33 years after its founding, the food and music festival A Taste of Minnesota has come to an end. The announcement came via a statement sent to media on Thursday afternoon by the festival’s former general manager Linda Maddox. She writes: With a mixture of sadness and excitement, I’m announcing today my retirement and the closure…

On Wednesday, Kanye West went on an anti-Grammys rant on Twitter. He accused the awards of neglecting important and popular black artists like Young Thug and Future. (West also said that he has a new album “coming this summer.”) National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences president Neil Portnow replied that the Academy’s “doors are always open” to West.…

Eric Peltoniemi, who has helped lead St. Paul label Red House Records to international cachet as a premier purveyor of roots and Americana, has announced that he’s retiring after 50 years in the music business. Peltoniemi has been with Red House for three decades, the last ten years as president. “I am extremely proud of…

This year’s Record Store Day ambassadors will be Metallica. The band have released a video in which all four members describe their love of vinyl, and they plan to take the occasion — April 16 — to release a new live album. Recorded at Le Bataclan in Paris on 2003, the album will benefit the Give For France…

Sleep Signals, Transitions A rising band on the Minneapolis metal and hard rock scene, Sleep Signals (not to be confused with Sleep Study) take a turn towards accessibility on their new EP Transitions — a follow-up to last year’s album Open Your Eyes. The band’s anthemic new material is perfect to play in your car real loud, or, of course, to…

David Bowie‘s album Blackstar is the inspiration and soundtrack for an upcoming “InstaMiniSeries” of 16 episodes that will begin Thursday on Instagram. The series, which will star Tavi Gevinson and Patricia Clarkson, was approved by Bowie in concept, though it’s unclear whether he saw the finished product before his Jan. 10 death. (Rolling Stone) "UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries”…

Damon Albarn has been named a “local king” in Mali, where he’s frequently visited to perform and collaborate with Malian musicians. When Albarn performed at the Festival Acoustik Bamako, he was given the honorary status of “local king” and an elementary classroom was named after him. “I’m not used to this sort of thing,” said the Blur…

With legendary bandleader Peter Nelson — who some call a local “godfather of calypso” — Shangoya gave the Twin Cities countless nights of dancing and paved the way for many Minnesota calypso and reggae bands. “There were no calypso bands in Iowa, none in South Dakota, maybe a couple in Wisconsin. But to have steel…

Claire de Lune has experienced a considerable amount of heartbreak over the past year. Rather than floundering unproductively in her sorrow, the lead singer of tiny deaths instead turned that anguish into an inspired, emotional new EP, Night Flowers. De Lune has once again partnered with producer and electronic maestro Grant Cutler for a deeply…

Apollonia, who was recruited to star in Purple Rain after Vanity parted ways with Prince, says that Vanity was “a pioneer, a strong woman, she was a diva, the princess of funk.” Apollonia tells the Associated Press that Vanity, who died Monday at age 57, was “an inspiration to me, just like she was to all the ladies…