As a guitarist for Strawberry Jacuzzi and founder of Bernice Records and Tapes, Shannon Candy has been one of Chicago’s most productive punks for the better part of a decade, so of course she hasn’t been sitting on her hands during quarantine. In fact, Candy tells Gossip Wolf that she’s spent the past few months working on her first solo LP, So Long, while “listening to a lot of Le Tigre, the Coathangers, and Vivian Girls.” Fans of those bands’ romping jams will certainly find plenty to bop along with here, including the bouncy make-out manifesto “IUD.” Mixed and mastered by Angel Marcloid of Fire-Toolz, So Long drops digitally via Spotify and Bandcamp on Friday, November 6.
Earlier this year, local improvising musician (and Reader contributor) Izzy Yellen wrote a hilarious and heartbreaking song about his family’s socially distanced Zoom seder, and it caught Gossip Wolf right in the feelings when he dropped it on his Bandcamp in April. Last week, Yellen released the album Until Nothing Fills the Room and I Can Rest Easy, whose ambient, effects-laden guitar and banjo pieces (just two tracks include vocals) he describes as “possibly the most consistent practice that helped mollify my anxiety.” After several listens, this wolf also feels a little less like climbing the walls, thank goodness! Yellen will donate the album’s proceeds to the People’s Music School, a long-running local nonprofit offering free music education to kids from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Gossip Wolf is trying to reach the editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary to get a photo of Chicago rapper Chris Crack published next to the definition for “prolific.” This past Sunday, he dropped his fourth album of the year, Washed Rappers Ain’t Legends, where his playful nonchalance helps him balance caustic humor and heartfelt observations. If you like Washed Rappers Ain’t Legends half as much as this wolf does, it’ll still be in your rotation when Crack drops his next album—though to be fair, that might be in 20 minutes. v
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