Mumford & Sons

Alt-J at Varsity Theater, 4/1/13

Alt-J With Hundred Waters Varsity Theater, Minneapolis April 1, 2013 After Alt-J's convincing Minneapolis debut at a crowded Triple Rock back in September, the hotly-tipped U.K. quartet raised the stakes a bit with their Twin Cities return at a sold-out Varsity Theater on Monday night. And while mu ... More >>

Lollapalooza 2013 full lineup: The Cure, Nine Inch Nails and more

A bit of the Lollapalooza 2013 lineup trickled out a couple weeks ago, but today this year's offerings got taut, dark, and -- most importantly -- official. Though the plan initially was to drop the full, gargantuan list of bands in two more weeks, the timeline got pushed up when a pre-April Fool's p ... More >>

Pitchfork Music Festival releases full 2013 lineup

The Pitchfork Music Festival lands at Chicago's Union Park July 19-21, and after the initial tease of R. Kelly, Björk, and Belle & Sebastian, the full lineup is now here!One of the main curiosities for Twin Cities music fans is how the acts announced might filter into First Avenue's music festi ... More >>

Lollapalooza 2013 lineup: Mumford & Sons, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend & more

What a difference a year makes when it comes to Lollapalooza, Chicago's destination music festival in Grant Park every summer. The first details of the lineup have emerged, and compared to the rockist-leaning 2012 bill it's looking very much like anything that can loosely fit within the antiquated " ... More >>

Here's what you're actually missing at SXSW

Awwwww, I know it is a shame you aren't here with us at SXSW in Austin. I can only imagine the aching and longing in your heart for walking aimlessly and standing in long lines for no reason, and sweating through your cardigan to see a band you heard on one of the Twilight soundtracks. You don't w ... More >>

Jeremy Messersmith inks deal with Glassnote Records

The days of supper club touring for Minneapolis-based Jeremy Messersmith could be numbered. It was announced today that the singer-songwriter (and author of drunken Grammys rants on Twitter) has landed a massive new deal with Glassnote Records, based in New York. This is the label that has put out a ... More >>

The Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis shines spotlight on '60s Greenwich Village folk scene

Locally bred Oscar-winning auteurs Joel and Ethan Coen have never shied away from drawing inspiration from their Minnesota upbringing to use in their films. Both Fargo and A Serious Man candidly reflect all-too-familiar aspects of life around these parts as well as lasting impressions that the creat ... More >>

The 4onthefloor drop single from new album Spirit of Minneapolis

Swampy blues stompers the 4onthefloor have just released details for their second full-length studio album, Spirit of Minneapolis, due out in April. The title takes upon a special meaning for those who remember the band's bit of "mock duck" (aka not beef) with Howler regarding the local scene almost ... More >>

Valentine's Day music roundup: Seven options for the unprepared

Ah, yes, Valentine's Day. Maybe you're the hopeless romantic type, and you've had this night all planned out for you and your special someone since October, and if that's the case, jolly good for you. More likely, though, you just remembered, like, two days ago that this stupid holiday was happeni ... More >>

The 2013 Grammy Awards played it safe and got it wrong

If the Grammy Awards are indeed 'Music's Biggest Night,' then it's no wonder that the industry itself is in so much trouble. Despite the Academy's best efforts in recent years to draw the "alternative" music fan into the mainstream self-congratulatory love fest that is the Grammys -- even going so f ... More >>

The Maccabees' Orlando Weeks is a man of few words

The Maccabees haven't quite reached the British Invasion status of Mumford and Sons, but the Brighton, England-based indie rock band is well on their way to conquering the hearts and stereos of the U.S. hip set everywhere. The band's third album, Given to the Wild, was released in January 2012, and ... More >>

The Current hosts its first Public Music Meeting tonight

There's no question that since it's arrival on the local airwaves eight years ago, the Current has changed the musical landscape here in the Twin Cities. With their adventurous playlist, top notch in-studio performances, and sharp focus on Minnesota music, there would be few who would argue that the ... More >>

The Current's 8th Birthday Party

The Lumineers to get Saturday Night Live bump, more Mumford & Sons comparisons

Ever since the Lumineers' hit song "Ho Hey" started showing up on airwaves in late December 2011, it's like you can't go anywhere without hearing it being blasted from somebody's headphones or store speakers. Locally, you can hear this juggernaut song on the Current, Cities 97, and KDWB, and pr ... More >>

The 400 Bar is closing its West Bank location after 17 years

With 2012 breathing its final breaths, so is a West Bank landmark and live music institution. The 400 Bar, located at 400 Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, is closing its doors after 17 years of hosting live music in its intimate environs.In recent months, the gritty bar's management team of Tom and Bill ... More >>

The Okee Dokee Brothers on their Grammy nomination [Interview]

The Minneapolis-based Okee Dokee Brothers, AKA Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing, have had a busy 24 hours. The Americana act with a focus on music for children just got nominated for a Grammy in the Best Children's Album category for their self-released album Can You Canoe?The 55th annual Grammy Awa ... More >>

The Mumford and Sons' "Lover of the Light" video that everyone is fangirling all over

Mumford and Sons have just released a new, pretty video for their new U.K. single "Lover of the Light" (still not an official U.S. single) off their second full-length album Babel. The video was directed by and stars the British actor Idris Elba (The Wire and Luther), who is not bad-looking or anyth ... More >>

Why Death Grips sold drama instead of a copy of NO LOVE DEEP WEB

By Will McClainThe Music Industry is a weekly column that dissects local and national music-business headlines with the help of local industry professionals and music fanatics.This month, dark lords of alt-hip-hop Death Grips emerged from the shadows to thrill believers by leaking their latest alb ... More >>

Esperanza Spalding on the Grammys, jazz and Q-Tip

Singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding made history when she received a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best New Artist. Up against music greats Mumford & Sons, Florence and the Machine, Drake, and teen favorite Justin Bieber, it was Spalding who walked away with the Grammy, making it the first tim ... More >>

Muse cover Prince's "Sign 'O' the Times"

For anyone who thought Prince's revolutionary social commentary "Sign '☮' the Times" from 1987 needed a more provocative guitar part (we did not) Muse has stepped in to give the track a more jagged edge. Ahead of this weekend's performance on Saturday Night Live to herald Tuesday's release of The ... More >>

Admiral Fallow on The Mighty Ducks, tree people, and touring the U.S.

The orchestral folk-pop ensemble Admiral Fallow has been steadily gaining fans in the U.K. since they started playing together some six years ago. Now, finally, with the release of their second album, Tree Bursts In Snow, talented Scottish quintet is finally in a place to make the great voyage over ... More >>

Mumford and Sons cover Alt-J's "Tessellate" on BBC's Radio One

Attention Current listeners and Mumford and Sons aficionados: We've got what amounts to a bit of ear porn for you this morning. Our beloved Mumfy went on the BBC's Radio One yesterday, where they played a seven-song set, composed of songs from Sigh No More and their recently released sophomore alb ... More >>

After Mumford and Sons' "I Will Wait" video, life isn't the same

See Also:Mumford and Sons release new single, "I Will Wait," to adoring sighsMumford and Sons releasing new record, be still our beating heartsThe 4onthefloor releases "Mumford & Sons Crap"Mumford and Sons' new single "I Will Wait" (from the band's upcoming album Babel, due September 24) has bee ... More >>

Mumford and Sons release new single, "I Will Wait," to adoring sighs

See Also:Mumford and Sons releasing new record, be still our beating heartsThe 4onthefloor releases "Mumford & Sons Crap"The Current Effect, in progressIn the midst of an endless, grueling tour schedule, long, sweaty nights playing sold-out shows, and causing hearts across the country to quiver ... More >>

Mumford and Sons releasing new record, be still our beating hearts

See Also:The 4onthefloor releases "Mumford & Sons Crap"Interview: Mumford & Sons' Marshall Winston chats backstageThe Current Effect, in progressIt's finally happening. Three years ago, Mumford and Sons released their debut album Sigh No More, and hoedown enthusiasts (and Current listeners) ... More >>

Five songs exploring mental illness

This week, 5ingles explores songs that boast connections to mental illness. None of these are quite as stupendous as Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized" or Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" or Green Day's "Basket Case" or Lil B.'s "Wonton Soup," but the last song on the list comes pretty damn close -- i ... More >>

Howler and the hometown hate debate

Jordan Gatesmith shares his true feelings on the music scene

The 4onthefloor releases "Mumford & Sons Crap"

​After submitting to an interview (with a now-passionate comments field) regarding Howler frontman Jordan Gatesmith's comments about them, the 4onthefloor is back today with a song named after his description of the band. "Mock Duck/Mumford & Sons Crap" is set to the tune of the far-more-famou ... More >>

Howler and the hometown hate debate

​Minnesota Give Up. No, that's not the title of Howler's next album, nor is it the slogan for the eyebrow-raising marketing campaign the band rolled out last week. But, if you were to read some of the things being bandied about on the interwebs about the interview that their baby-faced bandleader, ... More >>

The 4onthefloor: Howler must've actually listened to our record

​Kerfuffle alert! Recently, Howler frontman and burgeoning viral marketer Jordan Gatesmith voiced his displeasure with the Minneapolis music scene and a 30-year lull of good music via a U.K. podcast hosted by the Guardian's Alexis Petridis. (If we're doing our math correctly, it means he hates eve ... More >>

The Current's 7 years of good luck: Dessa, Mary Lucia & more weigh in

​The Current, located at 89.3 on the FM dial, is far from just another a radio station. Over the past seven years, it has transformed into somewhat of a Twin Cities institution, offering an alternative to the redundancy of commercial radio while also acting as a musical rite of passage for up- ... More >>

96.3 NOW shifts to adult top 40 station K-TWIN

​Are you keeping up with all this? Just a short year and a half after switching from B96 to the less rap-heavy top 40 pop station 96.3 NOW, the station's owners made another shift this weekend and launched K-TWIN, which abandons "rhythmic" pop all together in favor of a format called Adult CH ... More >>

Laura Marling at the Cedar, 12/01/11

​Laura MarlingDecember 1, 2011Cedar Cultural CenterThe last time Laura Marling performed in Minneapolis was in 2008, when she was only 18 years old. She played for about 25 of us at the 400 Bar as the opening act for Johnny Flynn, with a then unknown Mumford & Sons serving as her backing ba ... More >>

Dawes, Dylanophilia, and the Twin Cities' love affair with touchy-feely folk rock

Photo by Kevin Hays​L.A. Americana band Dawes are so cavalier about their draw in the Twin Cities that they announced their plans to play a New Year's Eve show at the Varsity before they even rolled into town to perform their sold-out show at First Avenue this Friday -- and in his interview with C ... More >>

With the Current's ratings reportedly 'soaring,' what does that mean for Minnesota music?

Photo by Jayme Halbritter for City PagesThe Current's program manager Jim McGuinn​Though this won't come as a surprise to anyone who's seen a Current-sponsored show sell out in a heartflutter or watched them dominate the "indie" music scene in the Twin Cities, a recent report has shown that the st ... More >>

Sara Bareilles at the MN Zoo, 7/12/2011

​Sara Bareilles with Raining JaneJuly 12, 2011MN Zoo AmphitheaterSara Bareilles introduced her show with the exclamation, "We haven't played  a headlining show in a long time, but we said, 'Fuck it!'" -- thus setting the mood for a perfect night for music in the zoo.  With the dramatic c ... More >>

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit and Caitlin Rose at the Entry, 05/24/2011

​Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit and Caitlin RoseMay 24, 20117th St. EntryWhat a difference nearly three years have made on Johnny Flynn's popularity in Minneapolis. After his first local headlining show at the 400 Bar in 2008 drew only about 30 people (with Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling op ... More >>

Gayngs at Coachella, Nikki Sixx phones it in at the Fitz, and more notes from the weekend

Photos by Denis Jeong Plaster​April is continuing to roar by us at a steady clip, and this past weekend our local scene was so bustling that we had to export some of our musicians out to Indio, California before the whole town overflowed.

The Grammys: The good, the bad, and the really, really awkward

​Perhaps the biggest surprise from this year's Grammy Awards broadcast is that there are actually some honest-to-god surprises to report, the biggest of which was notoriously indie artists Arcade Fire coming out on top in the Album of the Year category.Here, we present a rundown of some of the mos ... More >>

Top 5 most overrated artists of 2010

Photo by Stacy SchwartzMumford & Sons at the Varsity Theater last May​Now, before you get all bent out of shape with this list, let me point out that just because I feel a band or an artist is overrated doesn't mean I don't like them or their music. It just conveys my belief that the massive ... More >>

Top 5 most underrated artists of 2010

Can you hear us, mainstream audiences? It's us, Women.​In any given year, we are bombarded with so much new music that sometimes albums and artists that deserve a lot more attention somehow fall through the cracks, and don't quite get the careful consideration their work is entitled to. So, the ba ... More >>

Joshua Radin prepares to make the ladies swoon at First Avenue

​Joshua Radin has been called the Whisper Rock King. His music breaths like airs of emotional estrogen out into the world of women and lovers alike. If you've seen Scrubs, House, One Tree Hill, and of course -- you guessed it -- Garden State, you've heard Radin. Emotional is probably too underwhel ... More >>

'Tis a Pity She's a Whore

Two Door Cinema Club, the Dandy Warhols, and more

The Week That Was: U2 to work with Danger Mouse, Mark E. Smith slags Mumford & Sons

​And just like that, as if by magic, we awaken into a world where Russell Brand and Katy Perry can flaunt an Indian marriage license, where Brett Favre got whipped in his old backyard, where the Yankees aren't headed to the world series, and where world peace remains as elusive a possibility as ev ... More >>

Mumford & Sons

The Current Effect, in progress

Photo by Dan CorriganMayors RT Rybak and Chris Coleman at the Current's 5th birthday party​Last May, when Mumford & Sons blasted through town with a very sold-out show at the Varsity Theater, the impact that Minneapolis Public Radio's contemporary music station has on our concert ticket market ... More >>

Mumford & Sons bathe in sweat and adoration at the Varsity

Photos by Stacy Schwartz​"This is the hottest I think I've been in a long time," Marcus Mumford said between sets, droplets of sweat falling off his eyelashes, guitar, and fingertips. "But I think it's also the most loved we've been, so far from home."Indeed, last night at the very sold-out Varsit ... More >>

Interview: Mumford & Sons' Marshall Winston chats backstage

Photo by Stacy SchwartzMarshall Winston (left) at the Current studios​INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY CINDAL LEE HEARTMumford & Sons are the epitome of bottom to top success; in less than 3 years they've signed to major record labels (Glassnote and Island) and faired into the hearts of many diverse fan ... More >>

The Ruby Suns, Mumford and Sons top local radio charts

It was all Suns and Sons on Radio K's and the Current's charts this week.