I had butterflies in my stomach as I walked down the stairs into the lobby of the MPR building. Of course I was prepared for my first interview for The Current — but all that preparation may have led to extra butterflies, because the more I learned about FPA, the more I considered her an […]
On Freaque‘s debut EP Decompose, Gabriel Roderick’s voice is mixed so that if you close your eyes, you might imagine that he is sitting right beside you. Say, on a porch swing just after dusk as bats swing low in the sky. You look over a wide expanse of field, and he gestures to things in […]
“I want people to know there are new ways to love and be loved out here,” Angel Davanport says of her choice to sing about topics others may shy away from, such as her own pansexuality. A relatively recent addition to the Minneapolis music scene, Davanport isn’t interested in hiding any aspect of herself. While […]
Every once in a while, SoundCloud yields something really promising. When I first heard Moise’s song “Wildflower” on that platform, I knew enough to pay attention; about a year later, this artist is getting ready to release his debut project (Amongst the Leaves, which will contain new single “a thousand miles”) and perform around the […]
DJ Fundo, MAKR, Keith Millions, and Aaron Baum (Night Moves; Pornonono) have all known each other for at least five years. In fact, if you pooled their experience working in Twin Cities music, you’d have decades on your hands. This year, the four of them started what might be one of the coolest projects they’ve […]
It’s easy enough to sound sweet. Beautiful voices grace an inventory of folk projects, especially those fronted by women; you’ll see adjectives like “dulcet” and “mellifluous” used to describe their voices, with sugar baked right into the words. But sweetness sounds best up against a snarl — some complexity and tension. Lena Elizabeth, part of […]
Thomas Abban is in full make-up when he arrives for our interview. It’s 9:30 in the morning at an Uptown coffee shop, and none of the other customers look ready to step on a stage — but there he is, wearing black and white, thin lines and question marks painted on his hands. Under his […]
If you ever get a chance to spend time with Laura Schultz, do it. She’s the co-frontperson of Local Show Artists to Watch Good Night Gold Dust, an indie pop band based in Mankato, Minn. She’s an intelligent, thoughtful person who pursues growth. This year, she’s making her own space as a solo artist with her […]
You know the music that you don’t understand but you think might understand you? The lyrics that hit your brain in a Rorschach-test splatter? If not, listen to emerging artist Dua Saleh, and you will. Dua (who uses they/them pronouns) is a poet, actor, and artist who never thought they could sing. But through practice […]
If there was such a thing as Performer of the Summer, Nick Jordan would be a Twin Cities shoo-in. Everyone from Billboard to Newsweek to New York Times podcast Still Processing is debating the candidates for this year’s Song of the Summer (which could be Calvin Harris’s “Slide,” DJ Khaled’s “I’m The One,” or any of the new Lorde singles), and each feature notes that […]
