I wrote the liner notes for this 2022 album by the Minneapolis electronic/neoclassical collective Paris 1919, led by Chris Strouth. Future Archaeology collects seven of Strouth’s complex, immersive soundscapes originally …
Music and technology have always gone hand in hand—and the explosive flowering of music as an art form in the last century is also the story of the explosive growth …
If the Twin Cities has an answer to the literate, charmingly tuneful pop songcraft of Belle And Sebastian, or the Kinks songs that populate Wes Anderson movie soundtracks, it’s surely …
Originally published in the Spring 2011 issue of Momentum, published by the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment. Read the article on the original website here. Since he was …
When the electrifying, trancelike street music spearheaded by veteran Congolese band Konono No. 1 reached Western ears in the early 2000s, it sounded like something beamed in from Mars. Konono’s music was …
Roky Erickson is a true rock ‘n’ roll survivor. Founder of the groundbreaking 1960s psychedelic band 13th Floor Elevators, Erickson fell into a spiral of drug and legal problems that culminated …
Twin Cities post-punk quartet The Chambermaids sounds like it might have stepped out of a time machine, freshly arrived from 1983. Its new seven-song Down In The Berries fits comfortably back-to-back with spiky, art-punk …
“I always loved the idea that music is something to cast a curse with.” Originally published in The A.V. Club’s Twin Cities edition, August 14, 2009. It’s no longer online …
Published in The A.V. Club’s Twin Cities edition, July 24, 2009. It’s no longer online there, so I’ve reposted it in full here. St. Paul power trio The Blind Shake was already a …
Zak Sally shifted his attention largely to graphic art after leaving Duluth slowcore trio Low in 2005, focusing on writing and drawing Recidivist, Sammy The Mouse, and the forthcoming Like A Dog, as well as running …