Audiotree is one of my favorite companies to discover new music. Based out of Chicago, the company wears many belts, including live sessions, band interviews, sponsorships and artist management. Since the recent inception of the company, they have interviewed and recorded a hundred great bands and counting, both local to Chicago and touring acts.

We had the opportunity to record a live set this past summer at the Audiotree studios. Before the session, I had never heard of this young company, but I was impressed by the genuine interest of the staff in local talent. Audiotree records their live blog posts with multiple studio mics and a group of very talented film kids to give bands live, professional studio concerts at no cost. Check out Audiotree TV to discover the most talented and undiscovered bands coming from Chicago.

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Chicago band The Kickback performs Scorched Earth (Do-Da) at Goodtwin, a branding and design firm in Omaha, Nebraska. This is The Kickback’s second Love Drunk session. The first was shot on the roof of Sandy’s in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Adi Baltazar is a very visual person, so when he gets funny text messages, he tend to envision them occurring in a literal sense, which adds to the hilarity. He’s also a big user of Google docs.

It was only a matter of time that he began to illustrate his morning messages using the Google drawing tool and posting them to a tumblr blog. Apart from the more outrageous illustrations, like “James Franco riding a tandem bike with a horse(with) hands”, the daily entries give you a feel for the mood and weather in Chicago each morning.

Loyal Divide are a criminally unknown band from Chicago. They have a sound all their own: soft, almost sensual male vocals, paired with intense electronic noises and underpinned by triphop style rhythms. The video for their single Vision Vision is secretly live action.

Chicago-based photographer Adam Ekberg has a knack for transforming the mundane into the poignant. He creates minor spectacles by carefully positioning and capturing his subjects.

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If you think the world of fried pastry starts with Dunkin Donuts and ends with Krispy Kreme, then you need to hop on the next plane to Chicago. As of about three weeks ago, the Windy City is now home to a tiny underground shop called The Doughnut Vault, where “fat and delicious” doughnuts are made fresh every morning.

Working in small batches, the owners bake up goodies like gingerbread stacks, buttermilk old-fashioneds, and of course the classic chocolate- and vanilla-glazed. But be sure to set your alarm. The Vault starts selling between 8 and 9am and only stays open ‘til that morning’s batch runs out. So get out of bed already and get over there. A piping-hot doughnut is calling your name.

Jessica Labatte received a Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her photography of ‘everyday objects and materials focus on color and shape while emphasizing a collage aesthetic grounded in both the illusionistic tendencies of photography and the still life tradition’. One of her images was recently featured on the cover of Fantom, and her joint show with Ali Bailey recently concluded at the Poppy Sebire Gallery in London.

James Pobiega aka Little Howlin Wolf was an iconic figure in Chicago, playing sax and blues on the streets of the Windy City for decades until he moved to Baltimore. Now he’s a fixture here, and he’s quickly become one of the many unforgettable characters that makes this city so amazing.

His Twitter feed will give you a glimpse of the amazing stuff he says all the time, and if you ever meet him, he’ll tell you how he invented street theater or all the movies he’s been in. Also, check out his album from a few years ago, Brave Nu World.

In her latest series of large-scale abstract paintings, Chicago-based artist Kelsey Shultis looks to emotional and physical structures to capture ‘strength’ within physical chaos. An emphasis on texture and physicality of the medium, along with the use of industrial materials and touches of bright color, result in these fierce images that impart a feeling of strength and empowerment upon the viewer.

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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.

Anyone who’s had the pleasure of tucking into a sumptuous 72 percent dark French chocolate or zippy cinnamon hot cocoa at Mindy’s HotChocolate’s dark wood-paneled bar can attest to the Chicago eatery’s sensuous spin on the beverage. Now, designer Kyle Tezak’s soon-to-be-rolled-out interactive pinup gal packaging makes it easier to harness its libidinous energy in the comfort of your home. Stir up a couple of mugs of HotChocolate’s mixes, and then decide who gets to peel back the sticker from the box. The rest, we’ll leave up to you.

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.

Call it the tomboy truffle. Take those classic manly snacks — pretzels and beer — and wrap them up in a little ball of smooth, rich milk chocolate ganache. There you have it: the beer and pretzel truffle from Chicago’s own Truffle Truffle chocolate shop. Feeling a little more gourmet? Check out their pinot truffle — a scrumptious little ball of red-wine infused dark chocolate ganache, covered in another layer of dark chocolate.

In the mood to celebrate? The champagne-soaked truffle might be just what you need. A couple of weeks ago we stumbled on some luscious tipsy ice cream. Now we’re gushing over truffle truffle’s alcohol-loving treats. This booze plus dessert trend is definitely something we could get used to.

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Here’s something you can’t get on a Kindle: handcrafted art zines. Chicago-based Parking Block Publishing specializes in small-run, inexpensive books created by local artists, photographers, and printers.

This anonymous crew from Chicago have collaborated with artists from all over the world to produce feel-good, inspiring street art. You can find their lyrical work on top of buildings, on trains, against a park fences, written in a multitude of different languages. But their message is a simple one: ‘You Are Beautiful‘.

Chicago-area artist Tom Torluemke creates color-saturated, surreal images loaded with grotesque, sexual and scatological themes without being completely repulsive.

Dark Matter is a brilliant coffee company that was born this past forth of July. It is associated with (and lives above) the amazing Star Lounge Coffee Bar in Chicago. Star Lounge has been roasting its own coffee and selling it in store for a while. And now it’s available for sale outside of their own store.

I’ve never met anyone who has such a love for coffee as owner and roaster, Jesse Diaz. You can taste the difference in their blend. If you’re lucky, and you happen to be in Chicago, Diaz himself will walk you though the details of every coffee on the shelf. [Image via Chicagoist]

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I was given my first couple Sleigh Bells tracks by a friend last Fall and haven’t they blown up since then! The duo will be playing at the upcoming Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Their debut album, Treats, has just come out with new, and old (and improved), tracks that are noisy, growly, and sexy fun.

A recent system of storms blew through the entire Northeast, drenching parts of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, but failing to drop any moisture on heat-paralyzed Baltimore. Still, the massive lightning cloud that loomed just south of the city a couple days ago was amazing to look at. It was probably related to the same system that hit Chicago, simultaneously striking three of the tallest buildings there with lightning.

Nice Cream is a hand-crafted ice cream company, whose flavors change with the seasons. Kris Swanberg stated making ice creams for friends and family when she received an ice cream maker as a wedding present and a year later was producing small batches of this creamy goodness for sale in pint sized servings.

The ice cream flavors change depending on what’s in season, so you get strawberry short cake in the Summer (with strawberries hand-picked by Kris herself), Lavender Vanilla Bean in the Spring, sweet potato with toasted marshmallows and pecans in the Fall and whiskey to get you through the Chicago winter. This yummy stuff is in Chicago only, but they will ship special orders, and best of all, if you have an event or party, they will make specialty flavors just for you.