Hot on the heels of the announcement of their inaugural Festival Palomino, which hits Canterbury Park on September 20, Trampled by Turtles are back with more news today: they have a new studio album, Wild Animals, coming out on July 15. Produced by Low’s Alan Sparhawk and recorded at the historic Pachyderm Studios in Cannon…

As a follow-up to their 2009 Music From the North Country compilation and subsequent reunion tour, the Jayhawks have announced that they will reissue more of their albums and reunite once again—this time with their late-’90s, post-Mark Olson, Sound of Lies-era lineup that was led by Gary Louris and featured Tim O’Reagan, Marc Perlman, Karen Groberg,…

Minnesota native Jordis Unga has taken a novel approach to booking her upcoming hometown gig at the Fine Line Music Café. Showkicker is a new platform that aims to allow artists to book their own shows, with upfront pledges from fans who promise to buy tickets if a given performance is scheduled. One of the founders, Carley…

Pert Near Sandstone: The Hardest Part of Leaving Minnesota roots rockers have been a productive bunch as of late, and now, bluegrass big shots Pert Near Sandstone are upon their release of their sixth studio album, The Hardest Part of Leaving, a richly developed follow-up to 2011’s well-received Paradise Hop. For the album, the band have added cajun fiddle, swing piano, and…

Minneapolis Public Schools recently commissioned two local artists, hip-hop artist/writer Dessa and composer Jocelyn Hagen, to collaborate on a work for mass choir and orchestra to be premiered April 28 and 29 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I spoke with both artists about this work in progress. I’m excited about this project for a number…

On Sunday night, just over a year after their most recent performance at First Avenue, Local Natives took to the stage as usual: eternally hip, relatively somber, and genuinely pleased to be there. Had the show been three days earlier—with Minnesota in the grip of an April snowstorm—the mood might not have been quite as…

Matt Berninger, the frontman of the National, is riding high on his band’s acclaimed new album Trouble Will Find Me. His younger brother Tom is also riding high—on the basis of a documentary that paints himself in a less-than-flattering light with respect to his rock-star brother. Strange but true, that’s the story of Mistaken for Strangers,…

Keeping things short and sweet today. Here’s a handful of the freshest Minnesota-made videos to catch my attention this week: Spooky Black Who is Spooky Black, you ask? Right now, all I know is that he is a teenager from St. Paul, he has the voice of someone at least 15 years his age, and…

Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, may not be of this world. She took the stage at the State Theatre in Minneapolis last night with her startling new look—curly white-purple hair; striking green eyeshadow; tall heels; and bouncing shoulder-pads. Her wide eyes felt too knowing to be human; her rigid, cryptic motions appeared to…

Last Friday, Minneapolis’s hometown heroine Dessa dazzled in front of a 275-person capacity crowd. Her combination of poetic intensity and rhythmic persuasion added a spark of electricity to the intimate theater. Audience members were also treated to a Q-and-A segment with the rapper, in which Dessa exposed her Mount Rushmore of inspirational figures—her dad, the…