Royal Headache of Sydney, Australia is a band that exists in a gray area, not quite angry enough to be full blown punk but not tame enough to fall under the great wide umbrella of indie rock. They avoid cliche but feel familiar, like a repackaged version of your dad's favorite pub rock bands without any of the derivative qualities that these types of bands can possess. With their most recent album High (2015), Royal Headache established themselves as … Continue reading The Unpredictability of Royal Headache
Month: August 2016
Cicadas, Greenery, and Love Children; a chat with Whitney
Whitney has undoubtedly made one of 2016’s best and most talked about albums. Sir Elton John has even professed his love for lead singer Julien Ehrlich. Ehrlich and band mate Max Kakacek pulled the remarkable group of Chicago guys together after the break up of their former band, Smith Westerns. “We were all just friends,” Ehrlich responded when asked how the guys all met. “Max and I wrote all the songs on the first album and halfway through the writing process we were like dang, we could play live … Continue reading Cicadas, Greenery, and Love Children; a chat with Whitney
The Once and Future Empress Of
Seeing Lorely Rodriguez aka Empress Of walk across the soon to be packed fields of Union Park sporting a black vest and pants over a white dress shirt, it became clear that she meant business. Over the course of our conversation it was apparent that Empress Of is not only one of most creative minds in alternative pop music, but also one of the hardest working. Empress Of was one of many of the surprise … Continue reading The Once and Future Empress Of
Getting Lost with Lost Under Heaven
Coming all the way from Amsterdam, Ellery James Roberts and Ebony Hoorn (members/founders of the band LUH, or Lost Under Heaven) were “really looking forward” to playing at Pitchfork Music Festival. It was their first time in Chicago as a band and a couple, as they just came to the states to play a few shows on their US leg of their tour in support of their debut release Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing. … Continue reading Getting Lost with Lost Under Heaven
Friend Crush: A Sit Down with Shamir
Spotting Shamir Bailey near the media tent at Pitchfork Music Festival, it was clear that Shamir is not the same as he was in 2015. Wearing a black denim jacket and free of the long braids he sported at last year’s fest, there was more of an edge to the 21 year old artist out of Las Vegas. But don’t tell that to Shamir. “Nothing has really changed except that I have a bass player … Continue reading Friend Crush: A Sit Down with Shamir