August was a strange month for Milwaukee. Amid the turmoil and noise, however, the local music scene showed that it’s stronger than ever. Check out the top picks for August.
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Local music videos earn spots in fall film festival
Many talented film directors got their start shooting music videos before moving onto major motion pictures. Milwaukee is currently home to some blossoming filmmakers that shoot picturesque work in the short, musical medium. The Milwaukee Film Festival is showcasing 16 of the best of these in its “Milwaukee Music Video Show” later this fall. Videos include Group of the Altos’ “Coplights,” WebsterX’s “Lately,” Trapper Schoepp’s “Settlin’ Or Sleepin’ Around” and Lex Allen’s “Cream and Sugar.” You can find the entire list here. The festival runs from September 22 to October 6.
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Roll down the car windows and blast El-Shareef’s new track
In August, El-Shareef released the first single from his upcoming album Matching Verts, which is being released by German indie label Radio Juicy. “Uniform Souls” is certainly a “windows open in the car while cruising down Lincoln Memorial Drive during a weekend in the summer” type of song.
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Folk outfit Ugly Brothers release long-waited debut full-length
Besides 2014’s four-song self-titled EP, Ugly Brothers hadn’t disseminated any new material until this August’s 11-track, 16 Tiny Mountains. It’s clear that close attention was paid to the album’s intentionally unstable instrumentation, in which the experimental folk group transitions from tranquil to rambunctious almost seamlessly.
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Jazz musician and electronic producer combine for thrilling sonic juxtaposition
A concept that shouldn’t work as well as it does, jazz saxophonist Jay Anderson teamed up with electronic producer Strehlow for a well-executed track that merges the two distinct styles. There’s still plenty of territory to be mined, as “Off the Grid” isn’t simply a one-off. The duo plans on releasing two albums in the future, one an original collaboration and the other a tribute to bossa nova legends Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
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The Pukes deliver a midnight horror show in punk rock form
The Pukes’ debut full-length The Revenge of the Pukes is like that cult movie that’s not “so bad that it’s good” but actually just good, and its campy goodness could be on every night of the week without losing its sheen.
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Watch AR Wesley’s love letter to endless summer, shiny cars and skateboarding tricks in his intoxicating music video
AR Wesley finds his happy place in the visuals for “Here iGo” (video by Rob Randolf and Raphael Roby). A parking lot filled with friends is lined with shiny cars and skateboarders landing sick tricks. The track, produced by Mike Regal, finds AR Wesley in fine form and features a Von Alexander verse that’s essential listening.
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Soul Low struggles with arrested development on sonically rich sophomore album
Soul Low hasn’t been quiet since 2013’s UNEASY, releasing two eclectic EPs in the meantime—the Kind Spirit EP tackled the band’s grown-up side and the cheeky Sweat Pea EP showed off their youth. The band’s second full-length album, Nosebleeds, found a similar dichotomy between maturity and adolescence. That’s what makes the album so moving without losing its crude charm.
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Noh Life gets surprise credit on Frank Ocean’s visual album
As pointed out by 88Nine’s Tarik Moody, Milwaukee producer collective Noh Life was credited on Frank Ocean’s surprise visual album, Endless. The track “Sideways” features drum programming from the Milwaukee group, who were surprised to hear their music was used on such an anticipated album. “We were just as shocked as everybody else,” Christian Strehlow told Journal Sentinel’s Piet Levy. “The group found out about its involvement from friends on Twitter, but after listening to the song, no one in Noh Life recognized its own music.”
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Rx Drugs melt the pain away on debut LP
Composed of members from The Championship, The Promise Ring and Dashboard Confessional, Rx Drugs seek out a laid-back pastoral aesthetic on calming debut Future Friction, which they have no trouble finding. It’s one of the best albums of the year.
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Strange Fruit festival laments police shootings during turbulent weekend
It was an unfortunate coincidence that the Sherman Park rioting that followed the police shooting of Sylville Smith took place the same weekend of the Strange Fruit festival. The three-day gathering sought to mourn the losses of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men shot by police officers in consecutive days in July, but also attempt to move forward by bringing everyone together. The weekend proved that festivals like Strange Fruit are as important as ever and these types of conversations need to continue in our city.
Prior to the weekend, co-collaborator Jay Anderson sounded worn down by the concept of a recurring festival. “Maybe something can happen every year, “he said. “but … I don’t want the rate of police killings to happen so quickly and such a vast and strange rate that we have to get together and figure out how to communicate to our city about that. I hope that by this time next year at least part that has stopped.” Turns out it hasn’t.
