Photo by Erik Hess

Black Moth Super Rainbow
with the Hood Internet and Oscillator Bug
Fine Line Music Cafe
Monday, May 13, 2013

You can dress up the sound of Pittsburgh's Black Moth Super Rainbow with any sort of fancy micro-genre you choose and it will never be correct. Neo-stoner rock, electro-psychedelia, the list could go on and on, but it is the sound of one thing: drugs. BMSR is what drugs sound like. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, and Monday's show at the Fine Line was like an hour-long acid trip, if acid was something you smoked. If that makes any sense, and likely, it shouldn't. Like that statement two sentences ago, the band should be taken at face value and not dissected any further, though that's not an easy task given the deceptive complexity of most of the work and song structures that beg for questions to be asked. Monday didn't make anything more clear, but it certainly made things more fun.

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Photo by Erik Hess

Girls Got Rhythm Fest
With Cherie Currie, Marilu and the Machetes, Sugar Stems, and Is/Is
Amsterdam Bar and Hall, St. Paul
Saturday, May 11, 2013

Cherie Currie's explosive and enigmatic headlining performance that closed day two of Girls Got Rhythm Fest late Saturday night won't be forgotten soon. As a whole, the entire evening brought forth some pretty outstanding presentation and vivacious personalities: it was quite simply a blast. But, again, following Currie's time on stage, it was difficult to leave St. Paul with any other part of the performance on the mind.

See Also:
Girls Got Rhythm Fest night one at Amsterdam Bar and Hall, 5/10/13
Slideshow: Girls Got Rhythm Fest, Night One
Slideshow: Girls Got Rhythm Fest, Night Two

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Photo by Erik Hess

Girls Got Rhythm Fest night one
With the Avengers, the Gateway District, the Pinsch, Total Trash
Amsterdam Bar and Hall, St. Paul
Friday, May 10, 2013

While our local summer festival circuit seems to grow exponentially with every passing year, the 2012 maiden voyage of St. Paul's Girls Got Rhythm Fest made a strong case for its return by championing a criminally under-served pocket of our local music community. It's a strange irony that a town like ours, inundated with the rock 'n' roll feminism that gave birth to icons like Babes in Toyland, didn't have an event of this scale to celebrate women until a year ago.

While that first run of GGR may have suffered some of the setbacks that plague many festival start-ups, organizers Dana Raidt and Travis Ramin wisely decided to narrow their focus this time. Focusing on guitar-heavy, punk-minded groups created a far more cohesive experience, and landing San Francisco pop-punk archetypes the Avengers for the headlining slot made for a truly unique lineup on night one.

See Also:
Slideshow: Girls Got Rhythm Fest, Night One
Slideshow: Girls Got Rhythm Fest, Night Two

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Photo by stefan_pierce

Daughter
With Jeremy Messersmith
Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis
May 10, 2013

Two Glassnote recording artists on the rise delighted a sold-out Fine Line on Friday night, as London's Daughter and local singer/songwriter Jeremy Messersmith joined up for the first night of their tour together, a well-matched jaunt. While Messersmith was playing his first Minneapolis club date since signing with Glassnote, Daughter returned to the area in support of their debut LP, If You Leave.

This show lacked a bit of the intimacy and charm of Daughter's Entry debut back in October, but it was still magical, as they delivered a gorgeous 80-minute set that set anticipation high for their return to the Twin Cities in August to open for the National.

See Also:
Daughter and Choir of Young Believers at 7th Street Entry, 10/24/12
Daughter's Remi Aguilella talks band dynamics ahead of their Entry show Wednesday

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Photo by Youa Vang

Wits with Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, and Rob Delaney
Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul
Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday night's Wits session opened with host John Moe thanking everyone for attending, more so because it was opening night for The Great Gatsby in theaters. Moe went on to joke that unbeknownst to a lot of people, the original book was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald at the Fitzgerald Theater as a sketch for Wits, and because the audience was missing out on the movie, sudden bursts of hip-hop was promised throughout the evening.

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Jon Gilbert

Black Pus
with Seawhores and Slapping Purses
Turf Club, Saint Paul
Wednesday, May 9, 2013

Some folks make it look easy, and some folks make it look hard. Brian Chippendale makes it look hard. Really hard. So watching Black Pus is discouraging; I don't care how well you think you can play, how savage you think you can get, you don't come up to Chippendale. You just don't. When he's behind a drum kit, everyone's a pygmy.

Where he gets it is anyone's guess. I kept an eye peeled for him during Slapping Purses (great as always, and brief, too; halfway through, he murmured "this is one of my last shows." Bummer news, but here's hoping his will to quit weakens). The crowd was thin enough for me to spot Chippendale if he went topside, but nothing doing; just his kit and a tower of speaker cabs and a bay of pedals set up on the old stage, the one where the riser and the shitty tables used to be way back when.
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Photo by Youa Vang

Lights with Pat Brown
Varsity Theater, Minneapolis
Tuesday, May 8, 2013

Contrast plays a lot into what Canadian artist Lights does. The singer appeared onstage at the Varsity Tuesday night with a head of silver hair and a stripped down set of songs, the exact opposite from the last time she was in town where she had a full production set and her usual dark hair. For this rare seated show, the Varsity took on an intimate feel, inviting an evening of subtleties that often get lost in her high production concerts. Late in the fall of 2012, Lights took to remaking her Siberia album. For some artists, this may be a cop out to writing new material, but the acoustic album is very much a different album, allowing her voice to shine through.

Looking at her, Lights defies expectation. The singer has an angelic voice, yet has so much control over it, much like herself, a mix of strength with beauty. Yet, she is funny and approachable, making guys want to be with her and girls want to be her.

See Also:
Lights: Industry people want you to sound mindless
Lights at Varsity Theater, 4/26/2012

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Alice Glass wades out into the audience at First Ave

Crystal Castles
with Pictureplane and Invisibles
First Avenue, Minneapolis
May 5, 2013

Last night in the Mainroom, Crystal Castles didn't speak a single word to their audience. Not even one. The closest they came to addressing the crowd was when singer Alice Glass repeatedly lit up cigarettes between songs and stood, impassively, looking out over the room. (And yes, last we checked, smoking isn't allowed inside First Ave. Bad girl, indeed.)

Oh, and of course there were all the times that Glass waded out into the audience to crowd surf or to sing, foisted up on the hands of her fans. But that was another thing altogether.

No, for Crystal Castles the night was all about raw power and lacerating noise, music shrouded in bright lights and blinding smoke that trod deep into sensory overload. There was no room--or need--for platitudes.

See also:
[Slideshow] Crystal Castles at First Avenue, 11/1/12
[Review] Crystal Castles at First Avenue, 11/1/12
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Palma Violets
With Guards
7th Street Entry, Minneapolis
April 30, 2013

Palma Violets brought the raucous sounds of South London to the 7th Street Entry on Tuesday night, as the young quartet delivered a tempestuous 45-minute set filled with energetic garage-punk songs that brazenly mined sonic elements of the U.K. music scene both past and present. The hotly-tipped group, recently named by NME as their Best New Band of 2012, roiled the packed Entry crowd with a performance that deftly mixed a snide punk attitude with aggressive rock 'n' roll ambition, making a raucous and rowdy first impression during their first time through Minneapolis.

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Photo by Erik Hess

Doomtree
Roosevelt High School Auditorium, Minneapolis
Friday, April 26, 2013

"Good morning, Roosevelt." With these words, Dessa quieted the chattering group of students and fans inside the south Minneapolis school's auditorium. During one of the first nice days of 2013, a select group of aspiring artists and poets marked the occasion by gathering indoors for a show that was a surprise to the public, but had obviously required a lot of planning.

Wrapping up a 10-week residency at the school teaching the poetics of hip-hop, microphone skills, and live presentation, Doomtree emceed a string of student performances -- featuring Lazerbeak providing backing beats -- and then put on their own full-length set afterward. It was a showcase that had the nerves and drama of a school play -- except it was a rap concert.

See Also:
Slideshow: Surprise Doomtree and Roosevelt High student performance, 4/26/13
Doomtree announce surprise show tonight for $5... where?

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