Spotlighting Twin Cities' Music from the Basement Up.
I adore how Dungeon Crawlers (Guide to the Cool) plays with rhythmic changes, it gets you amped and then it takes it down 50 notches. It becomes molasses, letting you hang there until it musically smashes a guitar right in front of your face. The lead singer is never the lead, it's never the same voice. It's like opening a box of cracker jacks and never getting the same prize.
Read More2024 is here and I am ready for another year of original music from Minnesota. Luckily, I was able to find some more Hip-Hop, rock, our first repeat artist, and more. Honestly there’s plenty out there as long as you’re willing to dig, which I have no issue with.
Read MoreA double album with 22 fantastic tracks, Annie and the Bang Bang’s “Radio Baby” offers variety in just about every aspect that an album can. The title track states, “I am an FM radio baby raised in the back of a car,” and like an FM radio on a long road trip, the album switches tones and genres often. Its lyrics also give the listener opportunities to imagine music videos or feature-length films, the perfect thing to do on a long road trip. As songwriter and lead singer Annie Enneking puts it, the songs on Radio Baby are “drive-in movies you can dance to.
Read MoreThe cold December weather is here along with our collective groan of it arriving. We really should be used to this by now since many of us have lived here for a while. However, to brighten your mood I’ve found even more artists who will at least be able to warm your soul.
Read MoreThis EP shows an immense amount of maturity, growth, and collaboration amongst all members both sonically and emotionally. Everyone involved in the making of this project (producer, mixer, and recorder Abe Anderson included), I hope feel incredibly accomplished. I personally feel really lucky to have been able to enjoy bugsy’s music since their inception, as well as consider them my friends.
Read MoreIt’s November and time for some more original Minnesota music. As we get used to fluctuating weather that will supposedly be more consistently cold, I was able to find 10 more original songs from our great Northern land of artists.
Read MoreIn her first release since 2014, Dani Erin’s sophomore album, Grow, displays her growth and talent both as a performer and composer. Born of a connection between Ms. Erin and her guitarist, Nathaniel Gillen, this album is no sophomore slump. Erin’s smooth, jazzy singing style and robust vocal tones pair perfectly with the laid-back, funk-inspired guitar stylings of Gillen. Filled out with drums, bass, and keys to form a talented and versatile band, this album is the perfect re-introduction between Dani Erin and music lovers anywhere and everywhere.
Read MoreBetween the dense, intricate layers of sound, the honest lyrics, and the use of a voice note that the artist recorded for his real-life therapist, each listen of Alex Delzer’s album Thoughts About My Loneliness brings something new. Topped with the artist’s genuine passion for his craft, these tracks are a music nerd like myself’s dream to pick apart — but the generally upbeat feel and other-worldly audio effects make for an exciting surface-level listen as well.
Read MoreA completely instrumental album and Marshall’s first solo effort, Octocopter might be described as an organ-powered, rollicking blend of funk, rock, jazz fusion, and psychedelics, but then you’d have no idea what it sounds like. Simply put, Octocopter is a display, a demonstration both of Toby Lee Marshall’s mastery of his instrument and of the range and sheer ability of a Harmon organ.
Read MoreThe Del-Viles’ latest EP, Daydreamer, condenses rock music down to the essentials - and does so extremely well. Self-described as “skeleton dance lessons from French pirates,” the three-piece garage band’s catchy guitar riffs are infectious, and the gravely vocals bring an edgy twist. As the band’s bassist, Gabs Semansky says, “I like to think of the three of us as some silly guys out at sea dancing along to some bluesy shanties. Sloppy bluesy shanties.”
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