One of the more buzzed-about releases for this year’s Record Store Day is the new Flaming Lips full-length, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, which will feature numerous collaborations with artists like Erykah Badu, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Ke$ha. Today, the Lips track featuring Bon Iver has surfaced, along with a photo…

In a study that sensibly excludes L.A., New York City, and Nashville — each recognized as benchmark music cities — the site Livability has compiled a list of the 10 best music scenes in the country and placed Minneapolis at #2. Before we get too carried away, a quick note about how the study was…

Local bands that deserve must-hear status this week

It's about time Yukon Blonde made its impact in the United States. For years, the Canadian band has been heralded as one of our northern neighbor's finest acts, gathering a slew of accolades by the CBC. Now the quartet is in full speed, on the heels of a their newest release "Tiger Talk" which they supported with 10 shows at South By Southwest, a major feat for any band, and the result of growing buzz from media and fans.

Will be band's first record in six years

You may remember a piece that ran on this blog a few weeks back in which I caught up with talented vocalist Andra Suchy, who is getting ready to release her second album (and first on the esteemed St. Paul label Red House Records). Many will recognize Andra from her work on A Prairie Home…

Spending most of his life between Jacksonville and Seattle, Andy Bothwell's adopted pseudonym of Astronautalis has managed to play shows in the Twin Cities on a consistent basis over the past decade. Through his time in Minnesota, Bothwell befriended many of our most acclaimed local musicians, one of the many reasons he finally decided his move to the state would become a reality.

Growing up in central Virginia, listening to punk music, hopping trains and learning the fine art of leather-working, Jonny Fritz was dubbed Jonny Corndawg. A folk legend in the making, Jonny hopped on his motorbike and traveled the country making friends and playing music.

Cursive is a true genre-definer. The Omaha-based band has explored a post-hardcore sound and its fringes since the mid '90s, a precursor to what would become popular in the years to come. Longtime members of Saddle Creek Records (Bright Eyes, Land of Talk), they're back with their seventh release "I Am Gemini," a highly conceptual affair which still manages to pull in new listeners alongside their veteran fans.

The Joy Formidable has been around for five years now, but it wasn't until 2011 that they released their debut album. Building upon the steady buzz they received with their EP "A Balloon Called Moaning," they've since gone on to play late-night television, appear on film soundtracks and gather accolades from some of alternative rock's most iconic acts like Garbage and Foo Fighters.