Music

October 10, 2014

Back in July, in our recounting of the strange story of Tim “The Rock And Roll Animal”’s quest to bring The Who to Milwaukee in 1982, we speculated that the legendary group would likely skip Milwaukee on its cu...

Eric & Magill announce album, release remixes by Nick Sanborn and Rupees

October 10, 2014

Though stationed in two separate continents for almost the entirety of its existence to this point, longtime Kenya/Brooklyn-based dream-pop duo Eric & Magill managed to get more accomplished with an ocean b...

Exclusive: Get pummeled by Volunteer’s four-song EP, Goner

October 9, 2014

In a time when the number of bands on planet Earth rivals the amount of water on planet Earth, it’s rare to find a “band’s band.” You know, a band that other bands respect, regardless of style or genre. Milwauk...

Put on your (orthopedic) dancing shoes for Scrimshaw’s “Hoopula” video

October 8, 2014

If there’s a more willfully weird and gleefully enjoyable Milwaukee band working today than Scrimshaw, we haven’t found it. For the past few years, the oddball trio of singer-guitarist Robert Thomas, singer-dru...

Exclusive: Chris Porterfield takes off mask in video for Field Report’s “Decision Day”

October 7, 2014

Field Report’s second album, Marigolden, sees its official release today on Partisan Records. It’s a stunner. From bittersweet road song “Home (Leave The Lights On)” and electronic-tinged “Wings,” to somber pia...

Tracklist: 10 especially ambitious Milwaukee music videos

October 6, 2014

// No modern band has done more with the music video medium than OK Go. With its genius use of things like treadmill choreography, Rube Goldberg-like mechanisms, paint, and other artsy accoutrements, the L....

The Suicide Machines were semi-operational at The Metal Grill

October 5, 2014

These days, a band can rarely be considered “broken up” for good. Even a member’s death doesn’t necessarily spell a project’s conclusion. Whether paid handsomely enough to return to the stage to sate nostalgic ...

Listen to the Sylvan Esso remix of Phox’s “Slow Motion”

October 2, 2014

Brooklyn-based label Partisan Records is home to some top-tier national talent (Eagulls, John Grant) as well as some top-tier local (or local-ish) talent, including Field Report, Sylvan Esso, and Phox. Those la...

Direct Hit! will be on Last Call With Carson Daly tonight

October 1, 2014

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: For a band that doesn’t get much local love, Direct Hit! enjoys a great deal of attention elsewhere. The latest case of DH! getting outward acknowledgement will come...

Welcome to October: Here’s what you’re doing this month

October 1, 2014

Isn’t it funny when people breathlessly tell you that fall is their favorite time of year, like it’s some sort of weird little personal quirk? It’s everybody’s favorite time of year, and if it isn’t, you’re cra...

Lorde punches above her weight at BMO Harris Pavilion

September 27, 2014

Ever since becoming a worldwide pop sensation at 16 with last year’s Pure Heroine, New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde has straddled the line between “aw-shucks” teenager and canny superstar-in-the-making. She’...

Aaron Freeman leaves Ween behind at Turner Hall

Cal Roach

September 26, 2014

One could almost look at Aaron Freeman in child-star terms. The erstwhile Gene Ween began making prank music with partner Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) in eighth grade, eventually scoring a novelty hit w...

Blackbird’s “From The Stage To The Booth” DJ series returns for second year

September 25, 2014

Last year, Blackbird Bar launched the unique "From The Stage To The Booth" DJ series with a simple concept: allow Milwaukee bands get behind the turntables every Friday night and play whatever the hell they wan...

Caught on tapes: Milwaukee’s place in Cassette Store Day

September 25, 2014

The vinyl resurgence is no secret. However, as audiophiles returned to the forgotten format in droves, most leapfrogged over another musical medium that stood squarely between wax and mp3s on the recorded music...

Herman Astro is breaking up

September 24, 2014

In a status posted to its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, established soulful Milwaukee alternative outfit Herman Astro announced it will be calling it quits. The seemingly amicable exodus comes as a result ...

Volcano Choir’s Repave tour will come to an end at Turner Hall this November

September 24, 2014

Has it only been a year since Volcano Choir’s explosive Repave was unleashed onto the world? While certainly of its time, there’s something ageless about the album, as if Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and his Collec...

Exclusive: Stream Grasping At Straws’ debut full-length

September 24, 2014

Riverwest is presently riding a wave of talented twenty-somethings who are pitching in oodles of enthusiasm, classical training, and a host of styles that are equally eclectic and inventive to forge an understa...

What to listen for at the 2014 Milwaukee Noise Fest

DJ Hostettler

September 24, 2014

Of all the musical genres forced to endure willfully ignorant “it all sounds the same to me” comments, one would assume that noise would be the one for which it’s tragically apt. Of course, anyone who actually ...

Ben Conrad puts care and collaboration in concert for MACC Fund benefit