Our fat-free, dolphin-safe Milwaukee calendar is chock-full of things to do, but only a handful of events contained therein are worthy of the lofty honor of “Record Recommended” (patent pending). Here are our recommendations for the week of May 23-29, 2016.
Tuesday, May 24
The 1975 + Wolf Alice, The Japanese House @ The Rave
English rock outfit The 1975 is one of those mega-streamed blockbuster bands that could easily be called The Generation Gap. In your teens or twenties? Then you probably love these guys, or at least have an opinion of them. Thirty or older? Then the title of the group’s recent No. 1 album, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, tells you all you need to know.
Also: Rogue Wave + Hey Marseilles @ Turner Hall
Sam Moss + Lady Cannon, Grasping At Straws @ Riverwest Public House
Wednesday, May 25
Shantih Shantih (record release) + Future Punx, Midwest Beat @ Cactus Club
The fuzzed-out garage rockers of Shantih Shantih may currently call Atlanta, Georgia home, but that hasn’t stopped Milwaukee-based Dusty Medical Records from putting out their latest record, Winter In September. Brooklyn’s Future Punx and Milwaukee’s own Midwest Beat play in support.
Friday, May 27
Gloss Weekend: GGOOLLDD + Rio Turbo, ((ORB)), Soup Moat, Hello Death, D’Amato @ Cactus Club
Milwaukee is currently home to many DIY record labels, and one of the best is Gloss Records. Founded in February 2015 by Harrison Colby (NO/NO) and Joe Peterson (Rio Turbo, Platinum Boys), Gloss has spent the past year releasing (mostly) cassettes from groups like GGOOLLDD, Lorde Fredd33, Marielle Allschwang, Soul Low, D’Amato, (ORB), and Surgeons In Heat, as well as Colby and Peterson’s projects. Now, the small-run label is prepping to celebrate its first year in a big way with Gloss Weekend, a three-day blowout featuring sets from Gloss artists and more.
Rx Drugs + Trapper Schoepp @ Club Garibaldi
When we first checked in with Rx Drugs last October, the Milwaukee supergroup fronted by The Championship singer-guitarist Joe Crockett and featuring members of Dashboard Confessional, Hugh Bob And The Hustle, and Trapper Schoepp And The Shades was preparing for its first show. Since the band’s Tonic Tavern outset last autumn, only a select few shows have followed, and nary a release date for the project’s already-recorded debut full-length has been set. Now that you know what they sound like, see how they sound live in a stacked local show that also features Trapper Schoepp.
Also: Waveless + Gauss, Ravi/Lola @ Company Brewing
Saturday, May 28
Gloss Weekend: Soul Low + Lorde Fredd33, NO/NO, Piles, Iron Pizza, Marielle Allschwang, DJ Max Holiday @ Mad Planet
The Gloss Weekend action moves to Mad Planet for night two, and includes everything from the somber folk of Marielle Allschwang and the gloriously goopy goof-rock of Iron Pizza to the transcendent hip-hop of Lorde Fredd33. Speaking of Lorde Fredd33…
WebsterX + Lorde Fredd33, Mic Kellogg @ Miramar Theatre
Earlier this spring, WebsterX embarked on his “Lost Ones” headlining tour, which took the tireless rapper and company on a 17-day, 11-city jaunt through the Midwest. The tour’s penultimate show lands at Milwaukee’s Miramar Theatre tonight, and represents WebsterX’s first hometown show in roughly a year. Mic Kellogg and the very busy Lorde Fredd33 play in support.
Also: Bob Dylan 75th Birthday Tribute: Highway 61 @ Linneman’s
The Milk Carton Kids + Margaret Glaspy @ Pabst Theater
Caley Conway + Wavy V @ Circle-A
Sunday, May 29
Peace Thu Music: John Lennon Tribute @ Linneman’s
A followup to Saturday’s Bob Dylan birthday nod, Linneman’s John Lennon tribute will find dozens of local and regional acts paying tribute to the beloved Beatle, and raising money for the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in the process.
Also: Wavy V + Ruth B8r Ginsburg, Ravi/Lola @ Frank’s Power Plant