Maps & Atlases

Russian Circles, P.O.S, William Elliot Whitmore to play first Middlewest Fest

Middle-of-nowhere festivals can be real gems, and the first annual Middlewest Fest is doing what it can to get on the map. The two-day, twelve-show event in DeKalb, Illinois is ready to rock the state’s northwestern cornfields with Russian Circles and Born of Osiris recently added to its lineup.

The fest will make its debut on September 10 and 11, featuring a bevy of artists and ALARM favorites such as P.O.S. and William Elliot Whitmore. Other notable performers include Smoking Popes, Murder by Death, Maps & Atlases, Mark Rose (ex-Spitalfield), and more.

Ryan Duggan -- Mi Ami

Poster Art: Ryan Duggan’s punchy minimalism

Screen-printing poster artist Ryan Duggan grew up in Northern Illinois in a small town that Tom Waits wrote a song about.  “There I spent all my time drawing and forming shitty bands with my friends,” he says.  For reasons still unbeknownst to him, Duggan then relocated to Chicago to study advertising.  Maps & Atlases was formed by friends shortly after, and Duggan has been screen-printing since.

“Many posters these days are meaningless collages made in Photoshop and distressed to look ‘rock and roll,’” he says. “It comes off looking very fake to me.  I feel that music is a dirty, stupid ordeal and that this should come across in the imagery — it’s how you know everyone’s still having fun.”