Of course Phoebe Bridgers‘s favorite place in Target is the candle aisle. She also likes the office supplies section, she told us at the Turf Club last night. But her music pairs so well with a lit wick: both intimate, warm, and lonely. After opening for Conor Oberst at the Palace last September, Bridgers made…

A recent Washington Post article reports on the unease surrounding “the prospect of turning Paisley Park into Minnesota’s Graceland.” When I read that, my first thought was: is that really a bad thing? Blatantly commercialized as Graceland is, it’s given Elvis Presley’s home the status of an iconic landmark — and it’s solidified the status…

When it comes to techno music, few, if any, names loom as large as that of Carl Craig. Alongside several peers from his native Detroit, Craig is considered one of techno’s pioneers, but one would be hard-pressed to name an electronic musician of any kind who can match the sheer volume and breadth of Craig’s…

Kimbra gets Prince. Since buying Musicology in a New Zealand record store, she’s released three of her own shape-shifting albums, including today’s Primal Heart. But she’s never lost sight of principles she learned from Prince — especially evolution, duality, and joy. You know her from “Somebody That I Used To Know,” the song that sent her and Gotye to…

Tomorrow is Record Store Day and as we prepare to celebrate our local record stores and small businesses, let's spend some time this morning listening to local musicians. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs from Minnesota artists do you want to hear?

At the first of four sold-out shows at the Palace Theatre, Bon Iver and TU Dance — two local, nationally renowned performing arts powerhouses — performed something transcendent and deeply felt, a gripping blend of contemporary dance and music called Come Through. This project was commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music. Upon…

On the night that Prince and the Revolution were recording their historic August 3, 1983 concert at First Avenue — where the band would debut “Purple Rain” — the studio technician Susan Rogers was celebrating her 27th birthday and packing up her life in Los Angeles to move to Minneapolis, where she would spend the…

Whenever reporters talk to John Maus, they tend to end up writing a lot about the way John Maus talks. Some phrases and sentences that have been used to describe him in conversation include “maddeningly referential,” “circular,” “nonlinear tangents abound,”  and “It is not easy to talk to John Maus.” The very first sentence of…

Kate Nash first came to Minneapolis almost exactly ten years ago, for a First Avenue show supporting her sensation of a debut album, Made of Bricks. Reviewing the show for the Twin Cities Daily Planet, I described her overall onstage affect as “coy, demure, and slightly prim.” No more. Last night Nash and and her three-piece…

Even as she found success as a Music City songwriter, Caitlyn Smith slowly let go of her own teenage dreams -- of signing with a label, playing live on national TV, having her voice ring out on the radio to folks back home in Cannon Falls, MN.