The Rake: Hear, Hear

Beck and MGMT at Roy Wilkins

Max Ross — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:13:25 -0500

Beck opened with "Loser." Talk about instantly winning over a crowd - a good portion of the audience mouthed along with the semi-non-sensical lyrics, and kept their lips moving Franny-like for the rest of the show. Mellow Gold came out fourteen years ago, and because this was an eighteen-plus show, this means some of the concertgoers were only four years old when it dropped.

High Places

Jill Yablonski — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:36:19 -0500

There's a certain tension in the Triple Rock. We're all sucking on secret mouthfuls of electricity, our synapses sputtering and sparking as we attempt to reckon with this music. It is a constant interplay of dissonance and beauty pulling at us and prickling our skin.

Bright Like a Flesh-Colored Unitard

Jill Yablonski — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:11:32 -0500

The flesh suit guy is onstage and he's dancing like an invertebrate. Decked out in a cream-colored unitard and thick, black shades, he is the embodiment of this strange scene. The Presets have one more song to play, and the temperature inside the Fine Line is far past boiling. It has the aroma of meat burps and that disease that makes people smell like maple syrup. There is a creepy old man trying to dance on me.

Escape Mechanism promotes recycling!

Max Ross — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:12:29 -0500

It's four in the morning, and the party isn't quite ending, but it will soon. You're not quite sure how you got here - at some point during the night you were drunker than you thought you were, and an adventurous friend who probably shouldn't have been driving convinced you to ride shotgun to this warehouse-cum-loft. The music is still playing but it's quieter now, or maybe your ears have just finally built up their tolerance for it. That one attractive-in-a-goth-way drunk girl is dancing by herself, the last one left on the concrete floor. Still the speakers spew techno-ish music.

Fun Vs. Anti-Fun

Jill Yablonski — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:39:44 -0500

I didn't even get my shorts down. With five buttons and a zip, it takes a reasonable 20 seconds for me to accomplish this. Within this time, two bartenders busted in to kick me out. OK, I might have been in the men's restroom. This was only because I waited approximately three to five minutes at the ladies' and made the logical conclusion that the woman in there was dead. I checked to make sure no one was inside the men's, and then made my move. Obviously, I'm not that slick.

Take Back Labor Day concert round-up

Max Ross — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:43:08 -0500

"Rage Against the Machine is going to play," said Mim Epstein. "That's my prediction. I'm calling it out."

She and her roommate, Molly Anderson, sat on a grassy patch, decked out in oversized sunglasses. Their spot was in view of the Mississippi River, the various food-and-beer vendors' tents, and the main stage set up for SEIU's First Annual Take Back Labor Day festival on Harriet Island.

Protest Music for the New Millenium

Max Ross — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:02:58 -0500

(Todd Smith already wrote this article)

A Rakish Interview: Big Quarters

Max Ross — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:00:30 -0500

In the Jasmine Deli, Zach and Brandon Bagaason - the brothers that constitute the rapper/producer team Big Quarters - don't mess with the menu. Regulars well-acquainted with the selection at this Vietnamese spot on Eat Street, they ordered without consulting the dual-language laminated pages.

Chris Koza is Optimistic and Doesn't Care Who Knows It

Jill Yablonski — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:59:46 -0500

Chris Koza is the kind of man who gives cigarettes to homeless people. In person and in his music he is wantonly candid and authentic. Koza and his four-piece band happily loll at mid tempo, blending roots music, twang and a heavy dose of pop to create a giddy sound so large it breaks the boundaries and escapes the snaking sidewalks of this city.

Hometown Show Means Van is Safe for One More Night

Jill Yablonski — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:57:55 -0500

_{Denis Jeong}

A Gary of Our Own

Jill Yablonski — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:15:33 -0500

Local Gary Louris must likely get mobbed after shows in Spain, where he spends a good deal of time. I mean, the city of Bilbao gets a full Jayhawks show on September 6 - a Saturday headlining slot, closing out the Azkena Rock Festival.

Doomtree by Doomtree

Max Ross — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:51:46 -0500

It seems sometimes like every debut rap album is long-awaited, highly anticipated. We heard the usual phrases a couple weeks ago on Muja Messiah's premier release ("They said this would never get done...I made it happen. I was part-time hustlin', now I'm full-time rappin' ").

Hippies: The Real All-American Heroes

Jill Yablonski — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:18:44 -0500

Rake photographer Denis Jeong is set loose in Detroit Lakes and tells us all he sees and hears. See the slideshows (Part 1 and Part 2) chronicalling his weekend, nudity and all.

Blood Visions and Bad Haircuts

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:22:47 -0500

Tonight is the night of bad haircuts. There's the bassist with the frizzed-out white boy Afro. And there's a whole mess of uncontrolled curls. But who said rock and roll is supposed to be beautiful? Mick Jagger? Fuck Mick Jagger. Music sounds better when it's snarled, in need of a comb. This evening is showcasing a man who, on his last album cover, stood in his underwear drenched in a bucket of fake blood. That ain't pretty, but it's awesome. And Jay Reatard isn't half bad himself.

Story of the Sea

Jill Yablonski — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:32:33 -0500

Thirty seconds is my guess. The generation of 20-something over-stimulated technophiles has notoriously short attention spans, fitting snugly within the confines of rapidly flashing images in 30-second commercials, mind-numbing YouTube videos, maniacal iPod shuffling and ever shifting favoritism to "bands of the hour." But some musicians have managed to cash in on our generational ADD. Girl Talk is the best example.

Muja Messiah's Debut Album

Max Ross — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:15:59 -0500

"Don't wait for the critics to jump on this dude before you start giving it up," says everybody's favorite Albino rhymer, Brother Ali. He's speaking about Muja Messiah, the latest local rapper to make a big splash in the national underground hip-hop scene. "Muja is the shit. The man is right with his."

Fake Out Fest

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:30:49 -0500

Fake Sonny has that deer in the headlights look. The right side of his mustache is slowly slipping down to rest on his bottom lip, looking like a venomous breed of wooly caterpillar. It doesn't take long for audience members to notice. They erupt in gut-breaking cackles at poor fake Sonny's expense. This mockery is not undeserved, being that he did break rule number one of fake mustache wearing-make sure fake mustache is properly affixed.

Basilica Party All Blocked Up

Jill Yablonski — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:07:39 -0500

DAY ONE

The warnings start off nicely enough, with the Basilica Block Party MC kindly asking people to stand further away from the stage, you know, for fear of electrocution or something.

Then it is, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you're worried about getting wet, you can go in the parking lot or go in the church. If you go in the church, you better say a prayer." That quickly morphs into the pleasantly shouted, "Head into the parking lot!" Then, essentially, "RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIIVES!"

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis

Britt Robson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:40:45 -0500

_{Joe Fornabaio}

Kid Dakota at Triple Rock

Jill Yablonski — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:42:29 -0500

One might think it is Sting or the second coming of KISS, I mean Christ, or some other hugely popular international act packing the Triple Rock this past Saturday night. The room is awash in colored patterns, setting the evening up for a fierce Stripes v. Plaids / Sharks v. Jets rock and roll rumble. But the cocktail-clutchers and the Pabst-proffers are anxiously awaiting four local bands. The Minneapolis music scene is geared for explosion, and it's hard to believe one of the masterminds is a gentleman quietly hunched over an acoustic guitar.

Rock the Garden

Cristina Cordova — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:36:49 -0500

A small army of bicycles standing guard outside the Walker Art Center glints like miniature sunbursts while lines stretch like anxious snakes down the sidewalk. The sold out crowd of 7,500 brave hour long entry waits, sunburns, and sweat for Rock The Garden and a chance to see indie pop's brightest talents.

Warlocks Cover the Turf

Max Ross — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:12:30 -0500

The music filled the room. Emanating from a trio of guitars, chords resonated with chords and dispersed throughout the Turf Club on Wednesday night, thick and palpable as the fog that periodically came out from the fog machines. Steady percussion from bass and drums crept under the noise to make it danceable (or at least head-nod-able). Though many were sitting stoic at the bar or in the venue's booths, no one could ignore it: The Warlocks were playing.

It's a Mystery

Cristina Cordova — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:07:24 -0500

Very occasionally, this critic can get it all wrong. Looking at the bespectacled electronic trio (black rectangular frames, black rectangular frames, and '80s nerd chic frames) with their unobtrusive fashion (jeans, jeans, and khakis), I drew a few conclusions. Later, I asked keyboardist Ryan Olcott whether I had Mystery Palace figured out.

Erin Roof: Are you vegans?

Ryan Olcott: No. We're conscientious about what we eat, but no.

ER: Do you drive hybrid cars?

Sci Fi Nerds and Bee Gees' Love Children

Cristina Cordova — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:54:59 -0500

Forget what the press says. Devonte Hynes does not look like AIDS.

"It's pretty harsh," Hynes says about the cruelest comment published about him. "'You look like a terminal illness. You look like death. I don't know what AIDS looks like."

Orchestra Baobab: Made in Dakar

Britt Robson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:17:43 -0500

Here's another seamless, masterful mix of Latin and African pop music from Orchestra Baobab, proving that their phenomenal comeback album, 2002's Specialist In All Styles, was no fluke. Baobab was the house band for Senegalese government officials during the 1970s, and was renowned throughout Africa before splitting up in 1985, beset by dissension and the onslaught of more modern, uptempo mbalax musical style. If their reunion 16 years later didn't pack the commercial wallop of the similarly reconstituted

John Hiatt: Same Old Man

Britt Robson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:50:10 -0500

Same Old Man indeed. This is between Hiatt's 15^th and 25^th release — depending on how you count best-ofs, live recordings, and groups like Little Village — and the reliability factor remains high. He's an ersatz curmudgeon, a faux eccentric, a dilapidated Everyman with an undeniably big heart and an equally undeniable knack for songwriting. He can jangle a slant-back country blues song or ambush you emotionally by confessing for redemption.

Here’s One for the Open Road

Cristina Cordova — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:54:37 -0500

Jason Shannon likes to think of his band as a car.

"A car Steve McQueen drove," he says. "An old '60s or '70s hot rod. Not a badass car. Just a car with good integrity. Something that's built to last, but not showing itself off. A Classic.

"Something like that," he laughs.

A Hit and a Miss for Ellis Marsalis

Britt Robson — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:00:15 -0500

Irvin Mayfield and Ellis Marsalis
Love Songs, Ballads and Standards
Basin Street Records

Bowie’s Brouhaha

Cristina Cordova — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:59:05 -0500

The howling is deafening. The screaming. The hooting. The pumping legs and shaking hips. Is it... the real David Bowie onstage? The Thin White Duke himself?

For the first three chords of "Ziggy Stardust" it's hard to tell it is the house band Kitty Stardust playing and not the rock icon. The crowd is losing it in high-decibel ecstatic moaning. The pair of women in glow-in-the-dark earrings look like they might faint. And everyone is shrieking the lyrics.

Still 80s After All These Years

Max Ross — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:06:46 -0500

^{Originally written for Realbuzz}