The shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize—a prestigious annual award for best album by a UK or Irish artist—includes Damon Albarn‘s Everyday Robots (read Mark Wheat’s review), Jungle‘s self-titled album (read David Safar’s review, and hear Jungle perform live in our studios), and FKA twigs‘s LP1. The winning album will be announced on Oct. 30. Vampire Weekend‘s Rostam Batmanglij…

What songs from solo projects or side projects of members of the Replacements do you want to hear for today's 9:30 Coffee Break?

The Byrds record their first original tune, The New York Dolls call it quits, and Nirvana makes an impact Today in Music History.

Martin Devaney was making a list. Sitting in his St. Paul dining room last Friday, the singer-songwriter sighed and took a sip from his can of Hamm’s, secure in its SuperAmerica coozy. “If anyone reads about this, they’re going to give me a hard time. ‘Why did you play that for her? Why didn’t you…

Venerable retailer Hymie’s Records is launching its very own in-house record label with vinyl releases by Ben Weaver and Brian Laidlaw & the Family Trade. It will celebrate taking the plunge with an Oct. 10 show at the Cedar Cultural Center featuring both artists. The vintage vinyl lover’s refuge opened more than a quarter-century ago. Since its…

The epic music news of the past 24 hours was the surprise release—for free—of U2‘s new album Songs of Innocence, announced at the Apple event announcing the Apple Watch and iPhone 6. Here’s more on that story, and here’s a huge story that was buried by the U2 news: Apple has discontinued the iPod Classic, the…

With a successful career spanning more than 45 years, Robert Plant isn't just a talented musician; he's a rock legend. Plant recently caught up with United States of Americana host Bill DeVille to talk about his new album, Lullaby And... The Ceaseless Roar.

It’s been a banner year for Minnesota musicians on late-night television, with both Trampled by Turtles and Jeremy Messersmith performing on The Late Show with David Letterman in recent months and the Replacements making their triumphant return to NBC Studios to perform on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Tuesday night’s appearance on the show…

Music fans who thought they could snooze through today’s überhyped “Apple Event” were caught by surprise when U2 pulled a Beyoncé and dropped an entire new studio album, with no warning, after performing at the Cupertino press frenzy that also saw Apple announce the Apple Watch and iPhone 6. Oh…and it’s free. The new U2 album, Songs…

What bands with one young member should we play for the 9:30 Coffee Break?