Minneapolis / St. Paul Music Blog

​Apocalypse Meow is another Twin Cities project containing a number of scene veterans, and they have emerged with three tracks on a split-7" with another regionally rooted band, the Rational Anthem.

AM is comprised of Justin Francis (Off With Their Heads), Wil Simon (Cortez the Killer), and drummer Mike DeGree (The Manix). As one would expect, blending those influences, you're left with melodic, yet gruff punk'n'roll. What is surprising, however, is the peppiness. Instead of the frustrated tone of their other bands, AM focus on the "Meow" rather than the "Apocalypse." Take Midwestern pop-punk, but add a notable Lookout Records influence that shows through fast verse-chorus-verse structures and repetitive, catchy hooks.

Attention Eau Claire music nerds! Here's a great clip of Megafaun with Swedish folk singers Jaw Lesson and the Tallest Man on Earth covering Bon Iver's "Creature Fear." It's an especially poignant cover given the fact that the members of Megafaun were formerly in a band with Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon (DeYarmond Edison), and that their band's breakup was part of the reason Vernon ventured to his storied cabin in the woods to hash out what would eventually become For Emma, Forever Ago.

Not to mention, of course, that this is an incredibly beautiful and faithful cover of the song.

Photo by Neil Thomas Douglas

​Give it up for indie bands whose names are complete sentences. Tonight, Glasgow indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks will set up camp at the Varsity Theater alongside openers the Lonely Forest and Bear Hands. We just got word that there are still plenty of tickets left for the show, and this lineup looks like a pretty solid way to kill a Tuesday evening.

Check out the videos below to get a feel for the upbeat Scottish rockers' sound:

​Brand new local band BNLX has been creating quite a stir on the local blogs lately, mostly because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the group's debut. "BNLX is a new group featuring members of BNLX," the press release reads, and that's only the beginning of a laundry list of cryptic messages that were included along with the brown cardboard CD case containing BNLX's debut EP.

Upon further investigation, a few details can be deduced: The band is on the Susstones label, which is also the home of Ed Ackerson and his wife Ashley Ackerson's bands (Polara and the Mood Swings, respectively), and two of the musicians on the disc are labeled as "e.a." and "a.a." And after revisiting the EP, we can definitely hear strains of both Ed's and Ashley's previous work, although this project is taking them in a more modern, electronic direction.

Afrika with DJ Yutaka in 2004

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​The owners of the now-defunct Let It Be Records are teaming up with fellow vinyl peddlers Go Johnny Go and Riffs-Ahoy for another massive record sale this weekend, this time in the Carlton Lofts building on University Ave in Midway. "We have added a large amount of new stock, as well as enlisted various local DJs to entertain us while you shop," the organizers boast on their Facebook event page. The event runs Friday through Sunday, see below for the full list of DJs who will be on tap during the show.

​Add Burlesque to the mounting list of local artists and musicians who are making the trek down to Austin, Texas next week to perform at an unofficial day party. In addition to planning their third annual SXSW day party (info in the flyer above), the Burlesque crew is also preparing a new compilation, Do It To It III, which you can sample in the streaming player below.

​Two Big Cats!-related blog posts in one day. What can we say? He's a busy guy. This time, the producer has teamed up with hip-hop duo Tribe and a slew of local guests (including the afore-blogged Guante, Big Zach, Baby Gracious, Franz Diego, Chantz, and Claire Taubenhaus) to put together a free mixtape, which they released today. Grab Let's Be Professional below, and keep up with all of Big Cats! projects on his website.

Download: Tribe and Big Cats!, Let's Be Professional mixtape

Local hip-hop and spoken word artist Guante and producer Big Cats! recently released a music video for "Red States" off of their fantastic late-'09 collaboration An Unwelcome Guest. Guante is performing tonight at Coffman Union as part of the Voices Merging poetry slam/emcee battle with Khary Jackson, as well as at the Bedlam Theatre on March 20. [via Reviler]

'Red States' (Music Video) - Guante + Big Cats! from Tru Ruts on Vimeo.

Photo by Stacy Schwartz

​It didn't take very long for the Avett Brothers to thoroughly connect with the sold-out First Avenue crowd on Friday night. "Shame," the second song of their set, turned into a rousing, responsive singalong with the audience, and proved to be one of many sparks that ignited the North Carolina quintet's spirited two-hour performance. It was an uplifting, exuberant evening that found both the band and the massive crowd in receptive, generous moods, and that communal atmosphere helped transform the Avett Brothers already stirring songs into redemptive, electrifying anthems.