Dryhouse Ruins at MKE-Ultra in Milwaukee on April 23, 2026

A few weeks ago we had another chance to catch up with local drone legends Dryhouse Ruins at MKE-Ultra. As expected, there was a lot of interesting improvisation happening with this band. Each member has been in several Milwaukee bands going back to the late 1980s and it was a delight chatting with a lot of local musicians at the club who were in attendance and supporting their friends in the band.

Purchase their most recent release here.

Recording information:

DRYHOUSE RUINS
2026-04-23
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee-Ultra

Jeff Mitchell: guitar

Jim Warchol: guitar
Damian Strigens: bass
Ben Derickson: drums

Setlist:
01 One (19:11)
02 Two (12:09

Total time = 31:20

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for this blog

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF
Additional source: mono SBD (kick drums)
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96
Software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (170 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (90 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible

Dryhouse Ruins at Acme Records in Milwaukee on December 12, 2025

After more than ten years of performing around Milwaukee with their improvised rock instrumentals, Dryhouse Ruins has finally released a studio album -- in this case a double LP recorded by Beau Sorenson.

The band is made up of four music scene veterans who have worked in a plethora of great bands ranging from Field Report to the Frogs, and including Testa Rosa, Death Blues, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Sometime Sweet Susan, and the Lovelies. This band is something different, though -- completely improvised music which can and will be unique each time.

For their record release show, there was only one possible choice of venue -- Milwaukee's legendary Acme Records, where a capacity crowd showed up to witness this marvelous show. In 2014, the band played their first show at Acme (as a trio) and have performed there often since. 

Sitting next to me in the front row was local photography phenomenon Ryan Sarnowski who graciously supplied the following photos:

An infamous set at Colectivo Backroom in 2017 opening for Ryley Walker (where the audience was talking atrociously throughout the entire evening) was my introduction to the Ruins. A much more positive experience for me was their powerful set opening for Chris Forsyth in the hot depths of summer 2019, which can be downloaded here. I'm hoping there will be another show announced soon.

Purchase their album here.

Recording information:

DRYHOUSE RUINS

2025-12-12

Milwaukee, WI

Acme Records

Jeff Mitchell: guitar

Jim Warchol: guitar

Damian Strigens: bass

Ben Derickson: drums

Setlist:

01 D Jam (14:25)

02 B Jam (14:45)

03 C Jam (14:23)

04 E Jam (11:03)

05 Bm Jam (6:48)

Total time = 61:24

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for this blog

microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF

recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96

software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (366 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (166 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

Jim Warchol at the Jazz Gallery in Milwaukee on October 11, 2025

There was a mini guitar festival happening at the venerable Jazz Gallery in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee a few days ago, with Washington, DC-based melodic finger style guitarist Jon Camp and his trio performing along with ragenap+dathon (zones and drones on Fender 6-string basses from Chicago) and our next upload, Milwaukee legend Jim Warchol performing on guitar and electronics.

Jim is a veteran of the Milwaukee music scene, having been a member of Sometime Sweet Susan in the early 1990s through to his stints as avantgarde electronic project Loam, then as an integral member of percussionist Jon Mueller's Death Blues, and most recently with his current band, the post-rock outfit Dryhouse Ruins.

For this performance he soloed over a bed of pulsing electronic drones whose textures changed throughout the 22-minute set. The mood was dark yet with a hopefulness in the background. It's always a joy to watch Jim perform and I am really looking forward to checking out the record release show celebrating the new Dryhouse Ruins LP.

Recording information:

JIM WARCHOL
2025-10-11
Milwaukee, WI
The Jazz Gallery

Jim Warchol: guitar and electronics

Setlist:
01 improvisation (22:38)

Total time = 22:38

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF at stage lip
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96
Software: Audacity, xAct

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for www.milwaukeetaper.com

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (104 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (66 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

video of Death Blues performing at Hopscotch Festival in 2012:

Dryhouse Ruins at Acme Records in Milwaukee on July 12, 2019

Here we have a really wonderful set by Dryhouse Ruins, who opened up for the Chris Forsyth Broken Mirrors Band at Acme on July 12 of this year.

The Ruins are an instrumental quartet who are made up of four veterans of the music scene here in Milwaukee -- Jim Warchol (Sometime Sweet Susan, Death Blues) on guitar, Jeff Mitchell (Field Report, Hello Death) also on guitar, Damian Strigens (Testa Rosa, Field Report) on bass and Ben Derickson (Collections of Colonies of Bees, All Tiny Creatures) on drums.

I enjoy the way that the Ruins slowly build up tension and complexity in their pieces. There is a feeling of architecture to each piece which is very satisfying. You can see this structural aspect of the music in the waveform graphic in the Soundcloud streaming box below the next photo.

This recording was made using a stereo pair of Beyerdynamic MC930 cardioid microphones in ORTF configuration about 8 feet from the band, with a Shure SM58 placed a foot above the ground near the kick drum so that the drums would sound like drums.These signals were recorded using a Sound Devices MixPre 6 recorder at 24bit/96kHz and Audacity software was used to mix the channels and provide very gentle EQ. 



I hope to see Dryhouse Ruins again soon. With the members of the band being so busy both musically and with their lives, I can't count on that happening soon -- but I'll be there when the conditions are right for another Ruins show.

downloads

(click on the file name to obtain a direct download -- 

this likely will not work on phones and tablets -- 

if you are on a mobile device the Soundcloud stream above should work):

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (395 MB)

(suitable for burning to CDs)

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (191 MB)

(lossless compression audio file playable on iPhones and computers)

320kbps mp3 file (90 MB)

(highest quality mp3 possible)

Jim Warchol at Acme Records and Music Emporium in Milwaukee on July 8, 2019

Jim Warchol brought his guitar and effects board to Acme Records this evening in support of Derek Monypeny. Jim's solo work is always worthy of attention, but this performance was particularly notable for his addition of samples of short wave radio recordings to his "guitar cloud."

I was talking to Jim recently and we both agreed that it is very difficult to use words to describe music, especially when trying to describe it to someone who has never heard it. That's why I started to use Soundcloud to host files for people to stream the music. 

We are very fortunate to have Jim in Milwaukee. He has a wealth of talent but also a willingness to discuss music and share his candid opinions. A performance with his band Dryhouse Ruins from later in July will soon be up here for general perusal.

Check out the Superlux S502 (ORTF) stereo microphone at the stage lip in this photo. This is a Chinese-made "clone" of the Schoeps MSTC 64G ORTF stereo microphone, but at much less than one-tenth the price. Obviously it is not as impressive as the Schoeps, but it is starting to attract a cult following among some tapers. My experience is that the mic sounds very good at everything up to about 110 dB, after which the low end starts to disappear and the high end crumbles. At normal Acme Records sound pressure levels, it shines. 

The ORTF stereo configuration was invented by the engineers at the French national television and radio system. It is intended to mimic the placement of human ears and does a very good job -- listening on headphones is especially enjoyable. 

I used my Sound Devices MixPre6 to record the show. Sound Devices is a world-renowned digital recorder manufacturer located a few miles outside Madison, WI. If you've seen a Hollywood movie (or an episode of Game of Thrones) you've heard audio recorded on a Sound Devices recorder. Not my model, of course! 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/52246-James-Warchol
https://sigerecords.bandcamp.com/album/non-fiction

downloads (click on the description to download):

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (285 MB)

suitable for burning to CD

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (112 MB)

lossless copy of the wav file - can also be burned to CD or played on your iPhone

320kbps mp3 file (65 MB)

highest quality version of this lossy-but-popular audio file format

Jim Warchol at the Jazz Gallery in Milwaukee on July 29, 2018

Here we have another brilliant solo performance by Jim Warchol, this time at the Jazz Gallery in Milwaukee. Check out the Soundcloud sample below.

The somewhat hard surfaces of the room might possibly at times sound a little harsh, but I thought it lent a nice natural reverb to this performance. Jim was pushing this little tube amp so that there was a very pleasant distorted-yet-controlled sound. What would rock music be without distortion?

This performance was recorded with a pair of Beyerdynamic MC930 (cardioid) microphones in an ORTF stereo formation, on a small tripod at the stage lip. The sound was fed into a Tascam DR-70. Audacity was used for slight EQ adjustments and xAct was used to encode the WAV files into ALAC and mp3.

Thanks to the Jazz Gallery and of course the tremendously talented Jim Warchol for allowing me to record.

downloads:

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (308 MB)

suitable for burning to CD

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (143 MB)

lossless copy of the wav file - can also be burned to CD or played on your iPhone

320kbps mp3 file (70 MB)

highest quality version of this lossy but popular audio file format

Jim Warchol at Acme Records and Music Emporium in Milwaukee on April 21, 2016

I have been recording and greatly admiring the work of Jim Warchol for about five years. I have been meaning to upload my recordings of his work to this blog for quite sometime. I have at least three and possibly four of his wonderful shows ready to go and will be slipping them in between the other shows I am posting this week in an effort to catch up with some of my backlog of recordings. It seems that I am either too busy recording shows to upload them, or I am sitting around moaning and complaining about there not being any shows to record. Hopefully things will get better with the blog soon.

Jim is a very unassuming and friendly person. He does not give off the common "musician vibe" where there is an implicit divide between performer and audience member. As a consequence it is always to pleasure to see him at a show or hanging at Acme buying some vinyl. 

I am not sure when I first noticed his playing around town... I know I did see him at Alverno College in 2015 playing in Jon Mueller's Death Blues group. But most likely the first time was opening up at a show at Acme Records. Ken, the owner of Acme, really enjoys Jim's work and so he has been asked quite a few times to open up for visiting artists. 

Tonight was one such show -- he opened up for guitarist Marisa Anderson and then sat down next to me in the front row to listen intently to her show. 

Jim's music over the last few years -- both with his band Dryhouse Ruins and in his solo work -- is a sort of improvisational ambient "cloud" of sound which has intricate patterns hiding inside a larger drone sound. Like many guitarists i particularly enjoy listening to, his mastery of the fretboard is self-confident enough to seem effortless. When he appears to be in the mood to show off, then he will -- in a classy way. Much of the time, however, he plays in a style which is more reserved but no less interesting. 

Let me use an analogy of a house party. There is always the person in the middle of the room performing for people, telling an outrageous story or just being "the life of the party." This is your typical guitarist and more power to them for their willingness to stand out and shine. But usually, if you go over to the corner near a bookshelf, or the kitchen, there will usually be that one party guest who effortlessly discusses whatever topic is at hand, commenting with expert opinions and information without trying to steer the conversation of the group. In the long run, it is often that type of guest who becomes the best sort of friend to have -- someone who does not repeat the same classic stories or suddenly disappears on you when you're hundreds of miles away from home on a road trip. 

I know that I have photos from the other Warchol shows I am going to upload, but all I could find to post here is a promotional picture. 

downloads:

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (251 MB)

suitable for burning to CD

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (118 MB)

lossless copy of the wav file - can also be burned to CD or played on your iPhone

320kbps mp3 file (60 MB)

highest quality version of this lossy but popular audio file format

This was most likely recorded with a pair Church Audio CA-14 cardioid microphones, hand made by Chris Church at his workshop up in Canada, fed into a Sony PCM M-10 recorder, probably with an intervening preamp stage via the Church Audio 9200 preamp. Audacity was used as always to clean up extraneous noise and for fade ins and outs. At times I will boost signals very slightly (2-3dB) in the 6kHz range using the parametric EQ in Audacity.  xAct was used to create the ALAC and mp3 files.