Just when you thought that Jeremy Messersmith would never team up and record a Beatles cover with Solid Gold, the MN Beatle Project (Vol. 1) has brought the two parties together to do just that. The benefit CD, which will also feature the likes of Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles, Ice Palace, and the Suicide Commandos, is being released in December with all of the proceeds from its sale going to "rebuild and enhance music and art education for children in Minnesota public schools."
With Owl City's single, "Fireflies," skyrocketing to the #1 slot on the Billboard charts this week, the writers at Pitchfork thought it would be an opportune moment to cash in on some pageviews and take a big ol' dump on Owatonna native Adam Young's sugary electro-pop project. As we've seen before with the tastemaking site, when Pitchfork hates something, they really hate it, and they make no qualms about telling us exactly how insulted they feel by the sub-par quality of today's mainstream pop music.
As part of the "Making Music" series at the University of Minnesota's Whole Music Club, Erik Funk will appear tonight to talk about his experience in the music industry. In addition to years spent playing guitar and singing in the influential local punk band Dillinger Four, Funk co-owns the live music hot-spot Triple Rock Social Club.
From the Making Music website: "Funk will talk about the beginnings of D4 and their most recent release Civil War on Fat Wreck Chords, in addition to what he's got cooking across campus at the Triple Rock."
"Making Music" takes place tonight from 8pm - 10pm. Free for all ages, though seating is limited.
As a tribute to the seminal local punk rock band the Suicide Commandos, newly re-elected mayor RT Rybak is declaring this Saturday, November 7, "Suicide Commandos Day." The band will re-emerge to play three separate shows on Saturday: a pair of "10 and under" shows at the Walker Art Center during the day (one at 11 a.m. and one at 1 p.m.), and a late-night gig at the Dakota Jazz Club that begins at 11 p.m.
Though the band was most active in the late '70s, all three members are still involved in music to this day: Chris Osgood is Vice President of Organizational Development at McNally Smith College of Music; drummer Dave Ahl builds recording studios in the area; and bassist Steve Almaas is an active musician and music teacher in New York.
We recently received this submission via email and found Helm's piece to be a spot-on and heartfelt remembrance of the Uptown Bar, which closed its doors on Sunday, so we're posting it here unedited for our readers to enjoy.
Not Just Another Article about the Uptown By Helm Matthews
When I told a friend that I was going to write a piece about the Uptown bar he smiled and said, "Get in line." I realize there have been many articles already written about this Minneapolis institution, but they all seem to have the same theme: memories. The writers wrote of memories of bands that have played there or memories of what happened downstairs or memories of a first date. And that is fine. I enjoyed reading them.
Head over to MTVu's "The Freshmen" to cast your vote for local hip-hop artist Toki Wright, who just released his Rhymesayers debut earlier this year. Wright is the second Minnesota artist in as many weeks to be featured on "The Freshmen" poll, which features breaking artists; Solid Gold's Bodies of Water was one of the contenders last week.
Click here to vote (it looks like he's in second place so far), and watch the video for "Devil's Advocate" below.
We just received word from Dan Kramer of Estate that another one of their songs will be used in a prime-time TV show. Just the other week, their single "Message" was part of a recent episode of ABC's FlashForward, and tonight their song "Write to Make" will be featured on an episode of the popular CW drama "Gossip Girl."
The episode airs tonight at 8 p.m. Here's a stream of "Write to Make" for your listening pleasure:
Until Owl City, Har Mar Superstar, the hirsute popster extraordinaire, was Owatonna's most successful musical export.
Well, for the time being, Har Mar might have to yield the limelight to Adam Young, the appropriately surnamed musician behind Owl City. Today, he topped the Billboard Hot 100, signifying the current high water mark in a career that seemingly has no visible ceiling.
As the teaser reads on mtvU's site, "Your votes determine which videos get into rotation on mtvU each week only on The Freshmen." Even if you're one of the unfortunates who haven't signed on with a participating cable or satellite provider to get the far-beyond-standard-cable network (myself included), you should still head over to their site and vote Solid Gold's "Bible Thumper" into rotation. Why? Because even if you're not into looking out for the best interests of those around you in our fair Twin Cities, the alternative is some dude named Chalie Boy. Seriously.
In the opening chapters of Here Come the Regulars, Ian Anderson's authorial debut, he comes right out and says what everyone contemplating entrance into the music industry suspects--it's hard, failure is to be expected, and everyone in the industry survives on borrowed time.
But rather than be a hard-knuckled naysayer, Anderson, the head of Afternoon Records, manages to torque these realities into something more than pessimistic determination. In fact, these admissions of the reality of the music industry seem to be arguments of liberation--in a smaller, leaner music industry, the little guy has a fighting chance to do what he loves.
Rock and roll is an affair best left to the young. And when it comes to record label peeps, Shane Vader and Clara Salyer, both 17, are about as young as you'll find.
But there is no shortage of experience in the local music scene between them--Vader heads up local outfit Shoe Shiners, a band with whom he's been performing since he was 10 years old, and Salyer fronts Total Babe, the outstanding rock act, who is featured in this week's music section.
So when it came time for Ian Anderson, who runs the local behemoth Afternoon Records, to start a small imprint that would handle the smaller local releases that Afternoon had neither the time nor resources to put out, Vader and Salyer were shoe ins.
If you've had your ear to the rails in the last few months of the local music scene, you've heard Shahs. If you were around a few years ago, during the heyday of Twin cities DIY venues, you saw Shahs.
But if you haven't, time is running out for you to get a glimpse of one of the most elusive, quixotic local bands in recent memory. Shahs is the solo project of Tom Helgerson, formerly of mathsters Thank You, and it was revived this summer after a hiatus of almost two years, and has beein saturating local bills ever since.
For the Twin Cities, it's all coming to an end on Tuesday evening--after a final local show tomorrow night at the Hexagon, Helgerson will be boarding an Amtrak to Missoula, where he'll take up with Vampire Hands singer Colin Johnson.
Helgerson spoke with Gimme Noise last night over cheeseburgers and beer. Head below the jump for more info.
Aside from being a "band to watch" and having the "flyer of the week," Minneapolis' Kill to Kill have just released a video for the song "Sugar Sugar" which comes from their new Fighter EP (which is being released tonight at the Hex). "Sugar Sugar" comes produced by Northern Outpost, the local video site best known for its slick interview/performance pieces. In the past the site has featured such local acts as Gospel Gossip, Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles and, yes, even Kill to Kill. If you haven't had a chance to browse Northern Outpost's archives, you really need to get on that. Like yesterday.
For years, Skoal Kodiak has been the finest underground export these towns offer. Preferring the dank basement to the blandly legitimate stages of our above-ground venues, Skoal Kodiak's name is written in whisper campaigns, unpublicized shows, and dance parties of such reckless abandon, you can identify their fans by the morning-after bruises.
Well, not only is a new album in the works from the noise-dance savants, but it will bear the imprint of Modern Radio, one of the Twin Cities' most prized and well represented local labels.
At some point during tomorrow night's episode of FlashForward, viewers of the new ABC sci-fi drama will be listening to a new single by local dream-pop band Estate. FlashForward airs at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, and tomorrow's episode will feature Estate's latest single, "Message," off their forthcoming sophomore album. You can stream the new single here:
It pains us to even post this, but Uptown Bar booking manager Brian McDonough has sent out the final list of shows slated to take place at the ill-fatedclub, running up until their last night of business on November 1. Stop in while you still can -- and if you're planning on catching one of the very last shows next weekend, you might want to consider pre-purchasing your tickets on the Uptown's website.
DJ nights at the Hexagon have been a Monday staple for months now. Originally made notable by the DJ duo Hot Roxx, the Monday spots have seen a cycling roster of local musician DJs, populated by members of Thunder In the Valley, Daughters of the Sun, and other local rock notables.
Tonight, the local collective 8Hz is partnering with Hot Roxx to launch a listening party for 8Hz #01, its forthcoming compilation of local music, which features tracks by Fort Wilson Riot, Speed's The Name, and Me And My Arrow.
Don't call it a comeback--Shahs has been here for years. Photo by Nikki Miller.
Tom Helgerson is certainly on a headlong sprint out of our fair state.
After just a couple months of fevered activity following a long remission, his brainchild Shahs has found its way onto just about every bill worth seeing in this town, most recently, and notably, last night's Times New Viking show at the 7th Street Entry.
And just days after countrymen Lookbook scored a favorable (well, largely) review on Pitchfork, Helgerson's "Pablo Picasso" got a mention and a streaming mp3 on the national tastebreaker website. NOTE: Contrary to Pitchfork's statement, and to our earlier acceptance of it, "Pablo Picasso" is NOT a Modern Lovers cover. It's a bonafide Helgerson original.
We received a tip to check out Pitchfork today, where Lookbook's single "True to Form" off of their latest album, Wild at Heart, has received a 6 from the tastemaking site. The review was even penned by a Minneapolis writer (and occasional City Pages contributor), Jonathan Garrett, who had kind things to say about lead singer Maggie Morrison in particular:
Continual Stereogum darlings Jehna Wilhelm and Mark McGee have popped up on the music site once again, this time debuting a new music video from their latest album Marlone. If anything, "In People's Homes" is an outlier in terms of what can be expected from the band, but a diversion that is as enjoyable a listen as the rest of the catalog from the talented Minneapolis-based duo. Alluding to the track as the record's "most surprising" in a review earlier this year, Pitchfork's Joe Colly added that "Homes" is "a buoyant two-minute pop cut that springs up virtually out of nowhere to loosen the seriousness of Marlone's second half." Complementing the comparatively light sound of the short two-minute track is the kaleidoscope of airy visuals cast throughout the video. To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie's next local appearance will come at the Hot Roxx Halloween Hextravaganza which will also feature Invisible Boy, mystery supergroups, DJs Nick & Jen, more.
In 1966, Michael Yonkers was a young man well on his way to becoming an unheralded king of sonic experimentation. Decades of shadow and obscurity lay before him, which would see him produce works like Microminiature Love, one of the most influential works of rock and roll and guitar tinkering that, until its wide release some 30 years later, few had ever heard.
Locally, Yonkers' is now a royal name. He won over fans of a new generation with his collaborations with the Blind shake, which summarily renewed passion for his earlier works.
And now, Destijl records, the label credited with a big assist in helping Yonkers be a pertinent force some 40 years after his debut, is releasing Yonkers' first LP, recorded with his band the Mumbles. To pay homage, there is a listening party on November 3rd at Road Runner Records.
It's a brief write-up, to be sure. But any time a local act
scores ink of this visibility, we deliver--be it Gospel Gossip on
Pitchfork or To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie on...uh...well, Pitchfork.
But
as snarky and noteworthy as Pitchfork is, there's still nothing quite
like Rolling Stone ink. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show knew it in 1972.
And now, local countrymen The Pines know it. This month, they were David Fricke's pick, netting them a review in print and on the website. Head below the jump for the Rolling Stone blurb.
For a limited time only, local band Greycoats are offering their full-length album, Setting Fire to the Great Unknown, as a free download to entice fans to check out their upcoming shows. Greycoats play tonight at the Turf Club with Brighton MA, We Landed on the Moon!, and This World Fair ($6 / 9 p.m. / 21+).
Rhymesayers has announced that POS is nominated for an MTVu Performing Woodie, a category of the MTV Woodie Awards that recognizes outstanding live performance. Our hometown hip-hop hero is in good company; other bands nominated for the award include Green Day, Phoenix, 3OH!3, and Animal Collective. The MTV Woodie Awards will air on MTVu on December 4 at 9 p.m., the night before POS and Doomtree will take over First Avenue for their fifth annual Doomtree Blowout.
Vote for POS using the application below, or head over to the MTV site.
As we reported last week, Doomtree's Paper Tiger is preparing a new vinyl-only release (a 7" record called Cloquet), and in her email announcing the release Dessa hinted that more Doomtree albums would be made available on vinyl soon. Well, those details appear to have been finalized, as an announcement came this week that the hip-hop collective will be partnering with a vinyl collective, Suburban Home, to distribute the Doomtree back catalog on LPs.
We received some sad news from the Wars of 1812 today: The promising young band (who placed fourth in last year's Picked to Click poll) have announced that they will break up before the year is done. According to a note sent out by members of the band, they plan to put the finishing touches on their sophomore album and release it before calling it quits. They will also squeeze in a few parting shows, including one at the Cedar with former Minneapolitan JoAnna James.
This is the kind of news we hate reporting, but we're hoping that getting the word out will help to remedy the situation: local multi-talented virtuoso Bill Mike has had one of his guitars stolen. Below is a message from Bill Mike himself, please contact him (or contact us, and we'll pass along the message) if you have any information.
White Light Riot. Remember them? After falling off the radar last year, we were beginning to wonder what ever happened to this once-promising, upbeat indie rock band who released their first full-length album in the spring of 2007 and then all but stopped playing shows in 2008. Today, thanks to a note posted by lead singer Mike Schwandt on their Facebook page, some of our questions have been answered.
It turns out that the band has been in a heated legal battle with their label, Minneapolis-based 50 Records, for the past year as they have attempted to untangle themselves from what they are referring to as a "soured" relationship. The good news? The band has since parted ways with the label and recorded an album of fresh material, which they hope to release this winter. The band will play its first show in quite some time on November 7 at Sauce.
Fans can head over to Amazon starting today to download the new Paul Westerberg album, PW & the Ghost Glove Cat Wing Joy Boys, for a mere $3.89. For those who enjoyed last year's digital-only concept album, 49:00:00, the new Westerberg album sounds fairly similar: Songs are lo-fi, homespun, and heartfelt, with a mix of garage rockers and ballads. The former Replacements lead singer has been keeping busy writing and recording new material lately, as his mp3s have been released at a fairly quick pace over the past year.
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