MFF2016: Inside The Milwaukee Show I
Not only does the Milwaukee Film Fest get bigger every year, it gets more Milwaukee every year. The Cream City Cinema program continues to spotlight some of the city's established and rising talent, and 201...
Bon Iver, Chance The Rapper, and black metal: Eaux Claires goes big, weird in 2016
//A festival curated by two indie-rock dudes is bound to be a niche event. The inaugural edition of Eaux Claires featured a handful of oddball choices filling out the lineup (Melt-Banana? Not that we're co...
Deerhoof keeps the party going at post-Center Street Daze Mad Planet
//Hours after most folks had stumbled home from the chaos of Center Street Daze on Saturday night, the party raged on indoors at most of the usual Riverwest venues. The Mad Planet after-show was the only e...
Paul McCartney still had something to prove at last night’s Marcus Amphitheater show
//When Paul McCartney came to Miller Park in July of 2013, Milwaukeeans made some silent calculations and determined that this would probably be our last chance to see the Beatle perform. Some 43,000 of us...
Built To Spill plays to unconventional strengths at Turner Hall
//The definition of "indie rock" may have changed over the years, but the sound of the music has not. Take everything in your iTunes library assigned to that genre, make a giant playlist and hit shuffle: s...
Ani DiFranco opens up, digs deep at Turner Hall
//Far be it from Ani DiFranco to stay home during an election year. The relentless folk singer released Allergic To Water in 2014, and she's been touring almost nonstop since…well, since her career began. ...
Kurt Vile presides over listless, occasionally lively show at Pabst Theater
//"Don't know much about history," Kurt Vile sang in his opening number, "Dust Bunnies," Tuesday night at the Pabst Theater. Indeed, despite the smattering of "I Voted" stickers on lapels throughout the crow...
Puscifer pushes crude humor, lucha libre wrestling at Riverside Theater
//It's difficult to fathom an enjoyable concert derived solely from the recorded works of Puscifer. Whether or not you're a fan of Maynard James Keenan's voice and/or lyrics, Puscifer albums have trended m...
Lizzo brings the party (and a message) to Turner Hall
//The Brew City has seen a lot of Lizzo over the past year or so. The Minneapolis-based rapper (no, she's not on Rhymesayers, and no, she's not in Doomtree) impressed attendees as the unorthodox opening ac...
Godspeed You! Black Emperor ascends, evolves at Turner Hall
//Milwaukee has been spoiled on the post-rock front thus far in 2016. Three weeks ago, Mad Planet somehow landed a Tortoise performance—only the band's second live date following the release of its first n...
Christopher Porterfield and company explore the obscure for Alverno Presents’ “How To Write A Popular Song”
//The radio promos for Saturday's Alverno Presents show at Pitman Theatre suggested that you ought to have heard of Charles K. Harris, but you probably haven't. He was a Poughkeepsie native who grew up and...
Reunited Naked Raygun has strong Turner Hall showing
In some ways, the Naked Raygun story is a string of rock and roll clichés. They were massively influential on the U.S. post-punk era but, like their Milwaukee contemporaries in Die Kreuzen, they never really go...
Moon Curse transcends stoner rock with ‘The Spirit Remains’
When stoner rock first bubbled up in the ’90s, it basically stood for Black Sabbath-worship. It was retro by definition and seemed like an untenable fad. Who could’ve guessed it would outlast grunge? As its roo...
MFF2015 Day 8: ‘The Winding Stream,’ ‘We Come As Friends,’ ‘They Have Escaped’
The 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival runs Thursday, September 24 through Thursday, October 8. Check out our list of 13 reasons to get excited for the fest here. If you’re looking for daily recommendations and/or wh...
MFF2015 Day 5: ‘Uncertain,’ ‘Call Me Lucky,’ ‘Black Panthers,’ ‘Theory Of Obscurity’
The 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival runs Thursday, September 24 through Thursday, October 8. Check out our list of 13 reasons to get excited for the fest here. If you’re looking for daily recommendations and/or wh...
MFF2015 Day 4: ‘Jaws,’ virtual reality panel, ‘Safety Last!,’ The Milwaukee Show I
The 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival runs Thursday, September 24 through Thursday, October 8. Check out our list of 13 reasons to get excited for the fest here. If you’re looking for daily recommendations and/or wh...
Zebras complete doom-metal transformation on ‘The City Of Sun’
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There’s a virtually unavoidable trajectory for punk and metal bands: start out as noisy and abrasive as possible and get increasingly melodic and mellow as you age and/or learn to write catchy songs. Zebra...
Primus and Dinosaur Jr. bring double dose of ’90s alt-rock to The Rave
Primus frontman Les Claypool isn’t the type of guy who caters to his fans. He does whatever the hell he wants, and his core cult of diehards doggedly follows, because he is probably the greatest living bass gui...
Eaux Claires festival celebrates Midwest music, points to something greater
The organizers of the inaugural Eaux Claires festival did their homework. The first year of a large-scale event like this is usually a logistical nightmare; who could forget the 12-hour interstate backup welcom...
Tame Impala makes good on Riverside Theater sellout
Tame Impala’s last visit to Milwaukee was for a very-sold-out performance at Turner Hall just over two years ago. The band was riding high on widespread accolades for its second LP, Lonerism, and as a live unit...