A few fresh events worth adding to your calendar.
Jay Som. Photo by Cara Robbins.
We’ve always got an eye on shows being announced in Madison. Here’s what stands out from the past week’s newly added events.
Adoptahighway. July 30, Art In. Milwaukee musician Barry Paul Clark (who plays bass in groups including Tontine Ensemble and Field Report) makes darkly immersive, richly textured electronic music under this solo moniker. Madison’s All Tiny Creatures and fellow Milwaukeean Dead Pawn are also on this bill.
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit. Sept. 3, Breese Stevens Field. Jason Isbell’s songwriting seems to unite an incredibly broad spectrum of the music nerds around me, and with good reason. Probably the best thing that’s been booked at Breese Stevens so far (except that postponed Willie Nelson show).
Maria Bamford: Sept. 8, Barrymore. Bamford is one of the the most original stand-ups going—she’s incredibly adept at drawing the crowd into her pleasantly off-center world of literal mental illness. And possibly leaving some of the crowd wondering what the deal is with all those crazy voices, but who needs those folks?
Jay Som. Sept. 12, Memorial Union Terrace. Oakland songwriter Melina Duterte and band craft songs with a compelling balance of tenderness and frankness on this year’s album Everybody Works.
Naomi Punk: Sept. 19, Frequency. The Olympia band twists post-punk into brave and hallucinatory new shapes. They’ll be here behind a new double album, Yellow, due out in August.
Open Mike Eagle. Sept. 20, High Noon Saloon. The L.A. rapper doesn’t fit in neatly anywhere among his peers, even among the more idiosyncratic ones. Instead, he strikes a distinctive balance of introspection and humor.
Japanese Breakfast. Oct. 3, Union South Sett. Philadelphia musician Michelle Zauner makes charming and layered electro-pop. She’ll play here behind the new album Soft Sounds From Another Planet.
Tori Amos. Oct. 26, Orpheum. A rare Madison visit from the dramatic and arch pianist and songwriter.
Risk. Nov. 10, High Noon Saloon. We’ve got good news for anyone concerned that there aren’t enough storytelling-type things around town. Yeah, we’re awash in opportunities for first-person navel-gazing, but Risk is a live edition of the show hosted by former The State castmember Kevin Allison, so it should be well worth a shot.
