Mooner has released an interesting but wonderful Christmas-Style cover of Tears for Fear’s classic “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” in the style of Vince Guaraldi’s "A Charlie Brown Christmas”. This is also a sneak peak from the upcoming Vol. 2 of Kit Shields & Mooner’s free covers album.

Matt Muse has released a video for the track “Don’t Tweak” from his 2018 album Nappy Talk. The video was directed by Leo Allen II, and illustrates Matt’s vision for the song.

Here is what Matt had to say about the song and video: “’Don’t Tweak’ stands as my affirmation that despite all adversity, I’ll use my voice and art to make life better for my family, homies, & the south side. The video is a fun, Robin Hood-themed answer to my question in the second verse ‘How a young kid on the South Side gon sleep/When my schools closed & my mayor won’t see me?.’ Chicago’s unprecedented school closings under mayor Rahm Emmanuel left a long-lasting negative impact on Chicago’s south side residents, so I chose to dedicate this video to them (us). The grind and hustle of a Chicagoan is what makes us special and unique, with the goal of making a way out of no way, by any means necessary. ‘Don’t Tweak’ is my ode to that grind and hustle that I’ve naturally inherited from my city.”

Dogs At Large have released a new single called “All Day”. This is the first single from their forthcoming album Delusions of Paradise which will be released via Fine Prints on March 1st.

Dog At Large are fronted by singer and songwriter Sam Pirruccello, and this new album was recorded almost entirely live at Shirk Studios.

You can catch Dogs At Large tonight, December 19th, at Empty Bottle with Sean Green and Jungle Green. They will also be performing on January 26th at Cole’s with Cass Cwik & The Small Gas Engines.

Shy Riot recently released their debut EP “Don’t Kill People”. Across the EP’s four tracks, Shy Riot blends a very modern take on Hip Hop with surprising elements of rock. The results are at times abrasive, “Sold My Soul”, but always enjoyable. The best example of this is on “Need No One”, where you find the rock guitar leading seamlessly into in the trap beats.

Forks of Ivy are preparing to release their debut EP, "Crane Valley”, on January 9th. This is the new project fronted by Tim Tsurutani (aka Tam Tsu), formerly of Caw! Caw!, along with Duncan Reilly, Robin West, Aidan Kranz, and Alex Piazza.

Tim moved back to Chicago from Asheville last year, and quickly recruited this talented group of musicians. Below is demo of the EP’s title track that was released earlier this year. We have heard the final version and it is amazing how the song has progressed. The final version is much more flushed out, fuller, but even the bones below can be appreciated.

You can help Forks of Ivy celebrate the release on January 9th at Empty Bottle with Faintlife and New Drugs.

Photo by Aidan Kranz

Electric Sheep will be releasing their latest album, The River Lethe, this Friday, December 20th. This is the ’60’s influenced Psych-Pop of Jonathan Extract and Devin Nolan who equally shared the singing and songwriting.

This is the band’s first LP since 2016’s The Exciting New Sounds of Electric Sheep.

Heath Jansen released a new single today called “Maybe Everything Will Be Alright” b/w “Conversation”. Both tracks feature Tom McCarthy on lead guitar and Jansen on everything else. This is Jansen’s second single of 2018 leading up to a forthcoming EP.

Lili K has released a festive new single called “Joy To The World”. This is here and her band’s take on this Christmas classic. This is the jazz vocalist’s second single of 2018, following-up “Best Friends” which was released earlier this year. Lili is preparing to release her sophomore album, Planet of Flowers, in the coming months.

Hip Hop duo Free Snacks is the work Joshua Virtue and Ruby Watson. They released their debut mixtape, Eat Good Tape, earlier this month. The duo talk about living life, drinking, and of course eating good. The album features contributions from Blunt Corner and Davis Blackwell.

You can catch Free Snacks at Empty Bottle on Jan. 15th with Malci and Sex No Babies.

Our local artist of the Month, 80 Foots, are celebrating the release of their debut album And That Will Be How It Will Be on December 21st at The Hideout. We recently had the privilege of asking Chris Schoen of 80 Foots a few questions about the album, their new video for “Mariah’s Gone”, and their upcoming show. You can read our full interview here, and watch “Mariah’s Gone” below.

Jonnycatland recently released a new album called A Perfect Nothing. This is work of Max DiFrisco, Joe Merkle, Landon Kerouac, Gina Passaro, and Ellie Traczyk.

You can catch Jonnycatland on Jan. 3rd at Subterranean with Steel, Gal Gun, and Sunday Cruise.

Arthhur released a new album today, Dec. 14th, called Lost In The Walled City. This this trio of Mike Fox, Matt Ciani, and Luke Dahlgren. On this album they are bringing the a danceable brand of Disco Punk that could be compared to vintage Talking Heads.

As with the their last album, Come Meet The Opposite Committee, they have released a full list of the equipment they used to record this album. This gives the young musician or someone just starting out a sense of what goes into creating to creating a certain sound and an album.