Alternative Rock
Photo credit: Dan Monick
Cold War Kids Stick to Their Guns
Ahead of their Big Snow Show performance at the Rave, Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett discusses balancing the band’s distinctive sound with their growing pop ambitions. Read more
Big Mother Gig Leads a Night of Milwaukee Alt-Rock Reunions Saturday at Turner Hall
Richard Jankovich can’t look back at Big Mother Gig’soriginal run without wondering what if. With a gleefully rough-around-the-edgessound akin to The Replacement and Soul Asylum, the band was making a solid namefor itself in the early ’90s, reg.. Read more
Photo by AJ Poquette
Eagle Trace’s Brotherly Alt-Rock
Eagle Trace are the first to admit their band lineup isn’t the most conventional. The group is made up of four brothers, Mitch, Max, Cass and Jackson Borgardt, and one unrelated guitarist, Broderick Coning. As Jackson explains, being in a ... Read more
Photo courtesy of pressherenow.com
Cage the Elephant Conquer Expectations on “Melophobia
Cage the Elephant’s third album, Melophobia, may prove to be the alt-rock band’s definitive release. Read more
Photo credit: Sam Shea
Grouplove w/ Portugal. The Man and STRFKR @ The Rave
A concert promoted as “The Honda Civic Tour” immediately raises questions about the authenticity and relative coolness of the event. Is this going to be a legitimate musical experience, or just,Concert Reviews Read more
Photo credit: Ross Zentner
Veruca Salt w/ Battleme @ Turner Hall Ballroom
Chicago band Veruca Salt experienced a swift rise to fame in 1994, helped along in no small part by the then all-powerful MTV bestowing significant airplay on their debut single, “Seether,” but,Concert Reviews Read more
The Joy Formidable’s Fragile Barrage
One of this year’s most effective music videos is also one of the most flagrantly ridiculous. In the grandiose black and white footage accompanying The Joy Formidable’s “Wolf’s Law,” the full cycle of life, if not the entire Read more
Walk The Moon’s Chipper Communal Rock
A lot of things were different for Walk The Moon when it came time to record their second album. Where the group’s debut, I Want! I Want!, was self-produced and self-released, the band signed to major label RCA Read more
Fudging the Facts on Health Care and Deficits
Facts always matter, but never more so than when politicians deal with issues of real consequence, like health care and budget deficits.Data sets and out-year projections may make everybody's eyes glaze over, but without accurate informatio... Read more
Symphonic Benchmarks
Guest conductor James Gaffigan kicks off the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 schedule with a concert comprising two very different symphonies and a contemporary concerto.Though Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91) composed music throughout his all... Read more
Voting Commences to Name Summerfest's New Music Fest
Voting begins today on the name and logo for Summerfest's upcoming alternative music festival at yourmusicfest.com. The options are... interesting. I don't pretend to know much about marketing and design, but it seems to me that two of the three f.. Read more
The Top Alternative Song of the 2000s?
FM 102.1 has been running its top 200 songs of the 2000s countdown all week, so at this point I don't think I'm spoiling anything if I note the countdown's top song: "Seven National Army" by The White Stripes. It's an inspired choice. In a dec.. Read more
Cage The Elephant: Worse Than Asher Roth
While critics are reserving their heaviest fire for the mostly innocuous Asher Roth, a one-man Flobot with delussional Eminem aspirations, a much more obnoxious monster is gaining traction: Cage The Elephant. Through means I don't full.. Read more
If I Were a Carpenter...
During the CD sales boom of the '90s, labels didn't need much of an excuse to release a tribute album, and although most of the decade's compilations were cheap cash-ins, a handful are true treasures. 1994's If I Were a Carpenter, which I found bu.. Read more
Short Orders (The Motor)
The Harley-Davidson Museum opened just in time for the corporation's 105th anniversary celebration this summer. The Motor restaurant proved to be a popular attraction with its exciting steel and gl,Dining Out Read more
New Holiday Tradition
Milwaukee's holiday theater season is filled with tradition: The Rep's A Christmas Carol i A Christmas Carol ,Theater Read more
Bush w/ The Murmurs @ The Rave, 1995
The ever-wonderful Ryan Miller introduced me to some of his fellow FM 102.1 DJs last night at the Shepherd’s Best of Milwaukee party, and our conversation turned to songs long since retired from the station’s regular play list. We covered favorite.. Read more
Revisiting Ned's Atomic Dustbin
A decade later the Internet would begin to rob music of its monetary value, but in the early ’90s, music was expensive, and I couldn’t afford much of it. A compact disc might cost $12 or $13, which was a lot of lot of cash for an 11 year old, so .. Read more
