Six must-see concerts in Milwaukee this week include 88Nine Block Party, the Secret Sisters
88NINE BLOCK PARTY
Style: Hip-hop, indie rock, folk, pop, soul — in other words, genres popular on WYMS-FM (88.9).
Backstory: Nonprofit, AAA station 88Nine Radio Milwaukee started broadcasting out of the basement of a Milwaukee Public Schools administrative building in February 2007. It's nurtured an audience through its Milwaukee focus, showcasing local artists and area organizations. The station has been celebrating its 10th anniversary with new programs, an all-Milwaukee music online station, and on Saturday, a festival.
Why you should go?: Saturday's block party may be free, but 88Nine didn't skimp on the lineup. Noname is on the forefront of Chicago's fruitful hip-hop scene, generating buzz for scene-stealing guest verses on Chance the Rapper's "Acid Rap" and "Coloring Book" mixtapes, before last year's poignant and playful "Telefone" project. Strand of Oaks embraced classic rock excess on this year's "Hard Love" album, selling out his March Milwaukee show as a result. The block party also features four Milwaukee acts: synthpop sister group Reyna; soul singers Abby Jeanne and D'Amato, and folk act Field Report, which plans to preview its forthcoming album.
When and where:3 p.m. Saturday, Outside the 88Nine Radio Milwaukee Studios, 220 E. Pittsburgh Ave.
Price: Free.
— Piet Levy,
plevy@journalsentinel.com
THE SKINTS
Style: Carrying on, less than calmly, with UK reggae.
Backstory: “Skint” is British slang for being broke or as close to broke as makes little difference. Given an unnatural plural formation, it’s not a bad name for a quartet of reggae fans who met in a London secondary school and were, by the latter part of the last decade, scrounging gigs in punk, ska and party circuits.
Why you should go: TheSkints’ most recent LP, 2015’s “FM,” allows the influences of other, more “contemporary” styles into reggae and isn’t especially obsessed with authenticity, but at its bottom end it is unmistakably connected to Jamaica and to English variations like the platters released by 2 Tone Records.
Opener:The Tritonics, a Milwaukee reggae-capable band.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Friday, Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave.
Price:$15 at the box office, (866) 468-3401 and ticketweb.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson,
Special to the Journal Sentinel
THE HOLY CIRCLE
Style: Keyboard-stimulated post-punk prettiness.
Backstory: Although the three members of the Holy Circle are all alumni of other groups — Locrian, Unlucky Atlas and Screen Vinyl Image — two of them, Terence Hannum and Erica Burgner-Hannum, are husband and wife, so two-thirds of the Baltimore act already had some sense of what their combined talents could achieve.
Why you should go: J. Robbins, an open-minded punk and post-hardcore rocker from such bands as Jawbox, cleanly produced the Holy Circle’s 2017 self-titled first album, which combines synthesizer watercolors and sharp beats with Burnger-Hannum’s unfussily lovely vocals and melodies that are simultaneously Gothic and restrained.
Time and place: 9 p.m. Friday, Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
Price: To be determined.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL AND DALE WATSON
Style: Americana and alt-country before they were called by those names.
Backstory:Asleep at the Wheel has been active since the 1970s and has withstood just about every market change country and western music has gone through since then. Dale Watson has been active since the mid-1990s and has persistently waved the honky-tonk torch as though ready to burn anyone who doesn’t like it.
Why you should go: With the two names on the bill, both regular and honored draws in their shared home city of Austin, they’re obviously quite taken with Texas music, and their current "Texas Dance Hall Tour" is highlighting the history and value of that state’s historic dance halls. Their Western swing and “countrypolitan” sounds should encourage the “dance” part.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Friday, Northern Lights Theater, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St.
Price: $25 to $35 at the box office, (800) 745-3000 and ticketmaster.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
THE SECRET SISTERS
Style: Country, folk and old-school rock from two sisters a la the Everly Brothers.
Backstory: Not really secret siblings, Laura and Lydia Rogers are from Muscle Shoals, Ala., which has been known for soulful sounds since the 1960s. With that location and with a churchgoing and musical family, it would have been more surprising if the sisters had not developed ears for tunes and voices for harmonies.
Why you should go: Previously recorded by T Bone Burnett, the Secret Sisters, on their new “You Don’t Own Me Anymore” full-length, are currently working with indie-folk diva Brandi Carlile and her Hanseroth twins, who understand that Lydia and Laura’s singing doesn’t need massive, or modern, adornment. The results have the romanticism of a pre-1964 jukebox, and the Sisters are likely to carry that feeling to the stage.
Time and place:8 p.m. Tuesday, the Back Room at Colectivo Coffee, 2211 N. Prospect Ave.
Price: $20 at the door and in advance at the Pabst Theater box office (144 E. Wells St.), the Riverside Theater box office (116 W. Wisconsin Ave.), (414) 286-3663 and pabsttheater.org.
SUMMERFEST PICKS
For recommended acts performing at Summerfest, visit jsonline.com/summerfest.