MUSIC

10 best Milwaukee songs of 2018 include tunes from Nickel&Rose, WebsterX — and Bob Dylan

Piet Levy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This year's list of the best Milwaukee songs span from first efforts from highly promising up-and-comers, to revolutionary work seeking to shake up the status quo, to a tune co-written by none other than Bob Dylan.

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Folk duo Nickel&Rose's remarkable "Americana" tops the Journal Sentinel's best Milwaukee songs of 2018 list.

1. "Americana," Nickel&Rose: In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, a small handful of white folk acts like Jason Isbell and Drive-By Truckers have addressed racism in recent songs, while the mainstream country industry is taking painfully slow, and appallingly late, steps to diversify. But on the unflinching "Americana," Nickel&Rose look at how whitewashing made folk what it is today, and the painful, ongoing consequences that can never be fully remedied. "There ain't no room for me in Americana," singer-songwriter Carl Nichols, who is black, sings on the song, shortly after calling out Elvis Presley for stealing the sound of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and being anointed "the King."  Nichols may be an outcast, but in terms of making Americana music that truly matters, Nichols and his bandmate Johanna Rose are true luminaries.

2. "Feels," WebsterX: Racism was also on Milwaukee rapper's WebsterX's mind on "Feels," a song he says "wrote itself" in the opening bars. "Everything feels so basic/Everything feels so racist/Everything feels so vacant/Everything feels so makeshift/Everything feels complacent," WebsterX raps. But despite the weight of this weary world, WebsterX hasn't lost hope, turning his song into a mission statement to help "black youth make it past twenty" and reminding anyone under such a heavy burden that "our beauty don't crack."

3. "Only in Dreams," Amanda Huff and Peter J. Thomas: A supporting vocalist for Milwaukee acts like jazz ensemble Strangelander and electronic artist Thane, Huff seized the spotlight she's long been capable of commanding with the alluring debut album, "Hemiptera." It came very close to making the Journal Sentinel's best Milwaukee albums list this year, but I feel this standalone track is the best indication of her singular talent, her vocals at once fragile and otherworldly, beautiful and terrifying, and enhanced here by Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra cellist Thomas' elegant, and at times unsettling, accompaniment.

4. "Heartbeat," Reyna: Across eight pieces of pop perfection released so far, the Banuelos sisters have earned the right to be compared to Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Troye Sivan, the deserved critical darlings' of pop music today — even though Reyna has, at this point, significantly fewer listeners. Gorgeous, dance-floor-ready heartbreaker "Heartbeat" again proves that that needs to change, and hopefully soon, it will. Reyna recently won an Aloft Hotels contest that includes a song distributed by Universal Music. Label execs would have to be real idiots not to offer them a record deal.

5. "Why'd You Start?," Surgeons in Heat: The band name for Johnathon Mayer's long-running indie rock project may be little more than a joke, but "Start" is a stellar display of surgical precision. It starts with the beat of a drum pad; then comes the gentle hum of an amplifier and a guitar riff that seems to stop mid-run, an intriguing detour en route to an unshakable groove. The song slowly falls into place by the chorus — the rhythmic shake of a maraca, Mayer's reverb-drenched and detached vocals, the blossoming warmth of retro synth swells. When the three minutes were up, I found myself hitting repeat again and again.

6. "Bad News," Driveway Thriftdwellers: How many country rock songs have we heard about disastrous exes? A gazillion, at least. But Driveway Thriftdwellers' "Bad News" is a blast, making well-tread territory fresh with Jon Knudson's clever and funny lyrics ("They're shortening your sentence to 45 days/You'd be amazed what that warden considers good behavior") and ripping guitar riffs from Kyle Rightley.

7. "Be in the Sun," Abby Jeanne: With splashes of jazzy trumpet, warm retro guitar cool and the incredible glow of soul rocker Jeanne's versatile voice — which sways from the despair of heartache to the glimmer of hopeful dreaming — "Sun" is another radiant showcase for one of the brightest talents to emerge from the Milwaukee music scene in recent years, and a taste of a terrific new album arriving early next year.

8. "Roll With It," Ethan Payton: Between Payton's casually assured vocals and Charley Cooks' cool dance-hall production, you'd have no clue this was R&B artist Payton's very first track. Subsequent pop gems throughout 2018 prove it wasn't beginner's luck. There wasn't a more pop-radio-ready song to emerge out of Milwaukee this year, and while stations beyond the city sadly slept on the song, it deservedly pulled in hundreds of thousands of streams across Spotify playlists.

9. "Masterpiece," Vinyl Theatre: This song from the alt-rock band's latest album "Starcruiser" nearly lives up to its name, not because it's akin to the band's electrifying career-best breakout "Breaking Up My Bones" (which led to a deal with the Fueled by Ramen label), but because it represents the band's most quietly assured songwriting to date, with Keegan Calmes, through pretty falsetto, pining for "a place to rest my mind."

10. "On, Wisconsin," Trapper Schoepp: Not to be confused with the Badgers fight song, Schoepp's tune comes with a pedigree that's arguably more renowned: It's co-written by Bob Dylan. Dylan wrote some lyrics for a song he never completed, "On, Wisconsin," back in 1961, and Milwaukee native Schoepp in 2018 finished the song, with Dylan's approval. Schoepp does his idol justice, evoking Dylan's early folk ease with a warm waltz honoring Schoepp's home state.

Free best of 2018 concert 

Six acts from the Journal Sentinel's best Milwaukee albums of the year list — Christopher Porterfield of Field Report, Dead Horses, Versio Curs, Buffalo Gospel, LUXI and Lex Allen — will perform at the free "Bands to Watch: Best of 2018" concert, at 7 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Radio Milwaukee Studios, 220 E. Pittsburgh Ave. For more information, visit the Journal Sentinel's Facebook page. 

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Piet Levy talks about concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Jordan Lee, 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9). Follow him on Twitter @pietlevy and on Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS