Music

By: Andy Jachim Despite playing a few of his tracks over The Crossroads’ history, Cody Johnson has never been a featured artist. That changes this week as we take a look into his newest album, Leather, which was released on November 3. This is Johnson’s 11th set of tracks and ...

Our Featured Local Artist for November is Unto the Earth, a four piece metal band from Naperville and Aurora, straddling the lines between stoner, desert, doom, and sludge, with shoegaze and heavy psych influences. Formed in 2019 by guitarist Mike Yoshida and bassist/vocalist/instrumentalist Simeon Papacostas, along with lead guitarist Jed ...

Our Featured Local Artist for October is The Koop, an experienced and well-traveled working musician, regularly performing as a solo acoustic player throughout the Chicagoland area. So far this year, he’s played over 50 three-hour shows of what he likes to call his “essential acoustic melodies.” From wineries to breweries ...

by Jesse Hudgins Hardcore has been a genre since the late 70s, originating with bands like Black Flag, Middle Class, and Circle Jerks. In his book, American Hardcore: A Tribal History, author Steven Blush states that the original hardcore album to come out was Out of Vogue by Middle Class ...

by Jesse Hudgins Growing up straight edge, there was always a weird aura to it. I never treated anyone terribly if they didn’t want to be, but at times, I felt alienated and like I didn’t fully fit in among others. College was when it hit me that there were ...

Our featured local artist for July is Chicago’s Totally Cashed! The group released their latest full-length album, The World’s First Country Band, on June 2nd, featuring 10 songs in this new style of music they’ve dubbed “country.” Totally Cashed recently unleased their new sound to a sold-out Chicago crowd for their ...

Blu Heaven is a DIY rap and guitar duo. Their sound exists anywhere between ambient lapsteel textures to Neptune-style synths. Hailing from Chicagoland, they employ a 5 piece band to perform their songs live in an electrifying pseudo-punk style. After releasing singles in 2019 and 2020, they released their first ...

Almost a year ago, I wrote an article about The Chats’ song “6L GTR.” The song was fast, catchy, and all-out Aussie. One thing I thought I’d solved was the mystery of what exactly this 6-liter GTR was, determining that the car in question was a 1973 Holden Torana GTR ...

Mixing folk and classic rock with more modern alternative and indie music, The Orchard are a five-piece band featuring Liam Hellard (lead guitar), Connor Craney (rhythm guitar), Ryan Nelson (keyboard), Adam Hellard (bass) and Matt Chludzinski (drums). They formed in 2019 in Batavia, starting as a cover band, doing takes ...

Doom metal encompasses several eras and regional styles, but many would consider its inception to have occurred in England during the late 1960s. In the industrial city of Birmingham, the dark, blues-infused riffs of Black Sabbath marked a new beginning for guitar-driven music. From those initial chords, a wave of ...