Megan Reilly in Chicago Saturday!

Photo by Jason Creps

This weekend is busy for us at Carrot Top Records. Very busy. Very exciting.

Megan Reilly comes in town with her band – Steve Goulding (Mekons), James Mastro (Bongos), & Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu) – this weekend to celebrate her recent album The Well. There are two chances to see her while she's in town on Saturday.
• Saturday, June 9 @ 4pm | saki | w/ Julie Byrne...FREE! All-ages!
• Saturday, June 9 @ 9pm | The Hideout | w/ Speck Mountain

The Chicago Reader calls Megan's voice "beautifully ethereal and unexpectedly strong," in their writeup about The Well. Thanks for the support, Mister Margasak!

While in town, Megan & crew will be joining Jon Langford to co-host his WXRT show "The Eclectic Company" and will be joining the wonderful Freedy Johnston at Frequency in Madison on Thursday, 6/7.

Photo by Colleen Quigey

This week Megan's been getting lots of love. The folks at BLURT ran an 8 out of 10 review of The Well, MAGNET highlighted Megan Reilly's track "Throw It Out," and the Reader wants you to go the Hideout show!

In other great Carrot Top news, Speck Mountain will be putting out their third album, Badwater, with us in late summer! After months of an intricate mixing process, Speck Mountain passed off their tapes to our friends at Chicago Mastering this week. We are all giddy with excitement, so join us Saturday at the Hideout to hear some rocking new tracks from Speck Mountain!

On Record Store Day, "Pop-Up Leeches," and the Point

or Every Day is Record Store Day, or Save Thyself, or Call Me Jeffersonian, or All You Need Is Love and $20.

Last year, I was quite pissed when I heard about Numero Group's successful Record Store Day (RSD) pop-up store in Wicker Park. My thoughts were, "Wow! What a cool concept!" quickly followed by, "Why in the FUCK are they doing it on RSD?" I heard no feedback or uproar on it from other quarters, and so I figured I was the only one who cared about it. Last April, my mother had just passed away after a long fight with cancer, and I was busy figuring out how to deal with not having parents and simultaneously trying to dig myself out of the deep work hole I had dug for myself while I was in Texas helping to care for her. A RSD pop-up store was not first on my list. But it did stick with me.