Two of our favorite bands have April dates scheduled at the High Noon Saloon in Madison. The Antlers, whose 2009 release, Hospice, was one of our top ten albums of last year will play on Sunday, April 18th at 8pm. Tickets are $12 with Phantogram opening.

The Antlers will be opening for The National on the east coast. Those dates along with the rest of their tour can be found here.

Horse Feathers are no strangers to this site or to playing Madison. Having released two albums we absolutely adored, they’re back in town on Wednesday, April 21st. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 day of show. Look for their new album, Thistled Spring the day before (April 20th) on Kill Rock Stars.

Buy: The Antlers | Horse Feathers

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

It’s no secret that we are big fans of Milwaukee’s Juniper Tar here at Muzzle of Bees. They’re playing one of our 5-year-anniversary shows (2/19 in Madison); we mention them every chance we get; oh, and Muzzle of Bees’ own Ryan Matteson and WMSE’s Ryan Schleicher (bassist and vocalist in Juniper Tar) have a little podcast that you might have heard. The connections are everywhere.

But being out of the northern loop, I’ve never met these dudes — just heard them.  I’ve been listening to their Howl Street EP for several weeks now and wow, it’s good. It’s out today. You should get it. They will celebrate the release of the EP this Thursday night at Club Garibaldi. You should go.

This EP follows the band’s 2008 release of the full-length To the Trees (which you can get from the band in exchange for your email address here!) and shows that the band is serious about its development and evolution. An EP like this needs to work in some very specific ways. It should create anticipation and excitement in a wider-than-local audience — in essence something to tour behind. It should give that audience both broad and fine-stroke ideas about craft, style, and influence. And it should work as a kind of flag-ship of the band’s best work for potential labels. In other words, it should make a strong argument — one that will move people to get out and see the band. The Howl Street EP succeeds in all these ways. I want to see this band as soon as possible.

In regards to the style and influences behind Juniper Tar,  I hear an attention to tradition but with a unique distillation that other artists like Justin Townes Earle and bands like Dawes are doing so well right now. Also, there is an aesthetic to Juniper Tar that reminds me of groups like the National and Explosions in the Sky — a sound that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. That can’t be easy to pull off.

“Innerstates” opens the record with a great melody with strong and layered vocals. It’s songs like this that have earned the band the designation of being “folksy roots-rock.” The vocal harmonies here are indicitive of what kind of record this is going to be. They are the first thing that catch my attention and surely,”Innerstates” sets the tone for the EP. The folksy roots-rock thing blows up into something much bigger pretty quickly though. Not that the rest of the EP isn’t folksy or rootsy, it just does a lot more. “Birds in the Trees” has that Explosions in the Sky element I was talking about with a long wistful jam at the end. “Old Mystery” also has this element. It is an epic tune that builds for several minutes before moving into the verses and chorus. In this case the concluding jam has multiple guitars trading lines back and forth. It’s fun to listen to; it must be a blast to play.

The record closes with “Strings” and it employs a songwriting strategy that I notice is used often throughout The Howl Street EP. It involves the use of a single vocal line repeated against the building dynamics of the rest of the band. It’s effective. It gives the words a chance to sink in but also allows space for the rest of the band to move around and speak — first in simple vocal harmonies, but later and as it builds into that sweeping bigness I was talking about earlier. There is usually a back and forth here, as on “Birds in the Trees,” that creates a kind of dialog between the vocals and the instruments. Like I mentioned, it’s really fun to listen to. And, no mistake about it, this is a guitar record. There is some really incredible playing here: acoustic, electric, lap-steel — it’s all great.

I can’t say that I’m not just a little jealous of the Wisconsin festivities that are coming up here in the next few weeks. From the release party for this great EP, to the Muzzle of Bees anniversary shows, not to mention the incredible consistency of amazing shows you guys seem to get. It helps a bit that I see a TBA date scheduled on Juniper Tar’s upcoming tour down here in Champaign. I can’t wait to meet you guys.

Buy:  Juniper Tar :: Howl Street EP
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MP3: Juniper Tar – “Birds In Trees”

(see Milwaukee flier here)

Here are the Wisconsin and Illinois shows we recommend you take in this week. Check them out below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

This week we’re celebrating crossing the 5-year line with Muzzle of Bees. Thanks to all of you that visit on the regular. In celebration, we’re throwing two parties – one in Madison and Milwaukee – I hope you can make it out for a night of great live music.

Upcoming Shows:

2/15 – The Antlers + Editors – Vic Theatre (CHICAGO)
2/16 – Dawes + Cory Chisel – Double Door (CHICAGO)
2/16 – Dr. John – Northern Lights Theater (MILWAUKEE)
2/17 – Aaron Fox & the Reliable – Martyrs (CHICAGO)
2/17 – St. Vincent – Turner Hall Ballroom (MILWAUKEE)
2/17 – Cracker Unplugged (feat David Lowery & Johnny Hickman) – Shank Hall (MILWAUKEE)
2/18 – Juniper Tar CD Release Show – Club Garibaldi (MILWAUKEE)
2/18 – Retribution Gospel Choir (Alan from LOW) – Canopy Club (URBANA)
2/18 – St. Vincent – Metro (CHICAGO)
2/18 – State Radio – Majestic Theatre (MADISON)
2/18 – Wild Beasts – Schubas (CHICAGO)
2/18 – Trey Anastasio – Pabst Theater (MILWAUKEE)
2/18 – Cracker Unplugged – High Noon Saloon (MADISON)
2/19 – Evan Dando – Double Door (CHICAGO)
2/19 – Four Tet – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
2/19 – Title Tracks – Der Rathskellar (MADISON)
2/19 – Wild Beasts – Schubas (CHICAGO)
2/19 – Muzzleofbees.com 5-year party w/Juniper Tar, Common Loon, Strand of Oaks & White Pines – High Noon Saloon (MADISON)
2/20 – Muzzleofbees.com 5-year party w/The Daredevil Christopher Wright, Common Loon, Strand of Oaks, Conrad Plymouth, The Small Cities & White Pines (MILWAUKEE)
2/20 – RJD2 – Canopy Club (URBANA)
2/20 – Wilco + Califone – Overture Hall (MADISON – SOLD OUT)
2/20 – Dosh + Eyedea & Abilities – High Saloon (MADISON)
2/20 – Patton Oswalt – Pabst Theater (MILWAUKEE)
2/20 – Sondre Lerche + JBM – The Frequency (MADISON)
2/20 – Tortoise – Lincoln Hall (CHICAGO)
2/21 – Strand of Oaks + Mako Sika – Halfway Lounge (CHICAGO)
2/21 – The Daredevil Christopher Wright – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
2/21 – Sondre Lerche + JBM – Shank Hall (MILWAUKEE)

Just Announced:

4/9 – Mission of Burma + Surfer Blood – High Saloon (MADISON)
5/5 – Kasey Anderson – Art Bar (MILWAUKEE)
5/15 – Josh Ritter – Vic Theatre (CHICAGO)
5/18 – Mastodon – Orpheum (MADISON)
5/19 – Mastodon – Canopy Club (URBANA)
5/22 – Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – Pabst Theater (MILWAUKEE)
5/24 – Midlake – Turner Hall Ballroom (MILWAUKEE)
5/25 – The Tallest Man On Earth – Pabst Theater (MILWAUKEE)
5/28 – The Tallest Man On Earth – Lincoln Hall (CHICAGO)

+Bookmark our upcoming shows page for all your concert announcements+

If I had my way Akron/Family would play Wisconsin more. That grudge aside, I was excited to hear their recently released “Woody Guthrie’s America,” which is also a call to arms of their friends, fans, and fellow musicians to join together in song and submit different versions of the song. Take a listen to their song below and follow this link for how you can submit your own version to Akron/Family.

MP3: Akron/Family – “Woody Guthrie’s America”

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

grass|roots — ep. 1

I don’t remember the first time I heard Jerry Douglas play, but I do recall when I first started to notice. It was on a solo number — “Tribute to Peador O’Donnell” — on the live Alison Krauss and Union Station record.  It wasn’t life-changing so much as it was game-changing. Hearing Douglas — his virtuosity, his unmistakable style, and, really, hearing what a resophonic guitar (or Dobro) can do — was like stumbling upon something completely new, yet totally familiar.

Jerry Douglas put a new face on “country” music for me. Five or six years ago, I barely knew bluegrass/roots from Toby Keith (or country from Country), so Jerry Douglas (and, to be fair Alison Krauss and the rest of Union Station) got me and my preconceived notions out of I Love this Bar & Grill and on my way into a wonderfully rewarding musical exploration. He’s been called the greatest Dobro player who ever lived and in addition to thirteen solo records (since 1979), he’s contributed his special brand of slide to over 1600 albums. 1600! I had the great pleasure of seeing him play at last year’s Ellnora guitar festival at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana, IL. It rates among the best few hours of live music that I’ve ever heard. (I still can’t believe that it was a free show–thanks Krannert!)

As many of you likely know better than me, American Roots Music is a voluminous and multi-chambered instrument. It encompasses country and blues, gospel and old-time, folk and bluegrass, among others. In essence, when you think about it, these genres make up the bedrock of influence for many if not most of the bands that we love here at Muzzle of Bees. Of course, from these “roots” would grow the more dominant genres of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz which would each come to define the nation musically (and which we like quite a bit here too). But there is something intriguing to me about acoustic instruments and musicians that typify roots and especially bluegrass music — something familiar and true.

So begins a new regular feature here at Muzzle of Bees that I’ll be calling, simply, “grass|roots”. I’ll be trying my best to get a handle on the genres listed above by documenting my own exploration of them. I’ll start early next week with review of Béla Fleck’s show here in Urbana on Valentine’s eve, and will press forward from there with album and concert reviews, artist and label spotlights, and whatever else seems related and relevant.

I start with Jerry Douglas because his work rubs up against, influences, or in some other way resonates with so much of what interests me currently in roots music.  I’m compelled by the growing, modern grass-hybrid genre (sometimes called “progressive” or “newgrass”) that he is so often connected with (and that I have written about before) and will continue to explore it here. Watch for upcoming posts on Tony Rice, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, and Mark O’Conner just to name a very few.

Buy: Jerry Douglas : Glide
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Myspace: Jerry Douglas

One of the best live bands on planet earth, Portugal. The Man announced the release of their new album, American Ghetto (artwork above) yesterday via their website.

“The Release: How does March 2nd sound?”

Portugal. The Man plays Lincoln Hall in Chicago on Friday, February 26th.

(thanks to @jmfry for the tip)