Gossip Wolf is a big fan of Cafe Mustache in Logan Square—it’s a great spot for coffee, food, LPs, cassettes, and relaxing hangs. The cafe is also a music venue, and despite the low-key vibe of shows there, it can get mobbed—so it wants to expand into an adjacent storefront. The folks behind Cafe Mustache have taken to Kickstarter to raise the $20,000 they need to pay for permits and hire an architect and a contractor. They’re offering pretty sweet incentives for backers, including hand-painted mugs, hand-printed T-shirts, and free coffee for a year. The campaign ends Fri 6/28; you can read more at bit.ly/c_stache.
Pelican is tracking its fifth LP at Electrical Audio with engineer Chris Common; it’s the band’s first album with guitarist Dallas Thomas, and its first without founding member Laurent Schroeder-Lebec. It also features Yakuza sax man Bruce Lamont, who according to his Twitter feed joined Pelican in the studio last week! Guitarist Trevor de Brauw tells Gossip Wolf that this is the longest Pelican full-length to date and “considerably heavier than our last couple of albums.” We can’t wait to hear for ourselves! The band expects the record to come out on Southern Lord this fall.
Gossip Wolf is thoroughly stoked on Logan Square record store Bric-a-Brac Records, and it doesn’t even open till Friday! Last week owners Nick Mayor and Jen Lemasters (along with their adorable corgi, Dandelo) gave us a quick tour of their space at 3156 W. Diversey, which is crammed with new merch from garage-centric labels such as Burger, HoZac and 1-2-3-4 Go, accoutrements from punk outfitters Full Breach 77, and a stash of used vinyl and cassettes that includes street punk and Hall & Oates. Plus Bric-a-Brac’s selection of 80s-centric toys, tchotchkes, and artwork—heavy on Masters of the Universe, Gremlins, and Star Wars—is serious nostalgia fodder. Their enormous Robocop wall art has to be seen to be believed!
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