In March 2021, Gossip Wolf was bowled over by the debut demo from local grindcore crew Organ Failure. The band packed four merciless rippers into three thoroughly unwholesome minutes, whetti…
Addy Harris sings with a dewy softness in her group Rat Tally, but you can hear and feel the iron will behind her performances even over a roaring rock band. On Rat Tally's debut album, the …
In July 2017, the hosts of WLUW 88.7 FM's weekly electronic-music program, Abstract Science, celebrated the show's 20th anniversary with a blockbuster 20-hour broadcast. (Gossip Wolf managed…
In March 2020, when I wrote about underground industrial label Chicago Research and the tight-knit community that surrounded it, I heard that local duo Conjunto Primitivo planned to release …
Most rappers can only dream of making a song as powerful as PGF Nuk's breakout single, "Waddup." Superficially it sounds like a pretty standard drill track"terse verses in a wrought-iron flo…
On the evening of Thursday, June 30, dozens of young Black dancers gathered on the Chicago Riverwalk across from the Merchandise Mart. At 9 PM that night, Art on the Mart, which bills itself…
Singer and guitarist Fernando de Buen López moved to Chicago from Mexico City in 2012 with his band El Mañana, who released one more album of jangly, psychedelic indie rock in 2014 bef…
A couple weeks before Lifeguard played Horsegirl's record-release show at Thalia Hall in June, I ran into drummer Isaac Lowenstein and bassist Asher Case while walking through the Logan Squa…
Emerging Chicago rapper Christopher Horace charmed me a couple years ago with the first EP he released as F.A.B.L.E., (IX) The Hermit. His downy voice makes his playful raps sound more intim…
On Monday, August 1, jazz trombonist Jeb Bishop will move back to Chicago after a ten-year absence. Bishop and his wife headed to North Carolina in spring 2012 (Carrboro and later Durham) an…
In 2017, foundational Chicago footwork collective and record label Teklife dropped On Life, a compilation highlighting all the producers in its wider family. That record became a series, and…
What would you do with 22.4 pounds of treats? The post Sugar and snacks and everything nice appeared first on Chicago Reader.
Northwest Indiana's punk scene would be a lot less thrilling without Mat Williams"he's been the engine behind many of the local bands whose names have filled homemade gig flyers around the R…
Chicago's newest record store specializes in all things metal. Meteor Gem occupies a garden-level boutique at 3082 N. Elston, and its stock is so laser-focused on extreme music"including dea…
Even in a city full of talented artists with their fingers in a half dozen projects at once, Marvin Tate stands out as a Renaissance man. The west-side native is extraordinarily industrious …
Conor Mackey plays guitar in postrock group Monobody, which is how you know he has unpredictable energy"any musician tasked with creating rogue jazz flourishes and postmetal freakouts while …
It's music festival season again, and of course we're still in the middle of a pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 222.3 million U.S. residents are fully v…
After nearly two years on electronic monitoring, Jeremey "Mohawk" Johnson's ankle bracelet is finally off. The post 'All I feel is loss' appeared first on Chicago Reader.
For more than a decade, Chicago multi-instrumentalist and engineer Jake Acosta has been a key player in a loose federation of subversive musicians. He's done a lot of crucial work running re…
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist Sam Thousand moved to Chicago from Texas in 2009, and within a year he'd joined hip-hop fusion outfit Sidewalk Chalk. He's since become deeply e…
Gossip Wolf has been on the record as a fan of Lollygagger since the local glam-punk goofballs dropped their debut EP, Life on Terminus, in 2018. The band followed it in 2020 with the hilari…
After D.C.-area rock group Two Inch Astronaut went on hiatus in 2018, Sam Goblin decamped for the midwest and began making music as Mister Goblin. He's settled in Indiana, but to assemble hi…
Legendary artist and writer (and onetime Chicago mayoral candidate) Cynthia Plaster Caster passed away in April after a lengthy illness, but Gossip Wolf isn't done mourning. Future generatio…
I can't imagine summer in Chicago without the Chosen Few Picnic & Festival, and that's not just because this grassroots house-music gathering is celebrating its 30th annual installment (…
In February, teenage Chicago indie rockers Dwaal Troupe contributed a tender, dusty tune called "Everyone Forgot but You" to Porcelain Songs, a 30-track compilation made by fans of enigmatic…