Claude Debussy

Cock E.S.P. on 20 years: Breaking up is just another thing we're bad at

Cock E.S.P. is a Minneapolis-based noise outfit that marks their 20th anniversary this year. And whether or not you are someone who can sit down and really enjoy the experience of listening to their music, it's pretty difficult to argue with the pure intent and ethos behind their work. They exist in ... More >>

Paul Metzger: I represent the outsider

Paul Metzger is unlike any instrumentalist you know. For one thing, he's a self-taught banjo virtuoso -- though the instrument he plays is less of a banjo and more a crazy instrument experiment gone horribly right. In the late '70s, Metzger began performing small surgeries on his banjo, adding extra ... More >>

Sarah Kirkland Snider and Shara Worden on Penelope

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider is at the forefront of the "post-classical" scene where genre boundaries can't keep her and contemporaries from fertile new artistic ground. Her haunting, lush song cycle for strings and electronics, Penelope, comes alive with the voice of My Brightest Diamond's Shara ... More >>

Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota: Wizard of Oz

Minnesota Dance Theatre: Repertory Evening

5ingles

Robert Skoro reunites with Mason Jennings this weekend

​Believe it or not, there was a time when "Mason Jennings" wasn't a household name in these parts. Somewhat fresh to the Twin Cities in the late '90s, Mason and his band, which at the time included Minneapolis fixture Robert Skoro (then still a teenager) on bass, began the trek and career that has ... More >>

Janelle Monae plays for small crowd... and Prince

Photos by Steve Cohen​Poor Prince. He can't go anywhere these days without a string of tweets popping up and outing his whereabouts. (Including, um, ours.) About 20 minutes before Janelle Monae started her set last night at the Varsity, a pair of security guards quickly ushered Prince out of a whi ... More >>

Christopher O'Riley

Hiromi

Eric Clapton, the Offspring, and more

Adam Svec searches for the music inside

The Glad Version songwriter's new solo album is stripped-down and personal

Live Action Set: The Piano Tuner

Chamber Ballet of St. Paul

'Hollinndagain' Again

Four years after its initial release, Animal Collective's legendary live album still anticipates the coming golden age

How To Disappear Partially

Longhairs and jazzbos give radiohead a new face

Doing What Comes Naturally

August Wilson's Pittsburgh Realism; Sondheim's Pretty Pictures

Lost in Yonkers

A tour through the life of musical maven Michael Yonkers makes some strange stops in toy engineering, modern dance, and physical therapy

Luscious Jackson

On All for You, Janet Jackson savors the pleasure (and pain) principles of her personal life

Living the Vida Veloso

With his first American tour and a new album, Livro, avant-pop's Brazilian uncle rewrites the book of love

David Toop: Exotica: Fabricated Soundscapes in a Real World

Bounced!

Full-court basketball used to be a Twin Cities parks mainstay. Then the neighbors complained.

The Sound of One Fan Clapping

If a local CD falls into the retail bins, does it make a sound? Peter S. Scholtes reviews this month's batch of releases.

Notes on '96

Record Roundup

A Rose is a Metarose

How He Got Ovah

Cracking Up