No Expectations 067: Head Out of the Window
Six new albums worth your time. Plus, gig recaps on Ducks Ltd and Charlie Hill.
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Headline song: Hot Joy, “Head Out of the Window”
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Six New Releases To Get You Through The Week
2024 already feels like the best year for new music in a long time. Maybe this is recency bias but I truly haven’t felt so overwhelmed by all the stellar albums coming out week after week since maybe 2016.
While the Friday that boasted new LPs from Adrianne Lenker, Waxahatchee, Rosali, and more was not even a month ago, things haven’t slowed down since. This is great news for listeners: it’s hard to be bored when so many exciting artists are putting out such great material. That said, it’s tough on Chicago guys who write weekly music newsletters and can’t keep up. More importantly, it’s even harder for underground acts trying to break through and get their music heard.
Over the past couple of weeks, masterful new efforts from Cindy Lee, who probably has the Album of the Year in Diamond Jubilee, and Vampire Weekend, who passed “the five albums test” with Only God Was Above Us, have gotten deserved praise and dominated Music Twitter discussions. I give both records hearty endorsements: “Classical” is the best Vampire Weekend song since “This Life” and Lee’s “Kingdom Come” might be my favorite thing I’ve heard all year.
However, this list has nothing to do with those great acts. Instead, No Expectations is highlighting six other worthy artists who have all recently released excellent full-lengths that deserve your attention.
Bnny, One Million Love Songs
Chicago’s Jess Viscius has built an unimpeachable catalog as the musician behind Bnny (fka Bunny). Her dreamlike songs bluntly tackle love and loss with a tangible emotional clarity and a keen ear for smart, grounded songwriting. One Million Love Songs is the band’s sophomore effort. It’s such a remarkable leap. Compared to the band’s grief-laden and gorgeous debut Everything, which was written after the 2017 death of Viscious’ partner and Parent frontman Trey Gruber, this LP is a more holistic look at love and heartbreak. It’s melancholy but hopeful, raw but assured. Co-produced by the band and Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo De Souza, every band you can think of from Asheville, North Carolina), Vicius’s pristine melodies sound huge on songs like “Good Stuff.” It’s the most hi-fi approach for Bnny’s material yet but the songs are all so strong they deserve nothing less.
Minor Moon, The Light Up Waltz
Full disclosure: Minor Moon frontman Sam Cantor is a friend and I wrote both the press bios for this record and his band’s 2021 effort Tethers. While you should take this endorsement with that grain of salt, I can’t think of a Chicago band that’s so in the taste wheelhouse of the average No Expectations reader. This is cosmic and Americana-tinged rock that’s full of adventurous guitar theatrics from both Cantor and Lucky Cloud’s Chet Zenor. It’s also anchored by gorgeous pedal steel and Cantor’s calming voice. The sequencing on this record is spectacular too: the transition from “Blue Timing” to “I Could See It Coming” was so good it made me laugh. While I’ve told Cantor for years that his music and live show reminds me a little of the Grateful Dead, he’s only recently made the dive into that band’s catalog well after recording this LP.
Hour, Ease The Work
Hour is a sprawling Philadelphia-based instrumental collective led by Michael Cormier-O’Leary. (He also runs the influential record label Dear Life which puts out great releases from Florry, MJ Lenderman, and more. Hour hasn’t unveiled an LP since 2018 but Ease The Work is worth the wait. Recorded live in an old movie theater on Peaks Island in Maine, these songs are lush, open, and often stunning. Hour’s palette is pastoral and organic: crisp piano, lilting strings, delicate electric guitars, and brushed percussion. Though you can zone out, relax, and let these patient songs wash over you, they’re challenging enough to demand a closer listen. “Brain Scrub” simmers with intensity while “Dying of Laughter” floats with plaintive keys blending with mournful strings.
Blue Ranger, Close Your Eyes
No Expectations is anti-algorithm music writing but there is one simple way to get great recommendations via your social media feed: find someone you follow on Instagram with great taste and check out what songs they post to their Stories. A little over a year ago, Sofia Jensen, the songwriter behind Chicago’s Free Range, posted Blue Ranger’s “True Blue.” I had never heard of the band but the song floored me: warm, inviting folk rock that’s as pretty as it was memorable. Flash forward to now and the Albany, New York-based group has a new full-length out called Close Your Eyes. The title track slowly builds with woozy slide guitar that introduces subtle synths and fiddle. The gradual steps to catharsis is where Blue Ranger thrives. These songs boast a tangible heart that’s relentlessly charming, especially “Step Line” and the rocking “As Simple Goes.” This is just really tasteful stuff.
Little Kid, A Million Easy Payments
The band Little Kid describe their songs as “mostly-slow Toronto music.” While that’s technically true, the Canadians sell themselves short because their latest album A Million Easy Payments is one of the most engaging records I’ve heard all year despite mostly operating in a mellow tempo. Released on the great Orindal Records founded by Chicago’s Owen Ashworth (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Advance Base), the eight tracks here are intimate, meaty, and relentlessly hummable after just one listen. Opener “Something To Say” is anchored by subtle banjo but it soars in its chorus. Where you can make comparisons to soft-spoken artists like Mutual Benefit or Youth Lagoon, Little Kid feels more exploratory on songs like the jazzy “Beside Myself” or more accessible like “Somewhere In Between.”
hemlock, amen (EP)
One of the first show recaps I ever wrote for No Expectations was hemlock and Merce Lemon opening up for feeble little horse at Schubas in January 2023. That gig was special for several reasons but it marked the first I saw hemlock’s Carolina Chauffe perform live. I adored their set, which included a cover of the Handsome Family, and was lucky to see them live several times opening up for Greg Freeman, Lily Seabird, and more throughout that year. While Chauffe no longer lives in Chicago full-time, they will always be a local favorite in my book. Amen!, hemlock’s new six-song EP, maintains the intimacy of Chauffe’s solo acoustic shows but brings a newfound urgency with a full-band recording.
What I listened to:
The No Expectations 067 Playlist: Spotify // Apple Music
1. Hot Joy, “Head Out of the Window”
2. Good Looks, “Self-Destructor”
3. Dana Gavanski, “Ears Were Growing”
4. Little Kid, “Beside Myself”
5. TOLEDO, “Lindo Lindo”
6. Blue Ranger, “As Simple Goes”
7. Bnny, “Get It Right”
8. Mallory Hawk, “All Your Troubles”
9. Steel Fringe, “Klickitat Country”
10. Scott McMicken and The Ever-Expanding, “Take Me Where I Ain’t”
11. hemlock, “eleanor”
12. Coco, “For George”
13. Minor Moon, “Since The Water Rose”
14. Finom, “As You Are”
15. Hour, “Dying of Laughter”
Gig report: Charlie Hill, Lucky Cloud, Alicia Gail at Gman Tavern.
On Wednesday last week, I saw Nashville’s Charlie Hill headline Gman Tavern for a night of stellar acoustic singer-songwriter music. Longtime readers of No Expectations will know that Hill was once part of Burlington, Vermont’s indie rock community alongside Greg Freeman, Dari Bay, Lily Seabird and more but now he lives in Nashville playing country-tinged folk songs. Last year’s Chuck Pond was one of my favorites but that night he debuted several new songs that will eventually appear on a new LP. He wasn’t the only Nashville act on the bill with Alicia Gail as first of three: her voice was mesmerizing and her songs were good too.
Lucky Cloud, which is the project of guitarist and songwriter Chet Zenor opened as well. Zenor’s most prominent roles in Chicago so far have been as a sideman playing with Minor Moon, Hannah Frances, Squirrel Flower, and more. But that’s soon going to change once Lucky Cloud starts putting out music. His songs are intricate, knotty, and gorgeous. Though he has no recorded music officially out, he’s working on a full-length that I’m sure will be great.
Gig report: Ducks Ltd, Rui Gabriel, Joey Nebulous at Empty Bottle
When I walked into the Empty Bottle Sunday to see Ducks Ltd, I ran into the band’s guitarist Evan Lewis who said, “This feels like a hometown show.” Though Lewis originally hails from Australia and the duo, which includes singer Tom McGreevy, is based in Toronto, they recorded their new album Harm’s Way in this city last summer. They enlisted members of Ratboys, Dehd, Deeper, and more to flesh out these songs and it’s one of my favorites of the year. (I also have to note that I wrote the press bio for this one). The gig was a total blast: they’re all pros and Tom is one of my favorite frontmen right now. He’s energetic and transfixing onstage, matching the kinetic power of these jangly rock songs.
Lawn’s Rui Gabriel opened. His set marked the first time he’s played with a full band. He enlisted several players including Sonny Falls’ Ryan Ensley to round out his backing band. It sounded great. He’s signed to Carpark and has a stellar debut single called “Target” out now. Local indie pop icon Joey Nebulous was the first of three. Perfect night.
What I watched:
Ken Burns: Baseball (PBS Documentaries)
I’m breaking a self-imposed rule for No Expectations, which is to never write about something that I haven’t watched or listened to all the way through. This exception is because Ken Burns’ Baseball is 18.5 hours long. I’ve been slowly making my way through over the past week and still have five episodes to go. (Sorry to give out spoilers but I only just got to the part where Babe Ruth dies). It’s excellent though. While I watched Country Music last year, I now plan to give Jazz, The Vietnam War, and others a first watch after this. My favorite streaming app right now isn’t Netflix or Max but PBS Documentaries.
What I read:
Phish is a jam band run by a control freak. That’s perfect for the Sphere. (Geoff Edgers, Washington Post)
When Phish sold out all four of the April concerts it had booked at the Sphere, just as quickly as everyone expected, the obvious question arose: Why not do more?
After all, U2 opened the $2.3 billion venue that remade the Las Vegas skyline this past fall with what was supposed to be a 25-show run — until demand built to a fever pitch, and the rock veterans shrewdly extended their stay, amortizing their investment in a dazzling, site-customized light-and-video show over an entire 40 nights.
And yet as Phish prepared to take up the Sphere’s second residency slot, and the band’s fervid fans bid up aftermarket prices well beyond U2’s, guitarist and frontman Trey Anastasio hesitated.
What would an extra weekend of shows mean for quality control?
He posed the question to show director and co-creative director Abigail Rosen Holmes. “It’ll be good,” she told him. “But it won’t be great. If you just do four nights, it’s going to blow minds.”
That was all Anastasio needed to hear.
“Then we’re not doing it,” he recalled telling her.
On Chappell Roan and Gen Z Pop (Miranda Reinert, Step One of a Plan)
It is insane that labels sign these artists and then feel no sense of urgency to capitalize on their viral success. There has been a good amount of criticism about the lack of artists development by labels and artists suffering because they’re expected to be fully developed at signing. They’re expected to have already proved they don’t need help with getting an audience. Frankly, it is offensive and an insult to the artists who make this music. It is cowardice and it's embarrassing that the labels are failing these artists. There is some charm in a one hit wonder, but not when it's because the artist has been chopped off at the knees before they're even allowed to flop.
These aren't the former child actors who are being given music careers. These are people who got some success on one song and now it just feels like they are being stifled. Rereleases of songs that went viral for an artist without a single album out are exploitation and I really believe that. I am sad when I see the artist behind Frances Forever hawking the same dance as when their song went viral first. I am sad that these musicians are not being allowed to become more than their viral single.
When you look at Olivia Rodrigo or Noah Kahan— artists that found huge success initially on TikTok but have transcended the app and the fate of being merely an Influencer— what do you see?
The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar
Thursday, April 18: Rosali, Fran at the Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Thursday, April 18: Spanish Love Songs, Oso Oso, Sydney Sprague, Worry Club at Metro. Tickets.
Friday, April 19: Minor Moon, Macie Stewart, Moontype at Lincoln Hall. Tickets.
Friday, April 19: Bnny, Tim Kinsella & Jenny Pulse, Ulna at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Friday, April 19: Coco, Sima Cunningham at Hideout. Tickets.
Friday, April 19: Interlay, Gash, Brinstarr at Cole’s. Tickets.
Friday, April 19: Enumclaw, Graham Hunt at Cobra Lounge. Tickets.
Saturday, April 20: Waxahatchee, Good Morning at Salt Shed. Sold out.
Saturday, April 20: Motel Breakfast, Scarlet Demore, Harrison Gordon at Metro. Tickets.
Sunday, April 21: Slaughter, Beach Dog, Erin Rae at SPACE. Sold out.
Monday, April 22: Chastity, Griefeater, Take Out The Blade at Subterranean. Tickets.
Tuesday, April 23: Oneohtrix Point Never, Arushi Jain at Metro. Tickets.
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This newsletter brings me life. Tysm for taking the time to do this!
The Minor Moon is a delight - been listening since it came out. And you just might be right about Cindy Lee, so, so GREAT.