Happy Friday! It’s shaping up to be another busy weekend for local music here in the Twin Cities, with the big Black Diet release show at First Avenue tonight (their first time headlining the Mainroom!) and the Honeydogs’ vinyl re-release of 10,000 Years over at the Cedar. To help you stay up to date on all…

In the new movie Ricki and the Flash, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense), Meryl Streep plays a rock star who reunites with her family. In the movie, she sings songs by Bruce Springsteen (“My Love Will Not Let You Down”), Tom Petty (“American Girl”), and Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs (“Wooly Bully”) in addition to “Cold…

The 331 Club expects mustaches galore on Monday, July 27, when the Roe Family Singers perform their annual Mustache Monday show. The night will mark the self-proclaimed “hillbilly” band’s 10th anniversary of Mondays at the 331. They missed only three Mondays over that span: two Christmas Eves and one Christmas Day. The band’s Quillan Roe recalls…

The legacy of Bob Dylan extends from his birthplace in Duluth to his childhood home in Hibbing to the Dinkytown coffee shops that helped nurture his music career. Now, the City of St. Paul is claiming its place in Dylan lore by officially renaming a section of 4th Street as “Positively 4th Street.” On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council…

Classical MPR’s Education Coordinator Claire Philpott is a fan of all kinds of music. Although she enviously reads the lineups of the world’s renowned music festivals, she’s found a way to take in the music while avoiding the mud. Sometimes I feel like I live in the wrong place. Don’t get me wrong: I’m from…

James Blake has confirmed that both Justin Vernon and Kanye West will appear on his new album Radio Silence. Previously, Blake and Vernon joined forces on the song “Fall Creek Boys Choir” on Blake’s 2011 EP Enough Thunder. (Pitchfork) Justin Lowe, guitarist and co-founder of local band After the Burial, has died at age 32. Lowe apparently fell from a bridge…

Yesterday, two friends and I decided at about 2:00 in the afternoon we’d make the hour-long, interstate trek out to River Falls for a free concert by Hippo Campus. We’ve all been Hippo Campus fans for some time now, but we missed most of their home shows this winter and have been foraging for any shows close…

A new video for Prince’s song “Baltimore” features footage from the protests after the death of Freddie Gray, as well as photos and video from his “Rally 4 Peace” concert in May. The video, published to the YouTube account of Eryn Allen Kane—who sings on the track—also features animated lyrics underscoring Prince’s themes of mourning…

Minneapolis synth rockers Enemy Planes advanced to the final round of Hard Rock Rising, an international rock band competition. The group is flying to Barcelona for the live band championship on Thursday, July 23. More than 13,000 bands entered the competition with an A-list of judges: the E Street Band’s Steven Van Zandt, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon…

An all-star group of musicians will perform a special orchestrated rendition of Big Star‘s 1978 album Third (later reissued as Sister Lovers) at First Avenue on Sept. 30. The musicians—including Big Star member Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), and Chris Stamey (the dB’s)—first reconstructed the album’s intricate arrangements in 2010, and have been performing the album at venues around…