Neoga Blacksmith has released their brand new record, Chronontonius, and have announced they are donating their proceeds from the record for the next two weeks to HERO: The Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization. You can listen to the new album below and see their post:

New alternative/garage rock band, Designer Dog releases their first ever single today, "White Picket Fence." The band consists of members from Finer Feelings and ex members of Penny Horses, not making this their first go around. Designer Dog has become the project that allows these members to really show their personalities outside of their other bands. Honestly, after listening to the little music available on their bandcamp, I'm pretty fucking pumped, this stuff is promising. Definitely lookout for this band in the future.

The band will be playing SvenStock on August 5th and donating any proceeds from the song to Imerman Angels, which is the same cause benefiting from SvenStock.

Check out the song "White Picket Fence" below and if you like it, or music in general and helping a great cause, think about attending SvenStock, more on the festival here.

The Highdive lived a long life up until the end of 2015 when things changed a bit. First the Accord and now 51 Main — but it is really cool to see when things resurface unexpectedly. One of those things being this audio unearthed from when The White Stripes performed there on June 29, 2000.

From what I can gather in comments on Facebook — Bargos Steeler and Rectangle opened this show. You can check out John Isberg's post at the very bottom below the setlist and read through them, the post is Public.

The White Stripes performing at the Highdive in Champaign, IL on June 29, 2000.
Setlist:
0:00 Let's Shake Hands
1:44 Jolene
4:45 You're Pretty Good Looking/Hello Operator
9:10 When I Hear My Name
10:55 Cannon/John The Revelator
13:10 One More Cup Of Coffee (Bob Dylan Cover)
16:27 Wasting My Time
18:55 Death Letter
24:15 Little Bird
27:35 Jimmy The Exploder (!!!)
30:07 I'm Bored (!!!!!!!!!) (Iggy Pop Cover)
31:34 Do
34:25 Astro/Jack The Ripper/I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield
38:00 The Big Three Killed My Baby
40:29 Sugar Never Tasted So Good
43:55 Southern Can Is Mine :)
46:20 Screwdriver

Now that CJ Run has been around for about a year, you really should be familiar, but in case you're not, read this.

Today, they release their first new music since a late-winter EP, and it's just as good as what we've come to expect from CJ. 

Stream the track below:

Acoustic experimental noise outfit Voidbringer have released their first single. The track “Ghosts In The Frost” combines the pensive emo vulnerability of groups like American Football with the ethos of metal and envelops the product in lush soundscapes. Voidbringer intend for the music to paint a picture of every aspect of C-U, and “to write hymns that bring life to darkened streets in a way that both identifies with and completely defies the local bands that shaped our music scene and its unique sounds over twenty years ago.” The track’s seasonal imagery conveys that dichotomy. 

The single is released ahead of Voidbringer’s forthcoming album, In Bringing of Voids IV: Icebound Dreamscapes Eternal, which is expected to drop this summer.

Stream “Ghosts In The Frost” below, and catch Voidbringer at the Saturday Night Sampler on July 22nd at Sipyard.

Everyone knows that the University of Illinois' library is one of the best in the country, but this month, we got to see that personified, as a "new" (read: previously unreleased) H.G. Wells story was discovered in the depths of the University Library's shelves.

The new story, called "The Haunted Ceiling," goes into print in next month's edition of The Strand Magazine, and was discovered by the magazine's Managing Editor Andrew Gulli, and is perhaps one of the most surprising discoveries surrounding H.G. Wells

To  listen to the NPR story on the find, check out the stream below and read their full story here.

Champaign-Urbana's very own Polyvinyl Recordings has just released their Polyvinyl plays Polyvinyl compilation for streaming on their Soundcloud page.

The compilation, which is set to be released this Friday, November 25th, features Polyvinyl bands covering other Polyvinyl bands and is sure to be a treat for fans of the prominent indie label.

For more info, check out this tidbit from Brooklyn Vegan, and stream the full project below:

"This Friday (11/25), Polyvinyl Records will release its Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl compilation, which has Polyvinyl artists covering other Polyvinyl artists for the label’s 20th anniversary. There’s Beach Slang covering Japandroids, of Montreal covering Jacco Gardner, Braid covering Alvvays, Tancred covering Owen who covers Rainer Maria who covers Owen’s cousin/American Football bandmate Birthmark, plus American Football being covered by The Dodos, and still more."

Erin Fein, formerly of C-U's Absinthe Blind and Headlights, has released her new album under her project Psychic Twin — Strange Diary. It is out now on Polyvinyl Records. There are plenty of places to check it out, iTunes being one of them.

Watch the video for "Lose Myself" here. Congrats all around, to Erin and Polyvinyl.

Jay Moses has dropped a new EP, The Thirst Vol. 1, via TheGr8Thinkaz Soundcloud page. The project runs seven songs long, features production from TheGr8Thinkaz' own Rokmore on five songs and frequent collaborator H. Kal-El on two songs, and guest vocal appearances by Gr8Sky  and Klevah of TheGr8Thinkaz and Cii La'Cole. The new EP's title track, The Thirst, was released last fall to praise from our own Boswell Hutson, and last summer's Champaign Dreams: 1999 also found a spot on this release as the closing track. Check out the music video for Champaign Dreams: 1999, directed by local videographer FlyShotz, here on the FlyShotz YouTube page.

The album details the personal struggles and triumphs of Jay Moses's life as an aspring rapper. The production style throughout is spacey and chill, with lots of Rokmore's signature jazzy style and boom-bap drums providing a fitting canvas for Jay's smooth vocal flow and sometimes introspective lyrics. 

Earlier this year TheGr8Thinkaz' member Gr8Sky released his own EP, 5 pts, and TheGr8Thinkaz' member Klevah teamed up with T.R.U.T.H to release Mother Nature, the self titled debut LP from that duo, out on vinyl via Heirship Records. The trend of hip-hop's growing cache on the local scene seems to be going strong through 2016.

Withershins are hanging it up as a band on Friday, performing their last show at The Accord with some friends. After seeing some commentary on Facebook, I revisited some of my favorites from their albums over the years. 

It's no secret that I enjoy the shit out of this band. I've written about them on several occasions over the past five years.

Aeriel was released when I was a Music Director at WPGU — a really introductory dive into local music in C-U back in 2009. I remember having both the title track and "Falling Waltz" in rotation at one point. 

Thanks fellas. It has been a good run.