Big ol' crunchy party pop a la Cardiknox burnin' up my boombox.

Cardiknox photo by Hazel & Pine

I'm going to see Carly Rae Jepsen Saturday and I'm pretty excited. So excited I'm even dusting off my camera and coming out of concert photography semi-retirement to shoot the show. Usually when someone like Jepsen tours she's saddled with sub-par openers so I was resigned to sitting through some mediocre music before being able to go bonkers (well, as bonkers as I get at shows which is to say my head nods even more vigorously).

And then I got the new Cardiknox album sent to me since they're opening Jepsen's tour. Luckily for them the album actually drops tomorrow so anyone in Chicago will have a chance to get familiar with Portrait before seeing them play.

And I highly recommend getting familiar with the album. The L.A. duo traffics in the same vein of electro-pop as Jepsen, and also share the headliner's acumen for creating big radio friendly anthems that still ave a big of the grit of the authentic L.A. underground scene sticking to them. It's '80s swagger and '70s sequins and '90s squiggle synth. It's eternally Saturday night. It's a party and a half.

Can't wait.