You think New Year’s Day is just for black-eyed peas, bad hangovers, and college football? Wrong, dear reader. Fuck a Rose Bowl and turn on your radio instead. Beginning at 8 AM, the dusties experts at V103 (“The Only Station the World Steps To”) are sweetening up the airwaves with sexy sound treats not to be missed. It’s like a restorative booze-binge cure for your ears. Featuring mixes from station staples Maurice “Ice” Culpepper and DJ Eric “ET” Taylor, “Steppin’ Into 2011” will feature 18 consecutive hours of soulful, silky steppers music! You can expect to hear some Quiet Storm-era Smokey Robinson. You can expect to hear some Teena Marie (RIP). You can expect to hear some Minnie Riperton. In other words, you can expect to hear the best music ever made.
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Speaking of New Year’s Day, local hardcore juggernaut Raw Nerve has a new cassingle, Nervous Habits, due out on punk-as-fuck imprint Youth Attack! Records on 1/1. The label, run by former Charles Bronson singer Mark McCoy, will also be releasing a new Raw Nerve seven-inch later this spring. To celebrate, the band will playing at an undisclosed DIY location in Chicago on January 22 with local heavies Manipulation, Culo, and the Ropes. For exact show information including address and start time, e-mail Raw Nerve guitarist Ryan Lowry at ryannolenlowry@gmail.com. Tell him Gossip Wolf sent you!
DJ/producer/half of Streetwalker Beau Wanzer has organized a Chili & Synthesizers event January 23 at the Empty Bottle. Wanzer tells Gossip Wolf: “The inspiration is chili and synthesizers, simple and to the pinto. One man, one chili. Each contestant will compose a sonic interpretation of their chili. During each set the audience will taste that performer’s chili and vote at the end whose brew reigns supreme.” Competitors include Wanzer, experimental solo bro/Nihilist Records honcho Andy Ortmann, ambient noise dude Brett Naucke, and electro-minimalist Alex Barnett; winner gets his chili recipe printed in the liner notes of the live recording of the show. The only rules for the show is synthesizers only—no laptops and no MIDI. When asked if this was the dawn of “chili-wave,” chillwave’s spicy update, Wanzer replied, “Anything related to any type of ‘wave’ needs to stop, unless it’s a wave of poo washing away journalists’ urge to create new genres.”
