Off the Record: A Listening Party

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To borrow from Mark Twain, the news of the demise of vinyl is premature.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). DCASE, along with the Elastic Arts Foundation and saki, is launching a free new monthly series that features vinyl recordings, Off the Record: A Listening Party.

Off the Record gives music fans the opportunity to hear a new record, often in advance of its release. Each party features the new recording as well as members of the band performing the songs live. Other interactive elements that may be included are a Q&A with the artists, a live podcast taping, a group discussion, or a DJ set, among other possibilities.

Off the Record will happen twice monthly: one on Chicago’s north side and one on the south side. The north side parties will take place at saki, 3716 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago.

All parties are FREE admission.

Upcoming Schedule:

Saturday, October 12, 8pm

avery r. young

avery r. young & Douglas Ewart

Project: "booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid” CD

Arts Incubator in Washington Park

301 E. Garfield Blvd.

Chicago, IL 60637

Off the Record Pt. 1 is the first installment of performances celebrating the release of music and sound design created during avery r. young's 2012-13 Arts + Public Life residency. "booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid” is a collection of songs that speak to relations in race, gender, and politics inside the Obama era.

avery r. young:

avery r. young has been a staple in the spoken word community since 1996. His style of writing, singing and performance is labeled "Sunday Mornin' Jook-Joint." His blend of spoken word, song, jazz, gospel and chant distinguishes him from any other performance artist on the scene today.

avery has traveled throughout the country and internationally performing with the likes of; Gwendolyn Brooks, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, Les Nubians, Sharon Bridgforth, Staceyann Chin, Jill Scott, Ugochi, Billy Branch, amongst others.

His work as a teaching artist and mentor for schools and community organizations has made him not only an artist but also advocate for such social dilemmas like HIV, domestic violence and education reform.

avery has appeared and work has been featured at The Museum of Contemporary Art, House of Blues, BET, WGN Morning News, MTV, VH1, Kevin's Room 2, The Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Dance Africa, Lalapollza, Wordstock, A New World Reveal-A-Solution, Denizen Kane, New Skool Poetics, World Can't Wait and Taste of Chicago.

He edited Abstractvision and is a columnist for Say What Magazine. His also has been featured in Today's Black Woman, Make Magazine, Teaching Artist Journal and Blacklist.

Douglass Ewart:

Douglas Ewart's a solid multi-instrumentalist who's made his biggest contribution as a sideman. His steady, energetic solos on alto sax, flute, bass clarinet and bassoon have been heard in the bands of Fred Anderson, George Lewis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton and Chico Freeman. A Kingston, Jamaica native, Ewart moved to Chicago in 1963. He joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1967, and studied theory and performance with Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman.

Saturday, October 19, 5pm

Quasi

Quasi

Album: 'Mole City'

saki

3716 W. Fullerton Ave.

Chicago, IL 60637

After 2 decades of launching drums, guitars and pianos through the shifting interzones between harmony and chaos, Quasi are a genre of their own. Mole City, their ninth album, is the Quasi Song Book: Parlor Sing-alongs for the Last Century. Shakin’ blues, precision freak-outs, air-guitar-worthy riffs, heavy round droplets of time, fuzz everything, wah wahs, ya yas, ooh ahs, grunts, shuffle struts and chiming minor seventh chords - this is rock n roll.