On Saturday, May 22, The Current is hosting round nine of Sounds Like Home. Join an incredible lineup of Minnesota musicians as we meet up on the internet for a virtual festival. Great music lives here, and you can enjoy it live in the window above!

Schedule

noon Brianna Kočka • Watch on Facebook
12:30 p.m. King Pari • Watch on Facebook
1:00 Strange Relations • Watch on Facebook
1:30 p.m. Low Rats • Watch on Facebook
2 p.m. Tufawon • Watch on Facebook

About the Artists

Brianna Kočka You know the kind of grief that confines you to bed? The kind that dulls your whole life for a while? Brianna Kočka has been through that. Over the last few years, the Zoo Animal guitarist has lost a marriage, a boyfriend, and her faith. Throughout the pandemic, she says she has been "learning how to put it all back together again." Kočka's upcoming EP Let It Stay, which comes out on May 14, is a warm, crisp collection of jazz-influenced folk songs.

King Pari Cameron Kinghorn and Joe Paris Christensen weren't setting out to start another project. Kinghorn, frontman of R&B act Nooky Jones, and Christensen, guitarist for the funk band PHO, stumbled into the project after a text exchange. A feverish burst of creative energy kicked off by a beat sent over by Christensen, and King Pari was brought into existence. Eschewing perfection and embracing the squiggly edges of lo-fi production, the duo bring in sounds of funk, '80s electro, and R&B for a dose of "stonersoul" that pairs well with a sunny afternoon sitting by the pool.

Strange Relations "There's nothing more punk than a heartfelt ballad," write the duo behind Strange Relations. After meeting in college in Philadelphia, Casey Sowa and Maro Helgeson moved to Minneapolis and started their band. When you listen, don't expect a whole lot of cushion — this is a bass and drums operation, no guitar in sight. Do expect to be reminded of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sparks, and maybe even Björk.

Low Rats Formed in Minneapolis in early 2019, Low Rats are a garage-punk rock-and-roll group with a landlocked surf rock undercurrent. The tunes are steeped in Nuggets, and their roots are planted in 80s punk. Low Rats' latest album, Year of the Rat MMXX, dropped in December of 2020 and shows the band successfully resisting the slowdown of quarantin — full of energetic and scuzzy shredding — a much needed reminder of the rowdy in-person shows that will soon return.

Tufawon Tufawon — pronounced like "two for one" in reference to the artist's Dakota and Boricua roots — is a hip-hop artist, producer, and activist from South Minneapolis. With plans to release a track every week in 2021, Tufawon's ever-growing catalog pulls from his experiences growing up in Minnesota. His socially conscious lyrics connect deeply with his time as an activist: "Wherever you find resistance, you're more than likely going to find hip-hop," Tufawon explained in a 2017 interview with The Current. "Hip-hop goes hand in hand with resistance."

Thank you to Gardner Builders for its support of Sounds Like Home IX.

The Current encourages all music fans to support their local artists and the continued longevity of their craft. As part of this effort, The Current will be compensating artists for their performances in Sounds Like Home through the Legacy Amendment Arts and Cultural Fund.