The seekers in New York City’s Psychic Ills have spent more than a decade following their muse wherever it takes them. Inner Journey Out, the band’s highly anticipated fifth album and first since 2013, is the culmination of an odyssey of three years of writing, traversing the psych-rock landscape they’ve carved throughout their career and taking inspired pilgrimages into country, blues, gospel, and jazz.

 

Inner Journey Out started out the way many Ills records have – with frontman Tres Warren’s demos. Like all of their records, Elizabeth Hart’s bass is the glue that holds everything together. Where other recent albums found Warren overdubbing himself to create a blown-out, widescreen sound, this recording handed the reigns to a multitude of guest players. A cadre of musicians and vocalists – including Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, who duets on lead single “I Don’t Mind” – join in on the journey. This is also the first record to feature touring keyboard player Brent Cordero, his Farfisa and Wurlitzer work is a staple throughout. Rounding things out, is a platoon of drummers and percussionist. These musicians build the frame on which Warren lays his hazy guitar and vocals. An endless array of friends and guests join the proceedings to provide pedal steel guitar, horns, strings, and gospel backing vocals, which culminate in a career-defining moment for the Ills.

 

A decade on from releasing their critically lauded cult debut, Dins, and the deep dive into cosmic improvisation of Mirror Eye that followed, through the more recent and straightforward outings of Hazed Dream and One Track Mind, Psychic Ills have delivered their most remarkable statement yet with Inner Journey Out.

Reality Something is the joint effort of Elena Franklin, Kingsley Brock, Ethan Place and Bill Grasely, and is collectively based in Nashville, TN. Their self-titled EP, fronted entirely by Franklin and released in 2015, demonstrates a strong kinship to alternative rock, and the front women present therein. This is especially true lyrically; Franklin confesses and observes in diary-like fashion, as stark, honest and deliberate as the genre she typifies. Though new, the arcs here are clear and fully realized, the documentation relentless and explorative, with Franklin already prolific in her own manifestation of the DIY aesthetic. The additions of Brock– who for his part as lead guitarist, leans toward the warmer, expressionistic nature of 70s rock– and Place and Grasely (drums and bass, respectively), heavily significant in balancing and emphasizing their counterparts– come together to culminate in an outfit both that is timely, nostalgic, and vital.

Killer Moon was formed by Jesse Garza, Alejandro Santoyo and Amaris Aviles in the summer of 2007 in Chicago. The group honed in on their sound for about a year before deciding to take their talents to South Florida. Garza, Santoyo and Aviles were in Miami for 2 years playing shows and living under the same roof until the two decided to move back to the Chicago on Thanksgiving in 2010.

Upon their return to the Windy City, Killer Moon started playing shows at a break neck pace. The trio has recently started touring in the Midwest and continues to draw increasingly larger crowds in Chicago.

Meditative drones and psychedelic experimentation.