The Chicago Electronic Music Conference debuted in 2025 at the Ramova Theatre, and for year number two it’s returning to the same venue on Saturday, April 11. Like any good music conference, CEMC will have a vendor hall (in this case loaded with DJ and synth gear), a record shop pop-up, and plenty of panels, workshops, and performances. Among the workshops are a lesson in advanced sound design by Dallas DJ producer Gvnnr (“Understanding LFOs, Envelopes & Modulation”) and a music business roundtable for independent artists.
The day’s panels include a discussion of the cultures built by dance music (featuring footwork veterans King Charles and Prince Jron, among others) and a look into the history and future of Chicago house music with key figures such as Lori Branch, Vince Lawrence, and DJ Hyperactive. (The latter is also on the bill at the CEMC afterparty.) The Ramova’s taproom hosts local DJs spinning all day, including Shanti of techno collective Research & Development, Podlasie regular J. Copes, and west-side boogie and disco lover Sunshine Rewind. The conference runs from noon till 10 PM, and tickets cost $52.51 in advance.
Ensemble dal Niente flutist Emma Hospelhorn also sings and plays guitar, bass, electronics, and keyboards, which has made her an in-demand support musician in contexts as varied as indie rock, folk, free improvisation, contemporary classical, and avant-garde sound art. She impressed Gossip Wolf in 2022 with her solo debut as Em Spel,The Carillon Towers, and she followed it up last month with the full-length Bird or Snake, which threads together tautly picked guitars, gently wafting flute, and lovely overdubbed vocal harmonies.
Hospelhorn gathered a rad collection of collaborators to help flesh out the new album’s experimental folk, including Katie Ernst (basses), Dustin Laurenzi (saxophone), Mabel Kwan (synth), Eric Ridder (drums), and Sam Wagster (pedal steel guitar). For the Bird or Snake release show at Constellation on Saturday, April 11, the Em Spel band will include all those musicians plus saxophonist Sarah Clausen. Ernst and Laurenzi will play an opening set as their folk duo, Edith Judith, joined guitarist Matt Gold for the occasion. Tickets cost $23.83, and the show starts at 8:30 PM.
Emma Hospelhorn created the detailed, inventive arrangements on Bird or Snake with help from seven other musicians.
Hospelhorn also maintains a duo with cellist Katinka Kleijn that’s focused on homemade circuits and orchestral instruments. Kleijn is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which will bring one of her experiments to the stage on Wednesday, April 8. The CSO describes Kleijn’s Bionic Synthmap as “a site-specific sound sculpture that explores shared circuits between human bodies and synthesizers.” The sculpture includes pieces of conductive material arranged on the floor in a large design, and when performers touch two of those pieces at once, they influence the configuration of the sound-making circuit. Kleijn will accompany the installation’s output with cello and projected visuals, and to close the night, she’ll invite audience members onstage to shape what they’re hearing firsthand. Tickets cost $30, and the event begins at 8 PM.
Cassette label LittleHeadButt is releasing the new Menace4Hire album on tape.
Local cassette label LittleHeadButt has been doing impressive work spotlighting underground sounds from Chicago and around the country. So far this year, the label has issued a nasty, unrelenting dance-noise EP called Northwest Territories by Seattle artist Baphomet Sex and a physical edition of the 2025 album Coming With the Strap by local art-punk project Bussy Kween Power Trip. On Saturday, April 11, LittleHeadButt hosts a release party at Cole’s for the cassette version of My Ancestor’s Favorite, a great jazz-inflected hip-hop album that underground Chicago MC Menace4Hire self-released digitally last month. Menace4Hire headlines, with support from Gayun Cannon, Waine Ghazi, and Armanii Day. Tickets cost $14.45, and the show starts at 10 PM.
The first album in six years from local hardcore crew Through N Through
Hard-hitting Little Village band Through N Through have been dispensing metal-tinged beatdown hardcore for roughly a decade. They hadn’t put out a full-length since 2019’s Our Side . . . till last week, when they dropped a self-titled album! On Thursday, April 9, they headline Cobra Lounge to celebrate the long-awaited arrival of Through N Through. Mictlan and Wrath Hammer open. Tickets cost $15, and the show kicks off at 7 PM.
Got a tip? Email your Chicago music news to gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.