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Looking Back: May 2015

Read More Stephin Merritt Stephin Merritt just played a themed "A to Z" concert, twenty-six songs in alphabetical order, at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, last night. Of course, fans of The Magnetic Fields ....

With June here, let us reflect and look back at last month: May 2015.

With Star Wars Day (May 4th), Free Comic Book Day (May 2nd), two comic book conventions Wizard World (May 1-3) and MSP Comicon (May 16-17), the first half of May was all about comic books and pop culture. Looking back, I'd say that Wizard World Minneapolis deserved my award for most memorable award for May. In addition to the comics and celebrities, Wizard World brought us two concerts ... well one and a half, since the Pourhouse venue decided to shut down Peelander-Z's show!

Wizard already announced that their third Minneapolis show will take place May 6-8, 2016. In the meantime, Wizard World is taking place in Sacramento on June 19-21 and then in Albuquerque in June 24-26, 2015 (date was moved to avoid conflicts with Sacramento).

Anyway, midmonth brought us a couple of great shows in Minneapolis, including seeing a rare appearance by Stephin Merritt (he of the Magnetic Fields) playing the alphabet of all of his songs at the Cedar Cultural Center... and Freedy Johnston's epic two plus hour show at the Dakota Jazz Club.

The latter half of May brought us a series of amazing overseas acts: Palma Violet, Little Dragon, Temples, DMA's, and closing out with Hot Chip. I hardly slept a full night's sleep that last couple of weeks in May... but it was well worth it!

Below are links to all 32 shows we covered in May 2015. Looking forward to a very busy June!

01 May 2015 Eternal Summers at 7th Street 01 May 2015 Wizard World Minneapolis 02 May 2015 Speedy Ortiz at 7th Street Entry 02 May 2015 Critical Hit at Wizard World 02 May 2015 Peelander-Z at Pourhouse 02 May 2015 Wizard World Minneapolis 03 May 2015 Wizard World Minneapolis 03 May 2015 R. Ring at 7th Street 05 May 2015 Wolf Alice at Turf Club 06 May 2015 Wombats at the Varsity Theater 08 May 2015 Moon King at 7th St Entry 09 May 2015 Glasser at the Walker Art 09 May 2015 Emily Hearn at Cedar Cultural 09 May 2015 Young Fathers at 7th Street Entry 12 May 2015 Freedy Johnston at Dakota Jazz 13 May 2015 Ballroom Thieves at Bryant-Lake

13 May 2015 Icky Blossoms at Georgia Theatre 15 May 2015 Stephin Merritt at Cedar Cultural 16 May 2015 MSP Comicon at MN State Fair 16 May 2015 Kodaline at the Varsity Theater 18 May 2015 GOASTT at 40 Watt Club 19 May 2015 Twin Peaks at 7th Street Entry 20 May 2015 Torres at 7th Street Entry 21 May 2015 Other Lives at Triple Rock 22 May 2015 Butch Walker at Cedar Cultural 25 May 2015 Palma Violets at 7th Street Entry 26 May 2015 Surfer Blood at 7th Street Entry 28 May 2015 Little Dragon at First Avenue 29 May 2015 Temples at First Avenue 30 May 2015 DMA's at 7th Street Entry 30 May 2015 Hot Chip at First Avenue 31 May 2015 Mandolin Orange at 7th Street

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Stephin Merritt at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (15 May 2015)

Stephin Merritt Setlist Andrew in Drag1 The Book of Love1 A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off1 The Dead Only Quickly2 Epitaph for My Heart1 Forever and a Day Give Me Back My Dreams3 One Hundred Thousand Fireflies1 I Wish I Had an Evil Twin1 Josephine1 Kiss Me Like You Mean It1 Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin1 My Husband's Pied-A-Terre1 The Nun's Litany1 One Long Fairytale1 A Pretty Girl Is Like...1 Quick!1 Reno Dakota1 Shipwrecked2 This Little Ukulele1 The Ugly Little Duck Very Funny1 The World Is a Disco Ball4 Xylophone Track1 Your Girlfriend's Face1 -- Encore -- Zombie Boy1 Footnotes: 1: The Magnetic Fields 2: The Gothic Archies 3: The 6ths 4: Future Bible Heroes Advance Base Setlist New Song ('incantation demons') New Song ('you don't call me ever on the phone, please come home') New Song ('only girl from back home') Christmas In Milwaukee Pamela Summer Music Cold White Christmas * My Sister's Birthday Natural Light * White Jetta * Kitty Winn * Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Read More Stephin Merritt Randomly: Ryan and I had a great time talking about the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs in our 69-minute podcast, you should listen. .... Owen Ashworth Owen Ashworth, the bearded electro-troubadour behind Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, made sure the audience at the Mercury Lounge knew he was not quitting music. ....

Stephin Merritt just played a themed "A to Z" concert, twenty-six songs in alphabetical order, at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, last night. Of course, fans of The Magnetic Fields (Merritt's band) shouldn't be surprised by this theme. After all, the band is known for doing these concept albums, notably for their ambitious 69 Love Songs (a three-disc set featuring 69 songs) and i (14 songs starting with "I").

Advance Base

Opener Advance Base (Owen Ashworth, formerly of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone) started his set with mostly songs from his forthcoming Nephew in the Wild album. Since the upcoming album's tracklisting (or lyrics) were not released, I couldn't tell you the proper titles. The latter half of his set featured a couple of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone songs ("Cold White Christmas", "Natural Light", and "White Jetta").

The Redwood City, Californian ("just west of Chicago") said last night that it was his longest time he's ever spent in Minneapolis... but had lived in the midwest for good time.

Ashworth was also very thankful for the incredibly respectful audience, as the singer noted that it's not always the case when he sings these quiet songs.

Accompanying Stephin Merritt on stage was cellist Sam Davol, also from the Magnetic Fields. Since the set list was put together with very specific order, the two would often take a little time to tune on every couple of songs. This is the challenge of doing some of these concept shows (particularly with the recent popularity of "full album" tours). Thankfully, there is a small blessing to these tuning moments, Merritt would often give brief introductions to songs to break the awkward silence.

The two started their set a little after 9pm with "Andrew in Drag", followed by the timely choice of "The Book of Love", which is enjoying a top ten single in the Netherlands and Dublin charts, thanks Irish singer Gavin James covering the Magnetic Fields song. Coincidentally enough, we will be seeing James tonight (May 16th) with Kodaline. I'll be listening to see if he plays "The Book of Love" on his live set.

Other interesting tidbits from Merritt's set included a The 6ths song "Give Me Back My Dreams", written by Merritt but originally sung by English singer Sally Timms.

I didn't know this, but the Magnetic Fields song "A Pretty Girl Is Like..." was in response to Irving Berlin's "racist standard" song "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody".

"Xylophone Track" was dedicated to BB King, who recently passed away in his sleep in Las Vegas on May 14 at age 89 (to Type II Diabetes). Incidentally, according to Spotify, their streams of the music of BB King have "increased by 9800%" following the iconic musician's death.

My personal highlight was the Gothic Archies' "Shipwrecked", which got plenty of laughs from the audience. If you didn't know, the band featured Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, and was meant as a soundtrack of sort for his book, "A Series of Unfortunate Events". You can read about the project on weheartmusic from 2007.

The rest of the 90-min set goes pretty much as you would expect for the A to Z, ending on the 25th song "Your Girlfriend's Face" and with the 26th song reserved for the encore, "Zombie Boy".

If you love the various works (and unique deep, deep bass vocals) of Stephin Merritt, you definitely need to see this memorable A-Z tour.

Remaining tour dates:

05/16 Wexner Center - Columbus, OH
06/09 Sinclair - Cambridge, MA
06/24 Spiegeltent - Annandale on Hudson, NY

Stephin Merritt (with Sam Davol) at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (15 May 2015)

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Minneapolis: May 14 - May 16, 2015

Read More Dan Deacon I've already spotlighted Dan Deacon and his America album, so I'll just quickly mention that he's got an app on iTunes and Android. Apparently, during the show .... Prince Rama I've previously mentioned that Prince Rama were two real-life sisters, Taraka and Nimai Larson. The big news for this Brooklyn-based band is that they just released their album, Top Ten Hits ....

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area for May 14 to May 16, 2015.

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

DAN DEACON w/ Prince Rama
at Cedar Cultural Center
Thursday 05/14/15, 7pm ($15)
thecedar.org

Maryland's Dan Deacon is back in Minneapolis next week, May 14th. We last saw him with Arcade Fire at Target Center in 2014, which John wrote:

Dan Deacon, known for his crowd-interactive DJ sessions followed, involving the entire general admission floor into a dance circle and contest, including a giant-headed masked Win Butler, who was shaking and moving with the pack on the floor.

Sister act Prince Rama (Taraka Larson and Nimai Larson) set to open the show. We haven't heard from them since the Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World album in 2012.

Tour dates:

05-07 Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl
05-08 Seattle, WA - Neumos
05-09 Boise, ID - The Shredder
05-10 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
05-12 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
05-13 Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
05-14 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
05-15 Madison, WI- High Noon Saloon
05-16 Chicago, IL- Thalia Hall
05-17 Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
05-19 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05-20 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
05-21 Montreal, QC - Theatre Fairmount
05-22 Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
05-23 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall

Read More Stephin Merritt Be warned: you may be slightly discomforted at the sounds of the deep, deep vocals of Stephin Merritt. I am still not entirely used to his singing style. .... Owen Ashworth Owen Ashworth, the bearded electro-troubadour behind Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, made sure the audience at the Mercury Lounge knew he was not quitting music. ....

STEPHIN MERRITT
at Cedar Cultural Center
Friday 05/15/15, 7pm ($25)
thecedar.org

Sadly, we noticed Stephin Merritt was absent at Future Bible Heroes' shows in Los Angeles (08 July 2013) and Minneapolis (16 July 2013). It has lead me to believe that Merritt is a bit of a recluse... so imagine my surprise to learn that Merritt is right in the middle of a rare US solo tour!

For this tour, Merritt will perform exactly 26 songs with each song title starting with a different letter of the alphabet and running in alphabetical order. Quick, what "X" song has Magnetic Fields done? How amazing is that? Merritt is such a genius, he can do no wrong.

Advance Base, aka Owen Ashworth (previously known as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone), has been confirmed to open the show.

Randomly: Ryan and I had a great time talking about the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs in our 69-minute podcast, you should listen.

Tour dates:

05/08 Masonic Lodge - Los Angeles, CA
05/09 Masonic Lodge - Los Angeles, CA
05/10 Independent - San Francisco, CA
05/12 Aladdin Theatre - Portland, OR
05/13 Nordstrom Recital Hall - Seattle, WA
05/15 Cedar Cultural Center - Minneapolis, MN
05/16 Wexner Center for the Arts - Columbus, OH
06/09 Sinclair - Cambridge, MA
06/24 Spiegeltent - Annandale on Hudson, NY

Read More Kodaline Kodaline then took the stage (amid the rabid screams of “marry me!” from the all-too-faithful) for a sweeping 75 min. set that already had most of the crowd in their corner before a single note was played. ...

KODALINE w/ Gavin James
at Varsity Theater
Saturday 05/16/15, 6:30pm ($20/Sold Out)
varsitytheater.org

I believe every time Irish rock band Kodaline played in Minnesota, they have sold out all their shows. We've been covering the band since they started coming here... even scheduling in to see them last October, but unfortunately, due to the bassist's arm injury, they had to cancel their tour.

Now the band is back, rescheduled the show at the Varsity Theater next Saturday... and, of course, it is sold out.

The group is back in tour in support of their sophomore album Coming Up For Air, out now via RCA Records.

Dublin's Gavin James set to open the show. James (recently signed to Capitol US/Good Solider for Europe) released his latest single "The Book of Love", which reached #1 in Ireland, Top 10 in Holland, etc. Be sure to show up early to catch this up-and-coming 22-year-old songwriter.

Tour dates:

05/08 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
05/09 Seattle, WA Neptune
05/10 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
05/12 Calgary, AB Flames Central
05/13 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room
05/15 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
05/16 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
05/18 Chicago, IL House of Blues
05/19 Columbus, OH Newport

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex, Los Angeles (07/08/13)

Read More Future Bible Heroes Sure, it's been over ten years since Future Bible Heroes' album Eternal Youth, but that's not stopping Magnetic Field's Stephin Merrit and friends from a new album called Partygoing (coming out June 4 on Merge Records). …

Maggie just saw Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, although technically, she tells me it's in Echo Park.

From this "fun little show" picture below, it looked like a nice, intimate evening. Whenever I see bands sitting down, I know that the audience is there to seriously listen to the music.

Notably, for this tour, Future Bible Heroes is missing Stephin Merritt, however, we still get the other Magnetic Fields (Claudia Gonson and Shirley Simms) and Figures on a Beach (Chris Ewen and Anthony Kaczynski).

The band is currently on tour in support of Partygoing, out now on our favorite Merge Records. Check out their song, "Living, Loving, Partygoing":



We are covering their appearance in Minneapolis, so expect a report, come next Wednesday morning.

Tour dates:

07/09 San Francisco, CA Independent
07/11 Portland, OR Doug Fir
07/12 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
07/16 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
07/17 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
07/21 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
07/22 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
07/23 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
07/25 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
07/26 Washington, DC The Black Cat

Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex, Los Angeles (07/08/13) photograph courtesy of Maggie

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

The Velvet Teen - No One Will Ever Love You

 

The Velvet Teen - No One Will Ever Love You

The Velvet Teen

 

Magnetic Fields - No One Will Ever Love You

In a letter dated Feb 28, 2007, on their official website, it looks like everyone in the band, The Velvet Teen, have left to focus on other projects (and strangely, one of them have died). But that doesn't mean that the band have broken up, according to that letter.

They have released three full length albums, Out Of The Fierce Parade (Mar 2002), Elysium (Jul 2004), and Cum Laude! (Jul 2006). I don't actually have any of their albums, but I did check out a few MP3s from their record company, Slowdance, for free. They sound like your standard indie boy rock band, but then again, I haven't really listen to those songs.

The most interesting of their songs that I have is their cover of the Magnetic Fields' "No One Will Ever Love You" (which is probably undoubtably one of the best songs off their 69-songs triple-album, 69). The Velvet Teen's version features Joshua Staples singing in a, it's hard to describe, like a woman-sounding voice at the start.

I am also including the original version here, which does not feature Stephin Merritt's vocals, but Shirley Simms. For more information about that 69 album, see 69lovesongs.info.

PS, I dedicate this song to Morrissey, who's birthday is today. Steven Patrick, I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday! :)

vu ♥ Links: www.thevelvetteen.com