Split by Sky Stadium/Potions

Twenty minutes each from Sky Stadium and Chicago, IL's Potions. Fresh off of great 2011 releases on Monorail Trespassing, Bridgetown, Goldtimers and more, Sky Stadium offers six tracks of truly beautiful and warm synth ambience. "Gatefold" and "A Vision So Close" are unique and true space soundscapes with enough texture and depth to mix well with the thick layers of synthesized melody and powerful drones on the rest of the side. Listen to "Right Now" on the sampler below. Potions (Tom Owens) has made a good name for himself on the local Chicago DIY scene with his improvised live performances and ability to cover a lot of ground stylistically with the Potions moniker. "Booby Trap" is a squiggly and rhythmically tight jam that moves into the darker and deeply psychy and mesmerizing "Mars Castle" (listen below). "Lazy River" is a great example of Potions' ability to bring together a beat-oriented song structure, bordering on pop music, into the realm of ambient synth work and more loose improvisations.