk are celebrating the release of their debut album, Sea Fever, with a month long residency at Schubas. The residency kicked off with a show this past Monday, but you have three more opportunities to check out this great new band. You can catch them on Aug 13th, Aug 20th, and Aug 27th.

The latest release from Chicago’s Cold Slice Cassettes is a mysterious discovery created by a drifter/traveling minstrel. Natural High For Low People from Jehosaphat Blow has fascinating story and sound. As the story goes this recording was discovered and "re-mastered from a strange, purple tape found at a garage sale on Prince St. down in the southside of Chicago". Blow is an amazing one man band that must be heard and is a solid find for this fun local label.

Cameron McGill recently launched a campaign at pledgemusic.com to raise funds to release a new lp called Gallows Etiquette. This will be McGill first solo LP released on vinyl and cd. His previous three albums have featured The Army. Head over to pledgemusic to preorder and help McGill reach his goal.

You can catch Cameron McGill and Judson Claiborne at The Whistler for a free show tomorrow night, August 8th, at 10pm.

Since there is rarely room in the Lolla line-up for Chicago bands this weekend has become the weekend of official Lolla aftershows at all of the local venues. Many of them feature local bands opening for national acts that wouldn’t otherwise be in town. This gives the band a bigger audience and gives fans a chance to see a Lolla band on a smaller stage.

A solid aftershow for tonight, August 4th, would be Ballroom Boxer and Sybris with Lolla act The Big Pink at Subt.

Ben Babbitt and Theo Karon have crafted an amazing and intricate debut ep, Cycles, as the duo This Is Cinema. The duo worked on matching Babbitt unique and haunting vocals with folk and electronic while in the basement of Hotel Earth. Cycles will be released on August 14 via Whistler Records. They have released an amazing video for the track " Mädchen" directed by Ellen Neilson.

You can catch This Is Cinema on August 9th at Lincoln Hall.

Living in a city that has a music festival (or two) nearly every weekend through out the summer you have to be selective when it comes to your time and money. When you look at this years line-up for the annual mega-fest known as Lollapalooza you begin to wonder what the ultimate goal of the festival is. Yes, a main part of the fest is to buzz market for Bud Light, Sony, BMI, Google, and all of the other sponsors and vendors. However, for the festival goer it seems like at Lolla, unlike a fest like Pitchfork, the goal is not to hear or discover the newest and best in music.

If you head out early each day to Grant Park, which most ticket holders do not do, you can discover gems like Yellow Ostrich, Bowerbirds, First Aid Kit, FIDLAR or Chicago’s own JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound or Kid Color. However, most arrive late and camp out at a certain stage to see a Red Hot Chili Peppers or Jack White or Black Sabbath and ignore all else.

I suppose the point of a big commercial fest like Lolla is to present a little something for everyone, and on paper it seems like they fail every year. Yet, when you find yourself in center of a crowd pressed up against a metal railing pumping your fist at Twin Shadow or Passion Pit I am sure it will all be worth it.

Enjoy your weekend Lolla goers!

BBU has released a video for their new track "Outlaw Culture" which comes from their recent mixtape Bells Hook.

Even before they released their debut ep, Play Hard, back in June it was clear Krewella was going to be the group of the summer. This week the group announced that their "Play Hard" Tour will be stopping at the Logan Square Auditorium for a hometown show on August 17th. You can order tickets now.

The trio will be hitting the college concert scene this fall.

Netherfriends (aka Shawn Rosenblatt) will be releasing the pink vinyl edition of his album Middle America through Chicago’s Kilo Records on August 21st. Rosenblatt will be touring in support of the release, but for the Chicago fans he will be performing the album in its entirety with a full band at Schubas on August 18th.

Nervous Cloud is a new duo comprised of Travis Lee Wiggins (Essex Channel, The Salts) and Sarah Sterling (Videotape). They will be releasing their self-titled debut album on September 9th. The first single from the album is called "Monarch".

MP3: Nervous Cloud "Monarch"

Years tell stories and they tell them well. They talk about grit, struggle, and life in general. Their music reflects that drive and determination. The band has been working towards releasing their recent album for the last four years and it is the culmination of hundreds of live shows and several line-up changes. It Can Kill is Years tell their story in song.

You can catch Years at Martyrs on Friday, July 27th.

All Eyes West recently released a new split 7" with Detroit’s Break Anchor through Side One Dummy. This is the follow to their 2011 single, "Help Is On The Way".

You can catch All Eyes West at Township on August 8th with Broadcaster.