The January air might be cold in Madison, but the music is hot. Here are three unmissable shows to that will help the New Year go down smooth:

This Sunday, the Sotto Voce tuba quartet will do what they do at the Chazen (i.e. the art museum formerly known as the Elvehjem) from 12:30 - 2:00 pm. FOR FREE. The classically-oriented quartet, including local brass hero Nat McIntosh, will perform works by Debussy and Zappa as well as originals.

On Tuesday, January 17th, local post-rockers Cougar will play a rare hometown gig at the Orpheum Stage Door, just before flitting off to Europe to promote their debut record.

Last but not least, Friday, January 27th sees some of Madison's best combining like Voltron at Bumptown: Madison All-Stars V. The new face of the annual Madison Funk-All Stars series will feature Phat Phunktion, hip-hop supergroup Dumate, my own crew Mama Digdown's Brass Band, Rob Dz Experience, and Latin revolutionaries El Clan Destino coming together at the Barrymore Theatre. Tickets are $13 advance and $15 day of, and the show is all ages.