Local label Rainbow Body has been dormant for about a year—main man Chris Sloan has been finishing grad school and planning his upcoming wedding—but it’s getting back into gear. Next month the label will drop the third LP from weirdo pop act Golden Birthday, Blue Island; the band will celebrate its release at the Empty Bottle on Mon 6/25. Sloan also expects to put out the newest EP by wurkstep originators Sich Mang later this summer, a full-length from Austin one-woman project Rare Species in the fall, and a solo album from Cleared‘s Michael Vallera sometime after that. Speaking of Sich Mang, on Fri 5/25 the duo will play its first show since Rand Sevilla moved to LA three months ago; he’s flying back to town for the gig, which is at Public Works (1539 N. Damen) and costs $5.
Almost four years after local postpunk foursome Big Science dropped their debut EP, The Coast of Nowhere, they’re finally releasing their debut full-length, Difficulty. Singer-guitarist Jason Hendrix and bassist Jason Richards say they did a lot more experimenting on this album, recorded entirely in their home studio—that much is clear from the lush orchestration of the lead single, “No One Ever Wakes Up.” Big Science will celebrate the release of Difficulty at the Burlington on Wed 5/30.
Last August, this Wolf was pretty pumped about Redgrave—the local duo of guitarist and soulful shouter Angie Mead and drummer Stephen Howard (Pinebender) raises a mighty blues-rock ruckus. National Act, a brand-spanking-new EP recorded with Greg Norman of Electrical Audio at his home studio, is due June 12 on Lovitt Records; “Custom A,” posted to the band’s Soundcloud page, is a pleasing pounder with a pinch of shoegazer drift and some major vocal pyro. Boom! They’ve got a few upcoming gigs, including headlining Quenchers on Sat 5/26 and opening for Pelican and Anatomy of Habit at Lincoln Hall on Fri 6/29.
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