ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Tropical Fuck Storm

Photo by Jaime Wdziekonski

Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 2017, Tropical Fuck Storm was born after Drones founder Gareth Liddiard and longtime bandmate Fiona Kitschin decided to hit the reset button and venture into a brand new project. Erica Dunn and Lauren Hammel joined Liddiard and Kitschin in this new group, and since their inception, Tropical Fuck Storm has created content that boldly discusses and dissects even the most dire of topics. From consumerism to fascism and climate change to the Capitol riot, Liddiard and the band do not shy away from questioning it all.

Liddiard describes Tropical Fuck Storm’s agenda best by stating, “We make pop records that don’t deny we’re all in a bit of trouble here.” Although they didn’t write any new material during the first six months of the global pandemic shut down—due to that ever relatable feeling that they call “give-a-fuck fatigue”— Tropical Fuck Storm has recently previewed their upcoming third studio album Deep States with new singles “G.A.F.F.” and “New Romeo Agent.” Just as no subject is too taboo for them to call out in their music, no genre or sonic territory is off limits for the band with their latest material. With a swirl of art punk, jazz, hip-hop, pop, new wave (just to name a few), Deep States explores a multitude of musical stylings to get Tropical Fuck Storm’s message across.

Out August 20th, the new record follows up 2019’s Braindrops and will be released by Joyful Noise. Pre-order the album here, and tune into the “New Romeo Agent” music video below. Make sure to also follow the band’s Instagram for all the latest updates.

Premiere: Dream Version's "A Mind Can Change"

Dream Version is Alec Harryhausen, Eric Brummit and Michael Kunik

Chicago three-piece Dream Version has always been an ANCHR favorite, thanks to their infectious energy during their live performances and their tendency to push their creative boundaries. That’s why this week, we’re honored to be premiering the brand new video for their single “A Mind Can Change,” from their upcoming self-titled album.

Dream Version says that for their third album, they’ve decided to take a moment to simply inhabit the space they’ve created— calling upon their two mantras of “Don’t waste time” and “Don’t condescend.” Throughout the span of time between this record and 2017’s Fight Fair, the trio has experienced marriage, divorce, relocation, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The band says, “The result is a looser set of songs that represents everything we like and everything we’re capable of.  We decided to name it after ourselves.”

Elaborating on the new single “A Mind Can Change,” Alec Harryhausen says the inspiration stems from his fundamentally cynical attitude. He adds, “A lot of the story of this album started with me looking up at a dirty ceiling fan in my apartment and thinking, ‘That’s just the way life is; the ceiling fan’s dirty and I’ll never have the time or energy to clean it.’  The notion that it can take about 30 seconds to solve a problem like that, believe it or not, has been kind of revolutionary.  It was a fundamental part of my world view that most problems are facts of life, and even that we as a species might not deserve to have clean ceiling fans.”

From there, he began to shift his own mindset and to rewire his perspective. That fresh outlook, coupled with Harryhausen’s appreciation for Plastic Ono Band, led to him working through his demo of “A Mind Can Change” with bandmates Eric Brummit and Michael Kunik to build out the dynamics of it and keep it interesting for the whole run time. “It was a challenge for us to play this slow; we had to practice it a lot,” the band says.

For the music video, Dream Version worked with director Patrick Betzold, who had some experience doing animated work at his job and wanted to try it in a more ambitious way. As the band describes it, the video tells the story of 3 astronauts leaving behind a dead planet and trying to find a new one.

Watch the video below, and be sure to pre-order the self-titled album ahead of its July 30th release date here, or snag a ticket to the record release show to pick up a copy in person!

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Vaccines

Photo courtesy of Red Light Management

In 2021, there’s been no shortage of discussion about Covid-19 vaccines, but today we’re here to talk about The Vaccines. With nearly two million monthly listeners on Spotify and a catalog of absolute bops like “Post Break-up Sex,” “If You Wanna” and “Wetsuit,” there’s a high chance a lot of you are already familiar with the London band composed of Justin Hayward-Young, Freddie Cowan, Árni Árnason, Timothy Lanham, and Yoann Intonti. If you’re not, now is the perfect time to get to know them ahead of their upcoming fifth studio album Back In Love City, which is set to be released in September.

With jovial drumbeats, bright guitar riffs and witty lyrics you can’t help but sing along to, The Vaccines is one of those bands that will put a smile on your face as soon as you hear the intro of one of their songs. That carefree spirit of their music translates perfectly to their live shows, with lead vocalist Young never failing to work the entire stage and keep the whole room entranced. I’ve been lucky enough to see The Vaccines perform several times, but my favorite memory of them has to be their sold-out show at London’s Roundhouse venue in 2019. There was an electrifying wave of positive energy in the crowd that night, something that transcended the normal hometown show vibes, making that gig one that I’ll never forget.

The latest singles from The Vaccines “Headphones Baby” and “Back In Love City” pack even more pep, delivering an expectation that Back In Love City will certainly be a record that keeps listeners dancing. About the new album, Young has said the idea for the fictional Love City stemmed from his experience partaking in a house swap in Los Angeles. “I literally swapped lives with a stranger. I lived in in house and drove his car while he lived in mine, but we’d never met and had no previous connections,” he adds, describing the experience that fueled his fascination with disconnection and escapism.

Make sure to pre-order Back In Love City here, and keep an eye out for upcoming tour dates from The Vaccines here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Divino Niño

Sheeta-Kuri-Ooah! ( I am not sure what that means but it sounds like a great salutation.) As I'm sure many of you Chicago music lovers were able recognize, that is a lyric from the title track of Divino Niño's album Foam.

Photo by Alexa Viscius

Divino Niño is a five piece rock band based in Chicago composed of Camilo Medina, Javier Forero, Guillermo Rodriguez-Torres, Pierce Codina, and Justin Vitorri. Forero and Medina were buds as young children in Bogota, Columbia but when Forero's family moved to Miami, the two had lost touch… That is, until one day, Medina's family also moved to Miami, and fate had it to where he and Ferero reconnected when they recognized each other on the bus. In Miami they attended the same church where they had the opportunity to perform before an audience and experience the high of performing live. Years later, the pair moved to Chicago for college and their new independence granted them the opportunity to discover secular music like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, which thankfully for us, began the formation of Divino Niño.

Foam is a lovely album that should be on every vinyl collector's list. All ten songs are exceptional. “Melty Caramelo”? Bop. “Coca Cola”? Bop. “Maria”? Heart Break Bop.

Before anyone asks, yes, Divino Niño did make Perez's Best of 2019 with their song “Foam.” It was a hit amongst my fans. Full disclosure though, they sing in both Spanish and English— so if that turns you off, grow up. It's 2021 and all of us should be able to groove no matter the tongue. I love that we here in Chicago get to have our own Latin music group that we get to claim. Even cooler is that they actually sound great. With the present popularity of Latin-American artists being so high, i.e. Cuco, Omar Apollo, and the Marías to name a few, Divino Niño add a beautiful psychedelic rock ambiance to the current prevailing musical climate. I have yet to catch them live (I know, I know, very unlike me), but I'm pumped to finally get the chance to check them out at Pitchfork this fall.

Snag your own copy of Foam here, and get tickets to Pitchfork fest here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Squirrel Flower

Photo by Tonje Thilesen

You know how certain bands have that very particular signature sound where you can recognize one of their songs before the lyrics even kick in? Well, with Squirrel Flower— the project of vocalist, songwriter and musician Ella Williams— there’s a consistent air of experimentation and exploration of different energies and sounds in her music, leading to a completely different effect. Across the first Squirrel Flower EPs and debut album I Was Born Swimming, Williams delivers reflective lyrics and a sweeping vocal performance, lending varying timbres to her silky voice.

Back in April, Williams announced Squirrel Flower’s sophomore record entitled Planet (i), giving us the lead single “Hurt A Fly.” The track leans a little heavier than some of Squirrel Flower’s past releases, featuring distorted and frenzied guitar riffs and telling the story of manipulative lover switching back and forth between powerful emotions. Talking about the track, Williams says, “‘Hurt A Fly’ is me embodying a persona of gaslighting, narcissistic soft-boy type shit. The classic ‘sorry I acted violently, I'm not mad that you got upset at me, wanna hang out next week?’ I wanted to see what it was like to be a character trying to skirt around accountability. It's an angry and unhinged song.” Tune in below to experience the track in all its glory.

As for the rest of the album Planet (i), Williams says most of the songs were written ahead of the pandemic, but she spent a large part of quarantine demoing them in her bedroom. When it came time to safely record the studio versions of the tracks, Williams worked with producer Ali Chant out of The Playpen in Bristol, UK. Williams and Chant provided the backbone for most of the instrumentation on the record, but it remained collaborative with guest contributions (provided remotely) by the likes of Tenci's Jess Shoman, Tomberlin, Katy J. Pearson, Jemima Coulter, Brooke Bentham, and Williams’ family members.

Be sure to pre-order Planet (i) ahead of its June 25th release date here, and check out Squirrel Flower’s upcoming tour dates here. The majority of the shows are unsurprisingly sold out, but if you were lucky enough to snag tickets, Squirrel Flower will actually be playing two shows here in Chicago this weekend at Sleeping Village.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Nation of Language

Photo by Kevin Condon

I am very much looking forward to getting back to traveling and seeing live music soon, so this week’s AAOTW has ties to a near and dear memory of both of those hobbies. Back in 2018, I was in NYC for the weekend and had the chance to photograph The Wombats at Brooklyn Steel. I showed up not knowing anything about the band Nation of Language, who had filled in a supporting slot when UK band Blaenavon had to pull out of the tour. Despite my inexperience with their music, Nation of Language’s set left me blown away with their refreshing spin on the post-punk and new wave eras of music. I remember instantly going to their Spotify to save their songs “I’ve Thought About Chicago” and “On Division St,” which the band had recently released that year.

Nation of Language is a trio based in Brooklyn, fronted by songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ian Devaney and joined by Aidan Noell and Michael Sue-Poi. In the following few years since that show, the band has put out a steady drip of singles, some of which ended up on their highly-anticipated 2020 debut album Introduction, Presence.

There’s a certain magic to Nation of Language’s music; They manage to craft the perfect blend of infectious hooks driven by hypnotic synths and steady bass lines, topped off by Devaney’s robust vocals. The trio’s latest single “Across That Fine Line,” which happens to be the lead single off their newly-announced sophomore album A Way Forward, has that same quality I’ve come to love them for. There’s just something about Nation of Language’s sound that is equally soothing and jolting— their music can make listeners want to dance, yet provides and escape route from worries. Devaney describes his inspiration for the new song “Across That Fine Line” as being about that moment when a non-romantic relationship flips into something different. “Sonically, it’s meant to feel like running down a hill, just out of control. I had been listening to a lot of Thee Oh Sees at the time of writing it and admiring the way they supercharge krautrock rhythms and imbue them with a kind of mania, which felt like an appropriate vibe to work with and make our own,” he adds.

As for the remainder of the upcoming album, A Way Forward, I’m curious and excited to see how the group will push the boundaries on their sound. The band has described their approach to the album, stating, “We aimed to more deeply trace the roots of our sound, hoping to learn something from the early influences of our early influences. Experimenting with how they might be reinterpreted in our modern context.”

Make sure to tune into A Way Forward upon its November 5th release date— you can pre-order here. Additionally, Nation of Language will be heading back out on tour later this year, including a stop at Chicago’s Empty Bottle. See all the upcoming shows here, and tune into “Across That Fine Line” below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Squid

Squid is Louis Borlase, Oliver Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson // Photo by Holly Whitaker

As venues open back up and tours are getting announced again, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to see some live music from bands I’ve never seen before. One band in particular I’m looking forward to seeing for the first time is Squid, a band made up of Louis Borlase, Oliver Judge, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson, with a sound that fuses everything from post-punk to jazz into a fluid genre of its own. Formed in 2015 in Brighton and now based in London, Squid released their debut record titled Bright Green Field on May 7th this year, following up a handful of singles and EPs.

Bright Green Field opens with the ambient 40-second blip titled “Resolution Square” that fades seamlessly into “G.S.K.”— an upbeat track that features abrasive, punchy vocals layered over a brass-infused groove. In just the first few minutes of the debut album, it’s easy to identify the admiration for ambient and jazz music that brought the band members together initially during their years at University, but their fluid sound winds itself throughout the entire 55-minute long album.

Squid is a band who simultaneously blends unexpected sounds together and blurs the boundaries on defined band roles by having everyone wear multiple hats and make an array of contributions. They describe their unique process best by saying that the record is a product of five heads operating as one. “We’re all going through different phases of our life as a band and as individuals so that contributes to the eclecticism which is inherent in what we do,” Pearson elaborates.

Being keen on collaboration within the group also transferred into having several guest performers come in for the recording of Bright Green Field. In addition to having orchestral and jazz musicians like Black Country, New Road’s Lewis Evans on saxophone and multi instrumentalist jazz musician Emma-Jean Thackray join in, Squid recorded about 30 of their friends voices and collated them all to form a distorted and layered choir of their own.

Make sure to snag your own copy of Bright Green Field here, and keep up with Squid’s upcoming tour dates on their Facebook.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Marías

As artists find new ways to express their vision and experiment with different sounds, it’s become less and less common for a musician or band to become pigeonholed by a single-defined genre. The Los Angeles-based project of María Zardoya, aptly called The Marías, recently released their lead single off their highly anticipated debut album and further proved the vast range of musical styles that they have in their wheelhouse. The track “Hush” showcases Zardoya’s velvety, jazz-infused vocals laid over a hypnotic electronic backbone, but their back catalog features hints of anything from psychedelia to funk.

For example, the song “Only in My Dreams” from the band’s 2017 EP Superclean, Vol.1 has an atmospheric, cinematic sound— which leads nicely into the title of their debut album to be released June 25th: Cinema. Zardoya and bandmate Josh Conway say that the record drew inspiration from classic films and directors that they grew up watching— a la Pedro Almodóvar and Wes Anderson. Even more fitting, Conway and Zardoya originally connected because of their love and appreciation for cinema. “Through a friend, [Josh and I] were connected to a music supervisor who would send us requests for music for films. We’d receive a synopsis of a scene, and then we’d have to write music to it within a couple of days. Not only did that teach us how to write songs together fairly quickly, it taught us how to think like filmmakers. We’d imagine worlds in our minds based on the synopses – the colors in the scene, the lighting, the actors, the set design, and of course, the music,” Zardoya says about her songwriting partnership.

I only had the pleasure of seeing The Marías perform live once, but I still remember the way Zardoya and her bandmates completely captivated the room (enough for the audience to demand an encore despite the fact they were opening the show). I’m hopeful we’ll see some tour announcements released soon so that we can all hear some of their newer music performed.

Pre-Order the upcoming album Cinema before its June 25th release date here, and check out the trail that Zardoya and Conway co-edited and directed here. Lastly, watch the visualizer for “Hush” below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Lightning Bug

Lightning Bug is Audrey Kang, Kevin Copeland, Logan Miley, Dane Hagen and Vincent Puleo// Photo by Ingmar Chen

Although Lightning Bug released their debut album Floaters way back in 2015, I only recently discovered their music after the release of their single “September Song, pt, II.” The new single instantly drew me in with lead singer Audrey Kang’s lulling and gentle vocal tones, paired with the dazzling melody, and led me on a deeper dive of the band’s catalog. The softness of Kang’s voice acts as an anchor for all of Lightning Bug’s releases—In the track “Vision Scraps” from the sophomore record October Song, distorted guitars create a juxtaposition with Kang’s voice. We hear a similar contrast with the fuzzed out intro of “The Luminous Plane,” yet we remain grounded by the ethereal vocals.

Mostly based in New York, Lightning Bug is the project of Audrey Kang, Kevin Copeland, Logan Miley, Dane Hagen and Vincent Puleo. Along with the new single release for “September Song, pt, II,” Lightning Bug also announced their third album A Color of the Sky will be released June 25th via Fat Possum Records. The group of musicians recorded most of the album together as a live band, which they say gave this third record a more dynamic and organic feel than their past albums.

About their latest single, Kang said it came to her in the summer of 2018 when she spent a month camping on a small island in the Baltic Sea. “There I was in the north off the coast of Stockholm, the sun was setting insanely late, like at 11pm and it took hours longer than normal. So I'd watch it disappear, this glowing orb sink into the sea every night to the point where I felt kind of insane, like I was hallucinating...and I started reliving memories but they felt like they were right before me and then I felt confused, was I reliving memories, or seeing into the future? I kept thinking to myself, each end is a beginning, each end is a beginning. So this surreal experience with time lay dormant in me, and then an entire year later, I was camping in the PNW, also on the shore, and I watched the sun sink into the sea, and suddenly those sunsets from Sweden rippled through me again very vividly. And when I came back to New York, I wrote this song,” she describes.

In addition to the new album, Lightning Bug has made the exciting announcement of live shows returning! The band will support BULLY on a string of dates in September. Make sure you snag your tickets and preorder A Color of the Sky here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Mia Joy

Photo by Ash Dye

One of my favorite aspects about music is that it can provide an escape from reality—with just the right mix of lyrics and melody, a song can wash away the worst of your anxieties and envelope you in a tranquil environment. Mia Joy is one artist in particular who excels in her ability to mollify listeners and provide an oasis through her songwriting. Take the hypnotic wind chimes that introduce Mia’s track “See Us” or the nostalgia-laced synths that fade in on “Haha,” and it’s no surprise that she introduces her latest single “Saturn” with meditative vocalizations. Despite the unique stamp that all of Mia Joy’s releases possess, there’s a common thread of peacefulness embedded throughout.

The Chicago based project of Mia Joy is fronted by lead singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mia Rocha with Joseph Farago on keys and Emerson Hunton on percussion. The latest single “Saturn” debuted last week, marking the final countdown before Mia Joy’s debut album Spirit Tamer releases Friday, May 7th via Fire Talk Records. Speaking about the new track, Rocha says, “I am a practicing astrologer and It is written in the voice of Saturn, the planet of restriction, isolation, responsibility, hard lessons. It mockingly asks me how it has affected my life, makes me question my faith in humanity and inner loneliness. All running themes of the album.”

Recorded at Pallet Sound studios in Chicago by Michael Mac and co-produced with Rocha, Spirit Tamer highlights Rocha’s wide array of influences that range from Grouper to Sade and Selena. Prior to gigs being shut down, I only had the pleasure of seeing Mia Joy perform live a couple of times, but I’m certainly looking forward to venues reopening and getting to hear some of these new songs played in person!

Make sure you pre-order the new record here, and check out the video for “Saturn” below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Ellis

Photo by Ariel Bader-Shama

Better known as Ellis, Ontarian singer-songwriter Linnea Siggelkow debuted her musical project in 2018 with six song EP The Fuzz. While Siggelkow’s storytelling digs deep into a sense of vulnerability, the dreamy and gentle lilt of her vocals adds a breezy quality to her songs that make them a perfect soundtrack to a summertime drive.

Following Ellis’ debut, Siggelkow had toured with acts like Mannequin Pussy and SASAMI, with a plan to tour in support of her 2020 debut album Born Again. While the tour obviously couldn’t go on, listeners were thankfully still graced the LP, which takes us through a journey beginning with jovial track “Pringle Creek.” From the more upbeat and jangly chords of title track “Born Again” to the melodic piano-driven “March 13,” the record explores a multitude of moods and emotions.

While those songs are still frequent in my rotation, Ellis announced just last week that we’ll soon get to hear even more new music from her, which she worked on during the shut down in 2020. Speaking about her creative process for new EP entitled Hospital, Siggelkow says, “I was very intentional throughout my process in a way I hadn't been able to be before, especially in choosing who to work with, and this unlocked some of the most special collaborative experiences I've ever been a part of.” Ellis worked with Dizzy’s Charlie Spencer as a co-producer and mixer for this most recent project.

You can tune into the first glimpse of the new EP by listening to the title track below, and be sure to preorder the EP here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Sault

It seems every couple of years we get bands or artists that create music within a cloud of mystery. The Weeknd started his career this way.— it wasn’t until his music really blew up in the mainstream that the world finally got to see the man behind the stage name. In the electronic world Daft Punk’s whole shtick is that they’re robots. Deadmau5 was similar to the The Weeknd in that his identity remained steeped in mystery during the beginning of his career, but ultimately he couldn’t keep that up with how popular his music became. We still don’t know what Buckethead looks like; and we still don’t really know who all is in The Knife. Then you have artists that try to do the mysterious approach, but no one really cares; i.e. Marshmello.  The latest musical project to endeavor into the mystery realm is Sault. 

When I first heard Sault, I thought they were a DJ, à la Kaskade or Nero, but like many Chicagoans who listen to Sound Opinions, the hosts were reviewing Sault as a British musical group, and I was like “Dang, they’re a band?”  The members of the group aren’t really known. We just know that Inflo seems to be involved in some capacity and Michael Kiwanuka (or members of his band) seem to also be involved in some way. Whoever they are though, their music is hot. 

Sault’s music is funky, soulful, and seems to center around police brutality/BLM subjects. With the memory of 2020 still in our minds, both albums they released in 2020 were very relevant. Untitled (Black Is) was on many publications short list for album of the year until three months later Sault released Untitled (Rise), and that seemed to leap frog the previous album to garner even more praise and attention. Their track “Wildfires” is so beautiful it makes me want to blast it in my house with only candles illuminating my abode. “Free” is another striking song except this one gives me the vibes to remain in that same setting, but add spontaneous dancing. Hopefully when festivals and shows come back we’ll finally get to see who they are.  For now, tune into Untitled (Black Is) below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Arlo Parks

One of the most lovely sounding songs to come out in 2020 was “Black Dog” by Arlo Parks. The song is about a friend or loved one that is in a dark place and Arlo Parks is expressing to them that she is there, mindful of the depression, and willing to assist in comfort, companionship, and support. Being heedful of the declining mental health of those we are close to is important in our every day lives already, but in 2020 many people had an even tougher time with their mental health while in isolation and shelter-in-place. “Black Dog” was a song in which those people were able to find solace.  The song’s thoughtful lyrics and Arlo’s sweet sounding voice made it the soundtrack for many people’s entire year. 

Arlo Parks is the stage name for Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho.  She is a young poet and singer-songwriter from West London. Her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams finally came out at the end of January 2021 and it included the aforementioned “Black Dog” along with a number of already released songs that garnered some popularity like “Eugene” and “Green Eyes.” 

Arlo Parks is yet another artist I wish 2020 didn’t screw us live music lovers on, but if I put on my optimistic goggles, hopefully she’ll be part of what makes the tail end of 2021 awesome.  She currently has tour dates scheduled for Europe and in two cities in the States (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), but I wouldn’t be surprised if more dates were added once things become more clear and the vaccines become more readily available. 

Order your own copy of Arlo Parks’ album here and check out Arlo and her band performing “Black Dog” virtually in quarantine below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Idles

Photo by Tom Ham

Idles is exactly what rock and roll needs right now. Their music is fantastic, their live shows are high energy and in your face, they’re affable— and to put it succinctly; they’re woke. In the current sociopolitical climate that both the U.S. and the U.K. find themselves, these five British blokes ensure their messages of inclusiveness, feminism, anti-classism, and anti-racism are definitively pronounced in both their recorded music and live shows. 

Idles formed in 2009, but it wasn’t until their 2018 album Joy as an Act of Resistance, my favorite album of that year, that they really exploded. Their music possesses the traits of empathy and vulnerability while simultaneously being ferocious. Their love of music is evident in their performance. I’ve seen them thrice and all three times they were terrific. They should be on every music lover’s list to catch live. 

Out of all the marvelous “post-punk” bands that have come of out the UK, Idles has become my favorite. I have zero hesitation when saying it is my opinion that they are presently the best currently active rock band in the world.  At their Lollapalooza after show at Lincoln Hall, members of Cage the Elephant and The Strokes were in attendance. If Julian Casablancas thinks you’re rad, then no other compliment is needed. 

Tune into Idles’ 2020 album Ultra Mono here, and watch their live performance of “Carcinogenic” for Independent Venue Week below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Girl in Red

Photo by Isak Jenssen

“Do you listen to girl in red?”  Yes, I’m aware that joke is dead, but I wanted to use it in this Artist of the Week post to claim victory.  The queer community tried to keep girl in red for themselves but we weren’t having it. Girl in red is for the people.  Marie Ulven is a Norwegian singer-songwriter who has been releasing music under this alias since 2018.  A number of publications have labeled her as “dream pop” but if you listen to her latest release “serotonin,” it sounds more EDM than anything to me. After my first listen, it gave me Alison Wonderland vibes. I say that to try and make the point that every year, it’s becoming more and more antediluvian to try and place bands under a single genre. Girl in red, I feel, fits into that new style of music creators; Some would call it “multi-genre” whereas I would call it “genre-less.”

We at ANCHR were fortunate to catch girl in red at the Iceland Airwaves Music Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland back in 2019.  One of the best parts of the show was that it was put on by KEXP and being live-streamed for the listeners back in Seattle but it kept slipping Ulven’s mind that the performance was being shared live and she would continuously swear during her in-between songs banter with the audience. The KEXP producers would try to get her attention to get her to stop doing that and she would then laugh and unwittingly say “shit, I forgot,” which gave her performance the same endearing relatability as her lyrics. We went into the show really digging a handful of her songs and she did not disappoint when performing them.  “We Fell In Love In October” was a personal favorite and I still can’t kick it. 

My favorite track she released in 2020 was “Midnight Love” and that bop made it onto the track list of her debut album if i could make it go quiet , which comes out April 30, 2021, giving us something to look forward to.

Pre-order if i could make it go quiet  here, and listen to “serotonin” below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: PACKS

If you need a little something to shake up your energy levels and get you over the mid-week slump, look no further than PACKS’ new single "Silvertongue.” The fast-paced and fuzzed-out tune premiered last week alongside the announcement of the band’s debut album Take the Cake. “Silvertongue” gave me my first taste of the Toronto-based project, but when I learned that Fire Talk Records will be putting out the album, I was not surprised at all because they’ve never steered us wrong with any of the other artists on their roster.

PACKS is led by vocalist and songwriter Madeline Link, who started this journey as a solo project but is now joined by bandmates Shane Hooper, Noah O’Neil, and Dexter Nash. While the Covid shut down might have thrown a wrench in the momentum that PACKS had gained in the Toronto live music scene, it did allow for a unique creative process behind Take the Cake.

Photo courtesy of artist

Link explains that the album is a combination of old and new, due to the fact that some of the songs came to fruition in 2019, while another group of songs were crafted while Link quarantined at her parents’ suburban home during the early days of lockdown. “Old songs from a year ago where I'm having really horrifyingly awful days at work, getting doored while biking in Toronto and flying into the middle of the street, or going on dates with guys who I'm either instantly in love with, or who end up creeping me out a bit. Those songs are more packed with that feeling of hurtling-through-time-and-space-at-breakneck-speed, manic energy. The newer songs are infused with a foggier, slower-paced disillusionment, and deal with the strangeness of a reality morphing before my eyes every day. I still try to be optimistic obviously, but these songs are really glorified coping mechanisms,” she says.

Make sure you pre-order Take the Cake on vinyl here, and mark your calendars for the May 21st digital release date. Tune into ““Silvertongue” below.

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ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Dehd

Photo by Alexa Viscius

I mean, seriously…Can we just get these vaccines moving already!?  Dehd released Flowers of Devotion last summer and I haven’t been able to rock with all the new songs in a live setting yet. Like many others, I was looking forward to their set at Pitchfork Music Festival, but of course the ol’ Rona had to stick her nose in our business and ruin everything.  Luckily, I've seen them once before at an “In The Round” show at Thalia Hall so that’s been able to hold me over for now.  Once live music is back though, I highly recommend checking out their performance if they hit a stage near you. Unless you’re one of those people that doesn’t enjoy dancing, good music, and feeling good. If you identify as such, then please stay away— but even then, Dehd is a great band for anyone since they tend to take serious subjects and place them in fun, groovy melodies.

Dehd is a trio out of the Windy City composed of Jason Balla, Emily Kempf, and Eric McGrady. They have three albums to their name and have also found themselves on “Perez’s Best” annual CD mix for the last two years (if you know, you know).  Balla and Kempf were previously in a romantic relationship during the early years of the band, but thankfully their songwriting partnership didn’t die when the romance did. Instead, they continued to hit us with bangers and keep making the people happy. 

If this is the first time you are ever hearing of Dehd, their album Flowers of Devotion is a great album to start with, but don’t sleep on their self-titled debut or 2019’s Water either. I dare all readers when listening to “Haha” or “Loner” to not groove with the music. It’s just not possible.

Be sure to also check out the amusing music videos that the band has released for their recent singles, and snag your own copy of their newest record here.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Fauvely

Fauvely is Sophie Brochu, Dale Price, Dave Piscotti & Phil Conklin / Photo by Aaron Ehinger

At this point in the pandemic, we’ve all got our list of “things-we-can’t-wait-to-do-after-Covid.” At the very top of my post-pandemic bucket list sits a night out at a venue like Schubas or Empty Bottle, seeing a bill of Chicago bands perform. It may still be a while before we can all gather and experience the magic of the bustling local music scene together, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t new music continuing to be created in the city.

One group that has been hard at work crafting their debut album throughout the past year is Fauvely, the project of songwriter Sophie Brochu and bandmates Dale Price, Dave Piscotti, and Phil Conklin. Following the 2017 EP Watch Me Overcomplicate This, Fauvely gained traction in Chicago performing everywhere from The Hideout to Sleeping Village and Lincoln Hall. The band had kicked off 2020 with a slot playing alongside Hand Habits at the annual Tomorrow Never Knows festival, with plans to tour in Japan and perform as an official showcasing artist at SXSW festival during the spring.

While those tour dates unfortunately never came to fruition, Fauvely reemerged in early 2021 with “May3e,” the lead single off their upcoming album. The track resonates with vulnerability, driven by Brochu’s reflective lyrics and dreamy vocal range. This same sentiment carries over into the latest single that Fauvely released earlier this month. “There’s always a reason to be sad,” Bronchu sings on “Always,” which I think we all can agree rang particularly true during the year 2020.

These two songs lead up to the release of Fauvely’s debut album Beautiful Places, a collection of songs which the band describes as being “about duality: light and dark, memory and haze, being stuck and running away.” Pre-order the record ahead of its April 2nd release date on Bandcamp and check out the video for “May3e” below.

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Sir Sly

Sir Sly is Landon Jacobs, Hayden Coplen and Jason Suwito. Photo courtesy of Press Here Publicity

One live music trope I can’t stress enough is to always catch the opening band when you get a chance. Back in early 2014, I showed up to St. Lucia’s show at Lincoln Hall having never heard their supporting band before, and now Sir Sly is easily one of my favorite bands.

Since those early days of being the opening band and the era of their debut album You Haunt Me, Sir Sly has continued on a trajectory of slow and steady maturity. Thanks to lead singer and songwriter Landon Jacobs’ vulnerability and transparency as a storyteller, listeners can sense a stark shift in tones from their first album to their sophomore release Don’t You Worry, Honey; An artistic shift that stems from the major changes that occurred in Jacobs’ personal life. At surface value, you could listen to 2017’s Don’t You Worry, Honey and hear glossy, upbeat melodies destined to gain popularity because of their catchiness, but at its core, Jacobs candidly shares his struggles of losing his mother to cancer and dealing with the disintegration of his young marriage. On top of that, Jacobs managed to turn an experience of a panic attack in a hotel room into the hit “High,” which saw chart success and made appearances in shows like 13 Reasons Why and Riverdale.

Almost four years later, Jacobs and his bandmates Hayden Coplen and Jason Suwito are ready to embark on a new chapter with their third album The Rise & Fall Of Loverboy, which is slated to be released on April 23, 2021 via Interscope Records. To accompany the news of the album, Sir Sly released the fourth and fifth singles off the upcoming record last week: “thx.” and “Loverboy.” In contrast to the mellow vocals and faded instrumentals of the former, “Loverboy” jumps right into an effervescent hook that expresses the joy and ease of a new relationship. On the third album as a whole, Jacobs has said, “The Rise & Fall Of Loverboy is an album about falling in love with someone new, and the magic that brought into my world.”

You can pre-order the new album here, and listen to “Loverboy” in full below.

Keep up with Sir Sly on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Middle Kids

Middle Kids is Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz and Harry Day.

Photo by DAPHNE NGUYEN

The Sydney-based trio Middle Kids released their debut album Lost Friends back in 2018, and songs like “Edge of Town” and “Never Start” from that record have remained in my frequent rotation throughout the past few years thanks to their timeless qualities. While I still appreciate their first record and the singles they’ve released along the way, I was excited to learn that Middle Kids will be releasing their sophomore album next month on March 19th.

To tee up the new record, called Today We’re The Greatest, Middle Kids has put out a few singles- the most recent being “Cellophane (Brain).” The track fades in with a slow burn, gradually swelling up over the course of the song. Since their early days, lead vocalist for the group Hannah Joy has displayed a knack for sharing her stories with a captivating sense of conviction, and that’s continued to shine through in the newer material. On the brink of announcing Today We’re The Greatest, Joy has stated “I want to make music that loves its listener. Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts,” and that sentiment rings true when I listen to the releases from the upcoming album.

For more on the band, revisit our interview with Middle Kids here, and make sure to preorder Today We’re The Greatest here.