Been Stellar: Standouts In An Industry of Cool

^{Article by Ciara Rose Belfiore, photos by Finley Harrison}

Tomorrow Never Knows is a 5-day festival that showcases local and national indie acts across multiple Chicago venues. On Friday, a crowd gathered at Lincoln Hall to witness the talents of local indie rock darlings Smut, and the New York rock n’ roll of Malice K and Been Stellar.

Though originally from Cincinnati Ohio, Smut has become a staple in the Chicago music scene. Vocalist Tay Roebuck, guitarist Andrew Min, bassist and synthist Bell Cenower, guitarist and synthist Sam Ruschman, and drummer Aidan O’Connor collaborate to create exciting indie rock with a variety of 90’s influences. Performing songs from their 2022 album How the Light Felt, Roebuck’s soft-spoken delivery provides a wonderful contrast to the guitar and drums. Their performance set the stage for a wonderful show.

^Smut

Malice K is a project helmed by Alex Konschuh, who’s now based in New York though originally from Olympia, Washington. In an age with so many musicians popping up at every moment, there are seemingly few things that can make an artist stand out. However, Malice K is bucking the trend. Delivering rock n’ roll that’s not only electric but visually captivating. Konschuch’s stage presence stood out the moment the performance began, it’s nostalgic in the best ways. Grungy guitar riffs wound down to the slower more acoustic “Radio” from their 2024 album AVANTI. The lyrics of which are as heartbreaking as they are honest, “I'm trying hard to be someone else, but someone else is already taken.” 

^{Malice K}

Since the release of their 2024 debut album Scream from New York, NY Been Stellar has been on the rise. The band is comprised of Vocalist Sam Slocum, guitarists Skyler St. Marx and Nando Dale, bassist Nico Brunstein, and drummer Laila Wayans, though recently Dale and Wayans have moved on to focus on solo projects. Their nostalgic shoe-gaze has drawn a variety of comparisons but one thing is clear, it’s a breath of fresh air in the nu-gaze scene. Not only is their album masterful, their performance is as well. Performing a variety of tracks from their recent album but also older fan favorites like “Kids 1995” and “Manhatten Youth”, a song guaranteed to get the crowd dancing.  In the movie Almost Famous, the character Lester Bangs talks about Rock n’ Roll as an “industry of cool” and in many ways it is. However, Been Stellar is cool not because they’re from the indie rock hub that is New York, though that may play a part in it, they’re cool because they’ve taken the influences of their predecessors to create something uniquely their own. 

^{Been Stellar}