Music

The best overlooked albums of 2015, so far

July 15th, 2015

As the second half of 2015 unfolds with the early promise of new albums from Tame Impala, Beach House and Mac DeMarco, it’s easy to lose sight of the landmark efforts that have already cemented this year as one for the books, let alone those that have already been trampled enough. In the spirit of the underdog and in light of this week’s limbo of record releases shifting from Tuesdays to Fridays, here are four albums that are just as deserving of earbud love as any that January…

Modest Mouse added to the Bluestem Concert Series lineup

July 14th, 2015

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 | MODEST MOUSE

Tickets on sale Friday, July 17, 2015, at 11 a.m.  Jade Presents presale Thursday, July 16, 2015, from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., online only. Tickets cost  $29.50 for general admission lawn, $39.50 for general admission benches and $49.50 for reserved seating. A portion of tickets sales will go towards Jade Presents/The Arts Partnership Keeping Music Live Grants.

Ticket link: http://jadepresents.com/modest-mouse-moorhead/

Little music show on the prairie

July 9th, 2015

Reina Del Cid

“Prairie Musicians” to premiere a new season July 10

No need to leave the house on Friday nights in July to enjoy and support quality local music. Just turn to channel 13 for an episode of Prairie Public’s “Prairie Musicians.”

The show, which is produced at Prairie Public’s downtown Fargo studio, features performances and interviews with bands and musicians from Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba.

From as far away as western North Dakota (Jessie Veeder, Wild Hands) and…

Bells, whistles and good vibrations on “Key Change”

July 1st, 2015

“The most modern thing I can do in 2015 is make music with my bare hands.” That’s the explanation that multi-instrumentalist Dominic Salole gives for the warm, vivid sound of his fifth album, “Key Change,” under the Mocky moniker.

Commenting on the mass digitization of popular music since Pro Tools became a household name, Mocky’s ironic modus operandi may not be far from the truth. A majority of today’s musicians, amateur and professional, have created and continue to…

5 upcoming must-see concerts

June 17th, 2015

The following list might not be the five biggest upcoming concerts, though they certainly feature some of the most one-of-a-kind acts in the country. Tickets are still available for all these shows.

ESPERANZA SPALDING @ THE FARGO THEATRE, JUNE 20

Esperanza Spalding is arguably one of the best jazz musicians of her generation. She has an extraordinary singing voice and masterful upright/electric bass chops that are defined by incredible control, virtuosic dexterity and appealing character.…

Good vibes abound on ambitious, collaboration-heavy “Surf”

June 5th, 2015

Hyped by hip-hop wunderkind Chance the Rapper since last October, Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment’s debut album “Surf” was quietly made available as a free download on the iTunes store late last week. Sprawling, ambitious and stuffed to the gills with guest collaborators, “Surf” is an immediately arresting record, sure to go down as one of 2015’s quintessential hip-hop releases.

Chance’s pervasive presence on “Surf” is telling enough. The 22-year-old could’ve…

Veeder fever: North Dakotan singer-songwriter releases Nashville-produced record

June 3rd, 2015

“Northern Lights” will shine bright at The Stage at Island Park this Sunday for Jessie Veeder’s CD release concert.

The Watford City, N.D.-based Americana musician has been singing, writing music and performing since her teenage years. The now 31-year-old has released five full-length albums and has toured the country playing music. Her experience, along with her cherished talent and loyal-to-the-area song content, has led her to become one of the most important modern-day…

Cleveland unplugs for front-porch reverie on “Oh Man, Cover the Ground”

May 27th, 2015

Billed as “12 songs about dark rooms, water, wind, stoned afternoons, sun in your eyes, sex, hair, snacks, death, & the beach,” Shana Cleveland’s solo debut, “Oh Man, Cover the Ground,” sounds appropriately like a slacker soundtrack. Beneath its lowest-key exterior, however, the album is a patient, homespun tribute to a particular set of misfits in folk music’s history.

In 2012, as her Spector-esque surf rock outfit, La Luz, was just beginning to make waves, Cleveland…

‘Mutilator Defeated’ a triumph of consistence for Thee Oh Sees

May 20th, 2015

In a musical landscape ever-hungry for the Next Big Thing, artistic consistence is a severely underappreciated quality. The listening public, that fickle beast, wants bigger and better with an artist’s every passing album, but its back turns quickly when an artist moves faster than it can keep up. It’s an ugly game with few winners on either side of the stage.

With a gaggle of rock-solid studio and live albums, EPs, split-sevens and one-off compilation tracks tied to its name over…

The Weather Station stays loyal to folk tradition

May 13th, 2015

“Folk” has always been a nebulously defined genre descriptor, its quaint tag encompassing everything from Lomax-era plantation blues to the beatnik strumming of Greenwich Village, and its meaning has been muddied further as an umbrella to ignorantly lump together regional, or “world,” music. In the 21st century, the sounds of the South have apparently all been collected and protest songs are more likely to feature a big-name rapper than a harmonica.

Our conceptions of folk music…