Music

Hammerhead: A band that helped define ‘90s noise is ‘Back with a Future’

September 4th, 2014

By Phil Hunt

*Adult language advisory

It’s possibly a couple years shy of a quarter-century since the Hammerhead song “Gremlin Stomp” appeared on the seminal Minneapolis noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile’s “Dope-Guns-N-Fucking In The Streets Volume 6.” This probably happened around the time that Hammerhead left the city of Fargo, N.D., if not after.

Still, if you Google “Hammerhead Fargo,” you will get about 350,000 results. That’s still quite a few, even after you…

Home on the Range: Steep Canyon Rangers at Bluestem

September 4th, 2014

Grammy awarding-winning bluegrass crew Steep Canyon Rangers will perform in Fargo-Moorhead for the first time this Saturday, Sept. 6 for the very first Roots on the Red festival at Bluestem.

The North Carolina-based outfit are known for their rich, gospel-sounding vocal harmonies, aggrandized acoustic instrumentation and traditional country music roots. The group is also known as the backing band for celebrated comedian Steve Martin. Thanks to the Steep Canyon Rangers, most of us…

Ryan Bingham on the Red

August 28th, 2014

Grammy and Oscar winning songwriter headlines Roots event at Bluestem

Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe and Americana Artist of the Year award winner Ryan Bingham doesn’t have much to be weary about these days. Four years after the release of his highly acclaimed song “Weary Kind,” from the movie “Crazy Heart” starring Jeff Bridges, the musician is as prolific, rugged, charming and humble as ever.

It’s why Bingham will make for an excellent headlining act for Fargo-Moorhead’s very…

Hannah’s Neverland

August 21st, 2014

Young local singer/songwriter releases wondrous EP, performs this Thursday and Friday

About six years ago, Fargo native Hannah Jean Westerholm started writing music. Three years ago, she began playing music in the local band Shape Than Shift. Two years ago, she began performing her original music live.

Today, at 18 years of age, Hannah has completed her very first EP, recorded at Video Arts Studio thanks to an award she won from the yearly local event Celebration of Women and Their…

FM Gay Men’s Chorus: Singing with pride

August 14th, 2014

For the first time ever, Fargo-Moorhead’s Pride Rally will kick off with it’s very own local Gay Men’s Chorus singing the National Anthem.

Angel Lira, the chorus’ co-director, said he’s in awe of how far this local choir has come in less than a year since its inception last September.

“The sounds that have been coming out of the choir in the past two to three months have been so pure and so beautiful,” he said. “And the difficulty level of the music is not attempted by…

Escape to Beat Antique

August 14th, 2014

If there were such thing as a modern magical mystery tour, Beats Antique would lead the charge. This Oakland-based three piece perform un-American-like escapist dance music, lead by belly dancer Zoe Jakes, violinist/guitarist David Satori and percussionist/producer Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel.

Next weekend Beats Antique will headline Pure Bliss Ranch’s Cosmic Ascension Festival with renowned visual artists Alex and Allyson Grey. More than 40 other acts will perform at this 3-day…

Supersoakin’ hip-hop with Soulja Boy

August 7th, 2014

Seven years ago DeAndre Cortez Way, a.k.a. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, was responsible for attracting millions of people to dance floors at clubs and parties all over the country. His chart-topping tune, “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” became one of the most popular line dances in hip-hop history.

“Being in high school, I just wanted to have a song on the radio that people could dance to, that people could remember,” Way said to HPR.

While there a number of popular dance songs, there’s…

Tony’s ‘Animated Persona’

July 31st, 2014

Photo by Dan Eisenhauer

“Animated Personas,” rapper Tony the Butcher’s first solo album, combines the energy and sound of his live shows with thoughtful, introspective tracks. Though it only took two years to record, Tony Motzerelli describes the album as 29 years in the making.

“Those tracks are about my life and growing up,” Tony told HPR.

Before moving to the Fargo-Moorhead area in 2006, Tony bounced around towns in South Dakota and Minnesota. It was in South Dakota where he first began rapping…

Gone swimming: Into the Lake presents “The Pre-Flight EP”

July 24th, 2014

Over the river and through the woods, Into The Lake we go.

Indeed, within a matter of months, this “lake band” has recorded a 5-track EP, “The Pre-Flight,” released two of the EP’s singles and gained more than 400 fans on Facebook without having performed a single live show. The full EP will be released digitally, through Spotify, iTunes, BandCamp, Amazon and Google, this July 29. And the band will perform live for the first time this July 24 at The Aquarium.

Into The Lake…

Tim Sparks’ “Chasin’ the Boogie”

July 17th, 2014

By Tom Johnson

Guitarist and longtime Minnesota resident Tim Sparks has made a name for himself for many years by taking on ambitious concepts on the guitar.

Whether it be taking the music of avant-garde composer and saxophonist John Zorn’s band Masada Quartet and condensing it to solo acoustic guitar, or when, in 2009, Sparks released “Little Princess” rearranging and deconstructing the music of Naftule Brandwein -- a klezmer clarinetist from the ‘20s dubbed “The King of the…