Sunday 6/3: Second Family Band, Spires That In The Sunset Rise, Million Brazilians, Schafer & Shanahan Duo @ Dragonfly Lounge

Second Family Band (via)

Madison's freak folk collective Second Family Band (formerly the Davenport Family) will be making a rare public appearance at the Dragonfly tonight.  Their performances are known to "typically include varying combinations of drums and other percussion, guitars, vocals, synthesizers, piano, organs, violins, flutes, electronics, sound sculpture, field recordings, more synths, sitar, sticks, rocks, and stones." Hey, you could make a bingo board with each space corresponding to a different member playing some sort of instrument, and play along! Or you could just hang out and enjoy the vibes.

Also playing will be Portland's Million Brazilians (self-described "dungeon jazz," i.e., Silver Daggers but with less prog-skronk), Chicago's Spires That In The Sunset Rise (excellent psych folk, check out the video below), and a collaboration between Troy Schafer And Joel Shanahan (playing violin and synthesizer, respectively).

TONIGHT. Dragonfly Lounge. 401 East Washington Avenue. 9:30pm. $5. 21+.

More live videos after the jump.

Saturday 6/2: Ami Dang, Problem Child, Drunjus, DJ Evan Woodward @ Project Lodge

Ami Dang

Amrita "Ami" Kaur Dang is a vocalist, sitarist, and composer/producer from Baltimore, MD and New Delhi, India. She's a member of the Wham City collective and is bringing her fresh "Bollywave" tunes to the Project Lodge this evening. I thought the genre name was a little goofy until I checked out her music:

Madison's own lo-fi techno-pop vhs-aficionados Problem Child and minimalist drone nerds Drunjus will be opening, and DJ Evan Woodward will be playing records between sets.

TONIGHT. Project Lodge. 817 East Johnson. 8pm. Probably $5. All ages.

Better late than never: Gilead Media Music Festival happened in Oshkosh, WI on April 28th and 29th

Gilead Media, the extreme music label founded in Oshkosh, WI by Adam Bartlett, presented a two-day festival of black metal, doom and punk on April 28 and 29 at the Electric Lounge & Lanes. I have a strong disdain for music festivals because I'm a grump, but the lineup was too good to pass up. It was a tremendous success for many reasons, and I know I'm not the only one hoping that Adam will consider making the festival a regular or semi-regular event.

I've provided a brief recap of the weekend below, complete with my blurry pictures that I managed. The short of all of it is this: I had an awesome time at this music festival, and if it happens again next year, I highly recommend you go. The bands were all good-to-great, the crowd was polite, the drinks were cheap, and Oshkosh was kind of charming. No complaints to be found here.

Band-by-band, day-by-day recap after the jump...

Monday 5/21: Kurt Vile & the Violators, Black Bananas @ High Noon Saloon

 Kurt Vile (photo via)

Kurt Vile's latest heartland indie rock album, Smoke Ring for My Halo, appeared high on the lists of several big media "Top 50 Albums of 2011" lists.  He rules at guitar and will be channeling the guitar/vocal rock greats tonight at the High Noon.

Black Bananas is the latest alt-classic rock band fronted by Jennifer Herrema (ex-Royal Trux/RTX), and their debut album Rad Times Xpress IV delivers exactly what anyone who's been following her music for the last two decades would expect.

I didn't say much, but I think enough has been said.  See you there!

High Noon Saloon. 701 East Washington Avenue. 8pm. 18+. $15.

Saturday 4/28: Nathan Englander @ James Madison Park

Nathan Englander (circa mid-90s)

Nathan Englander, the famous author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges as well as the more recent What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, will be reading in Madison on Saturday. Apparently he lives here sometimes (and even eats at Ha Long Bay!).

The event is being put on by the lit-journal Madison Review, and is happening inside a synagogue.

Afterwards there's a party at Brocach (the irish pub on the capitol square).

Gates of Heaven, James Madison Park. 302 E. Gorham Street. 7:30pm. Free.