Enjoy a compilation of selected tracks by artists playing shows we're excited about in Madison this week. For more information on these shows, read on under the playlist or check out all this week's Isthmus Picks.
Jay Som,Thursday, Oct. 17, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm: Los Angeles-based DIY wunderkind Jay Som’s dreamy bedroom pop songs sound like they’re playing on a child’s record player — sweetly melodic and slightly worn and warped. Touring on the August release Anak Ko, Jay Som shares the bill with genremates Boy Scouts.
Juli Johnson, Thursday, Oct. 17, Bos Meadery, 6 pm: After a road of hardship and recovery, a local singer celebrates a new album release. A singer of acoustic pop a la Norah Jones or Bruce Hornsby, Johnson’s album, I Can’t Not, was completed in 2016, but she had to shelve it due to a vocal cord tear and having to endure a year of grueling rehabilitation. She’s now able to sing again and can press on with her uplifting, piano-driven pop.
Chris Distefano, Thursday, Oct. 17, Comedy on State, 8 pm: Chris Distefano’s father may have been in the mob, his grandpa WAS in the mob, and Distefano himself was expelled from Catholic school. While his clan is tough, Chris takes a gentler approach, not coming off as macho so much as a man aware of his surroundings. Come for the accent, stay for his stories about eating too much weed. ALSO: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 18-19, 8 & 10:30 pm.
HELD: A Musical Fantasy, Thursday, Oct. 17, Threshold, 7:30 pm: Kelly Maxwell and Meghan Rose’s magical musical is back for an encore production with Music Theatre of Madison, in collaboration with Arts for All and XTension Dance Company. The 80-minute piece, presented with piano, cello and upright bass accompaniment, premiered in 2015 at Broom Street Theater. The next year, it was one of 10 musicals chosen out of 300 entries to receive a developmental reading at the prestigious New York Fringe Festival. Critic Jacquelyn Claireon of the blog NY Theatre Review called it “A magnificent musical fantasy which takes place in another world — one also beset with unrequited love and impossible love triangles.” ALSO: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 18-19, 7:30 pm.
Kero Kero Bonito, Friday, Oct. 18, Majestic, 9 pm: Despite being British, Kero Kero Bonito is full of all the technicolor exuberance of J-Pop. Sarah Midori Perry and her bandmates deliver an ecstatic take on dance pop that’s influenced in equal parts by pensive indie rock bands and video games. It might be the most millennial music ever made, and it rules. With Negative Gemini.
Meg Baird + Mary Lattimore, Friday, Oct. 18, UW Memorial Union-Der Rathskeller, 9 pm: Separately, harpist Mary Lattimore and psych-folkist Meg Baird have impressive resumes. Lattimore’s harp recordings have been exalted by The New Yorker, while Baird is frontperson for psych-rock outfit Heron Oblivion and formerly for the psych-folk band Espers. Both have collaborated with an astonishing number of indie musicians. On their first album, Ghost Forests — released by respected experimental label Three Lobed Recordings — Baird and Lattimore blend their influences for a gorgeous, haunting trance of harp, synth, guitar and vocals.
Madison Symphony Orchestra + Rachel Barton Pine, Friday, Oct. 18, Overture Hall, 7:30 pm: Violinist Rachel Barton Pine makes her MSO debut performing Khachaturian’s stunning Violin Concerto in D minor, the focal point of an evening of Russian music. It’s difficult to believe it took MSO this long to tap Pine, who debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 10 and became the only American and youngest-ever gold medal winner of the prestigious Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. The stellar program also includes Prokofiev’s Suite from Lieutenant Kijé and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9. ALSO: Saturday (8 pm) and Sunday (2:30 pm), Oct. 19-20.
Explosions in the Sky, Friday, Oct. 18, The Sylvee, 8 pm: As the undisputed leaders of the post-rock genre, the four members of Austin, Texas-based Explosions in the Sky weave hypnotic instrumental narratives. Their self-described “cathartic mini-symphonies” feature elaborately developed guitar work that adds unique tone and timbre to the band’s emotionally charged live performances. They don’t come around Madison much, so catch them while you can. With Facs.
Big Thief, Saturday, Oct. 19, The Sylvee, 8 pm: One great album a year is something to be proud of. Critically adored indie rock outfit Big Thief now have created two. Released Oct. 11, Two Hands is the companion to U.F.O.F. (which came out in May). Two Hands is classic Big Thief, mixing dusty folk influences with more esoteric indie rock. Check out “Not,” a song that sounds like Neil Young at his most ragged. With Palehound.
Iris DeMent + Pieta Brown, Saturday, Oct. 19, Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm: Iris DeMent appeared on the national scene with the 1992 album Infamous Angel, and her indelible songs keep her in the vanguard of roots music with wordsmiths as legendary as John Prine (with whom she has recorded and performed). DeMent’s most recent album, The Trackless Woods, includes a guest appearance by fellow singer-songwriter Pieta Brown, on tour behind the new album Freeway.
Ben Folds, Sunday, Oct. 20, The Sylvee, 7:30 pm: Last time Folds blew through town, he took audience requests via paper airplanes sailed at the stage. Given that he’s touting his autobiography, A Dream About Lightning Bugs; A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons. chances are the information flow heads the other direction in his Sylvee debut. Fine by us: There’s never been a space the always-entertaining Folds and his piano can’t fill with storytelling and his catalogue of wry, timeless pop. Nashville-based up-and-comer Savannah Conley opens.
John Hiatt, Sunday, Oct. 20, Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm: It’s sometimes been rocky for the Indianapolis native, but with musicians like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, B.B. King, Keith Urban and others covering his work, Hiatt has never been without fans. This includes Bonnie Raitt, whose Hiatt cover, “Thing Called Love,” catapulted her onto the charts and solidified Hiatt’s songwriting legacy. With Adam Chaffins. See story, page XX.
Chris Stapleton,Thursday, Oct. 24, Alliant Energy Center, 7 pm: Together with his fellow Kentuckian Sturgill Simpson, Stapleton gets credit for taking country music back to the future. Everyone wants a piece of him. Kenny Chesney, Adele, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley have all recorded Stapleton songs. He has pop-song power, too. In August he co-wrote “I Just Remembered That I Didn’t Care” with John Mayer, just one day before they debuted it at a Nashville arena show. With The Brothers Osborne, Kendell Marvel.
Find the full rundown of this week's Isthmus Picks here.
