March 2008

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No Faking: Peter S. Scholtes reviews the Mekons with Greil Marcus

Filed under: Concert Review

The Mekons, Greil Marcus
March 28, 2008
Fitzgerald Theater
Review by Peter S. Scholtes
Photos by Daniel Corrigan

The Mekons take up dozens of pages in Greil Marcus books on punk, and even shelf space among my CDs and records, but I couldn't have hummed you one of their tunes until Friday night. The Mekons were always a great sound first -- kind of a hootenanny version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" -- with songs that seemed worth the trouble once I got around to the lyric sheet at some future date. I've withheld judgment because I'm an admirer of Greil Marcus, whom (full disclosure) I know slightly, and who made me a Sex Pistols fan 18 years ago at a Hungry Mind reading of his book Lipstick Traces.

Both Marcus (of the Bay Area) and the Mekons (of Leeds, Chicago, and elsewhere) have ties to the Twin Cities: Marcus through family and former City Pages staff, the Mekons through their former record label Twin/Tone. So it's no fluke that an onstage get-together of band and rock critic should occur here, at the Fitzgerald, hosted by radio star Maria Lucia and taped for her talk music program The Current Fakebook on 89.3 the Current, coinciding with Mekon Jon Langford's art opening the same night at Rogue Buddha in Northeast.

The Mekons: punk rock roots and Twin City connections. More photos by Daniel Corrigan.

Marcus introduced the Mekons with a quote from another writer whose name he has apparently never tracked down, describing the band in the 1970s: "Those who couldn't play tried to learn and those who could tried to forget." But that line seemed to apply less to the band that took the stage than did Marcus's later, eloquent defense of some '70s punk band reunions (the Avengers, Gang of Four) as rediscoveries rather than retreads. The Mekons, who have been around in one form or another for 31 years, don't just look like the middle-aged people I want to be (or be with) -- singer-guitarist Langford all unembarrassed tummy with shirt open and white fuzz on top, singer Sally Timms spark-away blonde and Exene-hot. The four-plus singing voices are all throat--even Timms, whose softness luxuriates between edges. And their sit-down septet in a circle (of banjo, fiddle, percussion, vocals, accordion, bass, and guitar, along with other switched-out instruments) never neglects frenetic texture for jamming. What sets them apart from so many Prairie Home Companion roots bands that have entertained from the same spot onstage is that the songs physically seize these guys. The Mekons play like punks not because they forget their skills, but because they remember what punk taught them about how to feel.

After a few Mekons numbers, with more to come, Marcus and Lucia took the stage to do the interview thing, which was nearly as good. Lucia makes this look easy -- I'm never disappointed by where her armchair interviews go, and they almost never go where I expect them to. Sometimes this is the result of comic self-insertion: At one point Lucia basically asked Marcus what he thought of David Bowie, and admitted she was a fan to the point of not being able to imagine Bowie doing something mundane like plunging a toilet. But when she asked Marcus if there were any artists about whom he felt that way, he was anything but ungenerous with his "no," taking the opportunity to give the audience what it wanted -- something to react to. Marcus said that other people -- not he -- might feel that way about some artists: Lucinda Williams, for instance. He called Williams a "complete fraud": "I have never heard a word out of her mouth that didn't seem self-conscious, that didn't seem intended to be praised."

Mary Lucia interviews Greil Marcus. More photos by Daniel Corrigan.

While probably familiar to Marcus fans, this old attack on a Current favorite set in motion the night's only running gag: When Marcus and Lucia returned to the stage after an intermission with Timms and Langford to have another sit-down, Timms got Langford to admit that Lucinda Williams had recently bought some of Langford's art. When a microphone suddenly popped and crackled, Lucia (I think it was her) joked that Williams must be in the audience, and Langford pantomimed that he'd just been shot. Williams fans, meanwhile, could take some comfort in the fact that Marcus probably lost the other half of the room with his breathless praise of Jakob Dylan. (Really? Jakob Dylan? Again, I'll withhold judgment.)

The Williams bit was Marcus's way of being gregarious. And he was as enthusiastic, thoughtful, and social in his other responses -- his writing can be infuriating when you disagree, a model of holding nothing back (to the point of seeming to make a show of holding nothing back), but no one will ever accuse him of being too cool for the room. This match of disposition and position was good to be reminded about, as the natural inclination of most critics who are also human beings is to want to be liked by both artists and readers, and this desire can stifle. Talking to Lucia, who among other things talks to artists for a living, Marcus said without apology that he'd never once interviewed Bob Dylan, about whom he's spilled millions of words as a critic, and that he never found himself wanting to know more about the lives of the writers he admired or worked with.

The wisdom here is one I've tried to drill into every young critic who asks my advice: Be a journalist of your own reactions first, and don't let anything keep you from being honest about them. That said, there's no denying that journalism (not to mention sociability) of other kinds informs the work of "pure" critics: Marcus couldn't have written what he has about Dylan were it not for the interviews and reporting of many others. I'd include here the mediated live experiences of television and film, not to mention the opinions of friends, or the collective (if not communal) experience that concerts always are. Last year's Mekons album Natural (Touch and Go) seemed all right before the show, but I liked the band a lot more for seeing them live, hearing them talk, hearing others' reactions, and seeing Marcus look so grateful for them. Mesmerized by the Timms numbers, I found myself liking not just the Mekons but Minneapolis-St. Paul a bit more by association, though I've admittedly been won over for 18 years.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 31, 2008 10:02 AM | Comments (3)

 

Another Voice May Speak: Mary Oliver

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

In Mary Oliver's world, prayers are made of grass.

The legendary poet read from her new work, Red Bird, at the State Theatre on Sunday. Because we are, in Oliver's parlance, on the shoulder of two seasons, many of the poems chosen were spring-themed. This is not a stretch for the Pulitzer Prize-winner: she has a poem entitled "Spring" in every book, a cyclical renewal where form mirrors content.

That's where the grass comes in. It is more than a metaphor in her well-loved poem "Mindful"; green fields and rich meadows are the places where communion is reached. Oliver's primary influences are the 19th century masters, especially Walt Whitman, who had his own relationship with grass. This influence shows in her technical proficiency, but also the poet's gentle fusion of nature with the spiritual.

Mary Oliver. Photo by Rachel Giese Brown.

This is usually explicit. In "Gethsemane," the lines about Jesus flow right into a line concerning a cricket. Or in
"Praying," a mantra-like poem which celebrates attention to small things. Even in the Percy poems, verses scripted in honor of Oliver's six-year-old Bichon Frise, we see a series of relationships with the transcendent.

These poems also highlight the distinction between reading Oliver and having her present, voicing the lines. The humor comes out more, both in subtle lines about having more than one copy of the Bhagavad Gita available and in the over-the-top jibes at Donald Rumsfeld. It's one thing to enjoy the poems quietly on your own, and quite another to share Oliver's cleverness communally with hundreds of others.

Another pleasure gifted to audience members was "Thinking of Swirler," an Oliver poem that has not yet been collected into any book. The bittersweet poem about a deer with one bad leg who is taken by a bowhunter is both lovely and heartbreaking.

But the heart must be broken sometimes. It is necessary. This is another Oliverian principle expressed most poignantly in the poem "Lead":

I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world.

In response to a query from the crowd, Oliver declared that her poems "absolutely" are meant as prayers. Prayers made of grass, and loons, and iris, and keenly gathered words.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 31, 2008 6:53 AM | Comments (0)

 

Fashionably dancing: Carl Atiya Swanson reviews the ARENA Bikini fundraiser

Filed under: Dance/Performance

ARENA Bikini fundraiser
March 29, 2008
Review by Carl Atiya Swanson

Dance is sexy. Bikinis are sexy. Put the two together and you have ARENA Bikini, a Macy's sponsored fundraiser for ARENA Dances, one of the Twin Cities' premier dance companies. This first-time event, held at the 414 Sound Bar in the warehouse district, was designed to promote ARENA’s upcoming show waterBRIDGE at the Southern Theatre, and to pay their dancers -- something that is always appreciated.

The dances were a wonderful display of physicality and elegance, demonstrating the skill that has made ARENA founder and artistic director Mathew Janczewski one of the most prominent choreographers in Minneapolis and a rising star in the national dance world. Choreography reminiscent of dance-line and Charles Atlas body building poses flitted together as the projectors overhead played clips of Rio de Janeiro and beach parties, with thumping club music tying the whole event together. The dancers interacted with the models, at one point dancing in the corners, acting like guys on the beach trying desperate pick-up lines. The well-heeled patrons cat-called and cheered, many of them wearing leis indicating that they had made additional contributions that night.

The ARENA bikini fashion show went swimmingly. More photographs by Daniel Corrigan.

Janczewski noted in his after-show thank-yous that it was very strange to go from works commissioned by the Walker Art Center (2007’s Ugly) to a swimwear show. However, fashion and art are not so strange bedfellows. Fashionistas have increasingly turned to dancers to enliven their runway shows. Conceptual designers Viktor & Rolf featured tap dancers as part of their 2000 haute-couture line and artist Vanessa Beecroft paired with Gucci in 1998 to display models in bikinis designed by Tom Ford for her 1998 installations.

In its 12th year, Janczewski wanted the company to expand from one show a year to two, requiring a lot more financial and administrative support. “Small arts organizations will only survive if they have a dedicated board to help drive the mission,” said Paul Kaminski, chair of ARENA’s board of directors. “Job number one for any board is to raise money. Job two is to create and nurture a mission and vision, along with staff of the company, to guide the organization into the future. We have done all of that with ARENA through a strategic planning process.” Furthering that mission meant finding new ways to draw in support and expand the audience for dance in a competitive market.

The collaboration with Macy’s came about almost by chance. ARENA had turned to Jeff Turner, a “brain for hire,” to help them find new ways to increase exposure. Turner had worked for a number of years with Marshall Fields/Dayton’s and still had connections with Laura Schara, Macy’s trend consultant and the brains behind the Glamorama charity event. “We approached Macy’s to see about getting some help and costuming from them and they turned around and one-upped us, offering to sponsor the event,” explained Janczewski in a telephone conversation. Still, he said, the collaboration between Macy’s and ARENA has been loose. “We’ll basically get together and see what happens.”

What happened was a mix of short athletic dances and a traditional runway show with models displaying 2008 swimwear lines. Using the walkway of Sound Bar’s main lounge as a catwalk, ARENA’s dancers performed three excerpts in between the models’ walks. Betsey Johnson’s lingerie-inspired, black lace trimmed line went first, followed by Jessica Simpson’s All-American basic print line.

Despite these high-profile turns, there was still some trepidation at the prospect of the event, and Janzcewski said that the worry of “selling out” had crossed his mind.

Still, Sarah Thompson, the ARENA board vice-chair and head of the benefits committee was extremely pleased with the way the event turned out and was already looking ahead to next year. “I would love to see more of the short dance excerpts. I think it is a great way to show off the work and get people involved with ARENA.”

ARENA has always been a collaborative dance company and is already planning future work with other artists. Their fall ’08 show will feature nationally lauded string quartet ETHEL performing live onstage with dances choreographed by Janczewski. “They are basically the rock stars of the classical world, and I was choreographing to their music and just thought, what the hell, lets see if we can’t get them here to play with us.” With that kind of drive to collaborate for new works and their support structure, expect to see new and exciting works from ARENA for a long time to come. -- Carl Atiya Swanson

waterBRIDGE opens at the Southern Theatre Thursday May 8. For more information, see www.arena-dances.org

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 31, 2008 5:48 AM | Comments (0)

 

Release the Dance: Jordan Selbo reviews Thunder & Lightning

Filed under: Concert Review

Lightning & Thunder CD Release Show
March 28, 2008
The Varsity Theater
Review by Jordan Selbo

Better Than: Another rap show trying to look tougher and/or more hardcore than the next dude

The reggaetón/dancehall/hip hop/whatever you wanna call it ass-shaking revolution has officially arrived in the Twin Cities. With a core group of talented local artists co-opting, reinventing and reshaping the various mash-ups that are possible when musical roots plant in Caribbean soil, the relatively young scene is nevertheless already solid and diverse, as plainly evidenced by the recently unveiled CD comp "Lightning & Thunder" and its release party Friday. The disc, full of infectious and incessant jams featuring a slew of established vocalists alternately rapping, crooning and chanting in English, Spanish and Spanglish translated even better live, as the "Lightning & Thunder" band owned its grooves and blasted wicked stylee all night. The obvious sense of community felt amongst the artists and most fans of the small but vital scene solidified the night's electricity and hinted at the potential for something even bigger and better to come.

Mercilessly, a handful of opening acts, a few turntable wizards and an affable host allowed the night's energy to simmer at a manageable level for a few hours before the main band got on. Truthmaze, Prince Jabba and Maria Isa all ran through some of their solo stuff at a relaxed but engaging pace. Jabba's dancehall lovers rock contrasted nicely with the uber-talented Isa's amazing energy and verbal dexterity (aka the ability to sound dope just shit-talking over a classic break beat), until the band quickly assembled like Voltron and immediately kick-started things properly with the album opener. What essentially makes the disc special (and the live show even more so) is rather than being just a lazy assemblage of area artists' reggaetón work, its a carefully crafted and live-instrument-based exercise in cohesion and freshness, as Highstylekyle and his Leroy Smokes cohorts produced all the music themselves and then hand-picked a select group of lyricists to run ape shit all over them. The result is not just a sampler that hints at what's out there, but an actual product in itself, perhaps the crowning achievement in this still burgeoning movement already full of highlights.

Forgetting all the talk of movements and communities and blowing the fuck up on a national level (sooner than later), in the end Friday was all about the music, and that music is all about the groove. The supreme, all-knowing, all-powerful GROOVE. A groove that slides seductively in and out of the smoke-filled air, creeping through dusty dub corners and around menacing dark alleys, allowing heads and asses to lose themselves in the thump and trance; the groove that speaks of resistance or escapism or rebellion or celebration, oh yes the groove that talks and yells and whispers sweetly in your ear.

Sped up and hyphy or dragged through molasses, the smooth boom of a liquid bass and crisp drum snap of the Caribbean experiment will always be most intoxicating live, pulsing, throbbing and plucking. The band comprised a tight little unit with delicious flourishes and embellishments provided by the back-up singers and mini-horn section, as the guitarist weaseled endless and righteous licks out of his ax, while an impressive slew of vocal guests popped in and out of the unending and unalterable groove effortlessly, adding even more to the mix, with particular highlights coming from the aforementioned Maria Isa as well as St. Paul Slim and The Kamillion. They ran through the disc's gamut, enhancing each track through live interpretation, and that gamut eventually bled together like running water colors; and although some of the grooves (those raunchy, incessant, flirtatious and just plain spaced out grooves) ran on a little too long, most were so full of crisp and focused energy that the crowd couldn't help but bounce and gyrate mindlessly, with one ear always on the message. This is music to live love and laugh to, and I like all three of those.

Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Even though rap music, like reggaetón and similar styles represented tonight, can be traced directly back to Caribbean traditions of dub platters and toasting, I've always been more of a lyrics man than a beat junkie. So occasionally the heavy patois of reggaetón gets too hypnotic and I have trouble separating and hearing the words from the music. It's the same as my difficulty deciphering white music (rock?)--I guess I just have a hard time understanding lyrics if they aren't rapped.

Random Detail: At first I welcomed the plush and ample couches at the Varsity, but combined with the soothing pound of a live reggaetón band, sinking into soft cushions managed to make me feel more cozy than crunk, and subsequently I failed to get my groove on even after three cups of coffee. Damn you, comfortable seating at a concert.

By the way: The "Lightning & Thunder" disc and its accompanying release party really do constitute an exciting and genuinely substantive reggaetón movement in the Twin Cities. If you have any interest at all in Caribbean grooves (or just shaking your shit for an hour), I suggest you seek out the compilation and join the bandwagon soon, lest you have to make up stories for your grandkids when they ask you about the first great TC musical renaissance of the 21st century. Prevent having to lie about seeing Isa live before she goes big time forever. -- Jordan Selbo

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 30, 2008 8:35 AM | Comments (1)

 

Art attacks the suburbs, making it cooler

One needs to look no further than the Norling Photos at the Minnesota Historical Society or the Worlds Away exhibit at the Walker to see that the suburbs can serve as a prolific creative muse. Those that venture out to the fair town of Roseville this Saturday night will be treated to a hip evening of culture when Grumpy’s (2801 Snelling Ave. N.) hosts “Art Attack on the Suburbs.”

A lot will be happening at this shindig, including a mural unveiling of two massive 18-foot tall stencil murals by John Grider, whose previous work includes a wide variety of rock show posters, as well as the Nomad World Pub mural pictured above. The subject of these dual pieces are described as the beer history of St. Paul and Minneapolis (Grain Belt will most likely be making an appearance in the Minneapolis mural). You can check out John Grider’s work here. Also on hand will be the super-popular artist, and Ox-Op Gallery regular, Shag. His playful and boldly-colored designs will be on display and on sale (in limited quantities). Check out his work here. Rounding out the night will be DJ host Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland, and a screening of the HAZE-XXL and Dalek collaboration, Purge of Dissidents. Click here for more info on Purge. The event is free, and happens between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at March 29, 2008 6:06 AM | Comments (0)

 

Reporter's Notebook: Artist takes on destructive plant

Filed under: Enviorment

You don’t have to be an artist to make a statement. And, you most certainly do not have to spend your time like Jim Proctor, creating giant faux dandelions to fix a problem.

Pulling buckthorn can be fun, says St. Olaf sophomore John van der Linden, who helped Proctor with the newest installations of the Buckthorn Menace. He laughs remembering the time that even a downpour of rain didn’t stop him and his friends from pulling the root.

“Everything was all muddy, yet we still stood there in the rain pulling out buckthorn. It looked like we came out of a swamp or something, but it was just so much fun to get down and dirty and really work on this major problem.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has some tips for recognizing buckthorn and aiding in its removal.

To control buckthorn, a plant that is slowing destroying Minnesota's forests, people need to kill it by pulling it out at its roots and cutting down seed producing trees, says Ann Pierce, a terrestrial invasive species coordinator for the Department.

Many people with one or two buckthorn hedges in their lots might not understand it’s an invasive species, says Pierce. But, buckthorn can easily be identified in the fall because it holds its leaves and stays green longer than most native species.

"If you wait until October, you’ll know if it’s buckthorn," she says.

Posted by Beth Walton at March 28, 2008 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

Jeopardy Politics

Filed under: Contest

Hopkins City Council gave a State of City address at the Hopkins Center for the Arts on March 18 like none other. City Manager Rick Getschow addressed Hopkins residents acting as Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, allowing community members to provide questions to council members answers about city issues.

Community, quality of life, redevelopment, and future opportunities were some of the categories involved with the game. Some 150-community members participated, the winners taking home pens, bumper stickers and other swag promoting the suburb.

"We wanted to do something fun and interactive, but also have people walk out of the auditorium having learned a few things about the city," says Getschow.

The event was so successful, city officials hope to use the game show format again. They already play "Are You Smarter than a Council Member?" during the city's citizenship classes.

Other towns should follow suite and find creative ways to disseminate information, says Getschow.

"People are going to be more adapt to learn through story and involvement, rather than a Power Point," he says.

Imagine if President Bush took such an innovative approach political speeches.

We’ll take basic competency for 200, please.

Posted by Beth Walton at March 27, 2008 1:07 PM | Comments (0)

 

Tupac lives! was killed by Diddy?

Filed under: Music

A con man hornswoggled the LA Times into believing that Sean "Puff P Diddy Daddy Whatever" Combs was involved in the shooting death of Tupac Shakur.

This is a fascinating tale of a man with a rich fantasy life, a guy who willed himself into believing he associated with hip-hop luminaries -- and forged FBI documents to "prove" it. The scintillating element that makes your jaw drop is this: that a team of top-tier journalists actually bought this story for one second.

Casting aside the often arcane nature of rap beefs in the first place, what possible motive would Sean Combs have had? Was Diddy a hip-hop version of the power-less superhero from The Incredibles, bent on killing superheroes with actual powers? Did he take out Biggie, too, in a plot to sell more "Vote or Die" t-shirts?

And look, I'm not trying to call Puffy soft or anything, but if he would have tried anything like this, Tupac would have caught the bullet like Ozymandias from Watchmen and thrown it back at him. Maybe with his teeth.

Besides, everyone knows if Diddy woulda done it (say that four times fast) he would have had 'Pac run over by a Diet Pepsi truck. Young MC was actually the triggerman. Mark my words.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 26, 2008 2:24 PM | Comments (2)

 

Criminal Karaoke at Cop Bar?

Filed under: Local Nightlife

Corner bar owners who hoped the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers would use their lawyers to target only the bigger fish got a wake-up call yesterday. The ASCAP filed another suit against businesses where copyrighted music was performed without permission--aka, karaoke-ing without a license. Northeast Minneapolis tavern Scott's 1029 Bar was one of 22 establishments named in the complaint.

How did a random Nordeast cop bar make it into the national dragnet? Vincent Candilora from the ASCAP broke it down for me.

"We have licensing managers who work on teams. They go out, look for new establishments, and explain what we do." If the foot soldier can't convince a 90-person-capacity bar to cough up the $460.75 yearly license fee for performing the works of ASCAP artists, the bar could find the details of its next karaoke night commemorated in court documents.

For Scott's 1029 Bar, a well-loved refuge for Minneapolis' finest, that night came on September 6, 2007. The offending songs? "I Want to Know What Love Is," "Looking for Love" ... and "Runaway Train" by David Pirner (whose "Fuck you, man" to cops busting up a warehouse party was famously preserved on the Replacements EP Stink).

Messages left for the owners of the 1029 Bar, "A place to come have some fun, relax after work, get away from the kids, or just get drunk and be somebody!" were not returned.

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 25, 2008 11:28 AM | Comments (6)

 

Edutainment: Jordan Selbo reviews El Guante

Filed under: CD Review

El Guante's Haunted Studio Apartment
Review by Jordan Selbo

El Guante's Haunted Studio Apartment, the new disc being promoted at Friday's Blue Nile show and only available at shows until this summer, is a megaton bomb on local indie rap, bound to be the heaviest breath of fresh air hip hop heads will suck in all year. And it succeeds despite itself. Any other rapper who used such potentially pretentious setups as modeling their art conception on Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, dividing their album into three "sessions" (one of which is spoken word...usually a clear warning to stay away), and including about 80 minutes of lyrical and conceptual denseness would inevitably drown in surface-level coffee shop boho-isms.

Yet El Guante deftly swings from teacher to supreme lyricist to soul-searcher with aplomb and grace, creating KRS' beloved "edutainment" in the best sense of the word. The success is due in no small part to a number of crucial factors: first and foremost, the beats don't lose out to the lyrics, as several tracks are both melodic and thumping; second, the activist/rapper/poet/teacher has got so damn much to say that even this project's great length and density can hardly contain the wealth of fresh insight, emotion and information he seems capable of conveying; third, dude is nice on the mic, with superior flow and vocabulary; fourth, it's obvious that everything from song concepts to thematic tropes to sequencing has been carefully considered, so it isn't just a big bitter pill of truth telling but rather an intense but coherent journey through the mind of a sincere (and sincerely active) hip hopper (presently a rare species indeed).

Dispelling the empty platitudes of so-called revolutionary or progressive underground acts without falling for the same empty criticisms they also espouse, Guante goes further, revealing both the awesome responsibility an MC has to their listeners (all too often neglected entirely), as well as the potential power of a mic in the hands of someone with something to say. Which isn't to suggest that this will be enjoyable listening for all but the heaviest of rap fans (and perhaps the heaviest of urban strugglers/strivers) -- Guante's level of articulation and nuance will only be truly appreciated by those who understand and experience the conditions he's breaking down. “The rappers say he’s a poet/ he can’t rap, yo/ the poets say he’s a rapper/ he’s just an asshole.”

I’d say he’s a rare bird indeed, misunderstanding is a good sign of brilliance, and El Guante's Haunted Studio Apartment is just what these weary ears needed to get me through another spring and summer of otherwise (suddenly even more) inconsequential rap tunes.

As for the show itself:

El Guante's Haunted Release Party
March 14, 2008
The Blue Nile
Review by Jordan Selbo
Photo by Jeff Shaw

Better Than: Taking Jello shots with your gramma at your cousin's second prison release party

Rap shows around here have begun to feel like particularly-hostile fashion shows, with visiting MCs busting off their obligatory fix of four or five recognizable hits in rote succession and then fleeing the stage with a few tipsy Eden Prairie females, as the crowd struggles to regain hearing for the drive home. That's why Friday's low-key and familial jam down in the Seward area of Minneapolis felt both refreshing and unfamiliar. Refreshing to be sure, what with the Tru Ruts crew interacting warmly with each other and supporting their art with close fans (as well as not a small amount of Friday-night random bar crawlers); unfamiliar because the sense of community El Guante and his posse evoke, in everything from their crew-first attitude to their gentle pleadings to gather around stage to the catalog of songs regarding common struggle and suggestions for collective action. The small and casual but sonically well-equipped venue helped this feeling greatly, despite the fact that El Guante and his ilk have the star power and chemistry to fill a much larger forum.

El Guante at a November performance.

Opening acts Chantz and See More Perspective kept the mic warm nicely in between DJ Fundamentalist mixing some 90s crowd pleasers. While the former gave off an infectious energy and suggested his age with goofy asides while belying it with noticeable displays of versatility, See More's vibe was almost too intense for the only half-warm crowd to take in. Spitting classical flows with a quick angry tongue over crisp beats, it was hard to digest but I'd be ready to hear him again any day. Third act Truthmaze, the self-proclaimed "Bambaata of Minneapolis," happened to be celebrating his 40th birthday, which was apparent with his brief but enjoyable set of mostly structured freestyles. While being sprung off the Jameson is no excuse for sloppiness, thankfully Maze's off the head charisma and off the wall flow kept his set entertaining and light, especially in contrast to what preceded and followed. The dude deftly switched from booming Reggaeton to on point beatboxing to Mos Def croons without losing a step, suggesting far greater potential with the proper venue and audience.

El Guante, the inconspicuous, soft-spoken and completely talented MC emigre from Madison is a small and valuable secret to only a few locals at this point. His talent as both an MC and spoken word artist, as well as his nuanced, unpalatable wisdom and unmarketable stances makes him one of our most exceptional (and dare I say 'authentic') forms of the so-called "underground MC" (an archetype he himself can't help lambasting on more than one occasion, ironically). The beats from the latest platter, soothing mixes of fresh corners and ethereal melodies, translated well live as eerie and crisp, while the seemingly-meek E.L. became very big vocally, throwing carefully-crafted raps out with momentum, effortlessly segueing into spoken word bleed outs.

It's a shame much of the crowd was more social than attentive, as the denseness of some of his better lines ("our mass graves are fresh to death") were undoubtedly lost, and the hypest the crowd got was when E.L. started rapping over Nas' thumper "Made You Look." The intensity of his rapper's rapper delivery awarded the true heads the most but might have been lost on the others. So while this CD release party only hinted at the brilliance of his newest project El Guante's Haunted Studio Apartment, it did show the potential of E.L. and his whole teams steez--eschewing the broad platitudes and solid but unremarkable skills typically pushed by local rap, in favor of a complex but ultimately unifying belief in self-accountability -awareness and -actualization, the power of collective action, and the boldness to be doper and more profound than even your own idols. Next time I just hope you can bring a friend or three and we can really get this place to a hype-level befitting Tru Ruts creative energy.

Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Having largely missed the boat on the brief period of raptivism's heyday ('88-'91?) due to being born too late, my views on the power of rap to change minds are probably too idyllic (jokingly based largely off Can't Stop Won't Stop's revisionist history and photo stills from the "Fight the Power" video shoot), but I still haven't given up on the expectation that the best music has the power (nay, the duty) to open some eyes. Therefore there's a chance El Guante is a false prophet seen through my rose-colored sun blockers, but I seriously doubt his passionate brand of informed b-boyism is anything less than remarkable, even if its less than whole-heartedly palatable to the Friday night bar crowd looking more for action than information.

Random Detail: Old people at a rap show. They must've stumbled in accidentally, but it still made me uneasy.

By the way: Look for this up-and-coming crew in April, as they play host to both the legendary KRS-ONE and recently retired all-time dope trio the Alkaholiks. Let's just hope they don't upstage either show (or that the Blastmaster doesn't figure out their also hosting PM Dawn a few weeks after him)--with this much passionate talent, things could get ugly.
-- Jordan Selbo

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 24, 2008 4:30 PM | Comments (1)

 

Pack up all your crime and porn...

Filed under: Local Nightlife

Block E, 1973

When I was a kid, "Block E" in downtown Minneapolis was where the prostitutes were. It was where the porn was. The cheap drinks too. It was everything city officials didn't want downtown Minneapolis to be. So they destroyed it. And when they destroyed it, the story goes, they sang a song. It went like this:

Pack up all your crime and porn, Block or scorn, be reborn, Bye bye Block E

No one here can stop and aggravate us, No more hard-luck stories will deflate us, Say goodbye to urban blight, Now we'll light up the night, Bye bye Block E.

People don't sing about Minneapolis that much. Okay, Craig Finn sings about Minneapolis a lot. But that's just one guy. Slug has a song about Minneapolis - but it's kind of trite.

You know who kind of nailed it? Tom Waits.

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis is not about Minneapolis. Not exactly. But whenever I hear the song it's like he's singing to me from the burnt-brown corner of a Block E bar. And he's created a museum in his song of the "hard-luck stories" city officials sang about as they destroyed the block's undesirable establishments.

Block E looks like Houston now: a Hard Rock Cafe, a Gameworks, a multiplex. But Waits, it seems, sings his song from a place that for all I know still exists beneath all the neon and glass.

Here he is...

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 21, 2008 9:57 AM | Comments (8)

 

It happened at Oar Folkjokeopus...

Filed under: Local Music

There's a Bob Mould interview over at Gay.com that got me thinking: first, about how cheap it was of SPIN magazine to out Mould the way it did. Here's that exchange:

Back in the '90s, SPIN magazine threatened to out you. Did that piss you off because it's really no one else's business?

It was either "You can talk with us and we'll write about it, or you won't and we will," and I was like, "Well, that sort of sucks."

So I could either not talk to them and have them write about it their way, or talk to them and have them write about it their way [laughs]. Now it's just a funny story to talk about, I find it quite humorous. But at the time, it was a little unnerving -- in fact, it was upsetting. I felt like I had made a poor showing of myself through no fault of my own. The few attributable quotes were stretched a little outside the context in response to a simple question. The answer I gave appeared to be even more self-hating that I actually was. [Laughs.] I was like, "Wow -- how did I do that?"

Second--and there is no relation to the first item here--about how many incredible record stores we've had in the Twin Cities. Here's the relevant excerpt from the Gay.com interview:

When you met Grant Hart at a local record store, you guys formed Husker Du. Back then, the record store culture was a vital part of creativity for emerging musicians. Are you sad or nostalgic at the disappearance of the neighborhood record store, and the whole community and scene that surrounded it?

Oh, absolutely. It was a different culture and a different time. I think the sadness sets in for me when I consider the ritual of having to get a job to make money, to get on the bus to go to the record store, to spend time reading about music -- buy the right records, going to the counter and hoping they don't sneer at you when you bring the record up. That whole thing added value to the process and to the music, made it more valuable as an experience. You had to really work for it, and you had to study, and that's all gone.

It's kind of silly, but I always kind of liked the challenge of not making the counter clerk sneer at my purchases. It made me sharp--made me dig a little deeper. It never meant I didn't buy what I came for, but it did often mean I threw a little something extra in. To this day my record collection is full of those little somethings, and I'm glad for it.

You've got to make the snobbery work for you. That's the moral I suppose.

I digress. Constantly.

It's the record-store-as-community thing I'm interested in here. Let's get sentimental...

I'll start--here are four really good memories I've shoveled from the recesses of my tiny brain:

@ OAR FOLKJOKEOPUS: When I was in my early 20's and mowing lawns in the suburbs, I'd cash my paycheck each Thursday and take $50 to Oar Folk to buy records. All Thursday, which was usually the day I'd mow that Golden Valley shopping plaza (where Down in the Valley used to be) off of Olson Memorial Highway, I'd be thinking about what I wanted to get. Usually I'd just think in genre, sometimes just aesthetic: "I'm only getting blues albums with black & white jackets today." It was a delightful game.

@ GARAGE D'OR: Remember when the Melvins played there sometime around 1998? They still had Mark playing bass: the guy who always dressed sharp and wore a cowboy hat and, rumor had it, never cussed. That show was so packed I had to go outside and climb up on the window behind the makeshift stage to catch a glimpse.

I think they had just released Stoner Witch...

@ AARDVARK: Okay, nobody from the city ever went to Aardvark (the sister store to Roadrunner), but a counter job there was my ticket out of lawn mowing. And yes, I was a snob. I was playing The Residents one day when a middle-aged woman complained. "Play something normal she sneered." I asked her what that meant. "I don't know. Just play some R.E.M.!" I obliged, sort of. I put on an interview with R.E.M.--and she was out in a huff.

I also remember stealing the concrete brick we used to prop the door in the summer. I found a photo of Babes in Toyland playing at the store and that brick was keeping Lori Barbero's bass drum in place. In those days, as far as I was concerned, Lori had invented cool. She even had a cool drummer's face! So I took the brick and used it at home and on tour to hold my bass drum in place.

@ HYMIE'S: I discovered Tanya Tucker there. I was looking for a song I had heard over the First Avenue P.A. before a Golden Smog show back in like 1995 or something. All I knew was it was about New York City. I bought that record Tucker made when she was like 13 because it had a song with New York City in the title. It was the wrong song, but hell if I didn't spin that record at my wedding a decade later.

What about you? Is anybody out there? Get sentimental with me...

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 20, 2008 1:54 PM | Comments (11)

 

Haale: Fields of clover and tantric sex

Filed under: Music

Today marks the beginning of Nowruz, Persian New Year. While the Iranian-American parents of Brooklyn-born songwriter Haale are putting out traditional decorations like hyacinths and goldfish, the singer has already celebrated by releasing a new CD this week on her own label, Channel A Music.

The album, her first full-length effort, is one of the most memorable albums of the young year -- whether you're talking Western year or Persian. Haale's tour in support of the release brings her to the Cedar Cultural Center in two weeks.

Musically, the psychedelic trance rock of "No Ceiling" incorporates Sufi music into swirling American guitar sounds. Lyrically, it draws on the works of mystical poets Rumi, Hafiz and Attar. Like the two five-song EPs she put out in 2007, the singing is a mixture of English and Persian.

This offers the listener different entry points. When the lyrics are in English, you can relate to the words -- Haale holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry. When they're in Persian, non-speakers of that language can get lost in the sound and multi-layered rhythms that owe as much to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix as they do to any type of world music.

"No Ceiling" uses the skills of producer Matt Kilmer on percussion, resulting in a fuller and more textured sound. The result is a deeply sensual release, powered by the groove and Haale's smoky, honey-thick voice.

"If there's a good groove, there's a lot you can access there," she says. "As a poet, you're speaking through your senses." We spoke with her by phone on Wednesday.

City Pages: Your new record, “No Ceiling,” just came out on March 18. I'm interested in what you think the differences are between your first two EPs and the full-length album.

Haale: We did about 90 shows in 2007, and we got to play the songs that were on the EP, and we got to compose some songs while we were on the road. So basically "No Ceiling" came out of our first year of touring, and the sound got a chance to settle, I think, and mature a bit. I think "No Ceiling" as an album has a cohesiveness, though I think every song is quite different, like a little city on its own.

The EPs came out really in a period of exploration. I was trying different things. We probably recorded about 20 songs and the other ten we never released -- I'll probably release them at some point. But I wanted to just give a little taste of what we were up to.

CP: You have an MFA in poetry. How does that background inform your music?

H: A lot of times songs start with the lyrics for me. The lyrics are really my anchor in the song, and I love poetry. I love to read poetry. Poetry is something that you know you can meet it at any point in your life and it has meaning. It has enough ambiguity and dimension to intrigue me after repeated readings or listenings, so I really respect what you can do with language and I try on my own to do something interesting with it. It's very important to me. When I listen to music, I'm always listening for the lyrics.

CP: Lyrically, you draw on a lot of Sufi poetry.

H:. For the Persian songs, yeah. These are Sufi inspired poems with mystical themes and nature-based themes and themes of unity and transformation. And I am also very influenced by poets writing English, like Allen Ginsberg and H.D. and Muriel Rukeyser, and then poets like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell as well. So I am definitely coming from a background of a lot of poetry swirling in my head.

[The Sufi poems are] mostly speaking about love and unity and transforming the self. Getting through emotions like anger and fear. This what the mystics are often talking about. And finding peace. So I would say it's very very pragmatic, secular, and beautiful themes that run through the poetry.

CP: Did you grow up listening to Sufi music?

H: I definitely heard the music as I grew up but it was just kind of like wallpaper -- like always in the background and I didn’t really pay much attention to it. I mostly felt like an American kid, and I was listening to American music, and then there was a certain point in my life when I got older and I was like, "Wow, I've got this heritage behind me." I always had dreams of singing in Persian. Once I started doing that it seemed natural, and I said "Well, what if I try and bring the languages together ..."

I wanted to somehow bring it together which is just a more honest way of me expressing myself. When I was just singing in English it wasn't really the full picture.

CP: What's the experience of performing live like for you? Are you trying to engender a particular emotive response from the audience? Or are you just hoping they'll come and enjoy the music?

H: I guess I can't really say I want anything out of the audience. I hope people dig it, and feel it. I like sometimes hearing people's responses. I've heard a very, very wide variety of things. A lot of times people note that there's a hypnotic trance thing happening, that they sort of get swept away and have a kind of tranced-out experience.

One woman once came up to me and said she had a flashback of one of the most beautiful moments in her life when we were playing -- of her child when she was about 3 years old falling backwards in a field of clover and laughing hysterically. And she hadn't remembered that moment for like 10 years.

And then another couple said to me, "I hope you take this as a compliment, but we practice tantric sex and we do it to your CDs." And I said, “Awesome.” Another woman said to me, "you know, I watch your shows, it makes me want to go out and have sex."

There is an aspect of something being released in people that seems positive, and an embracing of life, I think.

Haale's "No Ceiling" is available now. She plays at the Cedar Cultural Center on April 2.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 20, 2008 6:41 AM | Comments (1)

 

Clubbing! Show ads from a hairier era...

Filed under: Unearthed

We've gone deep into the City pages vault and emerged with a handsome collection of ads from the big Twin Cities metal clubs of the '80s.

We've got a rich archive here at City Pages headquarters, and we'll be mining them from time to time for a series of posts we're calling Unearthed. For the Sex, Drugs, & Awesome Hair story, I pulled dozens of issues from the '80s and scanned ads from the big clubs of the day. These images go along with our vintage slideshow of the bands. Here they are, see you at the show!

1 9 8 4

1 9 8 5

1 9 8 7

1 9 8 8

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 18, 2008 4:08 PM | Comments (2)

 

Raving about the Raveonettes

Filed under: Concert Review

The Raveonettes
7th St. Entry, March 17, 2008
Review by Jeff Shaw
Photos by Daniel Corrigan

Did St. Patrick ever make it to Denmark? Doubtful. But the free access between the First Avenue mainroom and 7th St. Entry packed Danish duo the Raveonettes' show at the Entry on St. Paddy's Day. Green bead-bedecked partygoers out simply to celebrate mixed amiably with fans of the Scandinavian popsters.

Enjoyable as the music is, festive isn't quite the word to describe the Raveonettes. Blending atmospheric modern rock with danceable retro creations, the group gives off an easy, brooding cool. Album opener (and set closer) "Aly, Walk With Me" gives one the feeling of being in a 1950s film noir -- or a Tarantino flick that nods toward the past with an edge.

The Raveonettes. More photos by Daniel Corrigan.

When the slower, moodier songs gave way to the more upbeat, though, visitors saw the power of fusing the Ronettes with indie rock. An early rendition of the gem "Dead Sound" got people moving, as did a later rendition of the surf rock ditty "You Want the Candy." Presumably I'm not the only one with that tune stuck in my head hours later.

They're not a shoegaze band by any means, but the Raveonettes' wall-of-sound arrangements and soaring guitar tones make their show a much more aural than visual one. This is despite Sharin Foo's silver brocaded top and haircut reminiscent of Pris from Blade Runner. There's no on-stage acrobatics, no jumping about. Just well-paced songs with well-placed vocal harmonies.

And it's enough. Well before the band encored with "Twilight," it was apparent some were at the Entry to dance, some were there to listen, and some were there intending on a different show entirely. But drawn by the power of pop songcraft, we all stayed. St. Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland, and if they would have played a second encore, you would have had to have driven us out, too.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 18, 2008 1:07 AM | Comments (0)

 

Dispatches from our ambassadors abroad (in Texas)

Filed under: SXSW

South by Southwest is over. Our ambassadors to the Great State of Texas have dropped down 35W into Austin and sprung back like some sort of cross-country yo-yo. The whole time, a message board tethered to the website of Minneapolis label Modern Radio was transmitting dispatches from the expedition.

Band members with user names disguising their identities from all but the message board regulars wrote from the road there and back and from the long days of the festival. Here is a smattering of the chatter:

On the road there:

SCAMP: after the lightrail broke down this morning and i missed my flight, i thought i would never make it. but somehow it all worked out. and it's t-shirt weather. yes.

GERM WAR: We're almost in Texas. Vampire Hands overslept and might miss both of their shows today. Still no sign of Whataburger.

From the festival:

SOAPY KITTENS: Hotel mania. Nappy times. It's so nice out! I don't care about bands anymore.

CHANCE: I clogged my friend Mike's toilet. Poopy water flowed all over the bathroom floor. I'm watching the SXSW channel on their TV.

On the road home:

GERM WAR: We're currently at the slowest gas pump in history, somewhat north of Wichita. We'll be home around 11am or noon. SROBOT: no one should be sad about not making this. It was amazing, and I loved abt everything I saw, but keep in mind everything is happening at the same time, things can be far apart, and you will be so drunk that it's hard to read the little book that tells you where everything is.

Read all of the SXSW dispatches here.

Modern Radio was also the sponsor of the insurgent showcase Minnesota Migration. The label put on a show for Twin Cities bands who were not accepted by the official SXSW planning committee and invited a few who were as well. Sounds like a good time. Here is Minnesota Public Radio's piece on the event.

Welcome home, wayward servants.

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 17, 2008 2:51 PM | Comments (0)

 

Peggle: The incredibly addictive iPod game

Filed under: Gaming

Spin magazine recently reviewed iPod games. While the magazine's timing was right, it made an eggregious omission: Peggle, the device's first five-star game.

I recently upgraded from an iPod mini to an iPod classic. Impressed with the fidelity of the screen, I of course downloaded a bunch of music videos I watched once, then swiftly moved into the more interesting waters of iPod games.

There is not much to recommend here, I'm afraid. Previous to my discovery of Peggle, the only game that got more than a few plays on my iPod was Phase, which is by Harmonix, the maker of the popular Guitar Hero series as well as the new Rock Band. Phase offers a much more limited input--rather than a fullblown plastic guitar, you're crippled with a clickwheel, which you use to cycle between three circles (left, center, right) in time with the beat. But what it lacked in control mechanics it made up for in customization: You create "Phase Playlists" of your favorite music which are converted into levels to play in the game.

This, to me, is the Killer App of iPod games: You should be able to choose your own music to listen to. That is the advantage that iPod owns over Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, and if it is to be a player in the already saturated market of handheld gaming, it will have to exploit it for all its worth.

Peggle passes the first test in spades: The game plays any of your playlists in the background. Not only that, but the game occasionally augments the music by cutting to an aria during the tensest moment (EXTREME FEVER!). It's hard to explain, but it works to great effect and never detracts from the experience of listening to your custom mixtape.

The gameplay of Peggle was best described by my colleague (and future national VVM videogame blogger) Nate Patrin, as "Arkanoid meets pachinko" You fire a ball at an angle into a block of pegs, then the ball bounces down at crazy angles until it reaches the bottom. At the end of the round, the pegs that the ball hits disappear. The goal is to eliminate all of the orange pegs in ever increasingly difficult formations.

That's the simple description, anyway. There's also a moving hole at the bottom that can save your ball. Oh, and super powers that you get from boss battles.

It is incredibly addictive. Not only did I play through the game--a feat that took several hours a day for about a week--but I then became obsessed with the "Challenges" which include eliminating EVERY peg, scoring ridiculously high, beating the computer in two-player battles, and marathon sessions of several boards in a row. I can honestly say I played it more often than several Wii and PSP games I own.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 17, 2008 9:50 AM | Comments (2)

 

Saturday in the Park-SXSW

Filed under: SXSW

As I was drawing my fake tattoos on before leaving for another day in the field, I was stirred to picture-taking-level excitement by the appearance of a Tapes n Tapes video on television. SXSW played no small part in their ascent and now it is someone else's turn to be Tapes n Tapes. But whose turn is it?

Yeasayer? They sounded so nice I watched them twice. The second time it was at the Mess With Texas party at Waterloo Park. By then, singer Chris Keating's nose was apple-red and he apologized for having a damaged voice. It didn't sound damaged to me, but with all the sampled effects and the vocal contributions by the rest of the band, there's maybe some camouflage going on.

Duffy? She's a UK hottie doing soul, much buzzed-about but ultimately not raved-over. Maybe we are satisfied by what we got from Amy Winehouse and another round doesn't seem like anything to get excited about. Everyone turned out at Stubb's to watch her and puzzle it out. If I saw her in a casino lounge it might raise my eyebrows. Wait, what would I be doing in a casino, gambling is like another form of math as far as I'm concerned. But in that environment her safe, bland packaging might not have seemed like such a downer. You know what makes perfect sense? Wikipedia's assertion that she came in second on the Welsh version of American Idol. She has that kind of vibe exactly. Although she closed with "Mercy," and it was not unhot.

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 15, 2008 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

Night Flyin' Robyn

Filed under: SXSW

She's like a cross between Mary Lou Retton and a punk skateboarder boy--it's Swedish sensation Robyn, making a rare US appearance. She had a bit of attention here in the late '90s, with the single "Show Me Love," but at Pangea she had everyone dancing with new material, including a medley of pop hooks from Nenah Cherry, Salt'n'Peppa, and Snoop Dogg. It was an awesomely energized and together performance--she's feisty and commanding but has kind of a pixie bubblegum vibe going on, I think because she's so tiny, it's like she's bouncing up there. And she did "Jack U Off" for her encore!!

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 15, 2008 2:29 PM | Comments (0)

 

Darondo at SXSW

Filed under: SXSW , SXSW

Minnesota's own indie radio station the Current has schlepped gear, support staff, and DJs down to SXSW to put on a live broadcast for all three days. On Friday afternoon, I caught lost '70s funk treasure Darondo performing with Nino Moschella. Back in the day, Darondo may have been a pimp, or he may just have been a regular guy with a white Rolls Royce and a wardrobe which relied heavily on snakeskin. But he dropped out of sight as middle age approached-- got married and worked as a physical therapist. No problem--he got back on that funky groove like it was a bike he'd just ridden yesterday.

I missed the She and Him performance, which was apparently so crowded they were turning people away. Later, Carbon/Silicon performed for a large audience, although the new band of former Clash guitarist Mick Jones didn't pack 'em in the way She and Him apparently had. What gives? Well, the "She" in She and Him (kind of a subliterate name, right?) is Zooey Deschanel. Even at SXSW, starlets provoke more curious gawking than rock legends. Who would you rather be stuck in a street pizza line with, Zooey or Lou Reed (he's here, too)?

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 15, 2008 1:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Rock the Rabbit? MGMT at the SXSW Playboy Party

Filed under: SXSW

Playboy's just another brand now, right? I can go to their party without participating in some sort of betrayal of my gender, I think. At Playboy's Rock the Rabbit bash, the brand stayed in the background. There were a handful of Bunnies, complete with ears and tails (and their own security details), circulating. And a few open bars, and a buffet, but mostly it was just a big ol' warehouse where the focus was on socializing rather than music. So when MGMT came on, it was easy to get right in front, where blissed-out fans hugged each other and sang along to their funk-infused synthetic groove. Ooh girl! Shock me like an electric eel. It was lovesexxy.

Photos after the jump.

MGMT at the Playboy Party

A Playboy bunny dressed in culturally sensitive, highly appropriate and not at all offensive gear.

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 14, 2008 10:02 AM | Comments (2)

 

SXSW: Le Loup, Le Loup, Le Loup is on Fire

Filed under: SXSW

Trend report: Bands with six or more members are the new black. Le Loup, a collective from Washington, D.C., roll seven strong. I caught them at Emo's, where they sang "This is the end," with a more prophetic intensity than Jim Morrison, maybe.

They all get in on the vocal action. Nothing breaks up a collective like fighting over the mic, right? Banjo-playing lead Loup Sam Simkoff dances like a spazz shaman and shakes the ass God didn't bother to give him. I dunno how well all these layers would hold up on my home hi-fi, but they gain from the Polyphonic Spree rule of multiples: Mo' members=more stirring live act. And these kids stirred their indie-noodling and multi-percussion soup until it cooked hot, near to boiling.

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 14, 2008 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

 

I'll Be Your Eyes at South By Southwest!

Filed under: SXSW

...but did I mention I'm legally blind? So forgive me if I miss something....I arrived in Austin early Wednesday evening, but the festival for me truly began in Chicago two hours earlier, when my plane received an infusion of New Yorkers making their connecting flight to SXSW. I know hipster culture has become enough of an institution to be a target for satire and disdain, but it still excites me. I want to see how girls in New York are wearing their hair, how boys from Berlin are wearing their jeans, and what kinds of spectacle frames are hot with our nation's DJs. Downtown Austin is a riot of rockers. Even though alt-country, hip hop, and singer-songwriter types rep South-By, the anglo-rocker look is king. Pale skin, tousled boho hair, zero percent body fat, zero percent muscle tone.

Once I get my badge, I head out to the Free Yr Radio party at La Zona Rosa. I don't really understand the concept of Free Yr Radio--my sense is that it's a promotional venture for the Toyota Yaris giftwrapped in paper marked "Congratulations on Existing, Public Radio!"
But I do understand the concept of Yeasayer, the Brooklyn band I missed at the Entry last month (it was my round with the Death Flu of '08): melodies with so many notes they carry the energy of bluegrass, glossed up all rich and lush by unexpected complex vocals. Feral howls, lovely choral harmonies, '70s falsettos are set off by diverse tricks with percussion. Sometimes the lead singer moves his arms like he's a lion tamer cracking a whip. Whik-chaa! .

Before Simian Mobile Disco took the stage, I rushed off to catch as much as was left of the Noisettes at Vice. I'm a sucka for charismatic frontwomen and the wild Shingai Shoniwa from the trio the Noisettes has been a YouTube target of mine in the past year. Now I got to see her IRL! It was no disappointment, son. La Shingai loves the spotlight and it loves her back. She purrs, she howls, makes her eyes wide and curious and then suddenly turns her expression predatory. The band was fierce and fiery, wicked UK rockers who can suddenly switch gears with, "This is a new song" and hit you with an unexpected breather of a light jazzy songbird number. I don't know what was tighter, the band or Shingai's gold lame mini, but the delighted crowd could probably provide valid arguments on both sides.

While walking to the next gig, I happened by a busking duo who were absolutely unapologetically killing it on a streetcorner. Just one dude playing drums and the human equivalent of a tightly coiled spring wailing on a guitar--hey, wait a sec, it's Minneapolis' own Knife World! That the underground two piece would come to SXSW to play a sidewalk at 1:00 am is pretty true to their aesthetic and that people who were being bombarded by traditionally-promoted acts were taken in enough to stand and watch them is a testament to their freaky magic.

My final stop was Spiro's, where I saw Dark Meat fill up a stage with the density of a life raft after the Titantic went down. When I first got there, they were an impressive sextet. How do you give that many guitars to crazy Athens boys who draw preschool-tribal designs on their faces and not have it turn into cacophony? But it wasn't! It was controlled, it was heavy and swirly and drone-y, but not noisy. Then they added a four-piece horn section. As the floorboards of Spiro's parted and the family-sized bucket of Dark Meat started to sink into the ground, I headed back to hotel. I would see every single act I caught tonight if they came to town on tour (which I guess also means I should be going to every damn Knife World show) and that's a hard score to beat for Day Two.....

Posted by Sarah Askari at March 13, 2008 2:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Radio Allstars take over the Bowl

Last week I wrote a brief preview of a new performance group, Radio Allstars, whose show hinges on the tropes of Prairie Home Companion and Whad'Ya Know? Sunday night I headed down to Bryant-Lake Bowl for a firsthand look-see. Before I review the show, let's review the concept behind the Allstars: take ye olde time radio variety show and give it a modern-day kick in the ass. Instead of being broadcast over the airwaves, the evening is recorded for a podcast.

I was skeptical (though intrigued), I'll admit. With simple storytelling or a rock show, a misspoken word or a clumsy phrase usually passes unnoticed. But in a slick, radio-style presentation, such a mistake could kill the mood beyond resuscitation. And in all honesty, the delivery and transitions between segments are a little rough at times--but the performers and crew of the Allstars (and in particular the host, the ever-self-deprecating Dave Mondy) do an excellent job balancing the more "produced" format with a relaxed, informal atmosphere, so any minor missteps don't derail the fun.

Those old radio standbys, bluegrass and gospel, were nowhere to be heard--instead guest rapper Omaur Bliss (or Omac Montainya, depending on the project) took the stage with a request for more volume from house turntablist DJ King Otto, then slipped into into an easy flow. "Can I get a soul clap?" he asked the hesitant assemblage, then with a grin: "It's okay, we do this at rap shows." As musical counterpoint, soul and jazz singer Bobbi Miller (a regular Allstar cast member), in an impressive display of vocal range, recorded herself live on-stage and then harmonized with her own voice in layered loops, with the aid of a Digitech JamMan.

No variety show would be whole without radio plays, and the Allstars' story arc of choice is The Spectre: The World's Most Average Superhero. Taking a cue from Mystery Men, the episodic sequences follow the exploits of a man who can turn only half-invisible. It's one of the few places where the Allstars show weakness--the integration of sound effects with the voice acting is a bit off. But The Spectre sequences also held one of the highest points of the evening--the completely over-the-top voice-acting of Shannon O’Keefe. Beer-snortage, I will admit, was a serious concern.

Booked every Sunday from now till April 13th (save Easter Sunday), Radio Allstars has already announced Black Blondie on next week's bill. The regular cast brings hefty talent, and I'm pumped to see the content and delivery mature after the performers get a few more shows under their belts. And let's face it, we all know you've got nothing going on Sunday evenings anyways. If you must stay in and twiddle your thumbs, be sure to do it while listening to the podcast of the previous week's show.

Click here to listen to a segment of The Spectre: The World's Most Average Superhero

Click here for the full-performance podcasts archived by week

Posted by Ward Rubrecht at March 12, 2008 1:29 PM | Comments (0)

 

Into the Foreground

Filed under: Music

For the past several months, one local upstart rap crew has been spending a lot of time and work establishing their name around town. Background Noise Crew is an assemblage of some of the Twin Cities’ up-and-coming producers and MCs – Egypto Knuckles, ToneKrusher Smith, Phingaz & TQD (who work as the duo Green Sketch), Analyrical and Status Reign – who combine a classicist indie-rap D.I.Y. ethos with a tireless hustle and a lot of inter-crew brainstorming. So far their efforts have given us Green Sketch’s debut EP So Long for Now, but there’s plenty more to come later this year. This e-mail interview with the crew outlines who they are, what they’re about and where they're headed.

Listen to Background Noise Crew's "Turn It Up" here.

What sets Background Noise Crew apart from some (or all) of the other crews that are working around the Twin Cities area?

EGYPTO KNUCKLES: Our relationship with crews and the scene as a whole represents our drive to show off the diverse scene and the many different styles that are represented within the scene. My whole production ethic is built from such forefathers as DJ Premier, Pete Rock, El-P, and Madlib. I want to be at that point where every song I make is somewhat poignant and reflective of the thoughts of the specific songwriter at that time. The way a rapper utilizes onomatopoeia or syllabic structure has always been a thing for me, and I certainly want to bring that out of an artist. One thing I regret is not using my DJ muscle to scratch records within my tracks, but that will slowly change within time.

TONEKRUSHER SMITH: The Frugalis McSpiteful album coming out on April 1 is going to be different because the whole album is sick. Literally. The beats are as dirty as the lyrics. The album will make you laugh or wince with uncomfortability.

PHINGAZ: My production methods are unorthodox and I don't fear new territories or sounds. The Green Sketch EP doesn't show that as much as I would have liked it to, but there are sprinkled moments here and there. Looking back on my previous projects I feel like I've pushed myself each time in new creative ways to write music. So of course I will continue to do that with Green Sketch and the rest of the Background Noise Crew. TQD is a little more known for his quieter (pun intended), darker, softer side, while I usually come off as a fool. With time and some growth our vocal and lyrical play can turn into a dual sided mash-up, me tipping the scales toward a more carefree fun loving side, while TQD can keep us grounded in emotions and feelings we all have.

TQD: Since anything can be labeled, I'm sure you can find a pigeonhole for each member of Background Noise, but I think you'd be hard pressed to lump us together as "all sounding the same". Individually, we all make music that sounds a little different from each other, but what ultimately bonds us is the fact that we respect those differences, and occasionally find ourselves somewhere in the middle.

ANALYRICAL: I think Background Noise is the first crew in a while to be extremely innovative and unique with our promotional tools and our live performances. When we put on a show, it involves so much more than grabbing a mic and rapping to a crowd. We support each other so much and really try to make things interactive for the audience. We have sketches, we have props, we have live guitar remixes of songs, and the list could go on and will continue to grow as we get more comfortable and experienced as a crew.

STATUS REIGN: I think the biggest difference between Background noise crew and most other cliques in Minneap right now is that everything that we do is done by committee, and then once a decision is made it undergoes trial by fire. With so many individuals focused in on the "for the good of the team" mentality, more often than not we have very solid plans and directions no matter what the project is, but more importantly we have a group of individuals willing to sacrifice for the success of others.

Could each of you give a brief summary/breakdown of your personality and what you bring to the group?

EGYPTO KNUCKLES: I started out producing the Beat Box on 770 Radio K, and then hosted the show for 7 more years. Aside from that I’ve been working at large, building different friendships within the scene and trying to help network with folks on a daily basis to help the scene build more of a unity. With my production style, I bring more a sense of the good feel of the Golden Era of Hip Hop, which is between 1987-1996 as a whole, where the beats and samples were rugged and overflowed with mood and presence.

TONEKRUSHER SMITH: Egypto Knuckles and I came up with the character Frugalis McSpiteful together. We thought it would be funny to make an album about an anti-hero. Hip hop now is about how fly I am, how fly my girl or car is, so we thought about making an album that was to the contrary.

PHINGAZ: I've been a part of many projects (Sinthesis [just released our 3rd Full Length!], The Mixed-Up Tape, Vividend, Capaciti), they all vary quite a bit from one another. I'm constantly pushing myself to find new and interesting ways to make/write music and to promote it and share it with people. I don't really feel comfortable referring to much of my music as a certain 'genre' because I don't try to write music for any particular one. It all gets blended together into a large melting pot that demands quite a bit from the listener, but it’s usually worth the journey. I'm one of Background Noise's 'in house' producers and I run the studio. I record all the music and mix it. I'm usually joking, but often take things way too serious at the same time. If you get me and Frugalis in a room together, we will rarely say anything worth writing down. Or believing for that matter. Good ish.

TQD: I am probably the most serious of the crew members, personally and musically speaking. I tend to gravitate towards things that are dark and I think that provides a balance to some of the other members of Background Noise who may come with a lighter sound of music and/or personality. I think it's fair to say that regardless of who we all were before forming Background Noise, we've managed to rub off on each other. I also bring record keeping skills to the crew. I serve as the secretary of Background Noise, so I plan our meetings, update everyone on news, and make sure I'm keeping what we discuss and plan to do well documented.

ANALYRICAL: I think I bring a positive sensibility to Background Noise. I love and respect the origins of hip-hop and thankfully Egytpo Knuckles has really helped me tap into my love for the history and cultural relevance. As the rest of the crew would tell you, I wear my heart on my sleeve. There's no doubt about it. I'm a pretty passionate guy and it is reflected in my music and the way I carry myself. Lyrically, I am still wavering in between straightforward honesty and philosophical wordplay. I sometimes just say exactly what is on my mind, then on another song I will bring up questions and ideas, and leave it to the listener to decide for themselves. It's fun and thought-provoking to explore both routes.

STATUS REIGN: As far as my personality goes, I'm a big fan of finding the d