Every year, Milwaukee’s music scene produces a host of new names that seem to emerge from out of nowhere to make their mark on the city. While there are literally thousands of acts that put out creative works across all genres, and many of them of high quality, certain artists have that special something to make them really stand out amongst the pack. While this is certainly not the only local music to pay attention to, these five acts are displaying lots of potential to make some big strides in 2022.
Big P & Lik
At the tail end of 2021, Big P and Lik dropped their collaboration project, Driveway Dreamers. With a sound influenced by a previous era of hip hop, skits, and interludes crafted for different parts of growing up in Milwaukee, the appeal of the project is inescapable. It’s a tape that speaks from the heart when talking about their hometown, and embraces everything from their childhood, good or bad, to give it a certain fondness. The sound is there, and the charisma that comes with Driveway Dreamers can certainly translate from their current project to the next.
Social Cig
Singer/songwriter Parker Schultz had a tremendous coming-of-age album in 2021 with Nothing Is Ever For Sure And Everything Is Always Changing, with a certain adolescent cynicism that feels like early Violent Femmes material. The 18-song album has an honesty about it that is magnified when Schultz’s songwriting savvy takes over, and a sense of maturity not expected from most sophomore projects. As Social Cig’s sound develops, it will likely only improve with an ever-shifting perspective of the world. There seems to be no shortage of material, as well.
WT3
In hip hop, it’s easy to tell when the art of rapping comes naturally to someone. For WT3, who has only been making music for around a year and a half, he sounds like a natural on Pandemic Diary, which dropped on New Year's Eve. A byproduct of the pandemic, WT3 started putting his raps to record with his downtime while the world was essentially closed. He has a swagger when he gets to the microphone that can’t truly be taught, and his upbringing near Milwaukee’s hip hop scene has made him a student of the game. Pandemic Diary should certainly be on your radar for the beginning of 2022, and WT3 will likely make the most of the rest of the year, as well.
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Graysea
Hard work pays off, and new metalcore upstart Graysea are certainly ready to put in the hours. With a trio of singles that they began releasing this past November, the band is hitting the ground running, packing a punch with their sound along the way. Recent single “The Times (And I Can’t Stress This Enough) Are A Changin’” could hold its own with just about any mainstream band in the genre, and Graysea is already working on the content surrounding the music to let fans in on their world. Expect a longer project from the band before the end of 2022, and lots of buzz to eventually surround it.
Meadowers
Indie rock band Meadowers flew under the radar for the most part of 2021. The band put out their debut single, "Towers,” in 2020, and have an album ready for release in February. The look and sound of Midwest emo is alive and well, and everything from the band so far has felt like it could truly be presented on the national stage to a warm reception. We’ll get more from Meadowers with Nothing Wrong and I Trust You in a few short weeks, and after years of building, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the band could have a gem of an album to be revealed to the world.
