Maximilian and the Reinhardt is the project of singer-songwriter Kevin Hill, who moved to Milwaukee in 2018 from Washington DC. His latest album came out in March, conceptualized during peak COVID times as a means of coping with the unrelenting sociopolitical chaos and despair, titled for Hill’s comfort in walking along Lake Michigan during the bleakness. Blending styles of progressive
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Hip hop artist and producer Randal B dropped a new album last month. It’s a collection of abstract cuts and beats that B has uploaded across various SD cards over the years, pieced together in a way that makes the project feel like a fleeting, fragmenting dreamscape. With psychedelic and phantasmal elements, Randal B delivers a deeply introspective installment with
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Unpleasant, the solo endeavor of Curbsitter vocalist Brain Rott, is out with a debut album. Incorporating bass and drum machine in a lo-fi aesthetic, Rott brings anarcho-punk energy with this tape, channeling furious attitudes about systemic oppression, working-class despair and survival in dystopian capitalism. The rough crackles and pops as well as obfuscated samples serve as ideal complement to the
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Want of Sin comprises vocalist Bliss Baubas, guitarists Mark Curda and Xeion Cramer, bassist Jordan Steimke, keyboardist Trisha Peterson and drummer Adam Troyer. Formed in 2019, they are an experimental black metal band who incorporate elements of post-rock and shoegaze. Peterson played her first show with Want of Sin at Last Rites on Saturday evening, which also featured a stacked
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“Bubble grunge” supergroup Breakup Tour recently dropped their second single. This peppy tune touches on being stuck within the walls of your brain, but then letting your guard down just to get it thrown back in your face. “All For Nothing” accomplishes a lot in its just-over-three-minute runtime; it has a bright, glistening melody that shifts around the halfway mark
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KELCH dropped her debut EP on 4/20. The emerging hip hop artist comes with fierce energy on this five-song project, talking her shit with bombastic hooks, nimble flow and rousing flexes. Whether she’s stirring the pot by provoking the haters or assuring that she’ll make short work of her competition, KELCH is powerful and uncompromising in her demeanor, enlisting MoCity
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Haunter released a new album last week. The progressive indie rockers bring 12 songs that they describe as about “introspection, self-improvement, and bumps along the way.” With their adept blend of dream pop, shoegaze and space rock, Haunter explore the everyday dichotomies between pervasive dissonance and little moments of fulfillment with “Mytharc”, incorporating surreal, often ominous imagery into vacillating themes
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MallBat released a new album a few weeks ago. With six tracks, the bedroom pop artist and producer brings a chromatic blast of sample-savvy electronica and emo-adjacent indie pop that prevalently features her vocals for the first time. The project is hyper and zealous at times while calm and glossy at others, showcasing MallBat’s proclivities to be simultaneously playful, mercurial
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Beauty Filter are a young new band to check out; originally from Johnsburg, IL and now based in Milwaukee, they just released a record in March. The band’s lo-fi rock style incorporates elements of shoegaze and dream pop, and each song here organically flows into the next, bringing lyrical imagery such as small-town disillusionment, infatuation and trying on smiles. Beauty
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Singer-songwriter Grayson’s latest single is shrouded in winter somber. She sings of a lover’s departure, with the song’s title being the last words she’d heard them say; yearning for their return, Grayson fears the day will never come. “See You In December” tearfully mourns a farewell with a minimalist piano melody and hauntingly poignant vocal performance.
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Christl Math released a new album in early April – his first new music since 2020. This batch of tunes incorporates all sorts of retro electronic niches ranging from synthpop to industrial to EBM. Christl Math’s “Fraktil Bleed” is a kaleidoscopic medley of danceable, glitchy and evocative melodies and rhythms. Check it out!
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Future Trash is the solo art and music project of Adam Wiesner. Originally from Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Wiesner spent a number of years in the Green Bay scene before moving down to Milwaukee in 2021. The project originated from a zine Wiesner created. “I went to UW-Green Bay for Art & Design and got really into making zines and stuff
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Awesome868962132 released a new tape earlier this month. The experimental producer brings 12 tracks where she incorporates a vast palette of samples and textures stylistically ranging from glitch, harsh noise, hip hop and dream pop. From cut to cut, “A” authentically leaps across her vivid imagination while not dwelling in any one space for too long, giving many angles of
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YMN has kept his 2024 moving with drop after drop, and this week saw him releasing more music. It’s a two-song EP that finds the artist in a state of anguish over a failed relationship. YMN organically blends pop, hip hop and R&B elements into stories of heartbreak and betrayal, keeping his composure the best one could as he navigates
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MT Twins recently dropped their first full-length project since 2021. “ME X TWIN” is a fresh return to form for the hip hop duo, showcasing the brothers’ exceptional interplay between verses and keen duality of amusing bars and meaning business. There’s an overarching theme here of staying away from brokeness at all costs (best summed up by the “Wakanda” bar
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Louie & the Flashbombs released a new record at the beginning of the month. Spanning 12 tracks, the longstanding power pop rockers brings the hook-heavy vitality, sparky melodies and frontman Louie Lucchesi’s colorfully narrative-driven lyrics that you know and love from the band. Touching on everything from time passing quickly to avoiding the drama of the day to how good
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Pop punk artist Not Jessie’s latest tune is about late night anxiety. With touches of emo and electronica, “3am” pops with jolts of explosive worry and woe while yearning for comfort and quietude. Check it out and get to know Not Jessie’s other hits as well!
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Oneohtrix Point Never made a stop in Chicago at the Metro on Tuesday evening as part of his “Again” tour. It was the artist’s first time performing in Chicago since 2019. Opening for OPN was Arushi Jain. Arushi Jain is an artist whose sound incorporates influences of Hindustani classical music and ancient raga into ambient electronic soundscapes. Originally from India
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Dance pop act Lauryl Sulfate + Her Ladies of Leisure dropped a new EP recently! It’s a mix of familiar material from the band in addition to some new cuts. There’s a radio edit of “Girls Cry All The Time” and Easy Bake remix of “Freefall” (both from The LOL’s stunning 2023 album “The Afterparty”), plus three fresh hits and
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Shawn Alan Hurd of the duo Hurd & Galante released a two-song solo EP at the beginning of the month. Marrying country, folk and rock in a cosmic Americana blend, Hurd carries rolling melodies and wailing harmonica to captivate the undesired bite of lonesomeness. “Roll Away The Stone” beckons to give oneself grace rather than get down in the dumps,
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Garage punks Bad Crime released a split record with Brooklyn-based Heavy Lag, out on Bloated Kat Records. The band’s half of the split brings five tunes of nimble rock and roll that gets up and goes. Bad Crime are a fresh and exciting force to be reckoned with, bringing all the bouncy riffs, jaunty hooks and rebellious attitude that will
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Veggas Pub in Riverwest hosted a fun evening of folk and singer-songwriter music on Saturday evening featuring artists Dead, Dead Swans and Wylie Jakobs along with band Pay the Devil closing. Dead, Dead Swans is the singer-songwriter project of John Swan. His style encompasses somber folk and alternative country driven by Swan’s powerful vocals. Having lived in Illinois for some
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Trinity Grace dropped a single at the end of March. This tune combines R&B and electropop sensibilities to convey immense joy, love and gratitude. Grace expresses unwavering trust in God to guide her along the right path, with faith allowing her to overcome fears of the past and ultimately be led to her soulmate. Check it out below and keep
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Dead, Dead Swans released a new album earlier this month. The ten-song album from the folk-country singer-songwriter was written in various places across the Midwest, giving it a well-traveled aura. There’s a beautiful drear to John Swan’s voice, and when it’s combined with the somber strum of banjo, mournful cry of harmonica and/or lamenting pulse of tambourine, his songs deliver
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Hey Muchacho recently released their first new music in seven years. This seven-song record from the Racine band is chock-full of fast-fired rock n’ roll guaranteed to electrify any room. With elements of punk and psychedelia weaved in, Hey Muchacho break a sweat with vigorous riffage and frantic vocal performances while giving themselves plenty of space to conjure synth-laden soundscapes
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