Get your day packs, sunglasses and set lists ready, because Chicago’s summer music festival season is underway.
The barrage of events this year brings to town big names such as Feid, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish. But if you take a moment and squint at the posters for festivals in the region, you’ll likely see local up-and-comers to catch now before they become headliners.
Here are six acts not to miss:
DJ Ca$h Era at Hyde Park SummerFest (June 17-18)
Background: Even though CaSera Heining — who spins under the moniker DJ Ca$h Era — has been rocking clubs from SoHo House to Scarlet Bar in Boystown for years, she still finds herself getting nervous before shows. “You’ll catch me pacing; my hands are sweaty. I don’t talk much, I don’t eat much, I get so nervous,” she said.
Her career began when she took an introductory DJ course at Columbia College. She took to the craft immediately and was soon hired to DJ parties and events, work she juggled with full-time coursework, jobs and internships.
The sound: Something that Heining prides herself on is creating outlandish mashups. One of her favorites is bringing together gospel artist Kirk Franklin’s “Revolution” with Khia’s “My Neck, My Back.”
“When they hear what it transitions into a lot people turn around and stare with their jaws open because they can’t believe I had the audacity to do it. People often tell me I’m going to hell for it,” she said.
Where to see her Heining will play June 17 at the Hyde Park SummerFest. You can also find her Thursdays at Renaissance (4641 S. King Drive) in Bronzeville, on the second Friday of the month at Emporium (839 W. Fulton Market) in West Loop and on Saturday nights this summer at Scarlet (3320 N. Halsted St.) in Boystown.
Anthony Bruno at Logan Square Arts Festival (June 23-25)
Background: Bruno’s recent self-titled album is an introspective, R&B-tinged jazz record, but this saxophonist and composer’s musical origins could not be more different. While many of his contemporaries talk about seeing some of the jazz greats growing up, the Elk Grove Village-raised Bruno was on a different wavelength. “I was going to the Fireside Bowl. I was going to Warped Tour, I was seeing bands like NoFX, Alkaline Trio and Less Than Jake,” he said. He eventually settled on saxophone as his primary instrument toward the end of high school and made his turn to jazz composition.
The sound: Bruno’s new album has its reflective and mournful moments, but it does not lack energy. On the opening track “Hang Glide,” bassist Andrew Vogt lays down a fat and funky groove that swings with Bruno’s woozy sax. On “Feelings (Outro),” the music builds to crescendos of emotion as drummer James Russell Sims pushes the pace.
What also makes Bruno’s compositions stand out is his use of synths alongside electric piano. An example is “New Mexican Hash,” in which keyboardist Julius Tucker sets the melodic line with a synth patch reminiscent of something off an early James Blake record. Those textures add a modern flavor to the quartet and accentuates the album’s pop elements.
Where to see him: Bruno plays June 25 at the Logan Square Arts Festival. He also currently performs regularly in Chicago through two residencies: on Tuesdays at Dorian’s (1939 W. North Ave.) during jazz happy hour, and on Thursdays at Andy’s (11 E. Hubbard St.) as part of the Late Night Concert Series.
Mila La Morena at Logan Square Arts Festival (June 23-25)
Background: “My mom was a teacher,” La Morena recalled, “so I would go into the music room after school, not knowing how to play piano or anything, but would just be hitting random things and singing little melodies to myself,” she said. She would go on to pursue music at Columbia College.
The sound: La Morena has been releasing singles that bring together reggaeton, latin, R&B and electro-pop. Frequently you’ll hear La Morena flipping between English and Spanish in her lyrics. “I love that I have a bigger vocabulary and can use slang in both languages. It’s so f- - -ing fun,” she said.
La Morena also demonstrates an impressive musical range. One could easily hear “Sagitario” in the club with its KAYTRANADA-esque production stylings that mesh wonderfully with her breezy vocal performance. Contrast that with a romantic ballad such as “Amarres” or the classic R&B “In Luv With U,” both of which showcase the artist’s ability to channel profound feeling in her singing.
Where to see her: La Morena will perform June 25 at Logan Square Arts Festival. You can also catch her on July 13 at Cobra Lounge (235 N. Ashland Ave.) and on Aug. 11 at Navy Pier (600 E. Grand Ave.).
AUSAR at Summer Smash (June 23-25)
Background: Ausar Bradley, who uses the stage name AUSAR, wasn’t allowed to listen to rap in his childhood house in South Shore — only gospel music — but that didn’t stop him from steeping himself in Chicago artists like Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), Rhymefest and Common.
Initially, he said, his choice to become a rapper was not met with enthusiasm from his family. “Not a single person was happy about that announcement,” he recalled. “Until they saw the material results like me working with Wyclef Jean. Now I think there is a lot more respect for it.”’
The sound: AUSAR has regularly released singles and EPs for the last six years, and his 2020 EP “Flight of the Honeybee” earned critical acclaim. A skilled wordsmith with a keen sense of flow and rhythm, he demonstrates this mastery well with the catchy chorus of his most recent single “DON’T DATE RAPPERS” and its seamless shifts in cadence from stanza to stanza.
On his forthcoming album “I.N.K (I Now Know),” Bradley said he gets personal in a way he hasn’t on previous records.
Where to see him AUSAR will be performing on June 25 at Summer Smash Festival in Bridgeview. A summer tour will follow for I.N.K but dates have not yet been announced.
Horsegirl at SummerFest (weekends in June and July)
Background The young trio of Chicago rockers made a big splash with the debut album “Versions of Modern Performance,” which was released in June of last year. The three members — Penelope Lowenstein, Gigi Reece and Nora Cheng — were all friends during high school who bonded over their mutual obsessions with Pavement, Sonic Youth and other groups from the ’80s and ’90s alternative rock scene.
After initial singles “Ballroom Dance Scene” and “Forecast,” it wasn’t long until the band was selling out those same venues they had attended as fans just a couple years prior.
The sound Horsegirl signed a record deal in April 2021 with Matador Records, a natural fit given that many of the label’s biggest artists like Yo La Tengo, Belle and Sebastian, and Interpol,influenced the band’s music. Horsegirl is part of a growing group of bands in Chicago carrying the torch of fuzzy alternative rock, along with contemporaries such as Lifeguard and Friko.
Where to see them You can catch them on July 6 at SummerFest in Milwaukee and on Aug. 13 at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport St.).
Ariel Zetina at Pitchfork (July 21-23)
Background: DJ and musician Ariel Zetina was first drawn to electronic music through the theater. “I was always using it on the side when I was directing or writing plays as the score,” she said. Eventually, she decided to write the score for a production herself.
Fast forward several years and now Zetina has become a mainstay of Chicago’s nightlife, perhaps most notably as a resident DJ at Smartbar in Wrigleyville.
The sound: Zetina’s 2022 album, “Cyclorama,” is a perfect encapsulation of what has made her such a distinctive artist and clear pick for a Pitchfork debut. The record masterfully weaves together classic sounds from ’90s house and techno with a vulnerable depiction of her experience as a trans woman.
The song “Have You Ever” is a true standout. Featuring a stirring vocal feature from Cae Monāe and frenetic production from Zetina, the track explores feelings of anxiety that a trans woman and cis man might have in their attraction to one another, repeating the refrain, “Have you ever been with a girl like me before?”
Where to see her Zetina plays on July 23 at Pitchfork Music Festival.
