W♥M

Asian Invasion: Rocktober

Read more Asian Invasion and Minneapolis Music Guide.

10/14 ZHU with Noizu at Armory Read More Daft Punk Daft Punk fourth studio album, Random Access Memories, out on Daft Life/Columbia Records on May 21st, 2013. Personally, I love the French dance/techno duo, been a fan since Homework in 1997 …

10/14/2023 Saturday

ZHU
with Noizu
at Armory
armorymn.com

American (Chinese heritage) Zhu is headlining the Armory in Minneapolis this Saturday, October 14th. The electronic music producer and singer is described as “the next Daft Punk.”

Zhu’s new album Grace will be out January 19, 2024, on Astralwerks.

Los Angeles based Noizu to open.

Tour dates:

10.11 Madison, WI The Sylvee
10.12 Chicago, IL Radius
10.13 Chicago, IL Radius
10.14 Minneapolis, MN Armory
10.17 Boise, ID Revolution Concert House
10.19 Sacramento, CA Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
10.24 Spokane, WA The Podium
10.26 Vancouver, BC Harbour Events Centre
10.27 Vancouver, BC Harbour Events Centre
10.28 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
10.29 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
11.01 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
11.04 Magna, UT The Great Saltair
11.09 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
11.10 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
11.11 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
11.17-19 Mexico City, MX Corona Capital

10/18 The Rose at Armory

10/18/2023 Wednesday

The Rose
at Armory
first-avenue.com

South Korean indie rock band The Rose (더 로즈) will be headlining the Armory on October 18th. The band is composed of four members: Kim Woo-sung (vocals, guitar), Park Do-joon (keyboard), Lee Ha-joon (drums), and Lee Jae-hyeong (bass).

Tour dates:

Oct 10 Vancouver, BC, Canada PNE Forum
Oct 12 Salt Lake City, UT, US The Complex
Oct 15 Denver, CO, US Fillmore Auditorium
Oct 18 Minneapolis, MN, US The Armory
Oct 20 Toronto, ON, Canada Coca-Cola Coliseum
Oct 22 New York (NYC), NY, US The Theater
Oct 24 Fairfax, VA, US EagleBank Arena
Oct 26 Columbus, OH, US KEMBA Live!
Oct 28 Atlanta, GA, US Coca-Cola Roxy
Oct 29 Los Angeles (LA), CA, US Nine O'clock Players
Oct 31 Miami, FL, US James L. Knight Center
Nov 5 Grand Prairie, TX, US Texas Trust CU Theatre
Nov 7 Austin, TX, US Moody Theater
Nov 10 Phoenix, AZ, US Arizona Financial Theatre
Nov 12 Inglewood, CA, US Kia Forum

10/24 Talking Volumes with Viet Thanh Nguyen hosted by Kerri Miller at The Fitzgerald Theater

10/24/2023 Tuesday

Talking Volumes
with Viet Thanh Nguyen
hosted by Kerri Miller
at The Fitzgerald Theater
first-avenue.com

Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune are proud to announce the 23rd season of Talking Volumes.

Talking Volumes is hosted by award-winning journalist Kerri Miller, who will be interview/talking to Vietnamese/American author Viet Thanh Nguyen at the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul, on October 24th.

Tour dates:

Oct 10, 2023 Los Angeles @Barnes and Noble at the Grove
Oct 16, 2023 Philadelphia at Parkway Central Library
Oct 17, 2023 Cambridge— Harvard University
Oct 17, 2023 Harvard University Norton Lectures
Oct 18, 2023 Brooklyn at St. Joseph's University
Oct 20, 2023 New York at 92nd Street Y
Oct 21, 2023 Harrisburg Book Festival
Oct 22, 2023 Washington DC at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
Oct 23, 2023 Chicago at American Writers Museum
Oct 24, 2023 St. Paul at The Fitzgerald Theatre

BONUS:

11/09 to 11/22 SHIGETO KOYAMA CCMS experiment OBAKE at NowHere NYC Read More Anime Red Comet aka Andy Denk next took the stage with heavy beats and Japanese anime which seemed to electrify the crowd whenever they saw their favorite characters …

11/09/2023 to 11/22/2023

SHIGETO KOYAMA CCMS
experiment OBAKE
at NowHere NYC
nowhere-nyc.com

If we were in New York City, we would be checking out the SHIGETO KOYAMA CCMS experiment OBAKE. The inaugural solo exhibition will debut on November 9th (and runs until November 22nd) at NowHere NYC.

All this is courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. (SMEJ), as part of their new “Art × Entertainment” project, which aims to expand the appreciation of art in previously unexplored directions, honor unique talents, and create a platform for the artistic essences of key contemporary artists.

Shigeto Koyama (HEROMAN, Rebuild of Evangelion, Kill la Kill, Gundam Reconguista in G, and Promare) will present a range of work from his critically acclaimed animated projects and expound on the creative processes at their genesis, though to him this is, “Not an ‘exhibition’ but an ‘experiment.’”

Mr. Koyama will also host a pair of talks at the gallery. The first will be on Saturday, November 11, from 2pm to 4pm EST and will be free. The second will be ticketed, and held on Monday, November 20, from 6pm to 8pm EST. More information can be found here.

If you were wondering what CCMS is, it is a group of creators formed CCMS in 2010. The members are Shigeto Koyama, Tsuyoshi Kusano and Ai Nonaka. The three, known as professionals in animation and design, began producing original works through a series of zines called "dojinshi," which are derivative works of their original creations.

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to [email protected] with a good lead time. Thank you.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Silver Swans - Secrets EP

Read More Secret Swans This band, Silver Swans, took their name from Wonder Woman's villain. The original Silver Swan (Helen Alexandros) got her sonic powers from the Greek Gods...

Some music is best experienced at night, sheathed in the pungent scent of spontaneity and Acqua di Gio. San Francisco duo Silver Swans makes “bedtime” music for grownups. Grownups with nocturnal habits and loosely-defined bedtimes, that is. Listening to Secrets is a passage to the streets of New York or Berlin—bustling meccas for urban explorers just looking to get their groove on.

Like a steady heartbeat, Secrets pumps life into an often static genre by way of minimal production and cool-as-ice vocals (courtesy of song mistress Ann Yu). Still a highly stylized piece of pop art, the album will probably appeal to a mainstream audience moreso than its conceptual fellows. The opening track of Secrets, “Best Friend in Love,” sets the mood, which is cool, by the way; coy, even. Yu’s voice is a strategic blend of seductive and saccharine. She may very well shatter your heart into a million pieces, but you’ll never decry her actions “bitchy.” Because, as she puts it, “I never meant to hurt you.” The strongest track on Secrets is also the longest, clocking in at just over five minutes. “Meet Me Somewhere Nice” begins like an unsteady lullaby—the child’s play instrumentation and Yu’s wispy vocals create the kind of creepy twee a Polanski fan might appreciate; then, at the 1:30 mark a beat kicks in and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE (in electro-pop vernacular ‘hell’ roughly translates as ‘hand claps’).The result is a dance song perfect for those of us that have trouble finding the rhythm and generally prefer swaying solo.

If you’re wondering about the band’s namesake, obviously you are neither nerd nor virgin (maybe). ‘Silver Swans refers to a group of villains in the Wonder Woman comic series. These nefarious fowl possess the ability to create a “swan song” sound wave capable of destroying land (and presumably the people that inhabit said land). But never fear, Silver Swans—the band—are emphatically non-evil and do not wish to destroy land and people! It is a curious choice, however, choosing an act of violence to symbolize a creative act of beauty. Rather than dwell on the psychology behind their fandom, let’s simply call them nerds, push them off the jungle gym and be done with it.*

One final note: Yu sings in Korean on the last track “Secrets (Bimil)”, of what, I don’t know. It could be lost Biblical scripture, it could be her grocery list. I only mention this as a novelty not a criticism. Truthfully, with this brand of music what she sings is less important than how she sings.

Secrets is Silver Swans’ debut EP. A full-length album is forthcoming, tentatively scheduled before the end of the year. For more information on the band or to purchase a copy of the EP, visit their Facebook page.

* In all honesty, though, Wonder Woman is not the nerdiest comic series to follow. If Silver Swans were truly hardcore geeks they’d call themselves Doctor Doom, amiright?

lara () ♥ facebook.com/silverswans