Madison musicians seek the big time in New York Jessica Steinhoff on Friday 10/10/2008, (2) Recommendations There comes a time when young musicians consider making the leap to a larger venue. For some, it may be from Cafe Montmartre to the Majestic. For others, however, the destination is much larger: New York City and its promise of opportunity. >MoreMore Madison musicians find their way in the Big Apple Jessica Steinhoff on Friday 10/10/2008 1:00 pm, (2) Recommendations The challenges and opportunities faced by musicians gravitating to the promise of New York City and their experiences upon arriving in the metropolis is a universal but constantly renewing story. Here are five more Madisonians who have made their way east over the last few years, and now find themselves navigating this musical maelstrom through the varied tunes and scenes populating the city. >More
TOUR STOP
Locksley ride clean-cut image to success Rich Albertoni on Friday 10/10/2008, (1) Recommendation The members of Locksley have gotten used to answering cheesy questions about their Wisconsin roots. In a recent interview with the New York-based music website earfarm.com they were asked: Do you remember the first time you went to a dairy farm on a field trip? How about the first time you shoveled so much snow you thought you would die? >MoreNick Lowe grows older gracefully Charles Hughes on Friday 10/10/2008 Nick Lowe is nervous about returning to Madison. He stopped in the city regularly during his brief run of pop stardom, when he hit the Top 20 with "Cruel to Be Kind," toured with the famed Rockpile and shepherded the career of a young Elvis Costello. But he has not visited in many years. >More
THE BIN
Time Since Western A Sun Goes Down (self-released) Rich Albertoni on Friday 10/03/2008, (3) Recommendations Anytime you're feeling down/Just come to me/I'll get you out of town. Those words don't just open the seventh track of this debut album by ex-Pale Young Gentlemen bassist Andy Brawner. They describe the intent of all 10 songs. >MoreBlackout Jack What Happened Last Night (self-released) Rich Albertoni on Friday 10/03/2008, (12) Recommendations Judging from the overlap of credits on their albums' liner notes, local hard-rock bands the Treats, Droids Attack and Blackout Jack like to collaborate. But unlike the bluesy grunge-pop of the Treats and the punk influences of Droids Attack, Blackout Jack ventures into the cathartic drones of psychedelic hard rock. >More
An exit interview with Nate Palan of Hometown Sweethearts Jason Joyce on Tuesday 08/19/2008 5:44 pm, (1) Comment, (19) Recommendations Look, Madison, Nate Palan is moving to New York, okay? The sooner you come to grips with that fact, the better. That means no more Tuesday nights spent dancing as his celebrated cover band, Hometown Sweethearts, pumps out the best party set ever pulled together at the Crystal Corner. So instead of blubbering about it, let's celebrate the luck we've had to be in the same town as the Sweethears lo, these many years. >MoreForward Music Fest: Counting down Tom Laskin on Friday 08/15/2008, (1) Comment, (18) Recommendations With just four weeks to go before the inaugural Forward Music Festival takes place Sept. 19 and 20, Bessie Cherry, one of the fest's five co-organizers, admits that things are getting a little harried. "I tell the other guys it's kind of like the eighth month of being pregnant," she laughs during a mid-afternoon break from her day job at a local web design and consulting firm. "You're hot. You're tired. You're uncomfortable. And it hasn't happened yet!" >More
More Madison musicians find their way in the Big Apple Jessica Steinhoff on Friday 10/10/2008 1:00 pm, (2) Recommendations The challenges and opportunities faced by musicians gravitating to the promise of New York City and their experiences upon arriving in the metropolis is a universal but constantly renewing story. Here are five more Madisonians who have made their way east over the last few years, and now find themselves navigating this musical maelstrom through the varied tunes and scenes populating the city. >MoreMadTracks -- 'Star Explorer' by The Type Jessica Steinhoff on Thursday 10/09/2008 12:00 pm, (8) Recommendations The members of The Type haven't just listened to a lot of albums by Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney and X-Ray Spex, they've studied them. Sludgy, distorted guitar riffs, rebel yells and third-wave feminist overtones are all part of their repertoire -- and they work even though the riot grrl movement is more than 15 years old. >MoreMadTracks -- 'All Over Again' by Locksley Bob Koch on Wednesday 10/08/2008 12:00 pm, (9) Recommendations This has been a busy year so far for the Madison West grads who make up Locksley. First the Brooklyn-based band announced a lineup change, with Jordan Laz replacing Aaron Collins in March. Since then the group has coordinated a national re-release of their 2007 album Don't Make Me Wait, was selected as a MTV Artist of the Week, and is now just getting underway with its first headlining tour, branded as part of the network's Choose or Lose political awareness campaign. >MoreMad Tracks -- 'Lazy' by National Beekeepers Society Jessica Steinhoff on Tuesday 10/07/2008 12:00 pm, (50) Recommendations The term "indie" is tossed around so liberally these days that it's hard to know where it came from or what -- if anything -- it means. Old-school punk zines? Tegan and Sara? Urban Outfitters? Thankfully, the members of local four-piece National Beekeepers Society seem to have an idea of what where the indie aesthetic originates and what DIY looks like in an age of rampant corporate branding. >MoreVinyl Cave -- The Best of... by Joe Tex Bob Koch on Saturday 10/04/2008 12:00 pm, (3) Recommendations After almost a decade of recording, Joe Tex finally hit the big time at the end of 1964, when "Hold What You Got" became a huge hit on both the R&B and pop charts. That song provided a template that Tex returned to numerous times over the rest of his career, but it wasn't the first time he'd mixed his blend of deep soul balladry and gospel preaching. >More
MadTracks -- 'The Reverse' by the The Eric Tessmer Band at BAMFest 2007 Tom Laskin on Wednesday 06/25/2008 5:36 pm, (63) Recommendations Austin-based guitarist Eric Tessmer and his two-man rhythm section plainly caught a contact high last year at the Belleville American Music Festival, as heard in the new live compilation album BAM Fest 2007. The youthful bluesman and his mates race through this breathless recording of "The Reverse" like a careening, nitro-fueled funny car, blistering the beat of the self-penned roadhouse shuffle and shredding its bare bones melody along the way. >MoreMadTracks -- 'On Landmines' by Crane Your Swan Neck Tom Laskin on Thursday 06/19/2008 12:25 pm, (37) Recommendations Pale Young Gentlemen have already made Madison safe for the dramatic, cabaret-influenced indie-rock and gypsy punk that swamped Brooklyn several years back. Consequently, the materials that make up this song by Crane Your Swan Neck -- a melancholy accordion drawn from a 19th Century dancehall, a dirge-like Tom Waits-style beat, and an elastic-voiced swain pleading his case most pathetically as he rearranges the marbles in his mouth -- aren't going to surprise anyone hereabouts. But the quality of the writing, playing and particularly the arranging on this demo version of "On Landmines" might. >More
MUSIC
Jazz and jam reunite at the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest in Fitchburg Tea Krulos on Sunday 08/24/2008 10:21 am, (22) Recommendations The fifth annual Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest, held on Friday and Saturday at a farm in Fitchburg, felt more like a family picnic of talented jazz musicians than a festival. They played at Art in the Barn, with plastic chairs and bales of hay set up for seating. There were no aggressive sponsors, and the bathroom was located through the horse stall, next to a horse named Ringo. >More
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