Did everyone survive the polar vortex? It wasn’t so bad, was it? We did get at least one positive thing out of it this week, in the form of a new collaboration between rapper Dem Atlas and singer Lydia Liza. Check out their frosty new video below, along with a handful of the other hottest…

Let's put together a set of songs that feature robot-sounding voices. What should we play?

Text by Andrea Swensson and Steve Cohen “Now” photos by Steve Cohen Now that every address is available with a quick Google search and every concert is Instagrammed from 100 angles, it can be hard to remember a time when things weren’t so heavily documented. Even massive concerts like the Beatles’ visit to Minneapolis in…

For the past three years the Cedar Cultural Center has been hosting and organizing a series of performances showcasing local Twin Cities musicians who compose new pieces that cross genre boundaries. The 416 Club is a program, funded by the Jerome Foundation, to support the production of new works by emerging artists. “Each year the Cedar has…

“Happy Friday y’all!” tweeted Maggie Morrison, the Minneapolis musician who was formerly half of the duo Lookbook. “Here is a long lost Lookbook track!” With that, Morrison shared a link to a Soundcloud stream of “Don’t Believe in Love,” one of the new tracks that Morrison and Grant Cutler were working on when they ended…

In this brave new world of music licensing, the idea of having a song placed in a commercial or film is no longer met with cries of “selling out”—rather, it’s increasingly embraced as both a validation of the artist’s talent and a necessary mechanism for how they will be compensated for their work. In some…

Let's get to it, what songs about traffic or road rage should we play for today's 9:30 Coffee Break?

Thursday, January 9 A Tribute to Patti Smith Driftwood Char Bar, Minneapolis 6 p.m., free, 21+ South Minneapolis neighborhood bar the Driftwood has been doing a bang-up job of hosting live music from under-the-radar artists in recent years, and tonight over a dozen singer-songwriters will gather to pay tribute to rock ‘n’ roll underdog-turned-punk icon…

While some music promoters are out there trying to rope in heavy hitters, drum up big ticket sales, and wow the crowds with pyrotechnics, DEMO is quietly plugging away, working to promote new, different and underrepresented musicians. The Naked Songwriter, a 15-episode Web series, is the organization’s newest project. It’s also part of a push…

The Replacements continue to draw a giant circle around their hometown of Minneapolis with their tour schedule. Late last night the band was revealed to be one of the dozens of high-profile acts set to play this year’s Coachella Festival out in Indio, California, which is slated for the weekends of April 11-13 and 18-20,…