Album Review: Chicago Crowd Surfer Round Up March 2020

I had some time to catch up on recent releases from Chicago jazz and metal artists while sheltering at home this past week. This city produces far more worthy music than I can keep up with, so it is nice to take a look back and recommend some stuff from earlier in the year before it gets overlooked. There has never been a better time to do some deep listening while you are stuck indoors trying to avoid illness (or avoid spreading illness to others), and all of these albums only get more rewarding the more times you spin them. Write ups of all of my recommendations can be found over at Chicago Crowd Surfer. Links provided below.

Huntsmen - Mandala of Fear

Chicago's Huntsmen are one of the stranger amalgamations of folk revival and post-rock I've heard, and their new album Mandala of Fear takes the listener on a harrowing journey of dread and bitter truth. It reminds me of a lot of Cult of Luna's A Dawn of Fear, but more grounded and brooding. Check out the full write up here, and grab a copy form Prosthetic Recordings here.

Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown

Jeff Parker is the guitarist for post-rockers, Tortious. Despite what some white-bread indie soft-boi will tell you, this is actually the least interesting part of Parker's music career. He's first and foremost a jazz player, and his new album Suite for Max Brown demonstrates shows him at his best and most spontaneous. Direct, honest, and transcendent. Highly recommended! Read the full write up here, and grab a copy from International Anthem, here.

Jeremy Cunningham - The Weather Up There

Another wonderful jazz album courtesy of another great Chicago based jazz player, Jeremy Cunningham. The Weather Up There is an incredibly beautiful examination of family, community and rippling effects of traumatic loss. Check out the full write up here, and grab a copy from Northern Spy, here.

Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven - We're New Again: a Reimagining by Makaya McCraven

Easily one of the more spectacular jazz releases of this year, Chicago based drummer Makaya McCraven, at the request of Xl Recordings owner Richard Russell, reworks Gil Scott-Haron's last album to uncover it's potential as one of the late, great standards of the genre's '00s revival. This album is rightfully going to make all of the "Best of" lists this year. Get in on the action now, so that you don't have to play catch up later. Read my full write up here, and grab a copy from XL Recordings, here.

Cloud Cruiser - I: Capacity

Turns out, Chicago can churn up some pretty solid desert rock when it wants to. For my review of Cloud Cruiser's debut I decided to tell a bit of a story. It's part of a series I'm apparently doing where people discover new music during a paranormal experience. I think it does the album justice. Read my write up here, and grab a copy from CC's Bandcamp here.