Enjoy:
I've been researching noise in Wisconsin (specifically in the Madison/south-central area) on and off for years now, just gathering scraps of information here & there. While by no means am I a comprehensive source on the subject, I have gathered quite a bit of knowledge I'd like to share with you.
First, I'd like to paraphrase a quote from Jay Bauman (of RedLetterMedia fame) by saying there's really only three parts to Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Madison, and everything else. It's been called a "flyover state" as much of the land here is primarily used for agricultural purposes, with rural communities sprouting up in the surrounding areas. The only "big" cities are Madison & Milwaukee; two blue dots in a sea of red, politically speaking. I can only attest to the parts of the state I've visited and hearsay from parts I haven't, so keep in mind I may be missing some notable pockets of activity.
MADISON:
To summarize, there have been several brief & isolated periods of experimental music happening in Madison, but there has never been a strong, localized "scene" here like you see with noise in Pittsburgh, Lowell, Portland, etc.
Broadly speaking, Madison is known more for alternative rock than for any other genre.
Perhaps the earliest such example was Killdozer, a noise rock band active from 1984-1996.
The oddly comedic, proto-grunge sound of Killdozer would be echoed by later local bands such as Tar Babies, Kill Junior and more recently No Question, all of whom would take their sound in a more or less hardcore punk direction.
Famously, the band Garbage came from Madison and recorded their debut album here at Smart Studios; Smart Studios would later go on to help record a song for Nirvana's album Nevermind.
While alt. rock was/is arguably the predominant musical export of Madison, the city has played host to a number of non-rock noise acts in the past several decades.
Slave State, an oldschool power electronics group, was based in Madison; they released a couple of albums in 1988 and appeared on a tape by Intrinsic Action (Mark Solotroff). One of its founding members, Thomas Thorn, would later go on to found The Electric Hellfire Club.
Notably, Prurient's first live show was held in Madison in 1997 (see Noisextra podcast, "In Conversation with Dominick Fernow, part 1").
The highly experimental and extremely esoteric Mansfield Deathtrap Re-Recordings project would start circa 2000-2001, birthing a plethora of associated acts such as Right Arm Severed, Garage Indians and Craig Microcassette System. Concurrent and loosely affiliated projects would soon follow, including the Davenport Family (Clay Ruby of Burial Hex, Metrocide, Second Family Band, etc.), Mumber Toes and Loop Retard, some of whom were still performing on occasion prior to COVID-19.
Zola Jesus, known for her unique vocals and dark wave synth sound, lived in Wisconsin for years and graduated from UW-Madison.
What's important to note here is, while all these bands were active in Madison at one time or another, none of them ever really bumped into each other or attempted to establish a distinctive Madison-based noise scene.
This disunited state of noise and experimental music in Madison persists for the most part to this day.
There was a compilation put out in 2015 called Mesmerized in Madison that showcased mostly rock & electronic acts, though to the best of my knowledge this hasn't led to any more or less unity in the local scene.
One of the more notable acts from that compilation, Kleptix, has a penchant for modular synths and circuit bending. You can find his youtube channel under his real name, Troy Peterson.
Tone Madison is an organization that seeks to help book shows for underground artists of various styles.
Arguably the hardest working entity in Madison's experimental music scene today is Jocelyne "10564" Rodriguez, aka Victoria Lucas. She has previously gone under the name Durik The Temptress, as well as participated in a few collaborative efforts (winty, Drag Queens on Meth, Trash Squirt, etc.). Her modest label, Grandpa Spaceship, has been in operation for over a decade.
Admittedly I'm a bit biased: Jocelyne was responsible for nearly every live show I've ever done (granted I've only done a few). Truthfully, though, she really has busted ass booking local & out-of-state acts for a variety of shows over the years. One particular show, 2015's "Frotfest," saw around twenty acts performing, including Cock ESP, Bullshit Market and myself (as FAP).
Capitol Swizzle Credit, sometimes known as just The Swizzle, is a solo shred/math rock act that often dips into experimental territory. He's also collaborated with the drummer from No Question on at least one occasion.
Golden Donna is a solo synth/electronic project of note. He's put out some cool releases and did at least one live show that I know of.
Midwaste is an experimental ambient duo consisting of Spencer Bible & Epiphany Compton. Their setup usually consists of tape loops, a guitar and lots of delay.
Tar Pet, aka Taralie Peterson, is a solo multi-intrumentalist who does very striking & eerie avant garde music. I compare her to Poe, but without any of the pop stylings.
MILWAUKEE:
I've only ever been to Milwaukee once, to attend a noise show in 2011. At the time, from what I understand, THE place for noise in Milwaukee was a venue called the Borg Ward, a collective operated in part by Peter J. Woods (Raperies (like Draperies)) and Jay Linski (Blessed Sacrifist). In addition, they both played in a straightedge power electronics group called xALLxFORxTHISx. Sadly, the Borg Ward went defunct in 2016, so I don't know what's going on in Milwaukee now.
Generally speaking, there was a much greater effort to establish Milwaukee as a noise hotspot. There were several Milwaukee Noise Fests held and a huge 12x tape box set titled Milwaukee Noise 2005-2010, released by the FTAM and Starved Relations labels. It appears this effort mostly originated with Peter and the Borg Ward collective, however I'm not entirely sure.
Peter was also in the weirdo electronic free jazz group Phoned Nil Trio. Another member, Dan of Earth, has become somewhat infamous for his homemade electronic instruments, often housed in hollowed-out bibles.
Citizen 2-13, Custodian and Climax Denial, all noise projects of varying intensity, are (were?) based in Milwaukee.
One of my favorite groups to come out of Milwaukee was Hideous Replica, a duo comprised of Dan Hintz (not to be confused with Dan of Earth) and Frank Rose. Hideous Replica (not to be confused with the label of the same name) were unique in that they created noise by simply playing field recordings [and sometimes shortwave radio signals] through amplifiers, essentially making the amplifiers themselves the instruments. Dan Hintz has since moved to New York so I don't know if they're still active or not.
THE REST OF WISCONSIN:
Jason "Evil" Covelli, located in Kenosha, has been a prominent figure in midwest noise and early netlabel subcultures for over twelve years. He can perhaps best be described as the GG Allin of Wisconsin, often collaborating with artists like Patrick Harsh (RedSK, Trashfuck records) in confrontational live harsh noise & power electronics shows. He is also known for his solo spoken word work.
Anthony Shaw is based in Wisconsin, I believe in La Crosse (but I'm not certain). He's gone under various names including A Machine Called Orgasm, Burial Ground and She Said No, all more or less harsh noise. He briefly ran the Worthless Recordings label from 2011-2014, as well as some earlier labels.
There exists a small "noise" scene in Stevens Point. A compilation titled Pointers, released by Most Excellent Records, documented acts from the area circa 2017-2018. Admittedly I should research more of this, as despite the short time frame of the compilation, the record label that put it out has apparently been active since at least 2005.
