The Brit Awards—widely regarded at the British Grammys—were held on Wednesday, and though for Minnesota music fans the huge news was local MC Allan Kingdom joining Kanye West on stage for a song debut, the big winners in terms of awards were Sam Smith and Royal Blood. Smith won Global Success and British Breakthrough Act, while Royal Blood…

At the Brit awards tonight, Kanye West debuted a new song called “All Day” – accompanied by none other than Minnesota MC Allan Kingdom. West was also joined by Theophilus London for the song, which is expected to appear on West’s new album; it’s the fourth song he’s previewed from the album, which will also include…

The music world has been buzzing today with news that a Joshua tree—the Joshua tree, for music fans—has been vandalized. Someone’s hacked a limb off of the tree made iconic by Anton Corbijn’s photography for U2’s classic 1987 album The Joshua Tree, apparently to claim an inch-thick slice as a souvenir. That’s a sad, simple story—but…

Tomorrow night, Feb. 26, Liv Warfield and the NPG Horns are set to play Jimmy Kimmel Live! Fans of Minnesota music, and of Prince specifically, are familiar with Warfield. The Prince protégé regularly joins Prince on stage, including at a recent Wall Street concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nike’s Jordan sneakers. Warfield got her start…

This Friday, Feb. 27, local roots-inflected band Calamity and the Owl will record their first live album, at Hell’s Kitchen. In an e-mail, band member Raquel Sidie-Wagner explained that the decision came as a result of the residency the band had at Hell’s Kitchen this past year. Given the high quality sound system and excellent sound engineers, Sidie-Wagner wrote,…

Bob Dylan‘s not the only venerable musician who’s sick of having his distinctive singing style attacked: Yoko Ono has published a scathing rejoinder to her critics. “DON’T STOP ME!” reads the headline of the post on her website, which goes on to say, “Let me be free. Let me be me! Don’t make me old, with…

Hotelecaster: Farther Fewer The guys of Hotelecaster are putting out their Farther Fewer EP on Friday, and will be celebrating at Icehouse with Gramma’s Boyfriend (the pop-post-punk outfit fronted by Haley Bonar, often in a colorful bodysuit). The quartet features members from an array of local bands: Warehouse Eyes, Dear Data, Clustercuss, Grammar, We Are The…

Minneapolis stars-on-the-rise Hippo Campus just announced that they’ve signed with Grand Jury—a move that earned the boys a nod from NME today—and that the respected New York label will re-release their debut EP Bashful Creatures on May 5, 2015. Another EP is also forthcoming, and expected to be released this spring. The band has ascended quickly…

Yesterday evening was overcast and grey, but it was cheerful and bustling inside Mill City Sound as a convoy of staff from The Current pulled up to the 115-year-old storefront in downtown Hopkins. We’d been hearing a lot about Rob Sheely’s new record store, and we wanted to see what all the excitement was about.…

Lorde‘s producer says that she’s heading into the studio within weeks to begin work on a sophomore album that will follow the wild success of her debut Pure Heroine. We’ll need to be patient, though: the songs aren’t even written yet. (Billboard) X have announced a spring tour (sorry, no Minnesota dates), and plan to celebrate the tour…