Before cofounding Chicago ska band Heavy Manners, singer Kate Fagan released the 1980 new-wave single “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool” b/w “Waiting for the Crisis”—a bouncy, rollicking call-out of drugged-up hipster trash backed with one of the Reagan era’s catchiest paranoia jams about the military-industrial complex. After the record’s second pressing burned in a house fire, it became something of a collector’s item, and this week Brooklyn label Manufactured Recordings is finally reissuing the seven-inch (with two unreleased bonus tracks). On Thursday, August 11, Fagan celebrates the reissue with a set at Debonair Social Club’s Neo night. The $5 door charge benefits Yoga for Recovery, which helps women in Chicago prisons, and before 11 PM you can get in free with the password “too cool”!
In 2012, Reader staff writer Miles Raymer called Swimsuit Addition’s music “apocryphal-Halloween-scare-story bubblegum that’s full of broken glass.” On Wednesday, August 17, Tall Pat Records releases the Swimsuit Addition cassette EP Killin Time, and it sounds like the local punk four-piece has packed some razor blades into its tunes! That night the band celebrates with a set at Double Door (after a Saturday show at the Burlington).
Reggae Fest Chicago, a single-day celebration of reggae, ska, roots reggae, and reggaeton, debuts at Addams/Medill Park on Saturday, August 13, and a couple late club gigs will keep the party going sans porta-potties. LA ska outfit Hepcat headline Subterranean on Friday, August 12. And on Saturday at Double Door, local roots-reggae group Akasha headline the Simmer Down Sound aftershow, where guest selectors Mykol Orthodox (of TJ Fiyah Sound) and Kinky P join regulars the Graduate, Rad Brian, and Marcus Iyah. Double Door also hosts Midwest Ska Fest on Sunday, August 14, with Hub City Stompers, the Crombies, and a dozen more. v
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