Radio Summer Camp officially kicked off on Thursday, but (for us) the real excitement began last night, with amazing bands scattered throughout Milwaukee’s venues. The 91.7 WMSE curated festival expanded on the foundation it built last year, returning for the second year with a more diverse line-up, including even more venues, resulting in an amazing amount to take in over a four day period. The result, thus far, has been extremely exciting. The shows I attended last night were packed to the max, and I hope I’m not the only one who enjoyed attending smoke-free shows at the Rave and Cactus Club for the first time.

After a lot of back and forth I decided to make Band of Horses my first show of the night after getting a text message from my friend Logan saying he was drumming for the opener Bryan Cates. If memory serves me correctly, this was my fifth time seeing Band of Horses, the first being the inaugural Pitchfork Music Festival in 2006. The band continues to be a powerhouse live, alternating between their ballad leaning songs and their almost arena level rockers. If anything, attending the show strengthened my appreciation for the group’s new album, Infinite Arms, which seems to be getting unnecessarily beat up in the reviews I’ve read. Most of the songs ended up being massive sing-a-longs. I exited the venue right before the encore en route to the Cactus Club.

I was thrilled to arrive at the venue and find myself in time for the majority of the All Tiny Creatures set. I saw the band earlier this month and was impressed with the direction they’ve taken their material, and am looking forward to hearing their debut LP out later this year on Home-Tapes.

Seeing Collections of Colonies of Bees is always a big deal. It had been a good number of months since I’d seen the group live, but last night’s show wasn’t to be missed as it would be their last performance with drummer Jon Mueller (pictured above), who leaves the band to pursue other interests. Knowing that it was almost impossible to not soak up the emotions that hung in the balance of the room last night. I’d be lying if I didn’t note here that I spent a good time just watching how much Mueller puts into his drumming. It’s something to witness. The rest of the band followed suit delivering one of the hardest hitting, and highest energy shows I’ve seen them do. It was a privileged to be in the crowd and see last night’s show, and it was nice to see so many Milwaukee fans come out in support. There were a lot of hugs given out at the end of the night. While there won’t likely be another Milwaukee show before the end of year, fans of the band can look forward to the CoCo Bees next album, GIVING, which arrives also on Hometapes in October.

We’re looking forward to heading back out tonight with hopes of catching The Loom, Strand of Oaks, John Doe, and Goodnight Loving.

Discuss: Did you make it out to any shows last night? We wish we could have been everywhere, but missed out on a lot of great stuff. Drop a comment letting us know who you saw and what you thought.

[photo: Erik]

Tonight, Milwaukee’s own Goodnight Loving celebrate the release of The Goodnight Loving Supper Club at Linneman’s in Milwaukee during Radio Summer Camp. The band provided us with 5 albums they’ve been enjoying to coincide with the release of their own.

Buck Owens – I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
Buck Owens always goes down real smooth. Great guitar playing and probably one of the last high profile flat-top haircuts in music.

The Beach Boys – Smile
I have no idea what “version” of the album I heard, although I know it was culled from the original recordings. I actually heard this on FM radio on the way from a show to the house where we were staying. It was late at night and we had burned through all of our CD’s already and I heard the repeating piano lick from “Heros and Villains” that runs throughout the album. Its really sad that this record never was never properly finished, but I think its successful in the fact that it has become an interactive record, where people can make their own track listing and song selection. It forces the listener to be creative and fill in some of the blanks.

Catholic Boys – “Psychic Voodoo Mind Control”
This is a Milwaukee band from a couple years ago. In my limited time on earth this is the best punk band I ever saw and they produced my favorite local punk record. For the longest time I only had a cassette copy and it stayed in my mini van’s stereo for a whole summer. Really interesting guitar interplay and drumming that makes you feel like Max Headroom put something in your drink. I really don’t think anybody has ever topped this. I wish Devo would offer these guys an opening slot on tour. Maybe they would get back together.

Staple Singers – “Soul Folk in Action”
I love that they coined their own style of music. Most of the songs on this record have some sort of radical bend to them, hence the folk aspect. There is great tremelo guitar all over this record. It seems like guitar in soul songs is often pretty secondary, but it is a main component for the Staple Singers. They do the best version of “Sitting at the Dock of the Bay,” and “Slow Train” should be the new national anthem.

Reigning Sound – “Love and Curses”
This is the latest Reigning Sound album. This one took a long time to sink in for some reason. Anything Greg Cartwright does just grabs you by the collar immediately, but this one is a real slow burner, but once the songs get their claws into you, they just don’t let up and it becomes their best album. This band is fantastic and Greg is the most consistently great song writer around. The record just sounds to me like wheels on a highway at night, its so permanently fused in my mind with the feeling of traveling.

MP3: Goodnight Loving – “The Pan”

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

Last week I reviewed the new record Deadmalls and Nightfalls by Michigan band Frontier Ruckus. I like the record and thought it would be fun to catch their show Thursday night in Chicago. So I did. It was a fun night — we had family in town and I took my father-in-law (who is a wonderful musician/songwriter in his own right) to the show. He was so excited to be going to the House of Blues. So, despite the venue’s kitsch, it made me excited that he was so excited; good times were sure to be had.

Good times were had. Frontier Ruckus employ interesting instrumentation: banjo, horns, the saw and even their straight-ahead percussion is interesting with those other instruments in the mix. The band is tight and at its best when they are kicked into uptempo songs like their new album opener “Nerves of the Night Mind.” When the whole band is in full effect they have an intensity, as I mentioned in my record review, not unlike Mumford and Sons.

Their slower songs, for me, lack that power. My hang-up here is related to lead singer, Matthew Milia’s, voice. It’s unique. And when competing in an ocean of bands, I recognize the importance of having a distinct vocal sound, so it’s with the disclaimer of my own personal taste (and with the hypocrisy of loving The Tallest Man on Earth yesterday at Pitchfork) that I say that Milia’s voice isn’t my favorite. He has the kind of high nasal tenor that might have sounded perfect in a traditional bluegrass band (which isn’t far off from where they started) – its Ben Kwellery without the endearing southern drawl. These dudes are from Michigan after all.

That may seem harsh, but it doesn’t change my affinity for the band. These things have a way of growing on you. Here, though, is where I admit to one of the happy hazards of concert review: though I was there to review FR, my heart was stolen by the openers, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (click here for their collab site). The romantically-partnered, country/blues duo took the stage, started playing and had me grinning before they’d even finished a song. I love that. And maybe my vocal quality hang-up that I mention above was due to the fact that Hearst’s voice was so incredible. She is equal-parts Loretta Lynn and Bonnie Raitt, and Trent, who closed the set with some of his own great songs, offered back-up as vocal harmony, percussion, and delta-blues lead guitar.

These are the kind of performances that are both surprising and confusing. I’ve already shown my surprise (and delight!), but the confusion is related to the crap-shoot that is the music industry. Why is it that Cary Ann Hearst — an incredible vocalist and songwriter — is struggling just to get her stuff out there at all while artists like Sharon Van Etton (also great, but I think Cary Ann is better) are playing Pitchfork? To fight the power, Hearst and Trent started their own label (Shrimp records) to release stuff because they can’t get a deal. Anyway, at the very least, give their Myspace pages a listen and try to catch them next time they come through your town. Maybe they’ll introduce you to their dog, Townes, who is on tour with them as well.

Welcome to the 47th podcast/download I’m co-hosting with Ryan Schleicher at 91.7 WMSE. This week our podcast is heavy with a dose of Radio Summer Camp bands playing at various venues throught the city. Get out there and find some new favorites.

Samantha Crain – “Two-Sidedness” / Surgeons In Heat – “I Wanna Get Up” / Wildbirds – “Shake Shake” / Dinosaur Jr. – “Green Mind” / The Goodnight Loving – “Ain’t It Weird?” / School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm” / Red Baraat – “Baraat To Nowhere” / Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Cornbread & Butterbeans” / Collections of Colonies of Bees – “I: Flocks” / You, You’re Awesome – “How To Get The Most Out Of Your Instructional Video” / The Books – “I Am Who I Am”

Download/Listen: Muzzle of Bees + 91.7 WMSE Podcast :: Volume 47
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Subscribe: Muzzle of Bees + 91.7 WMSE Podcast

Last month Megafaun came through Milwaukee providing one unforgettable night of music at Club Garibaldi and plenty of excitement for their forthcoming mini-album, Heretofore (September 14th, Hometapes).

Megafaun’s Phil Cook just released a free download of an “album was made during a thunderstorm and its aftermath one evening in March 2009 in lovely Durham, NC.” You can stream/download the entire Phil Cook & His Feat offering below. Enjoy.

We’ve been really into Jeremy Messersmith’s The Reluctant Graveyard these days. The awesome video for “Organ Donor” went live yesterday, so we’re presenting it here because we know you’ll enjoy it. Ok, we also secretly hope it convinces you to catch his set at the Cactus Club on Wednesday, August 11th. From elsewhere? Jeremy’s probably coming to your town too.

MP3: Jeremy Messersmith – “Organ Donor”
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Buy: Jeremy Messersmith – “The Reluctant Graveyard”