April’s installment of “An Evening With…” brought The Bang Bang and Faux Fiction to The Tonic Tavern in Bay View, and both acts delivered with their sets. Openers Faux Fiction provided an exceptional fast-paced start to the night, and now you can check out their full set from the show below. Overall, this was a great night for a couple
Read moreAndrew Bird visited Milwaukee April 18, where he graced The Riverside Theater’s historic, grandiose stage. Fittingly, this was the warmest day of the year thus far, with uncharacteristically high temperatures in the upper 70s. I like to think he flew here for the spring, but maybe that’s a bit presumptuous. Bird is one of those artists that transcends age and
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Hartlepool, England is not necessarily a mecca for indie pop, but the occasional gem pops up, and that is definitely the case with Para Alta’s latest single, “I Get Mine”. With the combination of pure power rock and the finesse of melodic indie, this track is a bottle of emotion that’s ready to explode. With tracks like these, Para Alta
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We’re starting to get more of a glimpse of Indie-pop outfit Reyna, as their second single, “Ink On My Skin” was recently released. With a little bit more of a synth-heavy feel than their re-introduction, “Spill Your Colors”, the new track is addicting to say the least. As we all discover the sound of Reyna collectively, this seems to be
Read moreDublin, Ireland’s Radio Room have an intense video on their hands for “Nobody Told You”, the group’s latest single. The video is fitting, however, matching the equally intense track. With some powerful guitars and drums that cut like knives (see what we did there, with the video and all?), Radio Room are clearly ready to make a big splash globally.
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Tapebenders are quickly becoming one of the more recognizable names on the Milwaukee scene, and their most recent release, “Set Your Life On Fire”, is a solid demonstration of why the band is emerging. With an eclectic sound that best falls under the indie rock category, although at times drifts elsewhere, there is a lot of talent to be recognized
Read moreOh, Best Coast. You are so dreamy. I can’t quite remember when I first heard their music, but I think my sister described the California-raised indie pop duo as “a girl who smokes weed all day and loves her cat.” Cue angels singing. Of course, she was referring to Bethany Cosentino, the singer, songwriter and vocalist of Best Coast, who
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Bad Wig have introduced themselves as a lo-fi, high intensity group, and you really get the feel for the band’s style on their debut EP. The band formerly known as the Midwestern Charm carries on the influence of a former sound that feels uniquely, well, Midwestern. The mix of bright, poppy lyrics and fuzzy production make this feel homegrown, but
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Coming off their 8th studio album, Sonic Highways, Foo Fighters decided to give a little something back to the fans. The free five song EP features what we have all come to love and expect from Dave Grohl and the rest of the gang. Crunching hard rock riffs and melodic ballads, St. Cecilia feels like a real treat to those looking for their hard
Read moreRecently, Milwaukee indie group Tapebenders premiered their visuals for “Easy Eyes”. The video follows the journey of a Jamus Andrest illustrated stick figure, set to a smooth, brooding score from the band. The video is in preparation of Tapebenders’ album, “Set Your Life On Fire”, to be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, “Easy Eyes” makes for the
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Get the tracking ready on your VCR, because Soul Low are back with a new music video, this time for “Always Watchin’ Out” from their Sweet Pea EP. The video, in all of its lo-fi glory, features Cat Ries from NO/NO and Rio Turbo harassing the nerdy Soul boys. With some awesome visual work via By Matt Plain, Dan Black
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Milwaukee garage-pop outfit The Royal are back with a new single, “In My Sleep”. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the guys, but luckily for all of the Royalists out there, the new track is everything they’ve been waiting for. As always, you can expect to hear some ever-so-catchy lyrics, and a hook that you won’t be forgetting
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One of Milwaukee’s most buzzed about bands right now is GGOOLLDD, an energetic dose of electro-pop with a touch of glam rock. The group both recently announced and subsequently released their “For The Night” EP within the past week, and it definitely lives up to the hype as the follow up to their impressive “$tandard$” EP that helped create their
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There are few bands in Milwaukee that truly create the hysteria that The Living Statues do. There’s something to be said about the group of dapper indie rockers with a flair for all things retro. If you’ve seen them live, you’ve experienced the edgy pop-rock with the energy turned up a notch or two. Also, if you’ve seen them live,
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Milwaukee garage rockers The Rashita Joneses have come roaring onto the local music scene, figuratively and quite literally, with their new single “White Wave”. Since releasing a split cassette with Filter Free Rodeo, the group has been hard at work on their EP, “Bang Bang! Lasagna”. Set to come out on Tasty Tapes this November. If you’re ready to fully
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It just got way more punk in here. Michigan punks Braided Veins recently premiered “Unspeakable, Unthinkable” a fast-paced, jerky song that clocks in at barely over two minutes. Complete with gang vocals, pulsating pace, and feedback guitars, this is definitely the soundtrack for crushing everything in your immediate area. Drummer Jonathan Diener, formerly of The Swellers, called it “the most
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I’m a little bit late on this, but the new album from Wavves, “V”, is absolutely wonderful. I’m also normally more articulate about things like this, but you really, really need to listen to it. The album is 11 tracks of buzzy, bouncy indie that Wavves are known for. To say it’s addicting is a huge understatement. I’ve lost track
Read moreThe concept of Big Data performing live is nothing but intriguing. The band is the brainchild of producer Alan Wilkis, and the project received a large part of its success, including a number one spot on the Billboard Alternative Song chart, without ever really playing a show. Add to the fact that almost all of Big Data’s songs feature singers
Read moreMany times, bands with one of the breakout songs of the summer don’t necessarily amount to a great live show. After the success of a single, the EPs and albums that follow tend to be rush jobs, revolving around that radio-friendly hit, and subsequently that less than stellar material becomes the filler building up to the band playing their hit
Read moreThe US Cellular Connections Stage at Summerfest saw one of its most solid lineups of the festival’s duration on Friday night, with local standouts GGOOLLDD, followed by indie up and comers Atlas Genius, and culminating in England’s The Kooks. For all three sets, at least the front portion of the bleachers at the stage were filled, and all three got
Read moreThis week’s Milwaukee Artist of the Week is Midnight Reruns, a veteran Milwaukee band that combines classic rock songwriting and punk rock attitude. The band has been around for a few years, and always seem to bring their best on their releases. Their latest, the “Get Me Out” EP, is a short, fast, solid record. In a way, it almost
Read moreEven though I get flooded with submissions daily, sometimes I try to go out and see what the rest of the world has to offer musically. There’s a fun experiment I do, where I type in the name of a random country or territory on Bandcamp and see what comes up. That’s how I discovered this set of songs by
Read moreNorth London band Gengahr recently released a new song, “Heroine”, on Transgressive Records. This is definitely a name to watch. Their debut album, “A Dream Outside” comes out on June 15th, and the band will be joining Alt-J on their European tour this year. Look for them to break stateside in the near future, as well. In the meantime, check
Read moreIn the madness that is South By Southwest, and our corresponding coverage of it, we almost missed this new track from Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin (a band whose name we first heard in DirecTV’s SXSW coverage a few years ago). The new track, “Step Brother City”, is from their new album, “The High Country”, tentatively set to come
Read moreMilwaukee’s GGOLLDD have a full South By Southwest schedule, with seven shows in six days throughout Austin. Wednesday night’s agenda included the rooftop of Cheers Shot Bar, with a crowd so energetic that the tented area for the stage and sound board, as well as the bar, were shaking throughout their set. As you can see in the clip below,
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