W♥M

Christmas 2016: Girls girls girls

Read More Marié Digby We previously announced The Hapa Tour (featuring co-headliners Meiko and Marié Digby) earlier in January 2016... and finally the tour will be making a stop at the Cedar Cultural Center this Monday, March 14th. …

Here are some new Christmas / Holiday songs for 2016.

Read more Christmas.

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MARIE DIGBY
marie-digby.com

Singer/songwriter Marié Digby recently released her Christmas song ‘Venice Beach Christmas’ on iTunes and other streaming outlets (read: Spotify).

Unlike the typical Christmas song, featuring snow and cold weather... Digby’s song is all about feeling breezy and beachy.

We saw Digby with Meiko in March 2016 and wrote how she first came to fame with her viral cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ song.

Read More She & Him She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) have a new cover lover album Classics this December 3rd, on Columbia Records. The entire album was recorded live and accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra. …

SHE & HIM
sheandhim.com

New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel and Monsters of Folk’s M. Ward is She & Him. I’ll never forget seeing the duo in June 2010, as the two does not often tour together. Plus with Deschanel’s commitment to her television show, I doubt the two will be doing any future appearances...

There’s good news, of course, She & Him just released their sixth studio album Christmas Party (Columbia Records). Guest appearance on the album includes Jenny Lewis, The Chapin Sisters and Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley.

Christmas Party is available digitally, on CD and vinyl. Tracklisting:

1. All I Want for Christmas Is You
2. Let It Snow
3. Must Be Santa
4. Happy Holiday
5. Mele Kalikimaka
6. Christmas Memories
7. Run Run Rudolph
8. Winter Wonderland
9. The Coldest Night of the Year
10. A Marshmallow World
11. The Man with the Bag
12. Christmas Don't Be Late

Read More Marika Hackman Marika Hackman has announced her long awaited debut album, titled We Slept at Last. The album will be the folk songstress' first full length release in the wake of a string of acclaimed EP's …

MARIKA HACKMAN
marikahackman.com

While we wait for a new Marika Hackman album in 2017, you can pick up her Christmas EP Wonderland now.

“Wonderland” is Marika’s new Alt.Christmas take on some classic holiday tunes, as well as some original compositions.

Hackman’s name first came to our attention at the Great Escape 2013. A few years later, she finally got around to releasing her debut record We Sleep At Last (in 2015) with her producer Charlie Andrew (Alt-J).

Wonderland Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. In The Bleak Midwinter
3. Driving Under Stars
4. O Come, O Come, Emanuel
5. Paper Crown
6. Winter Wonderland

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

Looking Back: March 2016

Read More Meiko Just in time for Valentine's Day, Meiko's five-track EP Lovers & Fighters came out this week (February 10th). You can officially stream the EP over at meikomusic.com. … Marié Digby We previously announced The Hapa Tour (featuring co-headliners Meiko and Marié Digby) earlier in January 2016... and finally the tour will be making a stop at the Cedar Cultural Center this Monday, March 14th. … Lucius At their Rock the Garden show, Lucius previewed a new song (“Dusty Trails”), which just appeared on their latest album Good Grief. … Ty Segall Man, the last time I saw Ty Segall, we were on a boat and Redd Kross’ Steve Mcdonald was on bass! There was maybe about 100 people on the small boat, and it was pretty rad. You can read all about it here: NXNE 2011 (Saturday). …

Here is the wrap-up for last month: March 2016.

Officially, I’m out of winter hibernation ... and thanks to SXSW in Austin, Texas, we got a lot of bands booking Midwest tours. March and April are generally our favorite time of the year.

So, looking back at our 24 shows we covered:

Best Billing goes to the Meiko and Marie Digby at Cedar (03/14). Billed as “The Hapa Tour”, the concept behind this is that they are both Asian mixed.

Canadian Award goes to the Basia Bulat at Cedar Cultural Center (03/08). Like Basia Bulat’s previous appearance, she was quite happy and positively glowing.

Buzz Award goes to the Foxing at Triple Rock (03/04). Loads of young fans helped build up a massive Foxing fanbase in Minneapolis.

Most Entertaining Award goes to the Ty Segall at First Ave (03/09). Segall has been around for ages, but keeping it fresh, he re-invented himself as a giant man-baby. Very interesting...

Local Artist Award goes to Soul Asylum at Electric Fetus (03/25). The local band has been around for ages, but it’s always good to see them perform.

Best Dressed Award goes to Lucius at First Ave (03/23). They have capes!

Non Music Award goes to Daniel Clowes at Magers & Quinn (03/31).

MARCH 2016 (24 Shows)

• 03/01 Silverstein at Mill City • 03/03 Ringo Deathstarr at Turf Club • 03/04 Foxing at Triple Rock • 03/08 Great Good Fine OK at 7th • 03/08 Basia Bulat at Cedar • 03/09 B. Dolan at 7th St • 03/09 Ty Segall at First Ave • 03/09 Tortoise at Cedar • 03/10 Blanck Mass at 7th Street • 03/11 Radiation City at 7th St • 03/12 Protomartyr at 7th Street Entry • 03/14 Meiko/Marie Digby at the Cedar

• 03/15 Chelsea Grin at Amsterdam • 03/16 Freakwater at the Cedar • 03/18 Mest at Amsterdam Bar • 03/19 Brian Fallon at Varsity Theater • 03/19 Nuisance at Neisen's • 03/19 Bob Walkenhorst at Outtakes • 03/23 Lucius at First Ave • 03/23 Puscifer at Northrop • 03/25 Reflections at Fallout • 03/25 Soul Asylum at Electric Fetus • 03/26 Judah & The Lion at Varsity • 03/31 Daniel Clowes at Magers & Quinn

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

The Hapa Tour, ft. Meiko & Marié Digby at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (14 March 2016)

Poster Podcast W♥M248: So Hapa Together Vu and John just caught “The Hapa Tour” at Cedar Cultural Center last night ... So Hapa Together Meiko Setlist Heard It All Before Under My Bed Reasons to Love You How Lucky We Are (aka S**** Apartment) Leave the Lights On Stuck on You Big City (New Song) I Can't Help It (New Song) Boys With Girlfriends Marie Digby Setlist When You Say Nothing at All (Alison Krauss cover) Stupid For You Kings and Queens Jet Streams (New Song) Umbrella (Rihanna cover) What Would I Do Spell Say It Again Meiko's Message from PledgeMusic Hi Everybody! I’m excited to let you know I’m working on a new record! I just moved to Nashville not too long ago, met a really awesome producer named Joshua Grange, and we’re going to start recording new songs! I wanted to do this PledgeMusic campaign because I’m off of my record label (this will be my first TRULY independent release since 2007!), I’m recording on my own terms, and through PledgeMusic I’m able to let you in on the whole process! If you participate, you’ll be able to see all of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans in the studio, hear demos of the songs as they’re recorded, download the record before anyone else has it, and there are a bunch of additional incentives and items you can purchase directly through the PledgeMusic page. Read More Meiko Just in time for Valentine's Day, Meiko's five-track EP Lovers & Fighters came out this week (February 10th). You can officially stream the EP over at meikomusic.com. … Meiko We previously announced The Hapa Tour (featuring co-headliners Meiko and Marié Digby) earlier in January 2016... and finally the tour will be making a stop at the Cedar Cultural Center this Monday, March 14th. …

The Hapa Tour, featuring Meiko and Marié Digby, stopped by Minneapolis at the Cedar Cultural Center on March 14th.

The term ‘hapa’, short for ‘hapa haole’, is taken from a Hawaiian Pidgin word that meaning “half foreign”. When applied to people, it means mixed descent, particularly of half or part Asian or Pacific Islander. Both Meiko and Marié are hapas, and as mentioned on stage, have always wanted to do a tour together with that theme in mind.

Daniel Sun

Local ‘hapa’ Daniel Sun opened up the show. His 30-min set included all original songs, which he was more than happy to share because we got the impression (from his comments on stage) that he normally only plays cover songs.

As of this writing, Sun has not put any of his songs online for streaming (at least we couldn’t find them), but he really wanted to pressed some CDs for the audience... but the timing didn’t quite work out.

A couple of highlights from his set included a New York University commissioned song, “Good Enough”, and his set closer “Working For The Family”, complete with vocal foley trumpets.

Marié Digby

Marié Digby said that it’s been eight years since she played in Minneapolis, referring to her Varsity Theater headlining show on 20 May 2008. According to the internet, the last time Digby was in the area, was actually with Kelly Clarkson at Canterbury Park on 18 July 2010 (and previously with Rudresh Mahanthappa at University of Minnesota on 10 April 2010). Maybe it didn’t count or wasn’t as memorable, as she was only the opener. And technically Shakopee (Canterbury Park) is a bit of a drive from the Twin Cities.

The first thing she wanted us to know that she was in love with the Mall of America, having spent the day there. She couldn’t believe we had this amazing thing... and if she lived here, she would go there every day. That may be her Japanese side speaking (the tourist part), but when she’s normally drinking Scotch whisky (although, last Monday she was drinking tea)... that would probably be her Irish side.

Marié Digby’s Setlist

Digby started her very ‘animated’ 45-min set with an Alison Krauss cover song “When You Say Nothing at All”, followed by “Stupid For You” (a popular single from her debut album Unfold).

She switched over to the house piano for “Kings and Queens”, a newer song from her Chimera EP from 2014. She said that the song was inspired by her time spent in Manila, Philippines. That song was followed by another new song, “Jet Streams”, which was one of her latest songs (available as a free download last December 2015).

Of course, the Rihanna cover (“Umbrella”) was played midway into her set. She encouraged everyone in the audience to help her sing the song.

She decided to do two piano songs back to back (“What Would I Do” and “Spell”), before going back to guitar for her finale, “Say It Again”, her single that was used in both ER and Smallville in 2008.

We’ve been watching over Meiko since her appearance at Hotel Café Music Festival in 2007. From seeing her a few times (SXSW 2009, 7th Street Entry in 2012, and Loring Pasta Bar in 2014), she had always spoke fondly of her time spent working at the Hotel Café. Last Monday, she told us that she was the café’s fill-in favorite when it came to musicians running late or last-minute cancelations, etc. After one of her unexpected performances, a Hollywood woman approached Meiko to ask for permission to use one of her song on Grey's Anatomy. She said, literally overnight, her song “Reasons to Love You” went from 500 to 5 million plays. She decided to put in her two weeks’ notice and went on tour in September 2007 with Brett Dennen (quickly followed as Mat Kearney’s opener).

As we mentioned in our reaction podcast, she left her major label Concord Music Group, in favor of releasing her next album exclusively on PledgeMusic. The new album was recorded in Nashville (where she’s currently living) with producer Joshua Grange. She previewed two songs from the upcoming album, including “Big City” (about long distance relationships) and working title “I Can't Help It” (about her time spent working at an Indian restaurant). For the latter song, she was asking for fans to submit song title ideas to her, one of her ‘punnier’ song titles that was suggested to her, from a previous show, was “Curry Me Away”, which got a loud laugh.

Before ending her 45-min set with “Boys With Girlfriends”, she wanted to thank local station Cities97. As we previously mentioned, she said that “Boys With Girlfriends” was that song the radio station put on rotation and ultimately built up an audience for Meiko in the Twin Cities. As noted earlier, DJ Min Lee was spotted in the audience (and incidentally instagrammed the show).

Overall, it was a very good billing if you love hearing storytelling folky/pop songs. We think it’s a great idea, but sadly, the Hapa tour will end at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle, Washington on March 23rd. Local Seattle support will be with singer/songwrite/hapa Jessie Siren.

Meiko at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (14 March 2016)

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

W♥M248: So Hapa Together

W♥M248: So Hapa Together (11 mins) Read More Meiko Just in time for Valentine's Day, Meiko's five-track EP Lovers & Fighters came out this week (February 10th). You can officially stream the EP over at meikomusic.com. …

Vu and John just caught “The Hapa Tour” at Cedar Cultural Center last night (March 14th), featuring co-headliners Meiko and Marié Digby. The next Hapa stop will be at Tractor Tavern in Seattle, Washington on March 23rd.

We quickly recap local Daniel Sun, Marié, and Meiko.

As we mentioned, Meiko is no longer with major label Concord Music Group, and instead will be releasing her next album (currently untitled) via PledgeMusic. The new album, being recorded in Nashville with producer Joshua Grange, and is now available for pre-order at pledgemusic.com/meiko.

According to the Pledge page, portions of all proceeds will be donated to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Song of the Show:

"Boys with Girlfriends" by Meiko

NOTE: Full review of the show later, this is just a quick reaction and thoughts to the show. We have photos, setlists, and will fill in all the details at a later date.

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com. Recording of this podcast was made possible by Skype, CallGraph, and Audacity.

W♥M247: Hero (19 February 2016) Vu, John W♥M246: Keep Calm and Ringo Deathstarr (31 January 2016) Vu, Emily W♥M245: We Can Be Heroes (05 January 2016) Vu, John W♥M244: 2015 (03 January 2016) Vu, John W♥M243: Reader Meet Author (21 December 2015) Vu, Emily W♥M242: Love Me (11 December 2015) Vu, John

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

Minneapolis: March 13 to March 15, 2016

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from March 13 to March 15, 2016.

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

Read More Elephant 6 For a portion of their set, Elephant 6 alumnus Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo joined Circulatory System onstage. His hauntingly ethereal vocals added an additional layer of surreality to an already surreal set. It’s beautiful …

DRESSY BESSY
at 7th Street Entry
Sunday, 03/13/16, 7:30pm ($10/$12)
first-avenue.com

Denver’s Dressy Bessy is touring to SXSW in Austin, so they’ll be stopping in Minneapolis at the 7th Street Entry on March 13th, in support of their latest Kingsized (Yep Roc Records). You may recall that Dressy Bessy is part of the Elephant Six Collective, who signed some strange indie bands like Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and of Montreal.

Locals Maudlin (husband and wife duo David and Priscilla Priebe) and Monica LaPlante to open.

Tour dates:

03/10 Southgate Revival – Newport, KY
03/11 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
03/12 Kiki’s House – Madison, WI
03/13 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
03/14 – Des Moines Social Club – Des Moines, IA
03/17 SXSW - Contintental Club
03/18 SXSW - Ginger Man
03/18 SXSW - Waterloo Cycles
03/19 SXSW - Yard Dog
03/19 SXSW - Hotel Vegas

Read More Meiko Just in time for Valentine's Day, Meiko's five-track EP Lovers & Fighters came out this week (February 10th). You can officially stream the EP over at meikomusic.com. …

THE HAPA TOUR
ft Meiko & Marie Digby
at Cedar Cultural Center
Monday, 03/14/16, 7pm ($15/$18)
thecedar.org

We previously announced The Hapa Tour (featuring co-headliners Meiko and Marié Digby) earlier in January 2016... and finally the tour will be making a stop at the Cedar Cultural Center this Monday, March 14th.

If you’re not familiar with the term ‘hapa’, it means a person of mix racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. Meiko is one-quarter Japanese on her maternal grandmother’s side, and Marié Digby’s mother is Japanese.

We’ve seen Meiko numerous times and can only say that we’re ‘hapy’ she’s back in town.

Local Daniel Sun to open. To fit in with the theme, we’re assuming he’s also a hapa.

Meiko tour dates:

Mar 10 SPACE Evanston, IL
Mar 11 Vox Concert Series Marshfield, WI
Mar 14 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN
Mar 23 Tractor Tavern Seattle, WA

Read More Ike Reilly Illinois' Ike Reilly started releasing music under his name since the 90s. Then ten years ago, they changed it to The Ike Reilly Assassination (IRA for short). …

THE IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION
with Belfast Cowboys
at Turf Club
Tuesday, 03/15/16, 7pm ($20)
turfclub.net

Indie rock raconteur and singer-songwriter Ike Reilly will be back in town with his band The Ike Reilly Assassination this Tuesday, March 15th, in support of his seventh studio album Born On Fire (Rock Ridge Music / Firebrand Records).

Since its release, press has praised the album Born On Fire. American Songwriter said, “To say this is exciting, unpredictable, idiosyncratic American rock and roll is not to do it justice. Established cult Reilly fans might know what to expect, but even they will be thrilled with the sheer dynamic gusto and rollicking groove he unleashes. It’s pure, unaffected and raw, adjectives that have always described Reilly and result in this explosive album, the culmination of his extensive years in the trenches.”

This 9-piece The Belfast Cowboys to open.

Tour dates:

03/15/16 Saint Paul, MN Turf Club
03/16/16 Iowa City, IA The Mill
03/17/16 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway Nightclub

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