Wednesday sure didn’t turn out the way anyone expected it to. The staff of the Current was ecstatic at the prospect of getting Nick Lowe, Los Straitjackets, and Ian “Mac” McLagan into our studios for a recording session on the day of their tour launch at First Avenue. Instead, just as Lowe and the band arrived,…

Let's put together a list of left-handed musicians who've had a successful career. What do you want to hear?

MPR News Arts Reporter and Cube Critic Euan Kerr joins Steve Seel and Jill Riley to talk about a new documentary that chronicles a man's quest to define his own masculinity while motorbiking across the Middle East.

To be honest, it’s been tough to concentrate on much this week outside of the big news that two grand juries have failed to indict the police officers who killed unarmed men in Ferguson, Miss., and Staten Island, New York, not to mention the ensuing outrage, grief, and protests that these two events have caused. How are we supposed…

After 10 years of presenting bigger and bigger shows under the banner of the Doomtree Blowout, the longrunning Minneapolis hip-hop crew have declared that this year’s festivities will be their last of this kind. And they’re going out with a bang(arang… ugh I had to): Starting tomorrow night at the Turf Club, Doomtree will cram 10…

The nearly-complete list of nominations for the 57th annual Grammy Awards has been revealed, and Minnesota artists are among the honorees. Local children’s group the Okee Dokee Brothers, who won a Grammy two years ago for Can You Canoe?, are again nominated for Best Children’s Album with their new release Through the Woods. Stephen Paulus, a Minnesota…

For much of America, the holiday season is one of the most music-centric times of year. Ironically, that makes it a torturous desert for hard-core music fans: recorded Christmas music becomes inescapable from Halloween to New Year’s, and it’s a playlist that’s largely frozen in time. Even when new holiday music is released, it struggles…

NME panned the Sex Pistols, The Jesus and Mary Chain were banned, and Little Richard celebrates another year Today in Music History.

The roots of Doomtree took seed sometime around 2001, when P.O.S. and MK Larrata decided to launch a record label/production crew. While the roster has changed between now and then, the most well-known Doomtree lineup has been in place for several years. It’s a seven-member musical arsenal of DJs, beat-builders, rappers, and producers: P.O.S., Cecil…

If you thought U2‘s Songs of Innocence album cover was awkward, wait until you see their new tour publicity photo (above). At least they’re wearing more clothes than Fleetwood Mac did when they got under the covers for a 1977 Rolling Stone shoot. The Grammys have announced nominations in a few categories; the rest of the 83 categories will be announced…