Midwest Alerts!

• Kelley Deal has a nice interview with this St. Louis music reporter, which focuses a lot on Midwest stuff, read that HERE.
• Here's an interview with Hot Chip in which he discusses a bit why he's avoiding the Midwest this time around.
"It's tougher to get the audiences in the Midwest" - Hot Chip
• Two white dudes who do hip-hop as ABiCA at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. are set to open for Kanye West when he hits their town. Read that interview HERE.
• This was a pretty interesting read in this Novia Scotia paper. The keyboardist for Queens of the Stone Age is a Detroit native who was in The Waxwings and also tours with The Raconteurs. I liked the Waxwings.
• Chicago's The Prairie Spies, on Comptroller Records, has an album coming out on Friday, May 16th, with a release party at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. The album is called "Surplus Enjoyment." "It's loud and boisterous and fuzzily home-recorded. We're quite proud of it." On initial listen I hear some 90s guitar tone influence, circa Dinosaur Jr. with a touch of new noise pop elements. They actually remind me a little of Columbus, Ohio's The Kyle Sowashes, with a lot more guitar solos. Some of the other tunes are bit more off kilter tunes in a similar mode, but with interesting tweaks to their overall plan.
• A few folks from Cincinnati, Ohio started this new magazine called Tracer, you can check it out oline HERE. I'm excited because they seem to have the intent to focus on Midwest music coverage. But then I see a ton of reviews and commentary on national bands like Band of Horses. I call for more Midwest and less of the rest!