Gossip Wolf has been fond of Chicago bubblegum-pop sweethearts the Lemons for almost as long as they’ve been a band, so it’s a pleasure to see their audience grow. Late last week a handful of celebrities “picked up” copies of the band’s brand-new debut LP, Hello, We’re the Lemons, at Logan Square shop Bric-a-Brac: among the folks posing with copies of the album on Instagram were Malin Akerman (Watchmen, Childrens Hospital), Kate Micucci (Garfunkel and Oates), Orlando Bloom (you know, Legolas), and mumblecore auteur Joe Swanberg (brother of the Lemons’ James Swanberg, who’s also the main man of Today’s Hits). Improbably prolific California indie label Burger Records releases the album Fri 2/5, but you can buy it now from Bric-a-Brac or download the whole thing from Bandcamp at bit.ly/lemons_lp.
New band alert! Pieholden Suite Sound co-owner Joshua Dumas—one of the talents behind the Chicago Avenue Moon iPhone app that’s been soundtracking rides on the 66 bus for the past few years—has a drony new duo called Mending with crystal-voiced singer Kate Adams. Fans of Juliana Barwick and Chicago’s Mind Over Mirrors should find plenty of glacial bliss in the two tracks the duo posted to Bandcamp last week; Dumas tells Gossip Wolf they’re already working on a full-length and hope to start playing shows this spring.
Late last week the fine folks at Permanent Records dropped their label’s 50th release, and it’s a doozy—a 40th-anniversary reissue of the sole album by Zipper, a short-lived fuzz-rock outfit fronted by Fred Cole before he started Dead Moon. The self-titled LP originally came out in 1975, when it was the debut release by Fred and Toody Cole’s Whizeagle Records. The new Permanent LP is the first official stateside Zipper reissue, so you’d better believe it’ll fly off the shelf! v
Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.