DJ and producer Jordan Zawideh drops an homage to oddball old-school houseJ.R. Nelsonon June 3, 2020 at 11:00 am

Chicago DJ and producer Jordan Zawideh has house music in his blood. Since moving here from Detroit in 1998, he’s introduced countless dance heads to top-shelf tracks–not just from behind the register at beloved record stores such as Weekend Records & Soap and KStarke but also from behind the decks at countless local nightspots, including Danny’s and Berlin. He hasn’t released many jams of his own, but on Friday, May 1, he dropped the double 12-inch Ce Es Music (via Dutch label No “Label”). A couple years back, Zawideh says, “I had a crate of some pretty rare sentimental records stolen.” He created these tracks in the weeks after the theft, and like many of the lost classics in that crate, they’re laced with the delightfully rude samples and oddly syncopated rhythms of old-school house. Gossip Wolf can’t wait to hear the acid-dipped “Work Delay” and the dubbed-out, juddering “In a Dream” on a packed dance floor, instead of just on headphones!

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markrh . (RHD-037CS5) Jordan Zawideh – Work Delay

Talented musicians from around the world have been buying scores from sheet-music emporium Performers Music since 1981, when it was opened by violist and violinist Lee Newcomer. Newcomer says sales have plunged due to COVID-19, putting the store’s future in doubt. Performers (now located in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan) has set up a GoFundMe, and Gossip Wolf recommends donating–so much of the music ecosystem is now in crisis that it’s easy to overlook this kind of niche institution!

Last year, Chicago bedroom folkie Jess Shoman released her first album as Tenci, My Heart Is an Open Field. Its tender songwriting and fragile, windswept melodies won over this wolf, and they’ve since earned her lots more fans–including the folks who run AustinKeeled Scales, which will reissue My Heart Is an Open Field on Friday, June 5. Shoman will celebrate with a Hideout Online set at 8 PM the same day; there’s a $5 suggested tip. v

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