This week's Friday Five grab bag features a rapper who's gotten his fair share of hype this year, a pair of melodic pop acts with edge, a noise-rock band, and a booty-shaking R&B singer who played our birthday party last month. Just another week here in Minneapolis...

Hope you're staying warm and sane amid the plummeting temperatures and rising cabin fever. If you need an escape, how about ya get out of the house and go see some live music?

Allan Kingdom

Ok, so there's been a lot of buzz about Allan Kingdom lately. And maybe that makes you wanna check him out, or maybe that makes you roll your eyes. But let's move past the hype and look at what he's offering us here: a unique, percussive, hyper vocal delivery; hiccuping beats; confessional, revealing lyrical passages that twist and turn between vivid imagery and stark realism. There's a reason that people (myself included) are amped about this dude right now, but as LeVar Burton would say, you don't have to take my word for it.

You can see Allan perform on Saturday, February 15, at the fifth and final Best Love is Free showcase at First Ave.

Emot

Don't let the name of this track fool you—"Garbage Tones" is a beautiful little song that marries pop and lo-fi/psych influences with a searing sense of melancholy. I don't know what kind of organ or synth is used in this song, but I could listen to it for a long time. Emot have a new album out on Thursday, March 6, at they'll play at the Cedar that night with the Cairo Gang and We Are the Willows.

Enemy Planes

Part music video, part fire safety PSA, Enemy Planes take the minimalist approach with their blazing hot new video for "No Strings."

Disasteratti

Disasteratti are keeping that AmRep spirit alive and well with their new song, "Rolling Blackouts." Look for their next album, Cerebral Hack Artist, on March 11 when it's released by Learning Curve Records.

Har Mar Superstar

Have you checked out all of these live videos from the Current's birthday parties? If you couldn't attend in person (or just want to relive the memories), we have footage of Caroline Smith, Howler, Lizzo, plus this video right here of Har Mar Superstar singing his Sam Cooke-inspired single "Lady, You Shot Me."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pI_b_PfhAQ