Every week, Milwaukee Music Premiere connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.
When first hearing the band name “Slamhaus,” it might conjure up images of Rammstein-ian German metal. That’s not where Milwaukee’s Nick Amhaus landed with his musical project, although a trip to Deutschland isn’t out of the question considering his enthusiastic embrace of genre exploration.
Last year, he ventured into synthwave/cyberpunk on his SlamwaveEP before meandering over to lo-fi rock with a full LP, I’m Trying. For the track we’re premiering today, “Acid Raid,” Amhaus kept the lo-fi but traded rock for pop on his first team-up (with more to come, he says) with Abbi Minessale.
The pair are actually co-workers, which is directly responsible for the track’s existence courtesy of a serendipitous company-party karaoke performance. “Acid Rain” marks Minessale’s first time recording, and her performance gets ample room to shine over keyboards and waves of synth-y backing instrumentation from Amhaus.
The vibe is exactly what you’d expect from a song that repeats the line, “We backtrack / And live in a memory.” It feels like you’re drifting along on a sea of nostalgia, although Amhaus played it coy when discussing the inspiration.
“Abbi and I are hesitant to share right away just because we're curious to know people's interpretations of the song,” he said. “I will say I don't think we're that subtle, and people may be able to guess what the song is actually about, even if it seems bizarre.”
You can untangle the mystery by listening below, as well as on 88Nine’s airwaves and mobile app. Keep an eye open for more from Slamhaus as well. Amhaus has a live-stream series called “ Tunesday” where he starts and finishes composing a song in one sitting, so new tracks are almost certainly already in the works.
