Internet radio station Redux throws a party for its first birthday compilation

Chicago-based Internet radio station Redux launched in March 2025, and for its first birthday the station will release its debut compilation album on Friday, June 12. Twenty acts, mostly making a vast variety of dance music, appear on the Redux comp Track & Field. They include Grand Rapids duo S+K, aka Sam Hall and Kristine Lirio, who host a show on Redux called PlusPlus. “[Contributors] who aren’t Redux hosts are either friends that we’ve made through what we’ve done over the last year or people that we think are exciting voices in this region, in this musical scene,” says Redux cofounder Faulkner Blue.

Faulkner moved to Chicago about five years ago, after graduating from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Faulkner fell in love with the potential of radio thanks to U-M’s student-run free-form station, WCBN. “I saw how college radio brought together people from all different sides of this music ecosystem—so musicians, labels, people in the community, and radio DJs,” he says. “All these people came together and contributed to this thing, and I saw how it led to new music happening and new bands being formed and new sounds and scenes.”

When Faulkner arrived in Chicago, he already knew he wanted to be a part of a similar operation. He says he briefly got involved with Internet radio station Beloved, which wound down in summer 2024. Seven months later, Faulkner soft launched Redux with three other folks from the local scene who he says were on his wavelength.

Redux’s programming is oriented around electronic music in the broadest sense, and its dozen or so regular shows are hosted by the likes of S+K, local experimental producer Otherseas, and beat-scene producer and Miyagi Records education director Hameedullah. Many of the station’s in-person events have catered to dance subcultures. Redux has thrown daylong gatherings for local DJs at Signal Records’ Logan Square location and programmed evenings at Podlasie and the California Clipper. Faulkner and his cofounders have also expanded their staff of volunteers to seven. “My whole life is my day job, then Redux, and then sleep,” he says.

Hall and Lirio from S+K came up with the guiding concept for Track & Field. “They proposed, ‘What if all the people on the album were given a field recording, and then they were tasked to take that field recording and write a new song using it?’” says Faulkner. Contributors took the field recordings in wildly different directions, befitting their far-flung aesthetics. The compilation includes Indianapolis ambient dance artist Eustress, experimental industrial group Anti-Soul Organization, techno upstart Mina Mills, and Donkey Basketball, the solo IDM project of Lifeguard drummer Isaac Lowenstein.

Mills and Lowenstein will perform at the Track & Field release party at the Wicker Park location of Signal Records on Saturday, June 13. Mills is one of three DJs on deck, and Lowenstein is one of three live performers. The daylong event begins at 1 PM, and it’s free.

Redux radio’s new Track & Field compilation

Speaking of debut compilations, roving Chicago underground party Trench released its first this past Saturday. The 42 tracks on Trench Compilation Vol. 1 emphasize global dance and pop but maintain a strong Chicago flavor, thanks in part to the presence of great footwork producers such as DJ Thadz, EQ Why, Traxman, DJ Manny, Lupay, and DJ Hank. The comp costs $20 on Bandcamp, and all proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders.

The debut compilation by underground party Trench

Last week, emerging Chicago trio Laceles released Dreamsicle, an album of rangy, freewheeling alt-rock that they recorded at Electrical Audio. On Saturday, June 13, they’ll play Bookclub as part of I Got Indicted by the Federal Government & All I Got Was This Concert, a benefit for two defendants in the Broadview Six case, Kat Abughazaleh and her staffer Andre Martin.

Laceles perform at this weekend’s Bookclub benefit for two Broadview Six defendants.

The federal conspiracy charges against the Broadview Six were dismissed with prejudice last month, but Abughazaleh and Martin are saddled with legal debt—roughly a quarter million dollars between them. (The pair have raised more than $247,000 via GoFundMe to help cover those costs, and attorneys representing the Broadview Six have filed a motion to recoup legal expenses.) Saturday’s show is sponsored by Kapow, an initiative that grew out of Abughazaleh’s congressional run and aims to turn political campaigns into a form of year-round community activism. Mel Senese and Runner & Bobby also perform. Tickets are $10 and the show starts at 8 PM.

On Sunday, June 14, Rosehill Cemetery’s Horatio N. May Chapel hosts the second annual Extended Stillness, a two-hour environmental performance of minimalist improvised music shaped by a 15-person ensemble. Daniel Burke of Illusion of Safety organized the ensemble under the auspices of the Complacency label, which he shares with Cheer-Accident founder Thymme Jones. The lineup includes trombonist Jeb Bishop, violists Johanna Brock and Julie Pomerleau, saxophonist Ross Feller, Burke on piano, and Jones, who’ll be contributing . . . well, with him that always remains to be seen, but this wolf is sure it’ll be stupendous! The performance starts at 1 PM, and there’s a $15 suggested donation.

Ovef Ow top the bill at Bric-a-Brac Records’ 13th birthday party.

On Saturday, June 13, Avondale’s Bric-a-Brac Records celebrates its 13th birthday with a wonderful afternoon of live music. Indie rockers Ovef Ow cap a lineup that also includes R&B singer Melvin Knight, rock experimenters This House Is Creaking, electro-rockers Surgery Boys, and cheeky newcomers 103 Fever. The in-store performances kick off at 2 PM, and the whole party is free!