On Saturday afternoon, a lengthy list of bands will congregate to perform in the alley behind Nick and Eddie for the bar, restaurant, and music venue’s final show. On Sunday morning, staff will serve brunch for the last time. And on Monday, that same staff will pack the restaurant’s namesake-bearing dishes into boxes and vacate…

Ben Kweller has been in the music scene nearly the entire 30 years he's been alive. He received his first nod from Billboard Magazine when he was eight with a songwriting honorable mention. He was signed before he could legally drive and was touring the world shortly after that.

It’s typically one of the first signs that summer is upon us, but this year the Memory Lanes Block Party announcement comes toward the end of an unsettlingly warm winter. But hey — we’ll take it. The block party is traditionally the first in a long series of outdoor musical events that will take us…

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.