It feels like ages since Gossip Wolf has heard from drone-tastic Chicago sound artist Nicholas Burrage (formerly Nicholas Szczepanik), whose long-form pieces are perfect zone-out material—Reader critic Peter Margasak has described them as “ethereal drift,” and this wolf is inclined to agree! Last year dude got married and took his husband’s name (maybe he got tired of spelling the old one for people), and he’s also launched what he calls an “appropriation project” whose first series reinterprets Mariah Carey’s hits. (He’s named the project marbles., uncapitalized and with a period, presumably to bother editors.) Last week marbles. posted the 43-minute “Vision of Love.wav” on Bandcamp as a free download, and it makes zero overt references to the diva’s multi-octave singing or breathtaking melisma—it’s a lot like the delicate, moody drones Burrage’s fans expect.
Nobody, the artist formerly known as Willis Earl Beal, returned to Chicago in February to headline the Empty Bottle. Now he’s back—on tape. Last week local music site and radio show the Minimal Beat released a cassette of Nobody’s wondrous new lo-fi soul album, Turn, through its boutique label, TMB Limited. Tapes ship May 1, and the 100-copy edition will go fast. v
