Seventh Stanine Festival MKE @ Cactus Club [MKE] - 7/30/22
The Caribbean performing at Cactus Club in Milwaukee, WI for the Seventh Stanine Festival MKE (Photo ©2022 Kevin Hill)
Put on by the Washington, D.C. band The Caribbean (and now co-produced by the podcast Essential Tremors) the Seventh Stanine Festival held annually at arts venue Rhizome in Takoma Park, MD has always had a reputation for being one of the most forward thinking, experimental days of music you’re likely to spend. Last weekend they brought that experience to Milwaukee for the first time, and while the DNA of the event may have been the same, the 13 hour fest held at Cactus Club in Bay View was an entirely different animal. Part family/label reunion, and part celebration of the diversity of Milwaukee’s rock/indie/experimental scene it was a day of music unlike anything we’ve seen here in ages.
Primitive/drone guitar has always played a big role at Seventh Stanine, and the day started with Keith Hanlon, performing a simple but beautiful set of drone/delay guitar vibes. The day then moved towards the eclecticism that the Rhizome scene is known for with experimental sets by the likes of Milwaukee’s Normal Rituals and Kendraplex. Half of Pittsburgh’s Mariage Blanc delivered an atmospheric set full of drum machines, delicate guitar interplay and was followed by a gorgeous run of songs by Jon Camp that recalled the work of Bill Frisell. The first half of the day was rounded out by a blistering set from Taffy Puller, the duo made up of Jon Mueller on drums and Chris Rosenau on guitars (and gd knows how many pedals) that left anyone who wasn’t grinning from ear-to-ear with their jaw on the floor.
As evening approached, Chicago’s Bill MacKay brought a solo set of blues inspired guitar to welcome newcomers (the fest had been going on since about 12:30pm), after which the festival kicked into high gear. Attorney’s General (organizer Matt Byars’ improvisational project where the signals of multiple players are fed into a board of effects to be remixed by Byars on the fly) took the stage and the “noise” created by Byars along with Dave Jones of The Caribbean on guitar, Josh Kretzmer of Mariage Blanc on guitar/pedals, and Andy Fitzpatrick (Bon Iver) on various synths, was exactly the jolt of pure improvisational energy that the crowd needed, building to a trance inducing crescendo until Byars literally ripped the cord out of his gear, ending the set.
Chris Rosenau and Collections of Colonies of Bees performing at the Seventh Stanine Festival MKE ( (Photo ©2022 Kevin Hill)
After that, the more indie side took the wheel. As The Caribbean, Matt Byars, Michael Kentoff, and Dave Jones have been doing things their way for years; and the friends they made along the way are the low-key secret to the festival's success. Every one of these bands has either toured with this trio, been on a label, or just enjoyed their hospitality when playing a show in their home of Washington, D.C. And the appreciation of all these musicians for them and each other was tangible throughout the night.
Rounding out the fest was an evening of reunions. It’s been a while since anyone has seen Group of the Altos, All Tiny Creatures, or Collections of Colonies of Bees on a stage (much less on the same bill) but that’s the lineup that closed out the night. Members of all three bands have been influential in the Milwaukee music scene over the years, and each delivered iconoclastic sets ripe with the post-rock gene that can be spotted throughout the Milwaukee scene to this day. The Bees set brought out the largest crowd of the night with fans and other artists alike basking in the glow of the band's long awaited return to the stage.
While there’s no confirmation yet that Seventh Stanine will return next year, it would be a shame for this to be a one-time thing. In their ambitious and excellent first outing in Milwaukee, Matt Byars and crew proved that basing an event like this around community CAN succeed, even if that community is spread out around the country.
