[Video] Marrow: "Two" (Behind The Scenes)
It's not where you start, but where you finish. The age-old fallacy is one everyone can live by, but likely rings a bit more true for the members of Marrow. Six months ago band members Liam Cunningham, Macie Stewart and Lane Beckstrom made up the core of Chicago genre-fusion band Kids These Days. Having reached a good deal of success (playing on Conan & at Lollapalooza 2011), the band split up in May after two albums and a host of shows across the country. Vic Mensa left to pursue a solo rap career, Nico Segal and J.P. Floyd went on tour with Frank Ocean and Chance The Rapper, and Liam, Macie and Lane retreated to Lane's basement to work on their reformed band, Marrow. Having spent the summer writing a library's-worth of songs and recording a demo, the former KTD members, along with newbie Matt Carroll on drums, have developed a new sound that merges the careful songwriting of Cunningham and Stewart with the inspired musicianship of Beckstrom, all accented by a different tone on drums with Carroll. While working on their upcoming (and appropriately titled) EP, Two, due out the same day as their show at Schuba's on December 19, the group had cameras rolling to catch all the action. Tap into the young musician's creative process as they put the project together with the video below, and keep an eye out for an Austin Vesely-directed joint due out in late November.
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[RH Exclusive] Day 1 of Chance The Rapper's Social Experiment Tour
Chance The Rapper opened his debut headlining Social Experiment tour two and a half hours south of his hometown of Chicago on Friday October 25. Photographer/videographer Bryan Lamb and myself made the trip and were on hand for all the festivities as Chance and crew kicked things off at the University of Illinois. A majority of Save Money made the trip south, joining Chano onstage was none other than Vic Mensa who himself is currently between tours with J. Cole and Disclosure.
The set was the culmination of weeks worth of rehearsals and practice for Chance, Music Director Peter CottonTale and the rest of the backing band and sound crew including Greg Landfair, Nico Segal and Jake Lipp who rented out both the Metro and Reggie's to get a go-around of the stage set-up, lights and combination of both a solo part of the set, as well as one with the band. What the U of I crowd got was one hell of a show that went off as smooth as one could expect given the circumstances and which upped the bar for the remainder of the shows on the tour. Both CottonTale and Lipp, working behind the scenes, were pleased with the show and the fact that there were no major hiccups. Bryan (FragDFilms) did his thing and captured the first stop of the tour in the photos and video below, check it out and stay hooked to RH for continuing Social Experiment coverage.
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Sunday Coffee Sipper: The Week in Music
A lot went down in the music world since I last sat down to write a Coffee Sipper piece a week ago. Instead of trying to choose one event to focus on for an entire piece, I decided to dig deeper into several of the goings-on that came to light since last Sunday.
Chance The Rapper begins Tour: Chicago's own Chance The Rapper kicked off a tour of his own Friday night in Champaign, Illinois, just outside the campus of the University of Illinois. Setting out on his first solo headlining tour, dubbed the "Social Experiment Tour" Chance, music director Peter CottonTale and backing band Greg Landfair and Nico Segal rehearsed for a week with stage hands and sound to make sure there were no surprises the day of. Renting out the Metro and Reggie's on different occasions throughout the week, the team had everything down before heading south where Chance's two part show (one half solo, the other half with a band) went off without a hitch. Vic Mensa joined him onstage for an encore of "Cocoa Butter Kisses" and seemingly all of Save Money made the two hour trip to send Chano off to Pittsburgh appropriately. Stay tuned to RH for updates as the tour moves across the country.
[Mixtape] TwoLetterz: "Goodbye Summer"
Chicago got no love from the weather gods this year and native hip-hop artist TwoLetterz penned his send-off to the brief, yet beautiful summer months here in the Chi, which he released today with his Goodbye Summer EP produced by Reg Young. As we skip over Fall and head straight for Winter, TwoLetterz provides some tracks to bring back those hazy days of summer laziness, outdoor shows and smoke breaks without frostbite. Check out the whole EP available here below.
EDC Chicago Generates $26.1 Million
There were complaints, concessions and for awhile it wasn't a sure thing that "Chicago" would host another Electric Daisy Carnival after the inaugural event, held this May in Joliet at the Joliet Motor Speedway, ran into some interference from the community. After announcing yesterday that the fest generated an estimated $26.1 million for the surrounding community, according to data released today in an economic impact analysis by Beacon Economics LLC, some feelings may have changed. There are few festivals like an EDC, which lives up to its name by featuring a plethora of rides, entertainment and euphoria outside of the traditional DJ sets. Strategically set an hour south of Chicago, so as to skirt the city's 10 PM noise curfew, the festival went late into the night, beginning at 4 PM and wrapping up half a day later at 4 AM which made for quite the marathon of EDM. The first night was marked by a 2 AM firework show that had people from surrounding town peppering their local police stations with angry phone calls, prompting organizers Insomnia Events to move the fireworks up to 10 and bump the sound down for the later sets. The rest of EDC Chicago went off with few hitches and the announcement of the stimulus it brought the south suburbs of Chicago should be reason enough for organizers and city officials to find some common ground for the 2014 edition.
[Video] Tanya Morgan: "Eulogy"
Cleveland's own Tanya Morgan, fresh off a collaboration with Psalm-One earlier this week, dropped a video of their own for their track, "Eulogy". The song is an interesting change on the group's latest LP, Rubber Souls, a shift of sorts from what fans are used to hearing from Don Will and crew. According to Von Pea: “To me … the video represents the lost/empty feeling we all feel at times when dealing with an adversity.” Give the video a glance for yourself, here below:
http://youtu.be/gwj6Ze2DO-8
[Album Stream] Arcade Fire: "Reflektor"
Thank the Irish. After a brutally-long roll-out for their latest album, Reflektor, Arcade Fire got the shove they needed when the project leaked from Rollercoaster Records in tiny Kilkenny, Ireland and features production from LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Markus Dravs. Because of the leak, Arcade Fire threw up their collective hands and passed the full album over, pushing up the release date thanks to a tiny Irish record store. Listen below:
http://youtu.be/CBjqUEMlHTY
Ab-Soul: "Dub Sac"
Few artists in the country are pushing out as much music or as much quality music on a regular basis than TDE's own Ab-Soul. Seemingly in every week's news cycle for something or another, Soulo pops up again, this time with a loosie track titled "Dub Sac". Production handled by Tae Beast and Dave Free. Check things out below.