It’s been five years since Horizontal Action magazine threw the last Blackout, a festival that over its six-year run became one of America’s most spectacular showcases of garage rock and binge drinking. But on May 27 and 28, HoZac Records is bringing the party back, and Gossip Wolf has the scoop on the lineup! A source in HoZac’s upper-level management confirms that out-of-towners Nobunny, the Spits, Idle Times, K-Holes, and Reading Rainbow will play, as will locals the Brides, Mickey, Heavy Times, Outer Minds, and Radar Eyes. The source also hinted that one of the headliners will be a beloved Australian band. That could mean HoZac recording artists and cool girls Super Wild Horses, but it could also mean . . . AC/DC! For those about to rock, we salute you!
Tyler Jon Tyler front woman Rebecca Flores tells Gossip Wolf the band is about to embark on its first tour. The garage-pop trio will head east at the end of April, with dates in D.C., Philly, and the Big Apple. To get a hairy earful of their music, just turn on a TV! Showtime’s Shameless, a family drama set in Chicago, recently featured a cut from the band’s 2009 Trouble In Mind seven-inch, “Faster Than Light.” It soundtracks a bittersweet scene where some young ‘uns wrap up a stay in jail by getting picked up outside a cop shop. A song by trouble-making kids in a show about trouble-making kids? That’s some shameless synchronicity!
Local guitarist David Daniell and a few friends have put together a five-hour, 64-track compilation called Benefit for the Recovery in Japan; it costs a mere $15, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Civic Force, a Japanese emergency-aid organization. Daniell’s Antiopic label released the download-only album last week, and it’s also available on Thrill Jockey’s website. The comp’s hot array of cool weirdness includes tracks from the Ex, Fennesz, Oneohtrix Point Never, Grouper, Prefuse 73, and Sam Prekop.
Chamber-pop act Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s have been confirmed as the opening act for the Twilight Singers‘ national tour in May. The So and So’s were in Memphis last week, where they recorded a couple songs at Ardent Studios, which once hosted Big Star; last Thursday, the Warm Up podcast featured one of the new tracks. The band reportedly got to use Alex Chilton’s mike and hang with former Big Star drummer Jody Stephens. In June they’ll go to work on a proper album with local producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine).
Sometimes this Wolf likes to check out the hot canines strutting around Wicker Park’s dog run. Gossip Wolf keeps it real for domesticated ass—we have needs! Don’t judge! Anyway, during our last cruise, we totally peeped half of Lungfish, vocalist Daniel Higgs and guitarist Asa Osborne, kicking it with Dan’s magic beard! Higgs was in town to sing with Swedish band Skull Defekts, whose current tour stops at the Hideout on Thursday. Osborne’s mystical drone group, Zomes, opens for the whole tour, doubling its Lungfish quotient. Those bands sound fine and all, but we’d like to petition Higgs and Osborne to get cranking on a new Lungfish album. This Wolf already has the title: I’m in Love With a Schnauzer. You’re welcome, Lungfish!
Take it from Gossip Wolf: Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a great place to forage. Nothing makes this Wolf’s hairy heart happier than seeing a bunch of fancy-ass people getting blown out on Sutter Home white zin and leaving their sweet trash behind. This summer in the park looks to have more half-eaten cornbread lying around than ever, thanks to the Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays series! The lineup came out last week, and it predictably skews toward NPR-approved indie; it’s kinda like the Pitchfork fest, but without any obscure bands! Headliners include Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Iron & Wine, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Low, and reactivated British shoegaze legends Seefeel. The free series kicks off May 23; soon, thousands of middle-aged kids can eat fancy cheeses at tiny tables, just like their CSO-loving parents! White people and scavengers rejoice!