Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland has kept a low profile in recent years. It’s been almost a decade since she’s performed live, and about six years since she last issued any music under her most recent project, Katastrophy Wife. But though she has stayed under the radar here in the Twin Cities, she has…

In honor of Women’s History Month, much of this week’s Local Show was focused squarely on the influential women in Minneapolis’s rock scene. And what an interesting project it’s been, tracing everything back to the very beginning. Many associate Babes and Toyland and the bands they would share bills with—Zuzu’s Petals, Smut, the Menstrual Tramps,…

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Minneapolis-based Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and the second year that the Forum is incorporating hip-hop into its programming. Following on the heels of last year’s successful presentation and Q&A session with Dessa, this year’s summit will include a special evening with Minneapolis’s own Brother Ali and Syrian-American…

  Today is International Women’s Day, and it also happens to be Women’s History Month, so I’ve spent a lot of time these past few weeks sifting through our Minnesota musical past and learning more about the female artists who helped create the more genre-balanced scene we enjoy today. I’ll share many of my findings…

  Molly Maher has consistently found salvation in music. Whether through listening to her dad play guitar in a church band back in the ’70s or during her victorious battle with breast cancer a few years ago, Maher has found solace and drawn inspiration from songs and the endless worlds found within them. The seasoned…

Local Radar highlights bands that the local team at The Current is spinning heavily at their desks. You’ll be able to preview a track from each as well as hear them on The Local Show and Local Current. Chalet Joey Kantor is ready to become a frontman with his new project, Chalet. You may know him as the…

  Jeremy Messersmith announced this morning that he’s signed a record deal with influential New York label Glassnote Records. Since launching in 2007, Glassnote has established itself as a major force in the indie music industry; in 2009, they released Phoenix’s best-selling album to date, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and in 2011 they issued Mumford and…

  First Avenue was packed to the rafters last night with fans celebrating the Minneapolis stop of the 2013 Welcome to Minnesota tour, which is headlined and booked by Atmosphere. This year featured support from Brother Ali, Carnage, Haphduzn, and the Get Cryphy DJs, who brought out MaLLy as a special guest. Atmosphere, who appeared…

  One of the coolest things about attending SXSW as a Minnesotan is observing just how far and wide our hometown artists manage to spread out during the week. The music festival is an overwhelming sensory experience, with every last bar, restaurant, and street corner overflowing with artists hoping to be seen and heard, and…

See also: MN at SXSW: An overview of the local presence at this year’s festival As a music journalist from the North Country, I’d be a fool to pass up the opportunity to head down Austin, Texas, each March for the South by Southwest Music Conference. It provides those of us on the ice-whipped prairie a…