Ellen Rosner
A past lineup of Harmonious Wail.
Harmonious Wail in Ireland, the back cover image on the "Beyond the Pale" album.
Self-releasing an album has never been easier; artists can choose among multiple platforms to stream their music to the public. But self-releasing a physical album is more involved than usual during the age of COVID-19. Only time will tell how much music from 2020 never makes the jump to some physical medium. But it seems inevitable the current situation — materials and transport issues due to the pandemic and the effect on LP manufacturing from the Apollo Masters Corp. fire — will help hasten the move away from manufacturing anything. That will leave a lot of music marooned on hard drives or servers, and if/when the streaming sites remove it or go out of business...good luck hearing it again.
Doomsday scenarios aside (for music collectors, at least), there are still plenty of new records, CDs and tapes coming out as pandemic restrictions continue IRL, including releases by Wisconsin artists. With in-person release shows not happening and limited items showing up in stores, it just may take a bit more planning at the moment to get hold of them, and in some cases playing the waiting game for that disc or tape to be available. But, of course, just about everything is out there somewhere on the internet. On Sept. 4, and the remaining first Fridays in 2020, Bandcamp will continue its popular Bandcamp Fridays promotion, when the site's fees charged to artists on sales are waived. So...find some new local music, folks! (Pro tip: Madison and Madison, WI search tags bring up quite different results.)
At the end of August, Harmonious Wail returned with their 10th album, Beyond the Pale. As stated in the album notes, it is "dedicated to all the mighty musicians around the globe who are weathering the storm of uncertainty in these unprecedented times." A worthy sentiment. It is yet another entertaining album from the Wail, featuring some new original songs and well-chosen covers from a diverse range of genres. Whether taking on bossa nova ("Água de Beber" by Antonio Carlos Jobim), classic rock ("Jessica" by the Allman Brothers Band) or the Great American Songbook ("Exactly Like You" by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields), Harmonious Wail has a knack for finding their own swinging groove on any song, while not losing the character of what made it great in the first place. The album is available at various streaming outlets and currently on CD in the Harmonious Wail online store. Mandolin master Sims Delaney-Pothoff writes in an email that an LP version is currently winding through the vinyl production process and should be available in a few months.
The band also announced that singer Maggie Delaney-Pothoff advanced to the finals in the AARP Superstar Singing Contest. Fans can vote daily in the contest, through Sept. 11 (voters must be age 40 and up).
Tommy Simms
Milwaukee quartet Fuzzysurf unleashes a new album on Sept. 8. Sweet Tooth is the pop rockers' third full-length in the last couple years, and reveals a band that has synthesized its influences into a sound of its own. At first listen to the shiny power pop on Sweet Tooth, I was definitely reminded of Weezer, but also the grit of early Elvis Costello, and melodic sense of Joe Jackson or the late Adam Schlesinger. It's definitely a less 1960s-influenced album than their 2019 outing, Fuzzy & the Surfs.
While that 2019 album did emerge on LP, Sweet Tooth will be digital-only for the time being, writes keyboardist Corey Murphy via email. "We had some more elaborate plans for release that have been put on hold by the pandemic including a summer tour. We’re postponing a physical release until we can do it properly. It will be available for purchase on our Bandcamp (Fuzzysurf.bandcamp.com) and streamable on all the major platforms (Spotify, iTunes, etc)."
Kelsey Kruger
During the last year Luke McGovern has released a pair of collections of homespun folk songs on Bandcamp. The first, Take it Seriously, Luke McGovern, does exactly that, with a set of (mostly) hushed, fingerpicked songs taking on weighty topics and deep thoughts, all played and sung by McGovern. The latest, Yer Goin' Nowhere, Luke McGovern, has some more weighty songs but also a welcome injection of dry humor. I especially enjoy the rambling nature paean "2 Buck Poem" and the laid-back talking blues "real life vampires!" McGovern is a Chicago native who came north to attend UW-Madison in 2014. "I graduated in 2017, and by that time had already sort of adopted Madison as my new home. I love the size, nature, vibe," McGovern writes in an email. On the performance front, he had been visiting some open mics before March (most often Genna's) and is planning to book some shows in the future, once we get past the pandemic. While both albums are digital-only at the moment, McGovern says a CD version of Yer Goin' Nowhere, Luke McGovern is in the works.
The self-titled release by Soot is one I stumbled upon in the Bandcamp universe. The 11 tracks range from full-fledged songs ("Bring Me the Head of Art Paul Schlosser," the only cut to break the three-minute barrier) to blasts of guitar/drum improvisation ("III"). It's really more an EP of sorts than an album, as many of the songs stay under a minute long. But these mini-blasts of aggression work just fine for this listener; there's much to be said for stating your idea and getting out. My favorite track is the banger "Deprivation Center." Soot is a collaboration by Treatment guitarist/singer Liam Casey and Hex House guitarist/singer Cal Lamore (who plays bass and drums on this project). Money raised from sales will be donated to the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, which helps bail out those jailed during the ongoing protests in Southeast Wisconsin.
I would be remiss if I didn't alert the world to the fact that the local music scene's genius jesters have responded to the pandemic in their own inimitable fashion. Cribshitter's latest single, "COVID Cove," washed up on the shores of Bandcamp toward the end of August, shortly followed by a video that really amps up the song's lethal takedown of modern country radio. The song reimagines Lake Mendota as a bro-ed out, mask-free, White Claw-fueled party zone (which is just a fantasy...I hope). It also includes my favorite lyrical couplet of 2020: "Pontoons, ZOOMs, rhythm and booms / cyan-o-bacterial algae blooms," presumably courtesy "Prop Cummins," who raps that verse.
As the band's discography has grown over the years, Cribshitter continues to up their game musically and conceptually, so I hope this single means another new album is on the way. They earn extra genius points because they have the ability to match the sound of the targets of their (sometimes) affectionate parodies. "COVID Cove" would fit right in on pop country radio, if a program director messed up and wasn't paying too much attention to the words. Due to their sometimes twisted humor and over-the-top lyrics, Cribshitter may not be for everyone, but I guess I'm twisted enough that they live in my heart. Also, as we sit six months into the COVID-19 shutdown, their February set at Bos Mead Hall remains the last complete live show I was able to witness. I can't imagine a better farewell to show-going than the epic jam that closed the night.
