With his ambitious new double album, The Argument, out today, Grant Hart has been conducting interviews with everyone from NPR Music to Spin to our very own Local Show, where the former Hüsker Dü drummer performed three songs and chatted with host David Campbell. Many of the interviews have centered around Hart’s new album and…

Monday, July 22 Old Knifey Amsterdam Bar and Hall, St. Paul 9 p.m., free, 21+ The tag line on tonight’s event pretty much says it all: “Hard luck country, born on a West Duluth bar stool.” Duluth-based, alt-country influenced songwriter Old Knifey will be in town to perform his first show in St. Paul. Mary…

Heading down to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend, I couldn’t help but wonder how Low would use their time on stage. As far as I know, it was their first major festival appearance since Rock the Garden last month, where they delivered a 27-minute, droning rendition of “Do You Know How to…

After a year-long hiatus, the Pizza Luce Block Party is returning this year with a new location and a gigantic lineup. The free, outdoor festival got a bit too big for its britches in its old Uptown location, so they’re bringing the party downtown and taking over the block in front of the pizza chain’s…

These summer days are starting to slip by at an alarming rate. Make sure to get outside and see some shows this weekend, willya? And in the mean time, here’s a handful of fresh Minnesota-grown videos to help you whittle away those Friday hours… Speed’s the Name It’s been a quiet couple of years for…

Minneapolis-born, New York-based jazz and soul artist José James has been on the road constantly this year, having just released his Blue Note debut, No Beginning No End, to glowing reviews. But today, James announced that there is one place that won’t be seeing him anytime soon. As the country continues to discuss the sociopolitical…

It says a lot about Crankshaft and his Gear Grinders that his name was inspired by a gig he snagged at a car show. Over the past five years, the man known on his driver’s license as Alex Larson has played seemingly played every venue in the Twin Cities metro area, from country roadhouse bars…

In his novel Killing Yourself to Live, Chuck Klosterman once joked that Minneapolis is “where music critics come from.” It’s a statement that’s always made me chuckle, mostly because his assertion that the Twin Cities produces more music journalists per capita than any other city appears, on the surface anyway, to be true. So when…

  Tuesday, July 16 Brüder Amsterdam Bar and Hall, St. Paul 9 p.m., free, 21+ Like a younger sibling to Bloodnstuff, Brüder combine sludgy metal riffs with a pop sensibility to create fun, fiery rock music. With Myotis (featuring members of Total Trash) and L.A.’s Lakookala. MunQs, the Set 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis 8 p.m.,…

There’s a theme to this week’s Friday Five, and it has a lot to do with a talented local filmmaker named Adam J. Dunn (who we recently profiled here). Dunn is in the midst of a series of videos that he calls Lights and a Backdrop, a self-explanatory title for a simple concept that he’s been…