Jesca Hoop
Jesca Hoop returns with her sixth album, Order of Romance, a record that fortifies her position as one of the most striking and original voices in contemporary music. Order of Romance is Hoop’s most intricate and finely balanced album to date, one that draws on classic song writing, recalling anything from Gershwin to Paul Simon, but creating something that is unmistakably, indelibly Jesca Hoop.

Like a lot of tour ready musicians in 2020, Jesca Hoop suddenly found she had time on her hands, and like a lot of musicians, with stages blacked out, she turned her work inward. As it was for many people, those housebound days were some of the most tumultuous of her life, and she found the discipline and balance of a daily writing routine essential in coping with the unknowns that assailed us all during that time. But Order of Romance is most assuredly not a journaling of the last two years. It is a deep dive into craft. As Jesca says “I set out to mature as a writer, to further clarity my voice and stance, through melodies and phrases only I can construct. Order of Romance feels like every person, character, or artist, I ever was over the many seasons of my life was handed an instrument to play across the songs.”

Gracie and Rachel
Gracie and Rachel, the collaborative duo of keyboardist Gracie Coates and violinist Rachel Ruggles, have been praised by NPR to “make unforgettable, surprising music.” The duo’s new album “Hello Weakness, You make Me Strong” explores the depths of their emotional states and the walls we build up inside ourselves. It’s music to excavate our inner fears and help us find the empowerment from within.

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Chicago's Dos Santos have released their highly-anticipated album,City of Mirrors.

Cinematic in its journey, the album reflects sounds from across the Americas combined with compelling poetic narratives. Its 13 tracks consolidate the band’s unique identities, creative and cultural roots, and their penchant for honoring traditional Latinx music with contemporary compositional expressions and production techniques. It achieves the band’s mission to push against their own musical boundaries while also exploring themes of social justice, migration, and contemporary human struggle. Chavez articulates beautifully:

“City of Mirrors is an assemblage...glimpses of tradition... reflections on our collective present... luminous echoes between love and solitude, hope and absurdity, euphoria and mourning. This album grapples with and transgresses these binaries because we have/and continue to cross borders. Yet, for us, the border is no metaphor—too much real staring back at us. We embody the border. We (our families) have crossed it. We (our stories) are coated with its residues. And so... we cross the border of self through our art–out of necessity.”

The five began working onCity of Mirrors without any expectation of what it would be. They simply hoped to create an honest, unique, and border-defying but broadly communicable sound.To achieve this, they decided to incorporate a sixth member. That led to City of Mirrors being recorded in Los Angeles under the direction of artist, producer, and longtime friend of the band Elliot Bergman (Wild Belle, NOMO).

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Killer Drones



These Beasts
Friendship is the driving force behind THESE BEASTS. The sludgy noise rock trio from Chicago found themselves in a strange place while working on their debut album. "Cares, Wills, Wants". The loneliness of lockdowns, friends passing, and the loss of family – it all reflects in dark and strong emotions such as sadness, anger, and frustration that found their way into the lyrics and the music of the new tracks. With "Cares, Wills, Wants", THESE BEASTS deliver the powerful debut full-length that their followers came to expect on the strength of the band's promising first two EPs "Salvor" (2016) and "These Beasts" (2019). Founded by three friends in Chicago, their mutual love for hard and loud guitar music and inspired by acts such as local heroes THE JESUS LIZARD that set them apart and bound them firmly together. THESE BEASTS came into being in 2015 and immediately the trio started playing locally. They quickly gained a reputation as a fierce live act that led them across the United States and earned them a spot at the prestigious Day of Doom Fest in New York. "Cares, Wills, Wants" is an emotional rollercoaster ride in the clever disguise of a sludgy noise rock album. THESE BEASTS invite all their friends, old and new, to join their cathartic experience and begin healing through hard music with a brain. Let this record roar!

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Save the date!

Alex Siegel

As a kid, Alex Siegel loved taking care of his fish tank, impeccably arranging the little aquatic world of neon pebbles and decorations just so. The Santa Monica, California, native loved watching the fish swim around their little bubble, a tranquil living diorama. “I loved watching this little world unfold,” Siegel says. On his new solo LP, Courage, the singer-songwriter recreates that feeling, carefully arranging the musical decor at his disposal to revel in the beautiful miniature dreamscape.

Siegel’s impeccable ability to rearrange classic building blocks into brand new shapes is readily apparent from the lux album opener “Tea Leaves”. Rubbery bass and chilly new wave synths provide a misty base, slinky guitar and hazy falsetto vocals dripping over the top. Siegel’s lyrical choices build as well, drawing themes and lines from previously released singles and expanding them here. “The song echoes [2018 single] Daydreaming Pilot, and expands a story about longing and nostalgia,” he says.

Siegel’s ability to pair precision structuring with emotionally resonant melodies was strengthened by time shared with another songwriter adept at that balancing act: Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

It’s clear from tracks like the lithe and groovy “Charlie” that the Venice, California-based multi-instrumentalist is interested in far more than indie rock and Americana. Having grown up playing in jazz bands and obsessing over everything from bossa nova to hip-hop (and even toured on keyboard with Malian guitar legend Vieux Farka Touré), Siegel is unafraid to incorporate unexpected elements into his tracks. 

Hunkered down in a spare bedroom, Siegel began experimenting with the frameworks of songs inspired by everything from Chilly Gonzales and Kings of Convenience to Joāo Gilberto and Neil Young. Having played almost every part on the album and recorded largely in the home he shares with his girlfriend, there’s an incredible intimacy to Courage; his classic pop melodies laze in a lush production cloud.

Siegel began writing and producing songs as a teenager, tinkering with Ableton and producing electronic music and hip-hop beats. But for Courage, he leans heavily on floating, flowing arrangements. “Fluidity and improvisation were key to writing these songs,” Siegel says. The gauzy “Misty Eyes” plays on that duality, swinging hammock bass and vinyl crackle riding over a plonking drum machine. On “See Ya”, Siegel borrows from a Thai melody, doubling it with blurred vocal effects and smacking snare drum. “I was inspired by a famous Thai song called ‘Duen Pen’,  which my friend Nicole had shared with me before she passed away,” Siegel says. That same friend inspired a single last year, “See Ya” acting as a sort of echo to “Sangsuree”.

Always building on what came before—both his influences and his own art—Siegel can’t help but compare the art-making process to his childhood pursuit of crafting grand, immersive visions in miniature. “It’s like being a kid and building a house out of blocks, or building a sandcastle. It takes courage to share that imagination with the world.

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Nora O'Connor

Nora O’Connor has been an in-demand backup singer/multi-instrumentalist for decades, performing around the world with Iron and Wine, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Robbie Fulks, Neko Case, Mavis Staples, and Chicago super group the Flat Five, to name a few. The constraints wrought by Covid limited her to touring the backyards of her hometown alone, and reminded her that she can hold her own on guitar and she can sing the hell out of anything—and she can write a song, too. With time to spare at
home, she began recording a series of new home demos that became her third album, My Heart released in October 2022 on Pravda Records.

O’Connor isn’t new to working solo. She released Cerulean Blue in 1996 and Til the Dawn in 2004 before she carved out a livelihood making other people’s songs sound better. She has no intention of stopping—in fact 2021 found her back out on the road with Neko Case and The New Pornographers. But her recent solo shows increased her confidence and stretched her ambition, moving her to experiment with her voice, to play with new sounds and textures, and to envision a next chapter in her long and dazzling
career; one where she takes her rightful seat at the table of the luminaries she has supported for all these years.

with
Steve Frisbie and Liam Davis

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Chicago Hard Country legends the Waco Brothers will celebrate the release of a brand new album THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT at the Hideout on March 29th. It’s their first album of original songs since 2016’s Going Down In History and showcases a new expanded line up that’s slowly coalesced since the loss of their powerhouse drummer and comrade Joe Camarillo in January 2021. Waco cousins Jean Cook (violin) and Dan Massey (drums) are longtime Waco collaborators and will join Deano, Jon, Tracey and Alan on the Hideout stage as permanent WACO BROTHERS for a night of ferocity, frivolity, tuff sounds and sexy new tunes.

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Chicago Hard Country legends the Waco Brothers will celebrate the release of a brand new album THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT at the Hideout on March 29th. It’s their first album of original songs since 2016’s Going Down In History and showcases a new expanded line up that’s slowly coalesced since the loss of their powerhouse drummer and comrade Joe Camarillo in January 2021. Waco cousins Jean Cook (violin) and Dan Massey (drums) are longtime Waco collaborators and will join Deano, Jon, Tracey and Alan on the Hideout stage as permanent WACO BROTHERS for a night of ferocity, frivolity, tuff sounds and sexy new tunes.

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“America’s Funnyman” Neil Hamburger has worked every imaginable stage, from New York’s Madison Square Garden, to a show in pitch black darkness at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. He has performed countless American, Australian, British, Irish, and Canadian tours, as well as in Norway, New Zealand, and the Bahamas, alongside acts ranging from Faith No More to Robin Williams. His TV credits include Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Tom Green Live, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. His Live At Third Man album was produced by Jack White in Nashville; an earlier Hamburger effort was included in SPIN’s “40 Greatest Comedy Albums Of All Time.” The feature movie Entertainment, a dramatic look at Hamburger on- and off-stage co-starring John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, and Michael Cera, premiered at the Sundance and Locarno Film Festivals, and was released in 2015 to rave reviews. His recent Drag City album of lavishly-produced song, Still Dwelling, featured a memorable trio version of Jesus Christ Superstar's "Everything's Alright" with Neil singing alongside Mike Patton and Jack Black.

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“America’s Funnyman” Neil Hamburger has worked every imaginable stage, from New York’s Madison Square Garden, to a show in pitch black darkness at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. He has performed countless American, Australian, British, Irish, and Canadian tours, as well as in Norway, New Zealand, and the Bahamas, alongside acts ranging from Faith No More to Robin Williams. His TV credits include Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Tom Green Live, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. His Live At Third Man album was produced by Jack White in Nashville; an earlier Hamburger effort was included in SPIN’s “40 Greatest Comedy Albums Of All Time.” The feature movie Entertainment, a dramatic look at Hamburger on- and off-stage co-starring John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, and Michael Cera, premiered at the Sundance and Locarno Film Festivals, and was released in 2015 to rave reviews. His recent Drag City album of lavishly-produced song, Still Dwelling, featured a memorable trio version of Jesus Christ Superstar's "Everything's Alright" with Neil singing alongside Mike Patton and Jack Black.

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Eyelids
EYELIDS have turned inwards to their loves of New Zealand/Flying Nun guitar buzz , their teenage L.A. paisley underground obsessions, haunts of early Athens and all things beautiful, lopsided and rock. We give you fair warning.

Featuring former and current members of: GUIDED BY VOICES, STEPHEN MALKMUS/JICKS, THE DECEMBERISTS, CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

with
Air Blue Gowns

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