It’s a frustrating period in culture right now, where the closure of Touch & Go Distribution seems to hover much of what I encounter in art. Example: today’s Lit Mob update brings with it a short piece on what the guys from The End of the World are reading. Understandable enough — especially given that Stefan Marolachakis is an editor of the online culture magazine Take the Handle — but also relevant to the above argument: The End of the World have released a pair of albums, including 2008′s fine French Exit, via Flameshovel and Pretty Activity, labels that have been significantly impacted by the Touch & Go situation.
In a more general update: both Chicago Public Radio and the Chicago Reader have pieces up talking with some of the affected labels. Menti0ned therein is an upcoming album from the generally kickass Chicago band Mannequin Men, its own release date potentially fluid at this point.
Said garage-rock group, then, provide a segue into what I hope will be an upbeat conclusion — five songs from the band Shrimpss, consisting of members of the aforementioned Mannequin Men, Lustre King, and The Narrator*. It’s a conscious slow burn, never bursting into the unfettered rock that the group is capable of, but instead building hardscrabble pop songs that work for every hook they lodge in your mind.
*-whose final show was well worth the destruction of a pair of glasses, you may recall.