Radio One Chicago

Chicago based group Mooner drops in to Radio One Chicago to promote their new album, Masterpiece. Lee Ketch chats with WeekendGabe about the album and more.

Only 4 The Real is a Chicago hip hop blog led by Bundy Johnson and Jay. They both drop in to Radio One Chicago to talk about their site and its impact.

Chicago band, Night Witch drops in to Radio One Chicago on wluw, 88.7fm

KWOE drops back in on Radio One Chicago to update on his new non-profit and heading back to school!

The Just Luckies stop in to Radio One Chicago!

Emees Dat Bizness, Semaj and Benny Francs with host @WeekendGabe drops bars and tell more about who they landed in hip hop.

Mechanical Joints is composed of two human males who have been creating together for a decade. We’re high-school friends grown in a fantastically boring Detroit suburb. After ten years we’re separated by roughly one thousand miles, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying something new. Rather than writing and playing in the same room, distance necessitates that we send files to each other over the internet’s spiderwebs.

Marmaletta is an idea, a flowing energy between 5 best friends expressed through spacey, jam-based music. The group is comprised of members Joey Cantacessi (vocals/guitar), Ryan Flynn (keys/synth/percussion), Stuart MacFadyen (bass), Cole Hawking (keys/synth/percussion), and Evan Weinstein (drums).

Larry O. Dean was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. As a young man, he worked with Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Michael Moore, published essays and reviews on popular culture in the alternative press, and also cartooned for fanzines and other underground outlets. He attended the University of Michigan, where he won three Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing, along with fellow poets John Ciardi, Robert Hayden, Jane Kenyon, and Frank O’Hara, among others; and Murray State University’s low-residency MFA program. He teaches creative writing, literature, and composition as an adjunct English instructor, and is a Poet-in-Residence in the Chicago Public Schools through the Poetry Center of Chicago’s Hands on Stanzas program. He was a recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award for teaching excellence in 2004.

Born out of a sudden and intense burst of light in 2010, The Island of Misfit Toys is Chicago’s best- and worst-kept musical secret. A musical tour-de-force, the band flirts sonically between dozens of genres, spanning rock to folk, indie to slam poetry, mellow acoustics to harmonized hymnals, and beyond. I Made You Something, the second Island of Misfit Toys full-length, is a sprawling, ambitious record bridging the space between life, friendship, and the afterlife. Produced and recorded by Alex Burns (Tristen, Torres, The Please & Thank Yous), the album, 4+ years in the making is finally out via Broken World Media.

The state of things today is very much on the mind of frontman Jon Scarpelli and bandmate Scott Simon on the latest record by electronic-­rock duo, LowSwans. The Whole World Has No Clothes is a 10-song meditation on the waning of modern society set to ambient 80’s tinged synth textures, neo­-prog electronic beats and dexterous vocals. Released in November 2014 to a sold-out show, the new Low Swans record has only begun to permeate the scene. With influences as far and wide as EDM, classical minimalism and post-rock, the record is a stylistic leap from their past records. Carrying the thread is Scarpelli’s take on the complexity of the human situation and the underlying tragic beauty. While songs like “Cannibal” and “What you Wanted” harken to specific catastrophes in recent history, they ask the wider question of whether or not the calamities of the past or the future are avoidable. Other songs like “Not Today” and “All of the Lies You Settle For” complement this idea by suggesting that we can be redeemed by

“While their sound has remnants of genres that range from progressive-ambient to math-rock, their strengths come from being able to form a cohesive sound that resembles an electronic lullaby” – Buzz Weekly

The vision of Ten x Ten is to go beyond a typical call-and-response collaboration by encouraging artists and musicians to deeply investigate the creative process. Over the course of eight months, participants will stretch and explore their artistic practice in a cross-media collaboration with another artist, with the results reflected back to the public through exhibitions, performances, and a collectable compilation.

S’Pocket began recording their debut EP at the end of August, with plans for a release show in November. In preparation for their first album, S’Pocket is playing two shows in Chicago over the next few months where they will share the stage with some of the Midwest’s premier up-and-coming groups. Minnesota’s own New Sound Underground and Chicago-natives, HipTrip will be co-headlining the night at Martyrs’ on Thursday, August 20th. Local funk heavies, Digeometric will headline the bill at Reggie’s Rock Club on Saturday, September 12th. The Reggie’s unofficial Riot Fest after-party will be sponsored by SweetWater Brewery as part of their ongoing live music series, SweetWater Sessions. Reggie’s will be offering free bus transportation from Riot Fest to the venue as well as free entrance to the show with RSVP through their website.

Formed in a basement in early 2014, Mark Wendell on vocals and guitar, Sean Fagan on bass, and Austin Getz on drums formed the no bullshit rock band known as, THE DEAD WOODS. With all three members also being vocalists, the Chicago rock trio makes for a truly unique sound unlike anything you’ve ever heard, or seen before. Never holding back and leaving everything they have on stage has made them the act you don’t want to miss.

Noisy, beer-fueled pop rock from Chicago, IL.

Local Motive is a new Chicago rock & roll band, true to the spirit of soul & funk, putting a modern twist on that classic feel. Formed at a casual jam one night in 2012, the ensemble went unnamed for a time. Through a mutual love of bands like Beck & Cake and playing live original music, guitarist/songwriter Mike Vinopal, bassist Brett Weides, vocalist Daniella Rojas, trumpeter Matthew Sypherd, & drummer Jeb Rendall were all brought together in the Chicago suburb of Bartlett.

Throughout their ten-plus years as a band, Chicago’s Roommate (led by singer/songwriter and video artist Kent Lambert) has occupied a moody art-pop world thick with sharp melodies, evocative textures, and keen commentary on the underside of contemporary culture. Through hundreds of shows across the U.S. and Western Europe and an acclaimed catalog of 2 EPs and 3 LPs, Kent’s songs have guided the band’s evolution from a wide-ranging community of Chicago musicians to the tightly focused four-piece at the core of their seamless new album MAKE LIKE, available this June 23rd from Strange Weather Records on LP/CS/DL.

Vaya is a three-piece. Their sound has been described as “Afro-pop played at 45RPM” and “math rock meets excellent songwriting”. The band merges a wide range of influences and sensibilities with the rhythms and technical agility of Midwestern math rock.

The 5th Annual PILSEN FEST (FORMERLY KNOWN AS UNISONO) is set to take place on August 22nd, 2015 in the historic Pilsen Neighborhood from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The Music, Arts, Food and Culture festival in its 5th year promises to deliver a unique high level of quality and diverse cultural programming for the beloved community. Pilsen Fest will feature a day of music, art and educational workshops, as well as fun games and activities for families to enjoy.