Poliça

Video

Polica's ferocious SXSW show at the Parish

Watch their entire 30 minute set

Channy Leaneagh of Polica

Polica at The Parish, March 15, 2012 Katy Hayes Luke for NPR

Polica, (introduced by our own Mark Wheat) played at NPR Music's SXSW day party at the Parish in Austin, Texas on March 15. Check out the video of the entire set... one of many Polica shows during the festival. For a breakdown of Polica's SXSW experience, visit Andrea Swensson's interview, or explore all of The Current's SXSW coverage.

Interview

MN at SXSW: Local acts compare notes on this year's festival

Poliça, Doomtree seeing spikes in press following trip to Austin

Night Moves

The local quartet were highlighted by MTV as one of the best acts at SXSW. Ben Clark

Last week, while in the thick of SXSW, I wrote that the sprawling Austin, Texas music festival can be a hard experience to quantify. With so many bands and so many venues, it's nearly impossible to step back and get a big-picture look at what's going on. But with the dust finally settling from last week, it's becoming easier to pinpoint which bands made the strongest impressions -- and a quick scan over the media coverage of the festival shows that Minnesotan bands are getting more ink than ever this year.

Interview

Polica reflect on their big year at SXSW

Poliça

The quartet were one of the most talked-about Minnesota acts at SXSW. Photo by Ben Clark

By the time I caught up with Poliça they were just wrapping up their 10th show in five days, many of which were in front of capacity crowds eager to see what the much-hyped Minneapolis quartet are all about. As the band unwound, did laundry, and prepared to head back out on the road for two more weeks of tour, frontwoman Channy Leaneagh and drummer Drew Christopherson took some time to reflect on their experience at this year's SXSW festival and all the buzz that surrounded them this year.

Video

SXSW Live Webcast schedule

Bruce Springsteen, Polica, Andrew Bird, Sharon Van Etten, Alabama Shakes and more

Channy Leaneagh of Polica

MPR Photo / Nate Ryan

We're bringing the fun and excitement of South by Southwest to you with live webcasts of some of our favorite artists on Wednesday and Thursday (March 14th and 15th). Visit this page for live video (and subsequent archives) of Andrew Bird, Sharon Van Etten, Polica and Bruce Springsteen's keynote address.

Review

Polica's CD-release show heavy on new material from the group

Polica

Channy Leaneagh at the Current birthday party last month. Nate Ryan/MPR

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to max out my Polica attention span -- between features on MPR's All Things Considered, their cover story in this week's City Pages, and last night's very buzzed-about, very sold-out release show at First Avenue, it's all starting to blur together a bit.

News

Polica's 'Dark Star' will be the Daily Circuit's new theme song

Hear it starting February 21

Polica

The popular Minneapolis band's song will be featured daily on MPR. Nate Ryan/MPR

With Poliça's debut album, Give You the Ghost, out today (and their very sold-out CD-release show happening tonight at First Ave), MPR has just announced that it's new mid-morning program, the Daily Circuit, will use the band's single "Dark Star" for its theme song.

The Daily Circuit will air every weekday from 9 a.m.-12 p.m., replacing the longstanding daily shows Midmorning and Midday. 

Video

Current Birthday Bash transformed into dreamy love letter to the scene 5

Videographer Ron Johnson documented Saturday's show

Channy Leaneagh of Poliça

Poliça is one of four acts in Johnson's "love letter" video. Nate Ryan/MPR

If a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, then this video is worth at least a million. Forget all those pesky adjectives and metaphors; Twin Cities videographer Ron Johnson (who by day works for news outlet Fox 9) gets the job done and recaps his experience at the Current Birthday Party in a mere two and a half minutes. Johnson attended Saturday night's show with Poliça, Suicide Commandos, Sims, and Haley Bonar, and found himself swept up in the energy of the night.

Slideshow

Polica at The Current's Birthday Party

On the heels of major local and national buzz, Polica headlined the second night of our birthday party to an overwhelming response, even elicting calls for an encore from the audience, something the band is obviously not used to hearing yet. The best part of the performance may have been the news that they are already working on their second album.

Review

Polica, Suicide Commandos, Sims, and Haley Bonar wrap up the Current's birthday party

The much-buzzed about headliner lived up to the hype

Sims invades the sold-out crowd

The Doomtree MC flew in just to play the show. All photos by Nate Ryan/MPR

Whereas Friday night's birthday bash featured several somewhat similar rock acts building up the momentum until the night's end, Saturday was a more mixed-bag affair that placed a heavy emphasis on musical discovery. It ended up giving the night a different kind of forward push, as the crowd giddily anticipated what would come next.

Slideshow

Current Birthday Party: Saturday 1/28

The second night of 89.3 The Current's 7th Birthday Party at First Ave was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who made it possible — our fans and members, and also all of the amazing Minnesota musicians who performed. Read Andrea Swensson's recap here. Check out our photos from throughout the night, take a look at what people are saying about the party below and share your own thoughts below or by using the #CurrentBday hashtag on Twitter. Thanks again to all of our amazing fans, members and supporters!