Scene

We haven't run a music news column in awhile, but this week we are getting back to it with a new push on you folks in the scene. If we missed something don't be shy and contact us. Until then here is what we know (and now you know it, too!)

Name changes are afoot. According to Local Sounds Jentri Colello's band has taken the moniker of Flatbear so the focus is less on the front woman songstress and more on the talent in the band as a whole. Apparently Nothing, who have a CD in the mixing stage, have also undergone some name surgery and will be henceforth known as The Usual Things.

Sunspot will have a new album for the masses called Singularity when they play a show at Madison Avenue on June 12. Also dropping a new one will be the Blueheels who have a release party at Frequency on June 30. A couple albums that dropped while this feature was on hiatus include Brainerd's The Goat,  Dead Sparrow's (formerly Madison band the Cummies) Into the Nettles, and Whitney Mann's The Way Back Home (see a review of this album next week on dane101).

 Click here to read more...

If 2008 was a great year for Madison music, 2009 is already shaping up to be an excellent year with big news from two Madison bands.

Back in my days as music director for a college radio station in Connecticut there were only a handful of record label packages I knew I could open and know that I would very likely be in for a treat. One of those labels was Canada's Ninja Tune. The Canadian label is home or has been a home for artists such as Coldcut, Kid Koala, DJ Food, DJ Vadim, the Herbaliser, and now? Madison's very own Cougar. On February 27, the "emergency rock" quintet will celebrate this multi-album signing with a special listening party for their soon to be released album Patriot at Cafe Montmartre. According to Cougar they've been working on a track with Maximo Park's Paul Smith. The celebration starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m.Click here to read more...

What's happening in local music news? Take a look below. Did we miss some important music news regarding your band? Feel free to let us know in comments below or email us by next Wednesday and we will be sure to include it next Thursday.

John Statz is on a short tour of eastern Europe and has been blogging about his adventures on There Is Nothing That The Road Will Not Heal... The blog is a bounty of words and pictures of John's adventures (including the picture on the left of John in Krakow's Old Jewish Cemetery). Most recently he was in Krakow where he provides us with images of Oskar Schindler's Factory and a replica of the "Shroud of Turin in Pope John Paul II's home church." He started his trip in Warsaw and it will end in Parma, Italy (as you likely know from his music, John is a huge history buff so his blog makes for interesting reading and perspectives).

A new Madison folk duo will make their debut tonight at the Annex. Daniel and the Lion will play a 9 p.m. show that will also act as a showcase for their E.P. Handmade. Daniel and the Lion are marimbist/pianist Daniel Pingrey and singer/guitarist Jimmie Linville. The duo are also members of Red Romero. Opening the show is Beastly Bee.Click here to read more...

I’m not sure how many of you have noticed this but right now the economy is in the tank, and while it may have yet to hit you, there are families all across Wisconsin who need your help. This past holiday season you heard or read about many charities across the nation who fell well below their goals for 2008. While we can’t help with those figures now, you can still help one special organization. I'm talking about the Keep Wisconsin Warm Fund (KWWF), an independent, statewide organization dedicated to helping those in need with their energy requirements.

According to the KWWF website, 56,833 households in Wisconsin were faced with life-threatening energy needs in 2006, and most of those were the disabled and young children.Click here to read more...