Milwaukee band MIZZY is the Best Milwaukee Thing of 2024

The voters have spoken. After one month, six rounds, and more than 73,000 votes cast, Milwaukee “black n brown gaze” band MIZZY has won our Best Milwaukee Thing of 2024 Bracket. Congrats, MIZZY!

One of the fun things about doing these Very Serious, vote-as-many-times-as-you-like brackets is when things we wouldn’t normally expect to rise to the top, well, rise to the top. MIZZY is no different. We’re loathe to admit that the band wasn’t on our radar prior to this bracket, but we’re glad it’s on our radar now. The group’s recent EP, Gift, is fantastic, an alternately beautiful and bruising collection of politically charged heavy shoegaze. Listen to it here:

<a href="https://mizzymusica.bandcamp.com/album/gift">Gift by MIZZY</a>

We asked the fine folks in MIZZY if they had any words to share about winning our prestigious bracket. Bass player Joe Nsubuga answered for the band:

Shout-out to all the voters, shout-out to the fans.

MIZZY primarily started as way to show that people of color can make space for themselves in our mostly white DIY scene and that we can use that space to bring attention to our unique experiences. A lot of POCs grow up thinking music like punk, metal, rock, shoegaze, and so on is for white people, but it’s not, it’s for everyone. A lot of these genres have their roots in Black culture, Latin American culture, etc. I hope that other people like us in Milwaukee can see us doing what we do and think “I can do that also.”

If folks don’t know, if they buy our new EP on Bandcamp all the money is being donated to the PCRF (Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund). No matter how much or how little you pay for the EP it’s getting donated. Also check out the lyric booklet that released alongside the EP for some additional context about the songs. MIZZY stands for the emancipation of all oppressed people in the world not just the ones in America. My hope is that people can listen to this EP with an open mind and perhaps learn something they don’t know about our government’s own role in creating the material conditions within the Middle East.

Lastly, while we do be talking about a lot of political topics in our music and on stage, I need to be clear that music alone can’t change anyone’s material conditions. If we want to see real change in this world we gotta get organized. If folks out there resonate with what we talk about, then I would ask you to get involved with a local organization here in Milwaukee in some capacity. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression (MAARPR), Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC), Young Workers Committee (YWC), Voces de la Frontera, Reproductive Justice Action (RJAM), or even Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) for the college kids out there, and so many more. All these local organizations do great work in various fields and there’s always ways for people to get involved in whichever way they are able: attend a march, attend a rally, see what lines of work resonate with you the most and get involved.

And free Palestine. If you don’t support Palestine you gotta get your mind right.

You can catch MIZZY live Thursday, January 16 at Cactus Club, and Saturday, January 18 at Linneman’s. And once again: CONGRATS, MIZZY!