Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios 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.
From the outside, it certainly seems like every technological step forward for the music industry results in at least one financial step back for artists. Milwaukee’s Brett Newski provides the latest confirmation of that suspicion with this Milwaukee Music Premiere from an album that states things plainly right in its name.
Newski’s next collection of music coming May 2 is titled ameriCONa Pt 1: Educate Freeloaders to Buy Art. Don’t take the “freeloaders” part personally; we’ve all been conditioned — even the old heads — to just expect music to show up on our phones without thinking too much about where our $10 per month goes.
The intent of this new project, as Newski put it, is to urge fans “to purchase music directly — a step toward securing a living wage for artists in an era where streaming royalties have long failed to do so.”
The track we’re premiering here, titled “Narrow Escapes,” has just as much thought behind it and carries a message of “resisting conformity and fighting to stay independent in one of the most expensive and competitive countries in the world,” Newski said. “It's about the tension between security and freedom. It's about the financial and emotional costs of dodging societal expectations.”
It’s also Dylan-y as hell. From the vocal affectation Newski employs to the wonderfully raw acoustic sound (with occasional screeches of electric guitar), subversiveness is in this song’s DNA and right up front in its lyrics:
I guess it’s time to fall in the line
I been on the run long enough
The man wanna teach me some stuff
I guess it’s time
Speaking of time, you can set your clock to hear “Narrow Escapes” on 88Nine all day today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.) or just hit the “Listen” button at the top of this page.
The track will be part of ameriCONa Pt 1 when it comes out May 2 on all NON-streaming formats. So you’ll be able to get it as a digital download, as well as on vinyl, limited-edition vinyl and CD. Newski also has a release show set for May 2 at Falcon Bowl as part of a multi-state run of performances that kicks off April 11 in Lexington, Ky. For more info on the tour, album and more, head over to Brett Newski’s home on the internet.
