Gossip Wolf has seen Chicago band Rash play at least half a dozen times, and they never disappoint. Their brutal mix of noise, punk, and hardcore would’ve sounded right at home on Amphetamine Reptile or Touch and Go back in the 90s! On Friday, December 2, Rash will release their debut LP, Skinner Box, on local DIY label High Fashion Industries, and this wolf can’t stop listening—it sounds the way repeatedly bashing your head into a block of concrete feels. (Not a complaint!) That same night, Rash will play a record-release show with Torture Love, Bruges, and Droids Blood (a newish band featuring members of Gossip Wolf faves Broken Prayer). The show is at a DIY venue; e-mail rashofchicago@gmail.com for details.
A decade ago, local producer and synth fanatic Beau Wanzer launched a monthly progressive electronic-music series at Danny’s called Hot on the Heels. In 2012 Reader critic Miles Raymer named it “Best Night to Feel Like an 80s Art School Student,” and Wanzer believes it’s now one of the bar’s longest-running nights. “I’m just grateful to have a place where freaks can come and hear weird music, dance, and hopefully be exposed to something they wouldn’t hear anywhere else in Chicago,” he says. After booking more than 150 DJs and other acts, HotH celebrates its tenth anniversary on Tuesday, December 6. Wanzer and Traxx spin, and Brooklyn producer Steve Summers (who runs the Confused House label) performs live.
On Thursday, December 1, hip-hop writer Ben Westhoff (who contributed a story on Serengeti to the Reader in 2005) will visit Volumes Bookcafe in Wicker Park to read from his great 2016 book, Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap. The event also includes a discussion with Westhoff and Louder Than a Bomb founder Kevin Coval, moderated by Chicago journalist Tara Mahadevan; it’s free and starts at 7 PM. v
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