When I first moved to Minneapolis one of my frequent hang out spots was the Dinkytowner. The Fifth Element had been hosting a monthly night called Essential Elements at the venue and I was being groomed to take it over so that’s how I originally found myself down there, but there was something special…

  After a short hiatus, Tapes ‘n Tapes frontman Josh Grier is getting ready to push his new solo project into the spotlight. With only one show under his belt so far, Grier stopped by the Local Show last night to debut a pair of new tracks from Gingko, a new songwriting vehicle that features…

Record Store Day is coming up fast and will take over Minnesota’s many independent stores on Saturday, April 20. For the uninitiated, Record Store Day is a call to action and a way to raise awareness of the many fine physical record and CD stores we still have in our midst, and the tradition seems…

  “This will be our response to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, and more devotedly than ever before.” That’s a quote from Leonard Bernstein, and it’s about the only thing that I’ve read that’s made any sense to me this week. With that in mind, here are a handful of young Minnesotan artists…

Local Radar highlights bands that the local team at The Current is spinning heavily at their desks. You’ll be able to preview a track from each as well as hear them on The Local Show and Local Current. Greg Grease At the end of 2012, Greg Grease released Cornbread, Pearl and G which made just…

  In my blog last week I did a call for MN hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s, particularly releases that are scarcely available. This week I wanted to tackle a different challenge, the greater MN hip hop scene. To be honest, the way I experienced my childhood as an Army Brat—moving around fairly…

  Poliça have just released their first new single since last year’s Give Up the Ghost. The slow, swanky “Tiff” is once again helmed by producer Ryan Olson and features backing vocals from his and Channy Leaneagh’s Gayngs bandmate, Justin Vernon. The beat for “Tiff” shares more similarities with the slow-burning ambiance of Olson’s Gayngs…

  I will not let this snow ruin my mood. I will not let this snow ruin my mood. I will not let this snow ruin my mood. If we say it enough times, it just might work. If not, we can always turn to music—there are plenty of shows happening in town this weekend,…

  Minnesotan writer, A&R executive, and all-around music supporter Tim Carr was found dead in his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand, yesterday in what police have described as “suspicious circumstances.” The 57-year-old Hopkins native began his career as a music writer in the ’70s, contributing to Twin Cities publications like the Minnesota Daily and the Star…

  St. Paul native Henry Mackaman, best known to the Twin Cities music community as the guitarist, producer, and co-founder of dream-pop band Phantom Vibration, passed away yesterday of bacterial meningitis. He was 21 years old. Mackaman’s illness was sudden. A high fever landed him in the emergency room on Saturday night, but was sent…