Friday Five: The Current’s Birthday Party edition! January 18, 2019 Tonight and Saturday, The Current staffers are headed down to First Avenue to celebrate the station’s 14th birthday with hundreds of friends and fans. Saturday’s show is sold out, but some tickets remain for tonight’s party, featuring Scrunchies, Rayland Baxter, Bad Bad Hats, and the Suburbs. To pump us all up for two nights of… Read More ›
The Suburbs' Chan Poling and Hugo Klaers talk with Oake and Riley about performing with new members and re-recording classic songs January 17, 2019 Ahead of the Suburbs' performance at The Current's 14th Birthday Party, Chan Poling and Hugo Klaers talked with Oake and Riley about the Suburbs' new lineup and revisiting some of the band's earliest songs. Read More ›
The Current's 14th Birthday parties December 11, 2018 Celebrate 14 years of The Current with back-to-back parties January 18 & 19 at First Avenue. Read More ›
Theft of the Dial: Kerry Alexander of Bad Bad Hats January 17, 2019 Kerry Alexander of Bad Bad Hats 'steals' the Local Show from Andrea Swensson for a Theft of the Dial. Bad Bad Hats are playing The Current's 14th Birthday Party on Friday, Jan. 18 at First Avenue Read More ›
Wordplay literary festival will kick off with Rock Bottom Remainders performance at First Avenue January 18, 2019 On May 11-12, the Loft Literary Center will stop traffic in the East Town neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis to make way for more than 100 writers and thousands of eager readers at the largest literary festival the Twin Cities has ever seen. “Anybody who thinks of Minnesota should think about books,” said Britt Udesen, the Loft’s… Read More ›
Music News: Maggie Rogers, Sharon Van Etten, Alice Merton lead new releases January 17, 2019 There are a bumper crop of new releases this week! Jay and Jade spotlight new music from Maggie Rogers, Sharon Van Etten, Alice Merton, Toro y Moi, James Blake, and Deerhunter. Plus, a tribute to the late Germs bassist Lorna Doom. Read More ›
Interview: Dua Saleh talks ‘Nūr,’ Psymun, and 2018 takeaways January 17, 2019 At the tail end of my recent interview with Dua Saleh, I pulled up a Ness Nite tweet making the rounds: We can drop genre-defying now since everyone is at this point — ness nite (@nessnite) January 7, 2019 “Yes!” Saleh exclaimed upon reading it, and I got the feeling they hear “genre-defying” often. As… Read More ›
The Chart Show: Alice in 'Mint' Condition January 16, 2019 Alice Merton tops the chart this week, joined by a heap of debuts from Mitski, Cloud Cult, Death Cab for Cutie, The Raconteurs, and more. Read More ›
Music News: Synthmaker behind R2-D2's voice dies at 93 January 16, 2019 Alan R. Pearlman, whose synthesizers were favored by everyone from Kraftwerk to 'Star Wars' sound designer Ben Burtt, has died at 93. Also in the news today: the Killers haven't exactly been known as a political band, but their new single is a protest song. Plus: Corey Hart is being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Colin Kaepernick hasn't cosigned the Super Bowl halftime show, musicians cover silence (yes, really), and a fiery blues guitarist goes viral. Read More ›
Minnesota musicians pay tribute to the late great Willie Murphy January 16, 2019 Though the Twin Cities lost the local R&B legend Willie Murphy earlier this week, he is far from forgotten. From fans and fellow Minnesotan musicians alike, here are just a few of the tributes to the “godfather” of the Minneapolis music scene that have spread on social media since the musician’s death. Willie also told… Read More ›
Radio Heartland Giveaway: Frances Luke Accord and Syvers at The Warming House January 10, 2019 Enter for a chance to win tickets to the Warming House to see Frances Luke Accord on January 31, 2019. Read More ›
Music News: Maggie Rogers, Sharon Van Etten, Alice Merton lead new releases January 17, 2019 There are a bumper crop of new releases this week! Jay and Jade spotlight new music from Maggie Rogers, Sharon Van Etten, Alice Merton, Toro y Moi, James Blake, and Deerhunter. Plus, a tribute to the late Germs bassist Lorna Doom. Read More ›
Download The Current app January 29, 2018 Download The Current's app to hear a crisp, high-fidelity stream of our station (and our additional streams) wherever you go! Read More ›
Listen to The Current via Smart Speakers July 23, 2018 Listen to The Current on Google Home and Amazon's Echo devices, and get enhanced functionality -- song names, requests, song of the day -- with our Alexa Skill. Read More ›
Watch Pedro the Lion's #Microshow performance, featuring new songs from 'Phoenix' January 11, 2019 Pedro the Lion's new album 'Phoenix' is out January 18 on Polyvinyl Records, but we're giving you a special live performance preview of their new material. Watch live January 11 at 4 p.m. CST. Read More ›
Larkin Poe perform in The Current studio December 30, 2018 Sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell are the nucleus of Larkin Poe. They perform powerful songs with a rootsy Southern underpinning. Their latest album, 'Venom & Faith,' was released on Nov. 9, 2018, and was self-produced. Larkin Poe stopped at The Current to talk about their songwriting process and to perform a couple tracks from the album, as well as one of their favorite Lead Belly tunes. Read More ›
Kurt Vile performs a solo acoustic set at The Current December 19, 2018 Ahead of a show with his band the Violators in the First Avenue Mainroom, Kurt Vile stopped at The Current for a session hosted by Mary Lucia. Vile played solo acoustic versions of a couple songs from his latest album, 'Bottle It In,' and one from his 2011 release, 'Smoke Ring for My Halo.' Read More ›
John Grant performs in The Current studio December 07, 2018 Michigan-born, Reykjavik-based musician John Grant is a fascinating individual even before he starts performing songs. Ahead of a show at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, Grant stopped at The Current studio to play songs and to engage in lively and thoughtful conversation with host Mac Wilson. Read More ›
Haley performs instrumentals from 'Pleasureland' in The Current studio December 06, 2018 Although Haley has composed instrumental music before, her 2018 release 'Pleasureland' is her first all-instrumental full-length. 'This was so much more satisfying when I wasn't trying to say something with words,' Haley says. 'It was how I felt and what I connected to.' Haley, along with Jeremy Ylvisaker, visited The Current studio to play music from 'Pleasureland.' Read More ›
Coffee Break: Songs your dad hates January 18, 2019 In 1987, Jill Riley's childhood home was filled with the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, and her dad thus retreated to the garage for about a year. Whether it's punk rock, novelty soundtracks, kiddie bop, or screamo, surely we all played something that irked our dads. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs do you want to hear that your dad hated? Read More ›
Today in Music History: Stevie Wonder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame January 18, 2019 Glenn Frey passed away, Stevie Wonder became the youngest inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Rolling Stones hung out with Phil Spector and The Beatles put out a hand. Read More ›
Coffee Break Suggestions and Archive November 08, 2016 Got an idea for a Coffee Break? Want to see what we did a while back? Read More ›