Local Radar highlights bands that the local team at The Current is spinning heavily at their desks. You'll be able to preview a track from each as well as hear them on The Local Show and Local Current. This week, we're on the road to the Chippewa Valley talking about bands that we'll be featuring on the Local Show this Sunday night.

Gigamesh
First a little bonus for all of you out there who need a good remix: our hometown boy Gigamesh just released his famous Fleetwood Mac rendition of “Dreams.” Often performed at his shows across the world, it's a great retelling of the 1977 mega-hit.

Stream: Fleetwood Mac - "Dreams (Gigamesh Remix)"

Falcon Arrow
It’s been over a year and a half since post-rock duo Falcon Arrow released their debut album Axehandle Hound, and listening back to it so much later, you can definitely tell that the guys were on to something. Whereas that record was a little gritty and a little less polished, their new Anti-Matter finds them really honing in on their style. It’s clean, explosive, and, at a basic level, awesome.

“Rom & Moogie” is a great way to start this album off, almost as if Matt Reints and Dav Kemp are reintroducing themselves to the community. And they also deserve a hat-tip for making post-rock sound so dynamic. Whereas many bands get lost in the same ol’ routine, Falcon Arrow really is giving a fitting ode to their predecessors like Do Make Say Think. Consistently on tour, it’s a welcome surprise on my desk to see this second record getting made considering the amount of time Reints and Kemp have been away.

The release show for Anti-Matter will be November 9 at the Hexagon.

Stream: Falcon Arrow - "Rom & Moogie" from Anti-Matter

Jeffrey Skemp
Jeffrey Skemp spent some time on a fishing boat on the cold and isolated Bering Sea two decades ago.  And he’s composed some spoken word pieces based on his journey that will be performed at the Bryant Lake Bowl alongside many other works he has written throughout the years.

I’m excited to share one of Skemp's pieces on the Local Radar. “Captain Ocean-Talk” in particular sounds like a mix of the literary escapism of Moby Dick and a brooding, minimal score that Johnny Greenwood would hammer out. John Colburn does the arrangement on this one, but the show at the Bowl will feature a slew of other local musicians including JG Everest, the Greg Schaefer Trio, Ben Durrant, and Karen Townsend and Her Accordion.

Skemp has been around since the early ‘90s performing his poems. In 2002, he became a core member of the Bosso Poetry Company and has received awards and grants time and again to continue his work.

The unhinged narrator of this song in particular is delightful to listen to:

Spines in their gills
Spines in every fin
And all the way up and down
Their arched red backs
And secreting like shards of crystal
At the end of tails
They’ll flail and quiver
Even as they sleep

Jeffrey Skemp will perform at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater on Thursday, October 18.

Stream: Jeffrey Skemp - "Captain Ocean-Talk"

Villa
Villa put out one of the best songs of 2011: “Maybe” was a warm piece of summer-esque, jangly pop, and it stuck with the station through much of the year. Their first EP was a good one, showcasing a band still finding their way, and inevitable that it would happen considering the musical side-projects of each player.

Lo and behold, another surprise for me: we’ve now got a debut full-length on the way called Plains, Fog, Cold and Snow. The opening song “Golden” has those characteristic interlocking guitar parts that Real Estate employs so naturally. In fact, Villa is now sounding like the little brother of Real Estate, and I will totally take that. It’s nostalgic and effervescent, at once fleeting and in the moment.

The release show for this one will be November 17 at Icehouse. Details are still coming to fruition on the line-up and other specs, but we’ll keep you posted.

Stream: Villa - "Golden" from Plains, Fog, Cold and Snow