Blacktop (Release Show) • Maximiano • Bitch Creek • JR Wesley
Sat 06/21/25
6:00PM
All Ages
music
$15 ADV // $20 DOS
Show Lineup
Blacktop
(Milwaukee, WI)
Genre: Alternative Folk
Blacktop is the Milwaukee-based writing and recording project of multi-instrumentalist and producer, Austin Wood. Resting gently between the genres of folk, surf rock, and dream pop, Blacktop’s sound is adorned with soft-spoken vocals, washed-out guitars and synthesizers, acoustic percussion, and field recordings.
When not working full-time in public health or mixing/producing for other artists, Wood writes/records music for Blacktop while drawing inspiration from spiritual philosophies of presence, mindfulness, and impermanence. The project incorporates a DIY- and analog-based approach to music creation, embracing the creative limitations and hands-on experience of recording to tape. Sonically, Blacktop draws from a large pool of influence ranging from Ethiopian jazz and Latin rhythms of the 1960s-70s to contemporary artists such as Florist, Loving, Alice Phoebe Lou, and Sam Evian.
For live performances, Wood is supported by a rotating cast of close friends, including Jordan Taylor, Jacob Olson, Jeremy Robinson, and Jacob Greenberg. Blacktop’s debut album, Gardening is a Practice, Not an Idea, was released independently in September 2023 with a deluxe re-release through Nice Guys Records in February 2024. Blacktop’s sophomore album, Modern Spiritualism, is slated for release on June 18, 2025.
☮︎
Maximiano
(Milwaukee, WI)
Genre: Alternative, Americana, Folk
Maximiano’s music is rarely about just one emotion, moment, or person. Their debut album, “The Real Truth,” instead explores the way that experience flows through periods of growth and change. The songs shimmer, echo, and glide through tales of memory and identity that Piet Levy of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called “one of the most piercing and emotionally resonant collections of songs from a Milwaukee artist of the year… a towering achievement.”
The album, which Maximiano wrote, produced, arranged, recorded, and mixed, is adorned with a variety of sounds; piano, pedal steel, flute, clarinet, and more elevate the indie-folk core. With an all-star band of Milwaukee musicians (including members of Field Report, PHOX, Old Pup, and Ellie Jackson), the vulnerable americana-folk songs swell to cathartic, indie-rock peaks. Riding the waves of this folkestra, Maximiano sings tenderly but urgently about taking chances, missed opportunities, and reevaluating memories. The result is a flowing, expressive sound that, according to Erin Wolf, music director at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, “captures the beauty that often comes from the newfound wisdom accrued in your stumbling, youngest years.”
“The Real Truth” is a lush, courageous, and ambitious first record from an artist poised to take up the lineage of earnest, folk-influenced singer-songwriters. Though their music will appeal to fans of Adrianne Lenker, Songs:Ohia, Sufjan Stevens, and Elliott Smith, the real truth is that there is no one quite like Maximiano.
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Bitch Creek
(Milwaukee, WI)
Genre: Folk
Midwest independent folk fivesome with moody dark country and traditional celtic influences. Queer.
Bitch Creek’s first single “Animal” is out now on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.