Gossip Wolf Archives - Page 3 of 48

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

Gossip Wolf

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

Gossip Wolf

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.

Gossip Wolf

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

Gossip Wolf

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.

Gossip Wolf

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 […]

Amanda DeBoer Bartlett stands in a forest, one hand in her hair, wearing a billowing, diaphanous white top. She looks out of frame to the right.

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Avant-garde soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett drops an album of songs 16 years in the making

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil February 21, 2023February 21, 2023

This weekend is a big one for Ensemble dal Niente vocalist Amanda DeBoer Bartlett. On Sunday, February 26, she’ll sing with the ensemble as they close the 2023 Frequency Festival at Constellation. And on Friday, February 24, she’ll release a solo album of folk-inspired tunes, The Bones Still Glow, that she’s been writing for 16 […]

Dave Roberts stands on the lakefront, dressed all in black, with the water and the Chicago skyline behind him. He's wearing sunglasses and looking up and away out of frame. He's wearing his signature hairstyle too: a blond flattop with hair a couple inches long standing straight up all over the crown of his head. It is, frankly, glorious.

Gossip Wolf

Farewell to DJ Dave Roberts of Planet Earth and Late Bar

by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil February 14, 2023February 16, 2023

Veteran local DJ Dave Roberts died at 64 on Monday, February 6, after a bacterial infection spread from his spine into his bloodstream. In 1994, Roberts cofounded popular weekly new-wave party Planet Earth with his longtime partner and collaborator, Kristine Hengl, at Lincoln Park alternative bar Club 950 (aka Lucky Number). Planet Earth moved to […]

Allison Trumbo and Rob Logan of Midnight Minds sit side-by-side on a sofa, and the image frames their heads and shoulders. The irises and pupils of Rob's eyes are pearly gray, and Allison's eyes are painted with splotches of translucent green and purple.

Gossip Wolf

Midnight Minds drop a new album of serene and soothing ambient psychedelia

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

During the political tumult and COVID-19 spikes of autumn and winter 2020, when the world felt overwhelming, Gossip Wolf often found brief respite via the self-titled debut album by Chicago duo Midnight Minds, which came out on cassette that September. Allison Trumbo (director of outreach education for Music House) plays violin, guitar, and flute, while […]

Isabel Olive looks directly into the camera, lying on her back in a maroon-and-beige striped shirt. She appears to be lying on a bed in a room lit by a single square of sunlight on the wall, but the photo is too tightly cropped to be sure.

Gossip Wolf

One of Chicago’s best singer-songwriters drops a new EP

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

Isabel “Izzy” Olive of Half Gringa is one of Chicago’s finest singer-songwriters and most dynamic performers, so it’s always a red-letter day when she drops new jams into the universe. Gossip Wolf is especially fond of the gently searing rocker “Miranda” and the outstanding ballad “Sevenwater,” the two singles Half Gringa released in 2021 and […]