
We're mere hours away from starting the weekend, and with the season finale of football over, we'll actually have to go outside. Luckily, there are tons of great shows, and many fundraising for a good cause, over the next few days. Let's get to it. FRIDAY SOFT SPEAKER The Brit pop-inspired Chicago outfit come out swinging with plenty of lingering guitar licks, hazy psychedelic rhythms and even some [...]
Native America + Netherfriends + Pals performing at CIRCLE BAR!!!!!!!!!!!! on February 2, 2012 Tweet
02.02: Native America + Netherfriends + Pals - CIRCLE BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! During it's yearlong absence, the New Orleans music scene did pretty well for itself without Circle Bar around. Shows that probably should have (and technically would have) gone down at Circle Bar found a variety of alternative homes to varying but mostly admirable levels of success. The Blue Nile Balcony Room, AllWays Lounge, Howlin' Wolf Den, Hi-Ho Lounge, The Saint and many others picked up huge amounts of slack; so much so that for certain strenuous stretches of the year, when the live [...]

Netherfriends Netherfriends is on tour now to support the release of his upcoming album, Middle America . From the album, listen to or download "Bloomington, IN" in this post. Bloomington, IN by Netherfriends Netherfriends is the musical project of Shawn Rosenblatt. His upcoming album was inspired by a 50 State tour that began in 2010. He then wrote 50 songs, one for each state he visited. Complete dates for his current tour below. Tour Dates [...]

Thank you to all of the current and past veterans out there today. It's a remarkable sacrifice you've made, and your efforts to protect and support the U.S. are appreciated. Across the world, we celebrate Armistice Day as well. Hopefully, we can move toward a global society that relies on diplomacy and not war to settle its disputes. As today is the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the eleventh year of this new millenium, we're re-posting Blogophilia 11. So, if you havent already, download it and crank it to 11. Look for Friday's Free [...]
Download : Caveman - "Thankful" New York's Caveman start of this weeks mix with "Thankful" an ideal mix of Brooklyn texture and that chilled out vibe all of us are looking for as the year wears down towards its close. These guys remind me of what Bishop Allen (one of my all-time favorites) could potentially [...]

Netherfriends | Photo by Drew Reynolds Applicant for hardest working man in the biz, Netherfriends is set to release his next album Middle America on Feb. 7, 2012, via Kilo Records . Of course, if you are a) super desperate for some Netherfriends action or b) a super fan of cassette tapes, you can order the album via Plustapes right now. Middle America , says Kilo Records , will contain the first 12 songs from Netherfriends' head honcho [...]
For those of you who live in Indy, how great has the music been in this town over the last few weeks? I'm having issues with my camera's memory card which, thanks to a little help from Amazon I think it should be resolved mid next week. I can't believe the last time I posted [...]
Native America + Netherfriends + The Jonesbirds performing at The Saint on October 13, 2011 Tweet

Netherfriends Shawn Rosenblatt (AKA Netherfriends ) is truly the music lover's gift that keeps on giving. Even though he just released Netherfriends does Nilsson , Rosenblatt decided to celebrate the return of fall by writing the season's first fiery, slow jam. "Fall (In Love Every Night)" expresses the softer, yet randy, side of Netherfriends while set to some slick sampled beats and soothing ambient background noise. It's truly the new feel good hit of [...]

You want something creative and tasty? Try listening to Netherfriends . After the 50 Songs 50 States project, the group has now constructed an entire EP based around Harry Nilsson samples. While it might push some buttons as sort of kitsch pop, it's definitely pushing the envelope in regards to the music we can create with electronics pushing us into the future. Just go to the group's BANDCAMP page and search around; you'll surely find something interesting, and the odds are it's going to be something good. [...]
Nobody's Talking by Netherfriends It's always cool to see a local artist go outside the box. That's why we were quite intriguied by the latest Netherfriends release, Netherfriends Does Nilsson , which finds Netherfriends main man Shawn Rosenblatt shedding his psych-pop skin for an album of original material comprised entirely of Harry Nilsson samples. Yes, you read that correctly. For you younger readers, here's an extremely short history lesson: Harry Nilsson was a highly acclaimed singer songwriter who no doubt influenced the pop music landscape during his [...]

And the parade continues... I forget how much fun I had making these. Blogophilia 11 was released in September 2009. If you've been following along, you should have noticed that I am deep in my "Intro" phase for mixes. I am not sure why I stopped that. Maybe that's something to consider for next mix. The highlights for #11 are All the Kings Men by Wild Beasts and Sleep All Summer by The National and Saint Vincent . I apologize for putting the Pete Yorn tune on [...]

Wild Flag | Photo by John Clark What a weekend we have in store for you, Chicago. It's a big one with both Wicker Park and Sheffield Garden Walk competing for your attention with great local and national acts like Wild Flag, Wavves, Soul Aslyum, Company of Thieves, Canasta, Archie Powell & the Exports and more rocking the two neighborhood fests. Not to mention Thee Oh Sees are playing not once, but twice this weekend. Let's get ready to rock! [...]

It's such a great weekend for festivals in Chicago. We've got Taste of Randolph occupying the West Loop with the salivating sounds of British rockers The Heavy and Swervedriver as well as local rockers JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound and The 1900s . Not to mention the three-day birthday bash going on at Saki featuring Great Society Mind Destroyers and much, much more. With so much rock happening there's really no need to wait. Let's get on with the show! [...]
Yet another sign of summer, despite Chicago's foray into November-like Fall temperatures, is the announcement of the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival 's musical lineup. The three-day street festival kicks off Friday, July 29 and ends Sunday, July 31, along North Milwaukee between California and Kimball Avenues in Logan Square. The Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival includes two stages chocked full of local artists, including four of our 11 Chicago Bands to Watch in 2011 . The main stage will be ruled by groovy soul rockers JC Brooks & The Uptown [...]
Ornery Little Darlings-Games (Netherfriends Remix) by Netherfriends It's a Chicago on Chicago sort of thing. Earlier this week, the fiesty mastermind behind pysch-poppers Netherfriends , Shawn Rosenblatt, offered up his own take on the song "Games" by swinging rockers Ornery Little Darlings via the group's website and Facebook page. If it wasn't obvious, Rosenblatt likes to keep busy; as if working on the group's new Midwest LP or embarking on a new tour wasn't enough, Rosenblatt decided to take it easy with some remix fun. "Games" originally [...]

Plustapes In honor of its 50th tape release, local music label Plustapes unveiled a new subscription club on Tuesday for its hungry music fans. In an interview with Loud Loop Press in February, Plustapes founder Dustin Drase said he believed bands release cassettes because it's a little something extra to give fans. "For those who get ahold of the tape, it's a badge of honor," Drase said. "It's like, 'I belong to a secret club with 200 or 300 hundred people.' "If you go to someone's house and [...]

Where Sufjan Stevens fell short in his quest to do 50 records for 50 states, the wonderful band Netherfriends re-focus the goal into track form. Over the next months all 50 state tracks will be rolled out, but we start with the sonic magic of "Angry East Coast". I was so impressed with these songs that I asked to give away two 7"s on the site and was approved. To win a free 7" @welistenforyou or leave a comment with what song best describes [...]