The five members of Varsity horse around on and in front of a couch, poking at each other, covering their faces, and laughing
The band Varsity, with front woman and songwriter Stef Smith at center Credit: Clare Byrne

On Saturday, February 17, breezy Chicago indie-rock group Varsity headline Schubas to celebrate the album Souvenirs, which the five-piece self-releases on Friday. Souvenirs compiles the monthly series of singles that Varsity put out throughout 2023, a project the band undertook to address the ways the pandemic had derailed their routines—it gave them a structure for meeting and working on music. “We were just kinda wanting to have fun again,” says vocalist-keyboardist Stef Smith, “and were playing songs again and were practicing—and remembering that releasing two singles at a time was something we had done a while ago. It’s really fun, because you can get immediate feedback, and you can put something out into the world pretty quickly rather than wait for the whole album to be finished.”

Two of the 2023 singles Varsity have collected on Souvenirs

Varsity embarked on the Souvenirs series well prepared. “We had five or six songs locked and loaded, ready to record,” Smith says. “Then the back half of the year, we were having to create the songs from scratch at the beginning of the month—so write, arrange, record, mix, and then send it off for mastering, all in one month. At the beginning we were like cool cucumbers; at the end, we were so frantic, but in a good way. I think that energy was helpful. It let us try a lot of different things, and then let go of the perfectionist streak that some of us—mostly me—have.”

Varsity will also debut songs from their 2020 album Fine Forever at this weekend’s release party.

Varsity concerts have been rare since early 2020—this release party is the band’s first gig in more than two years. The pandemic kept them from properly promoting their third album, Fine Forever (it came out in May 2020), so in a way they’re throwing a double release party now. Saturday’s show will be the live debut of the material on Souvenirs, of course, but it’ll also be the first time Varsity have played some of the songs on Fine Forever onstage. Tickets to this 18+ show cost $15, and it starts at 8 PM.

Lapgan sits on a stool against a rich green background, looking at the camera with his elbows on his knees and his hands pressed together
Lapgan Credit: Dennis @ddesigns_

Indian American producer Lapgan heard the phrase “Make the music you want to see in the world,” and he ran with it. He collects South Asian records by searching online for old Indian and Pakistani sounds, then uses them to create modern beats flavored by the history of the subcontinent. On his first album, Badmaash (2019), the New York–born, Chicago-raised producer made his first foray into Bollywood samples. He says his second project, Duniya Kya Hai (2021), is more intentional—it follows his discovery of Lollywood music from Lahore, Pakistan. Half of Lapgan’s family is from Lahore, before the 1947 partition of British South Asia into India and Pakistan, and the Punjabi producer blended Bollywood and Lollywood sounds to create an imaginary musical world where that border doesn’t exist. 

Lapgan continues to dig into different Indian sounds, regions, and eras to curate particular moods, and his most recent album, last year’s History, is a sonic syllabus of the history class he wishes he’d been able to take. Now he’s teaming up with Heems, a fellow Punjabi, to produce the New York rapper’s first record in nine years. Lafandar is due to hit streaming on Friday, February 16. The two connected a year ago, after Heems took a liking to Duniya Kya Hai, and Heems released History via his new Veena Sounds label. Over the past year, Lapgan sent Heems beats as they plotted a shared project and the album came together. “I’m very excited about it,” Lapgan says. “Collaborating with [Heems] has been really cool. It’s not just business. It’s on some friendship. When we’re not talking about music, we’re talking about other stuff.”

Two tracks from the forthcoming Heems album Lafandar, produced by Lapgan

Patrick Jasper grew up writing songs on piano and guitar and studied guitar and jazz saxophone at Columbia College. On Monday, February 19, he’ll release “Drift Drift,” the lead single from the upcoming Loreto, and as you might expect from someone of his background, it’s got crazy guitar-pedal textures and an instrumental bridge with a raging sax solo. Right now Jasper’s Spotify is full of music that calls back to his roots as a folkie singer-songwriter, but his current rock-rooted work is more adventurous and progressive, with lots more bass and drums.

Patrick Jasper and three of his bandmates lie on a white marble floor, most of them with their legs tucked up or folded, but the camera is pointing down at them so it looks like they're frozen in improbable jumps against a wall
Patrick Jasper (second from left) and most of his band Credit: Chris Strong

Jasper wrote all the songs on Loreto on an acoustic guitar while spending several months traveling and living in his van (hence the title “Drift Drift”). Once he returned to Chicago, he fleshed out each tune in collaboration with a band, and early last year they all headed to a cabin and recorded everything live, together in a room. Jasper sings and plays guitar, of course, and his band currently consists of bassist Jake Gordon, drummer Andy Danstrom, second guitarist Kyle Paul, and keyboardist and saxophonist Will Barnard. They celebrate the new single by headlining a show at Schubas (also on Monday, February 19), joined by Harvey Waters and Maiden King. Fans can expect a surprise release of the “Drift Drift” video sometime this week.

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