12 New Milwaukee Albums and Songs to Discover in October 2024

A new group of veterans of the Milwaukee music scene inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. A rock band releasing their first album after almost 40 years. An esteemed singer-songwriter who empowers trauma survivors through collaborative songs.

My dozen favorite new Milwaukee albums and EPs to check out for October really run the gamut. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

Who said the after-effects are always worse? That’s not the case for the prolific rapper’s seven-track album, a follow-up to a 2015 album that illustrates just how strong his flow and how sharp his ear has become, from the hypnotic “Hydroplane” to haunting “Psilocybin (Quick Trip)”. ” to the fainting “Loops”.

Less than a year after delving into cowpunk for “Call Me a Monster,” Rat Bath returns refreshed and with a new sound. Opening track “7 to 4” has traces of early No Doubt – vocalist Fred Kenyon’s range evokes that of Gwen Stefani – but fused with a bold, straightforward cutdown. But Kenyon also screams until they’re practically hoarse on grunge rockers like “I Eat My Enemies” before sliding comfortably into a tender-voiced ballad via “You Sly Dog, You Got Me Monologuing.”

After working in the Celtic punk band Whiskey of the Damned and releasing his own solo albums, veteran singer and guitarist Andrew David Weber leads a new band, American Progress, which offers his most confident expression to date, showing him a rock Zeppelin-style arena. -ready vocals for songs like “Disaster,” offering social commentary on “Bible,” and smoothly shifting into ska mode for “Outlaw.”

Singer-songwriter Cramer made his name from his current home base of Colorado, but Milwaukee is his hometown. On his ambitious three-part album “Forever Morning,” the gentle confidence of his Americana songwriting shines through, with the standout “The Fighting” showing what The War on Drugs could sound like if they were more firmly rooted in that path.

As the local punk band approaches its 40th anniversary, the group has finally released its first full-length album, which also serves as a tribute to founding guitarist Dan Franke, who worked on this collection before his death last December. Franke and his bandmates, including his friend and band co-founder, frontman Dave Reinholdt, preserve the raucous entertainment they’ve been creating in Milwaukee clubs for decades.

On last year’s “Indeniably Ground-Breakingly Excellent,” the rapper kicked off the project with a skit about being kidnapped to save the world. In the sequel, the child’s play is over: a woman in the intro apparently thanks him for his apology and for learning through therapy to hold himself accountable. The following tracks have the feel of a therapy session, with James trying to recover on the soulful “Tryna Heal”; trying to find joy again on “Stress Less”; and facing the fact that making music can interfere with the rest and relief needed on “Sleep When I’m Dead.” “It’s Giving Healed Black Man” is filled with directly and dynamically delivered epiphanies like these – but James’ production, wordplay, and charisma make it a fun listen.

Singer-songwriter Raasch has been somewhat of a loner with much of his output in recent years, but on “Shook” he found an inspired partner in Caley Conway, who juxtaposes softer vocals with confessions discouraged by Raasch on this five-song EP.

Beginning with hypnotic Gregorian-style chants on the title track that slowly build into whispered epiphanies (“I can’t change anyone/I can’t stop anyone from changing”) before opening up to birdsong and the charming melody by Maximiano, “The Real Truth” then transforms into a dusty Western epic, “You Have a Heart in Me”. Then Maximiano reduces the grandeur of the appropriate title “Simple”, without skimping on the depths. These are just the first three songs; the other eight are just as remarkable.

About a decade ago, IshDARR gained national attention with party-ready club hits like “Too Bad” and “Sugar,” helping to introduce Milwaukee hip-hop including many local rappers have benefited. But on his latest album, IshDARR’s sound – like the artist’s – grows. The stripped-down, soulful production is less inclined to make people dance than to make them think, drawing attention to a flow and lyricism that improves with age.

The Milwaukee supergroup, made up of past and present members of Promise Ring, Braid, Devil’s Teeth and other groups, draws inspiration from the fantasy escapism of the Lake Geneva-born role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and the friendships formed through epic gameplay. their first album. But you don’t need to know a single thing about D&D to be swept away by the album’s stoner party-rock charms.

“Confidence in the movements carried out”, field report

Struggling with writer’s block, Field Report’s Christopher Porterfield expanded his horizons. He signed on as a writer-in-residence for Rise & Thrive, which brings together professional artists with survivors of human trafficking and sexual violence, a program of the Lotus Legal Clinic. Inspired by the stories, poems and personalities of five survivors, Porterfield co-wrote five powerful and inspiring songs about the journey to find resilience, hope and happiness after immense suffering – spotlighting the survivors of a trauma which, in turn, will enlighten others who are in difficulty.

“Why the long phase? », Hello Face

Fight Dice isn’t the only Milwaukee supergroup to release their debut album. Hello Face is made up of members of Maritime, The Championship, The Benjamins and Carolina – and, like Fight Dice, creating good garage-rock vibes is the main goal. But the emotions and stories behind songs like the Smiths-inspired “Long Phase,” the neon synth-lit “Quiet Nights,” and the elegant acoustic ballad “No One Else” are on a comparatively more human scale.

“Must-Hear Milwaukee Music” appears around the first of each month in the Journal Sentinel and on jsonline.com. If you have a new album, EP or song coming, contact Piet Levy at [email protected] for consideration. Follow him on @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.