For Minnesota Music Month, The Current polled local music fans for April’s edition of The Scouting Report. A total of 245 people filled out this year’s Minnesota Music Month Scouting Report ballot, and 455 unique artists were chosen overall. The top 10 artists who received the most support include Planer.

Planer started out with two friends and a Craigslist post. Now, they’re “Perfect.”

The four-piece alternative rock group enters the stage during a recent show. Drummer Eric Frame shouts, “Planer is perfect,” into his microphone. Then the song begins.

Longtime friends Zack Moncrieff and Jack Mooradian started writing songs together in 2025. Not knowing many local musicians, they turned to Craigslist:

“Alt-Rock Band Seeks Drummer

Hey there! We are a rock band based in Saint Paul, and we’re looking for a drummer to join our lineup. We are writing original songs and are looking for someone who’s eager to collaborate, rehearse weekly, and be a part of something creative and fun. We have a rehearsal space with a kit.

We are 2 songwriters in our mid-twenties who play electric guitar and sing. We’re aiming to play live shows, record some demos, and see where the music takes us. Our influences include MJ Lenderman, Red House Painters and Radiohead. We are looking to expand on a mid-90s sound with a slower tempo, dynamic range, and catchy melodies. You can help us come up with a band name.”

Eric Frame was scanning the Craigslist ‘musicians’ page when the post caught his attention. The listed influences piqued his interest.

Frame reached out. “I saw your ad on Craigslist looking for alt-rock drummers,” he wrote. “I've never replied to one of these Craigslist posts, so I'm not sure what sort of info I'm supposed to pass along, but I do all this stuff because it's the only way I know how to make sense of the world, and it is also the way that my skills can be used to do the work of building community.”

Frame met Mooradian and Moncrieff for a beer. After they clicked, Frame then recruited bassist Matt “Bucket” Day, a longtime collaborator. When the four played together for the first time, they felt they had tapped into something “with legs,” as Frame put it.

That momentum carried into their debut release, a three-track EP titled End that dropped in August 2025. The project is brief, but pensive, like a slow walk through a dimly lit alley. Raspy vocals complement fuzzed-out guitars and brooding chords with a subtle shoegaze hum. Even at slower tempos, the songs carry an understated intensity.

The band’s chemistry is sparked by a highly collaborative process and distinct musical influences. Songwriters Mooradian and Moncrieff bring demos to the band, and “everyone comes at it from such different angles, and then it becomes some weird combination,” says Mooradian.

Frame agrees. “I don’t know how many influences we directly share,” he says. “People take what they hear from it. And it might have nothing to do with what the artist intended. You say it into a microphone and it goes out into the world, and you cease to have control at that point.”

Mooradian and Moncrieff bring song ideas to rehearsal, which the band builds upon. As the four have gotten closer, turning demos to full-fledged songs has become more natural, and they often create something special on the first try.

Lyrically, Mooradian leans into imagery to unlock meaning. “[It’s] helped me to clear out more ideas,” he says. “But it always ends up being about yearning.”

The phrase “Planer is perfect” has become the band’s tongue-in-cheek mantra. When asked about it, they laugh.

In the band's early days, Mooradian joked about titling their album ‘I’m Perfect.’ The idea stuck, becoming both a bit and a philosophy. Frame explains: “The songs and everything about them are very much bigger than the sum of their parts,” he states. “Each individual part — my drum part, Matt’s bass part, these guys’ guitar parts — they might be simple alone, but together they are sneakily complex in a way. No one of us is perfect, but by the time the songs get recorded, even though they may have little mistakes in each of our performances, we are perfect. But it’s also really funny. And humor is an important part of it as well.”

The band’s growth has also been shaped by the Twin Cities music scene. For Mooradian and Moncrieff, who are relatively new to it, the experience has been welcoming.

“Since being in the band and meeting new bands, and connecting with them, everyone’s so nice and so welcoming,” says Moncrieff. “We’ve made so many new friends, but they’re not gatekeeping the community.”

Day, who has played in other cities, agrees. “It’s still pretty genuine here. In some other industry cities, everybody’s out for a buck. And it doesn’t feel like that here.”

This summer, the members of Planer plan to record a full-length album. Their next show is May 9 at Boring Bash, hosted by Won’t Be Boring Magazine at Bumbling Fools Meadery in Minneapolis.

From a Craigslist post to a fully formed band with a distinctive sound, Planer’s rise has been organic, and in their words, perfect.

Related: Minnesota Music Month Scouting Report 2026: The top 10 new local artists