Strange Mercy by St. Vincent | Strange Teaser Videos First

The first Strange Mercy teaser video involved young women talking directly into the camera and saying things like "Is you hair supposed to look like that?" The next video shows newborn kitties and a somewhat curious mother cat keeping an eye on the camera. Where is St. Vincent leading us? Teaser video is right. Finally, why did Annie Clark record this new album in Dallas? I'm scared.

St. Vincent Follow Up Album Titled Strange Mercy

The track list of the new St. Vincent album titled Strange Mercy reveals nothing more than words. Recorded at 4AD studio, I must say that it looks like the right environment for Ms. Clark. Milwaukee will be the third stop on the tour, and they are playing at the Pabst Theater.
As Ms. Clark had to record most of the tracks to her second album in her apartment, she was forced to keep the volume levels down. Did she restrict herself to that same quiet creativity on the new album? We will all find out on 9/13.

Awolnation Needs a Bit of Polish

I love Awolnation when it comes to their videos and studio work. As I write this, I'm once again looking at a frozen screen that should be the band's home page. Let's just say that this band is still in the crawl stages, taking their first steps, but mostly crawling. They played the US Cellular stage at Summerfest this past Sunday night, and I must say that I went away unsatisfied.

First, the mix was terrible. Okay, that's not really their fault, but who was working the sound board? Was it their own engineer, or was it a worn out, last night, just-two-bands-to-go before it's over, Summerfest hire? Second, what happened to Aaron Bruno? His vocal work was not the best that evening. His timing was bad, notes off key, and he just didn't get the audience to stick around.
Keeping fans at the Summerfest stage is easy when you are the last band before the headline act. I was part of that situation at Summerfest 2005, and it was amazing to play the last half of our set in front of 3000 people. Yes, those people were waiting for the headline act, but they gave us some good love too. I'm still buying the Awolnation disk, but I might have to pass on their next Milwaukee show unless I can find some good reviews leading up to that date.

Local Bands Playing Milwaukee During Summerfest

Some people say that you should never book a gig in Milwaukee when Summerfest is going on. They cite that everyone is at the fest. They aren't going to see your band at a local club, after they have spent all of their cash at Summerfest. I decided to take a look at who is playing some of the local clubs from June 29, to July 9.

I checked with Milwaukeerocks.com, and I must admit that the June 29 band listing looks about as thin as it can get. If you include the Zoofari gig by 2nd Wave, there are a whopping six gigs listed outside of Summerfest. It's not much better on June 30, with seven shows listed, one being an "after Summerfest party" at Smokin' Joes.

July 2, I see 18 shows listed, but two are acutally Summerfest gig listings, three are private parties, and five are so far from Milwaukee that I have to wonder why they are listed on a site titled "Milwaukee Rocks." Okay, perhaps it's true. Don't book a non Summerfest gig in Milwuakee during the festival run.

In One Wind Skitters To the Midwest on a Touring Breeze

In One Wind sucked me in, twirled me about, stopped me cold, then sent me on my way down the street with all the other leaves and breezy things. This band will challenge you with stirring lyrics, flute, guitar, drums, double bass, clarinet, and more. I picked Westering as my personal favorite.

They started their tour this past Saturday night, and come to Wisconsin for a weekend of shows. On June 17, the band will perform at the Memorial Union at UW Madison for a 5pm gig. They pick up and haul butt over to the Project Lodge for an 8pm set that same evening. Of course they will be in Milwaukee on the night that I'm in Boston. For those of you not 900 miles away, they will be at the Riverwest Public House for an 8pm show on June 18.

Summerfest July 2 2011 Highlights

If I were to pick a single day to hit at least three stages during Summerfest 2011, it might have to be July 2. First stop would be the Cascio Stage for the six pm performance by Testa Rosa. I would think about sticking around for a few songs by The Danglers after that. Then it would be on to The Potawatomi stage for a few songs by Paul Cebar, while I wait for Cowboy Mouth to to headline.

From here, I would have to say that it's worth splitting over to the Harley Stage, just catch the last few songs from Stephen Marley's set. If you aren't into the Marley sound, I would suggest you hustle over to see Loretta Lynn. She's a classic, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. So that's it, July 2, everybody start at Cascio and split off from there, okay?