JAY BENNETT
Which Side Are You On? | Sloboda Recordings
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
On its debut album, released last fall, this quartet flits from southern jangle pop to alt-country to emo without settling neatly into any particular niche. But despite all that wandering, the disc is a better-than-average set: front man Matt Stern has a rubbery vocal delivery that suggests a huskier Michael Stipe, and he’s backed by a dynamic and sympathetic group of musicians, anchored by bassist-keyboardist-vocalist Shayla Thiel. “Trouble,” a twangy barroom weeper, is colored by cleverly deployed slide guitar and French horn, while the loping “Seth” emphasizes Crazy Horse-style guitar crunch. The tunes occasionally meander too far past the five-minute mark, but the songcraft is consistently appealing. Brother Lowdown opens for Sunday Morning Chameleon on Friday, August 18, at Double Door. | brotherlowdown.com
THE LESSER SCENE
The photos splashed across the booklet of Lupkin’s latest CD–shots of him jamming with Muddy, Buddy, and many more–make it clear that this white blues harpist has kept some pretty heavy company over the years. Arriving here from Fort Wayne in the late 60s, Lupkin was a mainstay on the local blues circuit in the early 70s, playing in bands led by Jimmy Rogers, Johnny Littlejohn, and Howlin’ Wolf. He returned to Indiana in the late 80s, but he’s still deeply connected to the Chicago scene, and this disc–his first since 2000 and first for the Elgin blues label Blue Bella Records–features a crack band of locals, including guitar prodigy Nick Moss. Lupkin’s 14 originals capture the echoing din of hard-core 50s electric blues, and though his weathered vocals are sometimes grating, his harmonica playing has the same harsh but moving edge that impressed the masters more than three decades ago. | bluebellarecords.com
Romantic | Brilliante
