1• COVER STORY

The Orwells

and it's kind of a thing to not even think about, you know?" Forming a hypnotizing dreamscape with their mix oflive in struments and

samples, indie quartet YAWN brings a dose of nee-psychedelia to the Chi­cago scene. YAWN members Adam Gil (guitar/keyboard) and Sam Wolf (keyboard / bass/vocals) both grew up on the city's North side - Wolf in Albany Park and Gil in R ogers Park - and while they love Chicago's food and architecture, they didn't feel much of a connection to its music com­munity. Wolf says "We all (the band members] just listened to certain bands at a certain time and we all kind of influenced each other. But in terms of any Chicago scene or anything like that, yeah, I don 't think I could say there was one that really had any effect on us. Our favorite artists come from all over di ffere nt places."

One of Gil's biggest musical inspirations as a child ac tually came from a PlayStation survival horror game. "Resident Evil, for me. T he soundtrack and when she [a character named Jill] finds a piano and plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata ... That and the Beatles ." Seven years ago, the four friends' eclectic tastes brought about YAWN, and the band has sin ce gone on to create its own sort of DIY scene in the city. After years of scourin g Craigslist for somewhere to practice and record , they found a former ca r­manufacturing warehouse that had been outfitted with a recording studio by heavy metal band Disturbed. "When we first moved in," Wolf says, "it was just this raw space in the back and we just moved in and kind of took liberty with that and built a giant ca t head ."

"That has fog come out of a cigarette in its mouth," Gil adds. Decorating the warehouse with ultraviolet lights and Japanese paper lante rns pa inted to look like planets, they called it Fee!Trip Studios, and also use the studio as an apartment and concert ven ue for YAWN and other local bands. However, living at FeelTrip is not without its problems.

"Right now our air conditioner broke and no windows actually open in our apartment," Wolf says. "The only thin g that opens is the fire escape, so it ge ts awfully hot, up to 95 degrees at times and it can be unbearable .. . T he other thin g is that our building might be getting sold to McCormick Place and we don't know how long we're gonna be here. Maybe a short amount of time ... We have no in formation. But yeah, we' ll definitely fight for as long as we can stay."

Also playing at Lollapalooza are Smith Westerns, a Chicago-based indie / glam rock band that formed as students at Northside College Prepara tory High School. Their 2011 sophomore albu m Dye it Blonde earned an 8.4/10 from Pi tchfork and the label "Best New Music, and their lates.t record "Soft Will" was described by cokemach ineglow as " the perfect summer record, hazy and ill-defined and hard to remember but oh-so-euphoric."

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Supreme Cuts: 'future ~U' only from (0irn~o

Loic Samual Youth Streetwise Editorial Intern

Sam Cooke, Frankie Knuckles, Smashing Pumpkins and Do or Die cou ld not have come from any other city but Chicago and the same

goes for the pop electronic group Supreme Cuts. "Chicago music is usua lly more soulful, honest,

and moody than other cities," the Supreme C uts sa id in a StreetWise ema il interview. "Th is is be­cause of the Midwest att itude and crazy weather."

Supreme Cuts is a production duo comprised of Austin Kjeultes and Mike Perry, who mix and match mostly hip-hop beats over smooth soul, ac­cording to ohmyrockness.com. The two to ld writ­ers of that website that th eir music is "future R&B."

They told Pitchfork contributor Andrew Ryce that they formed the group after trying to become rap producers. T hey follow Chicago-centric genres such as foo twork and juke, hou se and post-rock.

Ryce characterized their first full length CD Whispers in the Da rk "as new age textures, clipped and distressed vocals , R&B notes and Southern hip-hop rhythms. So w hile Supreme Cuts' home­town seems to be a big part of the duo 's influence, Whispers in the Dark's real hom e is the "expanding digital rea lm."

M eanwhile, the online program for Lollapalooza called the duo "scholars of every genre they borrow from," especially modern rap and sub-genres such as footwork.

Supreme Cuts has played C hicago about 25 times. They told StreetWise that fans here are "a lot of times more worried about having a good time and cutting loose than getting their picture taken, which is great."

C hicago's music economy could grow if artists

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cooperated more to create a recordin g label and venue, Supreme Cuts told StreetWise. "The good news is right now more than ever the en­tire world looks to Chicago for new and inno­vative music, so if people keep making exciting music and stay in the city there is no way more jobs as managers, sound people, recording en­gineers, pro motors, etc."

Other pop electronic bands at Lolla include: Swedish pop duo Jcona Pop. Although only four years old, they have a hit single , " I Love It" that has been featured on different TV shows and commercials.

Lollapalooza fans will also get th e chance to see Major La zer. The electronic/dancehall DJ and producer ha s recorded at Jamaica's famous Tuff Gong studio and has worked with well­know n dancehall artists such as Vybz Kartel and Busy Signal. H e recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg A.K.A Snoop Lion on his reggae project, R eincarnated, which dropped earlier this year.

Folk rock: ~lenaing two aiverse ~istories Cindy Ji StreetWise Editorial Intern

Folk rock is a hybrid of two genres once at odds that arose from the simultaneous 1960s mix of urban singers' folk revival, folk-protest singer-songwriters, and the British Invasion of rock and pop in North America. Today's fo lk rock embraces

clear vocals, lush harmonies, arpeggiated (or broken chord) rhythms, and acoustic instrumentation. Folk rock bands incorporate banjos, mandoli ns, upright bass, cel­los, accordions, piano, and trumpets. Some bands tend more towards folk while others tend more towards rock.

" ! don 't think any of us have any folk knowledge at all," said Ben Lovett in an interview with GQ's British edition. He plays keyboard and accordion for Mum­ford & Sons, one of the headlining folk rock bands at this year's Lollapalooza festi­val. "We enjoyed rocking out on acoustic instruments in pubs. But that's the end of that. We haven't quite figured out what we are." NPR compared Mumford &

Sons, founded in December 2007 in West London, to Crosby, Nash, Stills, and Young.

Zach Nichols, the multi-instrumentalist from Frontier Ruckus, said in a Street Wise e-mail interview, "We embrace both the acoustic, traditional , and for-the-people­by-the-people nature of folk music as well as the freedom of expression and experi­mentation of plugged-in rock and roll."

The band primarily hails from the suburbs of Detroit, where banjoist David Jones and singer-songwriter Matthew Milia met in high school and recruited the rest of the band in college. The band members grew up to "a Venn diagram of music," which combined and recombined to form Frontier Ruckus's unique sound, Nichols said.

Lollapalooza will be the band's umpteenth time playing Chicago. "We love it. In Michigan, if you're considering moving away, Chicago is high on the list of places to go," Nichols said. "So when we play in Chi­cago, a lot of folks from Michigan usually show up." Unfortunately, they have found that Chi­cago's vivid venues tend to be strict towards fans between 18 and 21. Such is not the case at Lol­lapalooza, which welcomes fans of all ages.

For Frontier Ruckus, the best part of touring is the people-they not only love meeting inter­esting people, but also get to keep in touch with friends whom they've met in a distant city or those from home who have moved away. Enjoy­ing regional food and drink is also important.

Besides Mumford & Sons, another folk rock headliner is The Lumineers, started in 2002 by guitarist-vocalist Wesley Schultz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites in New York City; the band cre­ates cinematic sound with simple music structures.

Techno-house: DJ STRATUS eme.rging from a Chicago school

The techno-house music genre has grown increasingly popular throughout the last decade, and appears in almost every music festival in the US and abroad. Some artists who will be performing include: Steve Angello, Knife Party, Steve Aoki , Flux Pavilion, Dada Life, Dog Blood, Dillon Francis, Adventure Club and St. Lucia.

I ts general sound flaunts deep bass with echoing drops, sampling popular hip-hop rap and pop songs . On the home front, STRATUS, a Chicago native DJ, will be performing at the Perry's DJ stage Monday from 12 to 12:45 p.m. STRA­

TUS attended the Latin School of Chicago before launching his career as a dub step DJ. His most popular tracks are labeled "Alarm" and "Hello Chicago ," and he also remixes other popular house music anthems. STRATUS played at Miami 's Ultra music festival this past March , and at the Spring Awakening music festival in Soldier Field last June. \ - Sarah Ben:, Street Wise Editorial Intern

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