By Nikki Miller • Photo by Dusty Hoskovec
Tony Nelson
The Cloak Ox: Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Andrew Broder, and Mark Erickson
Details
Related Content
More About
They're three guys who met while working at Stadium Village standby Stub and Herbs...and one other guy.
Well, not really. They're three guys well-known to Minneapolis music fans as members of the now-defunct Guystorm and Military Special...and one other guy. But UMAMI might prefer you think of them as a collection of service-industry stiffs (and one other guy) who've assembled for a new band.
Vocalist Angelo Pennacchio, formerly of Guystorm, laments the inevitability of the "ex-so-and-so band" connection."We're just so sick of hearing that; people automatically pigeonhole us." But the bright side? "I like surprising them."
And indeed, it's a pleasant surprise to come at UMAMI knowing nothing about the band, or expecting a logical post-Guystorm/Military Special progression. Although they've played about a dozen shows, their name is relatively unsearchable, hard to Google. "It's all word-of-mouth—you couldn't find us on the internet, right?"
Charlie Smith (ex-Military Special, keys/beats) chimes in. "We had that Radio K in-studio thing, is that impossible to find?"
"It's on Vimeo," explains Peter Blomgren (ex-Military Special, guitar).
"People have told me, 'Hey, I've literally searched UMAMI BAND MINNEAPOLIS and nothing comes up,' and I'm like, 'There's something on the internet.'"
While it's hard not to listen for remnants of their previous bands, UMAMI have ventured with resolve into psych-rock territory, a decision resulting in a matured, less in-your-face sound.
"I think we've been pushing crunkadelic; psychedelic, but weird, down-low ghetto feel. Dance-y, as you'd imagine, but different. A little more R&B-grounded," Pennacchio explains.
"We like to listen to different bands [when] we're trying to come up with ideas for songs...listening to MIA, Can, or Tobacco," Smith elaborates, as the rest shout out influences: "Dead Prez. Ludacris. Parliament. Stevie Wonder."
And as for that other guy? He's bass player Tim Bass, a recent transplant from L.A.
Pennacchio laughs. "We always hate when people say, 'ex-Military Special, ex-Guystorm,' but the one funny thing is when people are like, 'Yeah, with the people from Military Special and Guystorm...and this one other guy.' That's really funny. Us, and that one talented musical guy."
#10 (tie): Dream Crusher
By Natalie Gallagher • Photo by Ambrose Burke
Dream Crusher is one of those singularly Minneapolis compositions—a new band made up entirely of musicians from other bands, who come together because they want to play around without the pressure of being in a "professional" group. Accidentally assembled one evening by Mo McNichols and Brian McDonough, both of Me and My Arrow, as a filler for a band that canceled last-minute at Nick and Eddie, the rotating cast of Dream Crusher consists—more or less—of McDonough, McNichols, Jacob Mullis (Fort Wilson Riot), Jared Isabella (St. Villain, Yer Cronies), Brock Lammers (Nyteowl), Dominic Hanft (St. Villain, Hardcore Crayons), Shon Troth (Me and My Arrow), and Garrett Neal (Usonia). This makeup, of course, depends on who shows up on any given night, and doesn't limit itself to "official" members.
"We just started asking who was around us, and we just started playing at Nick and Eddie on Monday night," says McDonough. "And then people liked it, so we started doing more of it."
"Our sound is different every time, because it's kind of improv," offers McNichols. "It really depends on who plays with us...mostly, it's just kind of whatever we feel like playing that night."
McDonough and McNichols share a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to Dream Crusher, something that all the members seem to revel in. For these busy artists, Dream Crusher is a chance to try something new without consequence.
"If there are things that won't work with Me and My Arrow, I will try them with Dream Crusher. If they don't work with Dream Crusher, I'll never try them again," laughs McNichols. "It's my chance artistically to try different things and get really creative.... It's kind of whoever shows up, that's the beauty of it."
"We all have other bands that are like, 'This is what you play and how you play it,'" says McDonough. "Dream Crusher is more like stuff that we don't even care if it gets released."
The Dream Crusher sound ends up as a sort of atmospheric jam session, a little Gayngs meets Me and My Arrow, slow and sexy, like '70s lounge variety bedroom pop with a bigger punch ("Skip the pillow talk," laughs McDonough). It's a few electric guitars, a few synthesizers, a couple of drum sets, a bass guitar, blip beeps, noisemakers, and who knows what else will come out—according to McNichols, part of the fun is figuring it out the night of the show.
"Whatever we feel like doing," says McNichols, "is kind of the whole premise of the band."
#10 (tie): Elite Gymnastics
By Ian Power-Luetscher
No band from Minneapolis has been hyped and lauded in the indie blogosphere this year as much as Elite Gymnastics. Emailing with James Brooks, one half of the electronic duo, one gets the impression that they know this. This is not to say that Brooks is arrogant about Elite Gymnastics' buzz, he just seems like an honest guy; he's smart, aptly confident, and blunt. He's also the first to admit that two years ago, he and bandmate Josh Clancy had never written a song together. In fact, Clancy had never written a song, period. "Neither of us knew how to sing or had any idea how to approach the project lyrically. It was all new, it was all kind of gut-level, we were serious about what we were doing, but we were also sort of scared."
