Happy Friday! As the work week winds down, give yourself a break from whatever it is you’re pretending to be doing right now to check out the latest videos from the Minnesota music scene. This week’s batch includes surprise cameos, a poignant new politically charged track from Mastermind, and a throwback video from a beloved…

There will be a sneak peek at the new Motion City Soundtrack documentary, entitled I Am the Movie: The Movie, at Bedlam Lowertown on Sept. 15. The screening will take place at 8 p.m., and will be followed by a Q&A with the members of Motion City Soundtrack. I Am the Movie: The Movie, directed…

Al Green and Sting will join Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, and dancer Patricia McBride as recipients of Kennedy Center Honors on Dec. 7. As part of the award ceremony, which will be broadcast Dec. 30 on CBS, both will perform in front of Barack and Michelle Obama. Previous musical recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors—which have…

Local indie-folk band batteryboy’s Southern Theater Sessions will return for two nights this week to the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. The Southern Theater Sessions: Act II, as these shows are being billed, will bring together a diverse array of local talent, including Alan Sparhawk’s Murder of Crows project, batteryboy (both nights), and art rock trio Alpha…

Andrew Richardson, guitarist for early 2000s Adeline Records signees the Crush and the sales manager for the respected guitar pedal company ZVEX Effects, passed away on Monday. He was 36 years old. “We are truly in shock,” Richardson’s wife, Marisa, wrote yesterday when confirming the news. Richardson went missing Monday morning and was found dead on Tuesday.…

Look at the images above: can you tell which ones represent the Walt Disney Company and which ones represent a world-famous EDM artist? Disney is concerned that not everyone might grasp the distinction, and it’s trying to block Deadmau5 from trademarking his “mau5head” logo in a way that will allow it to be applied to consumer…

A slew of local musicians are getting together to perform for a good cause this Saturday at the fourth annual Konawerks Grumpy’s Bike Show. The event raises funds for the Minnesota Prostate Cancer Coalition and has two major components: a motorbike show and a series of live performances. The bike show will take place at the…

In this flavor-of-the-moment era of YouTube, Twitter, and TV singing competitions, it seems that artists become big overnight and are oftentimes cast aside by morning. Most don’t ever even claim 15 minutes of fame—it’s more like five minutes, at best. It’s nice to see Trampled By Turtles, then, in the enviable position of reaching a…

Sims: Field Notes EP Following the Doomtree crew’s recent book release, today Sims drops his new seven-track EP Field Notes. Sims has been performing songs from the new EP live, and recently made Andrea Swenson’s Friday Five for his “Sims Jong Il” video. When Sims recently visited MPR’s booth at the Minnesota State Fair, he told Mary Lucia…

It seems like Beyoncé can’t get any bigger, but actually she can: she’s still not as big as the Beatles, according to a Harris Poll of 2,306 American adults who were asked to name their favorite musical artist. The Beatles are on top, followed by Elvis Presley—then Queen Bey comes in at third. Rounding out…