Talking Heads (Band)

The best concerts in the Twin Cities this week: 5/8 - 5/14

It's finally starting to feel like May again, and this week is packed with shows. Friday Daughter visits the Fine Line with label-mate and local opener, Jeremy Messersmith. The Amsterdam hosts their second annual Girls Got Rhythm Fest featuring Cherie Currie, The Avengers and many more stretching ov ... More >>

Chicago Afrobeat Project

The best Twin Cities concerts: 4/10-4/16

If you can brave the weather, there's plenty of music going on this week. Thursday, twenty one pilots play a sold-out show at the Triple Rock while Boz Scaggs makes an appearance at the State Theatre. Friday night, Zoo Animal will be at the Icehouse, Ex Nuns rock Cause, Edward the Confesso ... More >>

Bernie Worrell Orchestra

This Must Be the Band's Charlie Otto on becoming David Byrne

The Talking Heads are a band who've left a pretty tremendous mark, and it reaches far outside the confines of their heyday or time as an active band. The innovation, the eclectic arrangements, and the running in place that David Byrne & the gang created will live on in the hearts and record coll ... More >>

Yo La Tengo biographer Jesse Jarnow shares the band's not-so-lurid secrets

Just a few weeks since its release, critics have already hailed Yo La Tengo's 13th full-length album Fade as one of the band's best in years, harkening back to epic cult favorites such as I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One and And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. In anticipation of the band ... More >>

RIP Steve Kramer of the Wallets (1953-2013)

Steve Kramer, frontman for the genre-defying Twin Cities group the Wallets, has died. He was found in his hotel room Saturday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. He was 59.Kramer and the Wallets released two original albums via Twin/Tone in the mid-'80s, including the cele ... More >>

David Byrne and St. Vincent turn back clock in "Who" video

See Also: David Byrne and St. Vincent to launch U.S. tour in MinneapolisDavid Byrne to hold How Music Works discussion at McNally Smith in SeptemberAs David Byrne and St. Vincent's joint tour -- starting in Minneapolis on September 15 -- is nearly upon us, it's time for the promotional roll-out. It ... More >>

David Byrne to hold How Music Works discussion at McNally Smith in September

See Also: David Byrne and St. Vincent to launch U.S. tour in Minneapolis St. Vincent at the McGuire Theater, 10/02/2011In addition to David Byrne's highly anticipated performance with St. Vincent at the State Theatre on September 15, the celebrated former Talking Heads frontman will also take part i ... More >>

Prissy Clerks and Gimme Noise go shopping at Treehouse Records (INTERVIEW)

See Also: Basilica Block Party 2012 lineupThe Avett Brothers' Seth Avett on Rick Rubin, political fans, and the band's legacy The Lumineers on Craigslist, Denver, and Basilica Block PartyGimme Noise wants to help our Twin Cities musicians push this envelope of rock 'n' roll shit-shooting, and it's s ... More >>

Walker Kong return with Phazes Of Light, perform Saturday at Bryant Lake Bowl

What I love more than anything about the Twin Cities music scene are the various, and seemingly endless, aspects of permanence that forever radiates from both sides of the radio dial as well as our own turntables. The people who listen, love and perform never stop connecting. It's an infinite line i ... More >>

Best of Coachella 2012: Saturday, April 14

Radiohead certainly had the most pre-festival buzz for Saturday, but once we got there, we found there was so much more to be excited about. Be it the seeing the reclusive Jeff Mangum, the underrated fIREHOSE or closing out the evening with a ferris wheel ride with Radiohead as the soundtrack, our t ... More >>

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

Corporate Callosum rages against the machine

Weekend Checklist: The Melismatics, Get Cryphy, Dropkick Murphys, Orgy

​It's been said many times that the Twin Cities are a breeding ground for musicians.  This weekend alone we have five CD releases from locals; some, like the Melismatics, are veterans in this game, while others like the Readygoes are just getting their start in the scene. No matter where thes ... More >>

Out There 2012 at the Walker

Stage artists converge for experimental theater festival

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at the Varsity, 12/1/11

​Clap Your Hands Say YeahDecember 1, 2011The Varsity TheaterA lot of people have been hating on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah lately. Their latest album, Hysterical, received a lackluster response critically when it was released in September of this year, and yes, CYHSY has had a bit of difficulty tryi ... More >>

Transmission and City Pages present 'Seconds' at the Varsity on November 23

Photo by Dave Eckblad for City Pages​Dance nights are big on Thanksgiving Eve. Everyone has the next day off, and there's probably more than a few people who anticipate a massive caloric freefall and want to get their bodies moving before the tryptophan coma. This year, there's a fantastic option ... More >>

Sound Unseen screening no wave documentary Blank City tomorrow night at the TRYLON

Lydia Lunch in a scene from Blank City​"If you could be anybody, who would you be?" "An outlaw, a film director, a rebel, a rock star!" yells a '70s gangster shooting a gun at the Super 8 camera, cutting to a rapid-fire Mars punk song over a killer montage of '70s film clips of punk and no wave mu ... More >>

The Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club at First Avenue, 09/08/11

Photos by Dave Eckblad​The Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom ClubSeptember 9, 2011First AvenueLegendary UK post-punk stalwarts the Psychedelic Furs rolled into First Avenue on Thursday night intent on showing their aging but dedicated fans a good time, as well as proving that there isn't any dust fo ... More >>

Critics' Picks: Blink 182, Psychedelic Furs, and more

Psychedelic Furs, Tom Tom Club

Blondie at Mystic Lake Casino, 9/4/11

Photos by Steve Cohen​Blondie September 4, 2011 Mystic Lake Casino I was 16 when Blondie reunited in the late 1990s. I have a memory of reading about their plan to do a few shows and record an album in Spin or maybe Rolling Stone; I was definitely sitting in the waiting area of my hairstylist ... More >>

U2 at TCF Bank Stadium, 7/23/11

Photos by Tony Nelson​U2 with InterpolJuly 23, 2011TCF Bank Stadium, MinneapolisThese reviews are inevitably for fans, yet I find myself writing for U2-haters. One friend left a message during the show on Saturday wondering why I was there. Would anyone at the TCF Bank Stadium that night have aske ... More >>

GIVERS at the 7th St. Entry, 6/26/11

​GIVERS, Pepper Rabbit, and 1, 2, 3 June 26, 2011 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis Last night, the young Louisiana pop quintet GIVERS rolled in to Minneapolis for their first show in the city, and it would be understatement to say that they took the crowd at the 7th St. Entry by storm. The group conta ... More >>

GIVERS' Taylor Guarisco on Louisiana, the new record, and zydeco

​Lafayette, Louisiana quintet GIVERS play a highly danceable brand of pop music that sticks in your head for days if you let it, but there's much more at work in their music than simple four-on-the-floor dance beats. Swatches of West African guitar melodies and Latin percussion rhythms mingle with ... More >>

The Cars at First Avenue, 5/17/11

Photos by Steve Cohen​The CarsMay 17, 2011First Avenue, MinneapolisFirst Avenue's Mainroom seems to be making a habit of hosting larger-than-life (and larger-than-club-sized) musical icons this year. Between Lauryn Hill in January, Paul Simon earlier this month and last night's Cars show, one of o ... More >>

Dr. Dog at First Avenue, 10/23/10

Photos by Steve Cohen​Dr. Dog October 23, 2010 First Avenue My second visit to First Avenue in the week, I walk into the club for Dr. Dog's Saturday night appearance expecting a much tamer crowd than during my first (Hank III/Assjack, Wednesday night), and yet, as security staff checks IDs and ap ... More >>

Tonight's movie night at the Germanic American Institute

CAN (1971)​Yes, it may be Friday the 13th today, but that's no reason to run out and scare yourself to death with a horror flick. Why not take a more enlightening route and check out the free film screening at the Germanic American Institute on Summit Avenue in St. Paul? No Deutsch skills are nece ... More >>

Policy and a Pint: Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around

Local Natives prove they're more than hype

I'll be the first to acknowledge that on paper there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical about Local Natives, both practical (blog buzz bands often fail to live up to the hype generated by web-hot singles), and petty (singer Taylor Rice looks uncomfortably similar to John Oates thanks to a ridiculo ... More >>

Shawn Colvin

Motion City Soundtrack, TC Hip-Hop Awards, and more

Revisiting Reissues: Hits and misses from re-releases in the '00s

A sampling of what made (re)collecting the old faves so fun, and frustrating, in the aughts.

Art Brut

Snoop Dogg, the Sounds, White Denim, and more

Jon Hassell

Bush Tetras reunite in Minneapolis to raise money for ailing bassist

Original bass player Laura Kennedy suffering complications from Hepatitis C

Green Sky Blue Grass

Yonder Mountain String Band

David Byrne

Fujiya & Miyagi

The Cars Shift Into Overdrive

Originally printed in Sweet Potato, vol. 1, issue 1, August 1979