Happy Friday! There was no shortage of videos to choose from for this week’s Friday Five, with Twin Cities artists Van Stee and Jenny Dalton releasing new music, Minneapolis expat Célosia returning home from Paris to record her new album, BBGun showing off a local recording space, and new electro-industrial group Patch making their debut. It’s shaping up to be an…

Lorde is only 17, but we’re already plumbing her “early years”: an album by And They Were Masked, a high-school band featuring the New Zealand songstress born Ella Yelich O’Connor, is now available on Bandcamp. According to their Facebook page (“the edge of the universe sent us time travelers here”), their influences included Fugazi, Massive Attack,…

It wasn’t until Black Diet were featured as one of First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2013, this past January, that its members even started taking their merchandise seriously. Now they’re designing all of their band’s merch on their own. “Merch was definitely not on a burner at all,” said backup singer Mugsy. “Not on the back…

What is Jason Feathers? It is the new project that brings together Justin Vernon, Astronautalis, S. Carey, and produced  by Ryan Olson. A teaser of the group went up online yesterday, check it out and let us know what you think. (The Current) George Harrison explained why everyone should play the ukulele, his hand written…

Hey, remember back in spring 2014 when the internet was abuzz about a new collaboration between Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and S. Carey, rapper Astronautalis, and producer Ryan Olson? And how they were planning to put their album out in a matter of weeks? For whatever reason, the timing of the release was delayed by a…

The Civil Wars‘ have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2012, but the Nashville duo officially ended their partnership yesterday. There was “internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition” during 2012 for the 4-time Grammy winning duo, but they were still releasing music. Now, however, they have gone their separate ways to pursue solo careers.…

Thom Yorke dj’d for a group of 30 people at Leopallooza and nearly all of them had no idea who he was. (Pitchfork) Thurston Moore has a new band with former Sonic Youth buddy, Steve Shelley, and Debbie Googe from My Bloody Valentine. It’s pretty much Thurston’s solo project, but he put together the full…

Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz celebrated his 50th birthday on August 1 by appearing on the cover of AARP’s magazine. Colony Capital, which took control of Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch as the result of a deal struck late in the singer’s life, will be putting the Los Olivos, California property on the market. Jackson’s estate,…

There are only a handful of artists out there who can play a marathon three-hour set and leave the audience wanting more. At his sold-out show at Target Field on Saturday night, Paul McCartney tore through 40 songs (including two encores), lit off some fireworks, told a few stories, and still had time to stop…

Governor Mark Dayton has declared today Sir Paul McCartney Day, in honor of the former Beatle’s performance at Target Field. “We come together on Saturday, August 2, 2014, to honor Sir Paul McCartney, one of the most influential and inspiring musicians in history.” Read the full proclamation below—and listen to the Current from 5:00 to…