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Hood Smoke
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Photo credit: Andrew Macpherson
Chris Isaak
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$uicideBoy$
The Waukesha Rotary BluesFest and Center Street Daze Festival arrive in Milwaukee, followed by concerts by $uicideBoy$, Chris Isaak, the Tritonics, Hood Smoke and Adrian + Meredith.
Thursday, August 8
Adrian + Meredith w/ Wise Jennings @ John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 6 p.m.
Adrian + Meredith make a different sort of roots racket. Their release, More Than A Little, finds the pair putting their own spin on Americana music, roughing up the genre’s edges with the rule-breaking spirit of punk, the vintage twang of old-timey folk, the sneer of rock ’n’ roll and even the frenetic bounce of early swing and jazz manouche.
Opener Wise Jennings, a husband-and-wife duo, have made a name for themselves delivering high-energy shows with a unique songwriting and performance style. Says one observer: “They sound like a punk, psychobilly, alt-Americana, outlaw country burrito if there was such a thing and you could listen to it.”
Friday, August 9
Waukesha Rotary BluesFest @ Naga-Waukee Park
The two-day annual blues festival is headlined by The Fabulous Thunderbirds on Friday and Joanne Shaw Taylor on Saturday. Three decades and now a quintet, the Fab T-Birds continue to evolve but never venture too far from the source. Six albums into what looks to be a long career, British-born Taylor has settled in Detroit, where she collaborated with folks who played with Aretha Franklin. But the real prize in the crackerjack just might be Saturday’s set by Robert Kimbrough Sr. His father, Junior Kimbrough, pioneered the hypnotic electric, one-chord stomp of North Mississippi Hill Country Blues.
Hood Smoke
Hood Smoke @ The Jazz Estate, 8 p.m.
The Chicago jazz-funk combo’s sound builds from bass, adding wah-wah guitar, Fender Rhodes piano and vocals that get you moving and thinking. Great musicianship, plenty relevant lyrics and the occasional retro nod.
Saturday, August 10
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Center Street Daze Festival @ Center St. from Holton St. to Humboldt Blvd., Noon
Since 1997, Center Street Daze has showcased the best and most interesting Riverwest has to offer. Enjoy a classic car show, a pushcart race, an outdoor pool (billiard tournament), yoga, food vendors and music from Afrobeat to Jazz to punk to live talk on “Riverwest Radio”—six stages in fact, including Saebra & Carlyle, The Majestics, SistaStrings, Voot Warnings and more.
Monday, August 12
The Tritonics @ Lake Park Summer Stage, 6:30 p.m.
If there are two sides to every coin, what to make of the Tritonics? Don’t even think about it, just dance. Jeff Stehr and crew write and perform in the style of Jamaican rock steady, ska and reggae as well as covering the giants like Toots and the Maytals and The Heptones. The Tritonics also adapt songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, anointing them in the name of Jah with stripped down, Jamaican roots-style arrangements, one drop-centered rhythm and harmony-heavy vocals.
Tuesday, August 13
Photo credit: Andrew Macpherson
Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak @ Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Chris Isaak’s image sometimes gets more attention than his musical talent. Then again, Isaak has acted in films, had his own surrealistic television show and made countless appearances on the talk show circuit. He also has great taste in vintage-looking Western suits.
But back to the music. Isaak’s smooth rockabilly croon suggests Roy Orbison, and his songwriting is top-notch. He is touring on the 30th Anniversary of his Heart Shaped World album. When director David Lynch plucked that album’s noir ballad "Wicked Game" for Wild At Heart (1999), it was safe to say Isaak’s career as a boxer was over for good.
Wednesday, August 14
$uicideBoy$
$uicideBoy$ w/ Denzel Curry, City Morgue, GERM, Night Lovell and Trash Talk @ The Rave, 6 p.m.
Denzel Curry opens on $uicideBoy$’ North American tour stopping at The Rave. Curry’s latest album, ZUU, caught major attraction in May for its personal focus. From Carol City in southern Florida, Curry represents himself through his storytelling ability. The album references and samples South Florida natives like Blackland Radio 66.6 and MC Cool Rick and MC Chaszy Chess. Songs named after his father (“Ricky”) and reverences to lost loved ones like XXXTentacion and his brother Treon “Tree” Johnson pay homage to his family. It stays true to his roots, putting his own experience at the center of the album. ZUU certainly hits with hard beats and passionate energy influenced by the people and places fundamental to who he is today.
