Enjoy a compilation of selected tracks by artists playing shows we're excited about in Madison during the week of Oct. 5-12, 2017. For more information on these shows, read on under the playlist!
Arlo Guthrie, Thursday, Oct. 5, UW Memorial Union-Shannon Hall, 8 pm: Thanksgiving isn’t known for spawning songs, but Arlo Guthrie is a major exception. The folk scion’s sprawling opus “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” still enjoys considerable airplay, telling the story of how a littering citation affected his draft status during the Vietnam War era. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Alice’s Restaurant album, and Guthrie is celebrating by having his children, Sarah Lee and Abe, join his “Re:Generation” tour.
Emily Saliers, Thursday, Oct. 5, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm: One-half of the Indigo Girls, Emily Saliers made her solo debut in August with the release of Murmuration Nation. An eclectic mix of sounds that strays far from the bookish, folky path she and Amy Ray have charted as a duo, the disc features members of The Mars Volta, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Living Colour. An exciting, exuberant affair, it makes it hard to believe Saliers never made a solo record until now.
Thievery Corporation, Thursday, Oct. 5, Orpheum Theater, 7 pm: For 20 years, Washington, D.C., club owners Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have been using Thievery Corporation as a vehicle to bring together eclectic artists and their own love of reggae, dub and bossa nova. Their recordings spin together acid jazz, trip-hop and progressive politics for audiences all over the musical spectrum. Somehow the Thieves have been selling millions of albums through their own label and playing huge stages at Lollapalooza and Coachella without trying to land a radio hit. No matter who shows up to play with the group in Madison, it will surely be a unique concoction in support of their 2017 release, The Temple of I & I.
La Santa Cecilia, Friday, Oct. 6, Overture Center-Capitol Theater, 7:30 pm: Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and La Santa Cecilia is becoming the patron saint of 21st-century Latin sounds. The L.A.-based band has performed with Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and members of Los Lobos, among others. They’ve even recruited their enthusiastic fan base, devoted to Santa Cecilia’s high-spirited live performances, to hand-painting CD covers at the band’s “painting parties.” The searing vocals of Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez, which land somewhere between Sarah Vaughn and Gwen Stefani, will be worth the price of admission alone. Her talented bandmates reinterpret traditional Latin music with infusions of jazz, ska, punk and funk. The concert wraps up the Latino Art Fair, which features works by the region’s Latinx community.
Songhoy Blues, Friday, Oct. 6, UW Union South-The Sett, 8 pm: Five years ago, a jihadist group seized political control of northern Mali. The group banned cigarettes, alcohol and music, forcing guitarist Garba Touré to move south to the capital city of Bamako. He formed a band with two other musicians of Songhoy ethnicity to play the music of the north as a form of comfort and resistance for their fellow refugees. The desert blues of Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré is certainly part of their musical heritage, but the members of Songhoy Blues grew up listening to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker. Their high-energy 2017 release Resistance is powered by hard-driving guitar work that will appeal to fans of blues, punk, rock and funk.
Cactus Blossoms, Friday, Oct. 6, Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm: The brother duo of Page Burkum and Jack Torrey sounds like a 21st-century incarnation of Don and Phil Everly. They started out performing obscure country tunes in Minneapolis clubs until retro rocker JD McPherson heard them and subsequently produced their debut record, You’re Dreaming, in 2016. The venerable Opera House should be a good venue to catch their lonesome harmonies and dusty shuffle beats. With Dusty Heart.
GoldLink, Saturday, Oct. 7, Majestic Theatre, 9 pm: Though he hails from the Washington, D.C., area, this 24-year-old has a rapid-rapping style that is reminiscent of Chicago emcees. On tour promoting his debut major label release, GoldLink is known for bouncing between rapping and soulful crooning, all while making you dance to abstract, electronic beats. With content revolving around bad relationships and broken hearts, he is one of the leading emcees of new-age rap. With Masego.
Tanya Tagaq, Saturday, Oct. 7, UW Memorial Union-Shannon Hall, 8 pm: If the idea of Inuk throat singing seems foreign or unappealing to you, take a moment and listen to Animism, the award-winning 2014 album from Canadian vocalist Tanya Tagaq, an indigenous artist who has hunted seals and lived in igloos. Dark, intense, guttural and sometimes downright terrifying, the music is like nothing else out there — it draws you in and holds you in its spell. Known for her collaborations with Bjork, Tagaq is often compared to the experimental Icelandic singer. But Tagaq is on a whole other level. And she’ll perform with a local choir.
Peter Yarrow & Noel Paul Stookey, Sunday, Oct. 8, Overture Center-Capitol Theater, 7 pm: Yarrow and Stookey, two thirds of ‘60s folk icons Peter, Paul and Mary, are playing a few duo dates this fall, and Madison is lucky enough to host one of the concerts. The folk pioneers have highlighted songs of social justice and peace since the beginning, and their message continues to hold relevance for today’s fraught political climate in the age of globalization and Trumpism.
Zola Jesus, Monday, Oct. 9, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm: Wisconsin native (and one-time Madison resident) Nika Roza Danilova re-emerges after a three year absence with a new album, Okovi. Her gothically operatic music has always been darkly hued, and Okovi — a personal meditation on life and death — is perhaps her most intense work yet. With John Wiese.
The Magpie Salute, Thursday, Oct. 12, Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm: The Black Crowes’ splintering has had one positive for fans: new bands to follow, the latest being The Magpie Salute. Debuting in January 2017, the group reunites guitarist Rich Robinson with axe-slinger Marc Ford — the guitar team for the Crowes’ mid-’90s classics — as well as fellow former Crowes bassist Sven Pipien, several Rich Robinson Band members and lead singer John Hogg, who played with Robinson in Hookah Brown. The group’s self-titled debut ranges from muscular, melodic southern rock to jazzy workouts with equal aplomb.
Emily Mure, Thursday, Oct. 12, Crescendo Espresso Bar, 7 pm: You’ll want to catch Emily Mure (pictured) in an intimate setting before she hits it big. The New York City native is a classically trained oboist who spent time busking on the streets of Ireland. She’s just released a heartbreaking and inspiring third album, Worth, that explores themes of anxiety and self-acceptance. It’s all expressed confidently with spine-tingling vocals. With Bradley Tomas.
Turkeyfest 8, Thursday, Oct. 12, Mickey’s Tavern, 10 pm: This marks the eighth year that Bobby Hussy’s Kind Turkey Records has hosted its annual Turkeyfest, and this incarnation promises to be another wild three-day celebration of eccentric punk rock. Highlights include local favorites The Hussy, Wood Chickens (pictured), Fire Heads, Dumb Vision and Solid Freex, as well as a handful of national and international acts, including Kiwi garage punks BloodBags and Memphis-based darkwave outfit Sweet Knives, a reboot of Lost Sounds minus the late, great Jay Reatard. For the full schedule: facebook.com/kindturkey. ALSO: Friday (9:30 pm, Crystal Corner Bar) and Saturday (10 pm, Mickey’s), Oct. 13-14.
The Lucas Brothers, Thursday, Oct. 12, Comedy Club on State, 8:30 pm: The Lucas Brothers aren’t your traditional stand-up act. Super endearing and downright hilarious, the sleepy, dulcet and possibly marijuana-tinged tones of this low-key duo lull the audience into a grinning trance — before exploding with well-timed punchlines. Doing duo comedy is tough. It requires so much coordinating, timing and practice that it almost seems impractical. These twins, with their odd psychic powers, pull it off flawlessly. ALSO: Friday-Saturday, October 13-14, 8 & 10:30 pm.
Find the full rundown of this week's Isthmus Picks here.
