JT Bates

Zenon Dance Company: Spring Season

Dessa named 75th most influential person in the Twin Cities

Minnesota Monthly has released a list of the Twin Cities' most powerful leaders calling the shots, and a few names from the music realm popped up there. The most recognizable to a regular Gimme Noise reader would be Doomtree rapper Dessa, who was the final entry in the 75-person tally.And we're not ... More >>

The best New Year's Eve jazz shows in the Twin Cities

News Year's Eve is perhaps the most universally bitched-about holiday. We come to expect long lines, impossible parking and cab situations, and clubs filled with amateurs crowding the bar with obnoxious shot requests.But for live music junkies, New Year's Eve in the Twin Cities is Mecca, with most v ... More >>

Martin Dosh on his first annual 40th birthday at Turf Club

If all of your friends are friends of love, then all of your friends are friends of Martin Dosh. Well known around town, Dosh will be holding a birthday party at the Turf Club tonight -- his first annual 40th birthday party, to be exact. You heard right: first annual 40th, and everyone is invited. T ... More >>

Kevin Steinman says farewell and thanks to the Twin Cities

See Also:U.S. healthcare is too costly for Kevin Steinman, so he's moving to NorwayI sit at a dining table we're about to sell, heaped with things we'll throw in suitcases in two days, amidst a mounting sea of packing boxes. Above the crinkling din of paper being wrapped around our kitchenwares, a c ... More >>

Art-A-Whirl Day 1 in Northeast Minneapolis, 5/18/2012

Art-A-Whirl Day 1The 331 Club, Northeast MinneapolisFriday, May 18, 2012Related: Slideshow: Art-A-Whirl 2012: Friday's Music Art-A-Whirl Day 2 in Northeast Minneapolis, 5/19/12The oldest section of Minneapolis came alive this weekend with art, culture, love, and best of all, music. Although it may o ... More >>

Critics' Picks: The Black Keys, Big Freedia, St. Vincent, and more

Zacc Harris Group

Tortoise/Minneapolis Jazz All-Stars

Luke Redfield spills Willie Nelson and Ke$ha run-ins, explains Tusen Takk

​There is an element of exaggeration in all good storytelling -- and not to say that Luke Redfield is lying -- but his new album tells a sweeping tale of a man who has lived 100 lives in the ten songs off of Tusen Takk, the culmination of years of hard work and traveling.  The album emanates ... More >>

Father You See Queen, the Cloak Ox, and Marijuana Deathsquads at the Entry, 01/20/12

​Father You See Queen, the Cloak Ox, and Marijuana Deathsquads7th St. Entry, MinneapolisFriday, January 20, 2012Check out a slideshow from the concert here.Father You See Queen turned the 7th St. Entry into an art house cinema on Friday night, fluidly blending their moody, ethereal music with pr ... More >>

Real-Phonic Radio Hour: introducing a new monthly audio and web program

​The Twin Cities is a great place for music. Twin Citizens know that well enough--we are home, after all, to a host of influential music venues, and our beloved indie radio station 89.3 the Current. You'd be hard-pressed to find a night when there wasn't something great happening, either withi ... More >>

Coloring Time kicks off monthly residency at Honey this Thursday

Photo by Ben Clark​Like the hip hop-meets-jazz improv version of Marijuana Deathsquads, Coloring Time's shows are dramatically different every time. Not only do the songs never remain the same -- they are created on the fly, emcees flexing their freestyle abilities over shifting instrumentation -- ... More >>

Coloring Time make their debut at the Cedar this week, watch a short teaser video

​The premise for new collaboration Coloring Time is enticing, to say the least: Members of at least a dozen local bands that range from hip-hop to jazz to folk get on stage, plug in their instruments, and see what unfolds between them. The Twin Cities has boasted a healthy improvisational scene th ... More >>

Roma di Luna nears its end as members move on to other projects

Photo by Stacy Schwartz​The days are numbered for one of the Twin Cities' most popular roots bands. Roma di Luna, who started as a husband-and-wife duo playing folk songs at a farmer market six years ago and have since grown into a brassy, bluesy roots band, will end its impressive run before the ... More >>

Eyedea remembered at Soundset 2011

Photos by Ben ClarkAt the end of this year's Soundset (read our full recap here), Face Candy closed out the Fifth Element stage by turning their set into a collaborative freestyle that was dedicated to the group's founder, Micheal Larsen, and it carried a somber tone that contrasted quite vividly wi ... More >>

Critics' Picks: Arctic Monkeys, Janelle Monae & Bruno Mars, and more

Heliotrope Music Festival

Weekend Checklist: Tommy Stinson, No Bird Sing, Death Cab, MODSUN

​In case the apocalypse doesn't happen this weekend, here's some stuff to check out!

Soundset Series: Rhymesayers staples Brother Ali, Blueprint, Grieves & Budo, more

Brother Ali​Back before Soundset became the annual festival it is today, there was a Rhymesayers-hosted event by the same name that took over, and consistently sold out, the First Ave Mainroom every Wednesday, housing some of the big names on the company roster as well as visiting acts. The festi ... More >>

Gayngs family tree: From Marijuana Deathsquads to Kanye West and back again

​A few months back, we thought it'd be fun to chart out just how many bands could be traced back to the current and founding members of the Jayhawks, and our nerd chart resulted in quite the fiery debate between superfans who were eager to point out all the shit we got wrong.Well, anxious superfan ... More >>

Ghostband's Jon Davis forges his own experimental path

Inspired by free-jazz trio Fat Kid Wednesdays

Alpha Consumer release Kick Drugs Out of America

Album finally sees the light of day after several years

Turf Club closing: New manager Josh James speaks out

City Pages file photo​The big news over the weekend came with the sudden shuttering of the Turf Club, when the venue canceled its Saturday night gig last-minute and hung up mysterious signs saying "Closed for repair." Turns out the "repairs" happening were more metaphorical than literal: The owner ... More >>

Love-cars reuniting for 'Rent Party!' at the Turf tonight

​It all makes sense. For those wondering how local musicians like James Diers, Haley Bonar, Jeremy Ylvisaker, JT Bates, Jake Hanson, and Mike Lewis find the time to spawn so many amazing, collaborative projects, the answer is simple: They all share a practice space. And unfortunately, that practic ... More >>

Celebration of the Life of Mikey 'Eyedea' Larsen, 11/9/10

​For many of his fans, he was known as battle rap legend and Rhymesayers recording artist Eyedea. For others, he was Micheal Larsen, the front man of genre-bending experimental groups like Carbon Carousel and Face Candy. For others still, he was known by his alter-ego Oliver Hart.But for most of t ... More >>

Mark Mallman's Marathon 3 kicks off this afternoon

Photo by Nick Vlcek​It won't be the first time Mark Mallman has challenged his own endurance abilities, but it will certainly be his longest running show yet: The local piano man will kick off a performance at 4 p.m. this afternoon at the Turf Club that isn't due to wrap up until 10 p.m. on Sunday ... More >>

Dosh and Why? improv set at the Clown Lounge tonight

​Missed seeing Why? in the Mainroom on Saturday night? Here's a chance to catch them in a much more intimate and introspective setting, jamming with Dosh tonight for an improv set in the Turf Club's Clown Lounge. With Fog's Mark Erickson and Andrew Broder recently joining Why? on tour, chances are ... More >>

Stone Arch Festival of the Arts: A music geek's guide

From James Buckley Trio to Painted Saints

Tarlton takes slow-cooked lyrical approach

Brett Bullion finally steps up to the mic

Luke Redfield's nomadic ways make for memorable debut

Ephemeral Eon is self-released

Face Candy make rare appearance at the Acadia (video)

The group played their first show in over a year this past weekend.

Dosh CD-release show announced

The new record will feature a slew of local and national talent.

Fat Kid Wednesdays

Benefit for Dean Magraw this Sunday

A series of fundraisers have been organized for the ailing guitarist, starting this weekend.

Twin Cities' busiest and most talented drummers share life lessons

JT Bates, Jeremy Hanson, Arlen Peiffer, and Anthony Poretti tell it like it is

MP3 of the Week: Aby Wolf

The local singer-songwriter shares an unreleased track, "We Drive on the Left Side."

Aby Wolf delivers stunning performance at the Cedar

Cheetah Nunchuck

The Jazz Is NOW! NOWnet

A Tribute to Bob Feldman: Celebrating a Life in Music

Concert Highlights for the Week of Sep. 5 - Sept. 11

As the Crow Flies

The endless horizons of the Pines

Minnesota Sur Seine: French rap, jazz, Rhymesayers

Feeling Minnesota

The 10 (or 28) best local albums of 2004

He's The DJ, I'm The Free Jazz Saxophonist

Andrew Broder and George Cartwright make a quiet noise

My So-Called Band

Tiki Obmar compose the IDM soundtrack to your high school experience

Electric Company

Two local jazz luminaries become laptop converts

Slim Boy, Phat

Drummer JT Bates and his Fat Kid Wednesdays make a weighty impression on the local improv-jazz scene