Believe it or not, 2023 is more than halfway over. Weird! What’s not weird: the continued talent of the Milwaukee music scene. Here are just a few of our favorite 2023 Milwaukee releases—records, songs, videos—so far.
MATT’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE RECORDS/EPs OF 2023 (SO FAR)
Like a signal traveling through the unfathomable vastness of space, it’s been a long journey for Astral Hand. The heavy cosmic-psych band emerged from the shadow of another Milwaukee band (Calliope) way back in 2019. The rebranded outfit released a couple of tentative singles, but plans for a full-length album were put on hold due to the pandemic. Now, in 2023, Astral Hand has finally unleashed its debut record, the towering Lords Of Data. Tracks like opener “Not Alone” and “Navigator” stomp and pummel their way through the galaxy like a sentient monolith; lead single “Contact” enters the Stargate with a winning mix of psych-drenched guitars and vocals; and “End Of Man” goes full speed ahead with a sci-fi-tinged thrash. The record even makes time for a moody and mysterious instrumental, “Crystal Gate,” which seems destined to score a future alien invasion.
Bug Moment – The Flying Toad Circus
Bug Moment hatched in 2020 and began its life as a chilled-out bedroom-pop project; three years later, the group has become one of Milwaukee’s most buzzed-about bands. Flying Toad represents the culmination of that buzz, and finds Bug Moment metamorphosing into a full-blown four-piece (Jasmine Rosenblatt, Gray Edward, Elias Dorsey, Aidan Hoppens). The transformation serves the record well: though the bulk of Flying Toad trends toward the moody and atmospheric, standout tracks like the post-rock-leaning “Lagoon” and the alt-rock-chugging “Teeth” show off the band’s newfound instrumental power. “It’s Getting Dark, And You Left Me At The Circus,” meanwhile, is a muscular grunge banger filled with slash-and-burn guitars and slash-and-burn lyrics (“All your fucking lies / Now I wish you hell”).
Since releasing the delightful Seems To Be The Way It Tends To Go in 2021, Diet Lite has played more than 100 shows, gotten its gear stolen, made a video/short film about getting its gear stolen, and released two EPs. Those EPs—plus 10 more songs!—make up the group’s excellent 2023 record Into To Pudding. Breezy and jangly lead single “Debora” perfectly shows off Diet Lite’s newly fleshed-out sound, with Dylan-esque organ flourishes and mile-a-minute lyrical runs. “Tom Tom Club” is a beefy slab of punk rock, “Flying Cars & New Fronts” is a jittery jam filled with spacey interludes and herky-jerky riffs, and both “An Iron + The Sun” and “K.O.” wouldn’t feel out of place on an indie-leaning “drinkin’ with the boys” playlist. The head-bopping and surf-y “Madison City Parking Ticket Groove,” meanwhile, is an undeniable album highlight.
Lady Cannon – Take It Out On Me
Milwaukee singer-songwriter Martha Cannon has spent the past few years busying herself with tropical pop band L’Resorts, but her long-running Lady Cannon project is where she truly shines. This year’s Take It Out On Me (the follow-up to 2019’s Fortune’s Darling) is a heartbreakingly gorgeous collection of frank, soul-baring songs. “I don’t want to forget you but I might as well / You made it perfectly clear I could go to hell,” Cannon sings in opener “Ashamed.” Later, in the jaw-dropping “Cranberries,” Cannon delivers some of her most evocative lyrics yet: “In the passenger seat I keep watching his hands, wondering what they would feel like running up my leg / And I know that it’s wrong so I keep in my space, scared to death he can read it all on my face / And I think oh hell, girl, you’ve done it again / Why aren’t you ever happy with the good love you have?”
At the time of its release in 2022, the fantastic (and fantastically titled) “Jesus Christ Stop Yelling I’m Right Here” was the only song available from self-described gothic-punk four-piece Scam Likely; a year later, the song is just one highlight in an album stuffed with them. The 10-track Getting Worse opens with the occasionally jagged, occasionally soaring “Sushi At Gunpoint.” Singer Charlee Grider is terrific here, spitting out lines like “I changed everything you asked me to” and “Spare me that stupid fucking smile.” Even better is instant-classic single “Domestic Bliss.” Featuring a woozy goth-romantic vibe and a guitar line that channels New Order’s “Age Of Consent,” it’s the track that has us most excited for the future of the young Scam Likely—and the future of Milwaukee music in general.
TYLER’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE RECORDS/EPs OF 2023 (SO FAR)
Grey Genius – Hold This 4 A Min: II
Milwaukee made it just six days into 2023 before Grey Genius delivered one of the year’s best EPs. Hold This 4 A Min: II—the fast follow-up effort to the similarly named first installment the singer/rapper released last December—starts with Grey Genius (a.k.a. Kristane Thrower) saying, “I’m just trying to be pivotal / Coming from a place where they can’t wait to get rid of you.” While it’s only four songs long and has a total runtime that narrowly exceeds 10 minutes, the second EP builds on its Hold This 4 A Min predecessor with personal lyrics, memorable hooks, and an altogether outstanding sound we feel makes Grey Genius an indispensable up-and-coming talent that Milwaukee should hold onto for dear life.
Emmitt James – Undeniably Ground-Breakingly Excellent
Last year, following close to a decade spent living and creating in Los Angeles, hip-hop/jazz musician Emmitt James moved back to his native Milwaukee to join the city’s thriving arts scene. Now that he’s had adequate time to get acclimated, the versatile artist is making his presence known with regular live outings and a new album that confidently thrusts his eclectic skill set and his distinctive sound to the forefront. That release, entitled Undeniably Ground-Breakingly Excellent, lives up to its name as James shows listeners what he’s picked up in his time away with 14 songs worth of top-notch lyricism, nimble delivery, genre-merging production, and even four offbeat interlude “Acts” thrown in for good measure.
Piles’ 5:53—the comeback record from the post-punk project we took for dead—features the band’s winning formula of driving percussion, muddy bass lines, and blistering guitar work, but it also shows measurable musical growth and an interesting perspective shift. Tracks like “Ice Age” and “Be The Way” manage to exude warmth and optimism through catchy melodies and upbeat lyrics, while songs like “Paris” and “In The Morning” are among the most relaxed songs in the band’s catalog to this point. Yeah, we erroneously assumed Piles was through, but 5:53 makes us extremely glad we were wrong.
Siren Songs seems to be an exercise in building something new and relevant with old tools. If that was indeed his aim, accomplished Milwaukee troubadour Trapper Schoepp did just that. In addition to being recorded at Johnny Cash’s family cabin in Tennessee, the 12-track album also draws influence from the past through the use of open tuning, a noticeable reverence for traditional folk and Irish music, a loose nautical theme, and storytelling elements that were inspired by oft-overlooked historic events. By eschewing flashy production, turning his songwriting approach outward, and reaching into forgotten pockets of the past, Schoepp has crafted something new, different, and as good as anything he’s ever done to this point with Siren Songs.
Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of Wildered. To be honest, we’ve only known about this Americana duo-turned-shapeshifting musical collective for about a month now. Coincidentally, our awareness perfectly lines up with the release of Emezov, an otherworldly and ambitious album the Milwaukee outfit put out June 9. Using a folk-y foundation fashioned by singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Nate Bjorge and Joshua Miranda, the 13-song record seamlessly blends acoustic instruments and heartfelt vocal harmonies with sleek synth backing and futuristic production to forge something that’s admittedly kind of tough to pin down but very easy to enjoy. And if you feel innovative electro-indie-folk might not be your thing, Emezov also features a pretty damn solid cover of “Your Love” by The Outfield.
MATT’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE SONGS OF 2023 (SO FAR)
The Nile Club – “Forever Is A Word”
TYLER’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE SONGS OF 2023 (SO FAR)
NilexNile feat. Mick Jenkins – “Breakfast”
MATT’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2023 (SO FAR)
Danny Arcane – “You Don’t Know Me”
Resurrectionists – “The Ghost This Time”
TYLER’S FAVORITE MILWAUKEE MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2023 (SO FAR)
MATT’S FAVORITE SONG THAT CAME OUT IN LATE DECEMBER 2022 SO IT DIDN’T MAKE LAST YEAR’S LIST BUT IT SHOULD HAVE OF 2023 (SO FAR)
Late last year, Nathaniel Heuer resurrected his Name Hymn project with two songs featuring the unmistakable vocals of Mark Waldoch and (Heuer’s Hello Death bandmate) Marielle Allschwang. The first song, “Against The Wind,” feels like it could be an old Group Of The Altos song, though it’s the second song, “I Won’t Break,” that has been stuck in our heads since December.
TYLER’S FAVORITE EP THAT JUST CAME OUT A WEEK AGO BUT WILL VERY LIKELY WIND UP BEING ONE OF MY FAVORITE RELEASES OF 2023 (SO FAR)
We have little doubt Klassik’s brand new SummerSkool EP will find inclusion on the full Favorite Milwaukee Music list once December rolls around. It’s very good and it’s an encouraging continuation of the multifaceted artist’s ongoing creative evolution. However, we honestly haven’t had a chance to sit with it for long enough to let this July 4 release jump the line…yet. Early impressions: “Work2Do” is a standout song with a nice lyrical nod to Arrested Development, the EP as a whole manages to be experimental without being alienating, and Klassik has done it yet again.
MATT’S FAVORITE RUSTBELT COVER OF A PROMISE RING SONG OF 2023 (SO FAR)
RUSTBELT – “Nothing Feels Good”
What more do you need to know? It’s RUSTBELT (a.k.a. the Artist Formerly Known As Juiceboxxx) doing an electro- and Auto-Tune-drenched version of The Promise Ring’s classic 1997 title track “Nothing Feels Good.” It rules!
TYLER’S FAVORITE “FOUR-DIMENSIONAL TRIPLE DOUBLE ALBUM” THAT ALLOWS LISTENERS TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN ADVENTURE OF 2023 (SO FAR)
Nuisance’s SAND, STONE, GLASS features 19 songs that were fashioned exclusively with the virtual instruments created by Ryan Weber. However, each song has three different versions, with William Seidel’s delicate vocals serving as the only recurring through-line for each composition. Moreover, listeners are encouraged to play all three iterations of the albums simultaneously in order to hear a fourth version of the record. Confused? Fortunately, Nuisance saw fit to make a video explaining the strange album(s) in greater detail. And really, you don’t need to understand it to be captivated by it.
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