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Photo credit: Katie Hovland
Laura Jane Grace
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Electric Six
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Jeremy Enigk
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Robyn Hitchcock
Zed Kenzo releases her new EP, and Milwaukee Zine Fest celebrates DIY publishing.
Thursday, April 4
Zed Kenzo w/ DJ Drip Sweat @ No Studios, 8 p.m.
Milwaukee rapper Zed Kenzo emerged last year from the city’s Backline program with a bunch of new music to share. This year, she’s released a steady stream of exciting new singles, which have alternatingly spotlighted her wild flow and her ear for sweet, sticky hooks. She’ll celebrate the release of her new EP, Baby Swag, with this listening party on rooftop of No Studios (1037 W. McKinley Ave.). Tickets are free, but an RSVP is required.
Friday, April 5
Photo credit: Katie Hovland
Laura Jane Grace
Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers w/ Mercy Union and Control Top @ The Rave, 7:30 p.m.
Laura Jane Grace made history in 2012 when, after more than a decade fronting the punk band Against Me!, she came out as transgender, instantly becoming one of the most famous trans musicians in the world. She’s done some of her finest work since. Against Me!’s 2014 effort Transgender Dysphoria Blues was the band’s most exhilarating yet, a remarkable raw record that recaptured the spark of the band’s earliest, punkiest material. Last year, under the moniker Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, Grace released a solo record featuring material she felt would sound out of place on an Against Me! album. Inspired by heartland rockers like Tom Petty, it’s a bit rootsier than the typical Against Me! release, but it still delivers plenty of punk thrills.
WMSE Art & Music @ The Pritzlaff, 6 p.m.
Milwaukee’s independent radio station WMSE 91.7 will showcase some of the city’s best art, music and food as its Art & Music event. More than 300 album-sized pieces of art will be auctioned, in addition to live paintings by artists including Matthew Bailey, Megan Woodard Johnson, Brendan Murphy, Carol Rode Curley, Paula DeStefanis, William Hurst and Megan Lee Nichols. DJ Robert G of WMSE’s “Reggae Vibration” will provide the music, while local restaurants will serve food and craft cocktails.
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Rocket Cat w/ Flat Teeth and Mortgage Freeman @ Anodyne Coffee, 8 p.m.
The Milwaukee band Rocket Cat blends the sweet melodies of power-pop and alternative rock with the driving force of ’80s hard rock and sound that’s earned them a local following and two Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award nominations. At this show, they’ll celebrate the release of their new LP Little Lights, joined on the bill by a pair of zippy Milwaukee rock bands, Flat Teeth and Mortgage Freeman.
Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.
Sometimes, the line between cult favorite and bona fide star can be maddeningly thin. Just ask Robyn Hitchcock, who has at various points in his long career seemed primed for mass recognition he never quite received, though he’s plenty celebrated in songwriting circles and in his native England. From his wonderful jangle pop records with the band The Soft Boys in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Hitchcock found acclaim while exploring psychedelic sounds as a solo artist, then he gradually phased out those influences to let the songs speak for themselves on a series of albums inspired by Bob Dylan. Produced in Nashville by Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs, his latest self-titled album features guest harmony vocals from some of Hitchcock’s longtime admirers, including Grant Lee Phillips, Gillian Welch, Emma Swift and Wilco’s Pat Sansone.
The Eighth Annual Milwaukee Blues Festival, 8 p.m.
While Chicago-style electric blues tends to get the most attention around these parts of the Midwest, the Eighth Annual Milwaukee Blues Festival has lined up a bill of performers from the more soulful, Southern-end of the blues spectrums. The bill features Tucka, Sir Charles Jones, Pokey Bear, Theodis Ealey, Latimore and Terry Wright, performers who for the most part aren’t afraid to infuse a little bit of R&B into their sound. Tickets are priced between $56 and $129.
Saturday, April 6
Legends of Hip-Hop @ Miller High Life, 8 p.m.
Too Short fans didn’t have to wait too long before seeing him again. Less than six months after the Bay Area rap legend headlined the Miller High Life Theatre, he’s back as part of another lineup of veteran hip-hop talent. The Legend of Hip-Hop tour puts the spotlight on some of the genre’s most celebrated southern stars, including Juvenile, Scarface, DJ Quik, 8 Ball and MJG, and Bun B of UGK fame. Tickets are priced between $62 and $128.
Milwaukee Zine Fest @ Milwaukee Public Library Central Branch, 10:30 a.m.
Though the internet has given voice to anybody with an opinion and a laptop, it has done little to curb zine culture. As long as there is paper, it seems, there will always be writers, music fans, artists and cartoonists eager to self-publish their works. Dozens of such zinemakers will be displaying and selling their work at the 11th annual Milwaukee Zine Fest, a free event that also features workshops. Zines from all over the Midwest will be on display, including ones dedicated to feminism, horror, politics, punk and comics. After the fest there will be a meet-and-greet and zine swap at Facilitating Situations (706 S. Fifth St.) from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and then a casual mingle at Fuel Café’s Walker’s Point location.
Monday, April 8
Jeremy Enigk
Jeremy Enigk and Tomo Nakayama @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Few figures in emo loom larger than Jeremy Enigk, who with his band Sunny Day Real Estate recorded one of the genre’s greatest debuts, 1994’s Diary. That album remains the band’s high watermark, but all of Enigk’s albums have a way of sounding even better in hindsight, including his divisive 1996 solo debut Return of the Frog Queen, an ambitious work he recorded with a 21-piece orchestra. His confessional songwriting continues to influence many of the leading acts of emo’s current wave. After releasing a typically moving solo album in 2017 called Ghosts, Enigk is back on the road, touring with a full band. He’s joined on this bill by Seattle singer/songwriter Tomo Nakayama.
Tuesday, April 9
Electric Six
Electric Six w/ DaveTV, The First Rule and Beaker @ Club Garibaldi, 7:30 p.m.
With a little help from a red-hot Jack White, Electric Six scored one of 2003’s most memorable singles with “Danger! High Voltage,” a timely slab of infectious dance-rock. The Detroit group wasn’t able to parlay the excitement around that song into lasting mainstream success, but they’ve maintained a loyal fan base through rigorous touring and a steady output of reliably fun (if less than groundbreaking) albums, which have doubled down on the group’s manic, four-on-the-floor grooves while also exploring darker, more rock-based territory. Their recent records, including 2016 Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres, double down on cheeky humor while nodding to the digital sounds of ’80s pop and synth-rock.
Wednesday, April 10
Uli Jon Roth @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Before they glammed up their sound and became a hair-metal band, Scorpions were one of the most inventive metal acts of their time, especially during their mid-to-late ’70s run, when Uli Jon Roth served as their lead guitarist and a primary songwriter. Unhappy with the band’s commercial ambitions, he split from the group in 1978 and went on to continue exploring neo-classical metal with his next band, Electric Sun, and then as a solo artist. He also invented his own guitar, the six-octave Sky guitar, which was designed to evoke the higher registers of a violin. Many of his solo studio albums are planted solidly in prog-rock (he’s recorded a few of them with orchestras), but recently Roth seems to be in a Scorpions state of mind. His latest releases feature new arrangements of songs from the Scorpions songbook.
