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Kikagaku Moyo at Turf Club, St Paul (22 Nov 2019)

Kikagaku Moyo at Turf Club Read More Kikagaku Moyo Kikagaku Moyo will be headlining the Turf Club this Friday, November 22nd. Show up early to check out... Minami Deutsch Kikagaku Moyo will be headlining the Turf Club this Friday, November 22nd. Show up early to check out...

Stay tuned for a recap of the Kikagaku Moyo and Minami Deutsch sold-out show at the Turf Club on November 22nd. In the meantime, here are some photos from the show.



KIKAGAKU MOYO
+ Minami Deutsch
Turf Club
Fri 11/22/2019 (8pm/$17 )
turfclub.net

Kikagaku Moyo will be headlining the Turf Club this Friday, November 22nd.

Show up early to check out Tokyo’s Minami Deutsch, who is touring in support of the new EP Can’t Get There (Höga Nord Rekords).

Tour dates:

11/11 - Saturn - Birmingham. AL
11/12 - Terminal West - Atlanta, GA
11/13 - Cat’s Cradle - Carrboro, NC
11/14 - Ottobar - Baltimore, MD
11/15 - Warsaw - Brooklyn, NY
11/16 - ArtsRiot - Burlington, VT
11/18 - Grog Shop - Cleveland Heights, OH
11/19 - Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, ON
11/20 - El Club - Detroit. MI
11/21 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL
11/22 - Turf Club - St. Paul, MN
11/23 - Icon Hall + Lounge - Sioux Falls, SD
11/25 - Filling Station - Bozeman, MT
11/26 - Neurolux - Boise, ID
11/29 - The Crocodile - Seattle, WA
11/30 - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR

Minami Deutsch

Minami Deutsch

Minami Deutsch

Kikagaku Moyo

Kikagaku Moyo

Kikagaku Moyo at Turf Club, St Paul (22 Nov 2019)

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Starcrawler at Turf Club, St Paul (16 Oct 2019)

Starcrawler at Turf Club Starcrawler Setlist Home Alone Used to Know Lizzy Toy Teenager Hollywood Ending I Don't Need You Let Her Be Ants I Love LA Pet Sematary (Ramones cover) Rich Taste No More Pennies Born Asleep Bet My Brains Different Angles What I Want Pussy Tower You Dig Yours Train She Gets Around Chicken Woman Read More Starcrawler Los Angeles-based Starcrawler is headlining the Turf Club this Wednesday, October 16. We saw them at Desert Daze 2017 and frontwoman Arrow de Wilde makes the band looks insane! …

Los Angeles band Starcrawler (vocalist Arrow de Wilde, drummer Austin Smith, guitarist Henri Cash, and bassist Tim Franco) headlined the Turf Club in St Paul on October 16th.

Poppy Jean Crawford opened the show with a brief 30 minute set.

Starcrawler first came to our attention with their breakout performance at Desert Daze 2017, where we reported, “Arrow de Wilde of Starcrawler is a badass and I loved their set. She is androgyny at its finest, decked out sparkling Hanes briefs and not giving a crap in the world. They covered [Tom] Petty’s Mary Jane’s Last Dance and played their super-mega hit Ants.”

Since then, the group released their self-titled debut album in March 2018 (for SXSW), and certainly gained notoriety with the audience in Austin, Texas, by “terrorizing the crowd”. They spent the rest of the year conquering Europe, starting with a performance on Later with Jools Holland and touring throughout the UK.

2019 is starting to look even better, having been included in the soundtrack to the Pet Semetary remake (which would explain their Ramones title track midway in their setlist), and now just released their sophomore album Devour You (Rough Trade). The album, particularly their single, “She Gets Around” is getting great reviews, citing it to sounding like 90s rock bands like Nirvana and The Breeders.

As for the Starcrawler’s Turf Club show, it started with a pulse pounding drumming from Austin Smith. This is quickly followed by some bass from Tim Franco… then joining them on stage was guitarist Henri Cash in his Jack White-ish cowboy outfit. This jamming only serves to introduce us to singer Arrow de Wilde, dressed like a zombie ballerina, as she starts dancing and singing “Home Alone”.

Visually and performance-wise, this is probably our favorite show of Rocktober. Everything from de Wilde strangling herself with the mic cords, to Cash’s guitar playing on the Turf Club’s bar (see photo!), to that faithful cover of the Ramones’ “Pet Semetary” song was done amazingly well.

Starcrawler’s Devour You is out now.

Remaining tour dates:

10/19/19 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
10/22/19 - Montreal - Bar Le Rtiz PDB
10/23/19 - Somerville, MA - ONCE Ballroom
10/25/19 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/26/19 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
10/27/19 - Washington, DC - Pie Shop
10/28/19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café
10/30/19 - Detroit, MI - Hell Night @Third Man Records
10/31/19 - Nashville, TN - Halloween @Third Man Records
11/1/19 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5
11/2/19 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
11/5/19 - Austin, TX - Barracuda
11/8/19 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
11/9/19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
11/16/19 - Berlin - Maze Club
11/17/19 - Rotterdam - Rotown
11/18/19 - Antwerp - Kavka
11/20/19 - Paris - Petit Bain
11/21/19 - London - Underworld
12/4/19 - Tokyo - Liquid Room
12/5/19 - Osaka - Banana Hall
12/6/19 - Nagoya - Club Quattro

Starcrawler at Turf Club, St Paul (16 Oct 2019)

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The Midnight Hour at Turf Club, St Paul (06 Oct 2019)

Midnight Hour at Turf Club Setlist The Midnight Hour Theme Black Beacon Gate 54 Redneph in B Minor Mission Excursions (A Tribe Called Quest song) Better Endeavor There Is No Greater Love Drum Solo Do It Together Dans un moment d'errance February (Adrian Younge song) Questions Dead Vets (The Gaslamp Killer cover) Shot Me in the Heart (Adrian Younge song) Ravens It's You Read More The Midnight Hour The Midnight Hour is a 10-piece ensemble, featuring A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge, among others. The group is touring in support of their sophomore album Younge's Linear Labs. . ...

10-piece ensemble The Midnight Hour, featuring Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge headlined the Turf Club on Sunday, October 6th.

Playing before the show and between bands was Sound Verite’s DJ Jon Jon Scott. Scott and Darin Carr hosts the Sound Verite Radio show on radio station KFAI… playing a collection of jazz, soul, reggae, hip-hop, local, and world music.

Opening up the show was the Midnight Hour’s backing band, billed simply by their three names: Loren Oden, Angela Muñoz, and Jack Waterson. As they ended their jazzy/loungey set, Waterson mentioned, “Like Voltron we will reform as the backing band for the Midnight Hour.”

The Midnight Hour took the stage and you can hear the crowd cheering to see Ali Shaheed Muhammad (famous for being in A Tribe Called Quest) and Adrian Younge in their nicely dressed suits.

Younge mentioned that the group was last in town about a year ago and was pleased to see the same fans returning to see them again. When he noticed many fans were in the back, he joked, “Is there a band playing back there? Because we’re up here!” Immediately the audience gathered around the front of the stage.

While The Midnight Hour’s music is more jazz in nature, there are some evidence of hip-hop and experimentation, thanks to Younge and Muhammad’s influences… but it’s clear that the band can interpret and re-interpret and change their songs as need would have it. The group’s very flexible in adapting their playing.

The band did play an old A Tribe Called Quest song, “Excursions” and a few Adrian Younge’s solo work, but the music is done in a new composition.

Remaining Tour Dates:

Oct 20 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
Oct 22 St Louis, MO - Firebird
Oct 23 Lincoln, NE - Duffy's Tavern
Oct 25 San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger
Oct 26 Austin, TX - Flamingo Cantina
Oct 27 Fort Worth, TX - Shipping and Receiving
Oct 28 Kansas City, MO - recordBar
Oct 30 Denver, CO - Globe Hall
Nov 04 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
Nov 05 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
Nov 06 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Nov 07 Sacramento, CA. Harlow's
Nov 10 Oakland, CA - The New Parish
Nov 14 Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant
Nov 16 Palm Springs, CA - The Alibi
Nov 17 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Nov 21 Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room Highland Park

The Midnight Hour at Turf Club, St Paul (06 Oct 2019)

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Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at Turf Club, St Paul (22 Sep 2019)

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at Turf Club Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Setlist Surf's Up with Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" intro Found God in a Tomato Marmalade March Hymn for a Droid Bill's Mandolin Dependant on Mary Cubensis Lenses Keen for Kick Ons Cornflake -- Encore -- Nek Read More Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Australia’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets is headlining the Turf Club on Sunday, September 22nd. The group shares its psych-rock sound with other contemporaries like Tame Impala… ...

Australia’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (Jack McEwan as singer and guitarist, Luke Parish on guitars, Danny Caddy on drums, and Luke Reynolds on bass) headlined the Turf Club on Sunday, September 22nd.

California’s Meatbodies (aka “Chad and the Meatbodies”) opened the show. If you didn’t know, the band consists of Chad Ubovich (who also plays bass in Fuzz and touring member of Mikal Cronin), Kevin Boog and Patrick Nolan.

My favorite of their set was penultimate song “Alice”, which went on jamming well after it’s supposed to end.

Perth, Australia’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets closed out the show. If you’re a fan of Tame Impala and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard , you’ll really like PPC.

The band playfully started their set with the unique guitar riffs from Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”, before kicking into “Surf's Up”.

The band’s fairly new, releasing their debut, High Visceral (Part 1) in 2016, but quickly followed by Part 2 a year later. The band’s third album is called And Now For The Whatchamacallit (What Reality? Records).

Remaining Tour Dates:

Sept 25 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL
Sept 26 - The Loving Touch - Detroit, MI
Sept 27 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON
Sept 28 - L'esco - Montreal, QC
Sept 29 - Great Scott - Boston, MA
Oct 1 - Rock & Roll Hotel - Washington, DC
Oct 2 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA
Oct 4 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
Oct 5 - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT
Oct 7 - Ace of Cups - Columbus, OH
Oct 8 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN
Oct 10 - Sister The Bar - Albuquerque, NM
Oct 11-13 - Desert Daze - Moreno Beach, CA
Oct 18 - Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
Oct 21 - Portland Arms, Cambridge
Oct 22 - Electric Ballroom, London
Oct 24 - The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent
Oct 25 - Band On The Wall, Manchester
Oct 26 - The Mash House, Edinburgh
Oct 28 - Plug, Sheffield
Oct 29 - The Haunt, Brighton
Oct 31 - Bitterzoet, Amsterdam
Nov 1 - Kavka, Antwerp
Nov 2 - Tower Musikclub, Bremen
Nov 5 - Hafenklang, Hamburg
Nov 6 - Cassiopeia, Berlin
Nov 8 - MeetFactory, Prague
Nov 9 - Exit, Zurich
Nov 12 - Sala Razzmatazz 3, Barcelona
Nov 13 - Wurlitzer Ballroom, Madrid
Nov 15 - Le Pingouin Alternatif, Arthez de Bearn
Nov 16 - Le Point Ephemere, Paris

Meatbodies

Meatbodies

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at Turf Club, St Paul (22 Sep 2019)

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The Bird and the Bee at Turf Club, St Paul (11 August 2019)

Bird and Bee at Turf Club Bird & the Bee Setlist Polite Dance Song Again & Again Panama (Van Halen cover) Young & Dumb Will You Dance? My Love Man Please Take Me Home Runnin' with the Devil (Van Halen cover) Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love (Van Halen cover) Love Letter to Japan Meteor Sara Smile I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Daryl Hall & John Oates cover) F*cking Boyfriend Preparedness -- Encore -- I'm a Broken Heart How Deep Is Your Love? (Bee Gees cover) Inara solo Alex Lilly Setlist Distracting Me Why Pornographic Mind Firefly Sunset Beach Paranoid Times 2% Milk Samantha Sidley Setlist Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland cover) I Like Girls Bufferfly Only You Busy Doin' Nothin' (Beach Boys cover) Interior Person Talk is Funny Read More The Bird and the Bee We’re kind of excited to hear that The Bird and The Bee is back with a new cover album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (available August 2 on No Expectations… Alex Lilly Alex Lilly and Samantha Sidley to open. It’s good to see Lilly’s name again, as she previously toured and opened up for the Bird and Bee in November 2015. … Samantha Sidley Alex Lilly opened up the show with her two helper-singers (Samantha Sidley and Inga Roberts) and Wendy Wang on guitar. They were mostly all wearing a purple sparkly dress ... and you find out later that Lilly, Sidley and Wang are also all in The Bird and the Bee's live band. …

The Bird And The Bee headlined the Turf Club in St Paul on August 11th.

Opening the show was Samantha Sidley, who thanked the audience for “breaking my touring virginity”. This is true and false, as she was on tour with The Bird and the Bee previously, but simply a backup singer. This time around, she is the lead singer and performer, directing and putting together songs to sing.

Joining Sidley on stage was multi-instrumentalist Vikram Devasthali, guitarist Alex Lilly, and Sidley’s wife Barbara Gruska on drums. All the members would later resurface as Lilly and Inara George’s backup bands/backup singers.

Sidley has only released a couple of singles, and working to release her debut album Interior Person… but already critics have already called her music “lesbian jazz”, mainly thanks to the lead single “I Like Girls”.

Like many jazz musicians, Sidley also admit that none of the songs she was singing were written by her, instead relying on Lilly or Gruska to provide the songs. She filled up the rest of her brief set with two covers, a Judy Garland song, “Over the Rainbow” (which appears on The Wizard of Oz) and a Beach Boys cover of “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” (from the album Friends).

Next up was Alex Lilly with another brief set, featuring, once again the talented Vikram Devasthali, and backup singers Samantha Sidley and Barbara Gruska (who came and went when the song required them to appear).

The last time we saw Lilly perform, she only had one album, so she basically played them all. Now she’s about to release 2% Milk, so the majority of these songs are from the new album. Plenty to love about the new songs, including “Pornographic Mind” and set closer, title track.

The Bird And The Bee took the stage shortly after. As singer Inara George would later explain, the show almost didn’t happen: “our bus broke down twice getting here!”

Again, as already previously established, co-creator Greg Kurstin was not at the show. This is because he refuses to tour, and Inara George had to clarify that the band did not break up or anything. I think by now, fans already know this is the case.

Vikram Devasthali would fill in Kurstin’s place, playing everything from trombones to acoustic to bass, etc. Similar to their Nov 2015 show, Alex Lilly and Samantha Sidley would become backup singers.

In addition to the terrible bus problems, the show started off on the wrong foot with singer Inara George saying how much she loves Minneapolis. She was immediately corrected by the crowd in front: “we’re in St Paul!” George would settle on saying how much she loves “The Twin Cities!”

To promote the forthcoming Van Halen cover lover album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (No Expectations / Release Me Records) the group played three VH songs, “Panama”, “Runnin’ with the Devil”, and “Ain’t Talkin’”. The first of the three was song by Samantha Sidley, because George played the trombones.

Overall, you can tell that these ladies (Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Samantha Sidley) loved touring and love meeting their fans. They certainly enjoyed the last time they were in town (in 2015), so you can bet they’ll be back in the area for a future tour.

Technically there wasn’t an encore, but rather the rest of the band leaves the stage, while Inara George stay on to play requests. She would facetime Greg Kurstin to keep him in as part of the show.

Tour dates:

08/11/19 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
08/12/19 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village *
08/14/19 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
08/15/19 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
08/16/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
08/17/19 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere *
08/20/19 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
08/21/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
08/22/19 - Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn *
08/24/19 - Dallas, TX @ Trees *
08/25/19 - Austin, TX @ Parish *
08/28/19 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
08/29/19 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
08/30/19 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop *

* = support from Samantha Sidley and Alex Lilly

Samantha Sidley

Samantha Sidley

Alex Lilly

Alex Lilly

Alex Lilly

Alex Lilly

Setlist

The Bird And The Bee

The Bird And The Bee

The Bird And The Bee

The Bird And The Bee at Turf Club, St Paul (11 August 2019)

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We Were Promised Jetpacks at Turf Club, St Paul (14 July 2019)

We Were Promised Jetpacks 2019 Tour WWPJ Setlist    These Four Walls It's Thunder and It's Lightning Ships With Holes Will Sink Roll Up Your Sleeves Conductor A Half Built House This Is My House, This Is My Home Quiet Little Voices Moving Clocks Run Slow Short Bursts Keeping Warm An Almighty Thud    Post-Walls Set Hanging In Boy in the Backseat The More I Sleep, the Less I Dream. Sore Thumb Pear Tree Tour Dates 07.17 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos 07.18 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge 07.20 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's 07.21 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Teragram 07.22 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah 07.23 - Phoeniz, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom 07.25 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk 07.26 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada 07.28 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West 07.29 - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall 07.30 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall 07.31 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Read More We Were Promised Jetpacks Scottish rock band We Were Promised Jetpacks is back in town with their fourth full-length album, The More I Sleep The Less I Dream. …

Scottish rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks are currently enjoying a tenth anniversary tour of their debut record These Four Walls (FatCat Records), stopping by the Turf Club on Sunday, July 14.

Opening up the show was Glasgow’s Catholic Action (guitarist/main singer Chris McCrory, drummer Ryan Clark, bassist Jamie Dubber, and lead guitarist Andrew Macpherson). Although the band’s played SXSW in Austin, Texas, in 2018, and some shows in the US (with Veers in Hollywood and with Womps in Austin in 2017)… this was the band’s first full U.S. touring schedule - thanks to their friends WWPJ.

Make no mistake, despite being somewhat new to the country, singer/band leader Chris McCrory did not give off inexperience vibes. The group was very comfortable on stage, concentrating on their two guitarists and bassist, all standing front and center and moving in unison. You can tell they’ve been doing this rock ‘n roll thing for a while now.

They mentioned they’re debuting a live song at the Turf Club, a song that sounded like they called “Crawling Backward”. Near the end of their brief 30-min set, lead guitarist Andrew Macpherson took over singing duties for “I'm No Artist”… which lead up to their set closer “L.U.V.”

As for We Were Promised Jetpacks, the group formed in Edinburgh in2003, featuring singer/guitarist Adam Thompson, original guitarist Michael Palmer, bassist Sean Smith, and drummer Darren Lackie, and won their school’s “Battle of the Bands” competition. The majority of the band moved to Glasgow, and they played local gigs. It was a long road, but eventually Frightened Rabbits asked WWPJ to be their support for their tour of The Midnight Organ Fight… and through recommendation from the esteemed band, WWPJ found themselves signing to FatCat Records in 2008.

We caught WWPJ at SXSW 2009 in March 2009, and heard them playing some songs from their then soon to be released debut album These Four Walls. The record came out June 15, 2009.

We’ve seen the band on and off throughout the years (Feb 2014 and Sep 2018), and have concluded that the Scottish band (like most foreign bands) don’t come over to America all that often.

So, for their 10th Anniversary tour of These Four Walls, the band was happy to come back to the US to play their debut album live complete, from start to finish. Unlike other album anniversary tours we’ve seen, those tour can be overly complicated because of the band’s choice in musical instruments or sound production that makes it impossible to reproduce as a full concert. Thankfully, These Four Walls had very little overdubs and mixes, and sounds the same when played live.

Based on hearing their fans singing back songs and waiting in anticipation of their favorite track, the album seems to have somewhat of a cult following from their devoted fanbase. For fans who already had the CD or digital version of These Four Walls, they were still very happy to re-buy the record as a re-issued a clear vinyl with bonus tracks (live, unrelease, demos, acoustic, etc) from FatCat Records.

WWPJ continues their tour for These Four Walls. If you love the 10 year old album, it’s time to hear the record again completely live on this special tour.

Catholic Action

Catholic Action

Catholic Action

Catholic Action

We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks at Turf Club, St Paul (14 July 2019)

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Cayucas at Turf Club, St Paul (07 July 2019)

Cayucas at Turf Club Cayucas Setlist Melrose Place Real Life Jessica WJ Will "The Thrill" Hella A Summer Thing Ayawa 'kya East Coast Girl Deep Sea Winter of '98 East Coast Girl Dancing At The Blue Lagoon Backstroke High School Lover Alligator Moony Eyed Walrus Read More Cayucas I have Santa Monica based indie-pop band Cayucas (featuring twin brothers, Zach and Ben Yudin) is back in the area, playing the Turf Club this July 7th. Cayucas’ latest Real Life is out now via Park The Van Records…

California band Cayucas headlined the Turf Club in St Paul on Sunday, July 7.

Opening the show was Lucid VanGuard. Taking the stage was Karl Remus on vocals/guitars, Warren Thomas Fenzi on drums, Bailey Cogan (aka 26 Bats!) on keys, Christian Wheeler on bass, Daniel “Chavo” Chavez on trumpet … and for this live performance, they’re joined by Dave on guitars (I didn’t catch the last name when they were introducing the band near the end of their set). The group is part of the record label/collective Kremblems.

Lucid VanGuard’s latest release is “Sound of Nature”, and musically, it suggests the band’s music is more natural and atmospheric than typical pop/rock groups. After thanking the audience for listening, the band ended their set with “Angelina”.

Look for Lucid Vanguard at Laughing Sun Brewing in North Dakota on July 13, Mortimers in Minneapolis on July 26 (with get thee to The Nunnery), and for Rocktober: White Wall Sessions in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on October 4th.

We’ve been writing about Cayucas since 2013… which was early in the group’s formation. The band, led by twin brothers Zach Yudin and Ben Yudin, signed with Secretly Canadian in 2012 and released their debut Bigfoot. The record did incredibly well with critics, particularly Filter and the Guardian (who said the record was “endless summer pop”).

Currently, the Santa Monica group is touring in support of their new album Real Life (The Van Records). The group stopped by the Turf Club in St Paul as part of their tour. Ben thanked the audience and knew the differences between St Paul and its rival, Minneapolis. The group also mentioned how much they enjoy St Paul, even though they confessed they played the 7th Street Entry (Minneapolis) a “bunch of times”.

Diehard fans loved the classic singles (“East Coast Girl”, “High School Lover”), but those only came in the later half of their set. Most of their early songs consisted of Real Life songs - including new hit single “Jessica WJ”. The new song is described as “tropical-pop”, and already had over 1.5 million streams on Spotify.

Remaining tour dates:

07/12/2019 Club Cafe Pittsburgh, PA
07/14/2019 Once Ballroom
07/15/2019 Elsewhere Brooklyn, NY
07/18/2019 U Street Music Hall Washington, DC
07/23/2019 High Watt Nashville, TN
08/02/2019 The Roxy Theatre West Hollywood, CA

Lucid Vanguard

Lucid Vanguard

Cayucas

Cayucas

Cayucas at Turf Club, St Paul (07 July 2019)

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Operators and Doomsquad at Turf Club, St Paul (29 May 2019)

Operators at Turf Club Operators Setlist Days In Moderan I Feel Emotion Memories of the Future * Terminal Beach Despair Come & See I'm Confused * Faithless Low Life -- Encore -- Serve the People * True Cold Light * Handsome Furs song Read More Operators Operators is the project of Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits). Their debut album Blue Wave will come out April 1st on Last Gang Records... but you can preview these new songs on this upcoming 7th Street Entry ...

Montreal’s Operators headlined the Turf Club on Wednesday, May 29th, in support of their new album Radiant Dawn (Last Gang Records).

Toronto’s electro-psych, dance-rock trio Doomsquad (stylized as DOOMSQUAD and previously spelled as Doom Squad) opened the show. As we previously mentioned, the group are siblings: Trevor, Jaclyn and Allie Blumas. Trevor Blumas is probably the best-known for co-starring in Ice Princess, a Disney film from 2005.

Their music, although described as dance-rock, hearing them live, it sounds like dance/darkwave and sometime like something you would hear from The Fall (rest in peace, Mark E Smith). All three traded vocals and takes over lead vocals for their respective songs.

You can also tell they are natural performers - based on their choice of clothing and clear plastic that covered their instruments (and body parts). It’s all part of their theme for their album Let Yourself Be Seen (out last month on Bella Union). The record was recently announced as landing #1 on the Canada National Electronic charts.

They started their set with one of their popular single, “Weather Patterns”, but personally speaking, my favorite song on their set was “General Hum” (mostly for using cleverly using Instagram in a lyric).

Operators (not to be confused with England's The Operators or Los Angeles' post-grunge band Operator or New York’s quartet Operator Music Band) is back in town in support of Radiant Dawn. We first mentioned the group in 2016, when Operators went out to promote their debut record Blue Wave (Last Gang Records).

To give you a little background, the Synth-pop trio (featuring Dan Boeckner, Devojka, and Sam Brown) is essentially a project from Dan Boeckner, who is/was a member of Wolf Parade, Atlas Strategic, Handsome Furs, and supergroup Divine Fits. If you look over their setlist (photo included), you’ll notice quite a few Handsome Furs’ songs (including “Memories of the Future” and “I’m Confused”). These Operators’ shows are probably the only way to hear these songs live, because Handsome Furs ended in 2012, when Boeckner and now ex-wife Alexei Perry announced their breakup. In many ways, Handsome Furs seemed like the original blueprint that Operators’ music is based upon.

With Radiant Dawn out now, it’s natural that those songs are the emphasis on this set. In fact, with the exception of the Handsome Furs’ songs, the entire set is from Radiant Dawn. It’s only during the encore do we get some older songs, including “True” from the original EP EP1 and “Cold Light” from the debut album Blue Wave.

Remaining tour dates:

6/1 - Saskatoon, SK - Capitol 6/3 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite 6/4 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth 6/6 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs 6/7 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune 6/8 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune 6/9 - Seattle, WA - Neumos 6/10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir 6/12 - San Francisco, CA - Independent 6/13 - Los Angeles CA - Teragram 6/14 - San Diego, CA - Casbah 6/15 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar 6/17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court 6/18 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake 6/19 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad 6/20 - Dallas, TX - Three Links 6/21 - Austin, TX - 3TEN ACL Live 6/22 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall 6/24 - Atlanta, GA - Earl 6/25 - Nashville, TN - High Watt

6/26 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups 7/10 - Allston, MA - Great Scott 7/11 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 7/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's 7/13 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall 8/29 – Tromsø, NO – DRIV Festival 8/31 – Skopje, MK – Zradvo Mladi Festival 9/01 – Belgrade, RS – Elektropionir 9/03 – Budapest, HU – Durer Kert 9/04 – Zagreb, HR – Vintage Industrial Bar 9/05 – Vienna, AT – Fluc 9/06 – Prague, CZ – Meet Factory 9/07 – Berlin, DE - Torstrassenfestival 9/11 – Rijeka, HR – Klub Zivot 9/12 – Ljubijana, SL - KINO ŠIŠKA 9/15 – Colmar, FR – Le Grillen 9/17 – Luxembourg, LX – De Gudde Wellen 9/18 – Rotterdam, NL – Rotown 9/19 – London, UK – Sebright Arms 9/20 – Bucharest, RO – Control Club 9/21 – Cluj Napoca, RO – Form Café

Doomsquad

Doomsquad

Doomsquad

Doomsquad

Doomsquad

Operators Setlist

Operators

Operators

Operators

Operators

Operators

Operators at Turf Club, St Paul (29 May 2019)

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

Iceage at Turf Club, St Paul (06 May 2019)

Iceage at Turf Club Iceage Setlist Under the Sun Beyondless The Lord's Favorite Thieves Like Us Abundant Living Plead the Fifth White Rune The Day the Music Dies Take It All Morals Plowing Into the Field of Love Ecstacy Hurrah Pain Killer Power Ballad Catch It Read More Iceage The Copenhagen four-piece punk band Iceage stopped by Minneapolis' Triple Rock Social Club last night, April 7th, as part of their tour for You're Nothing, out now on Matador Records. … Nadah El Shazly Show up early to check out Nadah El Shazly. Tour dates: April 27 - Victoria, BC @ Distrikt April 28 - Vancouver, BC @ The Astoria April 30 - Calgary, AB @ Dicken’s Pub & …

Danish punk rock band Iceage headlined the Turf Club, in St Paul, on Monday, May 6th.

Opening up the show was Egyptian singer/producer Nadah El Shazly, playing tracks from her debut album Ahwar. What’s really unique about her music is that she blends classical Arabic sound with a electronic and free-jazz music.

The story of Nadah El Shazly is that she started taking piano lessons and studying music pre-School, at her mother’s bidding (even though her family is from a non-musical lineage). At the age of 17, she fronted Sick Gdrch, a Misfits cover punk band… and in 2009, El Shazly took a gig as a jazz cover band at a Cairo hotel. Her first take on electronica began with a a short-lived, but beloved cult band, Shorba… and that long road led her to the type of unique music that she’s producing with her record Ahwar.

Nadah El Shazly is basically a one-woman-band, using her Macbook to play samples and loops, while she uses the keyboard and harmonize with her vocals. I believe none of her songs were in English, but no one in the audience minded as they groove to the beats. If you love World Music with a touch of experimental modern take on the genre, you’ll find a lot to like in El Shazly’s songs.

Copenhagen’s Iceage (singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, guitarist Johan Surrballe Wieth, bassist Jakob Tvilling Pless, drummer Dan Kjær Nielsen) is back. The last time we saw the band (at the now-defunct Triple Rock Social Club in April 2013), we said, “Singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt looked very emotional - yet with a blank uncaring stare that reminded me of Ian Curtis. Their music wouldn't really fit neatly in a punk genre; they seem to have a little self-loathing to their lyrics and sound.”

For the 2019 tour, Iceage brought on an extra rhythm guitarist (possibly Lars Greve?), leaving Rønnenfelt sole singing duties. Again, there’s a raw energy and hidden rage within Rønnenfelt’s performance.

Looking over their setlist, they did play songs from their fourth album Beyondless (including the title track, played early in their set), and seemed really excited about the new material. The new songs seemed less depressing, and more rock-friendly music. In fact, I would have to say that Beyondless is probably their most poppiest album, especially with violins, trumpets, saxophones on their songs (even going so far as sharing a duet with pop singer Sky Ferreira on the recorded version of “Pain Killer”).

Remaining tour dates:

May 7 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall &
June 23 – Amsterdam, NL @ NDSM
July 5 - Dumfries & Galloway, UK @ Electric Fields
June 7 - Sat. June 8 - DMZ Peace Train @ Seoul, KR
June 11 - WWW @ Shibuya, JP

Nadah El Shazly

Nadah El Shazly

Iceage

Iceage

Iceage

Iceage

Iceage at Turf Club, St Paul (06 May 2019)

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

Aldous Harding w/ Yves Jarvis at Turf Club, St. Paul (15 April 2019)

Aldous Harding 2019 Tour Dates Aldous Harding Setlist Designer Zoo Eyes Treasure The Barrel Damn Weight of the Planets Heaven is Empty Pilot Blend -- Encore -- Right Down the Line (Gerry Rafferty cover) Old Peel Yves Jarvis Setlist sugar coated A Level Playing Field I Felt the Evening Come Through the Window Fruits of Disillusion That Don't Make It So Hard to Say Bye The Plight Comes Pigs at the Helm To Say That is Easy Nothing New Goodbye Reason, Goodbye Rhyme Into the Forefront Staying in Line Talking or Listening? Aldous Harding Tour Dates 22 APRIL Rickshaw Stop San Francisco, CA 24 APRIL Zebulon Los Angeles, CA 12 MAY Privatclub Berlin, Germany 14 MAY Botanique - Rotonde Brussels, Belgium 15 MAY Concorde 2 Brighton 16 MAY J2, Cambridge Junction Cambridge 17 MAY Brudenell Social Club Leeds 18 MAY Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow 19 MAY The Cluny 2 Newcastle Upon Tyne 21 MAY Manchester Gorilla Manchester 22 MAY EartH London 23 MAY Trinity Centre Bristol 25 MAY La Maroquinerie Paris, France 26 MAY Maison Folie Wazemmes Lille, France 28 MAY Stereolux - Salle Micro Nantes, France 29 MAY Rock School Barbey Bordeaux, France 29 MAY – SUN 2 JUNE Primavera Spain 30 MAY – 1 JUNE This Is Not A Love Song France 31 MAY – 2 JUNE Best Kept Secret Festival Hilvarenbeek, NL 6– 8 JUNE NOS Primavera Sound Porto, Portugal 29 JUNE – 6 JULY Roskilde Festival Roskilde, Denmark 7 JULY Cactusfestival 2019 Bruges, Belgium 12 JULY Iveagh Gardens Dublin, Ireland 13 JULY Barclaycard British Summer Time London 25–28 JULY Port Eliot Festival 2019 St Germans 2–4 AUGUST OFF Festival Katowice, Poland 15–18 AUGUST Green Man Festival Brecon Beacons 11 NOVEMBER AB Flex Brussels, Belgium 12 NOVEMBER La Cigale Paris, France 13 NOVEMBER La Laiterie Strasbourg, France 15 NOVEMBER Locomotiv Club Bologna, Italy 16 NOVEMBER Bogen F Zürich, Switzerland 18 NOVEMBER Feierwerk / Kranhalle Munich 19 NOVEMBER Artheater Cologne, Germany 20 NOVEMBER Heimathafen Neukölln Berlin 22 NOVEMBER Cosmopolite Oslo, Norway 23 NOVEMBER Fasching Stockholm, Sweden 26 NOVEMBER Knust Hamburg, Germany 29 NOVEMBER The Institute 2 Birmingham 30 NOVEMBER Manchester Academy 2 Manchester 1 DECEMBER Summerhall Edinburgh 4 DECEMBER Arts Club Liverpool Liverpool 5 DECEMBER Roundhouse London 6 DECEMBER The 1865 Southampton 7 DECEMBER O2 Academy Bristol Bristol Read More Aldous Harding New Zealand’s Aldous Harding was up next, playing sensitive acoustic songs from her self-titled album (Flying Nun Records). She’s joined by a keyboard player after Harding solo song ‘Swell Does the Skull’. ...

For New Zealand singer/songwriter Aldous Harding, it’s a brave new world--

Already buzzing with critics and selling out most of her upcoming shows, her third full-length is called Designer (4AD Records) and is due out April 26 with a busy spring and summer ahead, culminating in mid-July at London’s Hyde Park in front of 100,000+, but we managed to see her at the much more intimate Turf Club in St. Paul.

For Montreal-based Yves Jarvis, it is a new world as well-- having released The Same But By Different Means (ANTI- Records) under this name after being once known as Un Blonde (and his given name of Jean-Sebastian Audet) and finds some similarities (other than a simple name change and high afro) with pre-fame Prince.

Like the prolific Minneapolis artist, Jarvis is equally serious and has a preset internal standard of musical excellence about his output, has committed himself to insular composing of a complete song per day at one point, played the many different instruments (as well as did the cover art) on his record, and blends the elements of R&B/soul with more experimental sounds and genres.

With forest-like sounds, bird and insect chirping, and churning wind as backing ambiance resonating throughout his thirty-five minute opening set, Jarvis managed fourteen compositions in that brief time, most coming off as evolving musical sketches instead of finished drawings, creatively both asking and answering on multi levels of consciousness, and the product of the process of creation, rather than just the end result.

The St. Paul venue for this show can often be boisterous, filled with Pabst-swilling hipsters and area blue collar residents, which is why it was so surprising to hear complete silence as Aldous Harding took to the stage for her headlining sixty-five minute set. Before she entered, her band went up first, took their positions and just waited quiet and motionless, as the crowd came around to do the same.

After Harding’s 2017 release Party (produced by PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish) went on to critical acclaim and ended up winning the Taite Music Prize, expectations were high for the follow-up, done again with Parish over a couple week’s in the producer’s native Bristol and Wales.

Harding began with the upcoming album’s title track, set to a slow beat that Duluth’s Low would envy and vocals that could move from a higher-pitched young and innocent tone like early Kate Bush, to something deeper and smokier, like a Marianne Faithful or Nico, at a turn of a phrase.

She was still developing this vision when we first saw her in 2016, but has noticeably musically matured into a subtle and low-key force of nature. All but the first track of the new record were played live, though several of the songs like ‘Pilot’ were composed and debuted live on her last tour.

After the first few songs on guitar, Harding moved to piano for ‘Damn’, first exhaling frustratingly presumably about the tuning or specific setup. “Why must you drag all the hopes out of bed? I blame the seasons, we all have our reasons” Harding sings over a slow keyboard melody, mindful that the spaces and the sparseness, are as important as any notes played or lyrics sung.

A swoop of synth strings punctuated the end of a line on the gentle folk of ‘Weight of the Planets’ and the goth heaviness of ‘Heaven is Empty’ (that sounded similar in theme to Bowie’s ‘Black Star’) was simply composed traveling by train. Harding commits live to her performances, often staring wide-eyed or focused in place, sometimes with eyes rolled back as she delivers a key lyric.

“I'm ashamed of the quiet but I want to be silent, always practicing, still no grace” Harding sings on the introspective of ‘Pilot’, a somewhat sad existential self-conversation admitting faults and questioning her own fears and anxieties. 2016’s ‘Blend’ would end the main set, but the well-behaved crowd would not go quietly until an encore was answered, and the band returned for two more songs.

Changing from her handwritten setlist notes, ‘Elation’ was instead replaced by a slow-turning Gerry Rafferty cover of ‘Right Down the Line’, with Harding emoting in a high-key, like ‘Wuthering Heights’-era Kate Bush. “This is a new one- it’s not on Designer, it’s not anywhere” Harding said, then picking up a drumstick and black ceramic coffee cup to use as island-like tinking percussion for her most upbeat tempo song of the evening, ‘Old Peel’ which would close out things.

Two artists, both equally internally focused on bringing their musical visions to life, made for an entertaining and surprisingly subdued evening at an unlikely venue –the names Yves Jarvis and Aldous Harding may both now just be a whisper from a music-savvy connoisseur, but their own talents say that secret will grow louder and more known, as both enter their own brave new worlds.

(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)

Yves Jarvis	Yves Jarvis	Yves Jarvis	Setlist
Aldous Harding	Aldous Harding	Aldous Harding	Aldous Harding

Aldous Harding at Turf Club, St. Paul (15 April 2019)

john (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic