Update on Fri 5/24 at 3 PM: Due to potential inclement weather, WHPK’s Summer Breeze festival has been moved indoors, to the First Unitarian Church at 5650 S. Woodlawn.
West-side rapper Malik Muhammad, aka Musa Reems, has gained serious traction in the local hip-hop scene since dropping the mixtape Lately I’ve Been Sol Searching 2 in March 2018. He contributed to Nasim Williams‘s Occult Powers EP, released the full-length Gamma Quietus, and recruited Defcee for the single “Godspeed.” This month Reems launched Musa Mondays, a series of five new singles dropped on consecutive Mondays. This wolf is particularly keen on the first, “Quarter Juice,” which came out May 6: Reems unloads a steady stream of staccato bars, leaving himself barely any space to breathe. This week’s single is “Not Know,” and the series ends June 3.
Despite a crowded field, Gossip Wolf has decided to run for president in 2020. First platform plank: more rad concerts presented by college radio stations! (It’d be better to cancel student-loan debt, of course, but in the meantime, universities should at least entertain their noise-loving scholars.) On Friday, May 24, and Saturday, May 25, WNUR sponsors the experimental Transference Fest at Elastic, with sets from the likes of Mukqs & Sharkula, Gun Outfit, Ikue Mori, and Bergsonist of the Discwoman DJ collective. And speaking of crowded fields, on Saturday, May 25, WHPK throws its annual free midday bash on the University of Chicago’s Bartlett Quad. The stacked lineup for Summer Breeze 2019: Summa cum Loud! features Negative Scanner, IfIHadAHiFi, Erik Nervous, Wet Wallet, and more.
With their new Dumpster Tapes cassette, Holy Roller, Flesh Panthers have made a turn from “scum punks” (Gossip Wolf’s phrase) to “flower punks” (their own words). On “Ride the Blind,” the greasy crooning and ringing guitar sound suited to a decadent French chalet—maybe next door to where the Stones recorded Exile on Main St.? On Friday, May 24, the Panthers celebrate at Cole’s with Uncle Sexy & the Nephews and the Reverse Cowboys. v
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