A gaggle of UW-Eau Claire jazz students have some big dreams, big ambitions, and big goals of recording and touring behind uber-unique jazz compositions. The four members of happy||trails are currently writing the pieces for this album, based on 12 lines of poetry written by 12 different poets, in five different cities. Depending on the outcome of their current Kickstarter campaign, the happy||trails gang plans to record at Pine Hollow Audio in Eau Claire later this year and tour through the Midwest thereafter. “The purpose of the group is to revolutionize the Midwestern sound by combining jazz with other disciplines and traditions from around the world,” their Kickstarter page reads. The project promises to feature artists like the Sarcoline Saxophone Quartet, rapper BlacckLagoon, the Vivace Brass Quintet, and Minneapolis pop artist Baby Blanket. To learn more and donate to their campaign, head to kck.st/2nf6e2o.

Local purveyors of brash and experimental electronic tracks, Upright Figurine, are all set to debut a new album called How To Drown. The four-piece band is headed up by Keith Anderson and takes inspiration from similarly dark and trippy artists like Aphex Twin and Nine Inch Nails. The seven-track album is a hard-hitting headrush from start to finish, with throbbing drum machines and biting vocals. Upright Figurine will debut How To Drown with a release show at The Local Store at 7pm on March 24. To hear a couple tracks from the album now and pre-order, head to uf2urf.bandcamp.com.

Hey high school garage bands! Now is the time to submit your stuff to the 2017 Rockonsin youth garage band competition. It’s now in its 13th year of giving high school bands – grades 7 to 12 – a shot at being one of 12 bands in Wisconsin to achieve musical glory on the Summerfest stage in Milwaukee (it’s the largest music festival in world, y’know). All you need is to be enrolled in a Wisconsin public school, a band consisting of any combination of students in grades 7 to 12, and submit a video of your band playing one song – and you could be a rock star sooner than you think. To learn more and register your band, check out www.rockonsin.org or www.facebook.com/rockonsin.