The staff at RiverRock Studios (formerly WaterBury Studios), in Northeast Minneapolis, have enlisted several local musicians for a new take on traditional holiday music. The Sounds of Giving, an album of Christmas songs, was produced by Tommy Barbarella and engineered by Eric Blomquist. The proceeds from Sounds of Giving will go to The Bridge for Youth program,…

“When we left our home in St. Paul where we started this show many years ago, as part of our penance for leaving St. Paul, the mayor, Chris Coleman, has decided to come wearing a skirt and play the bagpipes for us.” With that introduction from the New Standards’ Chan Poling, Mayor Coleman indeed appeared…

In an effort to acquire winter clothing for the Minneapolis homeless population and to benefit American Indian youth in the area, some of Minnesota’s foremost hip-hop artists are joining together for Cold Flows for Warm Clothes, a benefit concert at the Cedar Cultural Center on December 22. Sunday night’s show will feature the likes of…

Every year around this time I come down with a nasty ailment that I’ve self-diagnosed as chronic list fatigue (Latin translation: album defetigatio). When I see another in an endless parade of year-end lists pop up in my social media feed, I groan and grumble. Another list, areyoukiddingme? What’s it gonna be this time, top…

While on my daily drive into work this morning, I was naturally listening to the Current and I heard a four-song set: Hall and Oates Linda Rondstadt Cat Stevens Old Peter Gabriel I FREAKED out! Not another format change! This isn’t happening again! I was convinced we had flipped formats overnight and this was my…

Charlie Parr, Live at the Brewhouse A longtime favorite in the Duluth music scene, blues-folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Parr is set to release his latest nine-song effort, recorded live at the Brewhouse during his Backslider session series in 2006. Twangy, authentic, and often spiritual, Parr’s music—along with some contributions from friends—is captured on a limited-edition…

In what’s become an annual ritual since the Replacements first became eligible in 2006, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame declined to induct the seminal Minneapolis band. This year, for the first time, the ‘Mats were at least included on the ballot sent to voters by a Hall of Fame nominating committee—but when the…

Paul Spring, 24, is a contemporary folk musician based in St. Cloud. In true folk style, Spring is a prolific songwriter: since May 2012, he’s released no fewer than three full-length albums. After dropping his eponymous debut last May, Spring followed with two discs this year: State of the Union and a children’s music collection, Home of Song.…

Happy Friday! It was a big week for Minnesotans making waves in the national sphere, including a quintet of a capella singers from Minneapolis who landed on prime time TV as contestants on NBC’s The Sing-Off. But we begin this week with a little rapper named Dessa, who you can see playing at the Doomtree…

Late last night, minutes before the clock struck midnight on the East Coast and 11 p.m. here in the Midwest, Beyoncé dropped her fifth studio album and 17 music videos exclusively through iTunes. There was no lead-up to the release—no teaser videos, no press releases warning of its arrival, not even so much as a…