Album Review: D-Win – Kubrick EP

Chicago based artist D-Win has broken his near year long silence with his latest concept EP Kubrick; exploring racism, police brutality and manipulative media. A collaborative effort with Chicago producer Tek XKubrick was created, according to a press release, to “enlighten and inspire those who are seeking a shift in the right direction”.

The EP opens with the title track, an introduction into mastermind Stanley Kubrick; a filmmaker most know for his controversial works such as A Clockwork Orange and Lolita. From this first track, the tone is set with a heavy bass backing the opening lyrics “I was being misguided so I decided I wasn’t going to be silent”.

The opening piece bleeds into “Walking on Water” with a continuous energy as D-Win unapologetically hits hard with his standpoint of media corruption and unjust toward minorities. Underlying the punch of his words is a theatrical choir of strings building into the chorus:  “We smell smoke/ running through the fire/ really we should fall/ with every step/ flames all around me and I can’t see through/ but at the end of it all/ it’s like I’m walking on water.”

Continue Reading

Album Review: Marrow – The Gold Standard

A few well-established members of Chicago’s budding music scene have released a new album that is, at times, light-hearted and upbeat, yet dark and menacing. Marrow’s debut album The Gold Standard frequently adjusts your headspace, solidifying it as an extremely well-rounded rock album.

Marrow was created from the backbone of Kids These Days, a purebred Chicago rock/rap group that split in 2013. In Kids These Days, guitarist Liam Kazar, keyboardist Macie Stewart and bassist Lane Beckstrom primarily provided the framework for now Roc-A-Fella Records recording artist Vic Mensa to rap over. But in Marrow, Kazar, Stewart and Beckstrom now have the opportunity to shine under “The Gold Standard.” Add drummer Matt Carroll to the mix, and Marrow is a group of old and new faces showing off diverse songwriting that perhaps has been bottled up for quite some time.

Continue Reading