February 11th, 2015
Final performance this Friday by Fargo-Moorhead boy band
By Jay Rice
If you haven't heard the most amazing group to spring from the loins of Fargo-Moorhead's music scene, then you haven't heard the boy band KumNcyde.
What you need to know is they are having their last performance ever at The Aquarium this Valentine's Day. Doors open at 10 p.m., and KumNcyde are set to begin at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are already on sale at Orange Records and online at ticketweb.com. Get yours and do not miss…
January 29th, 2015
With what sounds like the last tiptoe across the floorboards of a once-shared home, Natalie Prass presents herself to the world.
With a voice as soft as down, Prass bares her vulnerability just enough for empathy, though the astounding confidence of her tried-and-true songwriting chops, augmented by enveloping string and horn arrangements, defy any question of meekness.
In the case of all exceptional debut albums (and make no mistake, this is one), there comes an exceptional backstory.…
January 21st, 2015
North Dakota is celebrating its diverse music scene with its first music award show on Thursday, Feb. 19 hosted by URL Radio. The event will take place at the Belle Mehus Auditorium in Bismarck with live performances by North Dakota artists and presenters.
Performers include Lifetime Achievement nominees Clyde Bauman (A.K.A Mylo Hatzenbuhler) and Richard Torrance, Breakout Nominees Tigirlily, Big Reeno and Zwarte. Presenters include North Dakota celebrities Brad Hackworth, AnnMaria De…
January 21st, 2015
“What would it sound like if RZA got in the studio with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits?”
While this pipedream of a supergroup is a technically viable affair, outside of some sort of one-off, “We are the World”-ish charity sing-along that may or may never come, we’ll have to take what we can get. Allegedly acting with this “what if, man” collaboration in mind, garage toughie Hanni El Khatib’s “Moonlight” is going to have to fill that never-was void until the next major natural…
January 14th, 2015
Though its title reads more like a canned Godzilla spinoff, Panda Bear’s fifth record, “Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper,” finds the Noah Lennox “nom de band”bolstering his uniquely dense, mercurial headphone-pop to float serious observations on depression, alienation and, you guessed it, death.
Reining in some of the sample-happy, throw-it-at-the-wall glee that defined his earlier efforts, the Animal Collective alumnus casts over his saucer-eyed whimsy a brooding sense of…
December 27th, 2014
The Growlers, “Going Gets Tough”
The Growlers must be taking in a lot of Jimmy Cliff lately. The standout of their album “Chinese Fountain” finds the beach goth goons channeling that same sunshiney optimism with this rocksteady-reminiscent gem.
Hiss Golden Messenger, “Saturday’s Song”
Understated and breezy, M.C. Taylor’s ode to the weekend matches the peaceful, easy feeling of a hard-earned day’s rest. Complete with whistle-clean guitar lines from Merge labelmate and…
December 23rd, 2014
On Dec. 16, Ryan Nicholaus Grahn died in his Fargo home. A little piece of Fargo’s music history died as well. He was 41. Fargo’s underground music scene isn’t quite that old, but it’s getting there. When some guy passes on before his time, the question that inevitably crosses the mind is, “How did he die?” Can we talk about how he lived instead? Let’s suppress our morbidly curious lizard brains for a while and delve…
December 23rd, 2014
What happens when you Google “Fargo death metal”? Gorgatron happens, that’s what.
The “doomishly” loud, scarily fast music project will release its second full-length album, “Inner Supremacy,” on Jan. 10 with a show at The Aquarium.
Many Fargo music fans know Gorgatron as one of the top, if not the top, metal projects in area. The group has been around for nearly eight years and has opened for national acts such Machine…
December 19th, 2014
No “best of” list will ever truly satisfy anyone besides the compilers themselves. One person’s musical treasure is just as well another’s rubbish, and there just aren’t enough hours in a day to listen to everything. That being said, these 15 songs seem to hover above the rest, and demonstrate how immensely inventive and diverse this year’s releases have been. Whether you agree with this list or not, the songs listed deserve a first listen at the very least.
December 11th, 2014
In a year marked with monstrously popular and impossibly creative albums from indie newcomers (Sylvan Esso, Perfect Pussy), breakout novices (tUnE-yArDs, Angel Olsen, The War on Drugs) and stalwarts (Ariel Pink, Real Estate, Caribou) alike, some gems inevitably get buried in the hubbub. I’ll be wrapping up this year in music with a special list of 2014's most deserving underdog albums.
An all-killer-no-filler collection of rocking outlaw country,…
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