#eli schmitt

6/23/26.

P. Noid is one of two bands currently releasing music for Pocket Rocket Records (Chicago, Illinois). The other band, Answering Machines, have already sold out their tape. Both bands have embraced a 90s lo-fi aesthetic.

It's been noted all over the place that Chicago is quite the indie scene right now. P. Noid does have a song on the great "Red Xerox" compilation (Eli Schmitt) on New Now that documents the current group Chicago punk rockers.

2/20/26.

I'm not usually one for compilations. But every once in a while, I do fall for them. "Tuatara" captured the early Flying Nun scene. "Human Music" introduced me to the diversity of indie music in the late 1980s (The Clean, Yo La Tengo, etc.). Lately, I've been extolling the Chicago music scene, and bam:

New Now, a label/magazine/YouTube series run by Eli Schmitt is releasing an LP compiling some of the Chicago indie scene's greatest bands: Horsegirl, Sharp PIns, Lifeguard, Dwaal Troupe, Friko, and Uniflora have all been covered here on the blog. But there's so much more including an enchanting song from Amaya Peña that sounds like a cousin to early Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

3/16/26.

Nearly 3 weeks ago, we posted about "Red Xerox" the still upcoming (release day is almost here) Chicago indie compilation from New Now - a label/zine/YouTube series from Eli Schmitt. Recently, Ned Norland, a Bandcamper I follow bought Badger Hunt "Full Moon In My Pocket" and look who plays on it - Eli Schmitt. Kai Slater (Sharp Pins, Dwaal Troupe and Lifeguard) also lends a hand both with playing and engineering.

Badger Hunt, however are not from Chicago, and the band is not really associated with either Eli Schmitt or Kai Slater. The album was recorded in Chicago, but Badger Hunt is from New York and is the work of two noisemakers - Miles Lee Ellisor and James McCarthy Walker.

It's pretty hard to pinpoint the sound, but Shannon McMahon on the Bandcamp summed it up well by saying: "‘Full Moon In My Pocket’ is foot-stompin’, tambourine-clambourin’, full throttle screamin’, sweet guitar-pluckin’ magic all wrapped together with barbed wire and true to its namesake–one pocket-sized record always on the move."