Honey plays host to a fundraising rap show on Wednesday with all proceeds benefitting the Minnesota Autism Center. Rapfam's Christopher Michael Jensen, who has spearheaded benefit shows for suicide prevention and Oxfam, among others, was approached by Hecatomb's Capaciti to help run a show devoted to raising money and awareness for autism and MAC's schools and centers after his son was diagnosed and began attending the nonprofit's special-needs kindergarten.

The pair came up with a diverse range of acts to perform at the show, including the noise-rap group Moodie Black, who also happen to work at MAC. Gimme Noise sat with Moodie Black, Christopher Michael Jensen, and Capaciti for an interview about the upcoming event.More »

Los Amigos Invisibles have the kind of sound that puts the dance in the pants of six-year-olds and 60-year-olds alike. It's irresistibly funky, a sort of crazy Latin-jazz fusion that happens when you blend smooth disco with salsa instincts. For years, the band and press have been calling this unique sound "gozadera."

The Venezuelan natives just released their eighth studio album, Repeat After Me, and with it, the band continues their 18-year tradition of bringing fierce dance parties around the globe. It's not fair to call the upcoming Los Amigos show at the Varsity tonight night a concert, because it's guaranteed to be so much more than that: a flawlessly executed global-sounding riot would be a little closer.

Gimme Noise chatted with lead guitarist José Luis Pardo over the phone about where "gozadera" comes from, how Venezuela still influences the Los Amigos sound, and how the band has seen the industry change.

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Photo by Dusdin Condren

Matthew Houck, better known by his moniker Phosphorescent, has had a tremendous year so far. After being evicted from his long-time home in Brooklyn's Navy Yards area, the Alabama-born Houck had a something like a crisis of self on his hands: without a home or a studio (for they had been one and the same), Houck proclaimed himself "bored of music" and decided to escape to the sunny coasts of Mexico to clear his head and see if he had another Phosphorescent album left in him. Luckily, he did.

Muchacho, with its ten ambling, beaten-up country-ish songs, picks up right where 2010's Here's to Taking It Easy left off. Houck has his own solemn vocabulary when it comes to songwriting, creating impressionistic landscapes with songs like "A New Anhedonia" and the epic, incandescent "Song for Zula." Muchacho feels gritty, bitterly determined to carry on, as though convinced that the worst, now, is over. "I've been fucked up, and I've been a fool," Huock admits on "Muchacho's Tune," "But like the wave unto the sand, I'll fix myself up, come and be with you."

Ahead of his gig this Friday at the Turf Club, Gimme Noise chatted with Houck over the phone about the new album, where it came from, and how it feels to be on the road again.
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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 Melissa Madison Fuller

Caitlin Rose is funny. She's sharp and blithe with a speaking voice that's as honey-rich and grainy as her singing. When she talks, she's got a solid here's-how-it-is honesty to her tone that comes off more like a weapon than a virtue. Rose's sophomore album, The Stand-In, is a lot like that -- a fly trap for listeners. It's twelve flawlessly executed tunes that settle somewhere around indie-alt-country-pop, with a willfulness that disregards classification entirely.

On The Stand-In, the Dallas-born, Nashville-bred artist takes an assemblage of characters that are at times a little too broken to be totally imaginary -- even if Rose did make up the songs in her living room with her two best friends. "Waitin'" is a jangly electrified song about two lovers who always knew it would never work out, and "Only a Clown" is a deceptively smooth tune that sounds like it's about being in love until you listen to the lyrics. Rose is smart that way.

Ahead of her gig tonight at the Triple Rock, Rose chatted with Gimme Noise about the Nashville scene, being called a "country" artist, and her popularity with the 50+ male crowd.

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Photo By Stacy Schwartz

Cold War Kids broke onto the national music scene in a major way with their rousing 2006 debut full-length, Robbers & Cowards, and have spent the better part of their career trying to not only live up to those lofty standards, but to build on it. And while 2011's Mine Is Yours was somewhat of an artistic misstep by the band, as they broadly aimed for an arena-sized sound and breakout commercial success but came up short on all accounts, the group quickly got back to basics on their refined and refocused new album, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts, which was inspired in part by the Nathanael West novel Miss Lonelyhearts.

The Long Beach, California quartet are coming back to Minneapolis tonight for a sold-out show at First Avenue, and Gimme Noise was able to catch up with frontman Nathan Willett before the band's show at the Slowdown in Omaha, Nebraska, only the second gig on their current U.S. tour with the ethereal Chicago duo, Houses. Willett shared some insight into the recording process for the new album, how playing cover songs helps the band push their own sound further, and his thoughts on the connection Cold War Kids have made with audiences here in Minneapolis.

See Also:
Cold War Kids at First Avenue, 3/10/2011

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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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Colleen Borgendale

It's mid-afternoon as the members of Nallo (prounounced Nah-low) stand huddled in their practice space in the basement of guitarist Ronnie Lee's house. The sun sneaks through a window in the upper corner of the room, which is mostly dark save for a single light bulb overhead. The band are busy hashing out the recording of a bonus track for their new 7-inch, Drugs for the Kids, but they decide to take a break and venture upstairs for a cigarette. Outside, it's bright and warm, and everyone sits down on the couches inside the screened-in front porch.

"It doesn't make sense in traditional terms," says Nallo's singer, Andrew Ranallo, of the decision to release the new single. "But it does for us, because we're getting it out there." It was only last summer, after all, that the band released their first full-length, Mechano and the Trees.

Ranallo shrugs, bundled up in his dark brown winter jacket, a beer held between his legs. "We just want to mark an occasion that we're moving in a different direction."

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