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Tour Dates
11/15/11 Albuquerque, NM @ Burt's Tiki Lounge
11/17/11 Omaha, NE @ O'Leaver's 11/18/11 IPR DIY360 12/03/11 Phantom Riot @ The Triple Rock 12/05/11 Madison, WI @ The High Noon Saloon 12/06/11 Milwaukee, WI @ The Borg Ward 12/08/11 Indianapolis, IN @ The Helter Shelter 12/09/11 Columbus, OH @ The Ravari Room 12/10/11 Cincinnati, OH @ The Drinkery 12/13/11 Washington, DC @ Solly's 12/14/11 Philly, PA @ The Fire 12/15/11 Richmond, VA @ TBA 12/16/11 Greensboro, NC @ The Green Bean 01/12/12 Minneapolis, MN @ Hells Kitchen Read More I've seen this band, both as Ice Palace and as Fort Wilson Riot, they are pretty well-known in the Twin Cities.
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I stumbled across local act Fort Wilson Riot by accident, nearly four years ago, when they played a New Year’s Eve show at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis. It was love at first sight.
Maybe ‘love’ is too strong a word; after all, one hardly considers being trampled by a sad mosh pit of urban lumberjacks and their pixie mates the peak of romantic enlightenment. Nevertheless, amidst the fanatical cries of those really excited about the year 2009, I heard Amy Hager’s strong, emphatic voice reach out and it filled me with a holy sense of serenity and goodwill towards men. I mean, it only lasted for a minute or two, but I was hooked. If that ain’t some kind of love, then I have nothing.
Years later, Fort Wilson Riot is back with a new EP and, it seems, a new musical direction. Generation Complex maintains the duo’s flair for dramatic melodies but challenges listeners to classify them as a single-genre band. The six-song album is a testament to their love of strange sounds, be it dark, sterile electrobeats or the more organic neo-gothic pop nuances that shade their previous releases. Like the band’s ambitious “rock opera” Idigaragua, Generation Complex seems to straddle two worlds, though neither realm feels entirely present-day. “The Appendix Song” features Hager’s dreamy soprano and bandmate Jacob Mullis’s pleading growl over a pulsing, misshapen beat; while the result is contemporary, itfeels intentionally miscalculated—as though a Victorian era artist was asked to predict the year 2011, all steampunk masks and grotesquely beautiful shades of burgundy. Conversely, the cool-as-Neptune “Song for Sympathy” transports its listener to some groovy corner of the universe and Mullis’s unintelligible lyrics only heightens the sensation of drifting, detached. The album’s opener, “For All the Little Things,” is probably the most accessible track, therefore a wise choice as first single. Check out it and them and join us December 3rd for an EP release party at the Triple Rock Social Club (featuring City Pages’ “Best New Band of 2011” honoree Phantom Tails).
Fort Wilson Riot is currently on tour. For more information on the show or for remaining tour dates, visit the band’s Official Website.
Maybe ‘love’ is too strong a word; after all, one hardly considers being trampled by a sad mosh pit of urban lumberjacks and their pixie mates the peak of romantic enlightenment. Nevertheless, amidst the fanatical cries of those really excited about the year 2009, I heard Amy Hager’s strong, emphatic voice reach out and it filled me with a holy sense of serenity and goodwill towards men. I mean, it only lasted for a minute or two, but I was hooked. If that ain’t some kind of love, then I have nothing.
Years later, Fort Wilson Riot is back with a new EP and, it seems, a new musical direction. Generation Complex maintains the duo’s flair for dramatic melodies but challenges listeners to classify them as a single-genre band. The six-song album is a testament to their love of strange sounds, be it dark, sterile electrobeats or the more organic neo-gothic pop nuances that shade their previous releases. Like the band’s ambitious “rock opera” Idigaragua, Generation Complex seems to straddle two worlds, though neither realm feels entirely present-day. “The Appendix Song” features Hager’s dreamy soprano and bandmate Jacob Mullis’s pleading growl over a pulsing, misshapen beat; while the result is contemporary, itfeels intentionally miscalculated—as though a Victorian era artist was asked to predict the year 2011, all steampunk masks and grotesquely beautiful shades of burgundy. Conversely, the cool-as-Neptune “Song for Sympathy” transports its listener to some groovy corner of the universe and Mullis’s unintelligible lyrics only heightens the sensation of drifting, detached. The album’s opener, “For All the Little Things,” is probably the most accessible track, therefore a wise choice as first single. Check out it and them and join us December 3rd for an EP release party at the Triple Rock Social Club (featuring City Pages’ “Best New Band of 2011” honoree Phantom Tails).
Fort Wilson Riot is currently on tour. For more information on the show or for remaining tour dates, visit the band’s Official Website.
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