New Memphis hip-hop label Culture Power45 has a special affection for Chicago: in its five-month life it’s released small-run, vinyl-only singles featuring local artists such as Infinito 2017, Rashid Hadee, Radius, and Thaione Davis. Those four also appear on the label’s forthcoming LP compilation, Fruition, which comes out in June—and which Culture Power45 celebrates with a free release party at 606 Records in Pilsen on Saturday, May 13. The event starts at 4 PM and includes DJ sets by Radius and Rashid Hadee; the shop is likely to sell out of the LP, so if you want a copy, you should get there early.
Listening to the winding guitar interplay and dramatic riffs of instrumental Chicago prog-metal quartet Outrun the Sunlight, Gossip Wolf can’t help but be reminded of perennial local headbanger faves Russian Circles and Pelican. Never a bad thing! Last month, the band self-released the soaring mini album Red Bird, and on Tuesday, May 23, they headline Lincoln Hall with support from fellow prog-metal instrumentalists Sioum, heavy psych jammers Rezn, and doomy post-metal outfit Barren Heir.
Last week Chicago rock group the Peekaboos dropped a video for the concise, ragged ripper “The Quantifiable Song.” It’s a dystopian vision of the year 2020, with the band fighting a small army of American neo-Nazis toting lasers—and, um, a fuzzy pig hand puppet. Odds seem good they’ll play the song when they headline a free show at the Emporium in Wicker Park on Thursday, May 11.
Gossip Wolf wishes jazz elder, AACM cofounder, and former Sun Ra sideman Kelan Phil Cohran a happy birthday—he turned 90 on Monday! Early readers of this column can celebrate with the legend himself on Wednesday, May 10, when he plays his first show of the year, accompanied by his son Malik. It’s at 7:30 PM at the Promontory; Cohran shares the bill with the 13th iteration of transatlantic jazz exchange the Bridge. v
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