5 Charms 03.25

Them Coulee Boys - No Fun in the Chrysalis (Eau Claire, WI; 2025)

Millions of mistakes were made
Just to have you here today
So maybe give yourself a break

Oh the heady days when Mumford first stomped that lil' kickdrum and shouted along with his Sons! The mainstreaming of skuzzy Americana back in the 2010s meant Mumford & co. sold over a million records in 2011. Them Coulee Boys wandered out of a coulee somewhere north of I94 to carry on the tradition of rumpled-shirted, beardy guys leading secular hymn singing in renovated theaters across the dusty mainstreets of mid-sized Wisconsin cities. I've been there in the audience, singing along, and Them Coulee Boys put on a great live show, but what first drew me to them is the sincere, kind, and wise singing of frontman Soren Staff. Yes, the Boys can jam with the best of 'em, with Beau Janke's raging electric banjo dueling with Jens Staff's towering electric mandolin. Don't get me wrong, Them are a complete package, but in a world of newgrass and jam bands, what sets Them Coulee Boys apart is Soren Staff's keening singing and fearless lyricism. Their tune "I Won't be Defined" is a gut punch that put me forever in their karmic debt. Their newest full length, "No Fun," is a beautiful record of indie folk rock songs, moving from rollicking bops like "Up Close" to spiritual tunes like "Ghosts (In 4 Parts)" culminating in the painfully honest mid-tempo rocker "I Am Not Sad." From a bible camp in Barron County to the massive outdoor stage of Blue Ox, Them Coulee Boys are on a trajectory that should lead them to selling a million albums. It's not too late to get in on their music--pick up a copy of "No Fun in the Chrysalis" from their website, go see them live, or download a copy at the link above, you will not regret it. Them Coulee Boys are:

Soren Staff - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Electric Guitar
Beau Janke - Banjo, Electric Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Synth, Vocals
Jens Staff - Mandolin, Electric Mandolin, Organ, Vocals
Neil Krause - Bass, Upright Bass, Organ, Vocals
Stas Hable - Drums, percussion, bells, dulcimer

Brett Newski - Jesus Freak / Piss in the Wind (Milwaukee, WI; 2025)

I'm in love with a Jesus freak
She tells me how to think and how to live my life

It's time to talk about Brett Newski. This guy has been touring since he graduated college, pretty much non-stop. And putting out great songs. He rubs elbows with the cool kids, but he hasn't moved out of Milwaukee. This review is for his new single, "Jesus Freak", but also for his new book, Piss in the Wind, which is a nice, pocket-sized tour diary of the time he's put in on the road. As an origin story, Piss in the Wind is a harrowing but fun journey through Newski's first solo "tour" across southeast Asia. As he moves from village to village, playing acoustic sets in dive bars and DIY spaces, the fiercely independent showman we know today begins to emerge. "If I'm goin to have any semblance of a 'music career,' [...] it must be a solo endeavor, where the only way the band breaks up is if you're dead." If you've never heard him before, Newski is not quite The Thermals, not quite Hwy 61-era Dylan, not quite the Violent Femmes, but his own flavor of classic/americana/acoustic/punk. Lo-fi 90s alternative pop rock is pretty close, and, "Jesus Freak," the first single from his upcoming record, drives down every side road of the genre--sneering vocals, juiced up chorus, twangy guitars, junky drum kit, thrown into a blender with a cup of pop rocks and a can of Old Time lemon lime. Brett Newski is doing his own thing, sounds like everybody while sounding like no one, and remains an iconoclast of Wisconsin music. You can support him by going to shows and pre-ordering his new record with the unwieldy title "AmeriCONa Pt. 1: Educating the Freeloaders on How to Buy Art," which he refuses to release to streaming. Record release show is at the Falcon in Milwaukee on May 2nd. Brett Newski and the Bad Inventions are:

Brett Newski: singing, guitars
Sean Anderson: bass
Steve Vorass: drums

Jane Hobson - Attic Days (Madison, WI; 2024)

I wasn't ready for the cold.
It feels different than it did.

Jane Hobson writes poppy grunge songs, complete with vocal fry, guitar solos, and that one syncopated drum beat 90s rock drummers loved so much. As a person who grew up in the 90s, I think it's rad that this music has come back around, with a new generation of songwriters and guitarists reinterpreting the tropes of the genre to create exciting songs. Opening song "Chelsea" starts with lush vocal harmonizing, then blasts into a fiery guitar rock tune. "Not my Medicine" has a super catchy chorus that would easily find a home on an alternative rock mix-tape from 30 years ago. It's not all throw-back vibes. Bands like Wednesday, Porridge Radio, Illuminati Hotties, and Great Grandpa are all doing music like this today, and Jane Hobson's writing and production fit in perfectly on a playlist with all of those bands. Hobson writes about loneliness, confusion, frustration, and all of the wide-screen, Midwestern existential angst that comes with living and making art in the rusty heart of nowhere. But this is not a dreary album at all. On first listen, even, it will grab you by the hands and pull you up, like that friend who won't let you wallow in your self-pity. Get this record today.

Jane Hobson wrote all the stuff, with musical performances by James Strelow, Patrick Granzen, Eddie Campell, Ivan Skryagin, Bronson Taalbi.

Mizzy - Gift (Milwaukee, WI; 2024)

If you resist me and my gift to you
I’ll burn everything in sight just to crush you

American colonial and capitalist power in the era of MAGA is stronger than it's been in a half-century, so it makes sense that Mizzy's "Gift", a concept EP about the history of US-supported war in the Middle East, dropped at the end of 2024. Their Bandcamp bio simply says "black n brown gaze"– shoegaze music created by Black and Brown musicians. Their stated goal as musicians of color, besides writing and performing crushingly loud songs, is "that other people like us in Milwaukee can see us doing what we do and think “I can do that also.” Shoegaze is not normally thought of as politically charged music, but this album comes with a .pdf download that goes into detail of the history of US involvement of war in the Middle East, the last song ("Al-Nakba Al-Mustamirra") a reference to the seemingly never-ending catastrophe of the violent displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. This record is beautiful and heavy, lyrically and musically. Highly recommended for fans of both MBV-style noisegaze and early Deafheaven.

Def Sonic - Aesthetically Pleading (Madison, WI; 2025)

Can you feel anything?

Ambient music can come with or without lyrics, but it can't exist without drones, loops, and layers. Def Sonic is a solo act, performing live with an acoustic guitar and a table full of effects pedals. Def Sonic is also the project of Johan Petty, a singer/songwriter from Milwaukee (now located in Madison), who uses electronic textures to express his views on making art, loneliness, finding joy, and living as a Black man in Wisconsin's most "progressive" city--a place where racism, fear, and white supremacy are just as woven into the fabric of daily life as they are anywhere else. Musically, he tags it as "hyno folk," which is as great a descriptor as anything. Layers of ambience, textured with acoustic guitar strumming, sometimes with blown-out drum loops. It's a unique sound in the Wisconsin indie rock scene, and just as beautiful to watch happen live as it is to listen to. I'm a lyrics guy, and there are lyrics galore here, but they are doubled, tripled, and processed into becoming part of the musical backdrop--stretched nearly beyond the point of legibility. I am hoping for a physical release of the record, so I can read the lyrics and level up my understanding of this incredible project. Highlights of the album are drum-heavy song "The Latent Moment," "Scraps of Frontier" with its delicate picking pattern and destroyed vocals, the downtempo "Amoral Dilemma" with pitch-bent singing and weird chord structure, and the experimental R&B tune "A State Exhaustion." Def Sonic is pleading with us through his art to learn empathy, respond with love. I recommend picking up this record and following Def Sonic on Instagram, where Johan shares his experiences in the Madison scene, concert announcements, and discussions about his songs.