Drawing on the anthems of Face to Face and Midwestern pop punk, The Distractions have carved out their own niche of melodic punk. The band has been writing and playing the type of music that they find personally appealing with little consideration for a trendy stylistic approach.
MARBIN is a progressive jazz-rock band based in Chicago, IL, with a unique story that stands out in today’s music world. With a do-it-yourself approach, Marbin started touring extensively in 2011, bringing their original instrumental music to every part of the United States. Through word of mouth, Marbin has gained hundreds of thousands of devoted fans all over the world and has sold tens of thousands of albums. Marbin has released eight albums: Marbin (2009), Breaking the Cycle (2011), Last Chapter of Dreaming (2013), The Third Set (2014), Aggressive Hippies (2015), Goatman and the House of the Dead(2016), Israeli Jazz (2018), and Strong Thing (2019). Marbin regularly plays in clubs all over the US and in jam and jazz festivals around the world.
Raquel is a classically trained violinist with 20 years experience. She has taught both adults and children via in-person and online lessons for the past 9 years. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Lakeview Orchestra in Chicago. She has spent the last five years as a studio and live musician for various bands throughout the midwest.
She studied music and audio engineering at the University of Colorado Denver (class of 2017). She had the honor of serving the Metropolitan State University of Denver orchestra as their concertmaster in 2016. Along with playing in the current Lakeview Orchestra season, Raquel is currently collaborating with several musicians for string arrangements, composition, and chamber ensembles in addition to her own Sonic Creations series.
Raquel has been a sponsored artist member of Synth House Chicago Museum since Fall 2021. The museum generously loaned her a Lyra-8 synthesizer to compose music with her violin. She creates lush soundscapes, ambient drones, and experimental string music in her home studio. She has composed and arranged string parts for bands throughout Chicago. Raquel remains an active violin teacher and enjoys applying music theory and improvising concepts to her lessons.
Psychedelic thrash band Sadistic Ritual have returned, spewing their very metal take on Americana, infused with enough electrifying energy to propel them into the bright future they surely deserve. Ripping their way into 2022 with a freshly inked deal with Prosthetic Records, and the release of their sophomore album, The Enigma, Boundless, on the horizon. Their debut album, Visionaire of Death, was described by Decibel magazine as ‘a fearsome thrash ripper’, whilst other publications leveled comparisons to the likes of Kreator, Watain, and Sodom. The 2019 album was released after honing their craft – on the road and in the studio – and refining the vision that Charlie Southern (guitar and vocals) first brought to life back a decade prior. Sadistic Ritual delivers classic thrash licks in spades, set against a backdrop of chugging, headbang-worthy tunes. The accessibility of their songs – which will delight metalheads across subgenres – belies the thought and consideration that goes into each element of Sadistic Ritual. With a disdain for authority, and themes of real world horrors – specifically spiritual and political fears being confronted – running through the album, there’s a dark and sometimes paranoid undercurrent to the lyrical content on The Enigma, Boundless, penned by Southern. Throw in an affection for LSD and the psychedelic part of ‘psychedelic thrash’ starts to become further apparent to annihilate the fallacies of a fabricated reality.
In Chicago, it’s not fun with the names of groups. Urine Hell was not only noticed for [their] name but especially for [their] first (virtual) demo in December 2020. The group returns with Weakling, a four-track cassette on Already Dead Tapes and the jet is monstrously good. And corrosive, wickedly incisive. Not really noise-rock in the historical lineage of many bands from Chicago but a little bit with Chat Pile or Bruges inside and Dazzling Killmen also in the intentions, that is to say a more unhealthy, tortured, distressing approach, a song between the spoken and psychopathic mode for a unique result which takes the guts to better return them. Diabolically intense and hellish like the end of Judas Song.
–Perte & Fracas (translated from French)
BANGLADEAFY is back with a new beast. Housefly brings you thirteen anxiety-ridden compositions exploring the industrial influences of the duo’s youth such as Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, and Devo.
Armed Forces is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, released on 5 January 1979 in the United Kingdom through Radar Records. It was his second album with the Attractions–bassist Bruce Thomas, drummer Pete Thomas (no relation) and keyboardist Steve Nieve–and the first to officially credit them on the cover. The album was recorded in six weeks from August to September 1978 at Eden Studios in London under the working title Emotional Fascism. Produced by Nick Lowe and engineered by Roger Béchirian, the sessions saw Costello exert more control over production compared to This Year’s Model (1978), while Nieve contributed more to song arrangements.
GhostSigns is a hard rock band based in Chicago Illinois. The band was formed in 2020 by Wayne Garamoni and John Hackett, two of the founding members of Who’s Who, during the shutdown in live music caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The band is putting together an album of originals culled from several newly written songs and songs written over the past 10 years. GhostSigns has its roots firmly in classic rock influences, but it also incorporates elements of punk rock and heavy metal combined with lyrics influenced by the pandemic, political upheaval and polarization, and the protests taking place across the country.
TAFOYA
Michael Tafoya is one of the Midwest’s most popular and accomplished musicians, guitarists, songwriters, and performers. Most for his Powerhouse windmill swinging guitar playing power cords. In the mid 70’s Mike joined with some neighborhood buddies in a St. Charles Illinois based band “The Boyzz From Illinois“ which landed a deal on Epic records. Featuring Dirty Dan Buck (Front man), Anatoly Halinkovich (Keys), Dave Angel (Bass), Kent Cooper (Drums), & Gil Pini (Guitar). But now! In 2021! He is doing the same guitar POWER MAGIC, but you add Mike’s two bandmates to the mix, Craig Cederholm (Percussion-Vox) and Leslidiana F. Biocic (Bass-Vox), which Mike proudly calls “TAFOYA”! What you have is a combustible Rock ‘n’ Roll show and performance that will have you dancing and singing and remembering the show weeks and months after you have seen it. It is a one-of-a-kind rock performance. Great music, great presentation.Mike plays guitar, lead singer and bandleader along with Craig, and songwriter for TAFOYA the band.
Funk Sauce Brass Band was formed in 2019 in Normal, IL.The band consists of members playing horns and drums.
The band performs a variety of covers across pop, rock, funk, & jazz and aims to please audiences of all ages. With the power of winds, brass, and drums the band brings a powerful horn-driven sound to great songs.
The band released its first album, “Band Kids for Life” on April 29, 2022. The album celebrates the culture of band kids and the American brass band sound combined with a diverse set of covers in popular genres.
In 2021 Funk Sauce completed a 15 show tour on a mission to spread the joy of brass band music to new audiences surrounding central, IL.
Funk Sauce is embarking on our first national tour in 2022, Funk sauce is planning to support music education in our schools by working with the young brass, woodwind, and percussion musicians of today and performing shows nationwide.
Is This It is the debut studio album by American rock band the Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, the album was first released on July 30, 2001, in Australia, with RCA Recordsas the primary label. The record entered the UK Albums Chart at number two and peaked at number 33 on the US Billboard 200, going on to achieve platinum status in several markets. “Hard to Explain”, “Last Nite”, and “Someday” were released as singles.
Black Sea is the fourth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 September 1980 on Virgin Records. It is the follow-up to the previous year’s Drums and Wires, building upon its focus on guitars and expansive-sounding drums, but with more economical arrangements written with the band’s subsequent concert performances in mind, avoiding overdubs unless they could be performed live.
SLIFT
French trio Slift make long-burning progressive epics, part metal fury and part cosmic exploration. They grew from the garage punk sound of their earliest albums into increasingly complex and drawn-out arrangements and a sound that veered more toward psych-metal thrashing. Amid heavy touring and a growing international profile, Slift released their expansive third full-length, ILION, with Sub Pop in 2024.
Slift was formed in Toulouse in 2016 by brothers Jean and Remi Fossat. Jean handled guitar, vocals, and synthesizers; Remi was on bass; and the band was rounded out by drummer Canek Flores. Their first recordings were more on the psychedelic garage rock side of things, with undercurrents of science fiction and space rock influences. This sound showed up on their 2017 EP Space Is the Key and their 2018 debut album, La Planète Inexplorée, before they transitioned into a heavier, prog metal approach on their second album, Ummon, released in 2020. By this time, Slift had become known for their powerful live shows, with video of their 2019 KEXP session recorded at the Trans Musicales festival in Rennes introducing the band to many new fans. In 2022, the group played their first North American dates, which included appearances at the Desert Daze and Levitation festivals. That year, they also released a single on Sub Pop that consisted of outtakes from the Ummon sessions. Sub Pop issued the band’s third LP, ILION, in January 2024. The album was another step in the direction of overpowering compositional psychedelic metal, with just eight songs stretching to an almost 80-minute run time. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi
A short ride on the South Shore rail line brought me to the 1988 Chicago Blues Festival and my first exposure to the blues as a teenager. To my young eyes Downtown Chicago seemed like a different planet compared to my home in Northwest Indiana. A little slide guitar from Homesick James Williamson and some harmonica from Snooky Prior and I was hooked. In a few years while earning a business degree at DePaul University, I pursued another education in smokey blues clubs at night. Blues icons Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Son Seals, Robert Lockwood, Magic Slim, Jimmy Rogers and many, many others still prowled the stages of Chicago in those years. I’ve since devoted much of my time learning the intricacies of the music and it’s history. Over the years, I’ve absorbed what I could and have done my best to put my on spin on the blues. I’m constantly trying to find that sweet spot that, for me, lies somewhere between the raw Delta Blue of the south and the stomping Chicago Blues of my youth.
Today, you’ll still find me in Chicago wherever Blues is played, listening and learning. You may also see me around town guitar in hand performing – see the Shows page on this site for details. Hope to see you there.
Old Coke started in 2019 as a bedroom project, inspired by wall of sound guitars, noise rock, and energy-driven punk and metal.
Throughout 2021 the band gained traction from a set of impressively tight and energetic live shows. Now at the top of 2022, Old Coke have leveled up their sonic aesthetic further and is ready to flex their dexterity on their fast-approaching, independently released debut EP, “Sorted”. Working with Cloud Nothing’s Dylan Baldi, frontman and songwriter, Christopher Ruiz was able to approach his songs from a new angle due to lessons and advice from Baldi on the material that would then become part of the debut EP.
Freddie Sunshine is an artist who works in a variety of sounds. By applying a poetic and often metaphorical language, he creates intense personal moments that can be seen as self-portraits, both luring and captivating the listener time and again. Sunshine prides himself in DIY music culture.
Dan Docimo is a quickly rising comic in Chicago with great hair and a unique, disarming style. They perform all over and have been featured in Limestone Comedy Festival, 10,000 Laughs Festival, and Altercation Comedy Festival. Dan loves bringing audiences to tears with their absurd, thoughtful and hilarious musings. When Dan is not on stage working, you can find them failing at their day job, growing mushrooms at home or catching lobsters at the grocery store.
Since 2010, Chris Damen has been traveling the world telling his unique, personal, absurd humor for any audiences or random vagabond who will listen. He’s participated in many indie comedy festivals, on three of the continents and was the first comic to headline an English language show in Uruguay. When he’s not performing on the road, Chicago is his home, and on every Friday hosts the popular open mic Power Hour! which has been covered by Bloomberg.com.
Mama Yaya is a Chicago based, singer/songwriter of Palestinian and Jewish descent. She showcases a unique blend of musical skills to tell her story. Despite clashing with her conservative upbringing, she continues to pursue a career in music and body positivity activism.
(pronounced “bless”) is a voltronized collaboration between three of Indianapolis music scene’s elder statesmen: Sirius Blvck, Oreo Jones, and Sedcairn Archives. While the three have worked together in the past, contributing to one another’s projects as cameos and guest production, this is the first instance in which they have bonded together from conception to execution.
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI’s Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single “Day Tripper” / “We Can Work It Out”. The original North American release, issued by Capitol Records, contains ten of the fourteen songs and two tracks withheld from the band’s Help! album. Rubber Soul was met with a highly favourable critical response and topped sales charts in Britain and the United States for several weeks.
JOE JACKSON “LOOK SHARP!”
Look Sharp! is the debut album by Joe Jackson, released in 1979.[3] The album features one of Jackson’s most well-known songs, “Is She Really Going Out with Him?”, as well as the title track “Look Sharp”, “Sunday Papers”, “One More Time” and “Fools in Love”.
BILLY JOEL “THE STRANGER”
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel’s albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would work for five subsequent albums.
Drummer Zach Danziger and bassist Kevin Scott are two of the baddest musicians on the global music scene. Wednesday Night Titans is their baby, a multimedia, Championship Wrestling-fueled extravaganza that’s one-part NASA-like brain challenge (Google “Zach Danziger TED Talk”), two parts interactive video shock treatment, and three parts future-music language lesson.
Utilizing the zany antics of such 1980s-era wrestling icons as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Randy “Macho Man” Savage as their video-projected inspirations, Wednesday Night Titans create a unique, proto-cosmic barrage, manipulating speech, video, music, and lights from their instruments in real time. It’s an over-the-top mind-gasm of roid-warrior madness, and performance art profundity.
Originally formed in Brooklyn, NY in July of 2014, Sungazer has brought their unique blend of hard-hitting Jazz Fusion, 8-bit, Progressive Rock and EDM to audiences in the U.S. and Europe. Sungazer explores the human element of improvisation within the context of modern electronic music. Exciting, hard-hitting, and never predictable, Sungazer creates music aimed squarely ahead into the 21st century. They released their sophomore EP entitled Sungazer, Vol. 2 in 2019.
On October 11, 2021 they released their debut full-length album, Perihelion. The long-awaited debut LP explores time and the liminal spaces between jazz improvisation and modern electronic music aesthetics. The album was co-produced and mixed by Simon Grove (Plini, Protest The Hero, Intervals) and features an eclectic cast of guest musicians including Joshua de la Victoria, Hannah Sumner, Jae Soto, Tom Monda (Thank You Scientist), Shubh Saran, Jared Yee, Christian Li, Zac Zinger, Brian Plautz (Aberdeen), Brian Krock (Big Heart Machine) and the Resonance Collective.
THE CHAMP JAXON BAND
Champ Jaxon is an eleven-year-old aspiring blues-rock musician based out of Southwest Florida. Champ was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 2010 and his family relocated back to Florida in 2013 when he was three years old.
Champ plays a custom-build Blind Armadillo guitar, Red Bear, made by luthier Victor McGuire in Venice, FL. Additionally, he plays a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Special, a Gibson Flying V, a Gibson SG, and a Brad Paisley Fender Telecaster, gifted to him by Mr. Paisley himself.
Champ donated his own tips, (July 2021) for a benefit to his school’s music program. One of the first, and most frequent venues Champ has performed at, Nav-A-Gator matched what he had earned, resulting in $3,500 raised. With that donation, the school purchased a Digital Audio Workstation, because Champ wanted all of the kids to have the ability to be involved in some way.
Champ entered the Marshall Tucker Band, Can’t You See Challenge on Facebook (May 2021). Champ’s video submission of him performing Can’t You See in Nashville, was shared by The Marshall Tucker Band on Facebook. Two weeks before the contest ended, Champ was given the opportunity to meet the band. Not only was Champ given a VIP table, Doug Gray, himself- asked Champ to perform with them that night. However, if he did- that meant being taken out of the running for the competition.
Champ picked up his guitar. His pure love of music took him directly to the stage, and performing with them was the real prize. When asked to stay for the encore- 10 year old Champ Jaxon, had one statement. “Let’s jam in the key of A!”
A mere two months later, The Marshall Tucker Band needed someone to fill in on lead guitar, for several gigs. Knowing everyone that they know, they called Champ.
Champ performed with The Marshall Tucker Band opening for Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama at The Oak Mountain Amphitheater (August 2021). Shortly thereafter Champ opened two shows for Mark Wills in Arcadia, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida (Sept 2021)
Champ performed with Scott Sharrard, (Sept 2021) of The Gregg Allman Band, who has been his mentor and guitar teacher for several years in Macon, GA at the Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association’s (GABBA) GABBA-Fest.
Champ’s first single was released on November 12, 2021, his debut album following on Dec. 10, 2021
You can see Champ Jaxon being interviewed by and performing with Brad Paisley, on The Ellen Degeneres Show, December 29, 2021.
Champ’s bandmates include his father, Nate Winkler, on rhythm guitar, Brent Adam on drums, and Nick Rosado on bass guitar.
The crystalline voice that carries through Amy Lowe’s music compels attention. This is true whether Amy is performing at a club, concert venue, or major festival, or providing an educational program for students, school assembly, library program, or a private party, or performing for senior citizens virtually, or at an independent living facility.
Amy is a singer-songwriter with more than 30 years of experience in the music business. She wears a number of musical hats that include multi-award-winning singer – songwriter, storyteller, and teaching artist. Amy’s songs inspire diverse audiences of all ages. Whether performing original compositions, Americana Blues, World Roots, Adult Contemporary, or Children’s music, her timeless style will remind listeners of songs from the Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Etta James, and Lucinda Williams. She is a prolific songwriter with an extensive recording career and a vast catalog of original songs that fill the Music Libraries of Jewel-Eye-Music-BMI; Emphasis Entertainment; and Who’z the Boss. Her commitment to creating quality compositions for an assortment of clients include commissioned works for museums, theater groups, arts organizations, educational institutions, and individuals has brought her accolades along with many awards.
Denara is a Chicago-based Neo-Soul/R&B singer/songwriter. She sings and writes about a variety of topics, including mental illness, social justice, sexual freedom, queerness, black girl magic, and heartbreak.
Cut Your Losses is a Chicago based Alt-Rock band that fuses together the genres and song-writing styles of their two frontmen to create music you can mosh to, cry to, and sit and ponder life to.
Their debut album ‘Reflections of Ghosts’ is currently out.
In essence, Reflections of Ghosts is a story of looking in the mirror and not recognizing the person staring back at you. It’s about searching for hope in our darkest places. It is about the way we view ourselves and the people around us, how fragile that perception is, how alone it can make us feel. It is visceral and, at times, brutally honest. Their only hope is that every person who listens gets exactly what they need from it.
Cut Your Losses officially formed in 2019, and is comprised of vocalist/guitarist duo Isa Martinez and Alex Criminger, drummer Joseph Martinez, and bassist Joshua Lines. The next time you come to see them live or in the wild, be sure to say hi, they’re pretty friendly despite being painfully awkward, and are always looking to meet new friends.
Gold Steps formed in 2016 to create catchy, powerful music inspired by The Wonder Years, State Champs and Neck Deep. A chance meeting with nonprofit HeartSupport led the band to bring personal experiences with mental health to the forefront, setting the stage for 2018’S thematic EP, Incandescent.Between tours supporting Calling All Captains, Settle Your Scores, Till I Fall and Summer Wars, Gold Steps hit the studio with producer Rick King and Hit The Lights’ Nick Thompson. In 2019, the band dropped singles “Empty Space,” and “Under Attack,” showcasing the band’s strengths, with bright leads and fill-heavy drums supporting dynamic vocal melodies.After nearly a year of silence, Gold Steps re-emerged in 2021 by announcing a new lineup and new music to come. Glimpses on social media showed the band reuniting with Thompson, and teasing more pop-forward hooks. In June of 2021, Alternative Press named Gold Steps to their list of “13 Artists Who Are Reclaiming The Pop-Punk Music. Gold Steps is: Liz Mauritz, Zach Duarte, Ryan Rivas and Alex Maranto.
Coming from the Eastside of Atlanta Young Nudy made a name for himself after the successful release of his 2016 mixtape “Slimeball”. The mixtape featured the viral hits “Yeah Yeah” and “Sweep” which carried momentum for Nudy until February 2017 when he released the sequel “Slimeball 2”. SB2 propelled Nudy to new highs with singles “EA” ft 21 Savage, “Smoke” and “My Year”. After two major tours the first with 21 Savage and the other with Playboi Carti, Young Nudy released his most recent project Sli’merre with Pie’rre Bourne. Nudy and Pi’erre have a lengthy history of working together. The two have grown to become staples in Atlanta’s ever-growing hip-hop landscape, with Nudy collaborating with artists such as 21 Savage, Future, and Offset and Pi’erre producing for A$AP Mob, Playboi Carti, and Lil Yachty, amongst others. Sli’merre is a natural collaborative effort, continuing to push boundaries and putting both artists’ strengths on display.
Mariah Amani Buckles, known professionally as Mariah the Scientist, is an American singer-songwriter. She is signed to RCA Records. She released her debut studio album Master, on August 23, 2019.
“If I can wake up every day for the rest of my life and make something new, that’s all I could ever ask for,” he explains “it’s the only goal I’ve got.”
Take a listen to Lean Into Life, Petey’s exhilarating full-length debut, and you’ll start to get the picture. Recorded in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, the album is explosive and cathartic, with moments of aching honesty and probing self-examination giving way to biting wit and joyful exuberance amidst a sea of arpeggiated synthesizers, distorted guitars, and shouted vocals. Is it indie rock? Punk? Electro-pop? Emo? Sure, but if you’re getting hung up on what to call it, then you’ve already missed the point. Lean Into Life is about release over analysis, about transcendence over fixation. That’s not to say that the writing isn’t deeply introspective—in fact, Petey’s lyrics are often unflinchingly candid as he grapples with depression, anxiety, masculinity, and heartbreak—but rather that it’s the message not the medium that matters. Each video Petey posts to TikTok (where his absurdist alt-comedy sketches have already amassed nearly 100 million views) takes place in its own little universe, just as each track on the album is its own emotional snapshot with its own framework and context. Taken as a whole, though, all those little moments add up to something profound and cohesive, a raw, insightful meditation on the ways that tiny, incremental changes can lead to seismic transformation.
Joe Marcinek is equal parts Chicago Blues, New Orleans Funk, Grateful Dead Psychedelia, and Jazz Fusion. He has played with members of Trey Anastasio Band, The Meters, Dumpstaphunk, Jerry Garcia Band, Umphrey’s McGee, Snarky Puppy, The Motet, String Cheese Incident and many more.
Stan P Band will bring you to a new world of musical voyage. They utilize rotating setlists, changing members and a wide variety of genres centered around a progressive improvisational rock core. The band prides itself on technical abilities and musical versatility; breaking boundaries with their unique sounds and compositions.
Wristmeetrazor is an American metalcore band that originally started as a solo project in Washington, D.C. in 2017. Members are now located in Louisville, KY, Las Vegas, NV, Springfield, VA, and Newark, DE.
Eighteen Visions is an American metalcore band from Orange County, California, formed in October 1995. The band broke up in April 2007, less than a year after their major label debut was released through Epic and Trustkill Records. After over a decade of absence, the band reformed in 2017.
