This week on The Disclaimer, WMSE's near-weekly crosstalk between station promotions director Ryan Schleicher, A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild and I, we welcome guests Kevin Hayden and Neil Davis for a lively debate about the city's jazz scene. Hayden, drummer for the Kevin Hayden Trio, and Davis,a prolific guitarist and board member of Milwaukee Jazz Vision, are two of the scene's more visib...

This week on The Disclaimer, WMSE's near-weekly klatch between station promotions director Ryan Schleicher, A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild and I, I float the theory that indie-rock is in decline, and explain why that might be a good thing. The once-inordinately influential genre no longer dominates conversations around music and culture the way it did in the mid-'00s, as the very term "indie...

On this week's music-themed episode of The Disclaimer, WMSE's near-weekly crosstalk between station promotions director Ryan Schleicher, A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild and I, we discuss a recent OnMilwaukee.com opinion piece encouraging bands to resist playing free shows for "exposure." Do these non-paid gigs really devalue an artists' work, or are they just another part of the dues-paying p...

This week on The Disclaimer, WMSE's near-weekly crosstalk between station promotions director Ryan Schleicher, A.V. Club Milwaukee editor Matt Wild and I, we regret two recent blows to black radio: the loss of Milwaukee's WMCS 1290, an important community station, and changes to the Billboard charts that are slowly but surely squeezing out rap and hip-hop from the airwaves in favor of novelty pop ...

Muzzle of Bees' Ryan Matteson and WMSE's Ryan Schleicher were kind enough to have me on the 22nd edition of their joint podcast this week. As always, the podcast is a treasure trove of great new music recommendations; this installment features lovely new songs from Dawes, Sea Wolf, David Bazan and Rain Machine, and some of my old personal favorites from Mazzy Star and The Replacements. So check it...

Anybody with even a passive interest in the more rootsy, Americana-leaning arm of indie-rock and folk should be checking out the joint podcast between Muzzle of Bees' Ryan Matteson and 91.7 WMSE's Ryan Schleicher. This week's playlist is particularly rich, featuring tracks from Califone, Jason Lytle, Frightened Rabbit, James Blackshaw and the Avett Brothers, and closing with a three-song sampler o...

WMSE continues to roll out the lineup for Radio Summer Camp, its four-day, multi-venue music festival, announcing today the roster for its opening-night show at the Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday, August 20. It's a clever, generation-spanning bill that includes favorites from the Milwaukee music scene, past and present: Sometime Sweet Susan, Juniper Tar, The Dim Sums and The Trusty Knife. ...

WMSE this afternoon announced its plans for Radio Summer Camp, a four-day, multi-venue music festival scheduled to begin August 20, teasing it with the line-up for its featured event: � ��We will be slowly unveiling the full club line-up in the coming weeks, but today we are proud to unveil the artists playing the featured event of Radio Summer Camp, The Backyard BBQ. The BBQ will be...

If like me you missed WMSE's overview of Milwaukee hip-hop last week, WMSE's Web site makes it easy to catch-up. You can download�or podcast, if you prefer that term�the special edition of the station's Tuesday night "Mad Kids" program here. With guests Barry Johnson of the Saturday afternoon "Boogie Bang" and Andre from the Sunday and Monday morning graveyard shifts, DJ Deadbeat played three hour...

I've long held a soft spot for singer-songwriters and bands who build unsettling dirges around Nirvana's terse, bluesy chords and slow-burning angst

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