Similar Artists: Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Steely Dan
Top Tracks: “Tel Aviv,” “Crude Camaro” and “El Fin”
Recent News: DZ Riley’s new album Peak Panache was released on Sept. 13
Chicago-based funk-rock group DZ Riley have finally emerged triumphant. Their new album Peak Panache is an ambitious project with a rich conceptual spirit that globe-trots across genres and themes and defies the limits of what a concept record can be.
Composed of lead vocalist Gracie Lubisky, Keefer Schoon on guitar, Noah Savoie on keys and saxophone, Hugh Maxey on drums and Jakob Morris on bass, the five-piece, though young, are promising outputs from the Windy City’s local rock scene. First formed between Schoon and Savoie, Peak Panache is the band’s first album to feature the full lineup.
Schoon met Savoie when he switched his major to music composition during his junior year in college, and ended up at mixer where the two bonded over their shared love of Pink Floyd. As their friendship continued to build, Schoon asked Savoie if he’d lend his saxophone skills to a project that would become 2020’s “Entropy.” The two continued to work together, and soon enough the band had begun forming. In 2020, DZ Riley consisted only of Schoon and Savoie, with occasional lended talents from Lubisky. Throughout the remainder of Savoie and Schoon’s time in college, they met Maxey and Morris, leading to the current lineup.
Though they may be closest to what one could classify as a funk-rock group, labels seem to lose meaning when describing DZ Riley. Simply take Peak Panache, for example. Rock, jazz, funk, mariachi, soul, country and more are woven together to construct the record’s sonic identity.
Peak Panache’s songs span topics including speed drives (“Crude Camaro”), plastic surgery (“Dr. Aphrodite”) and the ongoing conflict in Gaza (“Tel Aviv”), and are woven together with skits, including one from the late Jerry Springer. The album’s country crooner, “Cowboy,” is performed by fellow Chicago-based singer Jacob Wiley with a crisp vocal tone over sweeping guitar that sounds straight out of the South. Despite each of the song’s individual themes, the LP’s overarching concept tells the story of aliens coming to earth and learning music as a way to understand human empathy.
Don’t let your preconceived notions of what a largely DIY and extremely adventurous young band might sound like, because the group’s work is astoundingly polished, yet maintains some of that raw edge that the best bands do. The group is immensely ambitious, but their fine-tuned precision pays off and demonstrates just how superb the quintet is.
Keep up with DZ Riley: Instagram // TikTok // Spotify // YouTube // Website
