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Death Blues: Cactus Club, 5/4/2013

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:08:09 -0700

The Alverno Death Blues shows last November were magnificent productions, but I have to confess, sheepishly, that in purely musical terms I found them lacking. The simplistic hypnotic drones didn’t contain enough dynamic to captivate me by themselves. I got the feeling that most people there had never heard music like that before, but I had. The unique overall experience and the sheer force of Jon Mueller's will bolstered the songs, and through that they became great. Stripped of the accoutrements, I wasn’t overly excited about seeing them played again by a three-piece band, but the chance to relive the Death Blues experience wasn’t something I wanted to pass up; it never completely left my consciousness.

Ultimate Pipedream McCartney Setlist

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:07:04 -0700

I used to concoct dream setlists for my favorite bands all the time; not sure why I stopped, but with Paul McCartney--i.e., the greatest artist in pop music history so far--playing Miller Park in July, I couldn’t help geeking out. This playlist does not necessarily support the outrageous claim I just made, but it does demonstrate that as of his latest album of original material, 2008’s Electric Arguments, he was still writing amazing songs completely different from anything he’d done before. I would’ve made a very different playlist if I really wanted to make a case for his total dominance throughout the past five decades, but you don’t get a full sense of the character without his cringe-inducing cheese. (Let’s assume that the author of “Silly Love Songs” is at peace with his sentimental tendencies.) McCartney has written quite a few awful songs, and stubbornly recorded them and played them live over and over, but nobody else ever hit 70 years of age still writing and performing pop music at such a high level. So, here’s what a live show made up of all my favorite McCartney songs would look like. Except I excluded “Oh! Darling” because God knows he couldn’t possibly sing that nowadays. Absurd, yes, and perhaps a BIT lengthy, but only four more songs than at Wrigley two years ago...

Psychic Ills, Föllakzoid, Outside: Quarters, 3/10/13

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:40:52 -0700

Look, they even have “psych” right in their name! Of course, it’s not just due to the Tame Impala buzz, but the Australian psych-rock purveyors are certainly at the forefront of a massive surge in the genre. Brooklyn record label Sacred Bones has been promoting various shades of post-punk and psych for years now, however, and it appears that the timing is perfect for two of the label’s prominent up-and-coming acts. The tour that stopped at Quarters Rock ‘N Roll Palace Sunday night featured New York’s Psychic Ills topping the bill, but they proved to be the least interesting band of the night.

Where my brain goes when I get impatient for Phish tourdates

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:31:35 -0800

Been listening to a lot of Phish lately.

Umphrey's McGee: Orpheum, 2/16/13

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:43:58 -0800

After 26 Umphrey’s McGee shows, I feel like I should be much better than I am at recognizing songs by name. At The Orpheum on Saturday they played plenty of heavy-hitters that I’ve seen live many times--in fact most of the songs they played I recognized--but the only ones I could name with any certainty were the covers. True, the repertoire is absurdly huge, but I realize it’s at least subconsciously intentional on my part; I only have room in my brain for so much useless information, and the Bands Whose Entire Repertoires I Have Memorized section is pretty full. Once I start an obsession like that, it never really ends; to commit to a Phish-like devotion to learning to recognize a similarly vast array of tunes would be detrimental to my ability to get anything practical done for months. At this point I’m more likely to recognize a UM song I don’t like than one I do, which is dumb. Also, I rarely listen to UM recordings; the pursuit strikes me as more academic than spiritual, not that I wouldn’t enjoy it but there are much higher priorities. There’s obviously something about Umphrey’s songs that limits how deeply I can connect with them. Which makes it all the more impressive on their part that I keep coming back.

R.I.P., CWM

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 08:54:12 -0800

I’m glad I’m not going to be at Cactus Club tonight. When a band I love announces four days in advance that its next show will be its last, and it’ll be an opening set for that Alan Sparhawk side project band [NOTHING AGAINST RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR], I (apparently) feel somewhat relieved that I already have tickets to a different show. It’s not even a band I like nearly as much as Celebrated Workingman, but it’s a good band that’s not about to end itself. What, with a fill-in bassist [NOTHING AGAINST SCOTT SCHOENBECK] and who knows what kind of intra-band drama at the root of the breakup, is the likelihood that tonight will be the best show Celebrated Workingman ever plays? Even if it is, I can’t live in that moment; it would only make the (let’s face it: not-so-)sudden demise of the band that much harder to take. It’s hard enough from a distance.

The Best Shows I Saw In 2012

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:04:09 -0800

When I started looking back on 2012, I definitely felt like it was amazing for records but not so amazing for live music. If that’s true, it’s only because every year is great for live music, and 2011 will always be tough to beat. And in terms of the Milwaukee scene, 2012 was easily the best year yet that I’ve been a part of, even if some of my favorite local bands (*cough cough ahem* CELEBRATED WORKINGMAN) virtually went into hiding. Many highlights from unexpected bands, and of course some reliable greatness from perennial faves, make up this year’s list. Read on for those highlights.

Swatty's Top 15 Albums of 2012

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:09:01 -0800

Twenty twelve has been a very busy year for me, musically. According to the database of my complete music collection, my 2012 query has revealed that I have purchased 90 new releases this year. This, as far as I know, has given me a greater amount of material to digest and filter through than any year prior. As such, I can only needlessly worry that I will be omitting something that will undoubtedly re-blow my mind at some later date. But as I recently discussed with a very close friend, these lists are constantly in a state of flux, and are at best a paragon of ephemerality. It is truly rare that we encounter those albums that have been impervious to the passing of time and place them permanently on the mantle of our reverence. This became a constant theme for me as I assembled this list, and while I am comfortable with the inclusions listed below, I can’t help but assume their order will most assuredly change. All that being said, here are my top 15 albums of 2012.

The Best Music Of 2012

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:31:06 -0800

I've finally finished, folks! As the final strains of your next-door neighbor's crappy demo tape fade out, I can now say I've heard every single record produced in 2012. Therefore, I can now present the definitive list of The Best Music Of 2012. Yes, I know you are dying to see how your personal opinion matches up with the truth; you shall now have your answers. I wish I could reveal how my own tastes line up with objective goodness, let you all in on what I'm a FAN of, an indulgence that is only permissible for music writers at this time of year; oh, to afford myself such a luxury! But what a disservice it would be to you, my dear readers! In the face of undeniable greatness, what is one man's opinion? I do welcome any incorrect arguments you may have concerning omissions; please submit them in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Tame Impala: LONERISM

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:55:47 -0800

My first car was a ’77 Camaro, and in the one year I drove it before its frame rusted to shreds I made a lot of memories. But my most legendary car, the one that became part of my identity more than any other, was the ’77 Impala I bought after that. It was indestructible, a beast of a vehicle, and it was my refuge and means of escape for several years. If I had my druthers, it would be summer right now, and I’d be spending a lot of time in that car, wasting ungodly amounts of gasoline driving around on country roads with the windows down with Lonerism cranked. There’s no telling if I could have appreciated it in 1994, what with all my Generation X angst/apathy or whatever we were supposed to be defined by, but in those days there was music expressing my mental state just as well as I ever could if not better, and since then that has rarely happened, but it did this year. Driving around the city with the windows up in the winter in a 2003 Camry just isn’t the same, but it’ll have to do.

Death Blues (No Time Like The Present)

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 04:39:28 -0800

Death Blues is as much about what you bring as a member of the audience as it is about taste or smell or dance or music. You are expected to have familiarized yourself with the concept somewhat beforehand: The time of your death is unknown, so make every moment count. You are expected to be silent throughout the event (hooray!); the result is that the performance is as much in your mind as on the stage. Through lengthy stretches of soundlessness, your thoughts are the show.

The "Difficult" Followup to "The Pop Breakthrough"

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:32:20 -0800

It’s a time-honored tradition, ever since The Beatles followed up Please Please Me with the experimental mindfuck of With The Beatles. Sometimes the motivation is strategic: fearing a loss of cred, the sudden superstars show they can still get weird. Come back, disenchanted fans who stood by us until we got famous! Sometimes, it’s pure iconoclasm, or just an attempt to provoke. Sometimes it’s laziness. Sometimes, I suppose, that’s just where the creative minds of the musicians happened to venture. This year, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, glitterati of the formerly freak-folk Brooklyn Empire (Yeah, I know Ariel Pink is an L.A. nutjob; he got famous thanks to discovery by AnCo and is now an honorary member of the family), pulled this classic maneuver all at once, perfectly timed to give music critics just enough time to let the challenging music sink in before their best-of list deadlines. If the music is good enough.

Police Teeth: POLICE TEETH

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 05:06:50 -0700

It probably doesn’t matter whether or not punk is dead; there’s still good, obnoxious music being made that will annoy your parents, or even you. Police Teeth, the new self-titled LP by this raucous Seattle band, shows definite potential for mainstream viability, but it’s still rooted firmly in the earsplitting sounds of the underground. A band that’s been around for a good six years or so, prolifically putting out records, that still sounds like a basement-show band certainly seems like punk rock; the songs are a little more sophisticated than on 2007’s Jazz Records For Sale, but overall the formula has been in place the whole time.

Fanfare Ciocarlia: City Winery (Chicago), 9/25/12

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:42:23 -0700

City Winery: not the kind of place I'd expect to see...a show, at all. My initial fear was that they'd telll me I couldn't come in dressed like THAT, but it is 2012 after all. This is the kind of place where you pay twelve bucks for a half-ounce of duck tacos, Chicago's only Urban Winery, as our MC proudly announced; they'd just had umpteen tons of pinot grapes shipped in and the first vintage was underway. Fortunately I'd scarfed down a six-dollar footlong en route and they had bottles of Edmund Fitzgerald cheaper than Miller Lites at the Metro, so everything was coming up Milhouse so far.

Nervous Curtains: FAKE INFINITY

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:48:23 -0700

You can anticipate somewhat of a harrowing experience just by glancing at the song titles of Nervous Curtains’ new LP Fake Infinity, and there’s a not-quite-campy slasher-flick aura pervading the Dallas post-punk band’s music. “Moody Photos”, “The Crooked Telepathic”, “Come Around Viral”, “Something Sinister”, etc.; not exactly happy music, right? But there are rare moments on this album come when the creepy synths rise up to support a positive emotional release, just to keep you guessing. The production is very stark and minimal, relying on bare, bristling instrumentation to set the mood, and without ever overwhelming the senses with overdubs and reverb, the songs are freaky enough and the playing powerful enough to land a few stabs into the psyche.

Katatonia: Bottom Lounge, 9/17/12

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:12:23 -0700

The original Katatonia formula listed genuine depression and misanthropy as its first two ingredients. Evolution into a powerful, confident band that emanates gratitude to its small clusters of diehards probably still smarts like a betrayal to the most gothic of the original fans. Jonas Renkse no longer lists his relationship status as “dead to love”, and an increasing percentage of the songs he writes could conceivably be played on mainstream FM radio. You might expect that the lure of success would devastate all possible integrity, except for the indisputable evidence of Katatonia’s live show: with each successive U.S. tour at least, the band gets better and better, even if the songs don’t.

Do 414 Anniversary Party

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:04:29 -0700

Confession: I don’t have any opinion about Do 414. I know its tagline is “What to do in Milwaukee”, so it’s probably not geared towards people who make it their business to know what to do in Milwaukee already. It might even be a competitor of mine; I don’t really know. It was really nice of them to throw this little anniversary party at Mad Planet on Saturday night, though. It featured free music, a little bit of free Sprecher Amber, and a very pleasant setting for whatever folks happened to be feeling like doing. I would definitely have bestowed the “What to do” stamp on it.

Phish: Chaifetz Arena, 8/28/12

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:16:49 -0700

As the saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It may be one of the dumbest clichés ever coined, especially in considering Phish; we go see the same band night after night, and the results are drastically different each time, which is what we expect, so are we crazy? What about the ones who drive 400 miles in the middle of the week to see one show in a dinky, generic college arena, only to drive home the next day? These otherwise seemingly sensible people would only do such a thing if they saw it as a legitimately low-risk endeavor, probably. In my case, the question to ask is this: How could Phish make a relatively dogshit assortment of tunes like the one they played at the Chaifetz Arena, featuring not a single song I’d ever put on my dream setlist, worth all that time and dough and effort? The answer is simple: by being Phish, totally unpredictable, just like we like ‘em.

Anathema: WEATHER SYSTEMS

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:05:12 -0700

Giving the Cavanagh brothers as much leeway as possible, their last batch of songs (2010’s interminably-delayed We’re Here Because We’re Here) was one of the weakest of their career. Even if you dig the relentless positivity, you’ve got to admit that cliché lyrics and tirelessly homogenous riffage got the better of that album at times. It also suffered purely due to anticipation; Anathema was on a hot streak up to and including 2003’s A Natural Disaster, and then they were suddenly mired in non-music-related problems for years, releasing a half-finished track here and a classics-rehashed album there, but no actual new album for seven years. It felt exhaustively pored-over, a band trying really hard to Make A Good Album. Now, in less than two years, Weather Systems, and a band sounding effortlessly like itself.

Lotus Plaza: SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 07:35:43 -0700

If chillwave is a thing, then Lotus Plaza is chillrock. Doesn’t have that same ring to it, does it? That’s because unlike chillwave, it’s actually an apt verbal representation of the musical style it describes. Taken at face value, this ugly new term would seem to denote “boring”, wouldn’t it? You know, like how Deerhunter might sound without Bradford Cox’s songs? Lockett Pundt is incredibly talented, and Spooky Action At A Distance is certainly an accomplishment, but the shadow of Pundt's more famous band looms inescapably over his solo project.

Suckers: CANDY SALAD

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:23:13 -0700

File under: bad first impressions, not as an insult but because Candy Salad is another example of something that’s easy to pick apart intellectually on first listen when you’ve been bombarded with INDIE ROCK for two decades, but then eventually some of the songs seep into your head and reveal themselves as worthwhile nuggets no matter how typical the overall sound is. In the end, rock and roll is rock and roll, and maybe it’s harder to make something enduring and endearing utilizing a sound that’s been done to death, but it can be done. We live in a world where first impressions are too often all you allow yourself to take in. When it comes to music, at least, you can’t trust ‘em.

Lower Dens: NOOTROPICS

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:51:51 -0700

It’s funny to think that post-punk is an ongoing genre, as if in 2012 something could still be designated as such yet actually be stylistically the same as the early 80s origin of the term, as if there were still punk to be reacting to. Lower Dens are certainly very different from PiL or Gang Of Four, but they are unmistakably post-punk. Ya, the stuff is making a comeback along with all the other 80s stuff, but it’s hard to pin a retro tag on Nootropics because it combines shoegaze and markedly modern beats into its expansive mixture. The album is a roller coaster of emotions with an emphasis on uncertainty, but as your heart skips a beat or two you may experience brief moments of clarity.

Hollows: VULTURE

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:22:11 -0700

On one hand, Chicago's Hollows seem like a novel twist on the current garage-pop trend, adding syrupy, old-timey girl-group harmonies and a bit of rockabilly twang. They're retro, but not in a gimmicky way; this style is legitimate in today's climate as long as you've got the songs to back it up. In fact, if another band hadn’t already pulled this off a couple years ago with way, way better songs and far more pizzazz and vigor, I might enjoy Vulture quite a bit. But another band has, so I don’t.

Royal Baths: BETTER LUCK NEXT LIFE

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:35:35 -0700

Nice work, Royal Baths: You’ve made a record that vomits all its influences onto its sleeve, but is uniquely awesome. Normally a litany of obvious antecedents denotes unoriginality, but in this case they’re all spices in a fresh recipe. The basis for the album is Velvet Underground through and through, but less purely and oppressively as The Black Angels or My Bloody Valentine. It’s equal parts black humor and genuinely unsettling weirdness, sometimes corny but never empty, drenched judiciously in reverb, but crisp and focused on songcraft above all.

Bear In Heaven: I LOVE YOU, IT'S COOL

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:06:33 -0700

This album could be straight out of the 80s, with its Jan-Hammer-Miami-Vice synths washing over everything (sometimes warm, sometimes icy), blatantly inorganic drum machine momentum and Jon Philpot’s half-smirky, half-earnest, cavernous vocals (that often sound uncannily like those of Jaill’s Vincent Kircher, who is admittedly not an 80s artist). Like a lot of the electronic pop coming out of New York these days, it’s got that empty mournfulness of saccharine European bubblegum from twenty-plus years ago (Pet Shop Boys, Double), but misses out on the subtleties in favor of an omnipresent drone, afraid that a moment of silence or a clear, singular instrument will cause the modern listener to tune out. What Bear In Heaven fills that space with, though, is a relentlessly engaging barrage of shimmering, sometimes even noisy moodpop that demands your full attention.

Summerfest Day 8

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:14:43 -0700

Thursday night was earnest white guy night at Summerfest, but before I get to the part with the swooning teenage girls, let’s talk about swooning Gen-X punk rock dudes who grabbed the opportunity to get nostalgic with The Smoking Popes. They never tried to be the fastest, most aggressive band in the scene, leaving the obnoxious whiny vocals to Screeching Weasel in favor of clean, melodic singing and some of the catchiest pop music that could still be considered at all punk. Now approaching a decade into their reunion, the Popes still don’t sound much different than they did in 1994; maybe a bit slower but still punchy, and freed from the tired notion of “sellout,” they can mash up a “Do You Feel Like We Do” jam with Jawbreaker’s “Do You Still Hate Me” and not worry about repercussions.

Phish: Alpine Valley, 7/1/12

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:02:55 -0700

“Soul Shakedown Party” doesn’t pop up randomly at just any show. Its prior three appearances came in the superb Denver three-nighter last Labor Day weekend, Super Ball IX and the ’09 New Year’s run. Whether or not that signifies anything to Phish, it felt to some like a ringing acknowledgement of the excellence of the 2012 Corn Run. Some folks even caught a way-out-there tease preceding the Bob Marley classic--was that “Chalk Dust Torture Reprise”??? Still, it was Sunday; it also might’ve been a typically laid-back start to what would ultimately be a mellow, family-friendly show, except it wasn’t. In every respect, Phish played at least as well Sunday night as Phish 3.0 has ever played.

Phish: Alpine Valley, 6/30/12

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 07:30:43 -0700

Miraculously, as far as I know, we all escaped Deer Creek with our lives, but it was dicey for a while there as our tents were pelted with horizontal rain and lit almost constantly by lightning for a good hour or so early Saturday morning. But somehow the drive to Wisconsin seemed to fly by; past Corn Runs had been bogged down by merciless traffic jams and/or lack of air conditioning, making this the smoothest Creek-to-Alpine Valley trip I’ve ever been on. Alpine lots were low key in the still-oppressive heat, but the place seemed pretty full as Phish came onstage and we all wondered if this would be the show where they finally have an off night.

Remembering MCA And A Friday Night In MKE

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:37:56 -0700

Friday was a weird day. The death of Adam Yauch weighed it down considerably. Pretty tough to get through a Gen-X life without feeling the impact of the Beastie Boys, and with Yauch out of commission for some time and the band in general having kept a pretty low profile for most of the past decade or so, it had been easy to forget how influential they were on our world. Licensed To Ill was the soundtrack to my fifth grade year, which may have been life-altering in imperceptible ways (certainly the most perfect fifth-grader fantasy record ever, if nothing else), but the real game-changer was seeing the band at Lollapalooza in 1994. I didn’t even know they played instruments until that day. It was like seeing five bands at once, and the energy they projected from the stage made pretty much every show I’d seen up to that point (and the Smashing Pumpkins set that followed) seem boring as hell. Suddenly I realized it was okay for an alternakid to dig hip hop and R&B and jazz too, and life would never be the same.

Juniper Tar: Turner Hall Ballroom, 4/27/12

Tue, 01 May 2012 03:54:05 -0700

Ever since Wilco went indie rock, the whole folk rock trend seems to have lost its way. Hell, even My Morning Jacket went disco, and if all we’re left with is Fleet Foxes in the national picture, God help us. (I’m not even going to get started on Bon Iver.) But freed from the pressures of keeping up with a widespread scene, Milwaukee has kept the flame alive all this time, to the point where now it’s the dominant unifying sound of Brewtown. Go figure; this is where the rural and the urban meet, a cultural melting pot with plenty of room to breathe. It may be a sad thought, but with the passing of Levon Helm, there could well be a massive resurgence in roots music, but around these parts it’s been full steam ahead all along. 2012 will purportedly see new releases from The Championship and Field Report (start getting excited now), and Friday night, The First Waltz at Turner Hall Ballroom (naturally!), was in honor of Juniper Tar’s exceptional new album Since Before. I don’t care if you’re sick of hearing about these guys. They rule.

"The First Waltz" Residency, Night 4

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:10:02 -0700

Was it just me, or were fewer people gabbing during last night’s residency finale? Even though it was, appropriately, the most celebratory-feeling show of the run, people seemed to be paying attention. Maybe it was because most of the curious-onlookers and make-the-scene-sters had been filtered out and the room was full of people who wanted to be there and loved the music. Or maybe it was just really loud, and I was close to the stage. Whatever the case: gratitude.

MKE Day at Club Garibaldi

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:16:48 -0700

I realize that Milwaukee Day is barely three years old, but checking my records, I’m certain that 2012 was the best one yet, at least in terms of live music. You know it was a good night when you think about it the next day and you can’t decide which of three bands was the best. Also, when the back of your neck kills with the slightest movement of your head. Not a typical result from a Sat. Nite Duets show, but this was no ordinary 4/14.

"The First Waltz" Residency, Nights 2 & 3

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:07:04 -0700

Last week I was either too busy or too lazy (I forget which) to do a recap of night two of this residency that’s racing to its conclusion all too quickly, and it wouldn’t be fair to skip a week. So, let this be your official welcome to the new and improved You-Phoria, thanks to the dedicated work of the inventor and namesake of this site (and birthday boy)! Act now, limited-time, Milwaukee Day offer: TWO Juniper Tar Hotel Foster “The First Waltz” Residency reviews for the price of one! (Actually, it’ll be up here forever; no need to rush.)

School Of Seven Bells: GHOSTORY

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:28:15 -0700

If I say “This sounds straight out of the 80s” every time it does, that will get tiresome, right? I’d like to just put a disclaimer at the top of the site: Unless otherwise noted, every album I review sounds like it was made in the 80s. But it would be more annoying to note the exceptions, I think; starting the occasional review with Note: This does not sound like the 80s is obviously a really stupid idea. So I’ll just continue to belabor the point, because not doing so would be a disservice to artists who do sound fresh and purely modern. Besides, retro does not necessarily equal shitty.

"The First Waltz" Residency, Night 1

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:57:51 -0700

Hotel Foster . Finally, a worthy successor to The Globe East. Wednesday night was my first venture into the building since Today Is The Day played in it, October 2002. It was kind of like going into Shank Hall for the first time after its renovation, except it didn’t feel sucky. You don’t get many chances in life for a sudden memory dump like this, and it was weird but invigorating envisioning the dingy black environs from back in the day and remembering all the great shows. Foster is nothing like The Globe, really, but of course it shouldn’t be. It’s a symbol of the new Milwaukee, the one that demands a modicum of style and a substantial selection of Wisconsin beers and fierce support of this potential golden age for local music.

Fiona Apple: Lincoln Hall, 3/18/12

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:58:01 -0700

It’s probably to Fiona Apple’s benefit that the press paints her as a fragile, volatile headcase; this way, her fans are guaranteed to feel fortunate that she shows up at all to her rare concert appearances. Last night’s Lincoln Hall show was one of only eight scheduled dates on her current tour, and the tour is her first in five years. Fans eager for a sneak preview of her forthcoming album have been rewarded with precious YouTube footage from her SXSW appearance, and these two nights in Chicago (she plays tonight also) are Apple’s only other non-East coast dates at this point. So the mood was noticeably reverent yet equally jubilant as the venue filled up with mostly hardcore fans.

The You-Phoria Guide To Festivals: 2012

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:26:23 -0700

Festivals: they’re not for the jaded, infirm or impatient, and now that they’re everywhere all the time, it’s pretty hip to dismiss them as tiresome and unwieldy, and those criticisms are certainly true. You either have to be one of those folks who delights in the festival atmosphere and sense of community, or you have to be willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of hours and hours of music, sweet music. If you’re one of these types or think you might be, you owe it to yourself to check out the phenomenon, ‘cause if you’re anything like me you could wind up making some of your favorite memories ever at these things. Read on for a rundown on the most notable parties of spring/summer 2012. (Note: We’re Milwaukeeans here at You-Phoria, so adjust travel considerations accordingly.)

Hot Tuna: Pabst Theater, 3/11/12

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:39:27 -0700

As rock stars other than Paul McCartney age into their sixties, they tend to tone things down, stop releasing albums, mellow out and, if they’re still into playing live, strip down the performance to basically just sitting on a stool playing an acoustic guitar. This approach tends to work well if you’re, say, Ray Davies or Nick Lowe, and you have all these perfect pop songs that don’t need any additives to be amazing. It’s not so easy when you’re Hot Tuna. These guys are better known for their cover tunes, long jams and other bands than their songwriting. In case the names of founding members Jorma Kaukonen (guitar/vocals) and Jack Casady (bass) don’t ring a bell: they were also founding members of Jefferson Airplane. Yeah, they were at Woodstock? Rrrrright, let’s see…Remember the scene in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas when Benicio del Toro is in the bathtub begging Johnny Depp to throw the tape recorder in when “White Rabbit” peaks? No? *Sigh* Well, there’s always Wikipedia.

Altos: Record Release Party, Stonefly Brewing Company, 3/10/12

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:54:31 -0700

We humans are selfish creatures. We like what we like, whether it’s what excites us or what we’ve become accustomed to. I don’t really like Stonefly--the beer they make there, the food, the ambiance (aside from some pretty sweet paintings on the wall in the back corner). I’m a spoiled Milwaukee snob, and I’ve become accustomed to the beer and food that other places make, and the atmosphere of holes in the wall I’ve crawled into and out of more often. I hadn’t even been in Stonefly after dark since it was called Onopa except to use their ATM a couple of times. So I thought it was an odd choice for Altos’ record release party, but I’m sure they had their reasons, and as almost any music freak can say, I’ve seen some of my favorite shows in bad venues; it’s the music that matters.

Atlas Sound: Lincoln Hall, 3/3/12

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:46:09 -0800

For a certain sector of the public, Bradford Cox is already untouchable; the only question is whether he’ll experience being a legend in his own time or if history will declare it later. Exhibit A would be the crowd at Lincoln Hall Saturday night, a sold-out but not overcrowded show, featuring lots of people (including the headliner) drinking lots of alcohol. But during the quiet portions of Cox’s set, you did not hear a single person gabbing. Chalk this up also to a spellbinding performance by the man himself; whether out of respect or awe, everyone in the room was struck dumb.

The Promise Ring: Turner Hall Ballroom, 2/24/12

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:29:50 -0800

Confession of a bad Milwaukeean: I never saw The Promise Ring during its original run. I was in town, I was aware of the band, I was hanging out with people who went to Promise Ring shows. But I hated emo. I thought emo had arrived to kill off punk rock and make my lifestyle invalid. Never mind that Davey von Bohlen was writing lyrics that could’ve made me feel better during a very troubled time, describing my mindset far more accurately than punk ever could. Never mind that I was supposed to be this open-minded kid who went to Metalfest one weekend and Phish the next. Punk was sacred, and emo was sacrilege. Maybe emo did end up killing punk after all; I’m too far removed now to be the judge. But I do know that what kids call emo these days is a far cry from what Promise Ring cranked out on Friday night at Turner Hall.

Dave Grohl And Computers

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:52:28 -0800

I know, I know, I’m always writing about things that are so last Monday. Try as I might, I suck at being hasty. Too often when I make an effort to be timely and clever, I end up looking like an idiot. Things take forever to sink into my system and even longer for me to vomit back out as pieces of my own experience. So I saw all the Facebook posts about Dave Grohl’s Grammy speech and was pretty sure I had the gist of it without even watching it thanks to the commentary of friends and acquaintances. I finally watched it yesterday, and as it turns out, I guessed right: it’s at once a painful illustration of Dave’s oblivious rock star cloud of self-promoting smugness and a valid, possibly even heartfelt plea for human passion and physical interaction. You know, the one that’s been a perennial rallying cry ever since the industrial revolution? Don’t let technology rob us of our hearts! I suppose at some point a few hominids believed that the inclined plane would be the downfall of society.

The Best Albums Of 2011

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:51:21 -0800

I confess: in agonizing over end-of-year pieces, the idea of greatness does enter into the equation, as opposed to just what I liked or listened to most this year. Yes, it’s all subjective anyway, but it gets tiresome listening to music critics year after year mock their contemporaries for trying to make a statement beyond “I enjoyed this”, as if he or she is the first unpretentious writer to take that tack. The designation of Album Of The Year ought to carry weight, whether you’re The Academy or some guy on Facebook; it shouldn’t just be the most-tallied record on your last.fm chart. And maybe I only say that because I know I’m going to be listening to several of these albums a lot in the coming months and years yet, and I know my appreciation for them will change so much that using “like” as the basis for a list makes it pointlessly transitory, possibly even inherently invalid, whereas considering greatness, trying (if in vain) to hypothesize an album’s impact, or even what I think its impact should be, makes the exercise more meaningful.

Then again, judging by the declining market value of music reviews that exceed 140 characters, perhaps this is an exercise in vanity only. Either way, regardless of greatness, my whole point is to get anybody who reads this to check out one or more of these albums that he or she hasn’t heard before, or look at them in a new light and revisit them. So here’s what I really liked an awful lot in 2011.

My Favorite Shows Of 2011

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:40:41 -0800

If I have any perennial list-readers here, most of them probably sighed preemptively as they imagined what would top my list this year, and they’re all correct: U2 (really impossible to choose between the two shows I saw), Phish (night one at UIC being the best of the seven), Secret Chiefs 3 at the Empty Bottle, Animal Collective at Pitchfork, and Paul McCartney at Wrigley Field. Oops, ya got me: I have favorite bands. I know music critics aren't supposed to reveal those, but there's no sense keeping it a secret. But rather than blather on about them yet again, it’s probably more productive for me to mention the top ten non-my-favorite-band shows of the year. So here goes. (To keep it interesting, I’m going to gloss over other obvious big names (Wilco, Pearl Jam, Primus, STS9), since they’ve all been covered plenty.)

Wilco: Riverside Theater, 12/9/11

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:54:35 -0800

How was the Wilco show last Friday, everyone’s wondering? It was really, really good. But you knew that already, right? Pretty rare that the band plays a less-than-great show these days. In its aftermath, I’ve been pondering what the hell to write about it that would be different from what I’ve written about the other times I've seen Wilco. In fact, what was different about it? Yeah, they played a bunch of songs from The Whole Love, obviously, but that can’t be it. The real question is: was it better or worse than the other Wilco shows I’ve seen?

Anthrax/Testament: The Rave, 11/19

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:58:10 -0800

It’s not hard to understand why thrash keeps getting “revived”: the best of it, i.e. Testament and Anthrax, doesn’t get old. The problem is that most revival acts are actually a cut below tribute bands--dumbed-down imitations of the real thing but without the killer songs. While the template remains vibrant as ever, it has been done to perfection with little room for evolution. Or, if there is room, nobody’s figured out yet how to make it happen (The Black Album doesn’t count). So the best you’re going to get in a live thrash show happened at the Rave last Saturday, unfortunately.

Seizure Chicken Fall Festival (Night One)

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:33:31 -0800

The City Of Festivals kicked it up a notch this year, particularly on the local music front. Not only did we have a bigger-than-ever WMSE Radio Summer Camp, we’ve got Riverwest Fest coming up in a few weeks, and last weekend was the Seizure Chicken Fall Festival, whose title you really shouldn’t be scratching your head about if you live in Milwaukee. The local blog certainly does enough for the scene to warrant a two-night celebration, and this one was as eclectic as the musical tastes of the folks who write its content.

Mastodon: THE HUNTER

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:31:01 -0800

Clearly (mercifully?), everyone has blocked nü-metal from memory, like a teenage car crash or any other traumatic experience. How else can we explain the classification of The Hunter as “stoner” or “progressive”? Should we also rewrite history so that Sevendust and Puddle Of Mudd and Godsmack are actually “sludge metal”?

Wilco: THE WHOLE LOVE

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:05:27 -0800

It’s a hard road, becoming an experimental rock band: once you go there, you can never go back. You try, you make an unpretentiously catchy pop record, and critics and fans will desert you. “Not strange enough!” they’ll cry. So, ever since Wilco made Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and its follow-up, A Ghost Is Born, which featured a ten-minute noise barrage that most people at the time decried as impenetrable and pointless, the band has farmed increasingly familiar, folky, radio-friendly territory, orchestrating its own critical downslide. The gutsiest thing Wilco could’ve done in 2011 is release another slick album of ballads and shimmering pop-rockers. Instead, Jeff Tweedy and company took the safe route with The Whole Love and got a little bit weird again.

Loyal Divide: BODICE RIPPER

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:52:35 -0700

Once upon a time, there was a band called Lake Trout, and it was one of the best bands in the world, blending elements of jazz, electronica, punk and experimental indie rock into a powerful and ever-evolving stew of sound. Unfortunately, that band never hit it big, and its members evidently tired of the lack of recognition and moved on to other things. Let’s hope Loyal Divide doesn’t suffer a similar fate, because it’s the only other band I’ve come across that scratches a similar itch, as evidenced both by its live show and its new album, Bodice Ripper.