We're about halfway through the time frame for submitting your Essential Songs since the year 2000, and the top 893 songs will air back during the May member drive. Here on Oake & Riley, we are just at a lost for how to get our own lists started, so let's do some brainstorming today. What are your essential songs since 2000?

The Current is partnering with Radio Milwaukee and Manitoba Music to present the annual Midwest Music Exchange. The exchange will include performances across the three regions by Manitoba’s Silence Kit, Milwaukee’s Zed Kenzo, and Minnesota’s own Lady Lark. As they prepare to take the stage at Icehouse this coming Wednesday, April 10, here’s a brief…

Marvin Gaye tapped the biggest names of the day for 'You're The Man,' including Larry Mizell, Willie Hutch, and Smokey Robinson to make this highly anticipated follow-up. The studio sessions were prolific and the writers brought their A-game.

As the weather starts to feel a bit more like spring around the Twin Cities, many formerly snowed-in cyclists are dusting off their rides and re-experiencing the outdoors on two wheels. Nothing beats the sensation of listening to your favorite tunes while riding for exercise or leisure, and studies show listening to music can even increase…

Listening to the music of Bailey “26” Cogan — songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and leader of the Minneapolis-based group 26 BATS! — is not a passive experience. While listening to the band’s latest album, Onyx, on the Green Line recently, the sharp rays of sun bouncing off windowed office buildings and fresh puddles mirrored the album’s…

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana died today in 1994 at the age of 27. Despite releasing only three full-length studio albums in their seven-year career, Nirvana has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and important rock bands of the modern era. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what Nirvana covers do you want to hear?

Paisley Park may be the most widely recognized brick-and-mortar locus of Prince Rogers Nelson’s half-century spent creating and producing in Minnesota; until quite recently, little was done to recognize or even protect the other homes, studios, and venues where the artist spent many years honing his sound, recording some of his best-known work, and playing…

Frankie Lee – “Downtown Lights” (Premiere) After wandering the Middle West and beyond, American Dreamer Frankie Lee goes home in his latest album. Stillwater is his birthplace; the site of his high school; and the former home of actress Jessica Lange, to whom Lee dedicated this song. He says, “When she moved away, she said it was because…

April 4 is World Rat Day - a holiday designed to recognize the rat as a pet and companion animal for people of all ages. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs and bands do you want to hear that mention any type of rodent?

When sisters Iman and Siham Hashi were children, they both dreamed of singing, writing and producing music someday, but the road to becoming musicians would prove to be far from easy. Iman, meaning “faith,” and Siham, meaning “arrow,” come together to form the duo’s name FAARROW. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia and now based in Toronto, the…