Out Of/Into : Motion I

Jazz quintet Out Of/Into – formerly known as The Blue Note Quintet – makes it perfectly clear that there are some exciting things happening in the world of jazz still. Following in the footsteps of the giants of jazz that came before, the band that consists of pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick […]

RIP Mr Pooch McGooch: 2010-2024

This has been one of those things I’ve been dreading for months. So I suppose you could say that deep down I knew it was coming. Yesterday morning we had to give our goodest boy Otto some final peace. Standing around a small table with a warm, fuzzy blanket covering it my wife, my son, […]

A Place To Bury Strangers : Synthesizer

Coming into a new album from Oliver Ackermann’s A Place To Bury Strangers you pretty much know that it’s going to be loud, abrasive, and sprinkled with melodic ear worms under all the aural debauchery. Ackermann is a bit of a sound wizard, creating effects boxes with his Death By Audio effects company. His effects […]

Time Waits For No One

I turn 51 today. December 2nd, 2024. Going in to 50 last year I felt perfectly fine with it. I honestly feel like I truly came into my own when I turned 40. Sure, my body started the old breakdown with worn out joints, snap crackle pop sounds every time I went up stairs(or got […]

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet : The Way Out of Easy

Jeff Parker is one of those unsuspecting musical geniuses. He’s been a figure in the Chicago underground music scene for years, having played in Tortoise, Chicago Underground Quartet, Chicago Underground Trio, and Isotope 217 to name a few. He’s also worked with Makaya McCraven, Rob Mazurek, Joshua Abrams and Hamid Drake. That doesn’t include his […]

Stepping Back Is A Good Thing

Being away from work and essentially the world for over a week has been a good thing. I was pretty burnt out when I left work over a week ago. Burnt out and tired of being angry for some truly nefarious shite they pulled. I knew I needed to kickstart my Thanksgiving vacation early as […]

Been A Minute…

Hey all. Sorry for the absence. It’s that time of year where I put in some vacation time and unplug, spending my time off recording music, painting, watching movies, and spinning records. Also, just attempting to rid my brain of all the toxic waste that’s left in my head thanks to working for a giant […]

Billow Observatory Return With New Track “Systol Nightshade”; New Album Coming In 2025

The last full-length album from the ambient/shoegaze duo Billow Observatory(Jonas Munk and Jason Kolb) was 2022’s excellent Stareside, which was a culmination of what these two musicians had been working towards since their self-titled debut in 2012. Munk coming from Denmark and with plenty of work under his belt as guitarist for Causa Sui; not […]

Me And Mom Go On A Beer(And Ice Cream) Run

We’re getting to the end of 2024, and that means I start eyeing my remaining vacation days like a hawk. Doing the math and figuring out how many days I need to cover my Thanksgiving vacation week, maybe a birthday vacation day, and then the time I need to cover our year-end shutdown. Well, since […]

Terrorlord : Unreleased Beats 2001

Christopher Ashley didn’t start out making 80s-tinged melodic electronic music. In the 90s he was in the noise rock bands Murder Weapon, followed by Index For Potential Suicide. These were bands that dealt loud, pummeling music that often left crowds bloodied and breathless after shows. While Ashley was still in the midst of cacophonic waves […]