Posted inGossip Wolf

Scene-powering fusion collective Cordoba celebrate a new album at Constellation

The members of Chicago jazz-fusion sextet Cordoba drive an inventive creative community with their many overlapping projects. Vocalist Brianna Tong, for instance, also sings in funky experimental ensemble Je’raf and punky trio Bussy Kween Power Trip, both of which also feature prolific Cordoba bassist Khalyle Hagood. Hagood, meanwhile, also plays in soul outfit the Devonns […]

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Miyagi Records completes its evolution from online outlet to pop-up shop to brick-and-mortar storefront

On Friday, April 14, Miyagi Records opens its Washington Park brick-and-mortar shop at 307 E. Garfield. Miyagi has been in business since late 2019, when producer and DJ Nigel “Trew” Ridgeway launched it as an online-only shop. He’d been a record dealer on the side since 2002, and he wanted to do more—a choice the […]

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Dream-pop artist Lipsticism celebrates a new collaborative single at Sleeping Village

Chicago dream-pop artist Alana Schachtel, who records and performs as Lipsticism, has a seemingly effortless command of melody, and her ethereal, diaphanous productions make her songs feel like floating through a tranquil sky filled with gorgeous fluffy clouds. In December, she released the outstanding album Two Mirrors Facing Each Other (Earth Libraries), and it’s been […]

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Whitney Johnson of Matchess presents an ambitious durational work at Bond Chapel

For more than 15 years, the music of violist, keyboardist, and singer Whitney Johnson has been a powerful through line connecting various local underground scenes. Since 2009 she’s been developing the outstanding solo project Matchess; she’s been a member of a dizzying number of groups, including the 1900s, Verma, and Circuit des Yeux; and she’s […]

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Late jazz pianist Bob Dogan gets a tribute show at Elastic Arts

When Chicago pianist and composer Bob Dogan died in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2020 after a brief illness, our city lost a jazz giant. In 2005, longtime Reader writer Neil Tesser hailed his small-group compositions for their “strong, meaty lines with attractive harmonic schemes that engage and propel the soloists,” while also noting the airy, economical […]

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Gossip Wolf: Chicago Afro-soul singer Nola Adé releases her long-awaited second EP, Royal

For the better part of a decade, Chicago native Nola Adé has released standout music, including her 2016 debut EP, The Love Dance, and a smattering of well-received singles on which she wrapped her luxurious voice around popping, radio-ready Afro-soul production. (Gossip Wolf remains especially partial to her track “Make Move,” a booming love song […]

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Chicago Psychfest returns with two headlining appearances by guitarist Jeff Parker

Steve Krakow isn’t just the artist, writer, and musician behind long-running fanzine the Galactic Zoo Dossier, regular Reader feature the Secret History of Chicago Music, and an array of far-out rock bands—he also books one of the city’s most dependably excellent music festivals, Chicago Psychfest. On Friday and Saturday, March 17 and 18, the fest’s […]

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Teenage indie rockers Lifeguard become Matador labelmates with Horsegirl

Last week, long-running independent label Matador announced its signing of Chicago teen-scene rock trio Lifeguard. The band’s drummer, Isaac Lowenstein, is the younger brother of Horsegirl guitarist-vocalist Penelope; last year, her band issued their debut full-length, Versions of Modern Performance, through Matador. Not only that, but Brian Case, father of Lifeguard bassist Asher Case, put […]