“MINNEAPOLIS PURPLE RAIN FUNKYTOWN MINNEAPOLIS!” That wouldn’t be particularly impressive stage banter from most artists, but at their sold-out First Avenue show on Tuesday night, Chromeo made clear that they have more than random access memories—to cite another retrocentric pop duo—of the Twin Cities. Lead vocalist Dave 1 (née David Macklovitch) proudly noted that Chromeo…

Atmosphere: Southsiders On their eighth studio album, out today via Rhymesayers, Slug and Ant pay homage to the Southside of Minneapolis, where the duo have made their homes and careers, name-dropping local landmarks and sprinkling the album with soundbites from around town. Slug’s always thoughtful lyrics look out as well as in, while Ant’s creative,…

Since his song “Clouds” was shared around the world in 2012, millions have been touched by the story of Zach Sobiech, the Minnesota teen who bravely channelled his battle with a cancer into music. Now, a year after his death, Sobiech’s fans and loved ones are celebrating his life and legacy in many ways, including…

Unbelievably, these guys will be celebrating their 20th anniversary next year! There are not many groups or solo artists who’ve had such a consistently successful career over that many years and are still going strong. The core duo of Slug and Ant have touched the lives of not only hip-hop fans and artists in the…

In one of the most idiosyncratic examples of the fine art and music worlds coming together, a crew of artists—including Nick Cave; Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh; Katy Perry; Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo; Odd Future’s Tyler, the Creator; “Weird Al” Yankovic; Stan Ridgeway of Wall of Voodoo; and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett—have contributed to pop surrealist Mark…

Will the Minneapolis Armory become the Twin Cities’ next large concert venue? Plans for exactly that to happen are moving forward. Vita.mn reports that the developers who own the downtown landmark are about to submit plans to repair its roof; those plans must be approved by the National Parks Service, since the armory is listed…

L.A. is so different from Minnesota that it’s easy to get homesick. Sure, you’ve got beaches, 360 sunny days a year, and food from every corner of the world. But try finding a bar that shows Twins games, water as clean as any of Minnesota’s more-than-ten-thousand lakes, or a decent Jucy Lucy. Sometimes all it takes…

An article being passed around the Internet claims to have verification from the writers of “Let It Go,” the hit Oscar-winning anthem from Disney’s Frozen, that they were inspired by Prince’s 1994 song “Letitgo” and in fact shared a demo with the artist, adding the line “the cold never bothered me anyway” after Prince made that…

Happy Friday! Here’s a handful of the best and brightest music videos to emerge this week from the Minnesota scene: Haley Bonar and Choo Choo Bob Ohhhh, fer cute. Haley Bonar recently appeared on the Choo Choo Bob Show to perform a song she wrote just for the show, “Build Somethings.” Sonny Knight and the…

It’s a rare thing to look around a music venue and not see a dozen faces lit up with the cold blue lights of smartphones, and even rarer to hear no sound but the band. Yet, at the Cedar Cultural Center last night, Angel Olsen transported the audience to a time before technology and abbreviated…