In 2010, Camilo Medina and Javier Forero, natives of Colombia who grew up in Miami, moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute. They settled in Lakeview and tried to immerse themselves in the neighborhood’s music scene, but they had a hard time finding other aspiring musicians on the same wavelength—people with an interest in 50s and 60s pop, ideally who also spoke Spanish. They did manage to connect with another SAIC student, Guillermo Rodriguez, and in 2013 they started the band that would eventually become Divino Niño, with Rodriguez on guitar, Forero on bass and vocals, and Medina on guitar and vocals.

With its lush weave of dream pop, yacht rock, and Laurel Canyon folk, Foam is one of the year’s most accomplished local rock releases so far. Divino Niño pulled it off with assistance from friends they made after connecting with Fryer: scene utility player Justin Vittori (Grapetooth, Knox Fortune) added percussion to a few songs and Wurlitzer to another, and pop wonder Paul Cherry helped produce one track.

Gemini Moon EP by Mia Joy

Dumpster Tapes presents Demolición 2019 Featuring performances by Girl K, Town Criers, Perro Feo, Tenci, and Pkng, plus DJ sets from Dumpster Tapes staff. Sat 5/11, noon-5 PM, Auxiliary Art Center, 3012 W. Belmont, $10, 21+

Divino Niño, Bunny, Girl K, Valebol, DJ Paulcherry69 Fri 6/21, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $12, 21+

Pkng guitarist and singer Elmer Martinez moved to Chicago from northern California in 2016, and he got acclimated to the local scene in part by attending Demolición—it was one of his first local concerts. He was on assignment for Hooligan magazine, working on his first piece for the Chicago-based outlet. “I truly felt like I was at an intimate gathering with mis primos,” he wrote in his review. “And I am eternally grateful to the people at Dumpster Tapes and all of the performers for creating such a special experience.”

“We didn’t have a five-year plan when we started,” McMenamin says. “We had about a one-month plan: ‘Let’s put this thing out on cassette. How do we figure out how to put it on a cassette?’” By 2015 they were putting out new music almost monthly, and that year they released their first vinyl (Flesh Panthers’ NGC 2632, in partnership with Tall Pat Records) and the first EP by Cut Worms, aka onetime Chicagoan and national garage-scene darling Max Clarke.

White men dominate the north side’s underground rock scene, whether they mean to or not, and McMenamin’s thinking about Demolición came from the understanding that this state of affairs was likely to perpetuate itself—opportunities for musicians of color wouldn’t necessarily arise without lots of people putting in work. “There’s always a need to expose different audiences and different bands to each other,” he says. “Sometimes that doesn’t happen naturally—sometimes you kind of have to make an extra effort to make it happen.”