This Week in MKE Music: Oct. 10-16, 2024

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

by

A rare appearance by Universal Light and Wooden Wand, Boris’ extreme heaviosity, Trashfest returns, Colin O’Brien’s new album release, The dB’s reunite for a victory lap and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!

Thursday, Oct. 10

Universal Light and Wooden Wand @ Acme Records & Music Emporium, 8 p.m.

An evening of music off the beaten path, hosted in the funky confines of a unique record store. Universal Light is Jesse Sheppard (12-string guitar from the band Elkhorn), Mike Gangloff (fiddle from Pelt and the legendary Black Twig Pickers) and Kaily Schenker (cello from Solar Hex). The evening also rare solo appearance by Wooden Wand aka James Jackson Toth, playing for the first time in over seven years. Old weird America, psych-folk? Hard to say what the evening will bring, but here is betting it will be interesting.

Boris – ‘Amplifier Worship Service’ w/ Starcrawler @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.

Tokyo’s Boris is performing all the songs off their first album, having already reached a quarter-century since the release of that debut, Amplifier Worship. Boris has been in constant pursuit of their own ideal “heavy” since their formation in 1992. From the outset they evolved at a rapid pace, establishing a unique style with extreme downtuning and megavolume. Their broad sense of heavy rock swelled grotesquely, as it engulfed powerviolence, ambient and drone, with a trance component of krautrock and so on.

Friday, Oct. 11

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades w/Ladybird @ The Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.

The folk-bluegrass string band that met as students at UW-Stevens Point plays joyous concerts that veer into detours of introspection—but not for long. With all five members writing material the sound subtly refracts the different personalities. It’s not unusual for fiddler Collin Mettelka and banjoist Russell Pedersen to take off on a mid-show duet of uptempo instrumentals.

Friends of the Shepherd

Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

LEARN MORE

For Old Time's Sake, the band’s 2022 album, played like a jukebox beyond genre. If it was a place holder collecting traditional tunes and covers, then here’s hoping it’s high time for a waterfall of new material.

Colin O’Brien CD Release Thirteen w/ Bill Camplin @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 8 p.m.

The songs—a baker’s dozen, natch—all but one written by Colin O’Brien, move from playfulness to dread, from virtuosity to whimsy: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/colin-obrien-returns-with-new-album-thirteen.

O’Brien says the songs were not written with an album in mind.

“I resurrected the 12-string (a 1971 Guild f-212) in 2022. A pretty major rebuild, it was. To be honest it's a bit of a mystery what compelled me to do that More of one looking back, because at the time I was just drawn back,” he says of the guitar that had spent almost 12 years in the case. “One day I took the case down, opened it up and I had a sense that it was re-born and another, that I was. I tuned it up. When I played it, I needed nothing more. The instrument feels like a self-sustaining place in and of itself. Or rather transports me to that place.”

Bill Camplin, in a rare opening slot, has been refining and burnishing his songwriting for decades. The combination of his voice and low-tuned Martin acoustic guitar is perfectly suited for this listening room setting.

Acid Mothers Temple w/ Spirit Mother, Spidora and Rare Visions Liquid Light Show @ Cactus Club, 8 p.m.

Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective has a slogan, “Do Whatever You Want, Don’t Do Whatever You Don’t Want!”  They have played Milwaukee Psych Fest. Formed in 1995 by Makoto Kawabata at the same time as the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective, the group released its debut album in 1997 on PSF Records (Japan), and it of the U.S. and Europe. Since then, the group has released over 80 albums and has performed in collaboration with many musicians including psychedelic originators Gong and Guru Guru, Simeon (Silver Apples), Nik Turner (Hawkwind) and the Occitanian trad singer Rosina de Peira. Japanese collaborators have included Afrirampo, Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Maso Yamazaki (Masonna), Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Jun Kuriyama (The Ox) and many others.

Saturday, Oct. 12

Bright Star – Concert Performance @ UW-Milwaukee, Arts Center Theatre Building, Mainstage Theatre (2400 E. Kenwood Blvd.), Also Sunday 

Acoustic duo Frogwater shares the stage with a stellar cast in this tale of love and redemption set in the mountains of North Carolina in the mid-20th century. Written by Steve Martin and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, Bright Star features a Tony-nominated score with a bluegrass musical style all its own.

This uplifting and heart-rending story inspired by true events follows a literary editor and a young soldier just home from World War II on their transformative journey through loss and separation to grace, reconciliation and reunion.

Info here: uwm.edu/arts/event/bright-star-concert-performance.

Trashfest @ Falcon Bowl, 7 p.m.

Trashfest turns 40 this Saturday at Polish Falcon, 7 p.m. with a lineup of Milwaukee’s great trashy artists. But it will be missing its trashiest artiste. One of the event’s prime movers, Paul Lawson, died recently leaving a long legacy in Milwaukee music: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/trashfest-without-founder-paul-lawson.

This year’s lineup includes nervis virgins, Unpeeled Banana, Dick Taste (like Frito), Sha Na Not, Uncomfortable Moments, Ted Jorin, Fox & Hound, The Galaxy MF and Meat Puppies.

October 2024 Céilí @ Celtic MKE Center - Wauwatosa, 7 p.m.

What's a céilí (kay-lee)? It's an Irish dance gathering played to traditional Irish music, and with a live band and  a dance caller, not unlike square dances. And you don't need to know how, because the caller teaches you each dance before you go for it. This month's céilí at the CelticMKE Center is at 7:00 on Saturday, doors at 6:30, and will be called by the energetic Éamonn de Cógáin with music by Fearn. Details at celticmke.com.

Sunday, Oct. 13

The dB’s w/Terry Alan Hackbarth @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

In 1981, The dB’s debut album Stands for deciBels was released by UK label Albion Records. The original lineup of the band has regrouped for dates to celebrate the first U.S. vinyl pressing on Propeller Sound Recordings.

The dynamic of the reunited quartet—whose members have known each other since grade school—hasn’t changed since Will Rigby met Peter Holsapple in 1964. “There wasn’t that many people playing rock music so the ones that were, certainly knew of each other,” Rigby says.

It turns out 1981 was a busy year for the band. Although Stands for deciBels was recorded in 1980, the band was unable to secure a U.S. deal so it was released a year later on by Albion. In summer 1981 the band recorded the follow up LP, Repercussion.

“We were sort of based out of London for a lot of 1981. We did a tour there, recorded a single and in the summer recorded our second album. We spent quite a bit of time in London that year,” Rigby says.

Monday, Oct. 14

Present Music – PM Underground @ Miller Caves, 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

This year, on Indigenous Peoples Day, Raven Chacon, My Brightest Diamond and Carla Kihlstedt will join Present Music for a special event in the hand-dug Historic Miller Caves: shepherdexpress.com/music/music-feature/present-music-goes-underground.

It’s a fundraiser with proceeds supporting a trio of albums by Present Music set for release in the coming years. It’s also a last-minute addition to the ensemble’s 2024-25 season, “a sneaky way to get back to a six-concert season,” says PM’s co-artistic director, Eric Segnitz.

More info here: presentmusic.org/events/event-one-xkw9r.

Tuesday, Oct. 15

Chamber Music Milwaukee - A Celebration of Yehuda Yannay @ Peck School of the Arts (2400 E Kenwood Blvd.), 7:30 p.m.

For its opening concert, Chamber Music Milwaukee celebrates the late composer Yehuda Yannay (1937-2023). Yannay taught composition at UW-Milwaukee and enjoyed an international career spanning six decades. UWM faculty and guests will perform a sample of Yehuda’s chamber music including his piano trio, Hidden Melodies for horn and cello, Tandem pieces for horn and Bayan and “The Exquisite Viola” transcribed for solo violin. More info here: uwm.edu/arts/event/chamber-music-milwaukee-a-celebration-of-yehuda-yannay.