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Saturday, February 4, 2012 |  Madison, WI: 33.0° F  Overcast
Music

THE PAPER / MUSIC

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra keeps an essential American sound alive
Big band, big dreams

The most influential big band in contemporary jazz is bringing a bit of Greenwich Village to Madison, just days before it celebrates an anniversary. As great art often does, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra began in disappointment, when jazz giant Count Basie commissioned Thad Jones, his band's cornetist, to write a full album's worth of material in 1965. Basie rejected the seven compositions Jones presented, saying they didn't sound like his band and might be too hard for his musicians to play. >More Madison musicians collaborate with artists overseas
Lost in translation

Sometimes music-making thrives on isolation, but a handful of abrasive, experimental Madison artists have found collaborators -- abroad. The Internet makes that easy, but it's still an improbable feat when a musician in Madison and one overseas learn they share the same twisted muse, then develop the discipline and chemistry to make compelling recordings together. Three recent releases capture just that dynamic. >More

TOUR STOP

Deleted Scenes craft poppy art rock from stark themes
Love, death and amphetamines

Washington, D.C.'s Deleted Scenes make art rock from a broad palette of sonic colors, painting their soundscapes with sunny shades of surf rock and smudges of dark, alluring funk. >More Cass McCombs' personal, eccentric folk keeps you guessing
Mystery man

California singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has built up a weird body of online apocrypha, which hobbles that whole process of consulting the Internet to figure out how to appreciate music. Go ahead and dig for context, but you may find yourself grumbling over his slippery answers to interview questions as you stare at a photo of him looking glum in suspenders. He's screwing with people's heads, intentionally or not. >More

MUSIC

Madison author rediscovers folk hero Mike Seeger
A magical artistic moment

Consider the parallel course American music has run next to American politics. The handiest example is the 1960s, when music and politics raged, clashed and crashed, creating sparks that both united and divided us. Music and politics also met up in the 1930s, and that coalescing did nothing less than identify what being an American meant. >More Scientists study music's effects on our brains and bodies
Measuring the chills

As we lie under the stars and listen to a Puccini aria or tap our toes in a nightclub to some earthy jazz, we're probably not thinking about how the music affects our brains. We're just feeling good and enjoying the moment. But it turns out that music is a good subject for brain research because it affects so many neurological pathways. >More

MUSIC

With Madison Symphony Orchestra, Hadelich plays Prokofiev with deeply moving beauty

The first program of the new year offered by the Madison Symphony Orchestra is simply fabulous! It debuted Friday night in Overture Hall. >More Boccherini pastiche mars Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra concert

As so often happens, a wonderful concert by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has been blighted by the contribution of a guest soloist. Amit Peled is a gifted musician and outstanding cellist. But Friday night in Overture Center's Capitol Theater, he displayed total irresponsibility in devoting his major appearance to a completely fake and utterly discredited work. >More

THE BIN

John K. Samson: Provincial
(Anti- Records)

Weakerthans front man John K. Samson hasn't stagnated since the Winnipeg band's most recent album, 2007's Reunion Tour. But the characters on his first solo LP, Provincial, seem stuck — or at least, Samson's lyrics vividly freeze their moments of anticipation, longing and rejection. >More The Antiprism: Age of Wonders

Madison has lost some fine metal bands in recent years, including Dissent and Revolt, Buried Future and Luna Mortis. But we have hung on to the Antiprism, which melds Black Sabbath austerity, Iron Maiden guitar harmonies and early-black-metal creepiness. >More

THE DAILY / MUSIC

Mostly flamboyant, sometimes subdued, Patti Lupone delights in Overture Hall

Patti LuPone is a Broadway baby, and Broadway isn't famous for subtlety. Wednesday night in Overture Hall, LuPone presented a few gentle interludes, but mainly the performance was one gigantic climax after another. That could have been exhausting to watch, but she threw in a lot of self-deprecating shtick, which helped make the show just the right size. It was a delight. >More MadTracks: 'Fantástico' by Defcee

Madison rapper Defcee gives himself plenty room to explore on December's free mixtape Out From Under. He incorporates spoken-word collaborators on "(Advice to a Younger Adam) On Handling Heartbreak," recounts a trip to London on "Postcard," spins a tale of the suburban drug trade on "The Herb in Suburban." As a member of UW-Madison's First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Learning Community, he's got the mandate and the means to stretch the form a little. >More Vinyl Cave: Catch and release with The Poor Boys, Libby Titus, Earth Quake, Magic, Hope, and Cashman, Pistilli & West

Here's another batch of quick takes on some vintage obscurities, plucked from local bargain bins and lent by friends. >More Galileo Galilei is Madison Opera's second triumph of the season

Philip Glass's Galileo Galilei has had rather limited circulation around the operatic world, so it was a brave step for Madison Opera to take it up. But the step has paid off, with perhaps the best yet of the company's small, midseason productions in the Overture Center's intimate Playhouse. >More After more club violence, disappointment, tightened security

Just bringing up the subject of violence at hip-hop shows immediately gets you into a mess of generalizations, doesn't it? After all, for every incident like the fight last Tuesday at the High Noon Saloon, during which a gun reportedly went off, there are plenty of positive examples to choose from. >More Vinyl Cave: Free Again: The '1970' Sessions by Alex Chilton

The past few years have been good to fans of the Big Star orbit who collect vinyl, thanks to well-done LP reissues of all three of the band's albums and the posthumous, previously CD-only Chris Bell collection I Am the Cosmos. The trend continues in 2012 with the first vinyl issue of Alex Chilton's initial solo flight, previously issued in 1996 on an Ardent CD as 1970 but out of print for years. >More
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MUSIC

Madison landmarks co-star in F. Stokes' video for 'My Simple'

The relentlessly positive, Brooklyn-based hip-hop artist F. Stokes has dropped a nuclear bomb of goodness onto his adopted hometown of Madison. Shot here over 12 hours between two live shows last October, "My Simple" is a video valentine featuring Madison people and Madison locations, like the Crystal Corner Bar. This is the second "My Simple" video, the only public version. >More Music Tuesdays get eclectic at Mickey's Tavern

Not long ago, Tuesday nights at Mickey's Tavern featured a rotation of local singer-songwriters, including Josh Harty, Blake Thomas, Robby Schiller and Jeremiah Nelson. It was enjoyable but never jarring, except perhaps the time Schiller roused the crowd into a National Anthem sing-along. >More

MUSIC

The Big Payback's funk/soul claims the Isthmus 2011 Band to Band Combat title

The Frequency was packed with music fans and a wide variety of sounds Thursday night as The Big Playback was selected by the audience to receive 20 hours of recording time at Madison's Blast House Studios. >More Team Bon Iver: Wisconsin's iconic indie act is a band, not a dude

Appreciating Bon Iver is an exercise in imagination. Their fabled trajectory has taken less than three years: from a rural Eau Claire hunting shack, where Vernon emerged from solitude, clutching the songs for the freshman record For Emma, Forever Ago, to appearances on Letterman and sold-out headlining sets at festivals from Perth to Paris. >More

MUSIC

Vinyl Cave: Dollar bin diving with Aalon, The Hollywood Stars, Little Big Horns, Candi Staton, Great Metropolitan Steam Band, Original Joplin Forte

Here are some quick takes on another batch of obscurities plucked from local bargain bins. >More Vinyl Cave: Terra by Julian Lynch, American Haircut and Meanwhile ... in the Midwest by Dead Luke

Though the major label record industry continues its trip down the seemingly bottomless waterslide that the Internet started it on, it's conversely ever easier for determined smaller labels and bands to find an audience outside their own communities. One obvious example is all the virtual ink devoted to on-the-verge-of-international-breakout Zola Jesus. But many other Madison-based artists in recent years have created a buzz in the blogosphere -- particularly in more genre-specific worlds -- while remaining somewhat unknown to the general listener at home. >More
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