By Kevin Kosterman and Tyler Maas
The holiday season always seems to have a way of sneaking up on you. One minute you’re passed out on the couch in a tryptophan-induced coma, the next you’re passed out on the floor in an egg nog-induced coma. Well if you still need gift ideas for a few of the more difficult names on your list this year, don’t panic! Let us ease your burden by matching up some of the best local albums released in 2010 with those hard-to-buy-for friends and family.
Not only will you be avoiding the masses of last-minute mall shoppers filled with Christmas spirit/rage, but you’ll also be giving the greatest gift of all: beer money for a starving local musician.
For your fun-loving, whiskey-swigging uncle – The Goodnight Loving Supper Club by The Goodnight Loving
What better way to show that crazy uncle of yours that you appreciate all the beer he bought for you when you were underage than by giving him the latest effort from honky-tonk garage rockers The Goodnight Loving? In the past decade, there haven’t been many Milwaukee bands that have managed to release as many consistently solid albums as this area icon. Diverse in influence, The Goodnight Loving Supper Club is the band’s most polished, tightly choreographed album yet, but there is no lack of reckless abandon and attitude in gems like “Doesn’t Shake Me” and “Ain’t It Weird.” -KK
For your senile grandfather who breaks into old vaudeville tunes at Christmas dinner – Losing Teeth by The Scarring Party
I can’t imagine there is a more interesting-sounding band in the city than The Scarring Party. The quartet successfully marries unorthodox instrumentation (think accordion, tuba, 40-pound cast iron bell, typewriter and banjo to name a few) with ’20s-style vaudevillian dance hall sensibilities and bizarre, macabre lyrics. Maybe the strangest thing about this unique confluence is how fun it is to listen to. The band’s sophomore effort, Losing Teeth, maintains the feeling of dark foreboding delight throughout. Maybe if your grandpa has lost it enough, this stuff might actually make sense to him. -KK
For anybody who likes to shake some ass – The Outsiders Are Back by Kings Go Forth
The Milwaukee funk masters Kings Go Forth have had a big 2010. The band is currently touring Europe in support of its debut The Outsiders Are Back, a romping journey through Funkytown with a slight detour to Soulville and a quick whiz break in Reggae Town Ville Bay. Well, you get the idea. Seriously, though, this thing is a feast for the ears as well as the posterior. Check this video for the album’s opening track, “One Day,” and tell me you aren’t at least tapping your feet, if not inexplicably grinding up on the person next to you. -KK
For that rad person in your life – I Can Always Live by Get Rad
For my money, Milwaukee/Minneapolis hardcore outfit Get Rad put out one of the – if not the – best local album of the year. At 16 songs and a run time of under 24 minutes, I.C.A.L. (ha, I get it!) brings forth a rapid-fire assault of minute-long anthems, many of which blend seamlessly into one another. The “full-length” (again, 24 minutes) follow-up to Say Fuck No To Rules, Man, with tracks like “Bullshit Forcefield” and an ode to pizza entitled “Drug of Choice,” maintains the familiar lighthearted overtone of the band that named itself after a obscure film about BMX racing. But somewhere in the onslaught of screams and cheetah time signatures sits Get Rad’s most focused and altogether best effort to date, one with (if you’ll believe it) a touch of pop appeal. – TM
For that loved one not quite worth a gift that actually costs money – All Those I Know by Eric & Magill
For that lucky girl or guy you just started hanging out with over the past week, or for that cousin with similar taste whom you’re bound to see at your family Christmas, Eric & Magill’s latest is a prime audio offering for that special person who falls just short of a spot on your holiday shopping list. The meticulous recipe that is All Those I Know combines folk sensibilities, a scoop of electro pop and a pinch of spacey rock played by members of Decibully, Dirty Projectors and Headlights, among other talented area musicians. The 10-song, half-hour affair brings about relaxing winter hymns and, at its most aggressive, toe-tapping humalongs with minimalist-yet-heartfelt hooks like, “Should we all wake up / With nothing but our love / That should be enough / That should be enough.” Best yet, this should-be Milwaukee release-of-the-year contender is available for FREE download at Eric & Magill’s bandcamp site. -TM
For the distant out-of-town relative who likes to stay ahead of the curve – That’s How We Burn by Jaill
Although lauded locally, a semi-recent addition to the Sub Pop Records family and having spent the past few months touring throughout the U.S. and Europe, it’s quite possible (if not probable) that, to anyone not residing in Milwaukee, Jaill remains an unknown treasure trove of hook-laden and up-tempo ’60s-era rock painted contemporary. Now assigned to carry the torch of Milwaukee music appeal, Jaill didn’t disappoint with 2010’s That’s How We Burn, its Sub Pop debut. It begins to lose steam by song three (which is a bad sign for an 11-song effort) but is a solid beak wetting for Milwaukee’s newest big thing. -TM
For the person you couldn’t convince to listen to Call Me Lightning prior to 2010 – When I’m Gone, My Blood Will Be Free by Call Me Lightning
If the Minutemen-meets-a-drunk version of The Who amalgamation that is Call Me Lightning was previously lost on, say, your dad, the beloved Milwaukee trio’s latest album may finally win over that rare holdover’s heart. When I’m Gone… is a sturdy release of singalongable and inordinately focused songs from the raucous rockers. Sure, it’s a tad more straightforward (read: boring) than the usually meandering collection of dingy guitar work, pounding percussion and off-key howls that made CML a local legend, but it’s a good point of origin for that music snob in your life. After that, backtrack to their better stuff. -TM
