Although my friends on MySpace and Friendster told me nothing of it, and my fellow professionals at LinkedIn also kept me in the dark, it isn’t difficult to realize the stream-of-consciousness social media force Twitter is beyond huge. Presently vying with Facebook and oxygen to be the thing that most controls our lives, the 140-character format has proved a prime platform for quick-hitting news updates, short-form jokes, various misspelled words followed by “Ahhhh!” and promotion.
The Milwaukee music scene isn’t immune from the informative allure of Twitter’s promotional benefits. In fact, it’s come to the point where it’s almost strange if a band, venue or record label doesn’t have its own little piece of web real estate. It’s impossible to find every Twitter account relevant to Milwaukee music (or it would take, like, two more hours to do), but here are some worthy @s in and around Milwaukee music that are worth following, along with a 140-character max blurb.
Bands
@TheAltos – For a 12-member band who describes its music to be “organized chaos,” Group of the Altos keeps a pretty well-coordinated Twitter feed.
@satniteduets – Sat. Nite Duets — a band featured in GQ and on CNN— love to get naked, stockpile Four Loko and win people over on stage. Plus they tweet.
@surgeonsinheat – While they (presently) ignore interview requests that singlehandedly facilitate this column, at least the band tells its follows what’s up on its Twitter account.
@maritimesongs – Finally! A forum in which Maritime can avoid Promise Ring comparisons. “Remember when Promise Ring tweeted about… Oh wait, never happened.”
@jcpoppe – Sometimes he’s a rapper, other times he blogs. Either way, he’s a one of Milwaukee’s biggest hip-hop proponents. Plus, he organizes charity events. Follow!
@KidCutUp – DJing is a lost art. Well, it’s more of a found, unappreciated and fervently avoided art. Kid Cut up does it better than anyone in the city.
@JuniperTar – Juniper Tar is a band from Milwaukee. They are good. The band is on Twitter. That’s it.
@tonymemmel – What has one arm, 1,622 followers and a well-received album he put out last year? (Points) THAT GUY!
@MADEOFOAK – Headlights, ex-Decibully, Made of Oak, Listening Party Records, 5,000 other things. Nick Sanborn is hands down MKE’s busiest musician. See his touring exploits.
@ifihadahifi – If you enjoyed the noise rock outfit’s tour diary, but you prefer they come in abridged form, consider IfIHadAHiFi’s Twitter page.
@crappydracula – Crappy Dracula, good band and average tweeters. Can one even calculate an average for Twitter skill? If so, they’re somewhere in the middle.
@Jaill_ – Jaill (who needed to add an extra L to its name after signing to Sub Pop) needed to add an underscore to its handle upon joining Twitter.
@KribbersTinyKin – I’m seriously running out of ways to tell you The Fatty Acids are an incredible local band. If this is the first you’ve seen, listen to them NOW!
@MelissaCzarnik – The Twitter home of (arguably) Milwaukee’s most-talented female MC with a Z in her last name.
Venues
@MadPlanetMKE – Go figure; the Milwaukee venue with one of the best websites is also one of the most active Tweeters in the area club/theater scene.
@the_rave – For anyone who repeatedly endures blaring sound on The Rave’s calendar, this will now be your preferred method to obtain Rave show news.
@PabstTheater – The website for The Pabst Theater (and for The Riverside Theater and Turner Hall Ballroom, too) is almost perfect. Same here in a new format.
Other
@battle_cry_mke – Battle Cry funnels its passion for music into booking Milwaukee shows that host touring acts and local favorites. Here, they promote shows.
@RadioMilwaukee – We love Radio Milwaukee. Here, the cutting edge, fully independent station updates followers on upcoming local shows and facilitates giveaways.
@vergemke – By following Verge Music Festival, you’ll be kept up to date on Milwaukee’s largest and best sometimes-occurring alternative music festival.
@WAMImusic – What awards will all those bands you’ve never heard of win this year? Follow WAMI and keep your fingers on the pulse of WI’s best arbitrary local award.
@Evanryt –I want nothing to do with spelling his name, but ShepEx music journalist Evan Rytlewski is probably the city’s best music writer. Eat your heart out, ME! Oh.
@dopefolks – So you say it’s a label that re-releases otherwise lost old school hip-hop songs? Why would we ever want to… oh wait, that’s incredible!
@highfrequencym – The Milwaukee music video maker’s Twitter URL mostly has links to its Vimeo account. 15 years ago, the previous sentence meant nothing.
@WMSE – It’d be unfair to list 88.9 and skip MKE’s other great station. But I can’t find 102.1’s Twitter, so here’s WMSE’s. Jkz. 102.1 is terrible.
@AVClubMKE – Although we can’t cover everything in our two-a-week post schedule, The A.V. Club Milwaukee’s staff fills in the gaps with thorough coverage.
@TylerJamesMaas – I rarely tweet about music. But I once wrote, “Tonight, The City Skyline? More like ‘8 years ago, the shitty music.’” They weren’t pleased.
