I’m at the Iceland Airwaves music festival in Reykjavik, something which I’ve long wanted to do and finally — somewhat on a whim — decided to do. After only just a little over two days, I can unequivocally say to you: If Iceland is on any kind of wish list for you to visit, do…

So here’s a conundrum I’ve been mulling over lately: With so much hype all around us, and with the internet shoving one item after another down our throats with the promise that they are each the craziest, all-time best things that we absolutely must click on right now, what are we supposed to do when we actually really,…

“It’s presumptuous. It’s lazy,” says Dave Grohl about bands who perform classic albums front-to-back on tour. “I f—ing hate that,” Grohl told NME. He also revealed that he considered re-recording the entire Foo Fighters debut album for its 20th anniversary, until drummer Taylor Hawkins told him that would be the “worst idea ever.” Instead, Foo Fighters will celebrate…

Cloud Cult started as a solo music-making project by Owatonna’s Craig Minowa in the mid-90s. He seemed torn then as to whether to make it a career or to dedicate his life to environmental activism. In the past 20 years he has found a unique way to have his cake and eat it too, blending his…

“I just locked myself in my f—ing lair, bro,” 19-year-old Pablo Dylan tells Rolling Stone about the process by which he made his forthcoming album Midnight. Pablo Dylan is the son of film director Jesse Dylan, who’s the son of Bob Dylan with former wife Sara Lownds Dylan. Pablo Dylan says his grandfather has been very supportive, but no…

Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes Complete The Bootleg Series filling in the gaps of Bob Dylan’s career is back with volume 11. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings released The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11 today. The six-disc set of restored recordings comes from sessions Dylan did with the Band in 1967. Robbie Robertson,…

St. Paul quartet thestand4rd’s debut performance at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall on Saturday night—which also marked the live debut of one of its members, the 16-year-old internet sensation Spooky Black—was nothing short of a spectacle. After about an hour of expert-level DJing by DJ TIIIIIIIIIIP and fumbling, entry-level DJing by Spooky Black himself (who…

In a mid-size Midwestern city not so different from Minneapolis, a nonprofit music promoter is bridging the distance between Winnipeg and the Twin Cities by helping local artists bring their music to new audiences—not an easy feat when its closest tour cities are either a 20-hour drive away or in another country. Manitoba Music’s first…

Kurt Cobain‘s “Montage of Heck” was aptly named: the 1988 mix, made by a 21-year-old Cobain before Nirvana‘s debut album was released, includes everything from toilets flushing to William Shatner covering “Wild Thing.” You can listen to the 15-minute audio collage at Consequence of Sound, if you dare. It wasn’t a big surprise that Taylor Swift‘s new album 1989 didn’t…

Pillsbury House Theatre’s “Late Nite Series: Non English Speaking Spoken Here” will return on Nov. 8, 15, and 22. The annual celebration of new work, now in its 17th year, will feature a unique lineup comprising emerging artists from Minnesota and New York. The artists and performers will explore contemporary culture through music, dance, theatre, film, literary…