Chicago Record Report is a monthly series highlighting some of the new local music that has caught the ear of Reader staff.
Angel Destroyer, Cringe
Angel Destroyer is the solo project of experimental rock artist Jordan William Clark Kimpel, a California transplant who previously made music as Prisoners of Skin. They describe their debut as Angel Destroyer as “kind of a Frankenstein’s monster” built from previously unreleased compositions and repurposed fragments of material. With its mix of industrial, noise, drone, psych, ambient, and occasional flourishes of fingerpicked acoustic guitar (such as on the hazy “The Meaning of Existence”), Cringe can feel like that hazy half-awake space where you can’t distinguish between reality and dream.
Dead Bandit, Dead Bandit
On their third album as Dead Bandit, the instrumental duo of Ellis Swan and James Schimpl create spacious noir soundscapes from layered guitars and drum-machine beats. They infuse their nuanced postrock compositions with flickers of country and trip-hop, often draping them in ghostly drones that turn them into something spectral and immersive.
Half Gringa, Cosmovisión
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Isabel “Izzy” Olive, who makes music as Half Gringa, has returned with a third album that sets thoughtful lyrics (in English and Spanish) to earthy indie rock and folk sounds from throughout the Americas. Recorded by Brian Deck with a cast of current and former Chicagoans (including guitarist Sam Cantor, drummer Quin Kirchner, bassist Victoria Park, cellist Lia Kohl, violinist Lucy Little, trumpeter Ivan Pyzow, and percussionist Daniel Villarreal), Cosmovisión is an inquisitive and deeply personal collection that requires repeat listens to unravel.
Lucky Cloud, Foreground
Singer-songwriter Chet Zenor has played guitar for the likes of Hannah Frances and Squirrel Flower, and in early 2020 he debuted his own group, Lucky Cloud, just before the pandemic shutdowns. The new Foreground, partly recorded in 2020 and developed over subsequent years, documents two lineups of the band. Zenor and pedal steel guitarist Max Subar are the only constant members, but the sound of the album is consistent: jazz-infused indie rock and laid-back alt-country with warm vocals and heartfelt songwriting.
Hali Palombo, Wobblement
Prolific sound artist Hali Palombo turned an early love for shortwave radio into a starting point for wide-ranging sonic adventures. Her latest album, Wobblement, combines field recordings and samples from the Warner Brothers sound library with Palombo’s guitar, piano, and voice. The tracks are variously foreboding (“Christ on a Cracker”), eerily tranquil (“Jiggery-Poke”), or adorably weird (“Fudd,” “Zambonist”), and the album’s best moments are when Palombo hits all those moods at once.
The Reader published an interview with Hali Palombo in 2021.
WateRR & Machacha, Almighty II
South-side rapper WateRR and Danish producer Machacha have teamed up once again for a sequel to their 2023 collaboration, Almighty. On Almighty II, WateRR pairs his observational and philosophical lyrics with Machacha’s smooth, sneakily left-field production, which incorporates shades of jazz guitar, R&B, and electronic music—his tracks sometimes sound like a 70s TV-show score and sometimes like a sonar search for long-lost ships in the deepest seas.
More local releases out in March:
Circuit des Yeux, Halo on the Inside
Derision Cult, Mercenary Notes Pt. 2
Disaster Kid, Rare Bird
Discus, To Relate To
DJ Elmoe, Battle Zone
Neal Francis, Return to Zero
Free Range, Lost & Found
Hannah Frey, Lucky Girl
Impulsive Hearts, Sorry in the Summer (remixed and remastered reissue)
Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl, For Translucence
Mitar, Silver
96 Cougar, Forklight Radio
Nosse Noos Nase, Neon Sea Son S.O.S.
Nikki O’Neill, Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Planet Jane, Warlock Mode
Lee Ranaldo & Michael Vallera, Early New York Silver
Jack Riedy, Raw Deal
Sharp Pins, Radio DDR (expanded vinyl reissue)
Skull Shatter, Domination
Macie Stewart, When the Distance Is Blue
That Godforsaken Wretch, Beware of God
Tobacco City, Horses
Various artists, Gaza (includes contributions from Chicagoans)
The Workshop, Work in Progress
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2025-03-28 13:06:26
