Top Milwaukee concerts this week: St. Vincent, Leela James and Tank, Galantis and more
ST. VINCENT
Style: Imaginative, sometimes unsettling baroque pop spiked with imaginative, inspired guitar.
Backstory: Dallas-raised Annie Clark kickstarted her musical career as one of the robed musicians in the happy-go-lucky Polyphonic Spree, before splitting off with her solo project St. Vincent. There was great critical acclaim from her very first album, "Marry Me" in 2007, and the praise grew stronger, and St. Vincent became more popular, with each subsequent album through last month's "Masseduction."
Why you should go?: An awkward live act earlier in her career, St. Vincent also has become significantly more assured in concert, with her two previous Milwaukee appearances ending up on the Journal Sentinel's lists of best concerts of the year. Some reviews suggest she's gone full Bowie with her creatively conceived new production.
Time and place:8 p.m. Friday, Riverside Theater, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Price: $35.50 to $45.50 at the box office, (414) 286-3663 and pabsttheater.org. Tickets include a digital download of "Masseduction."
— Piet Levy,
plevy@journalsentinel.com
GALANTIS
Style: Electronic dance music that doesn’t shun organic methods.
Backstory:Galantis collaborators Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw met last decade, but it wasn’t until around 2012 that the two switched from software-reliant dance-music conception to the more traditional way of starting a song on piano or guitar. They thus discovered some traditions still work, although Galantis builds electronics and production atop the basics.
Why you should go: With 2015’s “Pharmacy” and 2017’s “The Aviary,” Galantis has made albums as if each track could be a single, and “Pharmacy” spawned four, including “Peanut Butter Jelly” and “Gold Dust.” Almost inevitably, “The Aviary” widens the scope of EDM ideas and accessibility, giving Galantis plenty with which to please a crowd.
Opener:The Him, an Amsterdam production duo.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Saturday, the Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Price:$30 to $36 at the box office, (414) 342-7283 and therave.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson,
Special to the Journal Sentinel
MAX
Style: Very contemporary pop ready to break bigger soon.
Backstory: Max Schneider was performing at 3 and fielded an agent at 14. Since then, he’s modeled with Madonna, been a Broadway understudy and acted in a Nickelodeon series. He’s also a singer and songwriter with a yen for modernly retro sounds and in possession of a pretty falsetto.
Why you should go: Schneider’s second LP under the MAX name, 2016’s “Hell’s Kitchen Angel,” bursts with the brightness of Bruno Mars, and a year before that he was touring with Fall Out Boy and Wiz Khalifa, so he shares a bit of Mars’ something-for-everybody attitude. If he has as much energy as ambition, he should kill it live.
Openers: Philly-based electronic-pop singer Rozes and “future punk soul” creator AM!R.
Time and place:9 p.m. Saturday, Miramar Theatre, 2844 N. Oakland Ave.
Price:$15 to $23 at the box office and themiramartheatre.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
NEGATIVE APPROACH
Style: Punk rock for those who remember it raw.
Backstory: In 1981 in Detroit — which had already pioneered punk via the Stooges and the MC5 — Negative Approach formed and, through basement shows and 7-inch records, helped foment the speed, volume and anger of hardcore punk. In 1983, NA issued its first long-player, “Tied Down.” In 1984, NA broke up.
Why you should go: Re-forming in 2006 with two original members, the Negative Approach quartet has since issued lost recordings and played in many places that probably never heard of the band when it first existed. If the band can bring out even half of the nihilistic aggression of its anti-halcyon days, this will be brutal entertainment.
Openers: Two solid Milwaukee punk groups, Assault & Battery and Law/Less.
Time and place: 8:30 p.m. Monday, Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
Price:$10 at the door and cactusclubmilwaukee.com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
TANK AND LEELA JAMES
Style: Reliably slick and sly R&B.
Backstory: Durrell Babbs, the Milwaukee-born R&B singer known as Tank, released his debut album, “Force of Nature,” in 2001, and he’s been a steady if not superstar force in R&B ever since. Leela James is also an R&B singer, albeit one who tends toward classic influences like Aretha and Tina, and her debut album, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” came out in 2005.
Why you should go: Co-headlining a tour entitled “Savage X the Soul” — with Tank riding on his current album, “Savage,” and James on hers, “Did It for Love” — the now-veteran singers and performers combine talents for an evening with the potential to appeal to fans of old-school soul, new jack swing and the middle ground.
Time and place:8 p.m. Monday, Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 N. 4th St.
Price:$29.50 to $45 at the door and through the Pabst.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
LOCAL SHOW SPOTLIGHT
MIKE MANGIONE & THE KIN: 8 p.m. Friday, Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company, 224 W. Bruce St. $10. The folk artist celebrates the release of his lush debut album with his latest band.
— Piet Levy
RELATED:With his new band the Kin, Mike Mangione is making the most gorgeous music of his career