Monday Afternoon Quick Fix runs every Monday afternoon to showcase the best of Chicago music news, views and stories from around the interwebs and blogosphere that we might have missed.
- • The Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasak muses on whether pop-up record stores, such as those by Numero Group and Hot Jams, held on Record Store Day have an adverse effect on permanent brick and mortar shops. Additionally, Saki Records’ Patrick Monaghan explains why Numero’s pop-up, held at the Empty Bottle this year, is unfair competition on a day that is designed to celebrate indie record stores.
- • The Congress Theater saga continues. Last week, Chicago Pipeline posted a letter from Rhys Pareja, the promoter of the Twista, King Louie and Chief Keef show that was interrupted by a large police presence earlier this month. Pareja alleges that the two-hour interruption from the police barricade of North Milwaukee Avenue cost him $75,000. Additionally, local CAPS volunteer Joe Kopera has resigned in part due to how the incident was handled by First Ward Alderman Joe Moreno and Chicago Police. In a letter to the community, posted by Chicago Pipeline, he called Chief Keef’s booking “a smoke screen for police action.”
Continue Reading…
By Audrey Leon \ 1 comment
Numero Group has announced that it will once again open its pop-up retail shop during Record Store Day, to be held Saturday, April 21.
The biggest surprise? The Empty Bottle will serve as Numero Group’s Record Store Day headquarters. Last year, the label opened up shop in a Wicker Park storefront.
Numero Group said in a blog post announcing the shop that it will sell a limited edition Record Store Day LP/CD, WTNG 89.9FM: Solid Bronze, as well as a 45 that can only be purchased at the Bottle. In addition to their gems from their own catalog, Numero Group promises to fill the bottle with thousands of LPs, CDs, tapes, 45s, 8-tracks, DVDs, books and magazines from venders all over the country.
Continue Reading…
By Audrey Leon \ comments
Cancel your weekend plans, because Chicago’s very own re-issue label Numero Group plans to sell new and used vinyl and other merch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its home-base in Little Village (2348 S. Marshall) this Saturday.
In addition to opening its own collection of LPs and 45s (minus Boddie), there will be odds and ends such as books and maybe even a “gently used” sombrero. What’s a record dig without music? Rest assured that the “weird shit,” as Numero Group writes on its blog, will flow out into the open as you browse.
Numero Group previously held a pop-up store in Wicker Park for Record Store Day back in April.
By Audrey Leon \ comments

Numero Group
There is no question that Chicago label Numero Group, which specializes in re-issues, feels strongly about defending the catalog it has come to possess.
Then, it is no surprise that the label took to its blog and twitter on Tuesday afternoon to accuse hip hop giants Kanye West and Jay-Z, as well as West’s sampling house, of illegally using a sample from Chicago soul singer Syl Johnson’s “Different Strokes” on West’s track “The Joy,” which appears on the deluxe edition of his Watch the Throne collaboration with Jay-Z.
Continue Reading…
By Audrey Leon \ comments
Last week, Chicago record label Numero Group, which deals exclusively with reissues, posted a succinct note on its blog stating that it would not join Apple’s newest service iCloud.
The biggest point of contention for Numero Group is not iCloud’s storage service, but its scan and match element scheduled to debut this Fall. The subscription service called iTunes Match will cost users $25 a year and allow them to trade their less than legally obtained music for the real deal (if you’ve done that sort of thing).
Numero Group statement via its blog post:
The simple reason is that Apple and their major label “partners” have created a reward system that is both incomprehensible in scope and totally out of sync with iCloud’s streaming peers’ (Rdio, Spotify, et al) financial mechanics.
Continue Reading…
By Audrey Leon \ comments
Over the course of the legendary Syl Johnson’s over 50 year career, the Chicago soul singer has amassed a voluminous catalog of some of the soulfulest tunes around.
That catalog is getting the Numero Group treatment in the form of the box set, Syl Johnson: Complete Mythology, a four CD, six LP collection that spans the entirety of Johnson’s storied career.
To celebrate this release Johnson will take the stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music on November 27 and for the first time ever he’ll be performing songs from throughout his 50 year career, many of which have never been played outside the walls of the studio.
Continue Reading…
By Andrew Kahn \ comments
Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival finalized its lineup and schedule for the event slated for Aug. 13-15 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass.
Though the fest will take place outside of Boston, the band is making sure the weekend is filled with some Chicago love.
Among those included on the bill are Mavis Staples, whose upcoming album You Are Not Alone was produced by Jeff Tweedy, Wilco side projects The Autumn Defense, Pronto and The Nels Cline Singers, Deep Blue Organ Trio, On Fillmore and several audio/visual DJ sets by Numero Group.
Continue Reading…
By Andrew Kahn \ comments