R&B artist Grey Genius has a new single out today. It’s about having something real and trustworthy with someone else; Genius sings about this person knowing her insides and knowing how she’s feeling at all times, so she’s got their back no matter what. She’s incredibly heartfelt and honest here; there’s an a cappella version of the song available as
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Metalcore band After Hour Animals released a new single and video today. Shot by Enterprise Films, the video features the band performing on an illuminated stage, complete with strobes and multicolored beams. The song is about overthinking, and how you can literally drive yourself insane from second-guessing what you do and say. It’s a powerfully relatable banger that tackles a
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Singer-songwriter CARLYLE, formerly of the rock and roll project Saebra & Carlyle, has his debut single out from an upcoming EP. It’s a heartbreak jam that howls with explosive emotion, finding CARLYLE singing about falling for somebody always ending up in getting hurt. He’s got a wicked guitar groove in spite of the pain-induced lyrics, so even though it sucks
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Power pop alternative rockers Man Random have their highly-anticipated new album out today. It’s marked heavily by existential dread, perpetual loneliness, and the terror of moving forward in this uncomfortable societal landscape. All of that is done – quite appropriately – to the tune of angsty and energetic rock that punches the fears down long enough for the band to
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Mid Coast hosted Volume 9 of their concert series at The Cooperage Wednesday evening and featured artists Jonathon McCombe, North Warren, Moonglow, and Phat Nerdz this time around. A crowd filled in and ate up each creative spectacle with enthusiasm. The cause chosen to fundraise for this month was AbolishMKE, who work towards prison abolition in Wisconsin. Jonathon McCombe is
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Adult contemporary hip hop artist Twan Mack has a new single and video out this week. The scene here finds Mack getting a tour of an art gallery featuring hip hop legends, eventually being handed over all of the artworks because he deserves to have them. The song is self-produced and features Mack bringing his usual onslaught of motley nomenclature,
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Experimental percussionist Dave Schoepke has a new single out this week. This piece is actually almost thirty years old; it was originally released on a cassette for a different project, but Schoepke revived it for inclusion on his upcoming EP. The song features vigorous drums and cymbals in addition to a sound effect created by scratching a microphone over the
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Country rockers Ryan Necci and the Buffalo Gospel have a new single out this week. It’s a heartfelt tune about being unable to change who you are. The realization hits you like a freight train, and all you can do is crawl into radical acceptance – self-reckoning, if you will. Many people are going through intense personal examinations right now,
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Ladybird is a new alternative country band on the block, and they’ve welcomed us with their debut EP. It’s four songs that each stick out their hand to help you through a rough time. “Miracle” is about having dreams never too far out to achieve while “End of the World” is a story about a young broken heart. Life is
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Electronic producer UNKNWN released a two-piece this week. Continuing his forest-themed saga, these songs are vibrantly delicate and carefully crafted. It’s very subtle dubstep – “chillhop” if you will – and gives the feel of hiding under curtains of flora in the deep woods. UNKNWN once again sits at the table laden with awestruck bass, placing you exactly in the
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Pop punks Honey Creek have a new single out today. It’s a little jam about touring around as a band in the Midwest, spending your whole summer sleeping on strangers’ floors and waking up to pissed-off texts from your girlfriend. It’s the life you chose yet you’re always left wanting more. The song has subliminal humor to it while remaining
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Metalcore band Designed After Nothing are out with their debut full-length album. As you can imagine, it’s a grim and tortured release, with the shrieks and growls and groans you’d expect from the depths of Hell. There isn’t much of a happy ending anywhere in sight; the band makes it known that judgment is upon us and there’s no escaping,
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Electronic pop artist HymnWho has his sophomore album out this week. Like his first record “Apophenia4000,” this thing is full of sonic experimentation, encompassing everything from 80’s-flavored synthpop to funk to hip hop. Through such elements, he touches on subject matter ranging from living for thrills “Money, Drugs, & Sex Appeal” to mourning friends who’ve passed away in “Wishes” featuring
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Electronic producer Cntrlla’s latest single feels like you’re entering a prehistoric-looking alien world. It’s not long before you run into hostile creatures, and so the chase is on. The track begins with a trip hop-type beat that evokes a mysterious sensation, but once the dubstep zaps enter, so does the adrenaline. Cntrlla has released a lot of creative and inventive
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Death metal band Anomaly are out with a new record – their first since 2015’s “Terms of the Saw Doctor” EP. It’s melodic, technical, and tinged with sci-fi terrors. The band brings brutal blast beats and thunderous growls that send them diving head-first into a dooming abyss, like they’re willingly leaping into a black hole in space. They recently said
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Hip hop/R&B artist Vincent Van Great and dark pop songstress Amanda Huff teamed up for a new album. There’s core themes of living mysteriously and seeking pleasure as an escape from the status quo. The two artists tag-team on lyrical synergy, singing about sexual tension in “Treats”, sensual romance in “Tease”, and transcendence into self-actualization in “God Mode” to name
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I’ve wanted to see Algiers for years now, having been following them since their 2015 debut album. They were originally coming to Cactus Club in April of last year but had to reschedule their tour twice before finally making it here this past Sunday. It ended being a relatively quiet night, with a crowd of 20 people give or take,
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Hip hop-producer duo RealityTV have an amazing new video out. A couple, played by Moses and Sierra Tonin, sit down to watch the cinematic masterpiece Spider-Man 3 by Sam Raimi. They’re left pissed by the ending so they decide to create their own Spider-Man 3. Slang Troubadour becomes Spiderman, but not just *any* Spiderman – Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman. He sets
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Singer-songwriter Alyssia Dominguez has a new single out this week. It’s an uplifting country-pop tune about falling hard for someone and feeling like you’re flying in the sky. It came out of nowhere for Dominguez but she welcomes the feeling; she sees endless possibilities for her and this person. It’s a crisp love song from Alyssia Dominguez; she’s got another
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Emo rockers Osseo are newcomers on the Milwaukee scene, and they’ve got their debut album out to show for it. There’s a lot of existential dread weaved into the music here, begging to know what in life is better off. “Cicadas (Reprise)” is about pitying someone, “Anders” seems to be about wondering if resilience is worth it, and “Lily” ponders
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A rambunctious, exciting night of loud rock music took place at Linneman’s in Riverwest Saturday night, drawing an enthusiastic crowd. Sets from Decatur, IL-based band Marble Teeth, Chicago’s Shoobie, and our own Social Cig and Diet Lite all went into a night of moshing, guitar-shredding, and cheer. Social Cig is the indie pop project of Parker Schultz. Currently he’s playing
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My one and only day of Summerfest was this past Friday, and thankfully the two acts I wanted to see this year were both on the same night. We got to the grounds right around 8PM and I was anxious that we’d miss the beginning of the first’s set, but luckily they stalled for fifteen minutes so everything worked out.
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Electronic producer Moonbow teamed up with vocalist GLNNA for a recent summer single. Uplifting like a sunrise, the song is about feeling complete with someone after feeling lost for so long. GLNNA compares such to drowning in the ocean and then miraculously being saved. It’s a song that conquers all odds and looks back at the storm it endured with
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Indie pop band Howard Grove dropped a new single this week. It’s an affectionate song about cherishing the time you’ve got with your loved ones while they’re still here. The lyrics reflect the comfort in loneliness because it protects you from abandonment or loss. Howard Grove touch on mortality and time with a waterfall of downtempo psychedelia in “Nebraska.”
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Jazz artist Jamie Breiwick released a new album of both original compositions and improvisations. Breiwick’s instrumentation here consists of trumpet, water trumpet, and finger cymbals. Enlisting Tim Ipsen on bass, the duo challenge the barriers between structural and formless expression. Every sound and movement is precise and intentional because each feels right in the moment; sometimes Breiwick plays his horn
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