The folks running music venues in Madison have been restless all year—with venues changing hands, live music companies merging, developers breaking ground with guitar shovels, and even small venues going through changes. What does it all mean, and will any of this add up to big long-term changes that will impact Madison audiences and performers? Maybe not, but it’s worth […]
The transportive lyricism of Derrick Austin
Derrick Austin‘s poetry has an ability to quickly and quietly transport the reader to a serene place. His work pulls from history, religion, and mythology, while at the same time using imagery that reflects contemporary figures and pop culture. What makes his debut collection, 2016’s Trouble The Water, so attractive and enchanting is its scope. […]
Olyvia Jaxyn’s songs of becoming
Madison singer/songwriter/guitarist Olyvia Jaxyn’s recently released debut EP, Lyv, tries to convey a pretty big story in just four songs. The EP’s liner notes on Bandcamp sum it up this way: “The narrative takes us from naive crushes to public anxieties, to private pleasures to finally being crushed, naively of course, in public. Lyv is a […]
Slow variations over time with Litüus
The music that Connor Camburn makes under the name Litüus is all about finding a lot of variety and a lot of sonic texture in a few simple elements. The tracks on the project’s 2016 release 1980.-19905 often start with one synthesizer sound, one repeating pattern, and in some sense make you listen to the same thing over and […]
Trophy Dad gets a big-picture perspective
The songs on Madison band Trophy Dad’s latest EP, Dogman, are relatively old in the band’s lifespan—they formed just a few years ago and began recording these tracks in early 2016. That said, it represents a big step forward from their 2015 debut EP, Shirtless Algebra Fridays. Both releases capture the band’s gift for skewed, catchy guitar […]
The electronic netherworld of Syneva
The new album from Madison electronic project Syneva, Limbo Victorian, is basically an ambient record but it covers a lot of territory in a short amount of time. Its 20-year-old creator, Hendrix Gullixson, uses software and a couple of MIDI controllers to explore eerily gritty soundscapes (opening track “Storm Presents Itself Wise” and “Soaring Together”), […]