Free tracks from Hey Champ, The Prairie Cartel, Danger Is My Middle Name, The Fold
The Fold
The Fold “File Under: Ground (Take Me In)”
Last month, The Fold delivered its most accomplished venture yet, Dear Future, Come Get Me, perfecting the harmonic, electronic-tinged power-pop the group has so skillfully demonstrated on previous efforts. The most immediate selection is the driving, guitar-driven opener “File Under: Ground (Take Me In),” easily Dear Future’s strongest and most confident offering. It’s also the most cinematic, as the song’s triumphant chorus and sweeping, anthemic sound perfectly suited for a Superman movie trailer—or at the very least, a Smallville teaser.
Download by e-mailing freesong@thefoldrock.com; see the band live Dec. 12 at Elk Grove Community Center.
Hey Champ “(We Are) Champions”
Two of the buzziest names in the Chicago music scene converge on Hey Champ’s treatment of The Cool Kids’ “Champions,” the original of which can be found on the hip-hop pair’s Gone Fishing mixtape from earlier this year. The Kids’ relaxed flow remains intact on “(We Are) Champions,” but Hey Champ adds a slick synth base to the track, plus a similarly lax new chorus courtesy of instantly recognizable HC frontman Saam Hagshenas. The song is over almost as soon as it begins, but it’s still plenty of time to reaffirm the talent of both outfits involved.
Download here.
The Prairie Cartel “Cracktown” / “The Glow Is Gone”
The Prairie Cartel, the long-running electro-punk project of Scott Lucas (Local H), Daniel Marsden, Blake Smith, and Mike Willison (the latter two both of Caviar), finally deliver a full-length effort with this month’s release of Where Did All My People Go. The album houses both of the group’s free samplings: “Cracktown,” an established staple of the outfit’s live sets, and “The Glow Is Gone” a relatively newer cut. The anxious “Cracktown” remains tense as spurts of guitar flirt with a busy beat while Smith recounts descending into the seedier shadows of Chicago’s uptown neighborhood. “The Glow Is Gone,” meanwhile, steadily builds, until Lucas sounds both strained and digitized as booming guitars freak out and overtake the song’s repetition. Both tracks are distinctively representative of a project both surprisingly accessible and disarmingly melodic. It’s about time.
Download here; see the band Nov. 5 at Angels And Kings.
Danger Is My Middle Name “Takebacks And Deadends”
Danger Is My Middle Name is quickly making a name for itself in the local pop-punk community, with the group steadily bringing its hook-laden attacks to all-ages shows throughout the city. The act’s recent offering, “Takebacks And Deadends,” is instantly upbeat and boasts big, jagged riffs and a hyper, frenetic chorus, even pausing for a contemplative keyboard aside before a dramatic pop-rock finish. Lyrically and sonically, the song doesn’t offer much in the way of innovation in the post-Fall Out Boy musical landscape. Thankfully, Danger is catchy enough that it doesn’t matter much either way.
Download here; see the band live Dec. 30 at Subterranean.
