WILCO, BRENDAN LOSCH, DOLPHINS

This week’s Monday Threesome features bands that hail from the “Windy City”, also known as Chicago! Many important artists and groups in recent music history have found their roots in there — The Smashing Pumpkins, John Prine, Andrew Bird, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, Liz Phair, Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder, Common and, of course, the band Chicago.  The list goes on, but this week we’re highlighting three artists from Chicago who are currently making waves in Lake Michigan as well as the indie music scene.

WILCO

Wilco (@wilco) was an easy choice for this week’s lead-in band. Not only are we huge fans of their music, but the group is touring hard this summer to support their late 2011 album, The Whole Love. Most importantly, though, they recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, an iconic indie-folk album and practically the pride and joy of all indie music fans from Chicago (just check out the cover). Formed in 1994, lead singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt are the only remaining original members, while the other current bandmates earned their positions in 2004. Given our 9.1 rating for The Whole Love last year, we clearly love the album and love this Chicago-based band. Grab tickets for their summer touring here.

BRENDAN LOSCHE

Brendan Losch (@brendanlosch) is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter who actually has a solid music blog of his own called Count Me Out. His most recent album, Low, was released on April 10th and is an exquisite effort, backed by his own harmonies, percussion and engaging string instrumentation. Losch was also joined by members of two other chicago bands, Bullets in Madison and Little Light, to produce the record’s simple, but absorbing tracks. While he isn’t currently scheduled to play any New York shows this summer, Losch is opening for Brooklyn’s Pearl and the Beard this weekend in Chicago.

DOLPHINS

Dolphins (@dolphinstheband) is yet another great Chicago band emerging from the crowd. To be straight, they appear to actually be from Florida, which probably accounts for their tropical indie-pop sound, but these boys currently live and make music in Wicker Park, so we can definitely call them a Chicago-based band. Dolphins released their self-titled debut in March of this year, and the album is filled with drumming beats, dreamy vocals and a bit of synth electronics to round out their trop-pop sound. Check out their album above and add a few songs to your summer playlist.