The Current Music Blog: May 18, 2007 Archive

The Stream 05/18/07

Posted at 9:00 AM on May 18, 2007 by Barb Abney

Jim Fairchild's new band All Smiles will be playing a handful of upcoming dates with Menomena and you could win tickets!

Single day passes for Virgin Music Fest available tomorrow.

Dinosaur Jr. extent tour.

Keith Richards is considering autobiography deal.

This Day In Music History:
1942 - Albert Hammond (Sr.) was born.
1952 - George Strait was born.
1954 - Wreckless Eric was born.
1961 - Russell Senior (Pulp) was born.
1961 - Hugh Whittaker (Housemartins) was born.
1967 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney sang backing vocals on The Rolling Stones track "We Love You".
1969 - Martika was born.
1980 - Ian Curtis (Joy Division) hung himself.

Live On Air Blogging 05/18/07

Posted at 9:08 AM on May 18, 2007 by Barb Abney

Noon - ish: Tunes On The Telly Tonight
Dolores O'Riordan on Carson Daly
Peter Bjorn & John on Leno
Blonde Redhead on Conan
Elvis Costello on Letterman
Joan Jett on Henry Rollins

11:25 a.m. Digitata In-Studio
Their Two Daggers CD release shows are tonight at 7th Street Entry.
(All Ages - 5pm, 21+up - 9pm)
You can buy Two Daggers on the Totally Gross National Product site.
Go here for a little more info and to check their upcoming dates.

10:50 a.m. Kings Of Leon
They're playing a sold out show at First Avenue tonight.

10:40 a.m. Sloan
They're playing at The Fineline Music Cafe tonight with Small Sins.

10:30 a.m. The BellRays
They had to cancel a couple of dates earlier this week, but their tour is back in full swing.
Their in-studio performance.

10:10 Song Of The Day - Local Music - Baby Guts
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring local music from the Minneapolis trio Baby Guts, with "Molly Nicosia Headache Earspace" from Gasoline. Hear from them again this Sunday night on The Local Show with Chris Roberts.
Learn more about them here.

10:00 a.m. Ben Folds
Looks like he's planning an interesting vacation next February.

9:30 a.m. Lily Allen
According to her most recent blog post, she's had some recent trouble coming into the U.S.

9:10 a.m. Peter, Bjorn & John
Are lending a hand on the new solo effort from Victoria Bergsman (The Concretes).
Here's their performance at our SxSW showcase.

Get your mind around this

Posted at 12:00 PM on May 18, 2007 by Christina Schmitt

Okay, I'm trying to get my mind around all the local shows this weekend. Here's the best of the lot, IMHO. Please add your opinion, too. Hope to see you out, rain or shine.

One of the best visual art fests of the year, Art-A-whirl, is happening this weekend in NE Minneapolis. Just so happens there's a lot of fun shows attached to it. Here's just a few:

At the corner of 13th and University Avenue, the 331 Club is hosting two stages and three days of music: Tonight, it's Corinne Caouette, JoAnna James and Martin Devaney. Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. is an outdoor stage with the likes of Charlie Parr (2:30 p.m.), Walker Kong (8:30 p.m.) and more right up to bar close. I plan to be near the outdoor stage at one point on Saturday.

Just down the block from the 331 Club, The Ritz Theater is hosting this year's the Heliotrope festival. Tonight, check out Mute Era, Michael Yonkers with the Blind Shake, and Skoal Kodiak. Tomorrow night: Dreamland Faces (ever seen a saw player?), The Pins, Dallas Orbiter and much more.

Saturday, noon-dusk, is Grumpy's Rock-n-Roll Revival, Repent! at the Grumpy's Bar and Grill in NE, with Chooglin, Kruddler, the Sea Whores and more. I'll probably be here at some point.

A ton of cool bands will be playing Saturday throughout the day at the Lisa Elias Metal Studio's annual Art A Whirl Extravaganza (beneath Broadway and Central in NE Mpls.). Check out the Floorshakin' reunion (6:30 p.m.), Arcwelder (right before that), Flour, Cowboy Curtis and more. I will definitely be here between 4-7 p.m. sometime.

More information about the Art A Whirl fest can be found at www.art-a-whirl.org. Oh yeah, and check out some visual art! It's like taking a vacation in your own backyard.

Now for what else is going on around town....

Tonight, is the Digitata CD release party, with two shows: ALL AGES at 5 p.m. ID Show at 9 p.m. with Mystery Palace, Megafaun, DJ sets by P.O.S. (who is in Building Better Bombs, a punk band, with members of Digitata) and Paper Tiger.

Saturday night at First Avenue is Rock for Pussy: A Tribute to David Bowie benefitting the Humane Society, with hits by The White performed by Jeremy Messersmith, Tim O'Reagan, Chris Koza and more.

Also Saturday at Lee's Liquor Lounge near downtown Minneapolis: Lee's Ramones Tribute. You love the Ramones, so you know what to expect, which is probably exactly why you want to go. The lineup includes Plate-O-Shrimp, Impaler, Please Kill Me, and more.

Here's a couple I read about in City Pages: The Scribe show at the Nomad World Pub, which Chuck Terhark calls the "must-see show of the weekend" with Chicago's Mucca Puzza. They're billed as an "astounding punk rock marching band." With the aforementioned P.O.S. punk project Building Better Bombs and glory-day rappers MC/VL. Listen to MC/VL on The Current's The Local Show.

City Pages also highly recommends the Moochy C CD-Release party at the Fine Line Music Club. CP describes his music as "hard-hitting tough talk and grind-time boasts." With I Self Devine, Tony Bonez & Big Wiz, Prof & Rahzwell and more.

And what would a spring weekend be without a little Goth thrown in the mix? Sunday night at Big V's will be Apocalypse Theater. If you've never caught an Apocalypse Theater show, they rival All the Pretty Horses for stage dramatics, clothes and goth stylings. With Princess Wishingstar and Mach Fox.

Do You Like American Music? (I Like American Music)

Posted at 12:05 PM on May 18, 2007 by Jacquie Fuller (2 Comments)

Have you ever experienced concert afterglow? You know what I mean--you go to work the next morning wishing you could go back to the night before and relive the show you saw. You walk around in this goofy haze, like you just fell in love. (You did.)

This is how I feel after seeing Califone at the 400 Bar last night. I'm still reeling. I just can't understand why this band doesn't get more recognition. It seems like no one else is making music the way they do. This band runs the gamut from white-hot, diabolic, Bo Diddley rock-outs to the most tender, sexy, whispered folk songs--all of it backed by this jangly, junkyard assortment of instruments. (Actually, watching Ben Massarella play around with all those instruments last night ... I couldn't help but think he might be the Tom Keith of rock'n'roll.)

What really interests me about Califone, though, is that they sound--to me, anyway--uniquely American. It's like they've taken all these Americana sounds--folk, blues, bluegrass--and run them through some hulking, rusted, mechanical remnant from a post-apocolyptic future. I think about all the copy-cat bands out there--bands with such a homogenized sound that I can't tell if they're from Brooklyn or Birmingham--and it's refreshing to hear something so clearly American. I try to imagine Califone coming from any other country, and I just can't make it work. Also--when I think of "Americana," I tend to think of stuff that's merely twangy or folky, and bands like Califone, Wilco (subject of next week's Musicheads!), Last Town Chorus, and others are really pushing the limits of the genre in wonderful ways.

What are your thoughts on "American" music? Is there even such a thing anymore? Was there ever, really? Who's making interesting American music today? Who's turning the genre of "Americana" on its head?

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"My 3 Songs" for Friday

Posted at 2:01 PM on May 18, 2007 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)

Another demonstration today of how simplicity is often the perfect path. Courtney Roche of Mpls says, "All three are tracks on the most recent CDs by three awesome artists."

1) Cloud Cult, "Pretty Voice" (from The Meaning of 8)
2) The Mountain Goats, "Woke Up New" (from Get Lonely)
3) The Shins, "Australia" (from Wincing the Night Away)

Or course, it does help that she did indeed pick three awesome artists for this. Thanks Courtney!

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Ballroom Blitz--love that beat

Posted at 3:14 PM on May 18, 2007 by Christina Schmitt (8 Comments)

DJ Mary Lucia is playing Ballroom Blitz right now and it has one of my favorite drum beats ever. Which songs have your most favorite beat?

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Guest DJ Set 5/18; Nyteowl

Posted at 9:09 PM on May 18, 2007 by Mark Wheat (4 Comments)

NIGHT FLIGHT is the new electronic dance night at the First Ave. VIP Room. Starting March 30 and running the last Friday of each month, NIGHT FLIGHT was created by Nyteowl(Jeremiah Conlon aka Mumra) who currently lives in Detroit but considers himself "Minneapolis and St. Paul" through and through.
Jeremiah is a Twin Cities native and electronic music producer and pop music artist who will be moving back to Minneapolis in early summer. At that time, he will be forming a band based on his pop music demo, continuing NIGHT FLIGHT @ First Ave. VIP Room, and begin performing and DJing locally and nationally. He also has received label / production interest in Europe for his "Detroit Demo 2006" created last year.
Also, Nyteowl makes a ton of original tracks and "bootlegs" for DJing out. So far, he has officially remixed Black Ghosts (Fatboy Slim's Southern Fried label in the UK), Damien (Air's Record Maker's label in France) and created a small buzz with the bootleg remixes he has been creating. For example, almost every bootleg he creates is supported (DJed out in Europe) by Touche (of the Wiseguys fame).

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