Singles released late in the year run the risk of being overlooked given the preponderance of Christmas music and year-end lists, but two Chicago acts at opposite ends of the musical spectrum have dropped new music to close out the year.
Gina Marie and the Golden Bucks have begun to release tracks from their 2024 album Pastures of Plenty to streaming platforms as band leader Gina Marie sails the high seas performing in ‘The Lincoln Park Supper Club’ on the New Icon class ship ‘Star of the Seas’ with Royal Caribbean International.
They dropped the original track “Snake Around” in November and just made their cover of “Without That Man,” a 1931 tune made famous by singer and actress Ruth Etting, available to streaming services including Spotify.
McLuhan, another Chicago-based band, flew under the radar when their lone album Anomaly was released by Brunswick Records in 1972, but they have certainly been making up for lost time in the last few years. The group, now led by original bassist and vocalist Neal Rosner, have been playing shows at The Hideout, Martyrs’, Montrose Saloon, and other small venues and have re-released Anomaly on vinyl and struck a deal with boutique label Think Like a Key Music for thefirst-ever CD release of the album.
In terms of new music, they enlisted the help of producer Ellis Clark (who also worked on the Anomaly vinyl re-release) for the scathing Prog-Pop tune “King Bizzzarroo” and just recently dropped the single “The Biker in the Park,” a wild reminiscence of adolescent motorcyclists in the Rogers Park neighborhood circa 1969-1970.
