Gossip Wolf Archives - Chicago Reader

Henry Threadgill smiles at the camera in a dark blue vest and shirt and a pearl-colored felt hat with a high crown

Avant-garde jazz genius Henry Threadgill drops in to talk about his new memoir

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil June 6, 2023June 6, 2023

The past month has been productive for flutist, saxophonist, and composer Henry Threadgill. A Chicago native and an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Threadgill is one of the most important living voices in the Black avant-garde. He’s one of only three jazz artists to have won a Pulitzer Prize […]

The yellow-painted facade of Wild Prairie Vinyl & Vintage

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Wild Prairie Vinyl & Vintage is closing in June

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil May 31, 2023May 31, 2023

Gossip Wolf has been fond of Wild Prairie Vinyl & Vintage since it opened in KStarke’s old spot at 1109 N. Western in late 2017, so it’s no fun to report that co-owners Natasha Rac and Alex Gonzales will permanently close Wild Prairie on Sunday, June 11. Gonzales says the couple have been feeling burned […]

a couple sit on a sandy beach surrounded by tall scrubby plants with trees and a building in the background and a day moon visible in the clear blue sky overhead

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Elijah Montez and Kaitlyn Murphy of Daydream Review decamp for the west coast

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil May 23, 2023May 23, 2023

It doesn’t seem possible that only five years have passed since Elijah Montez arrived in Chicago and started creating psychedelic pop as Daydream Review. He’s had a devil of a time making the finances of post-COVID touring work, but here in Chicago we haven’t had to wait around for Daydream Review to bring their shoegaze-style […]

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Soul artist and freshly minted Chicagoan K.Raydio drops a gorgeous, generous new EP

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil May 16, 2023May 16, 2023

Ever since singer, producer, and songwriter Krysta Rayford, aka K.Raydio, moved to Chicago from Minneapolis in summer 2022, Gossip Wolf has been on the alert for every bit of her soulful music. She has an endlessly alluring voice, a keen melodic sense, and a knack for beats that combine classic R&B and soul from the […]

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Heavyweight saxophonist Mars Williams needs help fighting cancer

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil May 9, 2023May 9, 2023

Chicago saxophonist Mars Williams has been a key part of the international avant-garde jazz community for decades, but he’s arguably even better known as a pop musician—he played with cheeky new-wave band the Waitresses in the early 80s, and he’s recorded and toured with the Psychedelic Furs on and off since 1983. His jazz gigs […]

Sold and Hi-Vis stand on a riverbank, partly screened by hanging branches, with the water and the huge rusty girders of a bridge visible in the background

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DJs Sold and Hi-Vis launch their Lizard Label with a party for producer Wav Fuzz

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Gossip Wolf first got acquainted with DJs Glenna Fitch (aka Sold) and Alex Bond (aka Hi-Vis) by shaking a furry butt at their gigs as the duo Farplane, but this wolf got to know them better at their 2018 Daphne festival workshop “Women in Experimental Electronic Composition From Past to Present.” The two of them […]

a wide shot of a record store interior, dominated by rows of vinyl bins, with a man at front right with his back to the camera

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Farewell to Record Wonderland architect Pat Deasey

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil April 25, 2023April 25, 2023

Record Wonderland co-owner Pat Deasey died unexpectedly on Saturday, April 22, at age 55. “He was a workhorse—you didn’t always know he was here, but he kept the place together,” says his friend Steve Young, co-owner of the store. “He was the order agent, and I’m the chaos agent.” Young met Deasey in the 1980s […]

The six members of the band Cordoba pose against a white wall among vividly green tropical plants in pots, some of them hanging from above.

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil April 18, 2023April 18, 2023

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil April 11, 2023April 12, 2023

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil April 4, 2023April 4, 2023

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 […]

Whitney Johnson stands onstage amid a black-and-white projection of wavelike forms, bent over a small white-draped table with several electronic instruments and a lit red candle on top of it.

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil March 29, 2023March 29, 2023

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

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 […]

singer Nola Adé seated on the floor with a brown backdrop behind her

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

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil March 14, 2023March 14, 2023

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 […]

Jeff Parker plays an acoustic guitar in a tightly framed color photo, sitting against a wooden fence in a white T-shirt and black-framed glasses, partly in shade and partly dappled with spots of sunlight.

Music

Chicago Psychfest returns with two headlining appearances by guitarist Jeff Parker

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil March 7, 2023March 7, 2023

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 […]

A black-and-white photo of the three members of Lifeguard against a bare white wall, with a half-open folding door in the background. They're either sitting or standing, so that their three faces form a tight triangle.

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Teenage indie rockers Lifeguard become Matador labelmates with Horsegirl

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

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 […]