Wednesday 11/28: Bill Orcutt, Jon Mueller @ Union South

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Bill Orcutt formed the legendary Miami noise rock band Harry Pussy with Adris Hoyos in the early 1990s. In the process of releasing approximately seven albums in five years and touring with Sebadoh and the Dead C, Orcutt mastered an awkwardly-tuned electric guitar with four strings, while Hoyos' brutal drum attacks and heart-wrenching screams dropped the jaws of a young Chris Corsano.

In 2009, eleven years after the dissolution of Harry Pussy, Orcutt returned to music with a self-released acoustic album, A New Way To Pay Old Debts. Since then, he's released a slew of 7" singles, a one-sided LP titled Way Down South, and another full-length LP How the Thing Sings. He surprisingly maintains a bit of sonic continuity between Harry Pussy and this new solo material. He still plays with four strings on an acoustic guitar — to be specific, a busted Kay he's owned since college that won't stay in tune. According to a review by NPR of 2011's How the Thing Sings: "No one is playing acoustic guitar like Bill Orcutt right now. No one." It's true. Having already destroyed music as we know it (cf. Harry Pussy's What Was Music?), Orcutt has emerged from the rubble to begin reconstructing it, piece by piece, the only way he knows how.

On Wednesday night, fans of John Fahey and noise rock should head over to Prairie Fire (a coffeehouse in Union South), to enjoy a free acoustic performance by Orcutt. To get a taste of his unique sound, check out his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner:

Also performing is Jon Mueller, a blistering avant-garde percussionist from Milwaukee. He just digitally released a new album Death Blues — which features him on drums, hammered acoustic guitar, and vocals — and it's actually incredible.

November 28th. Union South. 1308 W. Dayton Street. 9:30pm. Free. All ages.

Plenty of recordings and videos from Orcutt and Mueller after the jump.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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After all this time off with relatively few posts, next week we'll begin assembling a guide to our favorite places and things in Madison. Until then, eat some pie!

Monday 11/19: The Babies, The Wets, The Savage Boys @ Mickey's Tavern

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There's going to be a great show tonight at Mickey's Tavern. The Babies are a Brooklyn garage pop band featuring members of Vivian Girls and Woods. They are currently touring in support of their second album Our House on the Hill, which just came out last week on Woodsist. You can stream it over at Spin before picking up a copy at the show tonight from the band or — if you can't wait — your favorite local record store (Mad City Music and Strictly Discs are both carrying it).



Also playing are Madison's Savage Boys, which is a stripped down version of the Lonesome Savages, and The Wets, a local slow pop group featuring yours truly.

Tonight. Mickey's Tavern. 1521 Williamson Street. 10pm. Free. 21+.

Friday 11/9: Tyvek with the Lonesome Savages @ Good Style Shop

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Madison is in for a treat on Friday, November 9 when Detroit's finest export Tyvek graces the Good Style Shop. By way of introduction: Tyvek is the project of Kevin Boyer and a rotating cast of musicians, a project too smart to be garage rock and too weird to be punk, but taking cues from both genres. Tyvek really found their footing with 2010's Nothing Fits, a sneering exposé on the reduction in the quality of life seen across the States at the time. It was a perfect document of the times, angry but wry, standing up and yelling at a time when other artists hid behind reverb and mumbled about VHS tapes or something.

Fast forward two years and the band drops the On Triple Beams LP, yet another essential document of living in squalor, in a society succumbing to its own decadence, and feeling like you can't do anything about it. This time around the band plays with restraint and repetition and it works in spades, giving us catchy scream-alongs ("Say Yeah," "Wayne County Roads") and songs that play the same chords until they crack ("Scaling," "Efficiency"). It's Tyvek's best record to date, and it's gonna be really fun to catch them at the top of their game.

Tyvek plays Friday, November 9 at the newly renovated Good Style Shop (817 E. Johnson Street) at 9pm. Bring $5 for the touring band. Madison's own Lonesome Savages will open, and there will be intermittent DJ sets by local celebrities Joel and Lauden.

Some videos from Tyvek and the Lonesome Savages can be found after the jump...

Thursday 10/25: Stacian, Joel Shanahan, Conjuror @ Good Style Shop

Stacian (photo: Chris Kalis)

The Good Style Shop just reopened their vintage clothing boutique in the space formerly known as the Project Lodge. While it's very sad to see the Project Lodge gone (for the time being?), the Good Style folks will still be hosting live music as well as local visual art. Tonight is the first show in the new shop, so it's a good time to check out what they've done with the space as well as catch some avant-tunes.

Tonight's headliner is none other than Stacian, the galactic coldwave champion of Milwaukee. She will have copies of her album Songs for Cadets, just released this week on vinyl and compact disc by Moniker Records. 

The Joel Shanahan octet will be performing an original composition for guitar and synthesizer. The central concept is for seven guitarists to emulate one guitarist using a delay pedal. The octet features members of All Tiny Creatures, Kitty Rhombus, Pioneer, Surgeons in Heat, Crane Your Swan Neck, Jivas, Czarbles, and the Wets. 

Conjuror is a freaky organic noise project by Ian Adcock. This is his second show.

Good Style Shop. 817 East Johnson Street. 8pm. $3. All ages.