@ Fullerton & Racine
Presented by Chicago Special Events
@ Empty Bottle
These fine folk contributed to We Were Mixed Up:
Either because we’ve played with them, enjoy their music, or just consider them friends, give these other local acts a visit.
If you’re ever feeling saucy enough to explore the world of music outside of Chicago, check out these out-of-town bands, who are not only excellent, but friends of ours to boot.
All the other web spaces we find interesting. Enjoy!
- badresa.com - Theresa Killebrew’s Chicago music zine
- bopo.net - Superfan Mat Calvert’s personal site
- Robert Buscemi - Renaissance funnyman and Pennsylvanian talking cigarette
- Cherry Bomb - Revolutionizing the distribution of free music and short films
- Clava / 4Deuces Studio - One of Chicago’s finest recording/mixing studios
- Brandon Durham - Designer of excellent websites, including our own
- dequeued.net - Former Canasta member Jeff Leverenz’s personal site
- Gabriel Sound Garage - Gabi’s vintage amps
- Galactic Pizza - The best meaty/veggie/vegan pizza in Minneapolis. Check out the Paul Bunyan!
- Sarah Hadley Photography - Canasta’s favorite photographer
- Kitchen Chicago - Former Canasta member Jeff Leverenz’s current project
- Last Alley Productions - Chicago booking collective with which Matt works
- North Branch Studio - Another one of Chicago’s finest recording/mixing studios
- Rainbow House - Violence prevention and outreach organization
- Restaurant Club - A likely place to find Canasta
- Run With It Management - Home to music industry whirlwind Neptali Figueroa
- Satellite Booking - Booking home to friends Edith Frost, Baby Teeth, Beauty Pill, and The Detholz!
- Seaworthy Southeast Thesaurus - John’s personal site
- selfsimilar.net - Colin’s personal site
- Stylus - Online magazine to which John contributes
- Tense Forms - A brilliant Chicago arts collective
- Ralph Velasco - Another great photographer
- Yahoo! Games - History and introduction to the card game canasta, with option to play
“…Canasta’s strength has been mixing genres, ever so slightly, to keep it
unpredictable… The band’s impressive orchestral pop, which really could catch on at
any moment in a big, big way, will not cease in its power–listening to We Were Set Up
again for the first time in a long while, I can’t believe I was able to put it down in the
first place.
”
— New City
full text
“…a showcase of excellent orch-pop… classic vocals…
”
Time Out Chicago
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“…a favorite of the Chicago music community… lush textures and eclectic arrangements…
”
— The Michigan Daily
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“Canasta has slowly made a name for itself in recent years,
thanks to its inventive arrangements… (the band) has separated
itself by layering its sounds while retaining remarkable catchiness…
Canasta looks primed for a considerable breakthrough.
”
— NPR’s “World Cafe”
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“Canasta’s We Were Set Up is a brilliant collection of
intelligent, compelling, ultra-melodic orchestral-pop songs. After dropping it into
my stereo for the first spin, it was not removed for the next three months…
every time I think I have dissected the album from top to bottom I find something
new to love about it… My biggest fear for the band is that they stay a cult
fave and miss out on the breakout success many bands with far less talent have
received as of late… it would be a tragedy.
”
— Breakthru Radio
Full Text
“…clicking on Canasta’s picture was probably the best decision
I’ve made… Lead vocalist Matt Priest has an incredible range and I
can’t seem to pin down whether I think he sounds like Colin Meloy, Sufjan
Stevens, or Freddy Mercury because he adapts his voice so uniquely to each song that
it seems to always be changing… The fact that there’s just so much going
on that you’re still hearing something new on the fourth listen is really
impressive to me… These guys are unsigned by the way, so to any labels reading
this: What are you waiting for?!
”
— Skatterbrain.org
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