Miniskirt, The Scratch-Offs, Wallplant
Miniskirt is a Chicago four piece that draws on a love of 60’s girl groups, garage rock, power pop, and punk to make a dreamy and energetic sound. They inspire a raucous pit or a joint to be passed around. From the hazy hippie hangover that is Madison, WI come the Scratch-Offs, with their dumb power chords, garage pop riffs, and X-inspired harmonies, ready to take a fat ol’ chance on the lottery of life. Wallplant makes bedroom pop inflicted post punk
Brainwaiver, Big Drama (AR), Bum Rush with DJ Magic Triangle and Visuals by Hydrosonic Light Show
Brainwaver is improvised space age traveling, noise and deep space doom scroll Big Drama is an Arkansas based post-punk power duo collaging scraps of kraut rock, DC post-hardcore, and experimental weirdo noise into sonic medicine for sufferers of technocapitalist malaise. Bum Rush is an irreverent and sonically adventurous punk trio from Chicago that always delivers when they take the stage. Like if the Minutemen leaned more into their bebop influence and used fuzz pedals
toss! , Consort, Anteeter
toss! fuses the raw energy of ’90s/2000s post-grunge and alternative rock with the dreamy textures of modern psychedelic, post-punk, and shoegaze. Blending decades of influence into a sound that’s both nostalgic and new, they deliver emotionally charged, genre-blurring rock. Consort makes Instrumental, progressive, post hardcore and jazz. Music to zone out to. Anteeter and Normal Writing- Frequent collaborators Anteeter and Normal Writing join forces to bring an exciting, bass-heavy electronic audio/visual performance featuring their film scores, unreleased music and reworked material. Best played loud.
Ryder the Eagle, Burr Oak, Bur, Hannah Sandoz
DIY hero, fallen Romeo, karaoke weirdo — the Mexico-based French balladeer is everything (and nothing) you might expect from an art-rock divorcé chasing dreams at your local dive bar. With lo-fi synthy soundscapes, lyrical melodies, poetic songwriting, and cathartic one-of-a-kind performances, Ryder The Eagle tells his history with love more than his love stories – coating romantic despair with a chiseled wit that’ll transport you straight into a Kaurismäki movie soundtracked by a caffeine-driven Leonard Cohen. Chicago-based singer/songwriter Savanna Dickhut began Burr Oak not as a band but as a personal outlet. She first picked up the guitar as an aid to express her deep-rooted feelings, as she told The Chicago Tribune, and she began writing the lyrics of her first single “Southsider” after a tumultuous break-up. Late Bloomer, released later in 2021, is a record for everyone who’s felt like they grew into themselves later in life. Paste wrote “her lyrics are frank and direct, yet maintain a near-universal relatability, a sign of a songwriter to reckon with.” And this is truly Burr Oak’s greatest strength: offering the specifics of her personal experiences to capture a universal feeling. Earlier in 2024, Burr Oak had quietly been gearing up for their sophomore release— a 5 song EP titled ‘Annabelle,’ released via Easy Does It Records on September 20th. Departing from their previous album, ‘Late Bloomer,’ which showcased a more personal approach to songwriting, Savanna Dickhut (vocals/guitar/bass) crafts a conceptual piece centered around the character of Annabelle. Through poignant storytelling and emotive melodies, ‘Annabelle’ evokes themes of love, loss, resilience, and the transformative power of human connection—a fictional story inspired by the chilling and very real overturning of Roe v. Wade. Bur- Top 5 bands of all time. British invasion wanna-be’s Music that holds you while you cry: Hannah Sandoz’s arrangements weave tender lyrics and lush soundscapes for guitar, vocals, and laptop. Their use of real-time processing renders universal stories of day-to-day life into complex worlds which coax and stir even the most skeptical of audiences.
Why DOMS, Mr. Phylzzz, Nude
Why DOMS- The undisputed tag team champions of the Louisville rap scene Mr. Phylzzz- A two piece well dressed mess from Chicago. NÜDE is an experimental duo composed of Chicago-bred musicians Ruby Lucinda and Luke Clohisy. Both multi-instrumentalists, Lucinda and Clohisy write music that pulls from indie rock, drone, no wave, and grunge. The duo seeks to write honest music, about what feels like to be home— comforts and complications alike.
Linnea’s Garden, Oddysseys, Sex Dream
Linnea’s Garden plays glam punk rock you can dance to. Imagine the angular guitars of Television, primal bass lines of The Clash, danceworthy grooves of Blondie, and otherworldly songwriting and stage show of David Bowie, fronted by a queer singer/songwriter/scientist. Loud, shiny and full of distortion: they do it cuz they like to do it. There’s no such thing as taking it easy when it comes to Oddysseys. The Boston born and Chicago-based trio has always operated under a strong DIY ethos and work ethic. The band has forged their own organic growth in the underground music scene, leaving their impression on basements, warehouses, and legendary venues across the U.S. and Canada, offering dynamic performances that take their audience on a journey through a sonically diverse discography – leaving plenty of room for moshers, dancers, and arm-crossers alike. Sex Dream is a 3 piece female fronted punk band from the suburbs of Chicago, highly influenced by the Ramones, 90s pop punk, twee pop and Britney Spears who describes themselves as hello kitty punk
Annabel, Joie De Vivre, Lettering
Annabel has spent the last 20 years quietly building one of indie rock’s most heartfelt and enduring catalogs. On Worldviews—their first album in nine years—the Ohio band returns not with a comeback, but with a natural evolution. Anchored by brothers Ben and Andy Hendricks, Worldviews finds Annabel confronting time, memory, and meaning with the clarity that only comes from growing older together. From jangly midwestern rock to spectral piano ballads and ambient textures, they sound both wiser and more energized than ever. In a world that feels increasingly uncertain, Annabel’s steady presence feels like something to believe in. Joie De Vivre Emo band from Rockford Il. One time someone said we sound like a combination of Mineral and Pavement. Another time someone said we sound like The Get Up Kids but shittier. We don’t agree (or disagree) with either of these descriptions. Lettering Loud. Blu-ray core.
v1r1s, NO.AH, ÅNGEL 004, Klypi, avas
Birthed online in the digital realm, V1R1S is a high-tech musician, visual artist, and experience. Programmed around early internet culture and life online, V1R1S augments and morphs together mutual chaos of anxiety inducing atmospheres, nightcore bubble gum melodies, and computerized vocals, to create her own new world of ‘cyberpop’. Self proclaimed Earth-pop artist NO.AH [no.dot.ah] from NYC, conjures queer catharsis through their performances of original compositions. NO.AH intends to carve space in the music industry through the creation of their own “genre” — inspired by the uninhibited and limitless imagination of childhood, the vitriol of darkness and horror, and the untapped natural world around us. NO.AH stakes their claim as a singular artistic voice to pay attention to in these oversaturated times. (@no.ah) ÅNGEL 004, currently based in Brooklyn, NYC graces Earth with an expansive Pop Performance spanning genres like Electronic, Club, HipHop, and Eurodance. More aptly labeled as ‘Freak-Pop,’ their multidimensional sound and vision seamlessly blend disparate elements into a cohesive and entertaining experience. Whether performing solo or with a fleet of dancers, ÅNGEL 004 operates within a quasi-Pop-and-Techno framework with performances that feature costumes, props, and choreography. Klypi (pronounced like the Windows paper clipoffice assistant) is the “pop-star” avatar of AC Carter, a multi-disciplinary artist from Birmingham, Alabama. Klypi is part electropop – part performance art. Now in LA, Klypi released their first self-produced LP in fall of 2024 (formatted to appear to be a giant floppy disk) through Lolipop Records.Klypi is described as an alien who travels to Earth in search for a better life, only to realize that what they were looking for was a myth in itself. Klypi quickly recognizes that the only way to survive as a human is to become a successful businessman (as well as to learn how to tackle a wide range of human emotions and experiences). Isolation and unrequited love are just a couple of themes that run through Klypi’s work.AC’s creative journey comes from the lineage of artists-turned-musicians past: DEVO, Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, and Suicide. AC is interested in the immediacy of pop music, while simultaneously digging for something deeper and experimenting with those boundaries. Previously a painter and sculptor, AC has harnessed those skills to construct their sonic, visual, and conceptual world, while their songs have even been described as painterly: layered, vibrant, and textured. avas- Re-imagining the pulse of club music, Chicago-based producer and DJ Avelina DeCandia emerged into the spotlight with her track DUO and a number of ear-catching remixes on SoundCloud. With a penchant for stripping back compositions to their core element, avas brings her unique vision of electronic music, evoking imagery of a 909 drum machine that’s taken a fall down too many stairs, yet somehow still keeps perfect rhythm.She released her debut ep data in 2024 which included collaborative efforts with jhl and plastic pet. she has gone on to run Chicago-based club night and label xlx and has worked with artists such as Jane Remover, BABii, Gaszia and more.
Frotted, Future Nest, Celebrity DUI
Frotted makes noisy industrial music composed of blood and guts. Future Nest creates Industrial Dance music for the end-times. Give in to the sacred pull. Celebrity DUI- trans rock music
Ira Glass, Gash, Crisis Actress
ira glass is a post-post-hardcore band from chicago, il. Gash makes Interesting rock music from Eau Claire, WI Chicago-based Crisis Actress crafts noise-pop that exists in perpetual evolution. At the heart of their sound are swirling keyboards, vocal stacks, loops, drums, and wires. Fresh off their full-length debut, Return of the Puppet King captures the band’s shared musical obsessions and commitment to experimentation. Recorded at the hallowed Electrical Audio last fall, each track is a testament to their collective journey- a dream realized through collaboration with countless talented friends who helped shape their vision.