This Week in MKE Music: December 19-25, 2024

Here are the Milwaukee shows we are looking forward to coming up this week.

by

Friend w/ Chants & Dave Schoepke, Pat McCurdy, Collections of Colonies of Bees w/Astral Hand and Known Moons, David HB Drake, an all-day music festival benefit at Cache Cider and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!

Thursday, December 19

Friend w/ Chants & Dave Schoepke @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.

Andrew Fitzpatrick has played the Sydney Opera House and Montreux Jazz Festival; Jon Mueller has played notable solo performances at the Guggenheim Museum and Big Ears Festival. The duo previously shared the stage as members of the group Volcano Choir.

As Friend, the duo explores a new direction, using acoustic drums, percussion and synthesis to create rhythmic, textural and thought-provoking work that shares elements of folk music in its performance and modern electronic music in its sound.

Dave Schoepke’s instrumental album Sun Will Follow moves from the internal language of “Hopefuel” to the ominous-ity of “Minutes to Go.” Chants (aka Jordan Cohen) reunites him with his former drum teacher, Schoepke. The duo blends live drumming with dub techniques.

Son Little w/ Kyah Bratz @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.”

Conceived in a cabin overlooking the Delaware River in upstate New York, Son Little’s latest album, Like Neptune, trades in the existential dread permeating previous work for unbridled joy and self-acceptance. At times it recalls the mindbending lost gem of an album by Funkateer Tawl Ross A.K.A. Detrimental Vasoline, Giant Shirley.

“In the beginning of lockdown, I went into a closet full of junk and found a couple of boxes full of my old writing books,” Little aka Aaron Earl Livingston explained. “There turned out to be 72 books in there.” Delving into his journals and happily cooped up inside due to the pandemic, Son Little returned to beat making to craft the core of Like Neptune using apps on his iPad… while micro dosing LSD and immersing himself in the sounds of ‘70s era David Bowie and psychedelic Amazonian cumbia of the same period.

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Friday, December 20

Pat McCurdy @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

Confidentially, it has been a while since Pat McCurdy was a man about town. But check his calendar. Yipes! – the guy still tirelessly plays clubs and releases humorous topical pop songs.

Collections of Colonies of Bees w/Astral Hand and Known Moons @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

With the Winter Solstice on the horizon, here’s a fitting sonic celebration. For two decades, Collection of Colonies of Bees have existed in various forms and incarnations. Previously instrumental-only, the Wisconsin-based ensemble is now joined by vocalist Marielle Allschwang.

Heavy psychsters Astral Hand channels a deeply cosmic mood, using synth-driven melodies, fuzzed-out guitar riffs, thundering drums, and lyrical themes meditating on interstellar deities. Known Moon’s unique brand of bouncy, melancholic indie rock runs from lo-fi drum sampling to atmospheric riffs and blistering, fuzzed-out solos. The band takes a different approach to each of its songs—staying true to the mantra behind the band’s name: Keep pushing forward past what is already known.

Big Al Dorn @ Mamie’s, 9 p.m.

Do you love live music? Do you love to dance and have a good time? Then Mamie’s is where you’ll want to be when Big Al Dorn lays down his Chicago blues and West Coast swing sounds.

Saturday, December 21

Holiday Benefit Concert for Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee and Mukwonago Food Pantry @ Cache Cider (2612 S. Greeley St. Suite 123), 1 p.m. 

A whole lot of music for a good cause. Tentative schedule includes Jonny T-Bird, Alan Williams, Rachel Raven, John Stano, Bill and Emmett, Stephen Ziel, Crow Eater, Keshena Armon, Jesús Villa, Nate Jenkins, Sludge Hawking, Dovekeeper, Denny Rauen, Sam Knutson and cider master Ethan Keller.

Rock-A-Billy Xmas Party with The Flood @ Art*Bar, 9p.m.

Grab image? https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=982702193885815&set=gm.1611149493137493

Break out your best flannel, plaid and holiday attire for Art*Bar’s Xmas party—a swing dance with the music of The Flood, drink specials and holiday swag galore.

Sunday, December 22

David HB Drake @ The Domes

David HB Drake’s “Let There Be Light!” presents folk songs of the Christmas season. For over four decades the folk singer has performed music inspired by his voyages across Midwestern prairies and the waters of the Great Lakes.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Lost Christmas Eve @ Fiserv Forum, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Lost Christmas Eve is a product of the imagination of and based on Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s double-platinum CD of the same name. The plot is one that resonates with people deeply over the holiday season; Alone on Christmas Eve, a bitter old businessman wandered New York City. Once a rising star, he’d traded love, family, and joy for a life of solitude and regret. The tragic loss of his wife hardened his heart, pushing him away from his infant son and into decades of isolation.

A chance encounter with a mysterious girl led him to a life-altering phone call. His son, who he abandoned decades ago, was alive, a gentle soul caring for troubled newborns in a maternity ward. After seeking him out, the son gives a silent and forgiving gaze to his long-lost father. As they sit together, comforting innocent infants, a new reunited life together begins.

Monday, December 23

The Commercialists play the music of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Grab image here? https://thecommercialistsmke.com/home

In what has become a tradition paying tribute to a tradition, The Commercialists play the music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas this December to kick off your holiday festivities. More dates to catch the show here https://thecommercialistsmke.com/shows

Poets Monday Featured Reader: Timothy Kloss @ Linneman's Riverwest Inn, 7:30 p.m.

Ringleader Timothy Kloss hosts the last Poets Monday of 2024. The event began in the early ‘90s at the fantastic Café Mélange in the Hotel Wisconsin before migrating to Thai Joe’s Bangkok Orchid in the Prospect Mall. Hard to believe it was 21 years ago that Kloss answered the call to host when the weekly event moved to Linneman's.

Back then the stage was above the bar and Kloss couldn’t see that situation working out. He was pleasantly surprised to find Linnemann’s had added a back room with a stage. Kloss seems to have settled in just fine.

Tuesday, December 24

Wednesday, December 25