"Skrillex needs a bath and a haircut."

​Our Year In Music cover stars Howler are back with a hilariously subversive marketing campaign for their raucous debut full-length, America Give Up, which was created by the Minneapolis-based ad agency Mono.

Over at the fittingly titled site americagiveup.com, there is a curmudgeonly old man musing about the sad state of affairs in our country in short, comical bursts, followed by a brief plug for Howler's new record. The elderly, but decidedly feisty, man comes across as a hipster, alternative version of Andy Rooney, and spouts off about everything from politics, the Kardashians, and "dudes be wearing sandals."

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​Let's hear it for the girls! This spring, women, men and any other forms of music-loving life have a reason to get excited about girls with guitars. Announced just two days ago was word of a brand new, lady-centric music festival that will be held at Amsterdam Bar and Hall this May 11 and 12. 

Save your sighs and condescension, because headlining the inaugural Girls Got Rhythm Fest -- taking the expression back from AC/DC -- is Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ronnie Spector. More >>

Photo by Eric Pasi

​Crocodiles
7th St. Entry, Minneapolis
February 28, 2012

San Diego's Crocodiles probably picked the least Californian night to roll through Minneapolis, as the strange snow/sleet/rain mix had even the locals in a rather vexing mood. And while the inclement weather perhaps had something to do with the light turnout for Crocodiles 7th St. Entry performance, the quintet still brought plenty of the moody, sonic discord during their 45-minute set that caused all of us to brave the harsh conditions to come down to the show in the first place.

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​O'Gara's Bar and Grill opened its doors at Selby and Snelling Avenues in March of 1941. A lot has changed in that time, but the pub remains family-owned in its original building. In the 1980s the bar expanded into hosting live music, with the Skunks taking stage at the Garage in 1988.

Recently, the pub re-modeled the Garage and given it a new moniker, the Shanty. The 600-capacity room still holds the same stage and soundboard, but the room has been made-over for a warmer, more comfortable experience: one that includes more TVs and gaming options. Gimme Noise got hold of co-owners Kris and Dan O'Gara to talk about the remodeling and what role live music will play at the new Shanty.

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Possibly out 'do-ing Flock Of Seagulls on this one

​Howard Jones is one of few musicians lucky enough to have notable longevity decades past his prime, so don't take one look at his hair and mistake him for Richard Marx or that lead Seagull. He lived many musical lifetimes since his 1985 radio hit "No One Is To Blame,"  when he carved a niche for himself in snyth-driven pop songs that thoughtfully surfed new-wave territory. 

Jones was one of snythpop's earliest key figures, so it makes sense his sound stretched out to touch the edges of the genre as electronic music came to the forefront. The Brit's vocal style has largely remained the same throughout his career, keeping him tightly connected to the past and enjoying cult status with longtime fans. Since the '80s when he last released a gold-certified record, he's put out six full-length albums --  Revolution Of The Heart and Ordinary Heroes most recently.

Now a bit of a phenomena on the concert circuit, it was announced this week that Jones is coming to Minneapolis this summer to the Varsity, and we couldn't be more psyched.  

Here's a few tracks to refresh your memory.
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Photo By Kelly Loverud

​The 24th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum is set to take place in Minneapolis on March 1-3, bringing together an impressive group of leaders in the worlds of politics, education, and music. One of the many highlights of the momentous three-day event will be a discussion and short performance by Doomtree's Dessa in the Kennedy Center at Augsburg College on Friday, March 2.

Dessa will give a TED-style presentation titled, "Mic Lines: Art, Ethics, and their Contested Connections," where she will address the rather contentious issue of ethics in hip-hop, and whether or not artists have any special moral responsibilities that come with being in the public eye. Commentary on that topic, and suggestions for her talk are found here. She will follow her discussion with a brief Q&A with the audience, facilitated by MPR's Chris Roberts, as well as a mini-set of songs to close out her special event. General admission tickets for Dessa's presentation can be found here.

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​Retribution Gospel Choir, the more-strummy side project of Low's Alan Sparhawk, has released a new EP. Titled The Revolution -- not a Prince thing -- the four tracks gather some great vintage rock replete with cowbell, sassy guitar licks, and some full-on shredding. And it occurs all in the span of just under ten minutes.

The cover art, meanwhile, is reminiscent of great big sunburst logos of the 1970s utilized by other three-word bands who like acronyms like Bachman Turner Overdrive, Electric Light Orchestra, and so forth. See below.
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via Instagram

​Wiping Out Thousands has brought a new brand of beats to the Twin Cities. The electro-pop duo of Alaine Dickman and Taylor Nelson have an arsenal of danceable material on the recently released and plaudit-garnering Reaction Machine EP. But that wasn't enough.

Eager to build off the momentum of a touted performance opening for YACHT a couple of weeks ago, and some attention bubbling up, WOT is back with what is dubbed "the opening track to our next record," titled "More Than Five Million." It continues down a grimy, dark industrial subway tunnel with Dickman's voice to light the way. 

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All she wants to do is zoom a zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom.

​The official release of the Honeydogs' tenth studio album, What Comes After, is now just a week away. Update: Stream the whole thing over at Paste. Here, we have the local rock septet's first single, "Aubben," accompanied by an assortment of visuals that date back to before most of us were old enough to read music blogs. Assembled by friend of the band Ryan Paul Plewacki of Sleep Study, there are a few definitive themes in the clip that reveal themselves pretty quick.

One of them is definitely ass shaking, Plewacki tells Gimme Noise. Read his commentary on creation of the video and watch it below. More >>

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Sharon Van Etten reminds you why coat weather is worth it.

​Winter's kind of awesome -- at first. Well, for a couple weeks, anyway, until Christmas and New Year's are over and it quickly becomes apparent that there's nothing else to look forward to, in terms of the season, besides blizzards and black ice and cold snaps and low, glowering expanses of sky that underscore your wholly irrational, innermost fear that winter will never actually fucking end. If that's your present mood, 5ingles has your back -- and you have our deepest sympathies. More >>