Minneapolis / St. Paul Blog

DeVotchKa @ First Avenue
Photo by Michael Calanan

From today's A-List: "Boulder, Colorado's DeVotchKa could be from anywhere in the world that has a folk music amenable to accordions, strings, and brass. Which is to say, Mexico, Slovakia, Russia, France, Italy--anywhere but Boulder, Colorado. A smart quartet with a taste for tinkering (their tour bus also fits a sousaphone and a theremin), DeVotchKa are too tasteful to let the musicology get in the way of the music. Their mini-smash, 2004's How It Ends, proves that whether you're blazing through a mariachi chart or channeling a band of gypsies, a tune is a tune is a tune, and through the velvety veil of singer Nick Urata's baritone, that tune's a damn good one. It's the perfect soundtrack to red wine nights, Parisian days, Day of the Dead parades, and, it turns out, movies (they and shoegazer heartthrob Sufjan Stevens scored the bulk of Little Miss Sunshine). On DeVotchKa's new EP, Curse Your Little Heart, their antique sound breathes new life into old songs, including the Velvets' 'Venus in Furs' and Siouxsie and the Banshees' 'The Last Beat of My Heart.'"

With My Brightest Diamond. 18+. $13/$15 at the door. 6:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Making Music: Ant @ the Whole

Go to the A-List now!

The Black Keys @ First Avenue

From today's A-List: "Blues-punk purists fearing a defanged Black Keys on Magic Potion--the Akron guitar-and-drums duo's debut for the fancy-pants grown-up label Nonesuch--needn't have worried. Potion kicks just as much shit as any of the records the Keys made before they started rubbing elbows with Randy Newman and the Kronos Quartet. Which is to say that they still sound like two homeless guys playing Led Zeppelin in a subway station. Philadelphia-based openers Dr. Dog have a seemingly endless supply of sunny jangle-pop gems. Expect them to preview a handful from next year's We All Belong."

18+. $15. 8:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Wax on Radio @ Triple Rock
Back-Up Plomo @ Blue Nile
Transmission @ the Hex

Go to the A-List.

Bob Seger @ Xcel

From today's A-List: "More than a decade after disappearing down on Main Street--reportedly to concentrate on the consequences of his night moves (raise kids, that is)--Bob Seger is back with a solid new album. Proving rock 'n' roll never forgets, Seger, at 61, is still the same Midwestern working-class rocker at heart, juggling hard-driving anthems and epic ballads delivered with undiminished intensity. If anything, the songs on Face the Promise (Capitol) are several cuts above the tepid stuff he was putting out before his hiatus. Recorded mainly with Nashville studio vets (with cameo vocal appearances by Kid Rock and Patty Loveless), Promise is surprisingly lean and mean, especially on the Stones-like rouser "Wreck This Heart." Seger also hits hard at topical/political themes, like a rock--er, Iraq--and runaway consumerism. Expect the hit parade amid evidence that Seger's fire down below still burns."

$60. 6:30 p.m.

Elsewhere

Paquito D'Rivera @ Dakota
Fear Factory @ the Rock
Kottonmouth Kings @ First Avenue

Paquito D'Rivera @ Dakota

From today's A-List: "Paquito D'Rivera was the fiery saxophonist in Irakere, the phenomenal big band that reanimated the bond between bebop and Afro-Cuban music in the 1980s (other members included Chucho Valdes and Arturo Sandoval). An anti-Castro immigrant from Havana, his stateside career has been a piquant mix of jazz, classical, and Latin flavors in both large- and small-ensemble configurations. Like Dizzy Gillespie, D'Rivera enjoys careening momentum with lots of brio, but also has a less heralded quiet side. Alongside trumpeter Diego Urcola, his alto saxophone and clarinet galvanize the room with their mix of beauty and excitement. The rhythm section of drummer Mark Walker and bassist Oscar Stagnaro have been with him long enough to mesh his love of European classicism and south-of-the-border flare. A six-time Grammy winner, novelist, and writer of a ribald autobiography, D'Rivera sometimes mistakenly thinks his between-song patter is as entertaining as his music. But when he and his band get down to business, their distinct fusion is bold, witty, and versatile enough to render moot any quibbles about the hammy emcee side of his persona."

$35 at 7:00 p.m.; $28 at 9:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Brazilian Girls @ Fine Line
Ray LaMontagne @ Orpheum
Sepultura @ the Rock

These events and more at the A-List.

Pere Ubu @ 400 Bar

From Sunday's A-List: "David Thomas is enough of an artist that I believe him when he writes that the title of Pere Ubu's new Why I Hate Women (Smog Veil) came to him as an imagined Jim Thompson novel, and that "knowing what would lay ahead, I was not happy. Weeks went by as I searched in vain for an alternative." By now his claim on rock 'n' roll history is more a 30-year tradition of shaken sounds and ideas than a band, but his latest bitter pill for publicists accompanies the best lineup in years, with trademark analog synthesizer squeals meeting more aggressive stabs of guitar fuzz over a ready-to-bolt rhythm section. Thomas's ghost-wail never fails to chill, but the recent Rocket from the Tombs reunion must have put him in his old Cleveland state of mind, because Why I Hate Women veers and throbs like a punk record, and a great one at that."

18+. $15. 8:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Saturday

Anonymous 4 @ the Fitz
Choreographer's Evening @ the Walker
Dierks Bentley @ Xcel

Sunday

Mary Mack @ Acadia
Ludacris @ Myth

Go to the A-List.

Panic! at the Disco @ Target Center

From today's A-List: "Though their accelerated ascent to big-time rock stardom has provoked suspicion among indie folk convinced that shitty dive bars are where real expression hides, the precocious pretty boys in Panic! At the Disco might be emo's most assured, ambitious artists. With its Broadway flourishes, circus-music interludes, and synth-pop breakdowns, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, the Las Vegas quartet's million-selling debut, sounds like nothing else currently being peddled at the Hot Topic cash-wrap. Panic's live show is similarly unique—expect dancing girls and a Moulin Rouge-inspired stage set. English post-punk darlings Bloc Party were scheduled to open the show, but earlier this month drummer Matt Tong suffered a collapsed lung, so they've canceled. Warped Tour vets the Plain White T's open instead, along with Jack's Mannequin, a tuneful emo-rock outfit led by Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate."

$30. 6:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Patrice Pike @ Cabooze
+/- @ 7th St.
Idle Hands @ Hexagon
Mallman @ 400 Bar
Dad in Common @ Big V's
Thunder in the Valley @ Turf Club

Skirt @ Uptown Bar

From today's A-List: "Twin Cities musicians sure have a hard time limiting themselves to one band. The latest mash-up is Skirt, a pop-rock outfit featuring Linnea Mohn (Coach Said Not To), Scott Hefte (Seymore Saves the World, Superdanger), and Michelle Roche (um, the Mankato Symphony Orchestra). 'Born of frustration and suckled on parental warnings' is how the band describes their genesis, and this frustration comes out in interesting ways, such as stand-up drumming (as in, unseated—but it's also pretty good) and angsty lyrics ('If I die today/It's not my problem'). Catchy guitar riffs and heavy piano are this Thanksgiving act's meat and potatoes, but it's Mohn's strong voice that sets them apart from heaps of other local acts. Don't be fooled by the carefully produced tracks on their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/skirtgalore)--their live sound is sloppier, but in a good way."

With Celebrity Party, the Dale Hush Hush, and Katie Marshall. 21+. Free. 9:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Tina Schlieske's Thanksgiving Show @ Bunker's
2007 Battle Cat Championships @ Red Sea

Go to the A-List.

Peter Scholtes's cover story this week on the local Reggaetón scene features a gallery of photos by Tony Nelson. Check out nightlife shots of Maria Isa, The Corporation, Danny y Elliot, Lírica Secreta, Back-Up Plomo, plus dancers at El Nuevo Rodeo, the Loring Pasta Bar, the Varsity, and more! Check it out.

En Vogue @ Trocaderos

From today's A-List: "Hard to imagine now, but 1990's 'Hold On' felt like the first true funk on Top 40 radio in years, its lumbering bass line and close female harmonies a bright thank-you to Soul II Soul—and to the hip hop that brought the beat back. En Vogue's subsequent early-'90s hits are ageless: 'My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It),' the George Clinton-quoting 'Free Your Mind,' the Salt-N-Pepa collaboration 'Whatta Man' (updating the old Linda Lyndell tune). Dawn Robinson, whose flighty work with Lucy Pearl is just as essential, has bowed out of this recent reunion tour featuring three other original members, though the remaining group is serious enough to be preparing a comeback album.

21+. $35/$45 at the door. 7:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Asylum Street Spankers @ the Cedar
Big Daddy Kane @ the Varsity
Rocksgiving @ Station 4
Otis Day & the Knights @ Myth
Ike Reilly @ First Ave
Detroit @ 400 Bar
Martin Devaney & friends @ Turf Club
Planes Mistaken for Stars @ Triple Rock

All this and more at the A-List.

Mad Love @ Fine Line

Here's what Jim Walsh has to say about Emily Colay, his new pet crush and singer of the Wookiefoot offshoot Mad Love: "Maybe the sexiest performer I've seen on a local stage since Prince. Been gypsy dancing on the Renaissance faire circuit since she was 14 (hippie parents). Opera-trained singer. Girl made me wanna smoke cigarettes after damn near every song and I don't even smoke cigarettes." He ellaborates at the Walsh Files: "Did I mention sexy? Dude, it wasn't just me: The four young fellas standing next to me were ready to become the three Sirens' love slaves on the spot. I talked them down, but I left early, and for all I know they got backstage and they may be Mad Love-slave roadkill by now." I think it's safe to say Walsh is a fan.

21+. With Hunab Ku, Roster McCabe, and Jake Rowan. 8 pm.