Music

Weird Al Yankovic, a national treasure

August 4th, 2016

By James Osbourne

Musician, actor, comedian, director and most recently Bandleader on Comedy Bang Bang!, Al’s an entertainment polymath with universal appeal.

Much of my exposure to pop music is through Weird Al parodies. Pop’s aggressive sexual themes and superficiality, elements which turn a lot of people off, are gone with a Weird Al treatment. I heard Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines after Al’s Word Crimes parody. Once you strip the douchbaggery away from Blurred Lines you can…

Basses loaded with the Melvins

August 3rd, 2016

Roger “Buzz” Osborne, lovingly known to his fans as “King Buzzo,” is no stranger to the music scene. Performing since the early 1980s, Buzz is best known for being a founding members, lead vocalist and guitarist, of influential rock band the Melvins, which would go on to inspire a wide variety of musical acts, such as seminal grunge act Nirvana. He was personal friends with their lead vocalist, Kurt Cobain. Buzz has performed for acts as varied as Cows, Tool, Fantomas, and…

Mud Morganfield tells HPR where he got his blues

July 27th, 2016

To say that art imitates life would be an understatement in regard to Chicago blues royalty Mud Morganfield’s work. The eldest son of blues legend Muddy Waters wasn’t always in the spotlight with his music, though he was born with the blues coursing through his veins.

Growing up Morganfield saw very little of his father, but his influence was there. “My dad was gone a lot so my mom--her name was Mildred,tried to raise the girls and boys, and I was the only son of hers by Muddy.”…

Punk rock reunion

July 27th, 2016

Within the past couple weeks, Fargo-Moorhead pop punk pioneers The Krebscouts had a basement reunion show in Fargo. Members Dan Nygard, Ben Arends, and Jimbo Rosario haven’t had a chance to play as The Krebscouts since their last hurrah in 2000. Now after 16 years, multiple bands, and with a newly recruited drummer (and old friend) Erik Block, the three had a chance to reunite and reminisce with old friends.

All members with the exception of Rosario live in Fargo. Rosario currently…

Blues infused

July 20th, 2016

Test Test Test Test

Blues-infused rock band Canned Heat formed in Los Angeles in 1965. They created a name for themselves by marrying country blues and rock and roll. They have shared the stage with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at the Monterey pop festival and headlined Woodstock. They’ve played venues from the Fillmore to Carnegie Hall. Needless to say, Canned Heat is the stuff rock and roll dreams are fueled by.

Now, this coming weekend they will be one of the headliners in the 2016 Fargo…

Building concepts

July 20th, 2016

By Payton Berger

Go Murphy’s newest album “Buildings” opens up with a rolling start. The guitars create a droning melody of distortion as the drums and bass march the song along. It’s been quite a wait for Go Murphy fans. Their last full length album “A is A” was released in 2013. Luckily fans will have something to be excited about. Go Murphy’s newest release “Buildings” came out May 31st and give rockers something to enjoy.

The sweeping and rolling guitar riffs of…

Raising the dead

July 13th, 2016

Legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper has been offering his signature brand of rock and roll since the 70s. This time around he is ushering in a new version of The Hollywood Vampires to pay homage to The Hollywood Vampires of the past.

The Hollywood Vampires is his latest band, featuring the talents of Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, and multi-faceted superstar Johnny Depp.

The original Vampires were a social club that blossomed from Hollywood’s rock and roll underbelly. “We would go to The…

Paging Mr. Louris

July 6th, 2016

Since The Jayhawks hit the Minneapolis music scene in the mid-eighties, their signature alt country sound has influenced such bands as The Gear Daddies, Uncle Tupelo and countless others in the Americana genre.

“The scene was exploding because The Replacements, Husker Du and the whole indie sound was happening when it was really indie--all kinds of bands and everybody knew each other. There was also this layer of Prince at the time and all of that,” says Gary Louris, frontman of The…

Rising voices of Folk and Americana set to come together in Fargo

June 29th, 2016

By Payton Berger

Folk, Roots, and the newer term, Americana, all seem to apply to a style of music that is often overlooked in modern times. Maybe it’s a preconceived notion of simplicity and homeliness that might deter people’s interest. A somewhat understandable notion when there are so many different types of music and musical ideas that are vying for your ears’ attention.

Folk and Americana music have a lot more depth and character than they are given credit for. They seek to…

Built to Spill: a best-kept secret

June 15th, 2016

By Ben Rheault

I practically stumbled across Built to Spill by accident. I was returning a warped record I had purchased from what was then Vinyl Connection (now Orange Records.)

They didn’t have another copy of the record I originally bought, but the clerk, who was a friend of mine and knew my taste, directed me to “Keep it Like a Secret.” “You’ll like it…it’s poppy boy-punk,” she said to me.

I took it home, peeled back the cellophane wrapper, and put it on my turntable. …

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