Must-hear Milwaukee music
Music critic Piet Levy picks eight new local albums and songs you have to listen to in September.
The pandemic has been a trying time for local artists, but it hasn’t stymied their creativity, evident by a scene veteran’s inspired new solo project, a local rapper making his label debut and more inspired releases from Milwaukee artists out this month.
My picks for eight must-hear Milwaukee albums, EPs and songs for September are below in alphabetical order. And instead of just streaming the music, consider buying it, especially from Bandcamp when available on Sept. 4, when the service will waive its revenue share for all purchases.
‘Every Color Blue,’ Hayward Williams
Williams is a strong singer-songwriter with seven albums to his name, but even by his high standards, “Blue” is a golden collection, his voice, heavy and light in one breath, emboldened by assuring church organ on “If You Want Me to Beg” and Memphis soul horns on “Paradise Springs” — and launching him closer to the Springsteen stratosphere than ever before.
‘Folklorde,’ Lorde Fredd33
“Folklorde” is the rapper’s first EP for Downtown Records, the past and present home for artists like Gnarls Barkley, Major Lazer, Santigold and Cold War Kids, and while the cutesy title, with its allusions to Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” album, could have been Fredd33’s idea, it doesn’t seem to be on brand. Nevertheless, Fredd33 continues to be a singularly enigmatic and adventurous force on “Folklorde,” especially toward the EP’s end, when “Reparations,” with its spiritual undertones, segues into the visceral rappunk rage of “Jumper.” At seven tracks and 22 minutes, “Folklorde” doesn’t carry the same heft as his brilliant 2018 LP “Norf: The Legend of Hotboy Ronald,” but it’s good to see an artist’s vision rewarded with a larger platform.
‘I Wish You Could See What I See,’ Maal Himself
Following the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake Aug. 23, rapper Maal Himself ’s latest album seems especially timely — although its message has been timely for generations. On opening track “Mourning Papers,” the music gives way to the anguished cries of Sedan Smith, from a viral video interview after his brother Sylville Smith was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer, sparking the unrest in Sherman Park in 2016. “I’m truly broke inside,” Maal Himself says. “My wife asked my five-year plan, and I said, ‘I hope me and my baby still alive.’ And we both cried. Swear to God I’m so tired. We’re so tired.”
‘Lonely Girl,’ Reyna
Loneliness is a pretty universal feeling these days. Reyna makes smart, unifying pop music. Put the two together, and you’ve got an instantly infectious tune that speaks to our times and offers some respite from our isolated anxiety.
‘Long Distance Pandemic,’ GGOOLLDD
The Milwaukee-born synthpop group took its time crafting its debut album, this spring’s “Here We Are”; it arrived six years after the group’s first song. This track was made swiftly, for Austin radio station KUTX-FM’s “Song Confessional” series. Inspired by a new couple dealing with separation because of the pandemic, it’s one of the deepest, and most satisfying, songs the group has ever made, with Margaret Butler’s longing vocals buoyed by ’80s synth swells, recalling Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath.
‘Slightly Damaged,’ Floor Model
Floor Model isn’t one of the bestknown bands in the scene, but it’s been around for more than 20 years, and that experience shows on this shaggy, endearing collection of garage rockers that juxtaposes cynical lyrics with pulse-quickening hooks, and Jeff Callesen’s gruff vocals with Mark Diliberti’s sticky and sweet guitar licks.
‘Two Tickets to the Moon,’ Trolley
Trolley celebrated the 25th anniversary of its first show this year, and while the pandemic has prevented a big birthday bash at a local venue, this toe-tapping, Mod-flavored piece of pop, featuring the band’s signature lineup, is fair consolation, proving that Trolley hasn’t lost momentum.
‘Volume One: Juvenilia,’ The Beat Index
The Delphines and NO/NO were two of the coolest Milwaukee bands of the past decade, and both of them featured a crucial creative force in Harrison Colby. Now Colby is off on his own with an inspired new project The Beat Index, creating music from the sounds of a grocery store checkout on “World of Want,” and crafting irresistible retro electronic dance music that never wanes, not even on a lively, six-and-ahalf minute ‘80s club jam like “D.O.A.”
“Must-Hear Milwaukee Music” runs on or around the first of every month in the Journal Sentinel and at jsonline. com. If you have a new album, EP or song coming out, contact Piet Levy at plevy@journalsentinel.com for review consideration.