Wild Zero, autofill, OM IN GOLD
Wild Zero is a DIY alternative outfit from Chicago, IL working on their debut album to be released in 2026. autofill is a four piece alternative band from Chicago. Biblical swirls and sharp angles and wicked melodies – noise rock for the 22nd century. Find ur new faves @ Cole’s Bar ♫
Stereo Mapping, No Info, Big Step, Marcela
Stereo Mapping is an Indie-Jazz-Fusion outfit made for the eclectic listener. Every song is a collaboration in writing and arranging between all 4 members of the group (Elaine, Jackie, Taryn, and Augie). This music is made to make ya feel somethin’ and move somethin’! No Info is a 5 piece outfit from Chicago. Drew, Jaydon, Laila, Luigi, and Rez blend elements of jazz, funk, lo-fi, and psych rock together to get their distinct dreamy and sleek sound. Through tight rhythms and flowing melodies, No Info seeks to keep you grounded and send you into the stratosphere at the same time. Big Step is the songwriting project and band of Jordan Paine. Through Big Step, Jordan uses carefully crafted lyrics to tell stories and tease out thoughts and ideas. Listeners experience all of this fully embodied thanks to the talents of Augie & Griffin (Bass and Drums). The music often sounds like a dance-y blend of singer/songwriter, alt rock and post punk with vocal harmonies added in. Marcela is an independent singer, songwriter, and producer based in Chicago. I make bedroom pop!
CRUSH & BURN: Sinners, Lovers, and Revolutionaries Masquerade Ball
Reclaim Valentine’s Day from exploitative consumerism at CRUSH & BURN. Dance to music from around the world, release the tension you’re holding, and maybe even meet your next situationship while supporting Organized Communities Against Deportations and local artists. Invite your bestie, show up solo, or corral the entire polycule – just keep it consensual and safe. Featuring: Music and beats by Honey Lucio, and trejon Raffle Fundraiser benefiting OCAD: https://www.organizedcommunities.org/ (2 entries included & winners will be texted) Costumes & Elaborate Fits are Encouraged, but not required.
Sex Mex, Watermelon, Doomzday Slutz
Sex Mex is the alias of Clark Gray, a lanky and wiry dude who makes music, because it’s the only thing you can do where being a dorky weirdo is acceptable. While currently residing in San Antonio, Clark was born in the Midwest, something he attributes his ingenuity and “no fucks given” attitude to. In concept, Sex Mex is punk music from a dystopian future, but as time goes on it becomes less of a concept and more “it is what it is.” He is equal parts songwriter, musician, and audio engineer. He is also simultaneously hated by all three of those people. That’s because Sex Mex is music for people, not nerds who play guitar… Doomzday Slutz – Drug rock for slutz that fuck as hard as they hate. Watermelon – Super sour punk from Chicago.
Sleeping Trees, The Matriarch, Westhead
Sleeping Trees is alternative-folk band from Bloomington, IN. By combining elements of folk, rock, country, and improvised music, Sleeping Trees produces a eclectic sound elevated by fluid arrangements and poignant lyricism. The group is a seemingly unlikely mix of high-art players, indie rockers, and honky tonk shit kickers—an honest representation of what Bloomington, Indiana has to offer. The Matriarch is a queer, indie rock/folk pop duo based in Chicago, IL, made up of Mal Babcock and Mal Benoit- two best friends who share a name, a home, and a creative codependency that works too well.Their songs are a celebration of shared human experience and a testament to the transformative nature of art. Whether they’re writing about personal regret and climate dread (‘The End’), or the constraints of capitalism and a longing for change (‘K!’), themes of community, love, and growth remain at the heart of everything they do. Ever-evolving, heavy, and heartfelt is the music of Westhead, the project of songwriter, producer, and engineer Maxwell DiFrisco. Though Westhead is consistently cutting their teeth inside the studio, the 4-piece often brings their music to the stage with a heavier and dreamier sound. Expect to hear their lush folk music reconfigured for live audiences, with just as much heart.
Mortlach, Tree Gardener (MN), Amon Lanc (IN), Gloamwalker (IN), Kennel Master
Mortlach is dark dungeon synth from an old count who wanders the ruins of an old castle. Evoking feelings of adventure, suspense and horror, Mortlach’s music takes you deep into the castle dungeons where who knows what you’ll find… Tree Gardener plays forest synth from the wooded bluffs above the river. Casiotone melodies, field recordings from the forest, and tape hiss saturation. Amon Lanc are dark a dungeon synth act hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana Gloamwalker is a Melodic Fantasy Synthesizer Project from the Black Pines of Northern Indiana. Combining Dungeon Synth, Fantasy Synth, New Age, and Synthwave to conjure the soundscapes of 1980s B Fantasy Films, 1990s Anime, and Late 90s Adventure and Roleplaying Videogames. Kennel Master is dreamy fantasy synth from Chicago.
Unsheathed Glory (MA), Mors Vitaque, Lone Sentinel (IN), DJ Lawn Brutic
Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Unsheathed Glory is a fantasy dungeon synth artist weaving melodies from the mystical lands of Charvencia. Donn your tunic, grab your flagon, and take a seat by the hearth. An offering to the altar of life and death, Alkilith and Nightshade join forces in Mors Vitaque’s: a project that conceptually deals with existence’s cyclical nature. We are born, we die, and we are born again as these two dungeon synth artists explore the dynamics of the life cycle. Brought forth by the minds behind Alkilith, Hyacinth, Amaranth, Shelter, and Nightshade, who are also the founders of the Great Lakes Dungeon Synth circle, Mors Vitaque’s beauty and misery is both a celebration of life and the mourning of what follows. Lone Sentinel is pagan ritual, ambient/folk metal A student of the underground, Lawn Brutic cuts raw house and techno with experimental tape sounds, from orchestral recordings to homemade foley. Dance is the imperative.
Optic Sink, Current Union TM
Optic Sink are a hypnotic dance influenced postpunk band from Memphis touring on their new album “Lucky Number” out now on Feel It Records. Current Union TM – Science
CDPROM, White Lucy, Anaiet Soul
CDPROM is a 5-piece math-jazz metamorphic rock band from Chicago, IL. Omnivorous, a single song can span funk, girl pop, Latin, emo, R&B, noise and free jazz, in a blender of odd time signatures and odder horn solos. The lyrics are elliptical, the energy is infectious, and the grooves are nonstop; wouldn’t you also change form under this intense heat? In addition to their EP “PROM?” and their live album “Cruel Times,” they are releasing a full-length studio record later this spring. White Lucy is a Chicago-based band crafting a brand of indie R&B all its own — somehow both gritty and silky smooth. Their sound drifts between dreamy, romantic textures and darker, introspective grooves, pairing soulful vocals with cinematic guitars, hypnotic rhythm section, and layers of keys. Their latest album, The Paradise, released through Shuga Records, showcases collaborations with standout Chicago artists like Sen Morimoto and Wyatt Waddell, highlighting the band’s deep roots in the city’s music community. Anaiet Soul is a protean musician, composer, vocalist from Chicago, Illinois. At the age of six, Anaiet’s desire to pursue creativity manifested and she took to piano as her primary instrument, learning to play by ear, and later learning to read music and picking up her second instrument in her family church’s orchestra. Having attended the Chicago Highschool for the Arts in 2014, Anaiet underwent classical and jazz piano training, studying with the late and great Willie Pickens at the Ravinia Jazz Mentor Program, Steve Million at Merit School of Music, and the world renowned pianist Geo Cooper. Anaiet has toured with Manual Cinema’s “No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks” (2019), became a staple in Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty with Angel Bat Dawid and shortly thereafter opened for the Sun Ra Arkestra at the Summerstage Central Park Jazz Fest (2022), was a featured artist at Fulcrum Point’s Tribute to the AAMOA (2022), and headlined their very first show at The Hideout in Chicago (2022). Since then Anaiet has remained an established freelance musician in Chicago’s bustling music scene, establishing themself as a solo artist and playing with a variety of acts,artists and productions, such as Force!: An Opera,the John Wesley Experience, Khaliyah X, Debbie-Marie Brown,Senite and others.
Worst Gnome You Ever Met, The Third Son, Jacolyn Parker: Benefit Show for Albany Park Mutual Aid
Listen to songs about coping in the year of our Lord 2026 while supporting Albany Park Mutual Aid! Worst Gnome is a Chicago-based indie folk rock group formed in 2025. Worst Gnome, truncated from our original name, Worst Gnome You Ever Met, is influenced by and hopefully sometimes sounds like Phoebe Bridgers, Pinegrove, and Indigo de Souza. Our songs are lyric-driven, with beautiful accompaniment from the band (including a viola!). Our songs contemplate a time before the internet existed, breaking up with lovers and friends, how the persecution of vulnerable people in this moment is showing everyone’s true colors, and more. The songs feel inevitable, in that they had no choice but to be expressed by founding member and main songwriter, Louisa Pavlik. Worst Gnome looks forward to writing more songs together. Members include Olivia Loftis, percussion; Louisa Pavlik, vocals, lead lyrics, and rhythm guitar; Chad Gemkow, lead guitar; Jonathan Chacon, bass guitar; and JJ Xiu, viola. Larry Borum III, known professionally as The Third Son, (aka Third) is a versatile producer, singer/songwriter, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Detroit, Michigan and based in Chicago, Illinois. His music is a distinctive blend of his diverse influences, which span from Hip-Hop, Jazz, RnB, House and Alternative Rock that has been crafted to make his own sound. And he always make sure that he produces great live shows 🙂 Jacolyn Parker is an alt folk artist from Chicago. Inspired by the likes of Angel Olsen, Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle she creates a dreamy, dark ambiance through a blend of folk and alternative.