1. Vampire Weekend -Â I was whining to a friend about the lousy Coachella lineup (this may be the first one I’ll miss in five years), and he said: “I have two words for you: Vampire Weekend.” So I looked them up and couldn’t stop listening to it. Shades of the Clash, some afro-beat influences, […]
January 17, 2008
You would think that the White Rabbits have a co-dependency problem — they have two singers, two drummers, and everyone in the six-piece band plays pretty much every instrument available onstage. “Yeah, we’re trying to score a second bassist as we speak,” said Greg Roberts, over the phone laughing. (He sings the catchy-as-hell “The Plot.”) […]
December 31, 2007
I live for lists. My friends and I make the best-of music lists every year for shits and giggles. I started writing this list in September, mostly because last year I didn’t have a top 10. It was more of a top 6, because I didn’t like as many albums as I thought I would. […]
November 23, 2007
This year, I said a prayer of thanks for two things: one, the glorious number of diverse acts coming through Milwaukee, and two, the great taste of my co-Blog Party writers. Milan Zori turned me on to Sharon Jones; Justin Shady introduced me to Nellie McKay. McKay — who was introduced on the TV show […]
November 21, 2007
When Slaraffenland, the Danish five-piece described as “Sun Ra meets Broken Social Scene” and “Animal Collective meets This Heat” stopped at the Cactus Club in October to perform with Collections of Colonies of Bees, we were transfixed. Their album “Private Cinema,” released in June, featured awesome artwork from Friends With You, and their live show […]
November 16, 2007
what Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings when 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 17 where Turner Hall Ballroom, 1034 N. 4th St. how much $15 Sharon Jones, along with the Dap Kings, has been credited with spearheading the funk-revival movement, what with kids getting down from Long Beach to Milwaukee to Toronto. Jones honed her chops […]
November 15, 2007
Brendon Small, creator of “Metalocalypse,” Dethklok and Home Movies, and writer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, among other things, has a lot of guitars. How many? “Thirteen. Twenty, if you include the acoustic ones,” he said. His favorite is the Black Gibson Explorer, which lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf plays on the show. If you’ve been […]
November 7, 2007
Our editorial assistant, Adam Lovinus, described Battles in MKE six months ago: “Funks out like Talking Heads on LSD, plus math-rock explorations and psychedelic texturing to gritty guitar funk” when they stopped at Stonefly last July. Back then, MKE theorized they were going to be the next big thing and Milwaukee audiences would be able […]
November 6, 2007
I wake up to Radio Milwaukee WYMS-FM (88.9) in the mornings; that’s what my alarm clock is set to. And while I enjoy most of the music they play, more than once I’ve floated out of my dreams hearing one song that really haunted me. I thought it was Amy Winehouse at first; it had […]
October 28, 2007
Last Monday I saw Polysics and Do Make Say Think perform on the same night. Polysics was opening the MySpace Music Tour at the Rave, and while there were reports of heads exploding at their live shows, I saw nothing of the sort. I did see and hear a lot of bad-assity going on. Wearing […]
January 28, 2008
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