Bless the Mad share their private pantheon of Black Chicago music

The production duo discuss the classic hip-hop, soul, gospel, and jazz records that inspired the reverent sonic collage on their debut album.

By LEOR GALIL

Iregularly search Bandcamp for Chicago releases, and this past August I found the album Bless the Mad. At that point it was still a month from release, with only a few tracks streaming, and the information on the Bandcamp page didn’t enlighten me much—just the identities of the core members of the group behind the music, also called Bless the Mad, plus a little backstory and a detailed breakdown of the guest players on each track. Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize a single name.

I could draw some conclusions from the album’s artwork, which collages together images from the world of Black Chicago music—including the logo for Kelan Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble and a photo of postman with a guitar in front of a sign for the Maxwell Street market. It gives Bless the Mad the look