Russian Circles @ Lincoln Hall in August (more by Zach Pollack)

Chicago's own Russian Circles are slated to head out on a North American tour supporting Coheed & Cambria and Between the Buried and Me in February. That tour includes a hometown show for RC, at the Congress Theater on February 9. Tickets for that show go on sale this Friday (11/9) at noon CST.

Russian Circles played their most recent Chicago show in August at Lincoln Hall. That show featured support from their Sargent House labelmate Chelsea Wolfe, who will be visiting Schubas in January as part of Tomorrow Never Knows 2013.

All Russian Circles // BTBAM // Coheed tour dates and a video from RC's recent Chicago show are below...

Continue reading "Russian Circles and Between the Buried and Me playing the Congress Theater with Coheed & Cambria"

photos by Zach Pollack

Russian Circles // Chelsea Wolfe @ Lincoln Hall on 8.23.2012

On Thursday night (8/23) Russian Circles brought their Sargent House tour de force with Chelsea Wolfe and Marriages through Chicago for a performance at Lincoln Hall.

The venue was packed by the time openers and Red Sparowes-related project Marriages polished off a pair of songs. They sounded great and performed cuts from their debut EP, Kitsune, which hit stores in May via the label. If you haven't taken a listen to the album yet, check it out via their bandcamp. Chelsea Wolfe was up next and delivered an impressive performance, her first-ever in Chicago. Despite Thursday night being her Chicago debut, the crowd seemed to know every single word and didn't hold back in singing along. She performed much of her excellent 2011 LP, Apokalypsis, and also played a few from her 2010 debut, The Grime & The Glow. Russian Circles closed out the night with a mix of songs from their four albums. There were mosh pits throughout their headlining performance, which, if you've ever been to Lincoln Hall, is a funny thing. Nonetheless, the crowd was into it and the show was a nice mix of metal-tinged music-- Russian Circles in the post rock corner, Chelsea Wolfe representing goth, and Marriages championing atmospheric rock-- of all types.

More pictures from the 8/23 Lincoln Hall show continue below...

Continue reading "Russian Circles, Chelsea Wolfe & Marriages played Lincoln Hall (pics)"

Russian Circles @ Bowery Ballroom in November (NYC) (more by BBG)

Tickets for Russian Circles' hometown show at Lincoln Hall on August 23 with Chelsea Wolfe and Marriages are going on sale today (6/22) at noon CST.

Chelsea Wolfe has just announced that she'll be coming out with a fully acoustic LP in October via Sargent House. Take a listen to a new song called "Flatlands" at the bottom of this post. A live performance of the track can also be found below.

Continue reading "Russian Circles tix are going on sale; check out a new Chelsea Wolfe song"

Russian Circles at Bowery Ballroom NYC (more by BBG)

A Russian Circles/Chelsea Wolfe/Marriages trek will come to a close with a show in Minneapolis. The night before, look for Russian Circles to play a hometown show at Lincoln Hall on August 23rd. Ticketing info for the tour date is forthcoming.

by Parker Langvardt

Belfast, Ireland's intensely positive And So I Watch You From Afar have announced a North American tour with their progressive Sargent House labelmates Zechs Marquise, which includes a Chicago show at the Beat Kitchen on July 11. Ticketing info is forthcoming.

ASIWYFA's tour with Zechs Marquise picks up from the end of the Irish band's dates with Chicago instrumentalists Russian Circles, which includes a stop at the Sled Island Festival in Calgary, Alberta on 6/20. Canadian duo Indian Handcrafts are also playing the festival and will be joining them for two other Canadian dates. Atmospheric metal outfit Deafheaven joins the pair in California for three dates, the last of which is a Sargent House/1656 Music-presented show with Chelsea Wolfe in Los Angeles.

Russian Circles and Deafheaven just wrapped up a two-month European tour. Check out RC bassist Brian Cook's three-part tour diary on the band's Tumblr.

All 2012 tour dates and some ASIWYFA song streams/videos below...

Continue reading "And So I Watch You From Afar playing Beat Kitchen on tour w/ Zechs Marquise + dates w/ Russian Circles"

The Atlas Moth @ Subterranean (more by Carmelo Espanola)

Two of them made the main list. Three were honorable mentions. All in all proof (scientific proof even!) that some of the best heavy music is coming out of Chicago right now. Check out BBG's full list at BrooklynVegan now.

Anatomy of Habit

Chicago's own punishing Anatomy of Habit now have a busy few months ahead of them. The doom group self released their debut LP about a month ago, which we can proudly say that every aspect of the process was done in-state.

First up, is an October 27th record release show at El Mamey with Aseethe, Oyarsa, and Young Bear. The Humboldt Park dive bar is not necessarily a place that comes up very often, though with Phantom Note Productions behind this one, it is bound to be fantastic.

The group will then head to NYC for a November 5th BrooklynVegan/Wierd-Presented debut at Brooklyn's St. Vitus. They'll share the bill with Vaura and Rosenkopf. Tickets are on sale now, if you can make it.

They've also been added to the previously announced Russian Circles and Young Widows show, taking place on December 3rd at Lincoln Hall. Tickets are still available.

Stream their debut LP below (which is actually two really long tracks) and check out flyers for both their record release, and NYC-debut at Saint Vitus, below...

Continue reading "Anatomy of Habit add record release @ El Mamey, supporting Russian Circles @ LH, and stuff..."

Pomegranates are playing Schubas on November 13th.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (10/14), at noon CST.

Digitalism and Data Romance are playing Metro on November 28th.
Tickets go on sale this Saturday (10/15), at noon CST.

Russian Circles and Young Widows are playing Lincoln Hall on December 3rd.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at noon CST.

Jaill are playing Schubas on December 3rd.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at noon CST.

Kimya Dawson is playing Schubas on December 7th.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at noon CST.

Futurebirds and Grass Giraffes are playing Schubas on December 15th.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at noon CST.

Ximena Sarinana and Graffiti 6 are playing Schubas on December 22nd.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at noon CST.

Cage The Elephant, Sleeper Agent, and Company of Thieves are playing the Aragon Ballroom on New Year's Eve.
Pre-sale tickets will be available from 10AM to 10PM CST tomorrow.
Password: cterocks
Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday, at 10AM CST.

Reverend Horton Heat, Larry And His Flask, and The Goddamned Gallows are playing Metro on March 3rd. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, at noon CST.

by Parker Langvardt

Russian Circles @ MHoW in 2010 (more by Greg Cristman)

Sargent House have announced that Chicago post-metal trio Russian Circles will release their fourth album Empros on October 25th. Recorded at Phantom Manor in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood with producer Brandon Curtis, the live keyboardist of Interpol, Empros is poised to be their heaviest album yet, drawing comparisons to SWANS, Celtic Frost, Neurosis, and Master of Reality.

To the American listener, Empros' song titles may sound more cryptic than ever, but they seem to reflect the foreign places that they've toured, except its opening track "309," which is an area code in western Illinois. "Schipol" is the name of the Amsterdam Airport, which they've certainly flown through on their tours to Europe. Ivan "Mladek" is a Czech songwriter who famously used a guitar-shaped synthesizer, so perhaps they will continue their experimentation in tone that began on Geneva. I couldn't find anything that specifically matched up with "Atackla" but "tackla" translates to "tackle" in Swedish, which could be appropriate if this is one of the super heavy songs on the album. "Batu" is a city in Indonesia, which makes sense considering their tours to Southeast Asia in the past couple years.

Russian Circles are wrapping up a tour in Australia and New Zealand before heading to Austin, TX for Fun Fun Fun Fest in November, and there is little doubt that they'll be announcing a Chicago show before long.

You can view Empros' cover art, and tracklisting below..

Continue reading "Russian Circles announce new album 'Empros' -------------------- (cover art, tracklisting)"