The latest addition to the Small Chicago project comes from The Henhouse Prowlers. They are well established in the bluegrass community and delivered a great performance. 

Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross is a side project from Dexter Tortoriello of Houses. The debut ep from the project, Blow, was released this week through Mad Decent.

Tonight (4/15) at The Beat Kitchen Tim Larson and The Owner/Operators celebrate the release of their new album, A New Deal. This is the band's first album in four years and it finds these folk and country tinged musicians on top of their game. What I like about Tim Larson is they way he tells a story. On A New Deal he draws from current and very relevant subject to tell the story of Chicago right now. "Own To Rent" kicks off the album with a tale of hard times and the album continues on from there.

Tim Larson and The Owner/Operators (4/15) and performing tonight at Beat Kitchen with Ohio's Wolf Ram Heart.

This ep was released by Rock Proper last month and features one of my favorite weekend songs. "What So Special" perfectly captures that lazy feeling you get when you know it is ok to relax, but you still feel like you should be doing something. Love Story In Blood Red is mainly the work of Jason Frederick and these song span over a decade in time., but still feel fresh and inspired.

You can down the entire ep "Hot Cha" from Love Story In Blood Red and Rock Proper here.

I am loving the textures and layers that fill the debut ep, Ten Thousand Years, from Heavy Ghost. The band is the latest edition in Chicago's push to rule the new psych-rock movement. However, Heavy Ghost pushes further into electronic and dance impulses. They are drawing comparisons to Boards of Canada mainly for the track below and I can't argue. As you get further into the ep you find the band has several different flavors and sounds and all of them are solid and complex. With both Jonathon Freund and Caden Moore signing on different tracks the band can tackle any number of sounds, and the two play off of each other perfectly.

Ten Thousand Years can be found here for name-your-own-price.