Music News Roundup • Whitney croon on WGN Morning News, Noname Shines on NPR's 'Tiny Desk' Concert, Chicago Hip-Hop Turns to Acting in Cole Bennett Directed Short Film

Whitney Performs as Duo on WGN

Before they head out on their North American and International tour, Whitney charmed their hometown morning news with a stripped down acoustic performance of "Golden Days" on WGN. Described as "country soul" - Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich came together for a rare duo performance live on the air. The group will also be releasing a 12" in June featuring two songs; "You've Got A Woman" / "Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)." It can be pre-ordered at their label Secretly Canadian's online store.

Whitney's full 2017 tour schedule can be found here: whitneytheband.com/shows. The next hometown Chicago show is a set at Lollapalooza on Friday, August 4th. The tour kicks off in Minneapolis on Sunday, April 2nd and caps off at Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo Japan at the end of August.


Noname Swings by NPR's 'Tiny Desk' Series

NPR put Noname's debut Telefone at #22 on their list of 'Top 50 Albums of 2016' - so it's no surprise that she was invited to participate in their 'Tiny Desk' live series. Alongside Brian Sanborn (Guitar), Connor Baker (drums); Phoelix (bass, vox); Akenya Seymour (keys, vox) - Noname delivered a delightful set while in town for the Washington, DC top of their tour. The set list include a medley of "Reality Check," "Casket Pretty," "Bye Bye Baby" alongside "Diddy Bop" and "Yesterday." The full 15 min set clearly impacted the staff at NPR - with a pause of awe after each song. Yet another example of Noname's bright star power and career ahead.


Chicago Hip-Hop Turns to Acting in Cole Bennett Directed Short Film

Chicago-based director Cole Bennett has released his short film titled Lone Springs. The film stars our March 2017 Cover Story Femdot alongside guest appearances from a who's who of Chicago rappers like Taylor Bennett, King Louie, Twista, Saint Millie, Supa BWE and Warhol.SS. The film was directed and edited by Cole Bennett, DP by Visual SZN, aerial shots from Jeff Salzbrunn, sound mixed by Brandon Jones and scored by Brent Rambo (who also appears in the film).