As new local traditions go, few could be better or more welcome than the Minnesota Beatle Project, now in its third year of collecting Fab Four covers to raise money for music and art education. As on previous editions, Vol. 3 is heavy on rootsy folk-rockers and indie bands, with a notable absence of hip-hop. But if the roster couldve been more comprehensive, the album doesnt lack for passion, joy, and listenability.
Beatles covers are tricky, since the original songs are both extremely well known and well playedits very hard to top John, Paul, George, and Ringo at their own game. Which is not to say that bands shouldnt try, but its risky, and the most faithful covers on Vol. 3 dont avoid the pitfalls. Pop-punkers Motion City Soundtrack deserve credit for recreating the gentle beauty of George Harrisons Here Comes The Sun, but they dont put a lot of their own stamp on itwhich makes the cover pointless, because Harrisons version isnt exactly hard to find. The key to a great cover song is not to hit the target dead-centerthats for tribute bandsbut to make it different. One way to do that is to deliberately wrench an over-familiar song out of its original context, as Solid Gold does on a marvelously reworked version of Harrisons Love You To, translating earthy, sitar-drenched psychedelia into its own icily sophisticated, synth-heavy milieu.
The rest of Vol. 3s best songs take a simpler approach, choosing songs from the Beatles incredibly broad catalog that fit each bands individual personality but allow for a little wiggle room. Cloud Cults version of Help! forefronts the pleading in John Lennons lyrics, highlighting Craig Minowas great gift of capturing emotional vulnerability in his music. Shoegaze/noise duo Red Pens find a perfect match in Helter Skelter, giving guitarist/vocalist Howard Hamilton a great opportunity to scream and shred. Duluth bluesman Charlie Parrs old-school authenticity is a breath of fresh air on Paul McCartneys Rocky Raccoon, and blues-punkers The 4onthefloor deliver a stomping version of Why Dont We Do It In The Road? that roars with caveman-like lustinesswhich is really the only sane way to approach that particular song.
Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 3 shares its official CD-release show with Minnesotas other great Beatle-related tradition, Curtiss As annual Dec. 8 John Lennon tribute at First Avenue. Bands performing include White Light Riot, Dark Dark Dark And Her Choir, and Me And My Arrow.
Originally published Dec. 5 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
Tags: A.V. Club
Charlie Parr, Cloud Cult, Minnesota, Minnesota music, Motion City Soundtrack, music, Red Pens, review, Solid Gold, The 4onthefloor, The Beatles | Christopher Bahn | December 5, 2011 2:40 pm | Comments (0)
Chris Strouth has been a pillar of the Twin Cities music scene for years, both on and off stage, as a performer, designer, producer, head of Twin/Tone Records, and prime mover of museum-friendly dub experimentalists Future Perfect Sound System, among other hats. His most recent project is Paris 1919, an electronic collective that grew out of his studio-bound, largely solo sonic collages into a live band that includes Boiled In Leads Drew Miller, Uzza vocalist Tabatha Predovich, and drummer Eric White. And sometimes many othersat this years Art-A-Whirl, Strouth helped mastermind the 30-musician improvisational ensemble project Czeslaws Loop. With three albums of moody, post-industrial ambience already under his belt, Strouth is in the midst of signing a deal with UK distributor State 51, home to like-minded experimentalists Current 93 and Throbbing Gristle. At the Ritz Theater on Saturday, an 11-member version of Paris 1919also including Joe Hastings of Hastings 3000 and Blue Sky Blackouts Jon Huntwill spin a live soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcocks 1927 serial-killer thriller, The Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog, an excellent early example of the dark, suspenseful, and macabrely funny Hitchcockian sensibility. Strouth sat down with The A.V. Club in advance of the show.
Originally published Nov. 10, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
After the implosion of his highly regarded but underheard experimental indie band Fog in 2007, it took a couple of years for Andrew Broder to chart a new course as a musician. That’s not to say he didn’t keep busy, releasing nearly seven hours of ambient Fripp/Eno-style instrumentals in 2009, recording the soundtrack for Alan Moore’s audiovisual project Unearthing last year, and touring as part of Anticon indie-rap group Why? But with his new band Cloak Ox, he’s laying down the most straightforward and hard-charging indie rock of his career, backed by three longtime friends and former Fog compatriots, bassist Mark Erickson, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, and drummer Martin Dosh. Cloak Ox plays a CD-release show for its debut EP Prisen Sept. 30 at Loring Theater. The A.V. Club met with the band after one of its weekly morning jam sessionswhere the Creedence Clearwater Revival covers were the biggest clue how different this band is from Fogto talk about the joys of keeping it simple.
Originally published Sept. 29, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
Trampled By Turtles 2010 album, Palomino, was a well-deserved breakthrough hit for the Duluthian bluegrass band, but that doesnt mean bandleader Dave Simonett is shackled to a single style. With Dead Man Winter, a side project also featuring fellow Turtles Ryan Young and Tim Saxhaug, Simonett explores his country-rock side. The bands debut disc, Bright Lights, echoes the rootsy, world-weary vibe of predecessors like Neil Young And The Band, as well as a more homegrown strain of Minnesota heartland-rockers like the Gear Daddies and the Glenrustles. Its certainly not a drastic shift from the Turtles music in either sound or spirit; instead the new bands sound is compellingly different but complementary. Bright Lights even shares a version of the song New Orleans with Palomino. The A.V. Club talked with Simonett in advance of Dead Man Winters show tonight at First Avenue about balancing his two bands.
Originally posted on avclub.com Sept. 16, 2011. Read the complete article.
On their 2009 debut album Inter-Be, Twin Cities duo Peter Wolf Crier put an appealing spin on indie-folk thanks to the orthogonal approaches of its two creative halves, with the downcast, Nick Drakean songwriting and high-pitched, haunting vocals of Peter Pisano sent off in unexpected directions by the refreshingly experimental production of percussionist/engineer Brian Moen. Since it worked so well the first time, its good to find the duo doubling down on its collaborative technique on Garden Of Arms. Moen deepens and expands on Inter-Bes rich palette, building out Pisanos meditative and even somber songs into complex, layered creations spiced with surprising fills, melodic touches, and glitchier elements that keep the mood from ever settling in one place. Its clearly a more polished piece of work than its predecessor, but never slick or lacking in personality, and never dull.
At the same time, the sometimes-confounding complexity also means the album lacks Inter-Bes immediate charm. Sometimes the commendable desire to keep the sonic environment unpredictable and engaging gets in the way of a potentially great song, as on the lovely, lonely ballad Having It Out, whose abrupt finish undercuts the impact of its soaring, Arcade Fire-like emotion. But far more often, the constantly evolving layers of drum riffs and harmonies galvanize the material into something that practically demands repeated listens to savor its piquancy. Right Away and Hard Heart prove how compelling the bands approach can be on more uptempo numbers, but the ethereal Wheel keeps the multi-faceted production in full spin without sacrificing its quiet and contemplative beauty.
Originally published Sept. 6, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
You don’t have to be Indiana Jones to be an archaeologist, and you don’t have to be Marty McFly to travel back in time. Minnesota is rich with its own treasures from antiquity, with sites across the state that tell the story of American Indian and European settlement in the region.
Visiting these historic places is not without controversy, as shrinking state budgets and a growing respect for the sanctity local Indians hold for some locations have led to restrictions and even some closures. Most notably, Grand Mound near International Falls, a prehistoric burial ground older than the Roman Empire, has been closed since 2007.
But there are plenty of wonders still to be seen, none more than a few hours’ drive from the Twin Cities. For an archaeological tour of the Upper Midwest, consider these sites:
Originally published July 31, 2011 in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Read the complete article.
Quillan Roe has always loved country and folk music, first making his name in the Twin Cities music scene as leader of 90s alt-country combo Accident Clearinghouse, which blended alt-country with a healthy strain of traditional bluegrass. In the Roe Family Singers, Roe and his wife Kim have embraced old-school folk with genuine joy. For proof, just stop by the 331 Club on any Monday night, where the Roes have held court for more than six years. Weve only missed twice, notes Quillan with pride. One year it was Christmas, and the next it was Christmas Eve.
The weekly gig began as an open stage, says Roe: We didnt know enough material to fill even the hour and a half we were booked for, so we put out a call to pretty much any musician that we knew. But its since solidified into a loose-knit nine-member combo of considerable verve, shaking the roof of the cozy Northeast bar with Depression-era blues and gospel tunes. The band takes over the 331 this weekend to release its sprightly second album, The Owl And The Bat And The Bumblebee, headlining Friday night with Lisa Fuglie & Mark Anderson and The Cactus Blossoms, and Saturday night with the Como Avenue Jug Band, as well as performing an all-ages in-store at the Electric Fetus on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Roes sat down with The A.V. Club to talk about balancing murder ballads with kids lullabies, and winning the Stanley Cup of waffle irons.
Originally posted on avclub.com June 17, 2011. Read the complete article.
Little Mans new six-song EP might be called Orbital Amusements, but its grounded in swampy, earthy riffage like nothing the band has done before. Thats neither a bad thing, or an unrecognizable shift: The crunchy, swirling, and psychedelic 70s sound of T. Rex and Led Zeppelin is still there in guitarist and songwriter Chris Perricellis playing, and the George Harrison-esque, Zen Buddhist-inspired spirituality in his lyrics is as strong as ever. But Amusements thunders in a whole new way, thanks to the the jolt of creative electricity Perricelli got when his restless muse found a new way to make noise viatechnical guitar-geekery alerta new set of custom-made guitar pedals. With a new, more propulsive rhythm section in bassist Brian Herb and drummer Sean Gilchrist, Little Mans sound is now flavored with a thick grunge-metal that Gilchrist jokingly but memorably describes as dirty rumble beefy. Little Man plays an album-release show for Orbital Amusements at the Turf Club on Friday, May 27 with Red Pens and The Rockford Mulesand onstage accompaniment by, appropriately enough, a pair of hula-hooping dancers, The Cosmonettes. Before the show, The A.V. Club talked with the band about how the new songs grew out of both cutting-edge tech and old-school spiritual symbology.
Originally published May 26, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
Music doesnt necessarily have to strike you like lightning in order to work its way into your heart. The songs of Minor Kingdom will never inspire anyone to reckless abandon or lead to a mass outbreak of dancing in the streets. And thats okaythat isnt the point. Like Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, and Bon Iver before him, songwriter Kristian Melom is after a more introspective, unhurried and thoughtful kind of beauty. Dont Worry Baby, his second album after 2009s My Back Will Bend, is a carefully crafted set of slow, somber indie-folk ballads shot through with a tinge of mournful alt-country and grounded by Meloms serious, pensive vocalsperhaps too grounded.
This is a record that needs a little time alone in order to win you over, working its mojo in the background during a quiet evening at home, curled up with a book. That intimacy is the albums most charming element, but also its Achilles heel: Dont Worry Baby is so soft-spoken and unprepossessing that its in danger of being overwhelmed like a spiderweb caught in a strong breeze, and the subtle qualities that are the albums strengths are too easily drowned out. And there are plenty of delightful touches throughout Dont Worry Baby, like the wash of shoegaze-y guitar that floats through Sweet Emily, the gossamer acoustic filigree in Crazy Charlie, and the wistful angelic chorus of ooohs on the album-closing Good Luck. But its a fine line between introspective and enervating, and a little more oomph would not have gone amiss here.
Originally published May 12, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.
Theres something missing from Color Me Obsessed, director Gorman Bechards new documentary about Minneapolis music legends The Replacements: the band itself. Bechard purposefully avoided putting Paul Westerberg or his bandmates in the film directlyno interviews, no music, no concert footage, no album covers. But what seems at first to be a self-defeating approach is perhaps uniquely suited to The Replacements, a band so infamously disinterested in its own fame that its members once tried to steal their master tapes and throw them in a river, and flipped the bird to the whole idea of MTV by making a music video consisting entirely of a speaker playing Bastards Of Young for three and a half minutes. As its title implies, Color Me Obsessed is about the bands fans as much as it is about the band itself. By not directly including The Replacements in the film, its subject broadens beyond simple biography into an exploration of what it means to be a fan, and to have your life changed by a song. Obsessed tells The Replacements story, from formation to early 90s flameout, through the words of fans, critics, and contemporaries from the Minnesota music scene, including HüDüant Hart and Greg Norton, The Hold Steadys Craig Finn, Kids In The Halls Dave Foley, and Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy. The A.V. Club talked with Bechard in advance of Color Me Obsesseds Minneapolis debut, 7 p.m. May 4 at the Womans Club, as part of Sound Unseen.
Originally published May 2, 2011 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.