5 Charms 5.24

Hemlock Chaser – Hardluck Stories (Stevens Point, WI; 2023)

If I head up there, will I find a place / Where I can rest my head?

What is "country music" and who gets to make it? Wisconsin has a deep tradition of rural midwestern music that comes from German, Scandinavian, Welsh, and French folk music and instrumentation: fiddles, accordians, dulcimers, horns. But there's also a country rock tradition influenced by outlaw and psychedelic country, 80s and 90s roots rock, folk-punk, and urban folk singer/songwriters of the modern era. Hemlock Chaser is a Wiscountry band with swing-influenced fiddle playing, punk vocals, and the more or less bluegrass instrumentation of guitar, mandolin, upright bass, and fiddle. They can break into extended jams where fiddle player Sheilagh Dandy Lyon showcases her versitility with the instrument, but like protest folk and punk music, guitarist/vocalist Sylas Schaberg leads the band into dark-throated gang vocals about hell, strong drink, and the hardluck, working class stories of the title track. While this album captures their sound admirably, Hemlock Chaser is at their most powerful as a live band, with a high energy performance that is not to be missed. Hemlock Chaser is:

Sylas Schaberg: Guitar, Vocals
Sheilagh Dandy Lyon: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals
A. Vuorinen: Mandolin, Vocals
Luke Moat: Bass, Vocals

Combat Naps - Tap In (Madison, WI; 2023)

Said my goodbyes but conditions may apply

For 8 years, Madison songwriter/singer/multi-instrumentalist Neal Jochmann has been creating music under the name Combat Naps. Sometimes he plays all of the instruments, sometimes he has some help, but every song on each album, EP, and single, has that unmistakable Combat Naps sound--lo fi, jangly, a little bit sad, a little bit weird. This is throw back indie pop, with nods to Elliot Smith, Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, and other observational, folk-and-emo-adjacent 90s songwriters. Jochmann's music sits nicely in the Madison scene alongside Loveblaster (where he plays bass), Dear Mr. Watterson, Disq, and Able Baker, a revival of guitar-centric indie pop with a warmth that is missing in so much recent bedroom pop. As a live band, Combat Naps is a little different, with many vocals handled by guitarist Ivette Colón, and her energy is definitely missed on the recordings. Either way, there are dozens of short, smart, and catchy songs to dig into on the Combat Naps Bandcamp. If you go see them live, Combat Naps is:

Neal Jochmann: Vocals, all instruments, bass
Ivette Colón: Vocals, guitar
Ilych Meza: Guitar
Marley Van Raalte: Drums

The Present Age - Radio Static Intelligible (Oshkosh, WI; 2023)

My vocation / This is the way it has always been / My life in cycles /Pleasant day but evening haunts

I cut my teeth as a performer and songwriter in the Oshkosh music scene of the early 00s. There were all kinds of indie rock and roots rock performers back then, but there was a current of working class, post-punk to everything. Even the folk music had it. The Present Age is a post-punk band with all of the roots, midwest emo, and dinosaur rock scrubbed away. Put them in a playlist with Shame, Fontaines D.C., or Iceage, and you wouldn't be too far off. It's the music of struggle and factories, struggle and waterways, struggle and pollution. Listen to "Anthropocene Blues" or "Shrug Language" and you'll understand: vocalist Logan Lamers talk/shouts his existential crises while drummer Isaac Lamers tries to get us to dance. Guitars collide against each other, then scatter into feedback. There are plenty of grunge, punk, and psych bands in Wisconsin, but no one is doing post-punk like The Present Age. It's enough to make you want to not give up.

Drums: Isaac Lamers
Vox / guitar: Logan Lamers
Bass: Nigel Magana
Guitar: Brandon Resop

Dead Horses - Brady Street (Milwaukee, WI; 2022)

Maybe we've lost our heads, but not our hearts

Sarah Vos is quite simply one of the best songwriters to ever come out of rural Wisconsin—her lyrics tell the stories of sinners and saints, urban streets and forested pathways. Together with the inspired double-bass playing of artistic partner Daniel Wolff, Vos creates songs that are a beautiful hybrid between songwriter folk and indie rock. Live, they can be anything from a duo to a 6 piece orchestral pop band, and every iteration of the music unlocks a new shimmer of Vos’s songs—like puzzling over an agate in your palm. Brady Street, their most recent record, brings all of their powers to focus with songs that veer from the marvelous (“Birds Can Write the Chorus”) to the traditional (“You Are Who You Need to Be”). These songs are hymns, in every sense of the word, poetic psalms of faith, doubt, and real life. Dead Horses are one of the most prominent Wiscountry bands out there, touring and recording without the benefit of a label, respected by songwriters and musicians around the nation for their honest and powerful music. Brady Street is a perfect record, brimming with artful songs and emotion, and everyone should listen to it. Right now. Dead Horses is:

Sarah Vos: Vocals, guitar
Daniel Wolff: Upright bass

Red Pants - Not Quite There Yet (Madison, WI; 2023)

Do you want to? Do you want to come home?

Last year, I was randomly searching Bandcamp with the keyword “wisconsin,” to see if there were any new local band projects that I should add to the music collection I curate for the public library where I work. Amidst the roots rock and psychedelic bands, this band called Red Pants popped up. Not only had I never heard of them, but they were from my current home of Madison AND they were on a label from Spain. Very weird. When I pressed play, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Friends, this is fuzzy old dream pop, lo-fi shoegaze. “Pink noise pop,” was what the Lassie Foundation called it, but you can hear hints of slowcore, corn-belt drone, and the incessant splash of Lake Michigan waves. “Watch the Sky,” envelopes you with its massive open chords and tremolo riffs. “Witching Hour” attempts a sort of surf-rock by way of murky 70s garage rock. “On a Wire” glows with the sort of incandescent lamplight you remember from your childhood living room. Jason Lambeth, singer/guitarist and artist, plays with feedback and all sorts of pedal noise while Elsa Nekola, singer/drummer and short story writer, adds a pulsing beat that keeps the songs from flying into the horizon. Pick up this record if you can find it, or better yet see them live to experience the good noise of Red Pants:

Jason Lambeth: vocals, guitars, bass, other stuff
Elsa Nekola: drum kit, vocals