The hottest music from Chicago & beyond

Month: July 2013 Page 1 of 3

Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 7-31-13

Today’s notable tracks come from The Belle Game, Black City Lights, Born Gold, Future Loves Past, Mac DeMarco, Panoramic & True, and Zammuto. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Daedelus, Deer Tick, The Preatures and The Weekend.

The Belle Game – River

Black City Lights – Tried So Hard

Born Gold – Hunger

Chalk – In Your Suit

David Bronson – Times (Silk Lung Remix)

Disclosure – When A Fire Starts to Burn (The Basement Tapes Remix)

Figaro – Moving Slowly

Future Loves Past – Pretty Things

Hello Gravity – Golden

Mac DeMarco – Young Blood

Night Beats – Outta Mind

Panoramic & True – Bells

Psymbionic – Chemical Plant Zone

Zammuto – Need Some Sun

Pick Your Poison: Tuesday 7-30-13

Hello Tuesday, and by proxy, hello to the new albums being released today. As I like to do every week, let me pass along a list of artists unleashing new music on the unsuspecting public, because this is something you should be aware of even if you haven’t bought an album in a year. That said, look for releases from the following artists this week: Adam Franklin, Alela Diane, Buddy Guy, John Zorn, Michael Franti, and Robin Thicke. That’s it? Well, we are in the sparse release landscape that is summer. Ah well, plenty more things to look forward to in the coming weeks. Of course if you need your fix of new music right now, I’m happy to help with today’s Pick Your Poison. There’s some delightful tracks from The Basement Tapes, Brother Dege, Friendzone, Ha Ha Tona, Hey Sholay, MK Ultra and WhoaBear. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new tracks from The Darcys, RJD2, Stay Bless, These Animals and WRITER.

Alistair Albrecht – Spread Love

The Basement Tapes – Illusive Moon

Beatrice Mason – When Love Breaks Down

Brother Dege – How to Kill a Horse

Devon Tarrell – I Don’t Like Your Friends

Friendzone – 8AM

Ha Ha Tonka – Colorful Kids

Hey Sholay – If that big old fat yellow thing in the sky was to burn out I would grab you by the hand and float off into orbit (a song for robert wyatt)

Hybrid Theory – What’s Going Down

Little Foxes – We Are Fascinated

Lungz – Underground Kangs

MK Ultra – Let’s Go

Poeticat – Rooftops

WhoaBear – BedBug

Young Aundee – Of a Small Stature

Pick Your Poison: Monday 7-29-13

Monday marks the start of Lollapalooza Week here at Faronheit. This is a tradition that has been going on since somewhere around 2006, though of course due to the loss of the site archives during a move back in 2010 you can really only check out coverage from the last couple years, if that’s something you’re looking for. This year is going to be a great time, if the speed of ticket sales are any indication. I’ve got a million and one things planned for this week already, it’s going to be tough to get a normal amount of writing in. But have no fear, I’ll be doing my best to keep you up-to-date with the bands you should see and the crazy shenanigans happening all over Chicago this upcoming weekend. Anticipate a Spotify playlist(s) with artists on the lineup, a preview guide, daily recaps, and final thoughts with photos. Speaking of which, I should mention that if you’re going to be in town on Thursday night and have nothing to do, the folks at FILTER Magazine are throwing a fun (21+) party at Logan Square Auditorium at the cost of FREE. There will be DJ sets from the team behind the forthcoming comedy The World’s End, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright. Also DJing will be Chris Holmes and Windy City Soul Club. Oh yeah, and live performances too, from Chicago’s own Smith Westerns plus the lovely MNDR. Not only is it free to get in and you get to see a movie plus hear some great music, but all drinks will be on the house as well (which is why it’s 21+). Sounds like a great time, right? RSVP here. Things kick off at 9PM on Thursday night, but you’ll probably want to show up early because entry is first come, first served! Now then, let’s get to today’s Pick Your Poison. Don’t miss tracks from Bad Cello, The Bynars, The Dead Daisies, Friendzone, Hailer, Mucca Pazza and Teengirl Fantasy. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream new songs from Basement Jaxx, Ditt Inre, Girls Against Boys, Kissaway Trail and Supreme Cuts (ft. Channy from Polica).

Bad Cello – Safe Side

Bonobo – Know You (SuperVision Remix)

The Bynars – Dancing on a Dream

Cyclist ft. Maiko Watson – Shine

The Dead Daisies – Lock ‘N’ Load (ft. Slash)

Friendzone – Poly

Hailer – Postcards

Hockey – My Mind (Penguin Prison Remix)

Joel RL Phelps & The Downer Trio – Thank You and Goodnight

Left Boy – Laying in the Snow

Malek – Back to the Basics

Mucca Pazza – Boss Taurus

Teengirl Fantasy (ft. Romanthony) – Do It (Got the Feeling Dub)

Ursa Minor – October (Shenoda Remix)

Pick Your Poison: Thursday 7-25-13

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another weekly dip into the pool of music news, interviews and videos that I like to call This Week In Music! Yes, in addition to the normal Pick Your Poison mp3s and Soundcloud streams, I like to toss out links to a bunch of other music-related content that I’ve found interesting or worthwhile over the course of the week. I encourage you to check some, if not all of these things out, particularly if you’re looking to waste some time. There’s plenty to see, read and hear:

Stream AlunaGeorge’s debut album Body Music via Soundcloud

Watch the 14-minute documentary on The Postal Service called “Some Idealistic Future”

Watch a second official music video for Pixies’ “Bagboy”

Watch a 60-second teaser for the new Cults album Static

Watch Franz Ferdinand’s music video for “Love Illumination”

Music Video: Washed Out – Don’t Give Up

Stream Mac DeMarco’s Live at Russian Recording live cassette

Music Video: Fiona Apple – Hot Knife

Once you’re done looking over those many distractions above, there’s still an edition of Pick Your Poison to keep you flush with new music. Enjoy tracks from Algernon Doll, Bad Cop, Bonnie Whitmore, Briar Rabbit, Dinosaur Feathers, Giga Herbs, Saint Motel and Sunset Graves. In the Soundcloud section, stream new tracks from FIDLAR, Moving Units, Pillars and Tongues, and Sam Smith.

Algernon Doll – Aerosol

Bad Cop – Barbarella Graham

Bonnie Whitmore – Heartbreaker

Briar Rabbit – So Long

Death Valley Rally – Come On

Dinosaur Feathers – Juror B37

Flamingo Bay – Serpentine

Giga Herbs – Froggin

Migos – Versace (ft. Drake)

Panama Wedding – All of the People

Saint Motel – My Type

Spineriders – Thunder Junkie

Sunset Graves – Safe and Empty

Young Lyons – My Own Town

Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 7-24-13

We’re in the dead heat of music festival season right now in Chicago, and as I shift my focus away from Pitchfork Music Festival and towards the direction of Lollapalooza, I’d like to take a moment to tell you about an exciting event happening next Thursday, August 1st. I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty big fan of Jessie Ware. Her album Devotion was one of my favorites last year, and I think she’s a future R&B superstar. She’s also performing at the sold out Lollapalooza next weekend. While I’m grateful for music festivals providing a way to see hundreds of bands in a single space over the course of a few days, I do tend to prefer smaller sized performances with artists. It lends a sense of intimacy to things, and you don’t have to deal so much with hot weather and messy crowds. Anyways, the W Hotel on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago is going to be hosting a Lollapalooza pre-party next Thursday featuring an intimate performance by Jessie Ware. You can’t buy tickets to it, and you could well call it a private event, unless you win tickets. Not only that, but you can win a whole prize package that includes a three night stay at the W, two 3-day passes to Lollapalooza, and admittance into the Jessie Ware show on Thursday night. It’s a sweet deal, and you don’t have to sell your firstborn child to enter to win either. Just upload a music-related photo to Instagram before 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, July 25th and include the hashtag #WMusicINSIDER. Then follow @whotels and @whotelsofchi on Instagram and you’re automatically entered to win. For more details on this contest, go here. Sound good? Now let’s get to today’s Pick Your Poison. There’s some great tracks today from Body Parts, Cavaliers of Fun, Decoy Jet, Hollis Brown, Paper Lions, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding and Tight Nights. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Claire, Crystal Antlers, Icona Pop, The Lumineers, The Naked and Famous and The Orwells.

3rd Prototype ft. Meg & Dia – Monster

Body Parts – Desperation

Brave Young Lion – 122A

Cavaliers of Fun – Valley of Dreams

Decoy Jet – Action Reaction

Gaoler’s Daughter – St. Peter

Hollis Brown – Doghouse Blues

Jimi Nxir – Thundher

LOGO – Fabrice (Bwi-Bwi Remix)

Paper Lions – My Friend

Phoenix – Trying to Be Cool (Grum Remix)

Scott & Charlene’s Wedding – Wild Heart

Tight Nights – The Minors

Young Dreams – Footprints (Naysayer & Gilsun Remix)

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Sunday Photos


The third and final day of the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival was just as incredible than the first two, if not more so. After the jump, enjoy the visual odyssey that was Sunday with photos of R. Kelly, M.I.A., Yo La Tengo, Chairlift, Sky Ferreira, Waxahatchee, Run the Jewels, Killer Mike and Foxygen. For complete coverage of everything related to this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, simply click here.

Pick Your Poison: Tuesday 7-23-13

It’s Tuesday, which means I run down the list of artists releasing new albums this week. The goal is to inform you about the new music and maybe even act as a reminder if you forgot that one of your favorites was coming out with something new. We’re in the doldrums of summer, so the release list is a bit small at the moment, but that doesn’t mean there’s not some quality in here. Pick up copies of albums from any of these artists via your local independent music retailer or online retailer: Admirers, Baroness, Coke Weed, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Eric and Magill, Fialta, Fuck Buttons, Gogol Bordello, Grant Hart, Hunx and His Punx, Kyle Andrews, The Love Language, Smashing Pumpkins (reissue), Sombear, Van Dyke Parks, and Weekend. If it’s individual songs you’re looking for, allow me to point you in the direction of today’s Pick Your Poison. It’s below. There’s some sweet treats in this set from The Band in Heaven, Cavalier King, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, The Grisly Band, Local Natives, M.G. Baker Co., Sleepmakeswaves, TORCHES and Vial of Sound. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream tracks from Chelsea Wolfe, Sebadoh, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Tei Shi.

Afrojack – Funk With me (Team Jaguar Bootleg)

The Band in Heaven – Dandelion Wine

Bundinha – Me Gustas Tu

Cavalier King – Storm

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – City (ft. Karrein Riggins)

The Grisly Band – Country Singles

Half Waif – Wooden Horse

Local Natives – You & I (Local Natives Remix)

Lungz – Live or Die

M.G. Baker Co. – All I Wanna Do

Sleepmakeswaves – In Limbs and Joints

Tallinn Daggers – Highwire Artists

TORCHES – If the People Stare

Vial of Sound – The Day We Both Died

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Saturday Photos


Here’s a selection of photos that I took during Day 2 of this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. Click past the jump for photos of Belle & Sebastian, Solange, The Breeders, Savages, …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Phosphorescent, Ryan Hemsworth, Parquet Courts and Metz. Check out more photos, day-by-day recaps, and a whole lot of other stuff related to the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival by clicking here.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Friday Photos


In case you missed all of the action out at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, I’ve certainly written plenty about it, but haven’t SHOWN you what it all looked like. Well, this and the next couple of photo posts should change all of that. Join me past the jump for a bunch of photos that I took on Day 1. In this set, you’ll find photos of Bjork, Joanna Newsom, Wire, Woods, Angel Olsen, Mac DeMarco and Mikal Cronin.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Final Thoughts


I’m pleased to be wrapping up this week-long adventure into coverage of the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival with a quick look back at the weekend that was. Having attended the festival for the last few years, you really get used to how things are run and where you need to go for everything from water to food to restrooms. So as you return in a sense it’s like coming home, and that’s comforting. I never once felt out of my element or like I had no idea what I was doing over the three days. Of course I didn’t quite see everything I wanted to see and hear everything I wanted to hear thanks to traffic delays and one too many hits of the snooze button, but what I missed was miniscule compared to what I saw. Hopefully you’ve read all about those adventures in my daily recaps (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). That should give you a pretty good idea of the best and worst of the music side of things this year. But just for fun, I put together a little list of superlatives, helping to highlight some of my favorite and least favorite musical treats from the weekend. Check that out:

Most surprising set: Killer Mike
Most disappointing set: Yo La Tengo
Set that best lived Up to the hype: Savages
Band that sounded better live than on record: Parquet Courts
Most openly fun set: Solange
Most likely controlled the weather during their set: Bjork
Set that proved punk rock is alive and well: Metz
Veteran act that still has “it”: Wire
Veteran act that has lost “it”: The Breeders
Band whose set would have been far more popular in a different decade: Chairlift
Band that felt so right in the middle of a sunny afternoon: Phosphorescent
Quietest set (artist + crowd): Joanna Newsom
Funniest set: Mac DeMarco
Most gratuitous use of the word “SWAG”: Lil B
Flashiest performance with the least amount of genuine substance: M.I.A.
Most pathetic attempt to attract attention: Foxygen

Outside of those superlatives, I want to talk for a brief minute about how things went overall. Since we’re on the topic of music, let me say a few words about this year’s lineup. To me, it felt just a little bit weaker than in the last few years, though all of the headliners were certainly nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps that’s where most of the budget went this year. I suspect it was telling that unlike the last couple years, the festival wasn’t a total sell out this year. Sunday was sold out, most likely due to obsessive R. Kelly fans who camped out at the Green stage for much of the day just waiting for him. But Friday and Saturday didn’t sell out, as far as I’m aware. I did keep hearing that there were a “very limited number” of tickets left for Friday, so maybe that eventually sold out too. When I look at it, I like most of the artists on the lineup for this year, but I’m not overly passionate about a lot of them. It made for another fine festival overall and I’m glad I saw what I did, but for whatever reason it sometimes felt like something was missing. Not a whole lot of artists really jumped out and grabbed me by the ears, so maybe that’s what it was. If I were put in charge of naming one act each day that was my favorite, the list would be the following: Friday – Bjork, Saturday – Savages, Sunday – Killer Mike. Of all the days, I’d classify Friday as my least favorite, primarily because many of the artists that performed that day were either relatively bland (Woods, Mikal Cronin) or didn’t quite feel like they belonged at an outdoor festival (Angel Olsen, Joanna Newsom). Perhaps I should have made it to Union Park in time for Trash Talk, I heard their set was crazy.

Music aside, let me comment on the amenities this year. Considering the capacity of Union Park every year, festival organizers have gotten everything at just about the right levels to make things comfortable. The restrooms are plentiful and you’ll never wait too long for one. The food booths offer a wide variety of cuisine for even the most sensitive of palates or dietary restrictions. I had some amazing tacos on Sunday. The return of Goose Island as the provider of alcoholic beverages was an inspired move. The availability of key beers like 312 and Green Line was nice, but even nicer was the special Goose Island booth that had a rotating cast of different beers from the brewer’s catalogue, not to mention two beers crafted exclusively for the festival. I tried both of the fest-exclusive beers, and they were delicious. The singular gripe I have, and it’s basically always been a problem, is with water fountains. Union Park has a distinct lack of water fountains, and therefore the few it does have resulted in long lines. There’s nothing that can really be done about that, but I’ve got to hand it to the volunteer crew at the festival for often walking around with cases of bottled water, handing them out to anybody that wanted one. A lot of people were likely spared a trip to the medical tent as a result of such gestures, though I did see at least a few people go down due to heat exhaustion and dehydration. On the whole, this year’s festival went rather swimmingly, where the sets all started on schedule and the lines were never astronomically or annoyingly huge. It’s a sharp reminder that no matter what the lineup might be, this is one of the best-run music festivals in the country. As I stated in my earlier coverage, Pitchfork Music Festival weekend is my favorite weekend every single year I attend. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true again by the time we reach the end of 2013.

Pick Your Poison: Monday 7-22-13

Woof. I hope your weekend was fantastic. Mine absolutely was, and if you’ve been following the site and my Twitter feed all weekend I’m sure you got a good idea of the many things that went down at Pitchfork Music Festival. Like previous years, it was a whole lot of fun with a whole lot of great people. If you’ve never been I strongly encourage you to go. Full coverage, including daily recaps of all the bands I saw, is available here. I’m a bit out of it after taking an aggressive approach to each day over the weekend, so I’m going to need today to recover. I’ve still got one final Pitchfork Music Fest report to write, an ending summary along with a million and one photos. It’ll get done…sometime this week. Stay tuned on that. But in the meantime, the music continues and Pick Your Poison continues. Don’t miss tracks today from Art Decade, The Chill Marks, Flashlights, Grooms, Las Kellies and TOTEM. In the Soundcloud section, stream new songs from Drew Price, Explosions in the SKy with David Wingo, James Ferraro, Modern Hut and TRAAMS.

Arc Rev One – Funk N It Up

Art Decade – No One’s Waiting

Charlie Greene – I’m Going Inside

The Chill Marks – Missing

Colette – When the Music’s Loud

Damon Albarn – Monkey Bee (Nosaj Thing Remix)

Emma Heartbeat – The Machine (Freakatronic Remix)

Flashlights – Don’t Take Me Seriously

Flowers Groove – Strange Feelings (DeLix Remix)

Grooms – I Think We’re Alone Now

Las Kellies – Melting Ice

Matt Script – All Day

Profecy – Standing in the Rain (ft. Matt B)

TOTEM – Rich Girl

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Sunday Recap


Phew, what a weekend! As usual, I’m feeling quite a bit drained from three long days of experiencing the dizzying highs and physical tolls of attending a music festival. It doesn’t get any easier as you get older, I can tell you that. Judging by the average age of the attendees this year, I’m beginning to fall on the older half of the spectrum. In spite of this, I’m never less than excited to attend the Pitchfork Music Festival each year, as I consistently claim it is my favorite weekend of the 52 that take place annually. So I may be tired and writing about the festival in a timely manner has brought its own set of unique challenges, but I’m not anything less than satisfied with how everything turned out. I’ll have my final set of thoughts on how I think the festival went this year, along with a massive photo set from the entire weekend, coming up in the next few days. In the meantime, please enjoy this summary of all the acts I saw perform on Day 3 of the festival, aka Sunday.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Saturday Recap


It always bothers me when things don’t work out according to plan, and the start/end to my Saturday at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival was one of those times. In what was supposed to be an early arrival to catch sets from White Lung, Pissed Jeans and Julia Holter, bad traffic turned a short drive into an extraordinarily long one. Thank goodness I finally made it in time for Phosphorescent. Then of course there was the weather. On checking the weekend forecast on Friday afternoon shortly before heading out on Day 1, it said a chance of severe storms on Friday night, then partly cloudy for the rest of the weekend. All was going according to plan until about 9 p.m. on Saturday when it started to pour. Of course it would. Let’s hope the park stays dry enough for Sunday that there’s not mud/sand pits everywhere like last year. As for the music itself, most everything on Saturday was an improvement over the somewhat shaky or mediocre sets on Friday. Let me break things down for you, band by band.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Friday Recap

Most things about Day 1 at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival could be considered challenging. Or, perhaps described a little differently, most things except the performances. The main factor on Friday was the weather. A glance at the temperature would tell you the heat index was in the upper 90s, and therefore it bordered on oppressive. Then again, it’s nothing particularly new for this festival or mid-July in Chicago. Still, the volunteer staff could be credited as doing a fair to good job of distributing bottled water to the sweaty masses, even walking around with cases of it through the crowd during sets. Yet if you went to one of Union Park’s few water fountains, the lines were long. The same could be said for all the beverage tents. Everyone was in need of some fluids. And while outside of the heat it was a nice and sunny day, it became less so when severe storms rolled in during the evening hours and effectively shut down Bjork’s set 30 minutes early. It hadn’t rained a drop when organizers pulled the plug on the evening, but there was a pretty great lightning show that could hypothetically have put people in danger. The actual rain, as it was reported to me, started about 30-45 minutes after the park was cleared. Hopefully it won’t be a soggy mess for the rest of the weekend. Beyond weather and lines though, let’s talk about the music itself. Here’s a recap of the artists I saw:

Pitchfork Music Festival 2013: Sunday Preview


I’m pleased to say that we’ve arrived at Day 3 of the Pitchfork Music Festival preview guide. This of course falls during Pitchfork Music Festival Week here on the site, which kicked off on Monday with an Artist Guide, and featured a preview of Day 1 on Tuesday and a preview of Day 2 on Wednesday. So yes, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground so far, and there’s plenty more to go. After today’s preview guide of Day 3, I’ll have day-by-day recaps of all the festival action, and we’ll wrap things up with a final look back at the weekend, plus look at a whole bunch of photos. This is going to be fun! If you’re headed to Union Park this weekend, please remember to dress for the weather (it’s going to be HOT, but will get progressively cooler with each day, and with the potential for severe storms all day Friday). Sunscreen, bug spray, etc. will be your best friend. Also remember to stay safe. Drink plenty of water, and if you’re moshing at any point, keep an eye out for your neighbor. This is one of the friendliest, nicest music festivals you’ll ever go to, so please don’t be “that guy/girl” and take away the enjoyment factor for so many. Sit back, relax, and party with great music and amazing vendors. Here’s your preview guide to all the artists you’ll see on Sunday at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival!

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