Transmission Presents ‘80s Prom – A New Year’s Eve Celebration Ft. DJ Jake Rudh First Avenue, Minneapolis 9 p.m., $10/$20, 18+ Join The Current’s own DJ Jake Rudh for a special New Year’s Eve edition of Transmission at First Avenue — featuring their signature mix of new wave, indie, British pop, funk, garage rock and…

Minnesota music landmark First Avenue has teamed up with Minneapolis retailer Ragstock to create a pair of holiday sweaters sure to catch the eyes of local music fans. Ragstock, a thrift chain with locations that have become go-to destinations for holiday sweater shoppers, helped create two “ugly” Christmas sweaters adorned with the First Ave logo…

This Saturday, Dec. 8, two of the world’s leading Qawwali musicians, Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad, will be returning to Minnesota for a live Qawwali concert. Held at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center in Bloomington, the concert aims to bring Qawwali music to Minnesota for more people to hear. Originating in India during the 13th century, Qawwali music is…

Will “the next great musical” to hit movie theaters be a jukebox film that tells a fictional story inspired by songs like “Raspberry Beret” and, dare we imagine, “Darling Nikki”? It couldn’t be worse than Fifty Shades of Grey. Variety reports that Universal Pictures is developing a movie featuring Prince’s music — but not a biopic,…

Transmission Presents ‘80s Prom – A New Year’s Eve Celebration Ft. DJ Jake Rudh First Avenue, Minneapolis 9 p.m., $10/$20, 18+ Join The Current’s own DJ Jake Rudh for a special New Year’s Eve edition of Transmission at First Avenue — featuring their signature mix of new wave, indie, British pop, funk, garage rock and…

Ryan and Pony – Fast As I Can Ryan and Pony of the Melismatics become anime characters in this video by Sara Miscavage. Check out their monster battle and super-catchy single before seeing them at the Turf Club on Dec. 19. Holy Hannah! – Time Machine Looks beachy, sounds fevered. Established Twin Cities vocalist Hannah van…

For a group that recently released their debut album, the Midnight Hour are no novices to writing, recording, or producing music. The Midnight Hour is the collaboration of composer/ arranger/ producer Adrian Younge and rapper/ DJ/ producer/ A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad. After collaborating on various projects for years, the duo released…

Recently, The Current’s Brian Oake and Jill Riley chatted with local rapper and Doomtree member Sims, who is performing at a benefit concert at the Fine Line on Dec. 1 for Hopewell Music, a North Minneapolis organization that aims to make music education accessible in its community. “We’re doing a fundraiser concert for their operating…

“I want people to know there are new ways to love and be loved out here,” Angel Davanport says of her choice to sing about topics others may shy away from, such as her own pansexuality. A relatively recent addition to the Minneapolis music scene, Davanport isn’t interested in hiding any aspect of herself. While…

One of the Twin Cities’ longest-running jazz series will be discontinued at the end of this year. In a Facebook post published over the Thanksgiving weekend, drummer JT Bates announced the end of his series, JT’s Jazz Implosion. Held every Monday night at Icehouse in Minneapolis, the series has been working to grow the experimental…