7th Level Music

You’ll fall in love with Wishy’s new single, “Lovesick.”

After exploding onto the scene with their acclaimed 2023 EP Paradise, Wishy released their debut LP Triple Seven on Winspear in the summer of 2024. The album was one of the more critically-beloved debuts in recent memory, earning praise from outlets like Pitchfork (“a standout voice in a new generation of shoegaze”), Stereogum (“one of the best indie rock debuts in recent memory“), the NME (“one of the most exciting new rock bands operating anywhere right now“), Paste (“one of the most irresistible, unshakeable albums of the year“) Uproxx (“one of the best new bands in indie rock writ large“), and landing on Best of 2024 lists from publications like The New York Times, GQ and Alt Press.

The band’s run of success has showed no signs of slowing in 2025, which saw the release of a follow up EP called Planet Popstar, a Colbert performance, a run of tour dates with Momma, and appearances at Kilby Block Party and Riot Fest.

Today, Wishy are back to announce their sophomore LP Nature’s Pill (out October 2nd on Winspear). To mark the occasion they are sharing the album’s lead single “Lovesick,” a swooning gem sung by Nina Pitchkites that recalls The Cure at their most pop-forward and The Sundays at their buoyant best.

Pitchkites says of the track:

There’s not much more that needs to be said about yearning in 2026, but here it is anyway. Kevin and I are stupidly romantic people who like twee pop so that combination alone was a recipe for a cheeky “main character” song. We really leaned into the overzealous lyrics here because 1) we’re allowed, 2) can do whatever we want and 3) it’s fun 🙂 yay!

In addition to previously announced August tour dates with The Beths and Beach Bunny, Wishy are announcing a run of headline dates that will take them across the US in the fall. Full details can be found below.

Wishy’s origins go way back, to when Krauter and Pitchkites met in high school in Indianapolis. Some years and a few projects later, they joined forces to form Wishy, rounding out the lineup with guitarist Dimitri Morris, bassist Mitch Collins, and drummer Conner Host. The group’s musical synergy was intense from the jump and the beginning of their career has been a prolific burst: the Mana and Paradise EPs in 2023, debut LP Triple Seven in 2024, and a follow-up EP Planet Popstar in 2025. After those releases met acclaim and the band’s stature rose, the conception of Nature’s Pill was fundamentally different.

Wishy’s Nature’s Pill captures a world where life feels unpredictable and overwhelming, yet full of possibility. On their vibrant sophomore record, Wishy entertains the madness–capturing romantic frustration, neurotic desire and the melodrama that ensues from simply being human in a jubilant remix of the past. Nature’s Pill bears all of Wishy’s trademarks: zany lyrics transfiguring melancholia into freedom, choruses set to become instant classics, and an unholy fusion of sugary grunge, indie rock and dream-pop.

Written more collaboratively than past releases, the group reconvened with Triple Seven co-producer Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, where the quintet packed into a tiny studio and tracked half the songs live in the room, imbuing the album with the immediate energy of a band in sync after heavy touring. It gave them the ability to synthesize an even greater array of touchstones this time around, with the ‘90s dream-pop and alt-rock of Triple Seven fusing with ‘80s college rock and ‘00s indie.

Underneath it all, Wishy locate a tenacity to keep trying anyway. “Being in an indie band feels bizarre when the world is on fire,” Krauter concludes. “What can you do at the end of the day other than carve out some space—at the very least I have my imagination and I can invite others to join me there. At a certain point you need to say fuck it and roll with it.” Sometimes you can’t make sense of it all. Nature’s Pill finds Wishy gleefully giving into the madness. After all: If life is absurd, all the possibilities are up to you.

Tour Dates

07/25 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues *
07/26 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Center *
07/27 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall *
07/31 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge *&
08/01 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre *&
08/02 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues *&
08/04 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn *&
08/06 – San Diego, CA @ SOMA *&
08/07 – Pomona, CA @ The Fox Theater *&
08/08 – Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory *&
08/11 – San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic *&
08/14 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory *&
08/15 – Portland, OR @ Courthouse Square *&
08/16 – Seattle, WA @ Woodland Park Zoo *&
08/17 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club Ballroom *
08/18 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM *
08/20 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *
09/18 – Cincinnati, OH @ Fountain Square $
09/26–09/27 – Sao Paolo, Brazil @ Balaclava Festival
10/03 – Indianapolis, IN @ WISHYFEST @ Atomic Duckpin
10/09 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
10/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
10/11 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
10/13 – Portland, ME @ SPACE
10/14 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
10/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
10/17 – New York, NY @ Racket
10/18 – Washington, DC @ Atlantis
10/20 – Durham, NC @ Stanczyks
10/21 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/22 – Asheville, NC @ Revival
10/23 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room
10/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
10/26 – Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
10/27 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

w/ Beach Bunny
*& w/ Beach Bunny and The Beths
$ w/ Ratboys

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll feel lovesick if you subscribe…or maybe if you don’t. I’m not sure.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 5 – 1

The final five on this list were, believe it or not, fairly easy to determine. This is probably because they were so good and also because they all hit some emotional note for me because I didn’t think I’d see any of them ever again (or, in one case, even once).

#5: Nine Inch Nails – United Center – Chicago – August 20, 2025

This surprise tour sold out in rapid time, but luckily Nine Inch Nails added a second Chicago show due to popular demand. I had tickets for my fiancé and I, and then learned that my future stepdaughter was a NIN fan. I managed to get a third ticket to what turned out to be a stunning show with three stages, excellent remixes, and an enthusiastic crowd who were roaring for every song.

#4: Underworld – Radius – Chicago – May 17, 2025

Here’s the band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. Underworld playing two full sets at this intimate venue was an immediate purchase. It was a brilliant time, and stunning to see these two gents who can fill stadiums play such a small show with full energy to keep us dancing until the late hours.

#3: Midnight Oil – Riviera / Chicago – June 10, 2022

Midnight Oil was one of my late wife’s favorite bands. We’d seen them two during college, then on their reunion tour in the 2010s, and then we were supposed to see this show, but she died barely eight months earlier. I felt the need to go to honor her and see friends. It was the right decision. The show helped lift some of the weight off me. Midnight Oil sounded great, and it was their final tour. They belted out classics and left us all ready to resist tyranny and love each other.

#2: Love and Rockets – Riviera – Chicago – June 06, 2023

Here is the band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. I missed them in their heyday, and the closest I’d come until this show was seeing David J play an acoustic set at Levitaiton Music Festival. Love and Rockets flattened the place, sounding as strong as ever and reminding all of us that they were and still are rock stars. I was on cloud nine for the whole show.

#1: Failure – Bottom Lounge / Chicago – July 01, 2022

Failure are one of my favorite bands of all time. I don’t joke when I tell people that their Fantastic Planet album can be life-changing. This reunion tour caught me off-guard. I stumbled upon the announcement and then word that they had a VIP package that included a meet-and-greet and attendance at their sound check. It was another emotional show for me, as I was still reeling from my wife’s death and hearing “Another Space Song” live brought me to tears. The show was powerful for a lot of us. I saw a lot of people beaming throughout it, and the band were all happy to chat with us, sign anything, and talk with us about everything from music to films, and, in my case, grief. Again, I don’t joke when I say this show was instrumental in my healing. I’ll always thank Failure for it.

There have been plenty of good shows already in 2026, so come back in early 2027 to see which of those make the list for the best of the year.

Keep your mind open.

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Shuta Hasunuma projects an “AURA” with his latest single.

Tokyo-based artist and composer Shuta Hasunuma shares new single “A U R A” out today via Virgin Music Group. The track emerges from his ongoing project Shuta Hasunuma Philharmonic Orchestra, a contemporary “philharmonic pop orchestra” built around collective performance and the interplay of minimalist rhythm, vocal resonance, and layered sonic texture. “A U R A” draws out fragments of memory and sensation, a meditation on self-discovery set against a gently expansive worldview, moving from restless repetition into quiet, luminous stillness.

The single arrives just ahead of Hasunuma’s return to the U.S. for a rare run of solo performances, his first since 2019. He will play New York City at Public Records on June 13 and Los Angeles at Healing Force of the Universe on June 20, both preceded respectively by local DJ sets at The Lot Radio on June 12 and Dublab on June 18.

Hasunuma’s collaborative, interdisciplinary practice spans composition, installation, and genre-crossing work, with a wide range of collaborators including Jeff Parker, Ichiko Aoba, Arto Lindsay, Keiji Haino, Cornelius, Devendra Banhart, Foodman, and the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.

His work blends field recordings, electronic textures, and melodic composition into richly layered pieces, and in recent years has extended into video, sculpture, and installation, presented at domestic and international exhibitions and projects alike. His ensemble and solo music runs alongside soundtracks for stage productions and film.

Hasunuma has also developed a significant international art practice, with exhibitions at Pioneer Works in New York and Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo, where he received the 69th Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists. His credits include composing and conducting for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic opening ceremony.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hasunuma’s debut on an independent U.S. label in 2006. To commemorate the milestone, he will perform “Shuta Hasunuma Double Philharmonic Orchestra” a 41-member large ensemble that brings his Philharmonic with a newly formed string orchestra, at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on August 6.

Stream “A U R A” now and catch Shuta Hasunuma live this summer.

June 18 – Dublab Radio (DJ)

June 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Healing Force of The Universe (solo)

August 6 – Tokyo, Japan @ Suntory Hall (w/ Double Philharmonic Orchestra)

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the top ten of concerts I saw over the last five years, and it includes more bands I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. Starting with…

#10: Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – Kemba Live!, Columbus, OH – May 31^st, 2022

Les Claypool’s side project, The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, put out one album and a cool double-live album many years ago. I didn’t think he’d revive the project and knew I had to see this tour as soon as it was announced. Sure enough, it was a cool show full of weird psychedelic rock, Sean Lennon on lead guitar, and them covering Pink Floyd’s Animals in its entirety in the middle of the show.

#9: Viagra Boys – Salt Shed – Chicago – February 24, 2023

This was bonkers. It was, according to Viagra Boys’ lead singer Sebastian Murphy, their biggest show in the U.S. so far. It was packed, sweaty, loud, and crazy. The entire indoor stage at the Salt Shed felt like it was shaking and that a drug-fueled orgy might break out at any moment.

#8: TV on the Radio – September 27, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

Here’s the next band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see. TVOTR didn’t have a new album to promote, but they were touring and headlining one night of the Levitation Music Festival. I would have gone to the festival just to see them, and they didn’t disappoint. They brought everything I wanted: Energy, fury, power, and joy.

#7: Orbital – Radius – Chicago – March 23, 2024

Here’s the third band in this part of the list I wasn’t sure I’d ever see. Orbital’s tour was another surprise and it was great to see them in a reasonably small venue. They sounded excellent, and the show felt like being transported back in time to a 1993 rave. I hadn’t danced that much in a long while.

#6: Elton John – Soldier Field – Chicago – August 05, 2022

It was a hot and humid night at Soldier Field when Sir Elton John played his final Chicago show on his final tour. It was a big, fun, and emotional show, and he and his band sounded great. In terms of sound quality, this probably is the best show I heard of the last five years. Every note was clear.

Up next, the top five, and they’re all bands I wasn’t sure I’d ever see.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Devo – Old National Centre – Indianapolis, IN – June 02, 2026

The area around the Old National Centre in Indianapolis was full of people in energy dome hats in anticipation for Devo’s first concert in the city for decades. One of the best parts was seeing the wide age range of fans. My friend, Bill, brought his two young boys, Lexington and Phoenix, with him and they were as hyped for the show as old timers who’d been catching Devo shows since the 1970s.

They came out with energy that men twenty years younger than them wish they had, opening with “Don’t Shoot” and “Peek a Boo.” The crowd barely stopped jumping and dancing the entire time.

“Going Under” was a nice surprise, and Mark Mothersbaugh almost lost his voice by the time they got to “Girl U Want” and “Whip It,” but he had time to recover during “Planet Earth” – a song I didn’t expect but was delighted to hear.

“Blockhead” was another fun deep cut, and “Jocko Homo” shredded the stage. My friend said, “It sounds even more punk live.”

“Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA” was another bonkers track (Bob Mothersbaugh breaking all of his guitar strings at one point), with the triple whammy of “Freedom of Choice” (“Use it or lose it, spuds. It’s going fast,” said Bob Casale), “Gut Feeling,” and then “Beautiful World” (sang by Booji Boy) to wrap up the show. It left everyone out of breath by the end.

Devo have still got it, and they were right all along. They saw all of everything you see today coming decades ago. They warned us. They still are.

Keep your mind open.

Thanks to the pro-photographer who let me snap a photo of this set list!

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[Thanks to Bill Wilkison.]

Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 15 – 10

Ranking the shows I attended for the last five years into just twenty-give top concerts was difficult, and it was especially so for the middle of the list. Who’s in the top fifteen? Let’s find out.

#15: Moon Duo – Levitation Austin / Feels So Good Records – October 30, 2022

Moon Duo closed the 2022 Levitation Music Festival with one of their special “light ship” shows. They play inside a projection screen box with the psychedelic light show being projected from behind them onto the screens. They end up silhouetted and the visuals emerge from their music rather than being cast onto it. No joke, I went into a trance at one point during this show and it was a perfect ending to a great festival.

#14: Castle Rat – September 26, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

Castle Rat set a massively high bar to begin the 2025 Levitation Music Festival, combining stoner metal with a live-action Dungeons & Dragons campaign that included a battle with a death goddess, a druid playing drums, and all of us helping protect a book containing wayward souls. Their merch line after this show lasted twenty minutes per person for hours.

#13: Osees – Old National Centre – Indianapolis – October 22, 2025

This list would be incomplete without at least one Osees show, as they are perhaps the best touring rock band in the country. This show was in a small performance space no bigger than a wedding reception hall and had minimal air conditioning. I knew it was going to be loud and sweaty as soon as I walked into the place, and I was proven right. The mosh pit was surrounded by four stone pillars, one on each corner, and somehow I avoided being slammed into one of them. Osees blasted the place, leaving a lot of people who’d never seen them before in shock.

#12: Slift – Levitation Austin / Elysium – October 27, 2022

Speaking of blasting a place, Slift wrapped up their first U.S. tour at the 2022 Levitation Music Festival and left nothing in the tank. I don’t know how the stage didn’t collapse during their set, nor how any of us weren’t launched into orbit. Everyone knew we’d just seen, heard, and felt something transformative.

#11: Weird Al Yankovic – Lerner Theatre / Elkhart – July 26, 2022

This tour showcased Weird Al’s “non-parody” songs because he wanted to highlight his amazing band. It’s easy to forget how good they are. They can play multiple genres, sometimes in the same song, with ease. This was part-comedy show (with the great Emo Phillips opening), part-musical showcase. They didn’t play a single parody until the encore, and those were in a medley, and it was still one of the best shows I saw in all of 2022.

The top ten is looming! Come back tomorrow to see who made the list!

Keep your mind open.

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Live: The Black Angels and L.A. Witch – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – May 28, 2026

If you weren’t aware, The Black Angels are currently on tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Passover. They’re playing the whole album front to back and a second set of favorites and new material. Their recent return to Chicago’s Thalia Hall was a sold-out affair with spooky psych-rockers L.A. Witch opening for them.

I think this kind of lighting follows L.A. Witch wherever they go.

L.A. Witch played a smoky, spooky set of psych-rock mixed with California garage rock and a bit of doom metal. Their drummer, Ellie English, is sharp and puts down heavy krautrock rhythms at times. They also have a cool wall-of-sound vibe to them that washes over you and can induce a hypnotic state.

Same thing with The Black Angels, really.

Passover launched the careers of the Austin, Texas psych-heavyweights, and the album is still powerful in its message of the insanity of war…which is, unfortunately, also still relevant twenty years later with even just the first two tracks: “Young Men Dead” and “The First Vietnam War.”

“Black Grease” has always been a favorite of mine, so it’s a treat to hear it live, and “Manipulation” has grown into one of their best live pieces as Christian Bland and Alex Maas trade lead vocals throughout it and everyone gets trippy with it. After seeing Stephanie Bailey pound her kit during the back-to-back endurance contests of “Empire” and “Better Off Alone,” my guess is that she carb-loads like a triathlete before each show. By the way, she came out on stage on crutches and still rocked the entire set.

After a brief break, they came back with the ever-cool “Bad Vibrations” and then multiple new tracks: “Push It” (not a Salt & Pepa cover), “Daisies,” and “Turkish” among them. Their new album is going to be a stunner if these are any indication of its sound.

The bad vibrations are actually pretty good.

Don’t skip this tour. The new edge to the Passover songs is heavy and sometimes menacing, and the new songs will amaze you.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 20 – 16

The numbers get smaller, the concerts get bigger. Here are more of the best shows I attended in the last five years.

#20: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – The Brass Rail – October 08, 2021

FATW always brings the fire, and the small stage in Ft. Wayne, Indiana (a little over an hour drive from my house) could barely contain it. They were still somewhat unknown back then and are rocking major festivals and releasing double-albums by now.

#19: Deap Vally – Thalia Hall – Chicago – February 10, 2024

How could I not see Deap Vally’s final tour, let alone at one of my favorite venues? The duo unleashed a roaring set that left everyone wanting and hoping for more at some future date. Will it happen? No one but Deap Vally knows, but they left us with a great gift if that was the final curtain.

#18: LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago – May 26, 2024

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen LCD Soundsystem, but it was the first time I’d seen them with my fiancé, who’d become a fan of them early in our dating life. Seeing them after a few years of absence and seeing her joyful reaction to their fun, danc beat-filled show was a lovely moment.

#17: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Sleeping Village – Chicago – March 28, 2023

Holy crap. This was the first time Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs played in Chicago and I almost didn’t go to this show. I didn’t decide until a day before it, as I felt like I needed to be there. I’m glad I listened to my gut because this was such a strong set that I was surprised the back wall was still standing by the end. They were a bit surprised by how many showed up to see them and I became a big fan that night.

#16: The Damned – Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL, June 02, 2024

Here’s another band I wasn’t sure I’d get to see live…enough though I’d seen them before this show. Confused? That’s because The Damned reunited their 1980s lineup that included Paul Gray and Rat Scabies for this tour. This lineup, with Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible, was the lineup of The Damned I’d heard when I discovered them back in high school. They put on a great set that had me smiling and moshing the entire time, and Rat Scabies’ heartfelt reaction to the crowd cheering for him was lovely.

We’re almost halfway through the list? Who lies ahead? Come back tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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Lara Somogyi takes us on a “sojurn” with her new single.

Lara Somogyi announces her second album, a [time] patterned, out August 28th via Mercury KX, and shares the lead single/video, “sojourn.” A work rooted in contemporary classical yet reaching far beyond it, a [time] patterned is an intensely human document that reframes time not as a linear experience but as an emotional landscape.

Watch the Video for “sojourn”

A Juno nominee and artist who pushes the boundaries of her instrument, Somogyi approaches the harp as a vehicle for exploration rather than tradition. Having classical roots from the Royal Academy of Music and awarded an honorary Associate (ARAM) for her innovations in her field, she transverses sonic worlds. Her work spans film, television and collaborative composition, including collaborations with Bonobo, Ólafur Arnalds, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Bat For Lashes, and credits on Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated Da 5 Bloods, Hans Zimmer’s Blue Planet II featuring Radiohead, and Ari Aster’s Eddington for A24.

Where her debut album established a distinct voice through the harp alone, a [time] patterned begins there but moves outward. Written with producer Cyrus Reynolds, the album was shaped through tape loops, delay and repetition to explore how patterns emerge, dissolve and reform. The process became both technical and deeply personal after the loss of her father, an attempt to examine how time is felt rather than measured: joy is rhythmic, grief has structure, and healing forms patterns.

The first single to be revealed from the album, “sojourn” offers the perfect entry point to the record’s world. Written for harp, strings and electronics, it opens with an extended pedal technique blurring tonality and allowing texture to lead. A melodic thread gradually emerges as the track unfolds, while granular processing fractures and reconfigures time around it, creating a sense of motion that feels fluid and alive. Beneath it, strings provide a subtle architecture, grounding the piece as it shifts from introspection toward something more open and expansive.

Reflecting on the single, Somogyi says, “sojourn opens in the in-between; in that first step forward, tracing a quiet shift toward something open and free,” Somogyi says. “It’s not a beginning, even though it was the first piece I wrote for the record. To me, it feels like an opening to the next chapter.”

Across eleven compositions, a [time] patterned unfolds as a series of sonic environments, described by Somogyi as “rooms” the listener can move through. Field recordings, including birdsong from her birthplace of Kauai, sit alongside string arrangements and textural experimentation, featuring artists Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens) and Clarice Jensen (Max Richter). Influenced in part by architectural theory and the idea of pattern as structure, each piece becomes less a narrative than a form: joy, grief, and growth expressed as evolving systems of sound.

a [time] patterned is a work of curiosity and openness, an exploration of how experience leaves its imprint, and how music can hold and reshape it. The harp remains central, but continually reimagined: stretched through pedals, prepared with objects, and layered into shifting, immersive forms. With this latest release, Somogyi expands her work into new territory, creating a record that is as much about feeling as it is about form, and one that invites the listener to inhabit time on their own terms.

Lara Somogyi will play three headline shows this August and September in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn.

Pre-order a [time] patterned

Lara Somogyi Live:
Sat. Aug. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Live at Glass Hill
Wed. Sept. 9 – Chicago, IL @ Constellation
Fri. Sept. 11 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust

Keep your mind open.

[It’s time to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Top 25 concerts of 2021 – 2025: #’s 25 – 21

Just like my list of the top 25 albums I reviewed over the last five years, I decided to create a list of the top 25 concerts I attended in the same time. It was a harder list to make, although the top five were fairly easy to choose. Who put on the best shows? Let’s find out.

#25: The The – Salt Shed, Chicago, IL, October 25, 2024

There are many bands on this list that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see live. The The is one of them. This show included two sets. The first had them playing their newest album, Ensoulment, in its entirety. The second was a “time traveler” set that included all older material, starting with “Infected” and ending with “This Is the Day.”

#24: Yin-Yin – September 27, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

This was Yin-Yin’s first show ever in the United States, and they won over the entire crowd at Levitation last year. Their blend of funk, Euro-disco, and psych-rock was an instant hit. Everyone on and off the stage had a great time.

#23: Jon Spencer – Stockroom East, South Bend, IN, July 11, 2024

Jon Spencer and his backing band featuring two members of The Bobby Lees played about forty minutes from my house in a tiny venue and in front of maybe fifty people. They completely shredded the place, hitting it as hard as they would a big theatre and leaving many who’d never seen his live show slack-jawed by the end of it.

#22: A Place to Bury Strangers – Empty Bottle – Chicago – May 30, 2022

Any APTBS show is an experience, and this one in my favorite Chicago dive bar was especially wild. They were feeding off the crowd’s energy and crushing everyone and everything in sight. A friend of mine, a bassist for a Chicago death metal band (Aphixiator), was impressed by the power they generated. I think the walls shook for hours afterwards.

#21: Gang of Four – Far Out Lounge – Levitation Austin, November 01, 2024

Here’s another band I wasn’t sure I’d ever see live. Gang of Four showed that they were still powerful, relevant, and sharp. Seeing so many other GOF fans going bonkers with me was a highlight of the Levitation Music Festival that year.

Whew. It’s already heavy and loud. Who makes the top twenty? Come back tomorrow to find out!

Keep your mind open.

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