Rock of the Arts

Fidlar has been raising the punk rock flag on the indie blogosphere over the last few months. The Los Angeles quartet have been linked with rekindling the 1977 spirit of the Ramones and Sex Pistols. Their name is an acronym for "Fuck It, Dog, Life's A Risk." Now, you can't get much more in your face than that. Except to name one of your EP's "Don't Try" after poet Charles Bukowski's epitaph. Fidlar claims west coast influences like the Germs, Black Flag and the Cramps. Throw in some classic rock – notably Creedence Clearwater Revival – for good measure and you have the ingredients for their debut self-titled album to be released in January. 
 
While leaving no leaf unturned, Fidlar has released a video for "Gimmie Something" from the new album. You could say Fidlar is channeling their inner CCR with a video clip that looks suspiciously like John Fogerty and company. 

Nothing like a local Milwaukee holiday craft fair to put together one of the better state music samplers we’ve heard in a while. Hover Craft celebrates everything local and that includes a rockin’ 19 song Milwaukee-centric Bandcamp indie sampler featuring musicians from across Wisconsin. Madison is represented by the Hussy and the Midwest Beat.

By the stroke of god and an open date between Chicago and Minneapolis, you might have caught The Babies at Mickey's Tavern in Madison for a free Monday night show a while back.

A side project of Vivian Girl Cassie Ramone and Kevin Morby of Woods, The Babies second album "Our House On The Hill" has been out  for just a short period of time. The gig at Mickeys was only the fourth date of their tour.

Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, Curtis Harding, former back-up singer with Cee Lo Green and Danny Lee from the Night Beats have been quietly working on a side-project called Night Sun. One part southern garage rock with a healthy dose of gospel soul overtones. Night Sun's profile has grown organically since they did their first live show at an Atlanta club last year.

Everyone’s favorite Wisconsin slackers, Sat. Nite Duets, are  sharing a four-way 7-inch split with fellow Milwaukeeans Fatty Acids along with New York’s Radical Dads and Dinosaur Feathers. The four-song EP is titled  “Torrential Zen.” Drummer Joe Guszkowski of Sat. Nite Duets  gave us the low down on the project.