ROCKSPOSURE.....Be Heard

RocksPhoto Review


Review by Joey Tayler
Photos by Kristy Kramer

Milwaukee DJ crew the Ghosts of Laura Palmer haunt a funky retroworld of their own music geek creation, where James Brown shimmies up to Hall and Oates, where the King of Pop and Prince hold court over Blondie and ‘50s girl groups on a stage glossed with ‘70s soul.

Everything about these guys is a throwback: they’re mixtape masters in a mashup era, swapping vintage 45s on their turntables instead of stitching that bass line onto this chorus with a MacBook. Their new album, “Blackbird,”(named after the best bar in Bay View), even hisses and pops like a well-aged, well-loved record as the stylus grooves from one classic cut to the next.

Last Friday, Ghosts Mario Martin and John O’Grady brought their vinyl trunks back to the East Side’s Redroom. The first decent patch of weather in a month probably had more to do with the uneven turnout than fears of dancing dwarfs talking backwards, but the bar’s laid-back cool and dark red lounge lighting fit this music so well that the Ghosts will be back in early July for another must-see -- are you listening, Milwaukee? MUST. SEE. -- set. Here’s hoping Martin, O’Grady, and co-founder Andy Gulotta find a downtown audience waiting for them to match the crowds they draw on the southside.

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