Milwaukee Rap & Japanese Midwest Emo - Music Discovery Diary #1
In which I learn to love music again.
I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions but I made one this year. Every day, I’m going to listen to an artist who I’ve never heard before. They can be from any time period and any genre. I’ll write some notes as I listen, and share my thoughts along with my favorite songs in this newsletter. I will probably fail at this resolution like you’ll probably fail at yours, but if I don’t, maybe it well help both me and you discover new music.
I already failed on the first day of the year, so this rendition of Music Discovery Diary starts on 1/2/24. I’ve seen a lot of people on the internet talking about Milwaukee Rap lately, so I wanted to check out that scene. The below tweet is what really inspired me to dive in.
I’ve also seen some great reporting on the scene from music writers I follow. Alphonse Pierre’s piece in Pitchfork, Andre Gee’s piece in Rolling Stone, Nadine Smith’s piece in The Fader, and NoBells coverage are all required reading. They can give you context and further recommendations, but below you will find some embedded videos of the artists I listened to, and my thoughts.
Here is a Spotify playlist (I know I hate Spotify but I’m a hypocrite) with a song from each of the artists I listened to. It will take you ~17 minutes to listen to and I hope that it will introduce you to some music that you’ve never heard before.
Tuesday, 1/2/24: EricWithTheGlockInHisSock
great name.
a lot of people who i follow on the internet, who as far as I know do not live in milwaukee, have been talking about milwaukee rap a lot lately.
this is because the scene is blowing up both locally and on tiktok etc.
i find that funny as someone from illinois for reasons i won’t get into in a bullet point.
the gist is that great midwestern art is historically underrepresented and overlooked in the music media of the coasts.
but i’m glad a city with a good music scene is getting recognition for its originality by those in other cities.
i listened to an album by EricWithTheGlockInHisSock from 2023, his latest release at the time of writing, called Ight Bet, Say Less. 7 songs, 16 minutes long, which is honestly a good amount of time these days for an album imo. the first three tracks were all interesting and good and then the 4th was just interesting.
there’s a song called “In N Out” and coincidentally i ate In N Out today. i am on the coast, writing about a city i’ve never been to.
this is the logical sound that a 24-year-old who was 15 when DS2 came out would make. not that it necessarily sounds like Future but it’s just wild to a 32-year-old how much music has changed in the past decade, because a decade doesn’t seem as long as it used to the older you get.
but there is an obvious musical evolution and cyclical pattern over the past few decades, especially with hip-hop, and those patterns become more noticeable the older you get. when you’re younger you think whatever’s new is fresh and revolutionary, which is true but also lacks the historical context of why it is that way.
i like EricWithTheGlockInHisSock.
i like Milwaukee rap.
Wednesday, 1/3/24: AyooLii
this shit is crazy.
“this shit is crazy” is the only bullet point i wrote down in my notes app, but to expand my thoughts a bit here, “this shit is really really crazy.”
i guess AyooLii was a comedian before he started making music. his music isn’t necessarily conventionally humorous but it combines so many elements and he performs with an attitude that matches a comic’s approach to life. and i’ve written about this at length before, but i kinda feel like there’s almost no real difference between many forms of music and comedy. AyooLii is one of the biggest musicians to break out on tiktok and “schmackin’ town” has been on repeat since i heard it.
i mean, really, this shit is crazy!
i’m getting the sense that milwaukee rap appeals to people in the same way 100 gecs or hyperpop does — these artists are blending so many sounds that would previously have been confined to particular regions, and they’re doing so in an era when regionalism no longer necessarily matters, but their music as a combined whole is so great because it does come from one region. it’s truly fascinating and makes sense that they’re receiving so much coverage. it just makes me wonder how many other cities there are like this, with an active group of local artists making great shit, but not getting the attention they deserve.
Thursday, 1/4/24: Big Pee
these kids are choosing the funniest artist names these days.
someone on twitter told me “no sleep” was one of their top songs of 2023 and i concur.
Friday, 1/5/24: Bruiser Wolf
i took a break from my milwaukee rap journey to explore the sounds of a city which many of the writers writing about milwaukee rap rightly describe the city as taking inspiration from: detroit.
listening to a lot of this milwaukee stuff i kept thinking of tee grizzley or even doughboyz cashout in terms of the production choices. detroit happens to not be slept on as much historically, because of dilla and eminem and danny brown and others over the years, but i feel like i don’t personally stop and acknowledge how that midwestern city is responsible for a unique and awesome form of music.
i have technically heard of bruiser wolf on danny brown features before but i’ve never listened to his solo work. i listened to his 2021 LP Dope Game Stupid, and it was very fun to listen to.
he raps like e-40, or “a spoken word e-40,” as my brother put it. his voice is so unique. his lyrics are great. he has a new album coming out.
i’m not saying anything anyone hasn’t already said before, but i do encourage anyone who hasn’t listened to this album to check it out. the song embedded above is his new shit.
Saturday, 1/6/24: Jerry Jeff Walker
my friend recommended i listen to jerry jeff walker for our podcast we do together, in which we each choose two classic albums and connect them with tangential music references, kevin bacon-style.
i’m not gonna link to the podcast but it’s called ‘connecting the classics’ and you can find it on your podcast apps.
we’ve been doing it for a while and it’s been fun, and another cool way to force myself to discover and think about music, but we’re only planning on doing like 5 more episodes before calling it quits and recording our next podcast “The Recorded History Of Music,” which will be a narrative series tracing the history of music from its ancient / prehistoric origins. i will link you to that when it comes out.
jerry jeff walker is okay. he’s like alt-country / outlaw country. apparently he’s from new york but moved down to austin. my friend described him as a little “margaritaville-y” which i can’t unhear. i liked the song linked above called ‘la freeway.’
Sunday, 1/7/24: By the End of Summer
i technically listened to this band on an earlier day, but they’re so good i listened to them on this day too, so i’m counting it.
by the end of summer is a band i can’t find much information about, other than they describe themselves on spotify as “kyoto-based midwest emo.”
it is fascinating to me that groups around the world label themselves “midwest emo.” there’s another band from Wuhan, China called Chinese Football—a reference to American Football—that also tags their music with that genre label.
i am from champaign, illinois, where polyvinyl records is located, and bands like Braid and American Football played and built up the sound that people call ‘midwest emo.’ i have a friend who lived in the american football house in college.
i am writing a book about midwest emo… and the importance of place as it relates to sound… how the sound of a specific place and time has resonated with people everywhere. more details to come on that, but i’m excited to be working on it.
the album i listened to is the 2017 EP Laughing. it’s sooooo good that i can play the 4 songs, with an 11 min 46 second runtime, over and over and over and over.
i hope they put out more music.
apparently japan in general loves midwest emo (stereotypical broad description i know) - there’s even a store called Kinsella that sells vintage american clothing that’s named after the Kinsella brothers of Cap’n Jazz, American Football, Owen, Joan of Arc, etc.