Author Archives: Brian

Chicago, prepare to have your faces melted. Two of the city’s heaviest take the stage at Subterranean this Saturday for a dual record release show. Headlining are our own hometown stalwarts of sludge Indian, supporting the release of their third full-length Guiltless, which comes out this Tuesday on Relapse.

Joining them on the bill are label mates Bloodiest, who released their debut album Descent just last week. A fairly new group, the seven piece Bloodiest count ex & current members of Follows, 90 Day Men, Atombombpocketknife, and Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont among their ranks.

Advance tickets are available here for 8 bucks. Doors open at 9pm, and openers Anatomy of Habit take the stage at 10pm. Subterranean is located at 2011 W. North Ave in Wicker Park.

Photo by Mike Sullivan

Recently, I was lucky enough to get a minute with Jason Plahutnik and Phil Trusky of the Chicago based indie electro-rock band Battlestations, and ask them a few questions.

Battlestations | The Sweet Things

Your debut album The Unicorn just came out in February, but I hear you guys are already working on another record?

Jason: Yes, we’ve got a bunch of new songs in the works. We have a plethora of songs [laughs]

You don’t see too many rock bands with a banjo, what’s that about?

Jason: It’s awesome, it’s got a sweet toy sound. We had it in our space so we used it, pretty much everything in our space gets used.

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The 9th annual CHIRP Record Fair & Other Delights will be held April 9th & 10th at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union. The fair runs 10am-5pm both days. Admission is $7, but you can save $2 by printing the flyer at the top of this post! There’s also a $25 pre-admission on Saturday, which allows early entrance to the fair at 8am, and gets you re-entry all weekend long!

Over 40 vendors will be in attendance with a mind-blowing selection of vinyl, CDs, posters, ‘zines, artwork, and crafts. The full list can be found on the fairs official site. Also on the site, you’ll find the full schedule of all the DJs and live acts occuring during the event, which include a Salsa set from the Numero Group and a performance by The Blue Ribbon Glee Club.

Chicago Journeymen Plumbers, Local 130, U.A.
1340 West Washington Boulevard
Chicago, IL. 60607-1988

Public Transit Directions Located just off the Ashland/Lake Green Line stop. From the Ashland/Lake stop, walk south on Ashland, make a left on Warren and then follow it until it turns into Washington. The building is at 1340 west.

If you’re driving, there’s a free parking lot on site.

Record Store Day is right around the corner, and cover songs seem to be a ubiquitous choice this year. Here at TVD, we’ve got the lowdown on all of ’em!

Lots to look forward to this April 16th! Is there a covers release we missed? Let us know in the comments, or drop us a line at chicago@thevinyldistrict.com!

Ahh… the first signs of Spring in Chicago- thunderstorms, warmer weather, EL trains packed with drunken Cubs fans, and of course the return of Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple to The Empty Bottle. As they’ve done around this time for the past several years, Makoto Kawabata and company will bring their psychedelic freak-out to town on April 6th.

Known for their extended wall-of-sound jams, loud is the name of the game. While many lineups have come and gone over the years (and dozens of albums), this quartet, led by Kawabata on guitar play their own brand of rock, highly improvisational with a heavy psych tinge and space rock tendencies, and always put on an electrifying live show.

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers, who stirred up a bit of buzz at this years SXSW, will open the show. Led by harmonium playing front woman Shilpa Ray, the band plays some mean & bluesy rock and roll. Tickets are available here for $13 and the show starts at 9:30pm.

Breaking news via The Lollapalooza Twitter Feed, a second round of early bird tickets will go on sale tomorrow April 5th at 10AM CT. While not as sweet of a deal as the $60 tickets put up last month, this round is being offered for $185 with all fees included, which still saves you 30 bucks off the regular $215 price. Act fast, the first round of early bird tickets were gone in minutes. Visit the Lolla site for more info!

Welcome to The Vinyl District: Chicago, the newest member of the TVD network. Here at TVD you can expect to find local music news, interviews, features on upcoming shows and events, and as the Official Blog of Record Store Day 2011 we’ll be bringing you the latest record store happenings and vinyl news.

My name is Brian, and in addition to being a lifelong record collector and concert goer, I’ve spent the last 10 years working in some of Chicago’s finest live music venues, and behind the scenes at some of the great festivals that call Chicago home, such as Lollapalooza and The Pitchfork Music Festival. I hope to share my first-hand knowledge and experiences, but Chicago is a big town, and I’d love some help. If Tuesday is you’re favorite day of the week, record store clerks know you by name, and you have more pictures from shows than pictures of your kids, we’d love your contributions to the site. Take a look around the TVD Network, than drop us a line at chicago@thevinyldistrict.com, we can’t wait to hear from you!

Keep checking back in the coming days, because in addition to all the music news & interviews you crave we’ve got some great giveaways coming up with tickets to shows, records, and more! And really, who doesn’t like free stuff?