Photo by Malia James
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats @ Club Garibaldi, Oct. 29
Thursday, Oct. 29
Night of the Living Dead: The Puppet Show @ Oriental Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
Great traditions die hard. Since 2007, Milwaukee’s Angry Young Men, Ltd. have offered a unique reimagining of George Romero’s 1968 zombie masterpiece Night of the Living Dead each year around Halloween using puppets, condensing the movie into a swift 30-minute romp that’s equal part jokes and gore. Last year, the troupe announced that it was bringing the tradition to an end following one final performance. So why are they back for more this year? “We’re puppets,” they write in a press release, “We lied!” There’s no word on whether this show will be the final performance for real, but if you’re on the fence you’d be wise to see it just in case. The organizers have arranged an array of Halloween-appropriate opening entertainers, including comedic magician Brent Allan.
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats @ Club Garibaldi, 9 p.m.
In hindsight, maybe Nathaniel Rateliff would have started his band The Night Sweats sooner. The Colorado-by-way-of-Missouri singer-songwriter has been putting out fantastic records for a while now, including his 2010 solo debut In Memory of Loss, which he recorded with Califone and Iron & Wine producer Brian Deck, and 2013’s stomping follow-up Falling Faster Than You Can Run, but it was only after he segued from those folksier sounds into more soulful territory with The Night Sweats that his career really began to take off. Thanks in part to performances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and other late-night shows, the band’s gospel-flavored single “S.O.B.” has been climbing the charts, recently landing at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs chart. If you scored a ticket to this sold-out show, consider yourself lucky. Next time he plays Milwaukee it’ll likely be at a bigger venue.
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Fruit Bats w/ Joan Shelley @ Cactus Club, 9 p.m.
Fruit Bats are back, though you could be forgiven for not realizing they were gone in the first place. In 2013, after releasing a run of underrated, tunefully folky albums for Sub Pop Records, Fruit Bats leader Eric Johnson announced that he was putting his indie-rock band to rest. He must have changed his mind, though, because this spring he announced that the band was back again, and revealed plans to release a new album next year. It’ll be a follow-up to 2011’s Tripper, which Johnson recorded between commitments with The Shins, whose overhauled lineup he joined in 2009.
Friday, Oct. 30
Katt Williams @ UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, 8 p.m.
Comedian Katt Williams is, to understate it a bit, a little on the erratic side, with a long history of bizarre behavior and legal problems that would give even the most reckless rap stars pause. Given that background, it wasn’t too surprising when Williams quickly flip-flopped after announcing his retirement in 2012—just three days later he backtracked. All that erratic behavior hasn’t hurt his stock much, though. He continues to tour some of the biggest arenas in the country with his highly physical take on observational comedy.
Twenty One Pilots w/ Echosmith and Finish Ticket @ Eagles Ballroom, 7:30 p.m.
The synergistic duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, Twenty One Pilots represent the more eclectic side of the emo label Fueled By Ramen, dabbling not just in alternative rock, but also in danceable hip-hop and electronica. Their 2013 album Vessel proved to be their breakthrough, and this year’s follow-up Blurryface proved its success was no fluke. It’s even more eclectic than its predecessor, ping-ponging between dance music, reggae, indie-rock and everything in between with youthful glee.
Saturday, Oct. 31
Vic and Gab w/ Testa Rosa @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
The sister-sister duo Vic and Gab didn’t take too long to establish themselves as one of the city’s more visible indie-pop bands. You’d be hard pressed to find a local venue the group didn’t play in the year and a half after they released their charmingly sweet 2013 record Love of Mine. But now the Banuelos sisters are putting the band behind them. They’ve announced that this will be their last show as Vic and Gab, as they prepare to move onto a new project, details of which they promise to reveal soon. They’ll be joined on the bill by local guitar-pop institutions Testa Rosa, who release their latest record Testa Rosa III this summer.
Doomtree w/ Lizzo and Rusty P’s and The LMNtlyst @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Hip-hop collectives don’t get much more diverse than Minneapolis’ Doomtree, a seven-member crew (five rappers, two producers) whose members come from all different backgrounds. It’s a sign of how eclectic the crew is, then, that its two breakout rappers are also virtual opposites of each other: Inspired by his time in the punk scene, P.O.S spits aggressive, almost militant rhymes, while poetess Dessa prefers a sing-songy flow that’s part rap, part spoken word. With so many contrasting personalities and artistic visions, the collective’s records, including this year’s dense All Hands, can get a little busy at times, but they never want for new ideas. Doomtree are joined on the bill by fellow Twin Cities rapper Lizzo, a bombastic party rapper who won over the Riverside Theater earlier this year opening for Sleater-Kinney.
The Claudettes @ Shaker’s Cigar Bar, 9 p.m.
The Claudettes hail from Chicago, a city with a rich blues tradition which, by and large, they ignore. Instead the drums/piano/vocal trio prefers to create their own alternate imagining of the blues, putting a punk spin on ragtime and cabaret music that’s earned them frequent comparisons to The White Stripes and Black Keys. Of course, neither of those bands ever had a frontwoman like The Claudettes’ Yana, a Nigerian-American singer and dancer whose beguilingly jazzy vocals draw from the romantic spirit of ’60s French pop.
Sunday, Nov. 1
Norah Jones w/ Adriel Denae @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Norah Jones first emerged with 2002’s Come Away With Me, an intrepid fusion of jazz, pop and country music that became a massive hit, selling more than 25 million copies worldwide. The “moody little record,” as Jones called it, introduced an understated, soulful voice and earned her global attention as she swept the 2003 Grammy Awards. Though that debut positioned her as an agreeably natured adult-contemporary singer, Jones alternates between vulnerable and threatening on her fifth studio album, 2012’s Little Broken Hearts, produced by Danger Mouse, the producer extraordinaire behind Gnarls Barkley and Broken Bells. Moving between experimental chamber pop and electronic-infused textures, Little Broken Hearts is Jones’ edgiest, most surprising record, though she hasn’t completely abandoned her traditionalist tendencies. Foreverly, her 2013 collaboration with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, was a reinterpretation of the 1958 Everly Brothers album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.
Tuesday, Nov. 3
Those Darlins w/ P.M. Buys @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Along with drummer Linwood Regensburg, sisters Jessi and Nikki Darlin create the retro garage-rock sound of Nashville outfit Those Darlins. The group gained critical acclaim with their 2009 self-titled debut full-length album, which includes the snarky bluegrass tune “Wild One” and the boot-knocking country rocker “Red Light Love,” the track that earned the band attention after appearing in a Kia Sorento commercial. On their most recent albums, 2011’s Screws Get Loose and 2013’s Blur the Line, the sisters dialed up the punk-rock vigor and rockabilly rowdiness without losing the sweet hooks at the core of their sound.
