Brian Krumm, front man for Chicago’s tortured Americana artists The Great Crusades wrote the songs on his debut solo release, Just Fade Away (Pravda Records), during the 2020 shutdown. In an effort to stay sane during the first days of the pandemic, Krumm would drink a shot of whiskey each evening and try to write a song. Twenty-five days later,

Brian Krumm, front man for Chicago’s tortured Americana artists The Great Crusades wrote the songs on his debut solo release, Just Fade Away (Pravda Records), during the 2020 shutdown. In an effort to stay sane during the first days of the pandemic, Krumm would drink a shot of whiskey each evening and try to write a song. Twenty-five days later, he had 25 songs. Krumm enlisted his bandmates to record the tunes, as well as a who’s who of Chicago music scene standouts. His influences, such as Robyn Hitchcock, the Jayhawks, Warren Zevon and Dylan, shine through on Just Fade Away and Krumm’s captivating, taleteller lyrics are again at the forefront. The record gives listeners a sonic snapshot of remembrances from Krumm and a life lived observing a perplexing yet utterly inspirational world.

What began as a chance encounter on an airplane between Brian McSweeney and Shawn Rios 22 years ago grew into a decades long friendship which ignited the inevitable musical partnership that formed Chicago’s MIIRRORS. They reverse-engineered the usual process of becoming a band by prioritizing album creation over live performance while at their own

What began as a chance encounter on an airplane between Brian McSweeney and Shawn Rios 22 years ago grew into a decades long friendship which ignited the inevitable musical partnership that formed Chicago’s MIIRRORS. They reverse-engineered the usual process of becoming a band by prioritizing album creation over live performance while at their own pace, morphing the duo into a cohesive quintet of seasoned multi-instrumentalists along the way- veterans Dmitri Rakhuba, Andre Miller, and Patrick Riley completed the lineup and they evolved the collective sound quickly, momentarily trading the stage for the tracking room. Recorded in Studio B at Electrical Audio along with sessions in Los Angeles and Nashville, their upcoming debut LP Motion And Picture is a cinematic soundscape of honest lyrical introspection and reactive abrasion, a personal timespan of disillusionment, resolve and return of hope. Waves of cascading textures blur the sonic lines between synthesizers and guitars a la My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive as Rios’s atypical rhythms anchor the songs while McSweeney’s voice ascends beyond Miller’s/ Riley’s/ Rakhuba’s expanding colors.

Soaking up a multitude of experiences for more than four decades, Ivan Julian, who has notably distinguished himself as guitarist and writer for (Richard Hell and The Voidoids, The Clash, Shriekback, The Outsets, etc.), releases his new album, Swing Your Lanterns, on PRAVDA Records. With songs that reflect experiences over the past five years and

Soaking up a multitude of experiences for more than four decades, Ivan Julian, who has notably distinguished himself as guitarist and writer for (Richard Hell and The Voidoids, The Clash, Shriekback, The Outsets, etc.), releases his new album, Swing Your Lanterns, on PRAVDA Records. With songs that reflect experiences over the past five years and beyond that follow one another like a series of novelettes recounting both past and present..  To help make this possible, we find Florent Barbier of Elliot Murphy’s band on drums, Keith Streng of The Fleshtones on percussion and backing vocals-  from Chicago, Nicholas Tremulis on guitar and backing vocals, Derek Brand also from Chicago plays bass, as well as bassist James Burke, and Jared Michael Nickerson, (Burnt Sugar Arkestra) to name just a few.

On Trust the Waves Will Hold You, award-winning rock violinist, singer and songwriter Susan Voelz delivers six enchanting songs that wash through the listener’s consciousness with surges of delight, lyrical eloquence and wisdom. Known best as what the Austin American Statesman signals as “the soul of the sound” of Poi Dog Pondering, she has also

On Trust the Waves Will Hold You, award-winning rock violinist, singer and songwriter Susan Voelz delivers six enchanting songs that wash through the listener’s consciousness with surges of delight, lyrical eloquence and wisdom. Known best as what the Austin American Statesman signals as “the soul of the sound” of Poi Dog Pondering, she has also played with such luminaries as John Mellencamp, Alejandro Escovedo and numerous others alongside composing and recording music for television and theatre and album projects. The disc is drawn from unreleased tracks Voelz recorded with Poi Dog in 2000 and polished up during the recent pandemic lockdown, all of them luscious soundscapes graced by her “masterful and woozy violin” ( LA Weekly) and warm singing. “Oyster” is a full-throttle cruise across a sea of melodic splashes that brims with desire (“All I want is the oyster or everything’). On “If You were Me” a couple trades genders to celebrate the fullness of their love in a prancing pas de deux, while “Step off the Roof” crackles with the challenge of a difficult decision. She wraps it up with a delectably lilting take on the Beatles chestnut “With a Little Help from my Friends.” To adapt a line Voelz sings, waltz with her to this rhapsody. It’s an offer with abundant rewards.