W♥M (Archive)

Minneapolis Music Guide: March 16-March 22, 2014

The Stone Blindtango Read More Prince Step aside William and Harry, there’s a new Prince in town! His Purpleness, backed by band 3rdEyeGirl, has been popping up all over London in a series of surprise shows. …

Here is a guide of some Minneapolis (and St Paul) shows next week: March 16-March 22. Looks great this week, since bands are touring post-SXSW and stopping by Minneapolis on their way across the country... and seemingly only playing at the 7th Street Entry!

MARCH 16: 7TH STREET ENTRY
André Cymone w/ American Youth

Longtime collaborator and mentor to Prince, André Cymone is back with The Stone (February 18, 2014, via Blindtango). The album mark a rather long 27 year hiatus for this legendary singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist.

So far, only two dates are confirmed, but expect Cymone to return with a more national tour later this year.

03/16/14 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis
03/31/14 The Bowery Electric, New York

Opening up the Minneapolis show is four-piece American Youth. The band is described as "feel-good heartland indie-rock whilst mixing atmospheric soundscapes and folk," which sounds like typical mid-west heartland/Americana music (at least to me)... even though the band said that that they want to break that cliché mold.

Tour Poster Read More News: Augustines are currently touring North America Augustines are currently touring North America. The band played Los Angeles' Troubadour last night and are set …

MARCH 17: 7TH STREET ENTRY
Augustines w/ My Goodness

Augustines- “We Are”…no more?

The Brooklyn trio, now relocated to Seattle, has returned with their second effort, a confident self-titled album (Caroline/Oxcart Records) that also reclaims their original band name (resolving a trademark issue), and after rising from the ashes of previous band, Pela.

Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson along with UK drummer Rob Allen spin their own unique take on a no-frills indie-rock sound that is more developed and less bittersweet than their previous effort, and continues to tour with memorable and passionate live performances.

The Wall Street Journal describes their latest effort as “a stirring, soulful record, full of sweeping hooks on expansive songs that strike a balance between hopeful and melancholy."

Expect a couple Pela songs in concert, as well as maybe a Damien Jurado cover as well.

Tour dates:

14 Mar 2014 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop 15 Mar 2014 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall 17 Mar 2014 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry 18 Mar 2014 St Louis, MO Firebird 19 Mar 2014 Kansas City, MO Riot Room 21 Mar 2014 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge 10 Apr 2014 Leeds, West Yorkshire Cockpit 11 Apr 2014 Glasgow, Scotland Arches 12 Apr 2014 Gateshead, Newcastle The Sage 2 14 Apr 2014 London Koko 16 Apr 2014 Manchester Academy 2 17 Apr 2014 Bristol, Avon Trinity Center 23 Apr 2014 Zurich , Switzerland Bogen F 24 Apr 2014 Lausanne , Switzerland Les Docks

25 Apr 2014 Clap Your Hands Festival 27 Apr 2014 Melkweg Oude Zaal 28 Apr 2014 Hamburg Gruenspan 29 Apr 2014 Frankfurt Batschkapp 01 May 2014 Heidelberg Karlstorbahnhof 02 May 2014 Munich Hansa 39 03 May 2014 Berlin Heimathafen 05 May 2014 Bevrijdingsfestival 06 May 2014 Cologne Luxor 10 May 2014 Sheffield, S. Yorkshire Plug 11 May 2014 Nottingham, Notts Rescue Rooms 12 May 2014 Oxford O2 Academy 14 May 2014 Liverpool East Village Arts Club 15 May 2014 Edinburgh, Midlothian Liquid Room 16 May 2014 Birmingham Institute

Free: VHS or Beta (11/08) and Daredevil Christopher Wright (11/16)

Tour Dates 11/08: Minneapolis, MN, 7th Street Entry 11/11: Denver, CO, Bluebird Theatre 11/14: Austin, TX, Red 7 11/15: Dallas, TX, Kessler 11/29: Boston, MA, Middle East Downstairs 11/30: New York, NY, Mercury Lounge Read More VHS or Beta VHS or Beta had a diverse range of song types and sounds. Some were poppy, some were dancey, some were sort of more ambient. Partially electronic.…

VHS OR BETA
vhsorbeta.com

Fancy seeing VHS or Beta for FREE? The Onion's AV Club and Killian's Irish Red are co-sponsoring these free VHS or Beta shows! The unfortunate thing is because it's Killian's/drinking sponsored, you have to be over the legal drinking age of 21.

You can RVSP to ensure tickets at avclub.com/ruckustour, and if it hasn't sold out, they will also accept walkups. Personally, if you're going to attend, why not just quickly fill in some information to guarantee a ticket? Do it.

VHS Or Beta's latest album is a remix album called Diamonds & Dub which features remixed tracks from their 2011 album Diamonds & Death. Although the album are remixes from other people, the duo has been known to remix other people's music. Check out their Tegan and Sara's remix for "Alligator":



I know we covered 40 shows in Rocktober, but I'm going into winter hibernation very soon. My last show will be Matt & Kim on November 7th… but I may change my mind to end it with the VHS or Beta show.

VHS or Beta's Minneapolis show is November 8th at 7th Street Entry.

Sally saw VHS or Beta in Sydney, Australia, in 2008 and she was so impressed she "purchase some tunes by these guys."

Read More Daredevil Christopher Wright The Daredevil Christopher Wright was excited to play brand new materials from their forthcoming album, The Nature of Things at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis …

THE DAREDEVIL CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT
thedaredevilchristopherwright.com

I saw The Daredevil Christopher Wright this summer. I mentioned in my review that I thought some of their songs had a little religious overtone to them, so I'm actually not surprise that they are playing a free show at the Hennepin Church by Loring Park on November 16th.

More details from hennepinchurch.org:

FREE! November 16th.

Black Audience (7pm)

The Daredevil Christopher Wright (8pm)

Chastity Brown (9pm)

This event has been put together by the Hospitality Committee and funded by a grant from the Hennepin Church Foundation.

Trivia: I mentioned that their album artwork looked like Chino Latino a while back, and surprise, surprise: the cover to The Nature of Things was indeed inspired by Chino Latino.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

The Daredevil Christopher Wright at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (06/23/12)

Tour Dates 06/26 Eau Claire, WI Volume One 06/29 Madison, WI The Frequency 06/30 Sheboygan, WI Paradigm 07/01 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club 07/17 Milwaukee, WI Paste Mag 07/28 Avoca, WI Shitty Barn Session 08/01 Chicago, IL Subterranean * 08/02 Iowa City, IA The Mill * 08/03 Cincinnati, OH MOTR Pub * 08/04 Lakewood, OH Mahall's 20 Lanes * 08/14 New York, NY TBA 08/15 Boston, MA Great Scott * 08/19 Shippensburg, PA Thought Lot 08/23 Kalamazoo, MI Old Dog Tavern 09/13 Hayward, WI The Park Theater 11/02 Madison, WI UW-Madison 11/16 Minneapolis United Methodist Church * = Via Audio Read More The Daredevil Christopher Wright The Daredevil Christopher Wright is from Eau Claire, a city that has the benefit of being between Minneapolis and Milwaukee…

The Daredevil Christopher Wright was excited to play brand new materials from their forthcoming album, The Nature of Things at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, last night, June 23rd.

They just played their new materials the night before at Eau Claire's Grand Little Theater for the first time. I am assuming that went well, because I suspect some of their fans from that show travelled to Minneapolis, judging from the few Wisconsin license plates I saw on the road in the area.

Kalispell

Kalispell was one of two bands opening up the show. I got the feeling that the band is really new; I even thought I heard that their bassist just joined up five days ago. It also didn't help that almost every song required a few minutes to tune… which then lead to awkward banter that seems to go nowhere because bandleader Shane Leonard is busy trying to concentrate on tuning his strings.

As for the music, it wasn't bad; it seems they have a lot of material to draw from, for a new band. Most of the songs on the set seems to be taken from their latest album, Westbound, including "Methodist Lift" and "1157" and the title track.

We Are The Willows

The thing about We Are The Willows is that when you hear Peter Michael Miller speaks, it's in this weird feminine voice. Not exactly like a falsetto, it was just his speaking and singing voice. The closest thing I can think of is Jeff Hanson.

They started off their set with "Yellow Dress" from their A Collection Of Sounds And Something Like The Plague compilation. As expected, they did songs from their new release, Places, including "Hayward" and "Minneapolis (Savings Account by History Books)".

As previously mentioned, The Daredevil Christopher Wright basically played their entire new album, The Nature of Things, at their album release party. Songs like "Church" and "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" were lumped together, giving these religious overtones, but then you also had a nature/animal theme going with "The Birds of the Air and the Flowers of the Field" and "The Animal of Choice".

When the trio is really good, is when the two brothers do that harmonizing thing that only family bands do so well. When I didn't "get it", was when the band go into, what sounded to me, free jazz mode.

Highlight of the set for me was their song "Blood Brother". This song really demonstrates their ability to write great lyrics. When it comes down to it, most people will tell you that the reason why they love The Daredevil Christopher Wright, it's for their strong lyrics.

They did two songs for their encore, one of which was their name song, "The Daredevil Christopher Wright".

The Daredevil Christopher Wright is currently on tour for their latest album, The Nature of Things. The record comes out this Tuesday, June 26th. In the meantime, you can stream the entire album now at Exclaim!.

Trivia: Confirmed, the cover artwork to The Nature of Things is indeed inspired by Chino Latino.

The Daredevil Christopher Wright at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (06/23/12)

vu () ♥ thedaredevilchristopherwright.com ♥ wearethewillows.com ♥ kalispellband.com

Site Update (June 2012)

Today is going to be really busy for me. Just wanted to point out that I've updated a few things on the side-bar of W♥M, notably the new custom Twitter logo (yes, I know they have a new "upward" logo).

Anyway! Just got done with season two of "Flight of the Conchords" via borrowed DVD (yes, three years too late). It is a true shame that there won't be a season three, but reading about the duo's struggles to write season two I can understand why. Apparently the band used up most of their music comedy material in season one, so when it came to filming season two, they simply didn't have enough songs to carry season two.

I was so inspired by the duo that I put together this vu-art of Bret, Jemaine, and their stalker Mel.

BONUS: I'll be attending The Daredevil Christopher Wright this June 23rd. Here's some details on the band.

THE DAREDEVIL CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT
thedaredevilchristopherwright.com

I remember a few years ago, Brody was telling me about The Daredevil Christopher Wright and I thought they were superheroes from some pulp magazine. DCW is from Eau Claire, a city that has the benefit of being between Minneapolis and Milwaukee, and I have been told many times, has a huge music scene.

The trio has a new album called The Nature of Things, which is coming out June 26th. Starting next week, the band is doing a few dates between here (Minneapolis) and there (Milwaukee).

UPDATE:

THE DAREDEVIL CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT

06/22 Eau Claire, WI Grand Little Theater 06/23 Minneapolis, MN The Cedar Cultural Center 06/26 Eau Claire, WI Volume One (Free In-Store) 06/29 Madison, WI The Frequency 06/30 Sheboygan, WI Paradigm 07/01 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club 07/17 Milwaukee, WI Paste Mag - Live at Aloft 07/28 Avoca, WI Shitty Barn Session: Field Trip 08/01 Chicago, IL Subterranean * 08/02 Iowa City, IA The Mill *

08/03 Cincinnati, OH MOTR Pub * 08/04 Lakewood, OH Mahall's 20 Lanes * 08/14 New York, NY TBA 08/15 Boston, MA Great Scott * 08/19 Shippensburg, PA The Thought Lot 08/23 Kalamazoo, MI Old Dog Tavern 09/13 Hayward, WI The Park Theater 11/02 Madison, WI UW-Madison 11/16 Minneapolis, MN United Methodist Church * = Via Audio

PS, maybe it's a local thing, but the cover artwork to The Nature of Things reminds me of Chino Latino.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M