songs:illinois

songs:illinois is a music review and promotion site that focuses on undiscovered, quiet indie, folk, alt and twee bands with some occasional twang thrown in for diversity . The site is writen by Craig Bonnell, a 37 year old Illinois resident who also produces swedesplease, a blog covering new Swedish music that interesting is enough to merit its own review.

I learned about songs:illinois when searching for the band Cars Can Be Blue. This article had some information and links to a few tracks. When I came across songs:illinois again while learning about the hype machine, I bookmarked the site and pledged to investigate it more carefully.

Craig profiles 2 bands or labels per days. To get a better sense of his taste, I auditioned everything from the last 70 or so posts. Here is what I liked most:

barzin - let's go driving (read) (buy)
antsy mcclain - captain midnight (read) (buy)
goodmorning valentine – rock and roll boys and girls (read)
hula - naomi (read) (buy)

Some other interesting tracks:

sonja cotton - oh what a waste (read) (buy)
jeffrey foucault – entella hotel (read) (buy)
phonograph – up at dawn (read) (buy)
hoax funeral – the way it goes (read) (buy)
johanna kunin - mobius waves (read) (buy)
liz durrett – the mezzanine (read) (buy)
get him eat him – exposure (read) (buy)

Bonus music from swedesplease:

dave & the citizens – let’s not fall apart (read)
songs I wish I had written – memories (read)
loveninjas – keep your love (read)

Listen to songs:illinois via the hype machine