Like Hannibal from the A-Team, Gossip Wolf loves it when a plan comes together—especially when it involves new music from local power trio Beat Drun Juel! Their 90s rock style is worthy of MTV’s Buzz Bin—imagine if PJ Harvey were in Tad, maybe. On Friday, July 22, BDJ release the EP Suppressor, about which guitarist Donna Polydoros says, “It’s badass how much heavier our sound has gotten over the past year, since our current drummer joined. We recorded with the same engineer who did our seven-inch last year, Erik Rasmussen at Decade Music Studios, but the sound is way harder—much closer to how we are live.” If you’ve ever seen BDJ live, you know that’s a good thing! On Sunday, July 24, they celebrate with a set at Double Door’s daylong Fuck Fest—alongside Lasers and Fast and Shit, Typesetter, the Cell Phones, and more.
Break out the party hats, because unstoppable local DIY label Maximum Pelt has something to celebrate. Actually two somethings: the self-titled debut records from Saint Louis-based four-piece Swear Beam and ripping Chicago trio Basement Family, which includes two former members of space-pop group Bigcolour. Basement Family’s EP of fuzzy, garagey stoner rock has been out on wax for a few weeks—Reader music listings dude Luca Cimarusti premiered it in June. At the Empty Bottle on Friday, July 22, the bands play a double release party with headliners Melkbelly.
This wolf is keen on local label Star Creature, helmed by Ben Van Dyke and Tim Zawada (both from the fine Boogie Munsters DJ crew) and specializing in disco, funk, hip-hop, and of course boogie. Its Bandcamp page is a treasure trove of tunes to make you shimmy, including a new release from Zawada’s Tugboat Edits imprint: Hotmood Vol. 1 from Mexican collective Hotmood. The four-track EP ships next week, and the whole blissful thing is streaming at starcreature.bandcamp.com. v
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