Graff legend Slang used to be a neighbor of mine. His sharp-witted personality is mirrored in his latest commision for Wicker Park’s upscale cocktail hole in the wall, The Violet Hour.

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Twisted, offensive, hilarious. I can’t quite put my finger on where all these people must be coming from. It seems that the strongest thread between all of these hilarious shorts is an incredibly dark sense of humor.

I don’t have nearly enough hours in the day to go out and see all the great comedy and live performances I would like. I also feel like a waste-oid. sitting in front of a screen for a half an hour to get a good laugh. These weekly shorts are perfect for a quick, sick giggle.

Second in the series of hip hop instrumentals with a different producer on each side of the LP comes Sword for Fieldwerk Recordings. Something about hypnotic rhythms paired with spacey synth samples and R&B] vocals just adds up to a cold-ass winter for me. Meaty Ogre takes side A, showing off his craft for sampling, timing, and bringing a hook home without wearing it out. The flip follows the dark theme, with more sweeping beats aimed at the ‘banging head’ by producer and label owner Crushcon7. This record beats as hard as an ice cold pavement.

After selling some 3,000 pieces out of the 4,000 or so that he has produced in the past decade, Chicago artist Derek Erdman is getting out of dodge. Moving westward has not stopped him from putting together one final show at High Concept Laboratories. Without Wax will feature over 1,000 paintings and drawings of this poignant Ohio-born, Chicago-bred genius.

As if that’s not enough, there will be hot dogs with fortunes inside, and over twenty pounds of gummi bears. Odd Obsession Djs will be treating peoples ears to rare Jamaican tunes, whilst this carnival of full circle Erdman ensues. All things considered, this is the most important opening in Chicago this summer.

Post 27 is a unique and beautiful space on Chicago Ave in the Ukrainian Village. I first stumbled upon this ‘all things interior’ boutique a few weeks back, helping a friend move a table. Their new website showcases much of their vintage furniture, jewelery, and art that is held within this stunning establishment.

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After several years of curating art work at events and bars around town, myself and a few friends decided to get a space of our own. Although our first opening isn’t until this coming weekend, we allowed Ben at RVCA to host an event in our gallery. This is a video from the night featuring the work of Charlie Megna, Jake Gillispie, and Matt Jorgenson. Also featured is local rock outfit The Infected.

There’s an obvious play on the Spinners original here, but that doesn’t mean that these folks don’t create a serious stomper all their own. I first got hipped to Myron & E through Chris in my current DJ collective.

The unstoppable beat of northern-tempo soul turns me on like nothing else, and quite frankly, gets the kids shakin’ like few things do these days. The Finnish Timmion label is putting out tracks that are befuddling and euphoric for the same reasons. I can hardly believe that these recordings are not mid-sixties. It’s almost scary to me the way the Soul Investigators provide quality, legit sounding soul tunes resonating in the same manner as many of my old crusty 45s.

Joining the ranks of soul revivalist groups such as El Michels Affair and The Dap Kings are Chicago’s own The Uptown Sound. Fronted by the charismatic JC Brooks, this group channels equal parts grimy garage and butter drenched R&B. Spanish label Vampi Soul released this sharply packaged 45 just a few weeks ago, and neither side disappoints. The A side of this dancefloor gem sports an alternate version of Baltimore is the New Brooklyn, the fiery single from this year’s The Beat Of Our Own Drum.

When I was first introduced to these home speakers, I couldn’t tell if they were sculptures or actually speakers. At three feet tall, the pair of octoganally fluted horns stand atop an eight inch baltic birch cube, which houses the driver. The opening of the horn is just over a foot wide and is designed to allow the sounds that are played through it to naturally separate, similar to the way you hear things when you see music live. All speakers are made to order, allowing the customer an array of color and finish combinations, adding to the psychedelic appearance of the speakers. There’s a small selection of other audiophile products on the Specimen website, including some documentation of the custom amplification they have done for Andrew Bird. But with these little guys punching in at clean $1850 a pair, I don’t know that my aspirations to acquire any more than them would be healthy for me and my pocket book.

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Raga is my new hangover cure. Ravi Shankar put me so at peace the other morning, I couldn’t believe it. I woke with a blistering whiskey headache and mouth that felt like Elmers glue. With no eggs in the fridge, and no bacon in sight, I sat down at my computer and put on this video. Whether it was the soothing drones or Shankar’s pensive expression, I was in an entirely different place by the end of this video. A much better place.

Blending macro-photography and digital mirroring, Chicago-based photographer Kristin Bruni composes images that are both peculiar and enchanting. The symmetrical abstractions range from intense angular splashes of color, to smooth and tranquil visual landscapes. Having only viewed her portfolio, I was stunned with the magnitude of size and emotional range of her gallery work. Suggestive and elusive is the best way to describe seeing her brilliant work in person. I’ll never look at cabbage, bubbles, or fishing rods the same way again.

Pilsen bred trio Meah! are Funkadelic meets Fugazi, chaotic and spazzy, coupled with really hooky-grooves. When I saw them play in Chicago recently, they were in rare form, wiith guitarist Pat Rios half sitting on a stool, half painfully hobble-rocking about the stage, claiming a football injury. Having only seen Meah! play at lofts and smaller venues, it was pretty nasty to hear the Somebody’s Killing A Choir Of Cats vocals as up front in the mix as they deserve.

I met one of the Chicago contributors of this New York, LA, Chicago collaboration site in front of a local bike shop this past summer. He was happily showing off his latest thrift store VHS scores to a mutual friend of ours. I slept on the “blog” he said he was collecting the tapes for for some time. Sometimes I make mistakes. Everything is Terrible is a brilliant library of all things unsettling. These are not posts of mindless YouTube anomalies. These are serious and hilarious documentations of what could be lost on most people were it not for these ironic excavators.

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From the surreal opening to the feverish end, Fate Unfolds captivates with a tonal palette that is both broad and gripping. Indie kings of the southwest, Tristeza, have been at it for slightly over a decade. Their latest full-length delivers without a drop of disappointment. Fate Unfolds is drenched with the seemingly long lost art of crafting an album that plays as one solid piece. I could pick several ‘singles’ that I hear on this record, but to do anything but drop the needle and park it does a huge disservice to the artistry and arrangement of this record as a whole. Herein are huge washes of guitars and synths, layered with drums dubbing back and forth from programmed to acoustic with ease and a backbeat that is anything but ‘indie rock’.

Instrumental bands get a bad rap. It’s mostly because of the Canadian melodramatics that ruined it for everybody in the late nineties. If I didn’t know this record was slated for a release in just a couple months, I don’t know that I could have accurately pinpointed a time period on the recording of these songs. While several production elements hint at a 70s dub feel, there is a mature tension, and raw rock element that is an emergent sound for Tristeza. It’s almost like certain elements invoke the image of Lee Perry slapping hi-fives to Steve Albini behind the mixing console.

Tristeza are also helping spearhead a trend that is integral to the survival and validity of independent music. There will be no US compact disc release of this album. Better Looking Records will distribute the digital format of Fate Unfolds, and Wildlife Vinyl will be pressing the vinyl.
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This band is one of the most promising acts to appear in Chicago in the past few years. Their live shows have set them apart from their stoner-spazz rock counterparts, with an elaborate light set up that they bring to each show. Yes, you see correctly, lead vocalist joe is ‘playing’ the lights. I can’t imagine these guys ever quit working being that they build their own amps, and drummer, Mizzola plays in like ten other great Chicago bands. Look out for Lasers and Fast and Shit’s new 7″, Introduction, out now.

The Monome interfaces provide seemingly endless possibilities for combinations of aural and visual amazement. It’s a wonder to me that people are still using midi keyboards as trigger devices to elude the fact that they can’t play an actual instrument. With sleek design and eco-friendly packaging, its no wonder the first run in 2008 sold out in two minutes. Whether they decide to release one or two hundred devices, the Monome 64 is going to be available again in January 2010.

To call Zombi a one trick pony would be unfair. They’re more like a one trick battle horse. They have a formula that works and they stick to it. The Pittsburgh duo channel original N.E.S, 80s horror films, and cinematic post-rock into a listening experience that kinda makes you wanna fight somebody. Their songs make me feel angsty in a way I wish more music did. Imagine writing a record with John Carpenter in the year 2012, then you are getting close to what’s really going on here.

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I had the pleasure of meeting painter Maria Calderon a few years back through some mutual friends. Even then her work was stunning. It seemed as though you could stand back and take in everything you thought you could, and if you moved up to a piece, you were pulled in to all the different stories, different landscapes, within a single painting. The vibrant colors and never ending spacial trickery really does it for me.

Multi-faceted artist Tim Biedron is probably best known for his incredible tattoo work (which you have to book an appointment for about three months in advance). Although he’s very successful at inflicting pain in an incredibly beautiful way, he still finds time to paint and hash out the drawings that originally inspired his work on the human canvas. His drawings, in particular, have an off-kilter reminiscence of horror masked with simple images of animals, fish, and characters from his mind that at first appear harmless, until you realize there’s something just a bit off about them.

Philippine born, Chicago resident, Miriam Fanger is addicted to coffee, and capturing moments that don’t exist with the reality of passing time. The subtle intensity she has, along with a tenacity for shooting, makes her work powerful and moving. Her photos seem to catch all people at a passing instant of vulnerability, and the posture and eyes of her subjects radiate with a chemistry that I rarely see in portraiture.