Hiss Golden Messenger

A super exciting show was announced last week featuring Hiss Golden Messenger, the project of North Carolina-based songwriter and Bon Iver collaborator MC Taylor. The show’s happening at The Lismore Hotel in downtown Eau Claire on Friday, Oct. 27, in support of HGM’s forthcoming album Hallelujah Anyhow. The set promises to include guest musicians Justin Vernon, Phil Cook, Mike Lewis, and more. If you want to grab some tickets, do it fast! The $20 tickets are still on sale as of press time over at uwec.ticketforce.com.

Eau Claire punk band Distant Friends just released two singles ahead of an upcoming album. The first was an ode to the kinds of people that frequent the Water Street college bar The Pickle and it’s called “Pickle Rat.” That song was quickly followed up with a lovesick tune called “Like You Always Do.” Both songs capture excellent punk hooks with gang vocals, biting guitars, and singer Mitchell Smuhl’s signature strained voice. We’re definitely getting hyped for this album. If you want to hear the two new singles, stream them at ddistantfriends.bandcamp.com

Last week, popular music blog Vinyl Me, Please named Eau Claire’s Revival Records the best record store in Wisconsin. It’s part of their 50 Best Record Stores In America essay series where they look at record stores that go beyond what’s on the shelves, have history, and foster a sense of community. The article, written by an EC native, said: “Revival proved it wasn’t a trend or fad, but a place that was out here for the community just as the community was there for it. That humble pride is palpable when you walk into the store. It may not have the most rare or massive collection of vinyl, but its quiet shelves are anything but stagnant. It’s a place that’s rooted in the humility and beauty of where it came from, and that’s what makes it special.”

The Jaggernauts have been updating their social media feeds with photos and videos from the studio where they are recording their first new album  since 2014’s Safe. This will be their third studio album and according to the band, it’s due out in October. So stay tuned!

Eau Claire singer/songwriter Caitlin McGarvey is back with a new original single, following up her Bigger EP release earlier this year. The new song is called “Fire,” and it comes with an impassioned political message alongside her uber-powerful vocals. “It’s up to all of us to make real change and to leave this world better than we found it. To admit we’ve been wrong and to learn from our mistakes. I hope this song can be a small catalyst for this type of change,” McGarvey told Blugold Radio. To check out the song, head to caitlinmcgarvey1.bandcamp.com.

After having a few songs and scores appear on the first season of Netflix’s Will Arnett comedy series Flaked, Eau Claire’s own S. Carey is again featured in the second season (which is streaming now) with a cool song called “Brassy Sun.” Carey won’t have a full record of new songs until next year at the earliest (his last album, Range Of Light, dropped in 2014), but songs like this are an excellent reminder of what this dude can do. The song is classic S. Carey with raindrop piano notes, electronic flourishes, and lush atmospherics. NPR called the new track “the perfect soundtrack for a moment of melancholy reflection – a piano-flecked meditation on regret, alienation and that most loaded of self-examining questions, ‘Where have I been?’ ”