89.3 the Current and MN Original are putting together a big hip-hop event at the Fitzgerald Theater on Saturday, May 10. Over the course of two hours we’ll attempt to answer some big questions: How did Minnesota become home to one of the largest and most diverse hip-hop communities in the country? What makes our hip-hop…

Read Part 1 of Mark Mallman’s SXSW liveblog here. Day 4 “A drunk man’s actions are a sober man’s thoughts.” According to that phrase, on previous trips to Texas I’d thought a lot about dancing all night and eating jalapeno pepperoni pizza. However, this morning, a fried chicken bacon waffle sat in my belly like…

Migrating long distances over the course of a career is nothing new for musicians from Minnesota. Musicians move away seeking the potential for larger audiences, greater acclaim, bigger paychecks, or simply new frontiers. It’s rare, though, that people move anywhere without a backward glance, and that holds true for musicians. They don’t sever all ties…

At the end of Prince’s surprisingly endearing post-Super-Bowl guest turn on Zooey Deschanel’s hit sitcom New Girl, he invited Deschanel’s character Jess to join him onstage—with her pals—for a duet performance of a new song that asks the musical question, “Don’t (don’t), don’t you wanna (don’t you wanna), wanna fall in love tonight?” To add…

Happy Friday, friends! I’m keeping this one short and sweet. Between the SXSW live broadcast going on this afternoon and the sunny weather taunting us outside, I’m guessing we’re all itching to get away from our computers right about now. How about a handful of new local music videos to make the last part of…

As the lead singer of the pioneering ’60s garage band the Monks, Gary Burger is often cited as one of the unsung heroes of early punk rock and one of the originators of guitar feedback. And as the mayor of Turtle River, Minn., Burger spent the later part of his life modestly tucking away his…

DAY 1 It was 5:30 in the morning. I was squinting to distinguish my all-black wardrobe from the shadows, attempting to pack in the dark for Austin, soaked in wine. I couldn’t see what was socks and what was underwear. In three evil hours my lawyer, Mr. B, would pick me up in his silver…

It’s been a tumultuous year for the members of Russian protest rock band Pussy Riot, who attracted international attention for being attacked by authorities in Sochi during the Olympic Games and have more recently attacked by a group of angry men while eating in a Russian McDonald’s. Group members Masha Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, however, found…

On the surface, there seems to be little that connects the indomitable swagger of Lizzo, the aggressive enigma of Marijuana Deathsquads, and the digital seduction of Poliça.  Sonically they stretch across the board and reach varied audiences, but all three are dedicated to groundbreaking music that challenges genre and convention, with an ethic and attitude…

“I feel like a new dude,” P.O.S. told his Doomtree crewmate Lazerbeak after recently receiving a long-awaited kidney transplant. As Lazerbeak reports on Doomtree’s website, the MC “seriously looks great.” Also, happily, recovering well is donor Mark Potter, who is already out of the hospital. “We’ve known Mark forever (actually went to high school with the…