Thursday April 30 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25

The Hobknobs, the new Netherlands band featuring Arie Van Vliet of Lewsberg and Yaël Dekker of The Klittens on guitars and vocals, have just announced a 16-show tour of select US cities that begins this Wednesday, 4/22 in Chicago. They'll be touring as a trio joined by The Klittens’ Katja Kahana on bass. This tour and the accompanying tape, or should we say this tape and the accompanying tour, means a turning point. Not for the world, not for music, but for The Hobknobs. The first months of the year were all about working on new music. And that work was done mostly behind the scenes. But today 2026 has properly started for Yaël Dekker and Arie van Vliet. With a sixteen-date tour in the U.S., an album on the way (more about that later), and the first proper release on 12XU (a tape called ‘Turning 26’). Or is it a proper release? This tape is a collage of live performances, rehearsals, alternative takes and field recordings. And as Dekker and Van Vliet state: “We invite everybody to listen to this tape, but this tape is not for everybody.” Which is the reason why this tape is only available during the upcoming tour, and will not be available for streaming or purchasing online.

Linda Smith is a pioneer of home recording who self released her music originally on cassette starting in 1987. In the early 90’s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with the release of two seven inch eps. Recently, Brooklyn NY label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and she has begun to tour in the US and internationally for the first time. Paste magazine called her “a hidden treasure of America's pop underground”, while Jangle Pop Hub has written that “Essentially this is the best bedroom pop you are ever likely to hear, directly from an age that did not really know what to do with it”.