Royel Otis, Friko

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Georges Antoni

The band Royel Otis outside.

Royel Otis

$30 ($25 adv.).

media release: Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dan Carey (Wet Leg), PRATTS & PAIN, is the first jewel in the crown for Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell with 13 tracks of melodic, pop-inspired indie and woozy psych that never stays to one lane. Handbraking towards psychedelic weirdness and dissonant noise, Royel Otis have no issue keeping all who listen on their toes. After the release of two EPs that took the band on a fast-track ride to global notoriety, PRATTS & PAIN is here to propel Pavlovic and Maddell through their next chapter, adventures abound with no limits.  Along with the success of the debut album, “Oysters in My Pocket” and “Murder on the Dancefloor” have gone gold in Australia. The band’s Sophie Ellis-Bextor cover also continues to climb the charts, reaching Top 3 at Alternative radio. 

Chicago band Friko  — vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger — shares a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” and announces performances at Lollapalooza, Newport Folk Festival, and Fuji Rock, a North American tour supporting Royel Otis, and the band’s first European headline run. The band just wrapped their first North American tour in support of Where we've been, Where we go from here (out now on ATO Records), playing shows with Water From Your Eyes, WILLIS and Mind’s Eye. Their cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” has become an exciting surprise during recent live dates. They performed it at their sold-out, headlining record release show at the 1000-capacity Metro in Chicago, and will continue to captivate larger and larger audiences throughout the rest of 2024.

An essential new addition to Chicago’s long lineage of forward-thinking indie rock, Friko transforms every song into a moment of collective catharsis. Known for their high-energy live show, Friko aims to deliver a live experience that’s fantastically disorienting in its emotional arc. Mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Big Thief) and engineered by Jack Henry and Scott Tallarida, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here embodies a sonic complexity befitting of a band that names Romantic-era classical music and the more primal edges of art-rock among their inspirations. Friko hopes that their music’s emotional potency might have a galvanizing impact on audiences.