Buy local music

Here are ways to support your local musicians online while stages are dark

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Even though we can’t go to live concerts right now, it’s easier than ever to find and listen to local music online. It’s rare for recent releases to not be available for purchase digitally somewhere, and many still can be claimed via the mail in good old fashioned physical media form, too.

And don’t forget our local record stores; as of this writing B-Side remained open (with shorter hours), while MadCity Music and Strictly Discs are both offering mail order or local pickup options currently.

Here is an alphabetical selection of notable recent (and upcoming) releases to get you started. Note, today (March 20) Bandcamp is waiving fees so all revenues go to the artists.

Omniphobic, Asumaya (pictured above). It’s hard to beat the live experience of an Asumaya show, at which Luke Bassuener builds his multi-layered songs live with the aid of a looper pedal and some amazing four-limbed dexterity. Just hearing the music without the visual aspect makes for a hypnotic experience, drawing the listener inexorably in to Bassuener’s polyrhythmic melodies. Originally released digitally in 2018, an LP version also emerged in 2019, available via So Say We All Records; they also released the LP of earlier Asumaya album The Euphemist. — Bob Koch

Blood Moon, Tony Barba. Reed player Barba’s new album features 10 original modern jazz compositions, featuring a quartet also including guitarist Matt Gold, bassist John Christensen, and drummer Devin Drobka. The title track (available on the Shifting Paradigm label’s Bandcamp ahead of the release date) is a propulsive number with melodic soloing by Barba (on tenor sax) and Gold. The album release party on April 3 is postponed, but the album will be available online March 27. — zBob Koch

Basement Tapes 1975 and Unreleased Album, The Beans. Madison guitarist-songwriter Richard Wiegel (of The Midwesterners) mined his archives for a trove of recordings by a local band that never received its due in recorded form before now. Along with Wiegel, The Beans featured three members from the then-recently broken up Tayles, including legendary guitarist Bob Schmidtke (also a member of Mendelbaum, Clicker and Vilas Craig & the Viscounts). The recordings are a great example of a transitional time in rock music, when bands all around the land were deciding whether to go hard, prog, pop or country. Judging by the demos that make up Basement Tapes 1975 The Beans could have gone any direction. Crunchy proto power pop numbers sit alongside '70s AOR, countrified ballads, and the extended, but tightly-arranged, “Headin’ Out.” Unfortunately, the band broke up before finishing a studio album project, but the tracks that were completed make for an interesting comparison with the demos. The physical release is delayed, but both can be heard now at Wiegel’s YouTube channel. —Bob Koch

Collector, Disq. The Madison quintet has been generating a lot of buzz with their second album, released nationally via Saddle Creek. It’s a confident set of songs about living in the modern world, and shows a remarkable ability to explore many shadings of rock music while still maintaining a cohesive sound. That’s even more impressive when considering this expanded incarnation of the band (originally the duo of Raina Bock and Isaac De Broux-Slone) has only been playing together for a relatively short time. Read more about Disq in Tom Whitcomb’s recent profile. — Bob Koch

Fire Heads/Sex Scenes split EP. Somehow, this release sneaked out last summer without me seeing it. Madison quartet Fire Heads are in blazing form as always, blasting through six heavy punk numbers at 45 rpm. Equally frenetic are Milwaukeeans Sex Scenes, who offer no frills but undeniably catchy heavy punk. Paired up, these EPs recorded by Bobby Hussy come as close as a recording has so far to catching the energy of both bands’ live shows. The Virginia-based Big Neck label has made somewhat of a cottage industry out of releasing records by Wisconsin bands lately, and the limited LP version is still available (and can be heard) in their Bandcamp store; our local stores may have some copies as well. — Bob Koch

Ali Shuffle, Immigré. On their first official EP, the Madison Afrobeat purveyors dial the groove up a notch. Across three tracks, they entwine diggable percussion, lip-smackingly honeyed guitar riffs and triumphant horns to form tracks that are at once deeply danceable and cerebral. Like the mammoth on the project's cover, these tracks are filled with arcane rhythms yet they also seem to hail from the future at the same time. — Henry Solotaroff-Webber

Nebulebula, Mr. Chair. Like the album’s cosmic name might suggest, the avant-jazz group's sound endlessly expands (and boggles) the mind. Tracks like "Burner Phone" dazzle and shine bright like a supernova; "Onyzx Quartet" sucks the listener into its black hole-like depths. Digital available at Bandcamp; LP via the Mr. Chair website. — Henry Solotaroff-Webber

Summon the Mist, Tubal Cain. Bleak times call for the cathartic crunch of metal. This Madison trio’s latest record emerged on Leap Day, and while it may be difficult to get a physical copy currently, it’s available digitally on Bandcamp. Let the precise riffing of Alex Drake and fierce drumming of Kristine Drake wash over you and be glad that at least we are not beset by hordes of demons...yet. — Bob Koch