An irrepressibly energetic dose of Madison music

New releases from March and April underscore an emergent urgency.

As 2025 clicks into gear, a wellspring of momentum makes itself known. Irrepressible energy can color any genre, but it’s a trait that stands firm as a fundamental pillar of indie-punk. A lot of the submissions that hit Tone Madison‘s inbox over the course of March and April were a flavor of punk, indie-rock, or some combination thereof. ‘Tis the season.

Year after year, the emergence of spring generates a sense of propulsive urgency that ultimately reflects back into Madison’s local music output. However, the six releases we’re choosing to spotlight here also make room for some earnest contemplation that effectively counterpoints all the foregrounded immediacy. It’s not all get-up-and-go. Thoughtfulness grounds the proceedings—whether they skew quiet or loud—enough to keep things on the rails.

And it wasn’t just the releases featured in this roundup making a positive impression, either. The German Art Students, Drive-A-Tron, Be The Young, and Bad Phantom all released songs, videos, or albums worth listeners’ time. If you’re interested in supporting any of the artists mentioned throughout this piece, one of the best ways remains Bandcamp Friday—an event where the streaming platform waives its typical sales cut to maximize artist profit—which will return on May 2, 2025. If you find something you connect with but can’t find the artist on Bandcamp, make the effort to see them live and buy some merch in-person.

We are only a small team. We do not have the ability to clock every single new, local music release from Madison’s many acts. If you believe something warrants our attention—whether you’re a fan of the material or the musician(s) who made it—please send a note and streaming link to steven@tonemadison.com for coverage consideration.

Boo/Hiss, Intro + Six Songs

Boo/Hiss is yet another solid project from one of the members of the now-defunct indie-punk act Proud Parents (there are now at least six presently active projects that have spawned from the group). Drummer Heather Sawyer—who recently released excellent work as Heather The Jerk and with XXX Piss—is keeping her foot on the gas in the wake of Proud Parents’ amicable dissolution. Written and recorded largely in the final stretch of 2024, Intro + Six Songs is a strong opening salvo. Sawyer’s musical partner for Boo/Hiss is Josh Beihler, who also plays in the full-band version of Heather The Jerk. Nothing here is too far off the beaten path for either musician: Boo/Hiss excels in scuzzy, blown-out power-pop shot through with a hearty dose of DIY punk grit.

Only two songs on Intro + Six Songs exceed the two-and-a-half-minute mark, and nothing goes over three minutes. Sawyer largely commands the focus here, her sharp vocals cutting through a winsomely warm, worn-cassette-style mix. Catchy lead riffs on synth or guitar (“Banana Song,” “Moonlight”), hooky lyrical earworms (“Hey! You!”, “Fake 12 String,” “Macaroni ♡”), and an unmistakable sense of pure fun permeate Intro + Six Songs. Beihler and Sawyer gamely complement each other’s contributions throughout a short overall run-time, creating a punchy debut that doubles as a perfect warm-weather soundtrack.

Colin Edwin, “New Song“

Back in early 2020, I made it a personal point to feature singer-songwriter Colin Bares’ Short Songs For No One project, which was launched under the moniker Colin Edwin. It remains my favorite pandemic-specific music project; an astonishing feat of micro-folk songwriting brimming with genuine personality. Over the past few years, Bares’ solo project has been relatively quiet, with only a small smattering of (uniformly excellent) covers popping up to cut through the static. That pattern changed on April 23, with Bares releasing—with virtually no build-up or fanfare, as always—a video simply entitled “New Song.”

The first stanza alone is another eye-widening showing of Bares’ penchant for turn-of-phrase and immersive narrative: “God only knows / The parts he shows / He tells me what to be afraid of / The empty space, the human race / They’ll never see me coming.” With a twisting guitar figure bursting with simple but exceptionally pleasing runs and an aching vocal delivery providing several dimensions of emotional heft, the only sensible reaction is to hope Bares’ instincts tell him to keep making music.

Feestet, “Roulette“

Jazz act Feestet—an ensemble with a rotating lineup led by vocalist Helen Feest—are an increasingly active local force. The band’s latest single, “Roulette,” is a good indicator of their capabilities for original composition. Historically, the band has been very traditionals- and covers-forward, but they still managed to carve out room for their own material. “Roulette” is a refinement of what they’ve managed to release so far on that front: a song that retains an air of comforting familiarity while still imparting their own recognizable imprint.

A soft keys figure opens the track, before Feest starts in with a playful vocal lilt and coyly tongue-in-cheek, eyebrow-arched lyricism. “It’s Friday night, 9 o’clock, time to go for a spin / I’m swiping left, swiping right, but the house always wins.” What follows is a lightly playful romp through the pitfalls—and pratfalls—of modern dating. Exceedingly charming and bathed in warm tones, “Roulette” is another small victory for a band quickly amassing a formidable repertoire all their own. 

Graham Hunt, “East Side Screamer“

In early March, indie-punk songwriter Graham Hunt finally broke through to a larger label: indie powerhouse Run For Cover Records. After more than a decade’s worth of cranking out superlative tunes through a sweeping array of worthwhile projects, Hunt locked into a groove as a solo artist, releasing great albums with startling consistency. “East Side Screamer,” a delirious punk ripper released at the start of April, is a potent reminder that Hunt’s poised for the long run.

“East Side Screamer” is a let-it-all-out burst of cathartic release. Hunt sounds more fired up on the track than he has in a hot minute. The track recounts an incident in which a random passerby unexpectedly accosted himself and his bandmate (Disq’s Shannon Connor) with unintelligible screaming. It’s a vivid, electric re-telling—emphasized even further by a ragged, DIY video boasting some rubber hose-indebted animated sequences—and will undoubtedly leave a strong first impression on a slew of hard-earned new listeners.

miscellaneous owl, the cloud chamber

Many indie-pop aficionados in Madison will likely recognize Huan-Hua Chye as the bandleader for Gentle Brontosaurus. What they may not know is Chye’s solo project, miscellaneous owl (intentionally stylized in lowercase), is a bastion of consistency all its own. Every year since 2017, miscellaneous owl has released either enough material to constitute a record, or a full album outright. Many of those releases are tied to songwriting projects that demand both proficiency and prolificness.

The latest release for Chye’s project, the cloud chamber, is an expansive nine-track run through big ideas and acute execution. Tender, steeped in twee, indie-pop aesthetics, and lovingly crafted, the album’s a mesmeric glimpse into Chye’s songwriting evolution. Written and released for the 2025 iteration of FAWM (February Album Writing Month), the cloud chamber boasts a number of memorable turns on various fronts. The catchy synth flourishes of “Oh Sister,” the Broken Social Scene-esque vocal insistence of closer “Spooky Action At A Distance,” and the lightly haunted atmospherics of “The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Known” all point to Chye’s growing mastery of craft. As a whole, the cloud chamber is a beautiful work that deserves to be remembered.

Rockstar & Elise, “Time Machines“

Emily AF’S anthemic synth-rock project Rockstar & Elise‘s preferred scope is one that marries musical grandiosity to scaled-down lyrical intimacy. “Time Machines” may be the project’s best balance between those two extremes to date. An overarching end-credits summation feel heightens the driving synth-and-drums work that AF puts forward here, but her wistful, aching vocal delivery on “Time Machines” steeps the track in strained reality.

“Well, I’m back there now / In the land of before / My knee doesn’t hurt / But, man, I don’t have a phone,” AF sings towards the track’s conclusion, neatly articulating the unexpected trade-offs of adulthood independence. Our bodies may not be what they once were, but we have the power to address it—though addressing it may come at a steeper cost than realized. This observation can be splintered out into several different takeaways that hold different weight for different people, but the near-universal truth of the matter slices through. And even in aesthetic trappings that feel larger than life, the sentiment still cuts to the bone.