Look! Look! - Music

Conrad Plymouth

Something strange happens when the musically subdued Conrad Plymouth take the stage, whether it’s at an open mic or an open-air festival like Summerfest. People listen.

This attentive atmosphere is by design. Christopher Porterfield, front man of Conrad Plymouth, creates it by producing a melodic type of music that won’t knock one over the head right away but inspires a closer inspection. When the band starts quiet, the music has room to build and expand, and can take its time in reaching a musical climax.

“It’s been sort of a conscious effort to play shows with bands and at venues that foster that listening environment, rather than just being background to someone’s drunken night,” Porterfield said. He enjoys playing at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn and Club Garibaldi because of the separation between the bar and stage.

“Sometimes when people are getting too loud I’ll let them know by getting really quiet, or getting really loud—so it’s a give and take, just kinda react to your audience.”

The current configuration of Conrad Plymouth reflects the way the band is headed. For just shy of a year, the current lineup has consisted of Porterfield on lead guitar and vocals, Nick Berg on keyboard, Travis Whitty on bass, and Damian Strigens on drums. When anything resembling this current lineup played at Summerfest last year, Porterfield felt like Conrad Plymouth moved from simply being a stage name derived from his initials to an ensemble group.

Berg engineers most of the music, and “does a good job of flushing stuff in soundscape-wise,” while Whitty has been incorporating more loops into the sounds, Porterfield said. “We try to fill up as much space as we can without taking away from some of the holes that are also consciously there too.”

This sparse sound is a construct of Porterfield’s influences, such as Mark Eitzel from American Music Club and Red House Painters.

“I think we’ve probably borrowed from the Wilco playbook a little bit,” he also said, which explains the hooks in songs like “Fergus Falls.” A multi-part vocal harmony rounds out the song’s final chorus and cries out for a sing-along. Aware of the song’s quickened tempo and catchier material, Porterfield joked that the song was “to reward people for slogging through the first three [songs on the EP].”

Conrad Plymouth’s latest album is being released for the first time in physical format. Porterfield plans to have an unofficial release show in July for the self-titled 10-inch EP, pressed on clear vinyl. It is given special treatment as the first release on the new record label, Ten Atoms, created by Ryan Matteson, who runs the Muzzle of Bees blog and does promotions for the Pabst Theater.

The summer is quickly filling up for the band. In August, a mini “barnstormer tour” is planned, which includes playing a biker fest in Matteson’s hometown of Hillsboro, Wis., and a show in Eau Claire, where Porterfield attended college.

Before then it plays a Summerfest slot on July 3 at the U.S. Cellular stage and a show at Bradford Beach as part of WMSE’s Music by the Fire series on July 22. Conrad Plymouth also opens for Longacre at Chill on the Hill in Humboldt Park on July 13.

“Bay View listeners tend to be people who listen to and like good music and it’s really an honor to be a part of it,” Porterfield said. The band practices in the Hide House, and Whitty and Strigens both reside in Bay View. Strigens and his wife, Betty Blexrud-Strigens, also play with Longacre and another band on the Chill lineup, the always-fun Bikini Beach Combers. Strigens is best known as the drummer in Testa Rosa.

With a fan base carved out in Texas from attending South by Southwest, Minnesota from the song “Fergus Falls” on the EP, and Wisconsin, widening (or at least connecting) fans should be the next step for Conrad Plymouth—and would be, if not for a self-imposed hourglass running out of sand. “I had arbitrarily given myself to the age of 30 to get this out of my system,” Porterfield, 29, said.

However, he also added, “setting those arbitrary numbers isn’t really a realistic way of going about things.” His drummer Strigens is in his 40s and has a son and a career, which gives Porterfield a model on which he hopes to balance music and his married and professional life. “I can’t really imagine just stopping.”

Besides, sometimes uncertainty is the only certainty, and the resulting change can be a vehicle for growth. “We’ll never get to the point where we say this is what we are, and that’s on purpose. The struggle is the fun part, really,” Porterfield said. “If anything comes too easily, it’s easy to get bored with it. And the guys who I’m playing with now—the members of Conrad Plymouth—get that.”

Meet the band: The Lilies

After two full-length releases and a slew of EPs, The Lilies don’t need much gilding. For nine years the father-daughter duo of Mark and Lilly Czarnecki have kept Lilly’s vocals in the forefront of The Lilies’ sound. Other members have come and gone, but adding more to the bouncy harmonies and straightforward, walking guitar parts would be superfluous.

The band draws inspiration for its sound and ego-less enjoyment of performance from “the shore of Lake Michigan, immediate blue-collar factories, and quirky art scene.”

Lilly writes the songs, plays guitar, and sings. Mark plays the drums, and also sings. Both live in Bay View. The band has practice space in Bay View, too. After a mention that being family members must make it easy to harmonize, Mark said, “A lot of people say that!”

For many years, it was a three-piece band. In the current lineup, Mike Coyle plays the bass guitar, and The Lilies recently added Martin Slotwinski as an additional lead guitarist and keyboardist.

Listening to The Lilies, it is difficult to make comparisons to other female-fronted bands, because none of them quite fit. There aren’t very many female-fronted pop/rock bands to relate to outside of the American Idol sphere, but it is safe to say the band’s music falls somewhere between the unabashed rock of Joan Jett and the careful songwriting of the more poppy Sixpence None the Richer.

The difficult-to-pin-down sound is also apparent in two of Lilly’s favorite musicians: Neko Case and Scottish band the Trashcan Sinatras. The Lilies as a whole also follow the Pretenders, which might be an apt jumping-off point for the band’s mid-’90s sound.

Likening The Lilies to other male bands also doesn’t seem quite right, since Lilly has so much influence over the direction of the songs.

“Usually I come up with a pretty strong structure, and then it sort of morphs…but I think jamming is less effective because then we don’t remember what we did the week before. But if I have a chord progression and a melody, we can go from there,” she said.

“We don’t sit there and plink around,” Mark said. “I find that to be very aggravating. I like when [Lilly] has an idea. In general I like to have somewhere to jump off from, otherwise I get mad,” he said, laughing.

Lilly also exercises her creative muscles as a short-film maker and associate lecturer in the film department at UW-Milwaukee, and artistic talent runs in the Czarnecki family. Lilly’s mother designed the band’s website and doctored a photo of the band performing in front of a Bay View custard joint, with the stand’s name changed to The Lilies.

The band just finished recording a new album, Can I Fill a Role, recorded at DV Studios in Shorewood, but samples of it aren’t up on the website yet.

However, The Lilies have other ways of getting their music to the masses. Lilly and Mark recently returned from a music conference in Los Angeles where they met with music supervisors to see if and how The Lilies’ music would work on TV. The Lilies are also looking to play more live shows, but are “still kind of looking for that spot where you can…reach more people beyond some of your friends,” Lilly said.

Nevertheless, one of Lilly’s favorite concerts she played was in Bay View. “I had a really good time playing for Chill on the Hill last summer in August. Unfortunately it was raining when we played…but there were still people still sitting out watching us under umbrellas and tents, and I was really blown away by that.”

Her father concurred. “I would say that was pretty rockin’,” he said.

As of late, the band has no shows scheduled. Lilly said that being a female-fronted band makes it difficult to fill a bill sometimes. “In terms of getting shows, other male-fronted bands don’t think you’ll work together,” she said of the differing sounds. Mark hopes to find a niche where this isn’t a problem. “I think it’d be an advantage though sometimes, because most bands are male-fronted,” he said. “If you can get into that niche, when you can find certain promoters in that niche, it’s a huge advantage.

“We’re available for private parties,” Mark added. “For anyone who wants to have original music at a party, not a tape player or disc player.”

More info: thelilies.net.

New track reviews from Wisconsin musicians

Electri-violet “Do Right Baby”

from the album electri-violet

They’ve played together for 12 years, but the R&B-inspired Milwaukee duo of John Plankenhorn and Bay View resident Carole Ferrara only recently released their first major album. On its opening track, “Do Right Baby,” Ferrara channels Sharon Jones’ soulful voice and displays it powerfully over a funky bass line. This track wastes no time in brandishing the strength of the duo’s harmonies over the smattering of musicians they employ to fill out the neo-soul sound. Later in the album, they transition into a B.B. King and Bill Withers medley, but this single establishes their sound so clearly that their take on these noteworthy greats is just that-notes worthy of interpretation.

The BoDeans “Shine”

from the album Mr. Sad Clown

In this song’s lyrics, vocalist Kurt Neumann claims he wants “to tempt the devil’s daughter.” His wish comes off as insincere over this sleepy, adult-contemporary track that seems to strive for Top 40 status through sheer musical inoffensiveness. Credit is due, however, as the group is creating new music and trying to maintain its artistic integrity after breaking onto the Milwaukee scene 27 years ago. The blithe, incongruous, Latin-tinged trumpet on this track could use an injection of both authenticity and the bouncy spirit of the younger BoDeans.

Megafaun “Volunteers”

from the upcoming “mini-album” Heretofore, summer 2010

“Volunteers” ambles purposefully over finger-picked notes like a warm summer night spent reminiscing with friends. Brothers Brad and Phil Cook from South Carolina join Eau Claire’s Joe Westerlund for lyrical harmonies referencing nature and wistful themes that will long outlive us all. Clearly rooted in Southern folk, these themes have universal appeal, as Megafaun just returned from a European tour. Megafaun is three-quarters of the now defunct band, DeYarmond Edison, which counted Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon as a member. Despite local ties, Megafaun does not have a Wisconsin stop scheduled in its first headlining national tour in support of Heretofore.

Gayngs “The Gaudy Side of Town”

from the upcoming album Relayted, May 11

Eau Claire’s Justin Vernon of Bon Iver contributed his falsetto to this massive Midwestern collaboration that spans genres and convention. Minneapolis hip-hop artists P.O.S. and Dessa join Megafaun and a dozen other members for this electronic slow jam of epic proportions. Each track on Relayted is kept to 69 beats per minute, which is more a measure of indiscretion than discipline. All joking aside, the talent is still undeniable and unobstructed-no matter how heavy the smoke was in the April Studios and Minneapolis bedroom recording room.

Instruments of grace—MacDowell Society concert at St. Joseph’s

The St. Joseph Center Chapel, 1501 S. Layton Blvd., provided a visually stunning and acoustically perfect setting for the MacDowell Club Milwaukee’s Feb. 21 “Organist’s Choice” concert. The chapel’s magnificent pipe organ was the centerpiece of the program and was heard both as a solo instrument and in ensemble with instrumental and vocal performers. Each of the five organists played with mastery, giving the audience an opportunity to appreciate the scope and power of the instrument.

The audience joined the performers in singing a well-loved hymn to open the concert, introducing the principal melody of the first piece on the program. The Partita on the Old 100th, composed by Sister Theophane Hytrek, is an elaborate variation on the original hymn in which the composer explores the range of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic possibilities she is able to develop from the original melody. Organist Dennis Janzer’s sensitive interpretation of the piece highlighted the creative range of the variations without sacrificing the strong connection to the original melody that provides the essential coherence of the work.

The Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale joined Janzer in performing his own settings of two psalms, Celebrate and Sing and Who Shall Ascend. Director Enid Bootzin Berkovits lead a lively and spirited performance of the psalms and it is to the credit both of the members of the Chorale and the excellent acoustics of the chapel that the singers were not overpowered by the organ and that the psalm texts were clearly understood throughout. Janzer performed one of his instrumental compositions, the Toccata Fluide, between the two choral works. His Toccata is a miniature work of program music that conveys the effect of rippling or flowing water in the higher registers of the organ, supported by a more jagged bass line that suggests the uneven surface below.

Wallace Cheatham’s interpretation of John Carre’s Sonata for Organ was majestic indeed, in keeping with the allegro maestoso marking of the first movement. The rich harmonic texture and stately tempo was in many ways mirrored by the third and final movement, with the addition of passages of imitative polyphony in the established tradition of organ music. The second movement stood in stark contrast to its neighbors. The translucent, almost ethereal texture of this movement made it one of the high points of the concert. The pipe organ is such a ponderous instrument, yet as Cheatham demonstrated, it can be infinitely delicate in the proper hands.

Composer Calimario Soares’ Preludes are based on folk tunes from his native Brazil. In keeping with the nature of the original melodies, the settings are simple, at times even childlike. Organist Mariann Landa utilized a wide range of stops in her performance, giving each prelude a tone quality uniquely suited to its character. The use of the organ in a context that was neither ecclesiastical nor classical was refreshing and showed another, lighter side of the instrument’s complex character.

Ana de la Cuesta Gerlach’s exquisitely lyrical flute performance was well suited for the two works by French composer Jacques Berthier, Liturical Meditations and Pastorale. Organist Suzanne Pajunen maintained a sense of dialog between the instruments despite the disparity in their size and power, the two performers creating a sound that was always enchanting and often haunting. The fine acoustics of the chapel enhanced the full-bodied tone of the flute so that it seemed as if one were hearing a human voice rather than a wind instrument.

The acoustics of the performance space had similar benefits for the sound of Gail Hodkiewitz’s clarinet in her performance of Bernard Sander’s Ornaments of Grace, accompanied by Sheri Masiakowski on the organ. The rich, woody tone of the clarinet complemented the lyrical and moving nature of the composition, filling the aural space with the beauty of its sound.

The performance of 18th-century Spanish composer Antonio Soler’s Concerto for Two Organs was one of the true highlights of the concert. The chapel is fortunate to have, in addition to its main organ in the choir loft, a second smaller pipe organ located near the front of the church. It is one of the few places in the city where this work can be performed as intended.

The heart of the Concerto is a minuet with six variations. The variations are distinct units, unlike continuous variations of the Partita heard at the beginning of the concert, and are fairly conventional in terms of how they explore the original theme. The sense of conversation between the two instruments, played by Sheri Masiakowski and Suzanne Pajunen, was truly exciting. The contrasting tone qualities of the two organs along with physical separation of the instruments greatly enhanced the effect. The placement of the organs made it impossible for the two players to see one another, necessitating the slightly anachronistic use of walkie-talkies to synchronize the performance.

Sister Marion Verhaalen’s composition Summoned, performed by organist Sheri Masiakowski, was commissioned by her cousin, Father Charles Verhaalen, in connection with the dedication of the renovated St. Francis Seminary organ in 1999. The work is programmatic, depicting the internal conflicts involved in a religious vocation and has a meditative quality. The audience was once again encouraged to take part in the performance by singing the hymn Now Thank We All Our God to close the program, accompanied by the organ and the trumpet, played by Kevin Erickson.

The St. Joseph Center Chapel is one of the city’s unique treasures and offers events, tours, and religious services open to the public. Information about the chapel and a schedule of events is available on the School Sisters of St. Francis website, sssf.org. A listing of upcoming concerts by the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee may be found at macdowellclubmilwaukee.org.