The blare of an ice cream truck is like a pied piper for neighborhood kids, but where does the music actually come from? Some less-than-licensed operations will blast their own tunes in the street, but if the truck is part of a professional fleet, it’ll almost certainly be playing a Nichols Electronics music box. Mark and…

As the Democratic National Convention begins in Philadelphia, music fans are taking note of the fact that Virginia senator Tim Kaine has said his two favorite music artists are the Replacements and Bob Dylan. (Kaine was born in St. Paul, though his family moved out of Minnesota when he was very young.) Kaine is Hillary Clinton’s running mate, meaning that…

A few years ago, The Current’s program director Jim McGuinn decided to head up north from St. Paul to Duluth for the All Pints North beer festival, and the event’s organizers excitedly asked if he could bring our van to park on the festival grounds. Each year since, The Current’s involvement in what we’ve come to…

The next installment in a career-spanning series of David Bowie box sets will include The Gouster — an unreleased LP that was Bowie’s first version of the album that ultimately became Young Americans. The box set Who Can I Be Now? will comprise 12 CDs or 13 LPs, and covers Bowie’s career from 1974 to 1976. (Rolling Stone) Arcade Fire and the Preservation…

I say I don’t like surprises, but I live for twists and turns in music. Flourishes, hooks, complicated key changes—when done well, they always give me a rush. That said, many of the albums I’ve heard this year have been so run-of-the-mill. When I can predict a song’s rhymes and drum fills, I wonder at…

Holidae, “Darkest Shade” Holidae‘s first music video is a sci-fi novel, dance routine, and musical performance wrapped up in one. What could tie all those things together? Ashley Gold, her facial recognition software-defying make-up, and Gold and Garrett Neal’s song “Darkest Shade.” Sa-Roc, “Queen Ting” Rhymesayers’s new signee, Sa-Roc, is dropping a video every week in a series…

Lowertown is known as one of the Twin Cities’ most up-and-coming areas, but Black Dog is already a neighborhood mainstay. Owners Sara, Stacy and Andy Remke have called 308 Prince Street their business’s home since 1998. Even old favorites can use freshening up, though, so the Remkes recently snapped up the former Clouds in Water Zen Center space next door…

NYC-based Emily King has been wowing fans with her smooth pop-soul blend for over a decade, opening for the likes of John Legend, Nas, Chaka Khan, and Alicia Keys. Now, she’s come into her own with the polished and powerful sophomore album The Switch, a long-awaited follow-up to her Grammy-nominated J Records release East Side Story (2007). King will…

What vinyl-related stunt is Jack White up to now? Third Man Records is teasing a July 30 announcement about “making vinyl history.” A video shows a gold record in space — the record being one issued by the label in 2009, featuring the remixed voices of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. As Stereogum notes, White has talked about his…

Dessa is getting her own flavor of ice cream, courtesy of Izzy’s. “Dessa’s Existential Crunch” is “a Dark Brown Sugar and Creme Fraiche ice cream, flavored with Jameson Irish Whiskey and Disaronno Originale amaretto to help you contemplate the incomprehensible, all mixed with Praline Pecan pieces and a crunchy cashew brittle.” The flavor will be…