No Expectations 074: Make the Move
Five new LPs worth a look. Plus, Valebol's record release show at Thalia Hall and some newsletter housekeeping.
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Headline song: Margaux, “Make the Move”
Coming Soon to No Expectations.
I recently started a full-time job at WTTW News (PBS Chicago) and this past month has been a semi-transitional time at No Expectations. Usually, I have weeks planned out featuring the Taste Profile interview series and Discography Deep Dives. Due to the new gig, I decided not to bite off more than I could chew. I took it week by week. I paused interview requests and I decided to step back from longer-lead newsletters to focus on this adjustment period. I think it worked fine, especially with the piece on Dead & Company at the Sphere. Still, I wanted to feel it out and not overextend myself.
Now that I’m a little over a month into working in an office with other people (I was WFH for seven years straight prior to this), I feel great and I’m mostly settled. There’s still a ton of work to do at the day job and I may take a week or two off from this newsletter as we launch WTTW’s revamped newsletter. That said, I’m happy to report that balancing a full-time job and No Expectations, a part-time job, still feels fun, rewarding, and most importantly, feasible. I’m relieved but more than that, I’m excited to tease out some exciting things I’m planning for No Expectations. Here’s a taste below.
Discography Deep Dives: Two are in the works right now. One’s about a popular touring indie rock band with a once-in-a-generation songwriter and the other is on a wildly prolific group that’s released so many albums this Triple D might be a more ambitious swing than my Sphere piece.
Taste Profiles: While I turned down a few pitches for artist interviews, I’m ending that pause. I’ll be reaching out to acts I want to chat with and fielding asks from publicists. My only request, which will be tough, is that the interviews will have to take place on nights and weekends. I can’t be chatting with indie rock bands on the clock at PBS when I have things they’re paying me to do there during regular 9 to 5 work hours.
What else is happening? New LP recommendations are the bread-and-butter at No Expectations. Those won’t ever go away. In July, which is the actual midpoint of the year, I’ll have the 2024 Best LPs So Far roundup. Finally, because my Sphere piece and my first-timer’s account of a Phish show goosed by subscriber numbers with jam band fans, I’m getting a ton of reader recommendations about artists in those scenes. For most of my life, that’s a genre that I had a near physical aversion to. I still mostly do but I’m actually finding things I really like (and a bunch of things I can’t stand). I’ll be running an “Indie Rock Fan’s Guide to Jam Bands” sometime this summer. (Bear with me if this particular idea sounds awful—I promise you’ll at least be entertained).
If this is exciting news, consider upgrading to a paid subscription or telling a friend to sign up. Thanks for being here, as always.
5 Excellent New LPs to Check Out Now
Bloomsday, Heart of the Artichoke
Bloomsday is the songwriting project of Brooklyn’s Iris James Garrison, who writes delicate and stunning songs on their sophomore album Heart of the Artichoke. Co-produced by Babehoven’s Ryan Albert and mixed by Chicago’s Henry Stoehr (of Slow Pulp), the ten tracks here sound absolutely gorgeous. What’s most impressive is Garrison’s attention to detail as both a writer and a frontperson. They’re strikingly perceptive as they sing about connection, platonic love, and community on “Object Permanence” and when they yearningly tackle a summertime campfire on “Artichoke.” If you’re into records I’ve recommended here from Lily Seabird, Mali Velasquez, and Katy Kirby, you’ll find a lot to love here.
Bonny Light Horseman, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free
When Bonny Light Horseman, the supergroup of Anaïs Mitchell, Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman, released their debut record in January 2020 it hit me like a ton of bricks. Not to do the annoying “I heard it early” thing music journalists do but it soundtracked my 2019 fall, which was personally an emotionally rough period. I was feeling tender and unmoored but the way these musicians’ sensibilities and voices meshed for resonant folk was an anchor, especially on the single “Deep In Love.” On first listen, their third album—a double LP called Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free—hits just as hard. To some extent, every song feels like a songwriting masterclass. Likely the prettiest record I’ve heard in 2024.
Good Looks, Lived Here For A While
In 2022 before they released their excellent debut LP Bummer Year, Good Looks played Cole’s. It was the first time they ever performed in Chicago. After that gig, their publicist Jacob Daneman and I took them out for pizza (at Piece in Wicker Park) and showed them around town. We became buds and they kept me in the loop about how their follow-up LP was coming along. But then life got in the way: guitarist Jake Ames was the victim of a hit-and-run after their record release show, fracturing his skull and tailbone with brain injuries that forced him to relearn the guitar. Once he recovered and they got ready to tour again, the whole band was in a fiery van accident. Unreal bad-luck stuff.
While their sophomore record Lived Here For A While was written prior to these horrific, near-death experiences, it is a document of a resilient band whose bond was made stronger by Going Through It Together. I was honored to write the bio for this and while I’m biased, I think it’s one of the finest rock records you’ll hear all year. It’s conversational, accessible, and full-throated indie rock with big riffs and a bigger heart.
An extra cool thing: As a really sweet Paste profile from Friend of the Substack Matt Mitchell notes, I helped the band with the album in a small way. When frontman Tyler Jordan sent me demos last year, he asked for feedback. I loved each tune but I thought would it would flow better with a different track order. To my amazement, my suggested sequence is what they went with. I’m ecstatic about it but more than that, I’m just proud of these guys. They’re the real deal and the best folks.
Joshua Virtue, Black Box: Joshua Is Dead
Black Box: Joshua Is Dead is the final album from Chicago-based rapper Joshua Virtue. The thrillingly unpredictable songwriter and producer, who’s also a co-founder of the influential local label Why? Records and one-half of the duo UDABABY, will be changing their moniker for future projects. Listening to the Bandcamp-only release Black Box, it’s a hell of a way to go out. It’s 12 tracks of adventurous hip-hop with skittering beats, morbid rhymes, and an unpredictable flow from Virtue that always thrills. It takes a minute to get on Virtue’s wavelength but give the whole project a patient listen and you’ll come out rewarded and challenged. Everything Virtue and their peers put out feels like the future.
Margaux, Inside the Marble
Five years ago I was obsessed with Margaux’s debut EP More Brilliant Is the Hand That Throws the Coin. It was knotty, dense, but immediate pop music that was so interesting and confident that I was shocked to find out she was then only 20 years old. Now, Margaux is the touring bassist for Katy Kirby and while she’s in Europe with that band, she just released her immaculate debut LP Inside the Marble. It’s aomehow even more assured than the 2019 EP. The tracks here feel both unfussy and ornate, lived-in and cosmic. “I Wouldn’t Want It Any Other Way” is stripped-down melancholy while “Make The Move” is anchored by a patient groove and subtly lush strings. While I’m sure the half-decade gap between releases was likely a tough ask as a working musician, the outstanding finished product makes me happy she took her time with this full-length.
What I listened to:
The No Expectations 074 Playlist: Apple Music // Spotify
1. Golomb, “Take My Life”
2. Good Looks, “Vaughn”
3. Eggy, “Laurel”
4. Valebol, “Row Row Row”
5. Good Morning, “Just In Time”
6. Bloomsday, “Virtual Hug”
7. Nilüfer Yanya, “Method Actor”
8. Erin Rae, “On Her Side”
9. Bonny Light Horseman, “The Clover”
10. Kate Bollinger, “Any Day Now”
11. Anna St. Louis, “Farther Away”
12. Marina Allen, “Love Comes Back”
13. Bonny Doon, “Clock Keeps Ticking”
14. Katy Kirby, “Headlights”
15. Margaux, “Make the Move”
Gig report: Valebol, Carlile, Elizabeth Moen at Thalia Hall (6/7)
V.V. Lightbody has been one of my favorite Chicago songwriters and people for a decade. Daniel Villarreal is one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen live with both Dos Santos and now Valebol, the synth-pop duo he makes up with Lightbody. Last month, they released their self-titled debut (I wrote the bio for it). It’s immersive, soulful, and sexy pop music that’s as fun as it is heady with dense grooves. Friday was their record release show In the Round at Thalia Hall. Because they were playing in the middle of the venue, not on the stage, concertgoers surrounded and danced around the two-piece band. The music was so communal and infectious that attendees even formed a constantly moving circle around the stage setup—something I’ve never seen at any other In The Round show. It was really special. I hope a band like Khruangbin, Leon Bridges, or Jungle takes them on tour. This is music that’s meant to be heard on a huge stage.
Really special night. Sooper signee Carlile and Friend of the Substack Elizabeth Moen opened up. Moen’s voice is stunning.
What I watched:
Ren Faire (Max)
At just 28, Lance Oppenheim is already one of the most exciting and visually unique documentary filmmakers around. From his 2020 doc on The Villages, Some Kind of Heaven to this year’s surprisingly sweet Hulu feature Spermworld and now Max’s Ren Faire, few of his peers are as stylistically confident and taking swings as big as him. Ren Faire follows the power struggle surrounding the Texas Renaissance Festival and the succession plan if its controversial and colorful octogenarian founder George Coulam retires.
Hit Man (Netflix)
When I try to pick my favorite directors like Sean Baker, Céline Sciamma, Andrea Arnold, Hong Sang Soo or Ryusuke Hamaguchi, I always come back to Richard Linklater. His body of work is eclectic, conversational, and consistently inviting. There’s a ton of range between something like Before Sunrise to Dazed and Confused and more so between A Scanner Darkly, Apollo 10 ½, and Boyhood. His latest Hit Man, which features Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! reunion with actor Glen Powell, feels most like his black comedy Bernie. The two films explore crime and were also both adapted from Texas Monthly articles by writer Skip Hollandsworth. I loved this one. It manages to cleverly subvert genre tropes and Powell’s charismatic performance is sure to keep his rising star afloat.
What I read:
The Curious Case Of The Underselling Arena Tours (Zach Schonfeld, Stereogum)
Why would they book such oversized venues? To some extent, “it’s just pure greed,” says a booking agent with many years of experience, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Live Nation needs to fill these big rooms, so they make aggressive offers and then the agents and managers take them. Some of it is, it’s hard to go backwards. If you’ve ever done arena tours before, it’s very difficult to take a step back and make less money on a smaller tour. No one wants to present that to a manager or band.
“There’s certain agents that have a track record of just kinda killing bands,” the agent adds. “They fire the agents at a smaller agency, it goes to a bigger agency, and they just cram it down the throat of these promoters, and there’s a frenzy in the promoter game. Everyone wants a piece of it, and the tour deals get more and more aggressive. Then they price the tickets too high and they just don’t sell.”
Chicago Police Spent More Than 1 Million Overtime Hours on Controversial and Abandoned Tactic (Jared Rutecki, WTTW News)
Over the past two summers, police officers sitting in a prominent spot with their emergency lights flashing were a common sight in most Chicago neighborhoods.
Called the strategic deployment initiative, or SDI, the effort was introduced as part of an overall plan to fight crime across the city.
CPD launched the plan in February 2022 to “curb public-violence incidents throughout the city,” according to its annual report.
Sometimes called “scarecrowing” by officers and critics in reference to the way it stationed officers in easy-to-see spots to deter trouble, the recently terminated initiative was often defended by former boss David Brown but criticized by current Supt. Larry Snelling.
Records provided to WTTW News show police officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants worked more than 1 million hours under the program, all paid out as overtime.
The data provided by CPD showed each officers’ SDI assignment daily for about two years, and allowed WTTW News to analyze how often the program was used and the total number of hours logged on these shifts.
SDI cops were visible throughout the city most days, often stationed in their vehicles with the emergency lights on across the city.
The department did not answer questions about the total cost of the plan, nor did it provide details about how the program impacted violence and crime across the city following its implementation.
The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar
Thursday, June 13: Bonny Light Horseman, Alpha Consumer at Thalia Hall. Tickets.
Thursday, June 13: Tyler Childers, S.G. Goodman at United Center. Tickets.
Thursday, June 13: Lefty Parker, Red PK, Friko (Solo) at Color Club. Tickets.
Thursday, June 13: Waltzer, Kairos Creature Club, Consensus Madness at Sleeping Village. Tickets.
Thursday, June 13: Orville Peck, Durand Jones, Debbii Dawson at Aragon. Tickets.
Friday, June 14: Bitchin Bajas, Sam Prekop at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Friday, June 14: Wilco, Cut Worms at Salt Shed. Tickets.
Saturday, June 15: Wilco, Cut Worms at Salt Shed. Tickets.
Saturday, June 15: Leah Senior, Sarah Weddle at Hideout. Tickets.
Sunday, June 16: English Teacher, Smut at Schubas. Tickets.
Monday, June 17: Mdou Moctar, Lia Kohl at Empty Bottle. Sold out.
Monday, June 17: Nourished by Time, Urika’s Bedroom at Schubas. Sold out.
Tuesday, June 18: Mdou Moctar, JRCG at Thalia Hall. Sold out.
Tuesday, June 18: From Indian Lakes, Dirt Buyer at Beat Kitchen. Tickets.
Wednesday, June 19: Pixies, Modest Mouse, Cat Power at Northerly Island. Tickets.
Wednesday, June 19: Quasi, Marnie Stern at Lincoln Hall. Tickets.
Wednesday, June 19: How Long Gone (Podcast) at Bottom Lounge. Tickets.
Now that Daniel has moved to Philly, he's been a great addition to the music scene here. So glad to have him, and yeah, awesome human, too!
The new Bonny Light Horseman album is gorgeous and has definitely been worth waiting for. While their self-titled debut made the back half of my AOTY, their follow up Rolling Golden Holy was my number four album of 2022. The new one hasn’t yet attained such exalted status but it’ll almost certainly be on the AOTY list again this year.