5 Charms 10.24

Bizhiki - Unbound (Wisconsin; 2024)

Be calm when she speaks
She speaks the truth unbound

Bizihiki is a collaboration between three northern Wisconsin-based artists: Sean Carey (S. Carey, Bon Iver), Joe Rainey, and Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings. Rainey and Bizhikiins Jennings are both powwow singers in the Ojibwe (Chippewa) tradition, and Rainey has released a record, 2022's Niineta, on Justin Vernon's experimental pop label 37d03d Records. Like Rainey's record, Bizihiki's debut album is a combination of the electro/drone pop that is associated with the Bon Iver camp and powwow singing. With lyrics in both Ojibwe and English, this is truly a collaborative project. Piano bleeds into guitars while drums warble and thump. Horns harmonize and fade into vocal loops. Those looking for more traditional indie rock song structures will be drawn to "Unbound," "She's All We Have," and "Call Me Home," but English lyrics are the exception rather than the rule in the project, with focus on acoustic and electric percussion, drones, and powwow singing. 20 years ago, Unbound might have been banished to the "world music" or "new age" music category, but the success of artists like Rainey, Tanya Tagaq, Medicine Singers, and Black Belt Eagle Scout have shown that listeners are more open to the ebb and flow of genre than ever before.

Bizihiki is: S. Carey, Joe Rainey, Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings

Sigra - Scavenger (Madison, WI; 2023)

And you don't need a savior
What you need is to leave your hometown

Memory is a tricky thing. Sigra DeWeese grew up in the house pictured on the album cover, and the songs on her most recent solo EP read as a collection of memories. Not hers, necessarily, but you know how it goes when you write songs. She plucks words and phrases out of midwestern coming of age stories: someone walks down train tracks, someone sits by the river in May, someone reads billboards from a rental car. The listener can read into it what they like, but they can't deny Sigra is a powerful storyteller. And that's not even a reference to her voice, although that's the thing you'll probably notice first with her music. She's a unique and compelling vocalist, with incredible range, strength, and creativity. All of which are on display in opening track "Alexander." In addition to her singing, the songs are built around an upright bass, vocal loops, and keyboards--definitely not your typical singer/songwriter music. "Scavenger" and "Our Lady" are solo bass songs, essentially, with a melancholy minimalist feel. Download the record and listen to the rest, then catch Sigra playing live with her band Frozen Charlotte or collaborative project MQBS.

Sigra : bass and keyboard, singing, recording, and writing all the songs

Kat and the Hurricane - Got it Out (Madison, WI; 2024)

I'm done writing songs about you
If you don't count this one

"Got It Out" is a triumph of a rock record by Madison's only queer dance/synth/pop punk band. Slick production, beautiful vocal harmonies, and earworm choruses, this album is the perfect accompaniment to a fall road trip. If you follow Kat and the Hurricane, you'll already be enamored by the incredible singles they released– this record starts with two of them: "Therapy" and "Caffeine and Alcohol." An ode to mental health well-being, "Therapy" contains an awesome gang-vocal chorus that you will want to roll down your windows to scream along with. "Caffeine and Alcohol," no less of a banger, wrestles with religion as Benjamin Rose sings: "I thought that I could have it all / Love, caffeine, God, alcohol." "Sweet Thrill" is a gorgeous ballad that places full band vocals up front, their voices weaving in and out of the song, collecting harmonies along the way. "I Wasn't Ready," a slow burn of a rock song, comes packaged with a cool flanger riff and drums like an avalanche courtesy of Alex Nelson. "Costume" hits hard against the perceptions of homophobes and bigots, and features Madison hip-hop artist K.I.L.O. aka SkitL'z on a powerful verse where she delivers rhymes like "Sorry I'm not sorry / For simply existing / All these terms and conditions / man-made religion."

Kat and the Hurricane famously tag-line their merch booth with "sad lesbian music," but this record is anything but sad. "Help is scary but necessary," they sing, and the songs are as joyful and celebratory as the moment you ask for help and are answered with love, acceptance, and community.

Kat Rhapsody: Guitars, Vocals
Benjamin Rose: Keys, Vocals
Alex Nelson: Drums, Vocals

Old Wolves - Brighter As It Falls (Kenosha, WI; 2024)

Left with a debt of a house never built

Heavy music comes in lots of different styles. A band in corpse paint, a wall of amps, a mosh pit. But sometimes, it's a bearded guy from southern Wisconsin, sitting in a chair with a guitar while electronic noise clanks and clatters around him. Joe Zumpano's "Old Wolves" started as a gothic acoustic blues act, but over the last decade has evolved into something else entirely. On "Brighter," Zumpano mixes doom riffs with industrial beats, while his voice is still recognizably indebted to the blues tradition. The songs crackle with energy and noise, and there are few bright spots among the darkness. Single "Predation Cycles" alternates between Pretty Hate Machine-era drumming and over-driven vocals, with a nice fingerpicking interlude. Album closer "As Spirits Feed" features Zumpano's gruff baritone vocals and an airy but clean guitar haunting the static. This is heavy music like nothing else you've heard, a little pocket of weird americana metal from rural Wisconsin. Download it, then delve into the back catalog to hear the musical and lyrical journey Zumpano has taken over the years. You'll find great songs in every era. Old Wolves is honestly:

Joe Zumpano: Vocals, guitar, programming

Free Dirt - Funeral on the Beach (Madison, WI; 2024)

Used to be I could take a punch
Best believe I took a bunch

The stripped-down power of a three-piece guitar rock band is pretty rare these days, especially one as lyrically and musically daring as Free Dirt. Blues and soul through a psychedelic grunge lens, the band has been perfecting their visionary guitar rock since just before the pandemic. They are led by veteran songwriter Robby Schiller (Blueheels), whose distinct vocals bring to mind Cat Stevens by way of Eddie Vedder. Schiller's lyrical powers are on full display on these songs, pulling the listener through grim and ridiculous scenarios, mixing sarcasm with sincerity, handing out existential crisis with a dose of hope. The title track opens with Schiller's pensive singing, then erupts in a massive sound: Strings, horns, and Joe Copeland's baritone guitar, acting as both bass and rhythm guitar. The album really doesn't stop after that. "The Lamb the Lion had for Lunch" is a workshop in the kind of witty and insightful lyrics that Schiller has been consistently writing for over 20 years. "Come Give me the Creeps" is another horn-laden psych soul jam with some great guitar work and masterful drumming by Chris Sasman, who knows the exact right tom hit, the perfect fill, and the best cymbal crash for each moment. On "My Trick Knee" and "All Mine," they lean into their grunge pedigree with dirty guitar solos, tempo shifts, and wall of sound instrumental bridges. Closing tune "Waterfalls of Champagne" takes the same elements and textures them with acoustic guitar and harp. There are gems in every song, from the weird pop energy of "Little Shits" and "No Reason to Cry," to the studio additions of horns, fiddle, mandolin, steel drums, and more. "Funeral on the Beach" is a record that deserves your attention for the next few months, play it loudly and repeatedly, pay attention, and you'll dig up some truths from this pile of dirt.

Robby Schiller: Guitar and Vocals
Joe Copeland: Baritone Guitar
Chris Sasman: Drums