Chicago – 7th Level Music

Levitation Chicago artist spotlight: Vadaat Charigim

This Israeli shoegaze trio hails from Tel Aviv and only sings in Hebrew. Don’t understand Hebrew? Neither do I, but like me you won’t care because good music is good in any language. Vadaat Charigim (“Exceptions Committee” – Yuval Haring – guitar and vocals, Yuval Guttman – drums, Dan Fabian Bloch – bass) play finely crafted shoegaze that borders on dream-rock. Their stuff reminds me of early albums from A Flock of Seagulls – lots of reverb on the vocals, spacey guitar, trippy synths, and drums that sometimes hit heavy and sometimes almost seem to disappear.

I missed them at Levitation Austin last year, but they’re playing Thursday March 10th at Levitation Chicago. I look forward to the set.

Keep your mind open.

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Spring Awakening Festival comes to Chicago in 2016.

The fifth annual Spring Awakening Festival of electronic dance music is coming to Chicago for the first time. The festival will be held June 10-12 in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Three-day passes are already on sale for as low as $191.82 (that includes all taxes and fees).

Like many other cool festivals, Spring Awakening offers a layaway option for tickets with a down payment of $47.25 and three payments after that spread out over three months.

This will be the biggest EDM festival in Chicago since the North Coast Fest (usually held in September). A three-day music festival for under $200.00 is hard to beat.

Keep your mind open.

Levitation Chicago 2016 line-up announced.

The fine folks at the Levitation Music Festival have released their show schedule (as in who is playing which dates, set times will come later) and full line-up for their Chicago festival March 10-12 at Thalia Hall. Tickets are only $95.00 (plus tax) for this three-night festival, and that’s a steal when you check out who’s playing there.

I’ll highlight the bands I’m most interested in seeing as the festival gets closer, but my must-see list is as follows:

Thursday: Vadaat Charigim, Gary Wilson, Health, Oneohtrix Point Never.

I missed Vadaat Charigim (an Israeli psychedelic band) at Levitation Austin last year, so I don’t want to miss them again. Gary Wilson is a legendary recluse and experimental music creator who is one of Beck’s biggest influences. Health create crazy electro that borders on noise rock. Oneohtrix Point Never is considered to be an ultra-hipster darling by many, but his new album is supposed to be mostly dark electro. He’s also performing at Levitation Austin in April (which I’ll also be attending), so I won’t have to check out his set there if I don’t like his set in Chicago.

Friday: Nite Fields, Blanck Mass, Ryley Walker, Lightning Bolt.

Nite Fields make fine dreamy shoe gaze that sounds like it’s from the late 1980’s. Blanck Mass is another act I missed in Austin last year and a great electro performer. Ryley Walker is an excellent guitar player, and Lightning Bolt make some of the craziest noise rock on the planet.

Saturday: Natural Information Society & Bitchin’ Bajas, Night Beats, Earthless, Chelsea Wolfe, Faust.

A great night right there. Natural Information Society & Bitchin’ Bajas team up to make cool world music-influenced psychedelia. Night Beats are one of my favorite bands, and they make great blues-dipped psych rock. I’ve seen them twice at Levitation Austin and will see them at any opportunity. Earthless blew my mind with their cosmic stoner rock in Austin two years ago, so I’m sure another set from them will be just as good. Chelsea Wolfe is a new act to me, but she makes fine dark wave music. Faust is a legendary krautrock band who has inspired many.

See you there?

Keep your mind open.