Photo by Rachel Zumwalde

Being in a band these days is harder than it ever has before -- assuming you want to pursue a path than hasn't been forged before. Refreshingly, Minneapolis band Hot Freaks are anything but the same-old. The group has a clever funk-fused sound that's paying off wonderfully on their self-titled album.

Gimme Noise spoke with Joey Michaels before the band's album release at Cause this Friday about their cover of the Zelda theme and the enigmatic layers of their music.

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Photo by Serah Sauser

In the dimly-lit living room of her Uptown apartment, Minneapolis -- by way of Rochester, Minnesota -- performer Monica LaPlante talks about her debut EP that she has recently released for streaming. The young singer sits on a couch while a cardboard cutout of Michael Cera looms behind her and is constantly distracted with her roommate's cat that insists on being part of the conversation. Her album, Jour, has the intense struggle of a Millennial living in the '60s era. The dichotomy is the genius of the album, unfolding slowly as the songs reveal themselves. Essentially, it could be the soundtrack to an episode of the Wonder Years.

Gimme Noise spoke with Monica -- who herself is a regular writer for the site -- before her album release show at the Ritz Theater this evening about how she views the music scene and citing how a broken heart makes for the perfect album.

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Photo by Jess Ekstrand

Matt O'Brien, Alex Young, Danny O'Brien, DJ House

On one of the last snowy days in the spring of 2013, Minneapolis band the Farewell Circuit is gathered in their practice space for rehearsal and some beers. The camaraderie in the room is palpable as they open drinks and get settled in; it's hard to get a word in between the four members as they toss around jokes and share their weekend happenings. Lead singer Danny O'Brien passes his phone to his bandmates, sharing photos from a friend's wedding in Milwaukee where he was doing duties as a photographer. "Did you take all of their photos on your phone, Danny?" someone asks him. He quips, "Yeah, when people ask me where my gear is, I pull out my phone and say, 'Here it is.'"

Since the release of In Our Bones in late 2011, the band has gone through a lineup change with the addition of drummer Alex Young and bassist Matt O'Brien -- no relation to Danny -- to the already established members, guitarist DJ House and Danny. It was an easy transition, for they all ran in the same circles already, but the dynamic is noticeable on the new record, We Were Wolves. Recorded live, the album feels more raw, yet still draws from the delicate vulnerability that Danny exposed on In Our Bones.

Gimme Noise sat down and spoke with the four members before their release show at Icehouse on Friday to get their views on the new album and their favorite producer.
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Photo via Tori D Photography

Marah in the Mainsail fuse biblical influences into their aggressive folk music with striking contrasts. The Minneapolis band is getting set to debut their new EP Devil Weeds & Dour Deeds. So much of what makes the album so enjoyable is its organic songwriting.

Before their release show at the 7th Street Entry, Gimme Noise spoke with lead singer Austin Durry about what influenced the sound of the new album and his love for folk-core.

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Photo by Alexander Thompson

How often do you have a legendary guitarist wanting to work with you on a project? Not often, but Minneapolis rockabilly band Reckless Ones found themselves in that fortunate situation when Brian Setzer offered up a song he wrote and arranged to the band to record. The band has been touring extensively, but set some time to record their third album; the self-titled record is not the band reinventing the rockabilly sound, but rather adding their own flavor to the genre. It commences with nostalgia and ends with a flurry of sweet, rich noise. In between, over the course of six songs, plate after plate of delicacies are placed candidly on the feasting table.

Set for their album release, Gimme Noise spoke with lead singer Kevin O'Leary before their show at Lee's Liquor Lounge on Friday on his interactions with Setzer and what the rockabilly world is like outside of his hometown.

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Photo via artist

"It's odd that my name is in the band name. We are very much a band and a collaborative effort, so it's misleading to have my name in front," Joey Ryan of Joey Ryan & the Inks humbly admits. The lead singer and the rest of the Inks, Tim Dickson, Ryan Mach, and brothers Chris and Matt Mitchell, are crammed into a booth in the back of a very noisy Depot next door to First Ave. on a Friday night, yet they don't seem to mind the close proximity.

The band is very comfortable with one another, and that comfort is conveyed on their new EP, Pause, set to release at the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday.

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Photo by Jon Wise

As many artists before that have set out to reinvent themselves, Chris Bartels, too, has turned his music aesthetic inside out for his new project, Bora York. The new band has Bartels including his wife, Rebekah, and a few other artists collaborating on a new sound that has built on Chris' former musical life -- that of a folk musician. Bora York's new album, Dreaming Free, has the band claiming the taste of synth pop, while pulling in the gentle and zen feel of ambient rock.

Gimme Noise spoke with Chris before the band's album release at the Triple Rock on Friday about his evolution in sound. 

See also:
Chris Bartels talks Morning's Gold and DIY recording
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Photo by Jim McFarlane

Indie-rock with traces of country is a tough genre to innovate in, and even tougher to simply retread the same ground. Minneapolis band American Revival doesn't reinvent the indie-rock wheel, but it does add something immensely enjoyable to the genre, which is more than good enough. Their new EP, Thank Ya Kindly, is sweetened and prepped with pockets of catchy guitar and melodies. It's not complicated, but it does capture the emergence of the present and the love of a genre at one time.

Gimme Noise caught up with the band before their EP release on Friday evening to find out what the band has been up to and learn the reasoning behind the release of an all-too-short album.

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Photo by Claire Anderson

Talking with Jake Dilley of the Color Pharmacy is a bit like having five different conversations at once. The lead singer is animated and excited, answering questions about the band's new self-titled album tangentially. Although not the first official record, The Color Pharmacy is the band's first studio album. The Color Pharmacy is an album you may think you know, and yet have never heard before. It houses a portfolio of songs with silvery choruses written with beautiful surgical precision.

Apologizing for pontificating, Dilley spoke with Gimme Noise about how he's grown up since the inception of the band and what went into making the new album.

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Photo by Shari Simonsen

Art and music come closer than ever with Minneapolis band Bollywood. Respectively, Bollywood was comprised of two musicians, Justin Sehorn and Preston Saari, but they found their band come to fruition with the addition of graffiti pop artist Mark Vomit. The band is set to release their new album OK Animal, a set of songs deemed as experimental, but skims the expectations set by the band, fully aware of its own sounds and moving inwards to an introspectiveness that lands in the right spot. 

Gimme Noise spoke with Justin on how he met Preston and Mark and how the project came together before the band's album release at Cause on Saturday evening.

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