Sam Cooke And The Song That 'Almost Scared Him'NPR Staff • Feb 2, 2014Cooke recorded "A Change is Gonna Come" 50 years ago this week. The story of the song is as amazing, and unsettling, as the song itself.
Music Memory: The Police, 'Canary in a Coalmine'Jacquie Fuller • Feb 1, 2014The next in our series of musical reminiscences comes from LIsa Heyman of St. Paul, Minn., whose story includes a funny mondegreen related to a track by the Police.
Friday Five: Polica, Astronautalis, and more new MN videosAndrea Swensson • Jan 31, 2014How’s it going out there? This is kind of a trying time of year, isn’t it? I hope you are staying warm and sane as this winter puts us through one endurance test after another. To fight off the winter brainfreeze, I rounded up a handful of the best and brightest videos (sometimes literally—that sunshine…
Photos: Best New Bands of 2013 at First AvenueAndrea Swensson • Jan 31, 2014For one cold night every January in Minneapolis, the big black stage in First Avenue’s Mainroom becomes a testing ground for some of the area’s buzziest new acts. As fledgling bands from around the Twin Cities (and one from Duluth!) took turns crossing the “Play First Ave” item off their bucket list, more than a…
9:30 Coffee Break: Horse songs Jan 31, 2014Today is the first day of Chinese New Year, and it's the Year of the Horse. There's obviously only one topic appropriate for today's 9:30 Cofee Break: horse songs!
Interview with Sound Unseen's Jim Brunzell: Sundance Film Festival Jan 31, 2014Jim Brunzell, director for the Sound Unseen festival, stopped by to talk about his recent trip to the Sundance Film Festival and some of the music movies he saw this year.
Today in Music History: The Jackson Five Have Their First Number One Jan 31, 2014The Clash toured the US, Little Richard's movie was released, and The Jackson Five had their first no. 1 Today in Music History.
Meet Tom Franek: Minnesota’s most seaworthy singer-songwriterJay Gabler • Jan 31, 2014“I spent 229 days at sea in 2013,” Tom Franek told me. “I know—I just did my taxes.” When we spoke last week, I was sitting at the Current’s snow-crusted St. Paul studios, and Franek was in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. We’d arranged a conversation via satellite phone so that Franek could tell…
Haley Bonar - Last WarJon Schober • Jan 31, 2014Haley Bonar - Last War, the first single from her forthcoming album.
