This time she dropped in at the Chicago Diner. Plus: New releases from Mayor Daley, the Odd Couple, and Airiel

"I ain't bluffin' with my vegan muffin" (Credit to intern Sharon Lurye for that one)

“I ain’t bluffin’ with my vegan muffin”
(Credit to intern Sharon Lurye for that one)Credit: Peter Cruise

Looks like Ms. Bad Romance wasn’t quite done with Chicago after her backstage cameo at Pitchfork. On Fri 7/20, midafternoon patrons at the Chicago Diner in Boystown were treated to a hot dish not usually on the menu—Lady Gaga! An anonymous tipster tells Gossip Wolf that her ladyship came in (with a few pals and three or four beefy bodyguards) and noshed on the restaurant’s famed veggie cuisine. Don’t know about you, but we think everything tastes better with a side of pop royalty!

Local trio Mayor Daley is back to campaign for the hearts and minds of the voting public—or at least the members of the public who want more heavy, punky prog rock. The band’s platform is the brand-new Sand Bath (Rotted Tooth), and all four of the album’s tracks—including the heady, sprawling “Fifteen Silver Arrows“—are up on Bandcamp. Mayor Daley plays a release party Thu 7/26 at Reversible Eye (1103 N. California).

A couple weeks ago Chicago producers Tony Roche and Zach Henderson released their debut as the Odd Couple, Separated at Birth, which includes drops from Mikkey Halsted, Chance the Rapper, Freeway, and Skyzoo. The Odd Couple have been working on the tracks for a couple years, and they have enough material for another full-length, which they hope to release this summer. Roche says it’ll have a song with Chicago rapper King Louie, local psych act Bigcolour, and (if Roche gets his way) Tom Krell of How to Dress Well.

Local shoegaze quartet Airiel dropped the EP Kid Games in May, but we must’ve been looking at our feet—it sold out before we could tell anyone to go buy it! Luckily Kid Games is getting a wider release from west-coast label Shelflife Records on Tue 7/31—its smeared-out epic pop should catch the ears of My Bloody Valentine and Lush fans everywhere. Airiel celebrates that night with a set at Subterranean, then takes an east-coast tour in August.

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