http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/blogs-1-1-1-11.html Saying Titus Andronicus singer Patrick Stickles bears a resemblance to Conor Oberst is akin to saying Owl City sounds faintly like the Postal Service. Stickles’ throaty quiver is the mirror image of Oberst’s, indistinguishable in both timbre and cadence. The only real difference between the two is temporal: While Oberst’s roar has tamed over the years, Stickles taps the singer’s youthful fury, which makes his recordings wi]]> The National teased their upcoming May 11 album High Violet with an appearance on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" last night, performing the "Terrible Love," another lovely, wound-licking track that announces early its intentions of building to something grander, yet blindsides you anyway with the sheer force of its climax. So many of Matt Berninger's songs are about doing the wrong thing because it's easy or comfortable.]]> Summerfest's upstart alternative music festival was finally christened this week following a competition to name the event: It will be called the Verge Music Festival. The festival, which will debut at the Summerfest grounds on June 4 and 5, also announced its preliminary lineup. The performers include: Weezer AFI Three Days Grace Crash Kings Eagles of Death Metal Cold ]]> I’m reluctant to admit it, but I don’t listen to much independent or alternative hip-hop these days, or at least not nearly as much as I did in college, when Rhymesayers, Def Jux and Stones Throw records were as much a part of my diet as ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese. I’ve had a hard time pinpointing exactly why independent rap stopped speaking to me, aside from a vague feeling that the genre had grown stagnant, but it w]]> Plastic Beach, the third album from Gorillaz, features contribution from, among many others, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, De La Soul, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith and The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. That dazzling guest list, however, eclipses one conspiciously downplayed absence: Danger Mouse, the producer who gave Gorillaz’s last album, 2005’s Demon Days, its triumphant punch. Head Gorilla Damon Albarn had traded]]> Summerfest announced this morning its first round of side stage headliners for 2010, a typically eclectic mix of returning staples and a few acts new to the festival. The acts are listed below by date: June 24: Sheryl Crow Colbie Caillat June 25: Public Enemy Jeff Beck June 26 Thievery Corporation Phil Vassar June 30: Moody Blues Chevelle Puddle of Mudd July 1: The Hold Steady Date undetermined: Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) ]]> It was less than two months ago that Milwaukee's rap scene got its first compilation; today it receives a second. The Connecticut-based rap blog The Mad Bloggers spent February profiling Milwaukee's hip-hop scene from afar for the first in a planned series of month-long city exposes, and the bloggers are now featuring many of the artists they interviewed on a free, downloadable compilation they've released with 91.7 WMSE called MKE's Best.  ]]> Sometime between the recording of their 2008 debut, Take Me To the Sea, and their new Hologram Jams, former Pretty Girls Make Graves member Jay Clark left Jaguar Love, reducing the band to just a duo of former Blood Brothers Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato. Ironically, Clark’s departure makes the group sound less like the Blood Brothers than before, since they’ve replaced him with a drum machine, fully embracing its processed aesthet]]> In the early ’70s Marvin Gaye released a pair of the R&B’s most revolutionary albums ever: 1971’s socially charged What’s Going On and 1973’s sexually liberated Let’s Get It On. There’s a reason they weren’t combined into a double album. Perhaps the most devout of Gaye’s many devotees, contemporary crooner Raheem DeVaughn set to make a classic theme album in the spirit of Marvin Ga]]> 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 finalists convey reasonably well that this event will be a Milwaukee music festival, while a third seems to suggest that this will be a new extreme magic performance piece by Chris Angel, Mindfreak. Feel ]]> Milwaukee rapper Yo-Dot’s new mixtape, Dot Balistrerri, opens with a Godfather-esque orchestral interpolation of the infamous “you can’t stop me now” riff from The Whatnauts’ “Message From A Black Man,” before erupting a half minute later into the militaristic rumble of “Push Em Back Track,” its drums mixed so loud they implode under the weight of the compression. One track is soft, the other ]]> Apparently Milwaukee isn't the only Midwestern city with a schoolgirl crush on Wilco. From a blog post from The Cap Times in Madison, where the band performed this weekend: After receiving some admonishment from the rock band Wilco at their sold-out concert at the Overture Center last week, one City Council member is setting the record straight on the city's fondness for the frequent musical visitors by declaring them honorary citizens of t]]> Radio Milwaukee 88.9 announced this afternoon the winners of its annual Milwaukee Music Awards. Unlike last year, when the burgeoning soul revival band Kings Go Forth dominated the awards, winning five categories, this year's awards were much more evenly distributed, with no nominee taking home more than two. The top honors went to rapper Kid Millions with album of the year and the Americana band The Championship with song of the year, while the ]]> To the good people at Summerfest- I was thrilled last month when you announced plans for a new alternative music festival this June. The lakefront Summerfest grounds are one of the city’s defining resources, and it’s encouraging to see them put to additional use in any way. This festival holds particular promise. It could be integral in branding Milwaukee as a lively, cutting-edge city for young adults, something that Summ]]> Japandroids' debut album Post-Nothing was one of last year's best debuts, unmistakable in its vision: just two guys kicking up fuzzy garage-pop songs on guitar and drums. It's easy to see why so many critics touted it in their top 10 lists; Post-Nothing was pretty much perfect for what it was.  Japandroids seemed so comfortable in their skin on that album that it's a bit of a surprise that they've suddenly shed it on their latest track]]> It’s fitting that Shearwater conceived their latest album, The Golden Archipelago, as an escape fantasy about life on an isolated island, considering how insular the group has become. Since their split from their sister band Okkervil River a half decade ago, the group has honed an entirely singular sound, forging grand nature calls around oceanic melodies, elemental percussion and the broken choirboy cries of leader Jonathan Meiburg. With e]]> The Wisconsin Area Music Industry announced today the nominees for its 30th awards show. The WAMI Awards have made great strides toward becoming less insular over the last several years, and by and large this year's list of nominees is pretty astute, including many of the state's breakout musicians from the past couple years and the most probable breakouts of next year—though the WAMI's usual bias toward WAMI members remains in some of the ]]> Milwaukee has been an increasingly large presence at the annual South by Southwest music festival, with over a dozen local artists making the trek to Austin, Texas, to perform last year. At this March's festival, Milwaukee looks to be even more visible. Five Milwaukee acts have been selected to play official SXSW showcase shows: * Jaill * Collections of Colonies of Bees * Juiceboxxx * French Horn Rebellion * Kings Go Forth ]]> I don’t usually concede this, but sometimes it’s better not to read the reviews. There are times when album reviews give a framework with which to appreciate an album, offering context that aids in the enjoyment of music, but sometimes they do just the opposite, robbing an album of its mystique. That is particularly true of Gorilla Manor, the debut album by the Los Angeles quintet Local Natives. Released stateside this week t]]> Jagjaguwar Records, already home to two of singer-songwriter Justin Vernon's projects, Bon Iver and Volcano Choir, announced today a release by a new supergroup featuring Vernon: Gayngs. The lineup is spectacular and a little bizarre, featuring members of Solid Gold, Megafaun and The Rosebuds, as well as Doomtree rappers P.O.S. and Dessa. Today's Jagjaguwar press release offers some much-needed context about the band and its upcoming album, which]]>