Ed Ackerson

Shapeshifter's Tim Ritter: I love the indie scene here like my own kids

While grunge broke out of the Pacific Northwest in the early '90s, there was something different happening in the Twin Cities. Bands here were far more influenced by what was happening in the U.K., and a vital and volatile shoegaze/Krautrock/dreampop scene materialized. Sadly, many of those bands we ... More >>

Mid West Music Festival in Winona

The three-day music event featuring more than 100 local artists celebrates its fourth year

Tommy Stinson and Paul Westerberg plan studio time later this year

In a lengthy interview with Time, the Replacements and Guns N' Roses bassist Tommy Stinson gives a detailed update on where he's at and where he's been. Though the article has some dated facts -- it refers to a City Pages columnist who is no longer with the paper and Sean Combs as P. Diddy -- but St ... More >>

My Bloody Valentine's comeback, mbv, wasn't worth the loveless wait

Genius is a hard thing to live up to; once someone bestows you with its thorny crown, it's a crippling burden that can sometimes make you even more the stuff of legend.  My Bloody Valentine is that stuff of legend. 1991 was a time both namby and pamby, with New Ja ... More >>

Ed Ackerson on Flowers Studio: We let stuff come to us

There might be as many recording studios as there are venues in the Twin Cities -- from the world famous to basement operations. In our new series, Behind the Boards, Gimme Noise will introduce you to some of the extraordinary talent that helps create the sounds that make our Cities famous. Flowers ... More >>

The Replacements' Songs For Slim auction raises over $100,000 for Slim Dunlap

With the highly anticipated auction for Songs For Slim now complete, the lucky (and generous) winning bidders for the first new release from the Replacements in 23 years are now left waiting to receive their precious 'Mats vinyl in the post, while the rest of us anxiously await the eventual digital ... More >>

The Replacements' Songs For Slim producer Ed Ackerson shares session details

Today is the day that longtime fans of the Replacements have been waiting anxiously for. At 10 a.m. Twin Cities time, 250 limited-edition copies of what the Songs For Slim website is calling "the first new Replacements release since 1990's All Shook Down," goes up for auction. The exclusive 10" viny ... More >>

BNLX commit to an album

After seven EPs, the band finally release their first full-length album

Mark Mallman's Marathon 4 is in progress! Minneapolis stop details

Dear internet, Mark Mallman is on his way to making some sort of musical history this week. Known for his feats of technological and musical mayhem, Mallman and his team are heading cross-country to create a seven-day documentary song in a pimped-out 1992 Vandura conversion van. The project began in ... More >>

Motion City Soundtrack return to Epitaph for their mature fifth album

The introspective Go is out June 12

The Melismatics redefine their sound on their new album, 'MANIA!'

​The Melismatics' songs aren't simple at all.  They're intricate, jumping from one thought to another, and yet, they're easily adaptable to the most conservative of ears.  This, of course, is the Minneapolis band's cardinal accomplishment.Listening to their new album, MANIA!, can be comp ... More >>

Picked to Click 2011: The ballots

​​As is the yearly tradition, we're publishing the ballots of all 115 of our Picked to Click voters for your perusal. Check out all of this year's contributors below, and thanks to all the writers, photographers, label owners, club bookers, DJs, and local music experts for weighing in on th ... More >>

Two Harbors releases "Make It Alright' at Cause tonight

​Two Harbors is not just a city in Minnesota, it's also a hard working rock band from Minneapolis.  Gimme Noise caught up with them as they were preparing to release their new album, Make It Alright, at Cause tonight.

Mark Edwards talks about his solo project (OME)

Photo by Darin BackMark Edwards, right, with collaborator Luke Albertson​After his band broke up early this millennium, Minneapolis musician Mark Edwards started playing with toys. He found that these sonic gadgets--synthesizers, loopers, samplers--not only sounded cool, but allowed him to stretch ... More >>

Doomtree Blowout, Tricky, Dark Dark Dark, and more

BNLX (EP-release)

Beight return with big bag of hooks

Local power-pop quartet mean business

John Kass of GoJohnnyGo reflects on a lifetime of record collecting

​Chances are, if you've been involved with or been a fan of the local music scene in the Twin Cities you've come across the cherubic music enthusiast John Kass. A man behind so many great finds in the used record bins that dot the Twin Cities record collecting culture, John has been a part of the ... More >>

Alex Chilton passes away days before playing a Big Star show at SXSW

The pioneering power-pop songwriter has died of an apparent heart attack.

Thanksgiving weekend concert guide

Your guide to the best shows happening over the extended weekend.

The Mood Swings set to release third album, Recessionista

Twin Cities band proves meat-and-potatoes rock is still tasty

Mercurial Rage: Cascade

Blitzen Trapper, Mötley Crüe, and more

Blitzen Trapper

Dec. 12, 2008: The Dillinger Four, Oasis, P.O.S. & Ryan Adams

Ed Ackerson

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Ed Ackerson, and more

Return of the Weirdos

On Polara's new record, Ed Ackerson wrangles a swarm of bees into submission

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

Minnesota Mixtape 2007

Breakfast of Champions: 11/22 (Thanksgiving Edition!)

Breakfast of Champions: 11/21

Answer Me, Ackerson!

We ask Polara frontman Ed Ackerson about his new solo record and where he buried the bodies of his band members

Out on a Limb

Before the Owls could take on the pop world, they had to face stage fright, shyness, and each other

First Avenue 35th Anniversary Party

In Da Club: First Avenue's 35th Anniversary Party

A birthday bash exposes our highly incestuous scene

Picked to Click

To those who have recently begun to rock, we salute you

The Spirit of St. Louis

Was it something in the water? Kraig Johnson talks about the unlikely rock incubator of the west metro and leading his own band.

A Local Music Yearbook

Two cities, twelve months, a million reasons to rock!

Spies Like Us

Ed Ackerson creates an espionage cartoon that's also a band

Sussed Out!

Polara's Ed Ackerson launches the Susstones multimedia collective

Bellwether: Bellwether

The Music of Chance

An artist of the accidental, Jim Ruiz croons a lounge music of personal loss.

All Shook Down

Shhh: Alabama transplant Marlee MacLeod's laments in major keys kicked off Noiseless '98.

Happy Mediums- POLARA

Charting a path between electronica and the old one-two-three-four, Polara's intrepid space-rock earned them a coveted deal with Interscope Records. As the band learned, it won't cure all their ills. But it beats a sharp stick in the eye

Polara

C'est la Vie

RADIO A-OK, ETC.

Misery For the Masses

Nothing more than feelings: Billy Corgan channels teenage angst

Record Roundup

The Year in Music 1995