Finding a place to perform experimental electronic music in Milwaukee has always been a tricky proposition.
But a new weekly club night at The Mad Planet, 533 E. Center St., curated by Paul Fuhr -- who performs under the name The Demix -- promises to pool together an eclectic mix of Milwaukee's finest electronic music acts.
Every Tuesday The Mad Planet is hosting Melt, a night filled with live performances from bands, DJs and solo electronic acts.
"As an artist I kind of lay in this gray area where my music is electronic music but it doesn't belong in dance clubs," said Fuhr. "Sometimes playing with bands it's kind of hard to really make a connection with that audience, so to be able to bring this together was really important to me."
Fuhr said he was looking for shows for himself when The Mad Planet asked him to consider putting together Melt.
"I contacted some people I know and don't really know and to my surprise everyone said yes," said Fuhr, "We have some really great line-ups. Generally it's electronic and experimental music, but we have some live bands that use real instruments too. So it's going to be a mix of stuff."
Fuhr said the night will cater to people with broad tastes in electronic music with the theme of electronic music tying the different performers together, but not binding them to a particular sound.
"I think we are at a point where genre doesn't matter. It's all music and I think there are people out there who are looking for something a little bit different," said Fuhr. "I think this can be a platform for people to express themselves and for people to go and enjoy themselves on Tuesday night."
Fuhr, who's been performing his own cinematic, deconstructed electronic soundscapes as The Demix since 2002 will be DJ-ing tonight at Melt with performances from loungy prog-rock band Lovanova, the slick dance music of RichDad, a remix set from Boost, electro from Megan Minya and a drum and bass battle with SML8 and THDMX.
"The plan is to keep doing this every Tuesday. Since it's a new thing on a Tuesday night it's probably going to be a little difficult, but I feel if you put a good bill together people are going to come out and see the music," Fuhr said.
Melt gets going at 9 p.m.
Fuhr said he hopes Melt can help raise the profile of the many performers in Milwaukee embracing electronic music and give them a place to play to an open minded audience.
"I think electronic music is a little bit ignored in Milwaukee and hopefully we can bring that to the forefront of the city a little bit and just let people know that there is exciting new music out there," Fuhr said.
