The Gaslight Anthem @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
WhileNew Jersey natives The Gaslight Anthem continually invoke mentions ofBruce Springsteen from critics, in truth those comparisons have more todo with both acts’ shared Garden State origins and fondness for timespast than anything else. The Gaslight Anthem’s second album, The ‘59Sound, uses hard-strummed punk guitars and classic-rock melodies tocelebrate mid-century Americana, with song titles like “Here’s Lookingat You, Kid,” “Film Noir” and “Miles Davis & The Cool” testifyingto how the group’s true roots predate the E Street Band.
Friday, April 3
Sin City @ The Times Cinema, 11:50 p.m.
SinceSin City, other films have tried to replicate the tone of FrankMiller’s graphic novels by using green screens and color corrections,including the blockbuster war epic 300 and the ridiculous super-herodisaster The Spirit, the first and likely the last film Miller willdirect without the assistance of a more seasoned filmmaker. None quitecaptured the brisk pace and striking visuals of comic books the way SinCity did, though. With its cartoonish extremes, gruesome bloodshed anddeep mythology, this collaboration between Miller and Robert Rodriguezis an uncompromising cult film, but it’s executed with a tact few filmsso outlandishly violent can claim. The film screens tonight at midnightas part of WMSE’s Friday Night Freak Show series.
Morrissey w/ The Courteeners @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
Aftera seven-year hiatus from recording, former Smiths singer Morrisseyreturned a little bit grayer and a little chubbier but otherwise moreor less the same for his seventh solo record in 2004, You Are theQuarry, the disc that returned him to critical favor. He diligentlyfollowed that comeback album with a pair of respectable follow-ups, themost recent of which, this year’s Years of Refusal, does little toreinvent the wheel but has the distinction of being easily hishardest-rocking record in a decade. With his trademark morose,self-deprecating humor, the Moz waxes theatrically about intertwinedthemes of parenthood and codependence, and returns to the chimingromanticism of The Smiths for “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris,” oneof his finest singles.
Morrissey
Saturday, April 4
Miltown Beatdown Hip Hop Olympics @ The Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Sinceits inception, but in particular over the course of this year, theMiltown Beatdown has grown from a low-key weekly hangout into adestination event for Milwaukee’s hip-hop scene, so it’s fitting thatthe annual producer battle ends its year in grand fashion not at itsusual cozy club, the Jackalope Lounj, but on the expansive stage of theTurner Hall Ballroom. Representing the best of the 50-or-so competitors, the finals have brought out a trio of guest judges frombeyond the city: Roots drummer ?uestlove and old-school luminariesMasta Ace and Diamond D. Masta Ace will take the opportunity to give arare local performance with his Milwaukee cohort and fellow eMC rapper,Stricklin.
?uestlove
O.A.R. @ The Rave, 8:30 p.m.
Thoughoften dismissed outside of their tape-trading fan base, between tourdates college staples O.A.R. have learned how write some pretty catchypop songs. “Shattered (Turn the Car Around),” the biggest hit off2008’s All Sides, trumpets their new-found radio-friendliness, closelyresembling The Fray’s “Over My Head (Cable Car),” and not just becauseboth titles have brackets. With their kinda-sorta jam tendencies, thegroup was already bankable touring outfit before their commercialsuccess, but every year their empire grows bigger.
Collections of Colonies of Bees @ Mad Planet, 9 p.m.
Likea folkier Thurston Moore or Kurt Cobain, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon hasmade point of using his notoriety to shine light on music he feelsworthwhile, which is good news for Milwaukee’s Collections of Coloniesof Bees, the group that perhaps stands to benefit most from Vernon’scachet. An instrumental post-rock quartet founded by Chris Rosenau andJon Mueller the far more volatile trio Pele, the group planning arelease with their sometimes tourmate Vernon later this year. With anyluck, the resulting exposure should bring more attention to the band’s2008 four-song suite Birds, which imagines a calmer, more texturalcounterpart to Explosions the Sky, one that replaces crashingcrescendos with fluid harmonies.
Sunday, April 5
The Rosebuds w/ Megafaun @ Club Garibaldi, 8 p.m.
Bandslike the Handsome Furs, Matt and Kim and Mates of State all rely onthat delicate chemistry that only a husband and wife can create. Thesame goes for The Rosebuds, the North Carolina team of Ivan Howard andKelly Crisp, who returned to dark, fuzzy pop on their latest album,2008’s Life Like, after an affair with chilly synths on 2007’s Night ofthe Furies. The duo’s best work is sweet and infectious, hinting atdemons that are just out of sight. Pairing rustic rhythms with whitenoise, openers Megafaun are at the more experimental end of theflannelled indie-folk scene that’s boomed in recent years. Though theyrisk being dismissed as a footnote for their ties to Bon Iver’s JustinVernon, who played in an earlier incarnation of the band, theirrestless 2008 debut, Bury the Square, casts an impressive shadow of itsown.
The Rosebuds
Tuesday, April 7
Fucked Up @ Borg Ward Collective, 8 p.m.
TheChemistry of Common Life, Fucked Up’s 2008 album, starts deceptivelywith a flute solo on “Son the Father.” A minute later, after a guitarbuild, lead singer Damian Abraham begins screaming his lungs out aboutthe birth of civilization. Their name and rabble-rousingantics suggest a straightforward hardcore punk group, but Fucked Upconstantly throws listeners for a loop, filling songs with violins anddoe-eyed female vocals seemingly just to tick off the hardcorefaithful, while skirting the increasingly piqued masses by limitingmost of their releases to 7-inches only. At this point, they’vereleased more albums on cassette tape than they have CD.
Wednesday, April 8
Andrew Ripp @ Miramar Theatre, 8 p.m.
Palatine,Ill., singer-songwriter Andrew Ripp’s debut Fifty Miles to Chicago is atale in two parts. While the album’s first half treads closely to theacoustic musings of Jason Mraz and Joshua Radin, increasinglyadventurous folk and funk influences creep into the disc’s B side,lending the record unexpected eclecticism. Earnestness is the glue thatbinds the album, defining songs like “On My Way,” a bittersweetrumination on long-distance relationships accented by mournful,twanging guitars.
