November, 2018 - Jaded In Chicago - Music News, Interviews, Features, and more

11.27.18

Earlier this month, Jason S. Thompson released his latest EP and first for Paper + Plastick, called Half Empty. Thompson previously played in The Sky We Scrape and is a current member of Little Teeth. The record was written throughout his move from Chicago to Germany and was recorded entirely in Thompson’s home. When detailing the writing process, he said “Some of these songs are older songs that I reworked for the album because I thought they would be a good fit, and others are only a few months old. The most recent is ‘Timezones’ and I wrote that one during the recording of Half Empty. The overall writing process for more ‘solo’ stuff was during the swan song phase of my old band, The Sky We Scrape. I had a small batch of songs that weren’t a great fit for TSWS, and since that band was breaking up, I decided to rework them into something I could do on my own.” He continued, “Another large factor for Half Empty was my move to Germany. Focusing on a solo album is a much easier way to create when you move away from your social and musical circle that you’ve been with your entire life, so that made it an easier transition.”

Recording at home had both advantages and difficulties, according to Thompson. It allowed him to learn more about engineering while simultaneously taking his time, but it also didn’t provide a distraction-free environment that a typical studio often does. In terms of the finished product, he said “My favorite aspect of how Half Empty was recorded is probably the fact that I let myself make mistakes and not make it a ‘perfect’ album. I wanted it to be more of a reflection of what a small living room show might be like. I make some flubs at times and sometimes you’ll hear some fret buzz or scraping. Sometimes the notes aren’t perfect, but for this album I didn’t want to stress about that. When I play live, I’m not going to be perfect and this is sort of a reflection of that mentality.”

We’re streaming one of the album’s tracks below, which Thompson wrote when he was at a crossroads in life. He explained, “I was working at a job where I wasn’t feeling creatively fulfilled and my old band was offered our second tour of Europe, so I had to make the decision to either stay at that job or to take the tour. I quit my job and made the jump to freelance so that I could go on tour, and the song is basically me working through that at the time.” He added, “It was one of the best decisions I ever made and after a year of freelance the same company I left offered me a new job where I’d be able to live half the year in Germany and half the year in Chicago. I ended up going back to them after a year off and that’s what ultimately led me to moving to Germany full-time. Now I’m over here in Munich and whenever I play that song I always laugh because this is not how I expected it to all play out when that song was written.”

Check out the song now and order a digital copy of the record here, (this version has an optional enamel pin). The record is also available with custom whiskey rocks glasses and those can be ordered here. Lastly, 25% of all Bandcamp proceeds will go to Hope for the Day, an organization that is committed to suicide prevention and mental health education.

<a href="http://jasonsthompsonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/half-empty">Half Empty by Jason S. Thompson</a>

Cursive and Meat Wave @ Thalia Hall, 11/15/18 [Photos: Katie Hovland]

11.16.18

The Eradicator – “The Court’s Closed…”

11.16.18

On November 23rd, The Eradicator will release its new EP, called The Court’s Closed on Christmas. It will be made available by three different labels: Underground Communiqué Records, Programme Skate & Sound, and Stonewalled. For those unfamiliar with the band, their identity is centered around a sketch from Kids in the Hall by the same name. According to singer/guitarist Andy Slania, the idea for this EP stemmed from a desire to put out new music between LPs, as they plan on releasing their second full-length next year. He further detailed the EP’s concept, stating “I’ve had the idea for a while in terms of approaching this character doing cover songs, but adapting the lyrics to fit the character. I only had one or two songs off the bat that I was looking to interject into the live show, but then with the idea of doing a ‘midterm’ release and the concept of the holiday song, it just made sense to record a bunch of covers and continue the build out of the character as to why he wants to do cover songs.”

The EP was recorded by Pete Grossmann at Bricktop Recording, who also recorded the band’s debut album. When asked to describe their time in the studio, Slania said “Recording with Pete is always a treat, especially since this band is made up of people from different locations with different schedules. Our songwriting process is me writing everything in my practice space and then emailing it out to everyone to learn, so the majority of the time we don’t actually play the song as a band before it’s recorded. Pete has a lot of patience for us to learn songs as we’re recording them. If we went with someone who wasn’t patient with us, it would be way more difficult and a downer.”

We’re streaming the title track off the EP below, which was inspired by Slania wondering how the Eradicator character would feel about Christmas. He explained, “I just imagined him going on with his usual day and then realizing on his way to the squash court that it was closed, and focusing on that moment in time and writing the song about his reaction to that. I also thought the melody of ‘Frosty the Snowman’ would fit, so I went with that from a structural perspective.” The band’s next scheduled show is December 22nd at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, followed by a special Christmas Day show in Union, IL. Take a listen to the song now and preorder the record here.

<a href="http://undercomm.bandcamp.com/album/the-courts-closed-on-christmas">The Court’s Closed on Christmas by The Eradicator</a>

Jawbreaker, Naked Raygun, The Smoking Popes @ Aragon, 11/4/18 [Photos: Katie Hovland]

11.09.18