Nirvana (Band)

Reid Anderson: I've always been a late bloomer

Reid Anderson has made his career as an improvisational musician, and a successful one at that. As bassist for the Bad Plus, he's toured around the globe for over a decade, redefining jazz for a generation that grew up on Nirvana and Radiohead.It should come as no surprise that Anderson would opt to ... More >>

Swissted poster book revisits classic Replacements and Hüsker Dü shows

If the drool-worthy posters shown above haven't already pulled you in, the rest of the story of Swissted: Vintage Rock Posters Remixed and Reimagined certainly will. Just released this month, the book features 200 freshly created concert posters recalling the nascent shows of some of the finest unde ... More >>

STNNNG: All real, no frills

Local music vets work with the legendary Steve Albini on Empire Inward

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 >>

Zac Brown Band at Target Center, 11/10/12

Zac Brown Band Target Center, Minneapolis Saturday, November 10, 2012 See also: Ten reasons Zac Brown Band will never win us over No seriously. See also: Ten reasons why Zac Brown Band will never win us over. Never! Read that, and then you'll appreciate why writing this review of Zac Brown Band's ... More >>

Matt Mueller, former Pachyderm Studio owner, dies in car accident

Sad news today as the Minnesota music community has lost a part of its recording history with the accidental death of former Pachyderm Studio owner Matt Mueller. He was 42.City Pages writer David Hansen got up close and personal with the Mueller, a man of many visions, for a 2009 cover story, "Pachy ... More >>

Steve Albini on 20 years of Shellac, handling hecklers, and AC/DC's brilliance

It has already been 20 years since Shellac came together in Chicago in 1992 as in an informal collaboration between engineer and guitarist Steve Albini (ex-Just Ducky, Big Black, Rapeman) and Minneapolis-based drummer Todd Trainer (ex-Rifle Sport, Brick Layer Cake). Shellac was fully formed when Alb ... More >>

Deer Tick

Top 10 best grunge songs

With Saint Kurt gone for 18 years now, it's important to remember grunge wasn't just Nirvana. It was a movement, and though each year it seems a little bit sillier than it did the last, it was important. Most of the bands (and sadly many of the people themselves) didn't stand the test of time, some ... More >>

First Avenue's 20 best concerts: Readers' picks

Related:First Avenue's 20 best concerts: The complete listFirst Avenue: An archived history via flyers, riders & contractsTop 20 best Minnesota musicians: The complete listEven if the ticket stubs are long gone, and the T-shirt purchased at the merch table didn't survive backpacking across Europ ... More >>

With a Gun for a Face deliver more glam-core punk

Corporate Callosum rages against the machine

Nirvana's In Utero studio site in Cannon Falls overhauled

​Pachyderm Studio was once an ever-expanding source of rural Minnesota trivia. The complex, tucked away behind some trees on a quiet country road near Cannon Falls, hosted many legendary recording sessions. Lore surrounding Nirvana's In Utero, PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, and albums by local heroes incl ... More >>

Burn Fetish to release Psychonauta at the Entry

​Burn Fetish's latest album, Psychonauta, shows a band striving for both their and our fulfillment. They labor over the years that span the ending of childhood and the introduction into adulthood.Musical talent must be in the blood; lead singer and guitarist, Sam Frederick's mother is Mary Jane Al ... More >>

Roy Wilkins: Who was he?

The story behind the iconic St. Paul venue

Critics' Picks: Vampire Hands, Alexander O'Neal, Twilight Hours, and more

The Bad Plus

Black Friday Record Store Day: A guide to special sales and events in the Cities

Black Friday. Potentially the single most terrifying phrase in the English language, those two little words are a retailer's curse and a shopper's pipe dream come true. This year, if you somehow missed pitching your tent in the Best Buy parking lot in preparation for the sales, not to worry--there i ... More >>

Deer Tick at Triple Rock Social Club, 11/12/11

Photo by Scott Alario​Deer Tick November 12, 2011 Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis Saturday night at the Triple Rock, the audience got to see something special. It was the sight of a band headed for greatness, right at the cusp of something bigger. It was palpable and it was obvious that ... More >>

Picked to Click extended interview: blood&stuff

Photo by Emily Utne​blood&stuff is the new band of Ed Holmberg and Dylan Gouert. These ex-Economy Team members perform headbanging, mind-blowing rock shows. Holmberg sings powerful, classic-sounding vocals, while playing stunning bass and guitar. Drummer Gouert plays Dave Grohl-inspired hard a ... More >>

Courtney Love says Frances Bean Cobain was conceived in Minneapolis

​Oh, Courtney. She just can't give a straight answer, can she? In an interview about the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's breakout music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Courtney Love took the opportunity to divulge several intimate details about her and Kurt Cobain's first... how shall we say... ... More >>

10 superfan factoids about Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl

​Dave Grohl is the real deal. After spending the early '90s clocking stage time in one of the most influential bands of his generation, no one would have thought twice if he had shied away from the limelight following his Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. But instead, he did jus ... More >>

Pachyderm Studios' Cannon Falls property for sale

Photo via Edina Realty​Pachyderm Studios, best known as the recording site of Nirvana's final studio album, In Utero, as well as the place where dozens of local bands holed up in the early- to mid-'90s to record their work, has gone out of business once and for all and the property is now for sale ... 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.

Frank Ocean smoothes out Odd Future, Fever Ray trusts wolves, and other new musics

​You can peep the interwebs regularly, check those flight controls with neurotic consistency (you know who you are), and still have days (days!) that yield nothing worth looking at. Good content doesn't grow on polygonal trees, you brats. Luckily, today wasn't one of those boring ones.

Beatles expert Jim Berkenstadt is a rock 'n' roll detective

The band hired him to piece together their story

Vikings punter and bassist Chris Kluwe talks about balancing music and football

​Though Chris Kluwe played violin as a child, his primary influence for picking up a bass guitar was the video game Guitar Hero. Adept at the simulated version, Kluwe wanted to try the real thing. This led him to forming the alterna-metal band Tripping Icarus, whose debut full length will be ... More >>

The Bad Plus

Arcwelder at the Entry, 12/4/10

​ArcwelderDecember 4, 20107th St. Entry, MinneapolisAs music from the '90s is increasingly re-examined by critics and fans, it has become clear--just as in every preceding decade--that mistakes were made. Too much emphasis was assigned to some bands and others were ignored for no good reason at al ... More >>

The Week That Was: Travis Barker won't go away, Aretha Franklin alive

​What's that you say? All you want for Christmas is to not be Travis Barker? That's easy; wish granted! Unless, of course, you are Travis Barker, in which case: too bad, so sad. You're always gonna look like a skate rat ghoul. Anyway, let's take a gander at what happened in the world of music last ... More >>

The Vaselines

Weird Al Yankovic

Haute Dish's Landon Schoenefeld: Talent with a temper

Chef has held more restaurant jobs than many retired cooks

Daunte Culpepper redux: He's huge in Sacramento!

Best Mountain Lion QB ever​There's a weird Vikings reunion going on west of the Sierra Nevada: Quarterback Daunte Culpepper has just signed a deal to play football under the eye of coach Dennis Green -- for the Sacramento Mountain Lions, a UFL franchise. The first time time those two paired u ... More >>

Bright Ideas

Spontaneity in televised musical performances, R.I.P.

​This won't be an anti-American Idol blog post, but I am taking aim at American Idol; it won't entirely condemn Rihanna, but it will subject Ri-Ri to some tough love. Idol and Rihanna are a mere jumping-off point, because watching the results show Wednesday night made me really confront something ... More >>

Random notes from the compact disc's brutal, continued slide into irrelevancy

Some personal observations from somebody who's had a love/hate relationship with the format over the years.

The Bad Plus

Daughtry signals our failure to rock in the '00s

Why is the voice of our generation just...so...lame?

Soul Asylum

Mashups of the Week: Michael Jackson & David Lynch

Michael Jackson mashed through the ages, NIN vs. Britney Spears & David Lynch gets mashed in plastic.

Mashups of the Week: Obama & Lady GaGa

T-Pain autotunes Obama, Lady GaGa smells of Teen Spirit, the Ting Tings go disco & more!

Manic Street Preachers

Glamorama

Clipse, Glamorama, Reel Big Fish, and more

The Meat Puppets

Pachyderm Studio wants to save the world, but can it keep the lights on?

The beleaguered music-maker's Mecca has become the Temple of the White Elephant

The Bad Plus

Spirit in the House Festival

The Polyphonic Spree host a love-in at the Fine Line

Trampled By Turtles: Live at Lucé