Photo courtesy of the artist

Paul Metzger is unlike any instrumentalist you know. For one thing, he's a self-taught banjo virtuoso -- though the instrument he plays is less of a banjo and more a crazy instrument experiment gone horribly right. In the late '70s, Metzger began performing small surgeries on his banjo, adding extra strings and performing minor transplants. Today, Metzger is on his third version of the original creation, complete with 23 strings -- and while the look of it is slightly Frankensteinish, the sound is unbelievably stunning.

Metzger's 8th solo recording and his latest album, Tombeaux, is a haunting, textural thing that steps out of space. Metzger weaves sounds together with an understated eloquence, and the three compositions on Tombeaux are as intricate and detailed as if they were being performed not by one musician but by four. But then, what would you expect from an artist who was just recently awarded the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians?

Tonight at the Turf Club's Clown Lounge, Metzger celebrates the release of Tombeaux along with free-form improvisation quartet Kvarteto Improvizi. Ahead of his gig, Gimme Noise caught up with Metzger to talk about the album, the Fellowship, and the origins of his instrument.

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Photo by Jonathon Weiner

Late last fall, the members of New Found Glory got the idea to do a tour commemorating the ten-year anniversary of their Sticks and Stones album. Even without any "big hits" in recent years, the Florida pop-punk band has been touring constantly and continuously building their fanbase on the road. Due to timing, the band wasn't able to make it to Minneapolis, but was given the opportunity this spring to do a few shows in Canada and allowed them to add some cities they had skipped out on.

The band will be playing Sticks and Stones album in full at their show on Saturday evening, and Gimme Noise spoke with drummer Cyrus Bolooki before the band's swing through First Ave.

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How do you sum up the extent of the impact and reach that Heiruspecs has had over the past 16 years? The most influential band to come out of St. Paul Central High School and a cornerstone of the original Minneapolis-St. Paul hip-hop scene, Heiruspecs have come to stand for something beyond the music they create. As the band's career has expanded and been cemented in Twin Cities history, Heiruspecs has sought a way to contribute to the culture of their hometown in other ways.

In 2010, Heirupsecs and the St. Paul Central High School Foundation partnered to create an annual scholarship fund for the school. To this day, Heiruspecs has distributed over $12,000 to Central High graduates who are pursuing higher education. To mark this outstanding achievement, as they have done in previous years, Heiruspecs will be putting on a fundraiser show featuring the band, friends, and some very special guests, where the entirety of the ticket sales will be donated to the St. Paul Central High School Foundation.

The Fourth Annual Heiruspecs Scholarship Fundraiser Show will be taking place this Saturday at Turf Club. The bill includes openers Whistlekid, DJ Beatnik, and Sean Anonymous, as well as some recently announced special guests: Dessa, Aby Wolf, and Carnage. Ahead of the show, Gimme Noise caught up with Heiruspecs founding member Sean McPherson to chat about the scholarship fund and its importance.

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Josh Wolfe

Mark Kroos plays two guitars at the same time. Well, technically his instrument of choice is one guitar, two necks. But he doesn't play the double-necked guitar the way the instrument's designed. Instead, he has each neck set up like a normal six-string guitar. And he plays them simultaneously.

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Photo by Sara Montour

One year ago, Sara Montour and Steve Korf launched Live Letters, a brand that documents local music around town and also hosts small, intimate house shows at Montour's loft. Since Live Letters started, it has gained notoriety in small groups of fans and amongst musicians around Minneapolis as one of the cities' best-kept secrets.

The house shows provide an experience for both concert-goers -- who get to see a band in a new light, without the barriers of a traditional concert experience -- and the musicians, who have the freedom to experiment with a different format and truly connect with their audience. It's the sort of thing that calls for a community to be built around it, and that's just what Live Letters has fostered.

This evening, Montour and Korf will be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Live Letters with a special show, featuring a stunning lineup from Ben Lubeck (Farewell Milwaukee), Ben Weaver, Brianna Lane, Chris Koza, Danny O'Brien (The Farewell Circuit), the Ericksons, Hannah von der Hoff, James Diers (Halloween, Alaska), John Mark Nelson, and Jonathan Sunde (The Daredevil Christopher Wright). We caught up with Montour ahead of the show to talk about how Live Letters has grown over the last twelve months.

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Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara may be a newer name to music fans in the States but she has had a long career in her native country and her homebase, France, since the mid-'90s as a stage and film actress. She blends the background of southwestern Mali's Wassoulou traditions with her life experiences in expressions of folk, jazz, and R&B. Diawara has established herself stateside with cool collaborations with the likes of the legendary "Queen of Wassoulou" Oumou Sangaré, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, Blur's Damon Albarn, jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, and even soul man Bobby Womack.

Another round of dates to spread her colorful and rhythmic sound and dance brings her to the Cedar Cultural Center Friday night. Gimme Noise had a chance to chat with Fatoumata on the phone when she was in Texas.

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Ben Wendel has earned international success and awards as a performer, composer, producer and even conductor. He is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated jazz-rock group Kneebody in which he plays saxophone, and he is one of the very few well-known bassoonists outside of the classical realm -- a talent that once afforded him the opportunity to perform with Prince.

Despite his entrenchment in the contemporary jazz and instrumental music worlds, Ben finds creative inspiration from not only a childhood steeped in opera, but also Thom Yorke and '90s hip hop. His varied interests have fueled a career that reflects the ever-changing music industry, one today that encourages (and even requires) musicians to morph their skill-set to adapt to different genres and styles.

Case in point, this week Wendel will perform three times in Saint Paul -- with Americana artist Darryl Holter at the Turf Club and Black Dog Cafe, and at Studio Z with a crew of local rising jazz stars. Gimme Noise spoke with Ben from New York about his circuitous path, creative emphases and approaches to unusual collaborations, including a month-long stint touring with Snoop Dogg.

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Photo by Barry J. Holmes

Rufus Wainwright once wrote "Along the bending path away, I smiled in knowing I'd be back one day." Perhaps he was talking about his return to Minnesota. The singer will be back in the Twin Cities for two shows this weekend to share his talents and charm at the Fitzgerald Theater.

On the eve of his Australian tour, Rufus spoke to Gimme Noise via local musician Chris Koza -- who himself covered Wainwright's "In a Graveyard" a year ago at the Fitz -- from his home in California. Wainwright, who turns 40 this year, shared anecdotes and wisdom on his career.

See Also:
Chris Koza's Works for Words at the Fitzgerald, 6/8/2012
Rufus Wainwright at MN Zoo, 8/11/2012
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Photo by Jack Vartoogian

When Dave King plays the drums, it doesn't even look real. He looks like a human octopus, like maybe he's hiding three other limbs to help him create all those sounds. His hands float around the kit, and he smiles deeply, his face transparently joyous, always enveloped in the music.

As a founding member and the drummer in the internationally renowned progressive jazz group the Bad Plus and the avant-garde jazz trio Happy Apple -- and with maybe three or four other side projects -- King has built his life around those live shows. And if you've ever been fortunate enough to catch King in action, you understand: he's got this intuition that translates directly into sound.

With things skyrocketing off with the Bad Plus, and with Happy Apple's other band members wading through with their own crazy lives -- saxophonist Mike Lewis was kinda busy with that Bon Iver dude -- Happy Apple has been, more or less, on pause. The band hasn't had an album out in six years, but they are far from dissolved. In fact, King argues that they might be in a stronger place now than ever.

The Minneapolis native is hard to track down between flights and time zones, but ahead of some Happy Apple shows at Icehouse this weekend, King chatting with Gimme Noise about the jazz life, his schedule, and what fans can expect this weekend at the shows.

See Also:
The Bad Plus unveil mini documentary about new album, Made Possible
The Bad Plus' Dave King: Our music has a lot of information in itMore »

Contemporary jazz great Slide Hampton proclaimed, "we trombonists are problem solvers." Yet for all the back-boning trombones provide, even the most famous ones -- J.J. Johnson, Frank Rosolino, Al Grey or Curtis Fuller -- aren't household names like adored trumpeters or saxophonists. One such "problem solver" has long since made a name for himself in the contemporary jazz world -- trombonist and composer, Steve Davis, who was called "one of the greatest trombone players in the world" by legend Freddie Hubbard.

Davis's credentials include time spent playing with such greats as Art Blakey, Chick Corea and Jackie McClean, where he earned acclaim not only as an elite-caliber trombonist, but also as a sought-after improviser. Steve also happens to be the cousin of local jazz and avant garde monster Jon Davis, clarinetist, bassist and electronic composer known for a litany of envelope-pushing projects.

Steve took a few minutes between teaching lessons to chat with Gimme Noise in anticipation of his appearance this Sunday, April 7 at Icehouse.

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