AltWeeklies Wire
Eric Blowtorch: The Jamaican Connectionnew
A prolific recording artist always willing to share the microphone with guest stars, Eric Blowtorch’s musical endeavors have been more a vocation in the traditional sense than a career. He has reached a new height on his latest album with his band the Welders, The Alphabet.
Shepherd Express |
David Luhrssen |
12-11-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Justin Townes Earle's Solitary Americananew
"I always refer to my music as an experiment in Southern American music," he explains. His third release, 2009's Midnight at the Movies, touches on a range of styles spanning country blues and rollicking honky-tonk to plaintive ballads and finger-picking rock.
Shepherd Express |
Harry Cherkinian |
08-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Lykke Li Offers Girlish Quirks and Contradictionsnew
Swedish dance-pop singer Lykke Li is a 23-year-old mystery ... she's capricious and full of contradictions, at once plucky and melancholy, sweet and standoffish. She delights in her eccentricities, and though she doesn't lie, per se, she usually doesn't volunteer the whole truth, either.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
08-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Cyndi Lauper Talks LGBT Rights Ahead of Milwaukee PrideFestnew
The same fierce individualism that established Cyndi Lauper as one of the defining cultural sensations and fashion trendsetters of the 1980s kept her an icon in the gay community long after MTV retired her.
Shepherd Express |
Shepherd Express |
06-12-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Nightwatchman Gives Tom Morello an Activist Outletnew
As much as Tom Morello enjoyed his stint with Audioslave, the post-Rage Against the Machine band he founded with Chris Cornell, Cornell's scorching, introspective arena-rock left Morello hungry for the activism of his previous band.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
11-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Elusive Parallelograms Go Back to the Futurenew
As more and more of their indie-rock brethren opt for a stripped-down approach to songwriting, an insistence on creating multilayered soundscapes allows the Elusive Parallelograms to distance themselves a bit from many of their contemporaries -- a development that the band seems to welcome.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
10-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Burbank Cartel Seeks to Nurture the Milwaukee Scenenew
Without Translation, the new album from Milwaukee's Burbank Cartel, is the album I've been waiting for the band to make. It is an album that sounds remarkably modern, remarkably self-assured: It sounds like alternative rock should sound in the early 21st century.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
10-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Deerhoof Leaves a Paper Trailnew
It was with some irony that the first taste of Deerhoof's latest work was a single released as sheet music well before a recorded version surfaced.
Shepherd Express |
Joe Uchill |
10-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Deerhoof, Offend Maggie
Peter Hammill on Surviving Prog-rocknew
Hammill first made a name for himself in the 1960s as the singer-songwriter for prog-rock innovators Van der Graaf Generator, and since that band broke up in the 1970s has gone on to record literally dozens of shape-shifting solo albums.
Shepherd Express |
Mark Krueger |
10-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Peter Hammill
Dead Confederate Rebuffs Southern-rock Conventionsnew
Though his band's name seems pretty self-explanatory to him, Dead Confederate bassist Brantley Senn is amazed at how often it's misinterpreted.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
10-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Dead Confederate
Jeanna Salzer: Contemporary Pop Newcomernew
Salzer, a third-year student at Alverno College, is blessed with a voice that belies her young age: She sings with an authority and authenticity that seems to have little place in the world of contemporary pop music.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
09-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Jeanna Salzer, Raindrops
The Goodnight Loving Gets Nostalgic for Milwaukeenew
Though he cautions that two of his band mates who once lived there might disagree with him, Andy Kavanaugh doesn't have many kind words about Green Bay.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
09-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Goodnight Loving
Pigs on Ice’s Punk Spectaclenew
Like many of their peers in Milwaukee, Pigs on Ice are clearly influenced by the Jesus Lizard and other seminal acts from Touch and Go's back catalog.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
09-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: punk, Pigs on Ice
The Black Keys Meet ZZ Topnew
You aren't anybody if you aren't recording with the Black Keys.
Shepherd Express |
Joe Uchill |
09-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Returning Home with the Celebrated Workingmannew
Mark Waldoch had saved up the necessary money, prepared himself emotionally to leave behind Milwaukee, his home of 15 years, and was ready to start a new life in New York. What he hadn't planned on, though, was developing a kidney stone the size of a golf ball shortly after his arrival.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
08-22-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
