The Pabst Theater continues to bring quality live performances to Milwaukee with the recent addition of Peter Bjorn & John to their calendar on August 6th.

We caught their Pitchfork set at SXSW and were really impressed, looking forward to hearing them in a theater.

Myspace: Peter Bjorn & John

+Remember to bookmark our shows page for all your Wisconsin concert announcements+

When the unfortunate day comes that Tom Waits kicks the bucket, he’s got enough of a legacy and catalogue to make himself damn near immortal. After listening to Ben Weaver this week, I’d harbor no reservations in comparing him to a young Waits, before Tom’s music took a couple steps in the crazy direction.

Weaver released Paper Sky in May of this year, and I now bear the shame of having this record in my collection since at least that time without so much as giving it the slightest attention that it all so rightly deserves. The album was produced by Brian Deck, who has previously worked with Modest Mouse and Iron and Wine, and whose guidance makes this album jump out of my speakers.

What captivates me so much about this album is that there are so many brilliant little noises and sounds while Weaver’s somewhat raspy delivery maintains a steady course throughout. Mark this down as one of our biggest and most welcomed surprises of the year, here’s to hoping you heed our praise and check him out for yourself.

Myspace: Ben Weaver
MP3: Ben Weaver – Grieve All You Want

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah return to the Annex on Saturday, October 6th. Pitchfork has the full tour dates posted here.

Myspace: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
MP3: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Love Song No.7
MP3: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Underwater (You and Me)

Each Tuesday stop by Muzzle of Bees for our recommended purchases for the week. Here are the albums we suggest for the release date of June 26th:

Artist: Ryan Adams
Album: Easy Tiger
Label: Lost Highway
Myspace: Ryan Adams
Video: Two
MoB: Moments of beauty appear throughout this album on tracks like, “Oh My God, Whatever, Etc” and “I Taught Myself How To Grow Old,” and for the most part they overshadow tracks that seem out of place and make it less of a cohesive effort (“Halloween Head”). The good news is that Ryan has cleaned up his act, which I truly hope translates into a future incident free show in Wisconsin sometime soon!

Artist: Beastie Boys
Album: The Mix-Up
Label: Capitol
Myspace: Beastie Boys
Video: Off The Grind
MoB: The Beastie Boys return with an instrumental offering that features head nodding beats and atmospheric noise. It’s a welcomed surprise from a group not afraid to head off course and put out the album they want to.

Download: 25 Free MP3′s when you give eMusic a try.
Buy: Strictly Discs

I strong armed my traveling companion Justin to report back to me his top 10 moments of the Bonnaroo Music Festival as a final recap of our sonjourn to Tennessee a couple weeks ago.

10. The road trip there…Despite not leaving until almost midnight on Wed 6/13, I was stoked to get on the road to live music paradise and was wide awake with excitement…One can’t but help think of Sal and Dean zoomin across the country in their jalopy, with no regard to speed limits, anytime your making a midnight run…Highlight of the road trip was a stop sometime after 3AM at a nondescript gas station on the Illinois/Kentucky border…As I’m coming out of the bathroom I hear Ryan yell “They’ve got it Justin, they’ve got it” and then notice he’s holding onto a box which contains a cowboy bobblehead with two six shooters drawn…Needless to say with Ryan being a collector of bobbleheads, Lonesome Cowboy Bill joined the us on our road trip and was lonesome no more.

9. Silent Disco. For the first time we donned a pair of headphones and grooved in silence around us as a small, but sweaty group got down to a DJ that was better than the both of us expected.

8. The people and the things they would say or do. Enjoyed watching two mounted police stroll up to someone sleeping in about 6 inches of shade at 12:30 PM on Saturday. The horses were obviously just as concerned as the police as whether or not this individual was still alive because the horses started sniffing the sleeping hippie. Said individual did eventually did get to his feet after about 10 minutes and was on his way, even though it was apparent he was trying to remember how to walk.

The following are some memorable quotes which we were lucky to overhear:

“I spent all of last night trying to figure out how a straight-line becomes a circle”

In response to a question from a friend on what he thought of the show the night before “What do you think I thought?”

“Ice cold five dollar fatties” Great salesman to throw in the ice cold part on a day when it was 90+ degrees.

“Magnum P.I.” This was uttered from someone who was quite incoherent so the randomness of this reference was extra special.

7. Brazilian Girls…The trio of musicians that make up the Brazilian Girls could easily hang with the best DJ’s in the world to put out beats that make you move…Having Sabina Sciubba as their lead singer takes them to another level altogether…Not only was the music great but it was one of the more entertaining shows I saw all weekend.

6. Michael Franti & Spearhead…Even though we only caught the last 4 or 5 songs, ever since I saw Franti & Spearhead at Bonnaroo in 2003 I’ve been a Spearheadhead…I don’t know of any other performer who captivates and controls his audience as easily as Franti…as we were walking up to the “Which Stage” you could see a sea of hands moving to the music and you’d be lucky to find one individual among thousands who wasn’t moving to the music…For a funky good time, catch Spearhead next time they’re in your town and I guarantee you won’t be let down!

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In April we were wowed by “Shake It To The Ground,” the latest from Diplo discovery and teen sensation Rye Rye.

We noticed over the weekend she has added another track, “So Hot” to her myspace profile, which doesn’t have such the captivating sound as the previous offering, but is worth checking out if you’re down.