Top 10 Chicago playlist: alternative Windy City anthems

The Orwells, Mallrats (La La La)

Part of a wave of brat-pop garage punk coming up in Chicago. Mallrats captures the teenage boredom of wasting your days at one of the countless, carbon-copy malls in Chicago's endless, identical suburbs.

Local H, Another February

Two men, a lot of noise. Local H nail the grumbling, miserable feeling of another February in Chicago, when the dark, bitter, biting, unforgiving winter is at its worst and there's seemingly no end in sight. This song is as close as you can get to winter in Chicago without the actual stinging wind shooting frozen snow into your eye, while you walk to the "L" train stops.

Rise Against, Like the Angel

I used to do a local music show for an alternative rock station in Chicago and remember getting unknown punk act Rise Against's Revolutions Per Minute album in our show's mailbox; Like the Angel was the first song we chose to play on the air from the record. Not long after, Rise Against went on to become an international powerhouse outfit. This song will always remind me of the group's Chicago come-up, before they belonged to the world.

Krewella, One Minute

Krewella's blowing up on the festival scene these days, but One Minute comes from the group's blog-darling beginnings. The track is undeniably infectious: a showcase of the trio's standout power-pop sensibilities.

Fall Out Boy, The (Shipped) Gold Standard

While it's easy to point to a song like Chicago Is So Two Years Ago as an obvious choice for this band's hometown anthem, The (Shipped) Gold Standard also references the Windy City – specifically the planted palm trees along Chicago's North Avenue Beach in the summertime. An insider nod from one-time suburban pop-punk underdogs.

The Hood Internet (Featuring BBU & Annie Hart), Won't F--- Us Over

The Hood Internet has been elevating the art of the mashup for almost seven years now, bringing legitimacy and excitement to a song style that too often slips into disappointing novelty. With 2012's FEAT full length, the group made the leap into original productions, bringing along socio-conscious (and now-defunct) Chicago hip hop outfit BBU along for hypnotic oddball track Won't F--- Us Over.

Supreme Cuts (Youngster Gone Off That), Sherm

Spacey, tribal and hypnotic, Chicago's Supreme Cuts demonstrate what they do best on Sherm. Like many Chicago music power duos before them (refer back to Local H), Mike Perry and Austin Keultjes create a world of sound between the two of them, taking their audience places with their laptop productions.

Flosstradamus, Rollup

Trap stars Flosstradamus got their start as local party DJs in Chicago, holding down an increasingly popular residency in the city's Lakeview neighbourhood years back. These days, Floss is a global sensation, inspiring rabid fandom with their productions online and festival sets. The group's rise has also put a lot of eyes and ears on Chicago's rap and electronic scenes over the years – so check out Rollup.

Kanye West, Hold My Liquor

Kanye may claim Chicago on songs like the unreleased Home and its commercial reworking Homecoming. His collaborations with the current wave of hometown talent like King Louie and Chief Keef (featured here on Liquor) help maintain his connection to the city that's been dubbed "Chiraq" in recent years, as a result of the tragic wave of deadly violence that grips Chicago's summers.

The Smashing Pumpkins, Tonight, Tonight

Tonight, Tonight is a quintessential Chicago anthem. Billy Corgan infamously immortalises "the city by the Lake" in easily one of the best songs in The Smashing Pumpkins' entire catalogue.

Jaime Black, founder and host of Chicago's longest-running music-focused podcast, Dynasty Podcasts