Though I condone an unadulterated sound experience when visiting natural areas, there are times and places that are well suited to a proper external listening experience. For this I decided to put together a quick guide of 5 local(ish) musicians who compose music and sound fit for Wisconsin's multifaceted landscape. Please consider checking out the following artists and purchasing their respective wares for your imminent communion with Wisconsin's natural communities.
Forest, barrens, and bluffs:
Rain Drinkers - Sheer artistry and attention to detail culminate in a heady, expansive, and ethereal experience appropriate for any twilight journey through the tangles of Wisconsin's forests. A listen in a proper natural setting can make all the difference with Rain Drinkers' recorded tapestries. Try listening to 'Springtide' in a solitary moment near a dark reflecting pond in the thick of a fern crested tree hollow or something like that and you'll catch my drift.
Noxroy - In Noxroy you will find music that is dense, intelligent, evolving, and every bit diverse as the stirring expanses of Wisconsin's forests and bluffs. The bustling noisiness and strange meandering of the music is a perfect fit for an off trail excursion into a leafy maple forest or a great coniferous stand. Or better yet, try sampling the huge rolling hills of 'Wyoming' from Cotyledon Observatory on a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River
Prairies, fens, and savannas:
Black Eagle Child - Milwaukee's premier guitar shaman conjures organic sounds apt for any stroll in shoulder height grasses in spring and summer. Echoing the sonic squalls of the prairie fauna, these tunes possess a sort of ephemeral mood perfect for a dewy grassland morning.
Spiral Joy Band - Spiral Joy Band makes music that feels like an aural extension of nature, conveying its complex processes through meticulous musical interactions. The sounds' deep droning and sparse clangings are appropriate for any natural setting, but most fantastically the prairies as the setting allows full exposure and incorporation into the music. Fluctuations and movement in the sounds allow short intrusions from the outside world, while a wide range of unlikely instruments compliment the natural atmosphere.
Marsh, bogs, and wetlands:
Spires That in the Sunset Rise - Eclectic mysticism and musical prowess abound in Spires' work. As primordial and vital as the wetlands themselves, the subtle and challenging instrumentation is suited to a quiet paddle through the marsh or trudging through banks of cattails. Seemingly deeply entrenched in the natural world, Spires develop varied and unique sounds that reflect the native strangeness of the this mesic environment.
Spiral Joy Band - Spiral Joy Band makes music that feels like an aural extension of nature, conveying its complex processes through meticulous musical interactions. The sounds' deep droning and sparse clangings are appropriate for any natural setting, but most fantastically the prairies as the setting allows full exposure and incorporation into the music. Fluctuations and movement in the sounds allow short intrusions from the outside world, while a wide range of unlikely instruments compliment the natural atmosphere.
