Since 2013, local power trio Chicken Happen have been making excellent tunes that share more than a vibe with 90s alternative rock. Gossip Wolf can imagine the band landing a video or three in MTV’s Buzz Bin, alongside Veruca Salt, Jawbox, or maybe Letters to Cleo. Over the past few months, singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Lilly Choi, drummer Mark Gianforte, and bassist Zack Hjelmstad have been working on a new album with producer Chris Sutter (front man and guitarist for Meat Wave), who’s added vocals, synths, guitar, and percussion. They recorded with engineer Joe Gac (bassist for Meat Wave) at Kildare Studios, and Chicken Happen IV drops Friday, November 10. “These songs draw a lot of inspiration from R&B,” says Choi, “and are some of the most vulnerable songs I’ve ever written.” Over the years, Chicken Happen have shared stages with the likes of Lydia Lunch, No Men, Ovef Ow, and the Brokedowns, and on Sunday, November 19, they play a record-release show at Subterranean with openers Kate Wakefield, Bob Rok, and Hobbyist.
Chicken Happen IV includes a Brokedowns cover and a song cowritten with Chris Sutter of Meat Wave.
Chicago experimental label Hausu Mountain turns up in Gossip Wolf all the time, because its exceptional catalog just keeps growing. On October 27, HausMo dropped two more great cassettes: The Celebration from Ohio act Tiger Village and Surface from Ben Baker Billington’s long-running Quicksails project.
Hausu Mountain released albums by Quicksails and Tiger Village on October 27.
Ester is one of Gossip Wolf’s favorite local bands. In August the jazzy pop project, led by singer-songwriter Anna Holmquist, released the single “Seed, Sun, Soil,” which compares the effort to grow a plant with the struggle to stay present in a relationship. “This song is about how sad it is to watch the death of something you grew and nurtured,” Holmquist says. “Once after we played this live, someone enthusiastically told me that he wanted to share it with his Dungeons & Dragons group and I’ve never received a higher compliment.” In November, Ester will drop the eight-song EP Laundry, which includes “Seed, Sun, Soil,” and a few rerecorded tracks from the 2020 album Turn Around, many recorded as a duo with cellist Katelyn Cohen. If you thought Ester’s sparse, lovely songs couldn’t get any more sparse and lovely, you’re in for a treat. Holmquist has a Nick Drake-esque knack for embellishing their songs with a haunting sense of empathy and self-forgiveness.
“Sun, Seed, Soil” will appear on the imminent Ester EP Laundry.
Jeff Lescher became a Chicago power-pop phenomenon in the 1980s as the main songwriter of the band Green, and over the decades he’s been the sole constant member. Lescher has recently started releasing solo material, debuting in late 2019 with the album All Is Grace. Lescher recently contacted Gossip Wolf with news of a second solo full-length, Larks of Avon, which showcases Lescher’s affinity for slow, doe-eyed balladeering with shaggy frenzied numbers—this wolf is pretty keen on the frazzled warmth of the propulsive “Not Like This Time.” On Saturday, November 4, Lescher celebrates the arrival of Larks of Avon with a release party at Phyllis’ Musical Inn.
Jeff Lescher’s new Larks of Avon isn’t streaming anywhere yet, but his 2019 solo debut is still available.
On Thursday, November 2, Chicago’s hip-hop scene will gather at Logan Square tavern the Double (3545 W. Fullerton) for Fresh Ofrenda, a celebration of the culture’s ancestors—especially the late Parker Lee Williams, aka DJ P-Lee Fresh, who died in December 2021. Akbar, Williams’s longtime collaborator in the duo Mental Giants, will perform selections from a forthcoming album; MozDef, Illanoize, and Kay-Aye will spin.
Halloween in Chicago would feel incomplete without new music from underground dance producer Beau Wanzer—his synthetic sounds can get your blood pumping as reliably as a splatter movie. On October 27, Indiana label Sophomore Lounge dropped Gub, the debut full-length from the duo Gub, aka Wanzer and Alex Barnett of Champagne Mirrors. Gub’s low-groaning tracks will make you wish David Cronenberg had directed a body-horror flick set in a dance club—they’d be a perfect soundtrack.
Beau Wanzer and Alex Barnett make their full-length debut as Gub.
In September, this wolf mentioned the debut EP of a new postpunk project called Model Living that features Matt Ciani of Arthhur and Flesh of the Stars. Ciani’s friends and bandmates have also been busy lately: folky indie duo Coventry (featuring Mike Fox of Arthhur) debuted later in September with Our Lady of Perpetual Health. And last week, Flesh of the Stars dropped their first full-length album in four years, the mammoth prog-metal opus The Glass Garden.
Recent releases by folky indie duo Coventry and prog-metal band Flesh of the Stars
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