Every day we talk about great musicians who have come out of Minnesota—especially those who are still here—but the Twin Cities have produced some great music journalists too. In fact, one of today’s busiest and most interesting music journalists, Jessica Hopper, got her start in the Twin Cities as a teenager in the early 1990s.…

On Friday, several of our college contributors and I went to the 7th Street Entry to see Dan Croll. Rather than ask any one of the contributors to write a review, I divided a standard short concert review into five parts (intro, background, the scene, the music, conclusion) and asked a different contributor to write…

Alpha Consumer: Meat On their first release with fearless local powerhouse Totally Gross National Product—home to Lizzo, Poliça, and Marijuana Deathsquads—three-piece rock outfit Alpha Consumer present Meat, a dark, retro-futuristic full-length, out today. The record sounds a bit like 80s art rock for a new generation, with lyrical themes relating to mental health and overmedication. Imagine if…

As one of the Twin Cities’ premier guitar players, Chris Perricelli has earned a reputation for channeling the feedback-drenched squalor of rock ‘n’ roll days gone by. So it’s no surprise that his latest album, Original Face, is bursting with heady riffs and powerhouse choruses that hearken back to the glory days of ’70s rock.…

Last night, New York duo Phantogram played for a sold-out crowd at First Avenue, following the release of their new album Voices. Selling out the Mainroom—and not for the first time—is no small feat for a band with only two studio albums to their credit. Vocalist/keyboardist Sarah Barthel seemed well aware of that, reflecting, “We started…

The weather in April may be unpredictable—here in Minnesota, we barely flinch when the skies dump a foot of snow on us one week and melt it all away with sunny weather the next—but there is one thing we can rely on year in and year out: The announcement of another summer festival season, including…

Plenty of bands take steps to reach out to their fans, but few of them go as far as “interactive dance party” duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo, who hugged literally everyone in attendance after their University of Minnesota—Morris show on March 22. They’re currently touring in anticipation of their upcoming album Whoopty Whoop, out May…

Hot on the heels of the announcement of their inaugural Festival Palomino, which hits Canterbury Park on September 20, Trampled by Turtles are back with more news today: they have a new studio album, Wild Animals, coming out on July 15. Produced by Low’s Alan Sparhawk and recorded at the historic Pachyderm Studios in Cannon…

As a follow-up to their 2009 Music From the North Country compilation and subsequent reunion tour, the Jayhawks have announced that they will reissue more of their albums and reunite once again—this time with their late-’90s, post-Mark Olson, Sound of Lies-era lineup that was led by Gary Louris and featured Tim O’Reagan, Marc Perlman, Karen Groberg,…

Minnesota native Jordis Unga has taken a novel approach to booking her upcoming hometown gig at the Fine Line Music Café. Showkicker is a new platform that aims to allow artists to book their own shows, with upfront pledges from fans who promise to buy tickets if a given performance is scheduled. One of the founders, Carley…