No Expectations 127: Interstate
Five recommended LPs for your week from Astrachan to Zook. Plus, a nice little feature on the newsletter and a 15-song playlist.
No Expectations hits inboxes on Thursdays at 9am cst. Reader mailbag email: Noexpectationsnewsletter@gmail.com. Daily Chicagoan, the local news newsletter I produce at my day job with WTTW News (PBS Chicago), can be found here.
Headline song: Dari Bay, “Interstate”
Thanks for being here. It’s good to be back after a short break. As you’ll read below, I skipped last Thursday because I attended seven shows in 10 days. In my early twenties, that was a normal week, but now in my mid-thirties, it’s a bit much. I was so fried by the tail-end of the streak that I had to take off work Monday. Still, after devoting a day to doing absolutely nothing, I feel mostly recharged and grateful I got to surround myself with so much live music.
While it’s still a month away, I’ve also started winnowing down the candidates for the No Expectations year-end list. Counting the 160 LPs I’ve recommended here so far in 2025, I’m also making through a few dozen new-to-me albums to see if I’ve missed anything. It turns out that even if you run a weekly new music newsletter, countless great things will inevitably fall through the cracks. That’s cool though: music rocks because it’s an endless, constantly replenishing well of exciting things to discover. If there’s a record I haven’t covered that you (a reader and not a publicist) think would be up my alley for the big EOY roundup, hit the comments or the mailbag email.
Here’s a cool thing that happened: No Expectations was featured in Inside Hook’s “85 Newsletters to Subscribe to Right Now” roundup. It’s so cool to see Friends of the Newsletter mentioned like Don’t Rock The Inbox, and it’s kind of unbelievable to be on the same list as folks like Patti Smith, George Saunders, and Jeff Tweedy. I’m stoked they highlighted my bonkers Grateful Dead essay/Las Vegas travelogue “No Expectations 071: Eyes of the World” as their favorite issue. It’s mine too. I first called this writing project No Expectations because I figured I’d abandon the idea after a month and just casually pop in to publish something whenever I felt like it. It’s amazing to me that that didn’t happen. I’m so thankful for the thoughtful people who keep reading and supporting this newsletter.
Here’s the spiel for new subscribers: Each week, you get a wildcard main essay (often new album recommendations), a 15-song playlist, as well as updates on what I’m listening to, watching, and reading. Sometimes you’ll get an interview with an artist I love, and other times it’ll be a deep dive into one band’s discography. Since I’m a Chicago-based writer, this newsletter is very Midwest-focused. So, if you live in this city too, you’ll also receive a curated roundup of upcoming local shows to check out.
Here’s where I politely ask for money: This newsletter is something I write in my spare time after work. It’s unpaywalled and remains that way due to the generosity of my readers. I am not in the business of gatekeeping. If you have the means and like what you read, you can sign up for a paid subscription. If your budget is tight, don’t pay for this. Telling a friend about a band you found out about here is just as good. It’s still $5 a month—the cost of one Old Style plus tip at Rainbo Club. Every bit helps, keeps this project going, and allows it to stay paywall-free. It’s rough out there, so it means the world you’re sticking around.
5 Albums Worth Your Time This Week
Astrachan, Signs
While I haven’t written about Chicago songwriter Ben Astrachan’s solo music, he has been heavily featured in several LPs I’ve highlighted in the newsletter. To name two from 2025, he produced the excellent folk-rock LP from Shoulderbird and is a touring member of Smushie, the gonzo pop rock band led by Austin Koenigstein. Like his bandmate, Astrachan has an affinity for ebullient ‘60s and ‘70s rock but translates it in such an off-kilter, enthralling way that it feels totally relevant and fresh. Signs is maximalist and ambitious: each of its 13 tracks is bursting with wailing guitars and a multitude of melodic twists. It’s conceptual rock music at its most deliriously infectious. “Dana Divine” is rousing and galvanizing, single “Picture of Doubt” boasts a sunny and sticky groove, while the ambling folk of “Teacher Teacher!” is peppered by welcome flute. This is rock music for the true believers and the true heads.
RIYL: The Beatles, The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, Todd Rundgren
I have no clue why this isn’t on Bandcamp, but here’s a link to where you can find it.
The Belair Lip Bombs, Again
If you want earworms and some of the finest power pop of 2025, Melbourne’s the Belair Lip Bombs have just that with their sophomore LP Again, which came out on Third Man Records this fall. It’s produced by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s Joe White, which is fitting, because this band boasts the same frenetic, interlocking guitar work that propels their songs to the stratosphere. Fronted by the Scottish-born singer Maisie Everett, who is equally expressive and commanding, the 10 earnest and charming tracks here hit a perfect alchemy between her pop-ready melodies and the volatile guitars anchoring them. Single “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair)” is so immediately thrilling I laughed the first time I heard it. There are several other welcome surprises throughout here, from the crunchy chords of “If You’ve Got The Time” and the explosive, radio-ready chorus of “Smiling.” I’m bummed I missed a chance to see them in Chicago a few weeks ago, but I can already tell they put on an unbelievable live show.
RIYL: Big riffs and bigger choruses, Australian bands, power-pop
h. pruz, Red sky at morning
Hannah Pruzinsky is a talented Pennsylvania-born, Queens-based songwriter who’s part of the band Sister., which released a No Expectations favorite LP earlier in the year. Now, Pruzinsky is back with Red sky at morning, the sophomore album under their moniker h. pruz. This is 11 tracks of lush, introspective folk that can unfold into vivid, orchestral arrangements (“Siren song”) or fuzzy shoegaze-inflected rock (“If you cannot make it stop”). As a lyricist, Pruzinsky makes the feeling of coming apart at the seams and anxiety feel soothing, if not totally cathartic. On the standout “Arrival,” which is held down by patient arpeggios and a palpable sense of domestic dread, they sing, “I can clear the cycle / Thе longer I stay / I could give out / But my thoughts are good.” While Pruzinsky excels at finding emotional resonance in still, slow moments, when they pick up the pace on songs like “Krista,” they truly shine.
RIYL: Singer-songwriters with a keen sense of how to use or fill empty space, perceptive introspection, going on mental health walks
Liam Kazar, Pilot Light
I have a theory that you can trace everything exciting about Chicago music over the past 15 years by looking at Kids These Days, the short-lived, genre-less collaborative featuring high schoolers who would go on to become fixtures of the city’s music scene. Each member has had disparate but still successful careers: Macie Stewart is one-half of Finom and an excellent composer and solo artist, Vic Mensa is an established rapper, Nico Segal’s made waves with his Chance the Rapper collaborations and jazz work, Greg Landfair is an in-demand session and touring drummer, and Liam Kazar just released his second timeless and fantastic solo album, Pilot Light. Where Kazar’s old band had so much raw talent, the distinct personalities and musical sensibilities of his bandmates ultimately led to their dissolution in 2013. Still, they all pursued their own lanes since then and are all better for it.
I’ve known Kazar for the past decade, and I wrote the bio for his debut LP, Due North. For a good stretch when I lived in Roscoe Village, he was my regular bartender at Hungry Brain. While I don’t see him as much as I used to, he’s doing exactly what he’d dream about then: touring full time with bands like Tweedy, Kevin Morby, Sam Evian, and his own. A couple of years back, he came over and played me some danceable demos that were clearly inspired by Prince and Bowie. They were cool, but he changed course after debuting a few songs at a solo show in Chicago when he debuted songs like “Didn’t I” and “Next Time Around.” He’s best at breezy, effortless, and observational songwriting, which both those tunes encapsulate perfectly. I’m happy he made the switch and recorded it with Friend of the Newsletter Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings. From the Cass McCombs-evoking title track opener to the joyfully catchy “Mission,” that’s my personal favorite of the bunch, Pilot Light is a cozy and smooth dose of folk-rock. It’s naturally conservational, and one of those records that you can tell was an absolute blast to make.
RIYL: A thoughtful home-cooked meal, Bob Dylan’s New Morning, Paul McCartney & Wings
Zook, Evaporating
I first came across Nashville musician Zach Tittel in 2021 when he was involved with the recording of Katy Kirby’s alltimer debut record Cool Dry Place. Evaporating, Tittel’s third album under the moniker Zook, makes me wish I’d kept closer tabs on his solo music over the years, as it’s an incredibly rewarding, knotty, and unpredictable indie rock record. One of my favorite genres is becoming “Nashville artists who don’t sound like they live in Nashville,” and Tittel’s brand of chameleonic and compelling guitar rock shot near the top of that surprisingly long list. There’s ample jangle here on songs like opener “Absolute Misery,” but bubbly synths and drum machines on tracks like “Disappear.” While each arrangement has a sense of propulsion, it’s Tittel’s clever melodies that soar. “Sequence” feels like the best Pavement never written, while closer “So Blue,” an eight-minute jam, has a hook so delectable it wouldn’t feel out of place on Merriweather Post Pavilion. This is a gem of an album.
RIYL: All kinds of indie rock
What I listened to:
The No Expectations 127 Playlist: Apple Music // Spotify // Tidal
1. Twine, “Out The Same Way”
2. Whitney, “In the Saddle”
3. Natalie Jane Hill, “Never Left Me”
4. Liam Kazar, “Mission”
5. The Belair Lip Bombs, “If You’ve Got The Time”
6. Dari Bay, “Interstate”
7. Accessory, “Ums”
8. h. pruz, “If you cannot make it stop”
9. hemlock, “Clothespin”
10. Sword II, “Even if it’s Just a Dream”
11. Just Penelope, “Be Gentle”
12. The Slaps, “Wettest Wing”
13. Kiwi jr., “Hard Drive, Ontario”
14. Skullcrusher, “Red Car”
15. Equipment Pointed Ankh, “The Shelbyville Codes”
hemlock’s “Clothespin” is not available on Spotify, but it’s on Apple Music and TIDAL.
Gig recap: Color Green, Rich Ruth at Hideout (10/31)
California psych rock quartet Color Green and the Nashville ambient jazz-rock project Rich Ruth are a perfect tour pairing, even though they might seem at odds on paper. Both bands have members who are obsessed with the Grateful Dead, and both draw from a deep well of American musical traditions for something cosmic and cathartic. While I skipped the costume that week, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Halloween and my friend Andrew’s birthday than heading to the Hideout for this gig. Ruth’s set was mind-blowing, especially the new song they played early in the set. Color Green, who donned really impressive forest nymph costumes, shredded with a high-octane set of trip-inducing rockers.
Gig recap: Whitney, Free Range at Empty Bottle (11/2)
Chicago’s Whitney, whose members have been some of my closest friends for nearly the past decade, released their fourth studio LP, Small Talk, last Friday. I love it so much. I’ve been living with versions of these songs for the past couple of years, and to witness how they all evolved into this album has been such a joy. They self-produced it with member Ziyad Asrar, and while I’m clearly biased, I truly think it’s the best-sounding, most confident collection of songs they’ve done yet. There’s more I can say, but I’m happy I got to see it in full at the Empty Bottle last Sunday. Original bassist Josiah Marshall, who’s been based in Portland since the pandemic, re-joined the band for this run of record release shows, and it really took me back to being 24. That venue, which celebrated its 33 1/3 anniversary with an unbelievable run of shows that included this one, was the first place I ever saw Whitney—they were second of four bands opening up for Jimmy Whispers. Time flies, man.
Gig recap: Tame Impala at United Center (11/3)
Back in 2019, I was working at VICE’s music vertical Noisey, where my team was compiling a massive package on the best music of the decade. We made a big list of the Best Albums of the 2010s, but we also had an essay series where one writer would choose an artist who encapsulated the previous 10 years in music. My coworkers wrote essays on Grimes, Deafheaven, Arca, and others, while I chose Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. I wrote then, “No artist captured how genres cross-pollinated throughout the 2010s better than Tame Impala.” As a fan, it was incredible to witness his growth in the 2010s from the crunchy psych of Innerspeaker, which I loved in college, to the effortless pop of 2012’s Lonerism, an alltimer, to 2015’s synthy and undeniable Currents, arguably the platonic ideal of a crossover breakout album. It was pop-ready enough to get Rihanna to cover a song, and an ambitious artistic leap successful enough to get universal acclaim from critics. While his next two full-lengths, 2020’s The Slow Rush (which I liked) and this year’s Deadbeat, have garnered less laudatory reviews (the latest Pitchfork pan was brutal), their vivid, immersive, and excellent arena show at United Center proves why they’re the most influential rock act of the last 15 years. Parker and his band, armed with the most exquisite and jaw-dropping light show I’ve seen in an arena, ripped through a career-spanning set that floored me. It was heavy on Lonerism, Currents, and Innerspeaker cuts, but the newer material popped, too. I came out of it with a newfound appreciation for a band I’ve always loved.
Gig recap: Cindy Lee, Freak Heat Waves at Thalia Hall (11/4)
Cindy Lee, the drag alter ego of Canadian musician Patrick Flegel, had 2024’s best music story with Diamond Jubilee, a 32-song, double LP. For most of that year, it was only available via PayPal link on a Geocities site, but it became the critical darling of the music press, topping Pitchfork’s year-end list. These out-of-time, ghostly pop songs continue to resonate, and at Thalia Hall, Lee orchestrated an impossibly mesmerizing solo set. Beyond the haunting and playful arrangements that capture a surreal, ineffable melancholy, these songs are buoyed by masterful and inventive guitar work. Live, Lee performs without a guitar strap, forcing a level of jagged physicality that adds violence and unpredictability to the pristine, girl-group-indebted pop melodies. With last year’s tour canceled, I couldn’t have felt more lucky to be able to snag a ticket for the first night of this run.
Gig recap: S.G. Goodman, Fust at Lincoln Hall (11/7)
It’s been three years since the last time I saw Kentucky songwriter S.G. Goodman live. She’s an evocative, searching, and relatable writer on record and a charismatic and hilarious bandleader in person. My longtime bud Ben Parks (Sun Seeker, Erin Rae, Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears) is now her drummer, so I’m happy I got a chance to see them play at Lincoln Hall alongside newsletter favorite Fust. The show was great: Fust, complete with George Jones covers and frontman Aaron Dowdy's powerfully twangy voice, were excellent. Goodman’s been touring her latest LP, “Planting by the Signs," and the setlist was basically the record in full, plus a surprise cover of “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers. It all ruled and made me realize that this album was one of No Expectations’ most notable omissions so far in 2025.
Gig recap: Grizzly Bear, TOLEDO at Salt Shed (11/9)
In 2007 and 2008, my Honda Civic’s armrest stored several CDs like The National’s Boxer, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Fleet Foxes, and Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House. For a good stretch, the latter soundtracked so many icy drives to school and friends’ houses. It was weird, cavernous, and stunning, completely rewiring my brain on vocal harmonies, empty space, and how unlikely presentations can make pop songs soar. 2009’s Veckatimest was on constant rotation my freshman year of college. One of the first shows I attended after I moved to Chicago was Beach House opening for Grizzly Bear at Metro. When I graduated, I had already rinsed 2013’s Shields. While the New York quartet hasn’t toured in six years, it seemed like no time had passed at their Salt Shed show Sunday night. I hadn’t really listened to the band since 2017’s Painted Ruins came out, but hearing their catalog performed so masterfully unlocked countless memories of how this band has really been such a massive and formative presence in my life. The live renditions of tunes like “Little Brother,” “Alligator,” and “Ready, Able” honestly made me pretty emotional. Plus, Victoria Legrand of Beach House joined the band for several songs, including “Two Weeks,” which made it a full-circle moment.
While getting a chance to see Grizzly Bear was amazing, I was really there to see the openers, TOLEDO. Three years ago, before I was working for PBS and before I started this newsletter, I wrote the press bio for their excellent 2022 LP How It Ends. We started a group chat to schedule the interview, but we got along so well that it’s still active. They’re the sweetest, funniest dudes and stellar songwriters and producers, who’ve been involved with several LPs recommended here. They played a show on Friday that I couldn’t attend, but I’m so glad I got to catch them at Salt Shed. When we first chatted years ago, they talked about how much they loved Grizzly Bear, so I know that this last-minute opportunity to play with their heroes was so important to them. A perfect night.
Gig recap: Deeper, Stuck, The Knees at Empty Bottle (11/10)
Chicago post-punks Deeper might be the band I’ve seen the most at the Empty Bottle. Their kinetic, pummeling, and clanging brand of rock music is angsty and energetic enough to feel factory-made for Chicago’s best small venue and dive bar. I’ve been catching them play there for a decade, from working RedEye Chicago and premiering their debut single “Transmogrified” in 2016 to Monday’s free show at the Bottle. Each time, they sound better and better. I love the four people in this band so much, and I hope to have ten more years of seeing them tear through raucous sets at my neighborhood venue. Local rippers Stuck, the punk band fronted by Friend of the Newsletter Greg Obis, were excellent too. The same goes for the reunited indie rock outfit the Knees. Special shoutout to the Empty Bottle staff for successfully booking and working a nutty run of shows this month that celebrated the venue’s 33 1/3 birthday. The best people in the business.
What I watched:
Pluribus (Apple TV+)
What if you woke up one morning to find that everyone else in the entire world was happy, in agreement, and living in harmony for the first time in world history? While we can all agree that the world right now is too polarized, too fractured, and too lonely, this hypothetical would suck, too, right? This is roughly the premise of Pluribus, a new Apple TV+ philosophical and funny sci-fi show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. He teams up once again with Rhea Seehorn, star of his other excellent, arguably superior show Better Call Saul, for this New Mexico-set series. The pilot is a jaw—dropping dose of efficient world-building, merging horror with humor and surrealism. Think The Good Place meets Arrival meets Eddington. At just two episodes, I’m already hooked.
What I read:
The Fort Bragg Cartel (by Seth Harp)
Fort Bragg is a 251-square-mile military base in North Carolina that’s the center of Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel, a strikingly gripping, horrifying, and lurid nonfiction read. Harp, a veteran and longtime journalist, documents a rancid, rampant, and recent culture of drug abuse, drug trafficking, violence, and murder on the site over 300 juicy pages. The narrative centers around the mysterious murder of a Delta Force operator and an Army soldier, whose bodies were discovered riddled with bullets in the woods on the base. Harp masterfully threads the history of the Global War on Terror, the U.S. Special Forces, and the War on Drugs to contextualize the crimes and murders documented in the book, as well as how the global drug trade has been essential to U.S. postwar foreign policy. He shows how certain Special Forces soldiers brought back drugs from overseas deployments to sell back in the States and exhaustively details their reckless and unaccountable behavior. The specifics are shocking and nauseating, especially as Harp highlights the institutional lack of accountability throughout the book. While Harp tends to editorialize in asides that might distract from his otherwise solid reporting, his compulsively readable prose comes off like a thriller.
The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar:
The gig calendar lives on the WTTW News website now. You can also subscribe to the newsletter I produce there called Daily Chicagoan to get it in your inbox a day early.
This is just a regular reminder for non-subscribers that this substack is the absolute best value for your money. Thank you for everything you do, Josh.
The Whitney album is on constant rotation over here. I love it so much it makes me sick!!