Pivot Gang have dropped a new Contact directed video for their track “Mortal Kombat” from their debut album, You Can’t Sit With Us.

The song and video both feature a special appearance from the talented Little Rock emcee Kari Faux.

St. Louis emcee ChaseTheMoney enlisted two of Chicago’s finest, Valee and Z Money, on his latest single “On The Way”.

Valee will be dropping his latest EP, Runnin’ Rich, which will feature Vic Mensa, King Louis, and G Herbo, in the coming weeks. He will also be performing at Pitchfork Music Festival on July 19th.

Z Money recently released a new mixtape called “Shawty Paid” which features contributions from Key Glock, Young Mai, Gucci Mane and Hoodrich Pablo Juan.

Dav Paris has released his debut EP, “Lost”. Despite focusing on the traditional Hip Hop tropes of women, parties, drinking, and drugs, Paris pulls through with interesting beats and a flow that rivals most.

We know it is a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon, but sometimes it is good, freeing, meditative, to cry, and when this previous unreleased single, “Last July”, from Trey Gruber arrived in our inbox, that is exactly what we did.

Gruber, who passed away at 26 back in 2017 after a long battle with alcohol and heroin addiction, was beloved in our community, and was on the verge of something substantial with his band Parent.

With “Last July", he had created a somber, meditative, folk-inspired, break-up song that will leave you with visions of sitting alone in your bedroom and wondering what went wrong. This track was originally recorded in the Fall of 2015.

Numero Group has released the single and will be releasing a collection of Trey’s music called Herculean House of Cards on June 28th.

It was just last month that Spencer Radcliffe released his latest album, Hot Spring, via Run For Cover. This week Puddle Splashers released the band’s Pallet Session where they performed Side A of Hot Spring and it is fantastic.

Fluorescents recently released the lead single, “Complacent”, from their forthcoming debut EP, “Losing Sleep”. This is the blistering Alt Rock of Tyler Milka (Vocals/Guitar), Bobby Guidi (Bass/Vocals), Sasquel Roby Exum (Guitar/Vocals), and Ivan Palushek (Drums/Vocals).

Below is the Beyond Elusive created video for the single.

You can catch Fluorescents at Burlington Bar on June 26th with Mr University and Stay The Course.

Hal Baum recently released the second single, "Buzz Aldrin’s Love Song For The Moon”, from his forthcoming debut album, Love Songs For The Moon, which is due out June 17th.

This is beautifully quirky folk music with simple, but possibly insightful, lyrics.

Atmospheric Post-Rock band Pelican released a new album, Nighttime Stories, last week. This is the band’s sixth studio and first full-length release since 2013’s Forever Becoming.

This week Amoeba Music released their “What’s In My Bag?” with Larry Herweg and Trevor Shelley de Brauw of the band, and that can be viewed below.

You can help Pelican celebrate the release of album at Metro on June 29th with Young Widows and Cloakroom.

We are proud to be able to premiere the full album stream of the new EP from Violet Crime “Paper Queen”. The "Paper Queen EP" not only shows off the band’s genre-bending sound and boasts production credits of pop-punk heavyweights Sam Guainana (Like Pacific, Story Untold, Silverstein, Young Culture) and Derek DiScanio (State Champs vocalist), but it’s also being released through Play Together Records — a social impact label that invests profits back into the Chicago elementary art and music programs.

In addition to a profits from the EP, via Play Together, a portion of Violet Crime’s merch proceeds are directed to the youth after school music program Intonation Music to support the next generation of Chicago artists.

We recently had the chance to ask Jeff Mills of Violet Crime about the new EP; "This album was a long time in the making. For the past year and a half or so, we’ve been trying to expand and explore our potential when it comes to writing. Our trip to Toronto to actually record everything was the frosting on the cake – our producer Sam Guaiana truly had a vision for all the songs, and challenged us daily in the studio to fulfill that. We all learned and grew so much from that experience!

Just as this album is a step up for us in writing and recording, our June 29th release show at Bottom Lounge will be a step up for our live performance. We have a backing ensemble of horns and vocalists performing with us which is so exciting, and we’re planning out every minute of the performance from start to finish. We can’t wait celebrate with all our fans, friends, and families!"

You can help Violet Crime celebrate the release of their EP on June 29th at Bottom Lounge with Bright Kid and Johari Noelle.

Burr Oak is the solo Dream Pop project of Savanna Dickhut of Elk Walking. Over the past year she has released two demos and plans to released her first two singles this summer.

You can help Burr Oak celebrate the release of her first single “Southside” on July 23rd at Scubas with Hanna Ashbrook, Sick Day, and Caroline Campbell.

tobi lou has dropped visuals for his latest single “Waterboy”. lou has become known for blending his fantastic sense of humor with serious beats and a flow all his own.

The video is visually stunning and features an array of easter eggs as Lou drops names like they are water.

This is single is just the first track lou has planned for this summer and follows the special Mother’s Day single “Like My Mom” from last month.

Have you ever imagined what it would have sounded like if the ghost of Ian Curtis had been tapped to front Squirrel Nut Zipper instead of who ever it is that fronts Squirrel Nut Zippers? If you have, or even if you haven’t, you need to hear the latest EP, "Freshly Squeezed Radio”, from The Limbos.

The Limbos blend Post Punk and Swing like no other band we have heard. They are Ryan Miera (Keyboards, Guitar, Lead Vocals), Drew Current (Drums, Vocals), Chris De Salvo (Bass, Vocals), Geno Alesandrini (Trumpet, Vocals), Mathew Solomon (Trombone, vocals), Matt Riggen (Tenor Sax, Vocals), and Joe Foster (Bari Sax, Vocals).

“Fresh Squeezed Radio” is the groups third EP and follows 2018’s “Results!”.