This Year’s Record Store Day Atrocities
Just a handful of the ludicrous "Record Store Day exclusives" on sale this year, most if not all courtesy of the big three major record labels.
In other words: Bono & A-ha picture discs are...
Sorry SoundCloud: It’s Not Us. It’s You.
Updated January 19, 2017: We've written several in-depth studies of the various Soundcloud alternatives and are updating this piece with links to the new stories on a wide array of alternatives to SoundCloud as...
This is House Music. Every Day Should Be Record Store Day.
RECORD STORE DAY has caused a number of conflicting feelings for me over the past few years. As a long time record store employee, I couldn't argue with the bump in sales for the...
Before the Last Dance: Southport Weekender’s Alex Lowes
THERE ARE VERY FEW FESTIVALS like Southport Weekender. The very name of it elicits a feeling of warmth, hospitality and of coming home. With today's mind numbing pyrotechnics, billion watt sound systems and DJ...
Heatwave: The Band That Wouldn’t Die
A Stabbing, a Car Accident, Paralysis, a Coma: Nothing Could Stop the Heatwave - the Pre-Eminent Multi-Ethnic Band of the Funk, Boogie and Disco Era.
While noodling about this issue's subject, it occurred to me...
Dan Curtin and the Metamorphosis of Metamorphic
IT'S A GOOD DAY, TODAY AND EVERY DAY that one of the best electronic music labels America ever produced kicks up out of a slumber and gets back into the swing of things.
I'm talking...
The Day Frankie Knuckles Died
IT WAS BLACK THIS MORNING - cold, windy, overcast and a thick fog rolled off the lake. You have to give credit where it's due: it's the perfect ambiance for the other Frankie Knuckles...
Twirl! Talking with Shaun J Wright and Alinka
BEFORE THERE WAS A PARTY or a record label or anything else, it was the music that got them together. There was Alinka - then of the electronic band Shuteye - and there was...
After 17 Years, The Silver Room is Leaving Wicker Park
The Silver Room is finally saying goodbye to Wicker Park, its home for the past seventeen years.
With The Silver Room's lease up for renewal and a pending doubling of the rent, owner Eric Williams...
808 The Documentary Makes its Chicago Premiere April 17
Fresh off a debut at SXSW, the documentary on dance music's quintessential machine is set to debut in Chicago this April 17.
808 The Documentary, the film about the ubiquitous drum machine that powered House...
It’s 2015. Why Is It So Hard to Press a Record?
"SIX MONTHS?"
It's on the high end of the spectrum, but that's how long a friend of 5 Mag's was told it would take to press his next record.
Record Store Day and the...
Goodbye or Good Riddance? The Weird Saga of Green Dolphin
If you're from Chicago you know; if you're not, you're probably wondering why everyone is repeatedly posting news stories about another shooting at another club, another tragedy that's become all too common in recent...
Husky on His New Track “We Rise Together”
HALF OF THE AUSTRALIAN DUO Random Soul (they do a little show for us - new episode coming next week!), Husky is a man of many talents. In addition to Random Soul Recordings, he...
It’s Time: The Soulful House Sound of Sean McCabe
IT'S ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATING to me to find young artists in dance music that gravitate towards soulful music. Since releasing his first tracks in 2003 at 17 years old, Sean McCabe has quietly and...
KIRV: The Legend of Kevin Irving
ALL I KNEW FOR SURE was that he was a hell of a singer - one of the best, certainly in House Music, likely of his era, probably in the world.
Kevin Irving could boast...
Victor Simonelli On His New Track with Byron Stingily: “Having You”
There's a story behind every track. Or at least the good ones. Listening Room is a regular feature devoted to discovering new House Music and learning the story behind the tracks from their creators.
It's...
Louis and Bebe Barron: Forbidden Planet at the Dawn of Electronic Music
Editor's Note: This was originally published in May 2012. In honor of Women's History Month, 5 Mag has decided to republish a substantially revised version of this piece to highlight the (far too often...
Listen To Aiby’s ‘Can’t Make You Happy’
There's a story behind every track. Or at least the good ones. Listening Room is a regular feature devoted to discovering new House Music and learning the story behind the tracks from their creators.
Aiby,...
Soviet Disco: The Tripped Out World of ’80s Communist Exercise Records
In 2010, a label called Secret Stash dropped a record called Soviet Funk Volume 1. It was a previously unheard collection of funk tracks "recorded by Pavel Sysoyev in Abakan" - the capital city...
Frique Asks: Are You Here For the Music?
"If I had to nominate just one DJ to represent everything Chicago stands for as a city," we once wrote, "that DJ would be Frique."
As of late, Chicago's Frique has been flexing his...
MUST READ!
elevate: Nico Lahs, Dam Swindle, Heist in the new 5 Mag
Nico Lahs on the cover, Dam Swindle cover mix, 100 releases of Heist Recordings, Point Winona and the LA underground and more inside the new issue of 5 Mag.
