Rapper CJ Run released a new track on Friday, "Nothin Like You", which is available across platforms to listen to now. They've been dropping tracks here and there over the last year or so, "Tangerine" last July, and "747" and "Indigo" dropped in May.
The track was produced by yourbeautifulruin, and you can listen to it below.
Belle is the solo project by musician Annabelle Alexander, and there's some new material to check out. Hellbound Heart is the follow up to Eppur Si Muove (And Yet It Moves), and you can stream the three track release below.
Hellbound Heart
Poster Children's excellent 2004 record, No More Songs About Sleep and Fire turns 15 today. The record was released on January 27, 2004 on Hidden Agenda Records, and was featured as #10 on our Top 20 Albums of the Decade when published back in 2009.
Stream the record below, and enjoy your Sunday.
Peter Winnipeg is the moniker of singer-songwriter Paul Tisch, who just released his new record, Big Death, which you can listen to now. Winnipeg was previously in the band Puzzle Quest, and he recorded the record at the end of last year in Urbana. You can stream the record below, or find it on Spotify, Apple Music, or Soundcloud as well. The record is quite good, see the album art and track listing beneath the stream.
Big Death
Country/blues singer-songwriter Kenna Mae's new album Still Asleep is out now — as a matter of fact, she released the record today. This record is a follow up to 2015's excellent Blue Darlin, which was our second favorite record of 2015.
Kenna Mae fronts Revelator, which put out a very good record last year. Stream the new record below:
Still Asleep:
zee exo is a local psych rock project lead by musician Ryan Brewer, and he's got a new EP under the monkier called black leather + free love, which you can listen to right now.
While originally intended to be demos, Brewer mentioned to me that the songs "look on a life of their own", recorded alongside his former bandmate Sahan Jayasuriya in Good Night + Good Morning. You can check out the song on Bandcamp (linked above), Spotify, and Soundcloud now.
In addition, there's a video to check out as well, recorded by Pat Elifritz, also of Good Night + Good Morning. Watch that below.
American Football has announced their new record, appropriately titled American Football (LP3), is out March 22, 2019 on Polyvinyl Records. This is the follow up to American Football (LP2), which was released back in 2016 and their first album since their self-titled debut in 1999. You can preorder the new record here on the platform/format of your choosing.
Check out the album art, track listing, and first single "Silhouettes" below.
Read our piece on the last record ahead of their performance in C-U back in 2016 here.
American Football (LP3)
UIUC creative Rell Shaw said he was doing something special for his birthday, and Monday he did, releasing his project, Breakthrough. The eight-song, 19-minute project sees Rell address a number of personal matters, weaving rhymes out of his insecurities and formulating his own sort of breakthrough out of them.
Check out Breakthrough for yourself on Spotify below and streaming on all platforms.
I've mentioned this local project, wingclipper, before in Seven Things, but as I'm taking a look at some local releases ahead of our year-end lists, I visited the project's latest release 新緑 [Fresh Green]. You should check it out. The production and orchestration involved here is top notch.
wingclipper is the project of Adam Porter, and he released this on Casette Store Day back in October. Porter mentioned the release was "inspired by the transition from Spring to Summer in Japan... the artwork and trak titles correlate with this theme."
Listen to it below, and look at the beautiful artwork that accompanies it as well.
As if releasing EP’s during a two-week stretch in May and June wasn’t an acceptable amount of new material to put out in a year, The Falbonauts have put out their new album, LSD & Heartache. The nine-track project spans a variety of sound and a theme of chaotic harmony reigns from track to track, as the group taps into a variety of sounds ranging from folk, to indie, to country-esque rock. Recorded, mixed and mastered in a variety of Illinois locations (which is only fitting when considering the range of sound), the group came up with a diverse project sure to leave an impression.
Post rock/ambient outfit Take Care are back with a new self-titled record, due out December 14th on Heirship Records. The double LP will be the final release on the Heirship label, and coincide with the Heirship Records Farewell Fest on December 15th at Canopy Club.
Read the announcement from labelmaster Isaac Arms:
Take Care began recording Take Care around the time I started this label. It’s very poetic that the double-album will be Heirship’s final release. This is the culmination of almost a decade of work from the four members (Luke Bergkoetter, drums; Nick Foreman, keys and vocals; Kyle Scott, guitar and bass; Mark Wyman, guitar and vocals) and as much time for me being a huge fan and then becoming good friends with these men. Now their live shows are few and far between, and the album’s sound inspired them to bring Brandon Beachum (of labelmates Marathon) on to play bass with them live.
The pre-order is live and I cannot recommend anything more than this collection of pieces. Each song has changes within it, key and tempo, feeling and meaning, and the four sides of the 2xLP take you on an absolutely crushing and beautiful journey. I am so honored to have been a part of this project and to help Take Care put this out into the world. This might be the last thing I write for this website, so I wanted it to be less of a press release and more of a journal entry, because on a personal note, working with these artists and this music literally changes who I am as a person, and through my mistakes and their generosity, I’ve grown and learned.
This music is something truly special, and is everything about what this label was supposed to be—a piece of Urbana-Champaign history, a snapshot of the music scene, something huge and emotional and brilliant and gorgeous and available on vinyl but also streaming in full for free so that it can exist out in the world because it deserves to be heard. Please buy it if you can. Please Share it with everyone you think will care, because I believe they will be better for it. I know I am.
sincerely,
-isaac arms.
Check out the album art, track listing, and announcement video below from Heirship Records' press release.
Elsinore is back with a new single and visual, titled simply, “O”. The Police and David Bowie-influenced pop sounds of Elsinore supply some nice late fall-time, first-snow musical accompaniment. The track comes as a taste of their currently untitled new project, which is set to drop early next year.
Feel free to check out their video for recent single "In & Out" afterward if you’re vibing with it.
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