MINKA, Ovef Ow, Glad Rags, Hot Honey
MINKA / Ovef Ow / Glad Rags / Hot Honey Join us for an evening of bangers. Funky, electronic, rock…dance..jazz..sexy..Japanese inspired…well, there’s really no way to fully capture the experiences and sounds of Philly-born band, MINKA. But if you want to let your imagination run wild…let’s pretend some scientists got in the lab and crossed Bowie with Prince, and then sprinkled in some Talking Heads. Chicago’s Ovef Ow have been making synth heavy art punk for the better part of the last ten years, pulling influences that seem to range from B-52s and Devo to The Raincoats and Sleater-Kinney. Agitation is met with upbeat party anthems, paired together to create a swarm of new wave jangle and rough but friendly post-punk. Synths peel, drip, and flail across guitars, bass, and drums, ringing out with surfy exuberance, the band’s entire mood shifting between sunburnt joy to a stumbling sense of bliss. (by Dan Goldin, @post_trash_) Glad Rags is a music collective from Chicago that blends chamber pop, psychedelic rock, new wave, electronica, and experimental jazz. Hot Honey makes alternative emo with a love for taco bell
Yon T, Mike DFG, Tiwa Bleu and His Chosen Few
Yon T has an underground rap sound similar to icytwat, bashfortheworld, lucki and $uicide boy$. It is high energy and engaging music for the crowd to enjoy and have a good time to. Hailing from the West$ide part of Chicago, Mike DFG is one of the most versatile and underrated artists in the bubbling Chicago underground scene bringing a fresh perspective to the hip-hop world. With his iconic voice, wide array of songs for all music tastes and a captivating stage presence, he’s been making waves as a true favorite in the underground scene for years.His style blends energetic beats in ways that can only be described as anthemic. Providing a raw and unfiltered glimpse into his world, a journey through the highs and lows of life in Chicago. He’s truly found his footing in perfecting his sound with his most ambitious projects to date with his self mixed & mastered EP “Line Of Fire” & his debut Mixtape “Love Letter To The West” in October setting the city ablaze proving that Mike DFG’s a force to be reckoned with & that he is here to stay. Having already amazed crowds at a plethora of venues, such as Reggie’s Rock Club, Ramova Theatre, Schubas, The Metro, Subterranean, Bookclub Chicago,Gman Tavern & even performing in Texas for SXSW weekend, he’s definitely an artist you don’t want to miss out on. Gustavo Flores(Tiwa Bleu), is a jazz artist, producer, and bandleader from Aurora. His sound stems from the spiritual era of jazz the 60’s and 70’s.
Big Chemical, Marvin Stumbles, Dogcatcher
Big Chemical is a twangy indie rock band formed in Ann Arbor and currently based in Chicago. They take inspiration from The Band, Dear Nora, and The Replacements to bring a complex and high energy performance. Marvin Stumbles is a Chicago based songwriter & musician who, along with his extraterrestrial band of misfits & gamblers, specializes in expanding the space between time, employing a catalog of carefully crafted caricatures woven into cosmic cadences that contain themes of longing, dismay, & epic peril… as well as adventure, intense hope, & irrational faith in humanity itself. He may stumble, he may trip… but he never falls. Since its inception as the songwriting project of Chicago-based Iowa expat Mitch McAndrew, Dogcatcher has grown into a dynamic, twangy, and agile starting 5 that isn’t afraid to crash the boards.
Great Ocean Waters, Sweet Bike, Binx, Supercorp
Great Ocean Waters is a female fronted four-piece powerhouse that pulls inspiration from ’90s alternative, hardcore, pop and punk music. Think Paramore meets Gin Blossoms meets Every Time I Die. They have been playing shows around Chicago for over 10 years and have gratefully taken the stage at places like House of Blues, Beat Kitchen, Elbo Room and many others.Chicago outfit Binx are a blend of punk and midwestern emoSupercorp is The Lou Bega of Punk RockSweet Bike that fucked up evil emo band
Evann McIntosh, Growing Boys, Sulkworm
Evann McIntosh mixes dark alt-pop and dreamy R&B with streaks of hip-hop, jazz, and funk, grappling with growth and evolution, gender identity and sexuality, freedom, and self-expression. Their writing is as insightful as it is unpredictable, alternating between earnest poeticism and playful acrobatics, and the production is similarly adventurous, wrapping their performances in lush, magnetic arrangements. Even at its most densely layered, the music remains a work of pure intimacy, unraveling the mysteries of their psyche one song at a time. Evann is currently at work on their debut album, due out in 2025. Growing Boys is a local Chicago duo-singer folk band. Sulkworm is an alternative singer/songwriter based in Chicago citing inspiration from artists such as Elliott Smith and Alex G.
Fruit LoOops, Stander, Trash Dot Com, Dusty Turrets
Fruit LoOops is the current flagship art-punk/no-wave/demented dance pop band of the Midwest. Combining manic live and digital percussion, frazzled keyboards, unhinged vocals, and theatrical performance art, they have made a name for themselves by creating a live show experience you must see to believe. Winding together compositions that are fluid, dynamic and new, the Chicago-based trio STANDER forges their eclectic inspirations with a deep emotional core. Collapsing, their 2nd LP on The Garrote, finds Stander pushing deep into vocal/lyrical territory this time, with lead vocals by Mike Boyd (guitar) and Stephen Waller (drums) as well as guest vocals by Erin Dawson (Genital Shame), Dylan Walker (Full of Hell) and John Kerr (Pyrithe). Additional instrumentation by Mathieu Ball (BIG|BRAVE) and Patrick Shiroishi. Trash Dot Com play wacky trashy noise rock from Chicago! Dusty Turrets hails from the depths of Chicago’s DIY scene. They have cultivated their own original sound and songs stemming from a mutual interest in metal. Emboldened and with much versatility, Dusty Turrets is tapped into their wild side, charged with grit and ferocity. Their music communicates moments of angst, desire, feminine rage, social withdrawal, self-preservation, and reflections of nature. Their recent work features collaborations with Marvin Tate.
Burned or Buried, Burndy, Mark Solotroff
Burned or Buried melds styles of Detroit garage rock and angular Chicago Rock. Heavy noise rock. Members of Chapstik, The Meatmen, Quatre Tête, Landos 45 and Tight Night. BURNDY is an all-female Chicago-based trio that fuses industrial, noise, and post-punk into their own indescribable genre. MARK SOLOTROFF‘s artwork and music focus on the development of cities, the human body’s navigation through urban environments, and interpersonal interactions, particularly in an age of digital fragmentation. As the vocalist of the doom band Anatomy Of Habit and the heavy electronic band BLOODYMINDED, and the founder of the early post-industrial band Intrinsic Action, SOLOTROFF has a longstanding presence in the underground music world. With over forty years of experience playing analog synthesizer, his synth work has been central to BLOODYMINDED and Intrinsic Action. Under the name Super Eight Loop, he recorded and released one-hundred hours of lo-fi analog synth music. His synth is also an element of the dark-ambient group Nightmares and the Milan-based post-industrial trio Ensemble Sacrés Garçons. In 2024, SOLOTROFF cofounded the synth-driven duo The Mercury Impulse with JR Robinson of Wrekmeister Harmonies, releasing their debut album, Records Of Human Behavior, that August.SOLOTROFF has collaborated with numerous bands, contributing synth and/or vocals. His relationships range from a four-year role in Wrekmeister Harmonies to live appearances and studio recordings with artists and bands including The Atlas Moth, Azar Swan, Brutal Truth, Consumer Electronics, Indian, Locrian, Plague Bringer, Sigillum S, The Sodality, Sshe Retina Stimulants, and Wilt. His synth work is also featured in remixes for The Body, Statiqbloom, and Snow Burial.As a solo artist, SOLOTROFF continues to focus on tenebrous analog synth music. His bass-heavy soundscapes have been described as unsettling to some and calming to others, serving as soundtracks for navigating metropolitan terrains. Starting in 2017, he released a series of recordings as limited-edition cassettes, later compiled into three 2xCD sets titled Strategic Planning. SOLOTROFF has since released the solo album You May Be Holding Back (2020), followed by Not Everybody Makes It (2021). These albums reflect on themes of isolation and loss, accompanied by self-published books featuring urban and architectural photographs that expand upon the albums’ imagery. In late 2022, he released a 2xCD set, Return To Oneself, compiling a series of digital singles and a previously unreleased long-form synth piece. SOLOTROFF released Today The Infinite, Tomorrow Zero in 2023, which he considered his most developed recording to date. His new album, In Search of Total Placelessness, will be released in April 2025.
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Yoko Homo, Goose Harrington
Aesthetically, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won’t force their songs to fit a preconceived style. “The next album’s always gotta be different from the last one. We’re different people from record to record. So, writing authentically to ourselves will always bring our work to a place that we haven’t been to yet,” Rice said. Schrader added, “We’re terrified of turning into AC/DC. We never want to be married to one scene or time or sound. We want to be the Boba Fett of bands! Constantly altering the way in which we make records has been pretty key in that process.”For Orchestra Hits, the band’s latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborate with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe.Goose Harrington is experimental electronic party music summoned from the sky to terrorize your local park. Honk. Yoko Homo is Cathartic Dancefloor Angst
Model Living, Home Entertainment, Torch the Hive
Model Living are a Chicago-based post-punk quartet formed in spring 2023. Their angular songwriting & urgent-yet-poetic lyricism seek to capture life in Your City (USA) & the ever-encroaching doom surrounding them. Guitarist Jay Martinez, drummer Nico Ciani, & bassist Matt Ciani create a hazy backdrop of repetition & tension for vocalist Geoff Daniels’ frantic depictions of a city ravaged by displacement, restaurant groups, & Exponential Growth. Torch the Hive is a spawn of antifacist pro mental riffy punk that punches you in the throat Also featuring Home Entertainment
96 Cougar, Jim the Kid, Beach Trash
96 Cougar plays a deep-fried blend of punk rock with heavy alt-country and psych influences, kind of like if Ween grew up covering the Minutemen. Their new album “Forklift Rodeo” comes out on cassette on March 7, 2025, via Already Dead Tapes and Records. Jim The Kid is a recording artist based in Chicago, whose unique brand of synthesizer and guitar fueled rock-‘n’-roll sounds familiar yet hard to place. With a large catalog of songs both loud and quiet, hard-hitting and sensitive, dancey yet contemplative, Jim The Kid thrives in experimentation and self-exploration. Joined on stage by The Painkillers, his live show is one that’s filled with dancing and high-energy performances played from the heart to give the audience a night they won’t forget. Jim The Kid & The Painkillers are Jimmy Clarke on guitar and vocals, Victor Kamhazi on guitar, synthesizers and backup vocals, Tommy Nelson on bass, and Ranan Vales on drums. From deep within the Okefenokee swamp arrives Jacksonville Florida’s most sinister crime syndicate: Beach Trash is a progressive metal wrecking crew, armed and dangerous packing riffs, cheap beer, and just a little bit of LSD. Loud, sweaty, and unapologetically wild, they’re here to melt faces and crash on the couch.