R.I.P. Ron Asheton (1949-2009)

Ron Asheton at Lollapalooza, 2007

The Stooges guitarist was found dead today at his home in Michigan.

From Iggy Pop's website:
We are shocked and shaken by the news of Ron’s death. He was a great friend, brother, musician, trooper. Irreplaceable. He will be missed.

For all that knew him behind the façade of Mr Cool & Quirky, he was a kind-hearted, genuine, warm person who always believed that people meant well even if they did not.

As a musician Ron was The Guitar God, idol to follow and inspire others. That is how he will be remembered by people who had a great pleasure to work with him, learn from him and share good and bad times with him.

Iggy, Scott, Steve, Mike and Crew

-----------------------------------------

I am in shock. He was my best friend.

Iggy Pop

Staciaann's 2008 Show List

Yup, I go to a lot of live music. I keep track of it so I remember when I saw it. I started doing this in late 2006, and my list has grown each year. Each year I vow to see more new bands, more local music, and continue to keep up with what's going on in the world around me. 2008 kept me fairly busy, although I really missed attending and shooting the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza this year. I definitely look forward to SXSW 2009, which is coming up fast.

Keep in mind that I finished and graduated law school, took the bar exam, sold my house in St. Paul and moved to Minneapolis, quit my job of 8 1/2 years and started my career over. Even with these distractions, I saw over 120 shows in 2008. So don't give me any excuses about why YOU can't get out there and do the same.

Here's to a great 2009!

2008's List of Shows
*My favorites are in bold type, and photos of many of these shows can be seen on my Flickr page.

1/3/08 Big Game, Eddy Burke & the Consequences @ Lee's Liquor Lounge
1/7/08 Nada Surf, Eric Lovold (solo), The Glad Version @ The Nomad
1/11/08 Titus Andronicus @ Bedlam Theater
1/12/08 We All Have Hooks for Hands, Windmills @ The Varsity Theater
1/12/08 Dragich @ Hexagon
1/12/08 City on the Make @ The Entry
1/17/08 Roma di Luna, Bon Iver @ Turf Club
1/18/08 White Denim, White Rabbits @ Turner Hall, Milwaukee
1/19/08 White Denim, White Rabbits @ High Noon Saloon, Madison
1/25/08 Fort Wilson Riot, Fine Young Gentlemen @ Nomad World Pub
2/1/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Vampire Hands @ Bottling House Theatre
2/7/08 The Battle Royale, Yeasayer, MGMT @ The Entry
2/8/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Roma di Luna @ Bottling House Theatre
2/9/08 Fat Kid Wednesdays, Deviated Septet, Spaghetti Western String Co. (CD Release) @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/10/08 God Save Gertrude @ The Playwright's Center
2/11/08 Keren Ann, Dean & Britta @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/13/08 Bon Iver @ The Electric Fetus
2/19/08 Mike Doughty @ The Electric Fetus
2/22/08 Hoot! Jim Walsh, Janeen, Dan Wilson, The Tropicals, Brianna Lane @ Java Jacks
2/22/08 Foreign Born, St. Vincent @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/22/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Plastic Chord @ Bottling House Theatre
2/23/08 Gary Louris @ The Electric Fetus
2/23/08 The Falls @ North Star Rollergirls Halftime
2/23/08 The XYZ Affair @ Nomad World Pub
2/29/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Burlingham Children @ Bottling House Theatre
3/2/08 You're My Favorite Kind of Pretty @ The Southern Theatre
3/12/08 These United States, Radar Brothers, Evangelicals, These New Puritans, Spinto Band, R.E.M., Bon Iver @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/13/08 Lou Reed, The Alarmists, MC/VL, Jeseca Hoop, DeVotchka, Tapes 'N Tapes, XYZ Affair, Liam Finn @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/14/08 High Places, Atlas Sound, White Williams, A Place to Bury Strangers, Fuck Buttons, Times New Viking, Cloud Cult, Carbon/Silicon, Basia Bulat, Foreign Born, Vampire Weekend, White Rabbits @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/15/08 Headlights, Big Ditch Road, Cloud Cult, Kid Dakota, Doomtree @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/29/08 ARENA Bikini @ Sound Bar
3/31/08 The Hotel Café Tour: Cary Brothers, Ingrid Michaelson, Dan Wilson, Joshua Radin @ The Fine Line
4/3/08 Sea Wolf, Nada Surf @ First Avenue
4/4/08 Jeremy Messersmith, The Wars of 1812 @ The Varsity Theater
4/5/08 Idigaragua / Massgraves @ Bedlam Theater
4/8/08 Cloud Cult @ The Electric Fetus
4/10/08 Birthday Suits, White Denim, Tapes 'N Tapes @ First Avenue
4/10/08 The Hold Steady @ Northrup Auditorium
4/12/08 Idigaragua / Massgraves @ Bedlam Theater
4/13/08 Wars of 1812, Bon Iver @ Turf Club
4/15/08 The Plastic Constellations @ The Electric Fetus
4/18/08 Yeasayer, Man Man @ The Varsity Theater
4/19/08 The Floorbirds, Jayber Crow, Spider John Koerner @ Nomad World Pub
4/26/08 The Forms, Cloud Cult @ First Avenue
5/3/08 Jenny Dalton @ Dakota
5/7/08 Basia Bulat, DeVotchKa @ First Avenue
5/15/08 "I Fought The Law" with The Sweet Colleens, Brad Senne, Eric Lovold, Jeremy Messersmith, The Mad Ripple, Stook!, Koo Koo Kanga Roo & City on the Make @ The Varsity Theater
5/21/08 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, White Rabbits @ 400 Bar
5/24/08 Snowden @ The Varsity Theater
5/24/08 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ The Entry
5/27/08 A Night in the Box @ The Electric Fetus
5/28/08 Bedlam 7th Annual 10-minute play festival @ Bedlam Theater
5/30/08 Mike Mangione, Jeremy Messersmith, Roma di Luna @ The Entry
6/6/08 Dallas Orbiter (HWTS Anniversary Party) @ Turf Club
6/6/08 Sea Wolf @ The Entry
6/7/08 Chris Koza @ First Avenue
6/7/08 Dragons Power Up, City on the Make @ The 400 Bar
6/8/08 Bitch 'n Brown, Plastic Chord, A Night in the Box @ The Entry
6/10/08 Atmosphere & Brother Ali @ The Electric Fetus
6/12/08 Gogol Bordello @ The Cabooze
6/14/08 Stone Arch Festival of the Arts @ St. Anthony Main
6/15/08 Stone Arch Festival of the Arts @ St. Anthony Main
6/20/08 Farewell Milwaukee, Meg Ashling, Murzik @ Kitty Kat Club
6/24/08 Now Now Every Children, One for the Team, Headlights @ Eclipse Records
6/26/08 The Hopefuls @ Peavey Plaza
6/27/08 Kill the Vultures, P.O.S., Dosh @ First Avenue
6/27/08 Brass Messengers, Eddie Burke & The Consequences @ Candleabra Studio
7/3/08 Tiny Moving Parts, The Battle Royale, We All Have Hooks for Hands @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
7/5/08 Artery 24 @ Soap Factory
7/8/08 The Absent Arch, The Dodos @ Triple Rock
7/9/08 Capitol Jay @ Stevens Square Park
7/10/08 The Bloodsugars @ Nomad World Pub
7/13/08 Kaiser Cartel, Romantica @ Bryant Lake Bowl
7/14/08 Summer Movies & Music in the Park: The Alarmists @ Loring Park
7/20/08 Yer Cronies, The Dutchess & The Duke, Fleet Foxes @ The Entry
7/22/08 The Loved Ones, The Hold Steady @ First Avenue
7/26/08 The XYZ Affair @ The Nomad
7/30/08 Yeasayer @ Urban Outfitters (Yr Free Radio)
7/31/08 Harry & The Potters @ Triple Rock
8/15/08 AA Bondy, Bon Iver @ First Avenue
8/18/08 The Lovers Duo, Rodrigo y Gabriella @ First Avenue
8/21/08 Mighty Fairly, Storyhill @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
8/29/08 Chris Koza, The Alarmists @ The Varsity Theater
9/2/08 Ripple(Effect): Michael Franti, Anti-Flag, Rage Against the Machine (via bullhorn) @ State Capitol Grounds
9/2/08 RNC Hoot: Jim Walsh, Eliza Blue, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, & Ike Reilly @ The Parkway Theater
9/6/08 Murzik, Jenny Dalton @ The Ritz Theater
9/10/08 Langhorne Slim @ 400 Bar
9/11/08 The Airborne Toxic Event, The Fratellis @ First Avenue
9/16/08 Jeremy Messersmith @ The Electric Fetus
9/20/08 The Alarmists, Heiruspecs, The Roots @ McNally Smith River Rocks Festival
9/20/08 A Story Too Long to Write Down… (Carl), Tenebrism @ The Sound Factory
9/20/08 Mr. Gnome, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir @ The Nomad
9/22/08 Vinegar Tom (Frank Theatre Company) @ The Ritz Theater
9/25/08 Rachael Reis, The Owls, Jeremy Messersmith @ The Varsity Theater
9/30/08 MGMT, Beck @ Roy Wilkins
10/2/08 E.L.nO., Chuck Klosterman @ Triple Rock
10/10/08 AA Bondy, Cold War Kids @ The Fine Line
10/11/08 Frank Fitzgerald, Fleet Foxes @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/14/08 Death Cab for Cutie @ Xcel Energy Center
10/16/08 Future of the Left, Ted Leo @ First Avenue
10/21/08 The Dirtbombs, TV on the Radio @ First Avenue
10/22/08 Dan Israel, Yael Naim @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/23/08 Marvelle, Birdmonster, The Rumble Strips @ The Entry
10/25/08 Of Montreal @ First Avenue
10/25/08 Caroline & the Good Night Sleeps, Frightened Rabbit, Spinto Band @ The Entry
10/29/08 Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band @ First Avenue
11/1/08 Tenacious D @ Roy Wilkins
11/3/08 Alexa's Burlesque @ Bryant Lake Bowl
11/4/08 Shadowlands @ Guthrie
11/8/08 Eagles of Death Metal @ The Electric Fetus
11/8/08 Lookbook, The XYZ Affair, Cecil Otter @ Clapperclaw Festival - Sound Gallery
11/11/08 Tom Morello @ The Electric Fetus
11/16/08 Drive By Truckers, The Hold Steady @ First Avenue
11/20/08 Lamb Lays with Lion: The Little Skelton that Could @ Hexagon
11/21/08 Cloud Cult @ The Whole
11/26/08 The Alarmists, Ike Reilly @ First Avenue
11/28/08 Delta Spirit, Nada Surf @ The Fine Line
12/12/08 Kubla Khan @ Private Party
12/13/08 Dan Wilson @ Pantages Theater
12/20/08 Chris Koza, The Hopefuls @ First Avenue
12/23/08 Chastity Brown, Roma di Luna @ Cedar Cultural Center

This Just In!

From Nikki Schultz:
2009 greetings, friends!

Looking for something to do? I'm playing a last minute acoustic set tonight:
Nomad World Pub (Mpls)
501 Cedar Ave S
$3, 21+, Music starts at 9pm


Sarah Woolever is also playing, plus 10 or so other musicians. We'll play short sets starting at 9pm.

We don't know when we'll be playing, so come out and have a drink or two with us while we enjoy some local talent!
Should be a folkin' good time.
Come on down!

Nikki

Nikki's great - she recently podcasted with David de Young of HowWasTheShow, played a fundraiser for Lamb Lays with Lion, and works for Free Arts Minnesota, a wonderful non-profit that brings art to kids in need.

Go out for a surprise night of round-robin rambunctiousness.

'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime When all the Birds Had Fled: Spirits of the Red City

Things to do in the New Year:
1)Make the house feel like a home.
2)Be better about deadlines.
3)Keep on engaging with active, vital culture.

I can take care of a couple of those things by getting this post up, and by going to see Spirits of the Red City at the Bryant-Lake Bowl this Sunday.

Photographer Staciaann and I tried to catch up with a couple of their members a couple Sundays ago- ‘Twas in the bleak midwinter, or so the song goes- but we were at the wrong apartment. After getting a promo copy of their upcoming release Hunter Moon and thoroughly enjoying it, these seemed like good people to talk to in frozen hush of the season. But through a series of mixups, I was on a snowy street in Uptown, at the wrong address, and they all seem to have fluttered away. Fortunately, we live in the digital age, and I do not need to rely upon my paltry scouting skills- they have left cairns in the form of friendly girlfriends to direct us to the CC Club, a damn fine place if there ever was one to kill a winters' evening.

Upon entering, we are greeted by the impish smile of Will Garrison, lead vocalist, guitars and the writer in the group. Around the table were Anthony Poretti, drums & percussion, and Jason Overby; banjo, accordion and guitars. And we hadn’t even met half the band. See, there are 9 of them, two sets of three siblings, some from Alaska, some from here, and some here-by-way-of any other number of continental stops, all wandering American musicians, folkloric harmonizers, peculiar ladies & gents. We talked about the disc and the band for about half an hour, my tape recorder didn’t work, I half-remember things anyway and left with a warm feeling of solidarity. Here are some pieced together snippets:

-I don’t know what their band name means. When I asked, Garrison demurred and Poretti and Overby backed him up. The title of the disc though, comes from the autumn moon, the large blood red moon whose bloated presence could be seen as a sun. This duality, and the blurring of the line there carried weight for Garrison and the group in the writing and construction of the disc.

-Despite that Hunter Moon sounds like it was a single basement recording session, full of organic immediacy and warmth, the disc was recorded around the schedules of the band members flowing though the Twin Cities. Poretti talked about James Waldo, the cellist, coming back from New York City where he studies to lay down the cello tracks, and then the other members listening to those tracks as a high-water mark to build and re-visit their own performance. This process and the constant communication between band members edged together the best possible sound for the disc, and kept a light touch.

-Of the size of the band and their closeness, Garrison said that they would be more likely to figure out how to play a song without a band member before asking someone to step in to play for them. This may explain why, with such far-flung members, they have only a handful of shows under their belts, but why those shows are special.

-Of the song “Focus & Blur”, Garrison said, “it is a drinking song. We were having a party and we wanted to see if we could get that party sound, so we brought the people down to the basement and had them sing along and have a good time while we recorded.” It worked- the song charges forward, raises a glass and chuckles.

-The song “Passing” is a jarring break, a collection of heaving chords and skittering percussion. When asked why, in the middle of this lush disc, there was this noise experiment, they pointed out that in the arc of a story, this is the third-act breakdown, a challenge to the listener not simply sit passively through, but to re-open and re-examine before the fourth act finish. And the last four tracks draw the disc to from a roar to a quaver, pulling full circle the warm humanity, the essence of good people and companionship that this music brings.

It was a loveley evening, the essence of good people. Starting off guarded, opening up, the music is life as lived. As Garrison sings on “Pride”, “And if they find us, her voice will disarm you.” Go and find, and be disarmed. Stay warm in the cold season.

Hunter Moon CD Release with Nona & Marshall (of Dark Dark Dark)
Bryant-Lake Bowl
Sunday January 4 at 9:00 pm (8:30 doors)
$8 in advance / $10 day of show

Spirits of the Red City is:
Will Garrison: guitars, lyrics, vocals
James Waldo: cello
Jason Overby: banjo, accordion, guitars
Brian Voerding: trumpet, box bass
Anthony Poretti: drums, percussion
Ben Waldo: mandolin, viola
Alyssa Overby: vocals
Rachel Overby: vocals
Will Markwardt: vocals, shaker
Jonathan Waldo: viola

The Cherry on Top ...of 2008

No one really likes making "Top 10" lists, do they? I gave my team the option of making a list for 2008. Top 5, top 10, recommended, etc. and here's what we came up with. You'll notice there's not much overlap, and to me that's a good thing. We like variety. Hopefully you'll find something on these lists you haven't heard yet and can now go check out. It's not rocket science, and it doesn't count for much, but here are CakeIn15 staffer's top picks for the year that was (and is... for another 6 days anyway).

Staciaann

1.The Dodos, Visiter
Ridiculous trash can drums, excellent bleeding-finger guitars, and wonderful songs make this my top album of 2008. No matter how many times I put it on, I'm thrilled by the intricacies and emotion in this album.

2.Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Fabulous vocals that bring me back to groups like The Tolkens, Four Freshman, and Jan & Dean. An album any age can enjoy. Also a memorable live show with haunting reminders of the past.

3.Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Continues my love of music from Scotland. Hell, I wrote about these guys back in June of 2007 here too. Since then they've only grown in their song-writing, and 2008 brought their best album yet. Well done boys.

4.Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
You're lying if you say you don't like this album. It's summer wrapped up and rolled into a digital file.

5.Mates of State, Re-Arrange Us
Awesome harmonies from a husband and wife team who've only gotten better as they continue to create music. One of my favorite sing-a-long records of 2008.

6.Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)
Fucking fantastic new stuff from one of my fav locals. Check out "Journey of the Featherless" or "Story of the Grandson of Jesus " if you don't believe me.

7.Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps, Backyard Tent Set
My best new local music find this year. Old-timey without overdoing it. Every time I've played this at work, someone's picked up the album. No joke. Plus, her live show will pack them in and leave you sighing with pleasure.

8.Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City
Messersmith again proves he's one of the better singer-songwriters out there. Put that together with super producer Dan Wilson, and you have one hell of an album about Minneapolis.

9.City On the Make - $1,000,000 EP
"Chicks on, chicks on, chicks on bikes" was my anthem for the summer as my girlfriends and I sang it repeatedly biking around the city. Lead poet Mike Massey is as fun to watch as he is to listen to, and with new bionic knees to keep him bouncing, I can't wait for the new material that's promised to come soon.

10.The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Admittedly, John Darnelle has a voice that only a mother could love. Ok, that's not 100% true, but it's close. You either love him or hate him, but you can't touch Darnelle's dark lyrics mixed with lovely guitar rhythms and the driving force of his will.

*Side Note: While I would definitely put Bon Iver into my top 10, I owned the album in 2007, and so can't put it in without feeling strange about doing it. Justin, I love ya, but last year was your year. xo

Dan O.

1.Cloud Cult, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)
Having returned to this album again and again, it's the rare album that never grows old - it always feels like you're listening to it for the third time (the time when you finally decided that you really really liked it.)

2.Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
Of Montreal's new album (as I reviewed previously) continues to confound me at times, but I re-visit it almost weekly - It's ambition and scope place it in my Top 10 this year.

3.Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
I wasn't actually sure if this album was released in 2008 - something made me feel as though it had been released earlier, but the back of the CD credits it as a 2008 release, so here it is! The buzz has faded, but it's still an entirely interesting album - reminds me a lot of Paul Simon's Graceland.

4.Grand Archives, The Grand Archives
What first brought me to this album was its Band of Horses side-project status, but it's much much more - One of the most consistent and enjoyable pop albums of the year.

5. R.E.M., Accelerate
As any R.E.M. fan will attest - thank god they're back to making relevant music. So long as it's R.E.M. and even half-way decent, it'll get on my top 10.

6.The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
I have heard murmurings that there are those who didn't enjoy this album, but I find it to be the most listenable Magnetic Fields album yet - made up of equal parts shimmery distortion and odd-shorn lyrics, it's a perfect summer album for a winter morning.

7.Liam Finn, I'll Be Lightning
Son of Neil Finn (Crowded House), Liam's debut album is a sort of Beatles hybrid that occasionally sounds like Elliott Smith. It's raw and pretty at the time. More importantly, I bought it eight months ago and still listen to it - rare longevity for a shot in the dark.

8.Sigur Ros, Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust
Nothing different than before, but still - really frickin' pretty.

9.Dosh, Wolves and Wishes
Andrew Bird didn't release an album in 2008, so I'll toss the orchestral sound-pop tiara to the handsomely bearded Dosh, whose album is always good to wind down to after work with a beer.

10. Spiritualized, Songs in A & E
Written during and after a death-defying bout with pneumonia, this album is a great for late nights and headphones - makes you feel happy to be alive.

Alexa

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
I realize this came out in '07 but I didn't discover it until '08, have listened the sh*t out of it, so IT'S '08 FOR ME!
Langhorne Slim - Langhorne Slim
Parts & Labor - Receivers
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

c.a.s.
(In no particular order)

TV on the Radio, Dear Science
Sonically, I still hold that Return to Cookie Mountain is a better disc, and if you think "Wolf Like Me" isn't dance track, then you're not trying hard enough. But Dear Science does for dance-pop what OK Computer did for rock and roll- inverted, electrified and re-invigorated it. Give it up for the band with the big ideas and the adventuresome spirit to follow. Live review here.

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
We will, and we get jams that, even though they leave our fair state and Craig Finn's familiar stomping ground, just get bigger and more brash. "Lord I'm Discouraged" is "How a Resurrection Really Feels" told from the other guy's perspective, and that's a great way to grow up without losing your edge. Bonus points for dirty jokes and double necked guitars. Live review here.

City On the Make, $1,000,000 EP
It's easy to fall for chicks on bikes, as the grinding opening jam proved this summer. But it's even better when we get into the disc- it is a million bucks, one hundred percent, and when he wails "Poor Mike Massey's got eyes for your daughter" and Mischa Kegan tears the licks down behind him, it might as well be a lament for Savannah girls in their Nehi skirts walkin' walkin' walkin' down the block. Ain't they got no respect? Live review here.

Jeremy Messersmith, The Silver City
An exquisite journey through the the pop sounds of days of yore, deftly produced by Dan Wilson. It twinkles and shimmers, the starlight sharper for the darker underpinnings of Messersmith's razor-sharp storytelling. This is a great disc to give to people when they ask you where you live and what it's like. Interview here.

Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit, A Larum
An out-of-left field surprise for me that has become one of my most-listened-to discs this year. Comforting Irish vox, pop-folk with some rock heft and strings, writing that is both sharp, funny and poignant. From "The Wrote & the Writ": "They're taking pictures of the man from God/let's hope his cassock's clean./The burden of being a holy fellow/is your halo better gleam, better gleam." Kick up your heels and reel in your friends.

Kristoff Krane, This Will Work For Now
The earnestness, the fierce drive to make art work for the artists, to make it function, the need to make it and survive. This disc burns with it. Sometimes it over-extends, but it is always true to the artist as necessary creator- the disc runs from braggadocio to doubt and sincerity. And radio-friendly tunes like "Paul Still Loves His Daughter" and "Miracle" are the stuff of silver screen soundtracks. Review here.

Cecil Otter, Rebel Yellow
The poised counterpoint to Krane's manic spin, this disc is just-as-if-not-more dark, introspective and driven. In a banner year for Doomtree, Cecil's produced and written some of the most professional, honest and polished material. Plus, he played the Clapperclaw Festival. So he's the shit.

The Dodos, Visiter
From start to finish, this is one of those records that long-play vinyl was made for. The manic drumming that keeps the base shifting, bending folk guitars layered on top of eachother to make them San Francisco punk, the duo of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber work their asses off to make one of the fastest moving, most satisfyingly layered discs of the year. Live review here.

Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
It is one of the continuing miracles of music that it always comes back around. Is it because of the moon, or the connection to orbiting planets? Or because sound is a wave, a sine and cosine along an axis that form perfect circles, whole, enveloping, harmonizing, sustaining circles? With the debut Sun Giant EP and the self-titled LP release in the same year, the Pacific Northwest bellows with beauty again.

Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall
Nonesuch Records sent me back to my first concert with this disc, to a moment when the world opened up to pulsing sound, unstoppable rhythm and pure joy. I think that every other concert-going experience is measured by that yard-stick for me, and it's a tall order. When something measures up, it's worth it. These records and the concerts given by these performers this year (among others) have made it a great 2008. Thank you.

Plus: These Singles Rock
Esau Mwamwaya, "Tengazako"- I defy you not to dance, I defy you to not believe in the power of globalization.
Blitzen Trapper, "Furr"- Turns stock animal noises into proto-mythical creation stories, makes you sing along.
Vampire Weekend, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"- "Do you want to fuck/like I know you do?" I do.
Atmosphere, "You"- Performed on Letterman wearing an Obama shirt, mid-July. Bless.
Diplo, "Reckoner Remix"- Breaks it all apart, bends in Beirut, kicks it to the dancefloor. Thom Yorke should be proud.
Santogold, "L.E.S. Artistes"- Watch it, Santogold is out there and she is coming for your ass.
Plastic Chord, "Thang Goin' On"- A live staple put down for the groove-bustin' record.
Cloud Cult, "The Grandson of Jesus"- Because you could be one of those billion saviors.
Mates of State, "The Re-Arranger"- For you and your lover to mix it up and get down, indie-rock style.
The Black Keys, "Psychotic Girl"- Buzzing like the underwater universe of your broken head.
MGMT, "Time To Pretend"- Distills the hubris of youth to it's ebullient core.
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, "Buriedfed"- He's said if he had had his success at 19 instead of at 25, he'd be dead. It's good to be alive.

Elllvvviiissss!!!

Yesss!! Finally! My lengthy period of antsy-pants waiting will soon cease. Thank you, thank you Mr. Perkins. I am indebted to you for the happiness washing over me at this moment. Come by Minneapolis soon, won't you?

Songs to stream:
"Shampoo"
"Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville"
"Doomsday" (the rollickin' way he performs it live).

Check out streams of NEW SONGS by Elvis Perkins here!!

**********
In other Rumorville news,Cin15 favs City on the Make are gonna be back in studio sooner rather than later. Gosh, lotsa good news today!

Merry Crunkmas Afterparties!

Yeah, 'tis the season to jolly and once the belts are loosened it makes it easier to shake the pants off. So in the interests of keeping your spirits high, here are some kick-ass shows to make you forget all about your family gatherings and get down with the get-downs.

Friday the 26th:
Minneapolis Kids Have More Fun presents Crunkmas 2008 at the Nomad World Pub
This was a hot mess of a sloppy dancefest last year (check it out here) and you should definitely hit it up for it's 2008 incarnation:
CITY ON THE MAKE
CRNKMNSTR
META
TAPE JAYS (oh damn)
and a very special BROWN MOSES reunion
$5 9pm 21+

Saturday the 27th:
MillCityScene.com presents Big Quarters, Kristoff Krane, Carnage, Hyder Ali, El Guante at 7th St Entry
To celebrate the release of their first official print edition, MillCityScene.com presents some of the top names in local hip-hop:
Big Quarters w/Benzilla
Kristoff Krane
Carnage the Executioner
Hyder Ali
El Guante and See More Perspective
and introducing Simply Us and the 2 Sides of We
$5 presale / $7 door 8pm 18+

Jenny Dalton at the Kitty Kat Club
Fresh off her 2nd full length Rusalka's Umbrella, Jenny is joined by some of her good friends at the Kitty Kat Club, for a show that promises to be a beautiful way to lounge around and let your cares get soaked up in lush melodies.
Jenny Dalton
Luke Redfield
James Apollo
Free 10pm 21+

Dosh at the Cedar Cultural Center
An ambient night of creativity that should send sparks shooting off the eardrums and open up giant hallucinogenic portals into textured lightshows climbing up your leg and rubbing underneath the chin and.....sorry, carried away. The noise is good.
Dosh
Dark Dark Dark
DJ Odd Nosdam
$12 presale / $15 door 8pm AA

Yeah. DOOOOOOOOIT. Merry Fuckin' Xmas, kids.

I'm Hopeful

2008 may be marked to go down in history for many reasons, but let's not forget those important in the local music world. One such event to remember is the release of "Now Playing at the One-Seat Theatre" by pop favorites The Hopefuls. Their last album, "The Fuses Refuse to Burn" spun relentlessly in my car and home CD players for months on end. You could see me anytime on the street humming to "Pretty Bigmouth" or "Holiday." I couldn't help it. It was my crack.

This new album merges old with new, as long-time audience favorites like "On the Edge" and "Idaho" finally become imprinted in a physical format. We can take it home with us instead of just trying to hum the tunes in our heads. New songs like "Virgin Wood" and "Stacey" (yeah, they must've misspelled it... what's with the 'e' guys?) will also give you an earworm you might not be able to get rid of. I can tell you though that the band is already working on album number three, so the wait can't be nearly as painful and long as the last.
You'll get your chance to see The Hopefuls this Saturday (hey, that's tomorrow!) at First Avenue for the band's CD release show. Doors are at 6pm and One for the Team and Chris Koza open. You can pick up tickets at The Electric Fetus or the door. See you there! Oh, and for those who wonder, I have it on good authority that Rupert will be hanging out too.

This week in the economy...

...is not so good. The fallout from Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme is projected at about a $300 million hit to the Twin Cities. A lot of that hit goes to businesses and individual investors, but charities, non-profits and aid organizations are going to take it on the chin. The belt that was tightening is going to need a couple new holes to cinch in.

Intermedia Arts is the latest arts organization taking a big hit. This the 30-year old organization whose graffiti covered building on 28th and Lyndale is unmistakable. They put on the B-Girl Be Festival, the Naked Stages Performance Series and some of the most community involved arts and performance events in the Twin Cities. Now, much of their operational budget has dried up or been delayed, and like so many precarious but vital small-arts organization, they simply don't have the capital to sustain though. They will be shuttering the gallery and poetry library effective January 9th, moving staff to hourly and contract work. But they are fighting back, and need your help. From the Intermedia Arts website:

"Intermedia Arts can survive this economy. We can even come out on the other side stronger and more sustainable than ever before. But in order to do that, we need you to take action now—today.

This is what we need you to do:

1. RSVP now. We need you here at Intermedia Arts’ Community Townhall: Rally the People! at 5:30PM on Friday, December 19th. We are asking you to make it a priority to be here, in person. You will hear from artists, community leaders, Intermedia Arts’ staff and board. You will have a chance to ask questions and offer suggestions. You will find out what you can do to keep Intermedia Arts alive. We need to see you here: show your support by showing up. Free childcare available! RSVP right now!

2. Make a donation. Supporting Intermedia Arts is critical right now, and every dollar counts. We need your support to help us with our general operating expenses as we implement our plan for long-term sustainability. This isn’t about keeping Intermedia Arts open for another month; this is about keeping Intermedia Arts in our community for the long-term. Right now, that future depends on you. We need you to make a donation today.

3. Email us. We need to hear from you. We need to hear your encouragement, your ideas, your commitment of support, your suggestions and feelings. Send us your questions, tell us what you think, and look to our website for updates, responses, community FAQs and news each and every step of the way.

4. Rent our space for your next performance, event, meeting or exhibition. Our building is a valuable asset to the arts community and we want it to continue to stay active and alive.

Now is time for each and every one of us to draw on our passion and our conviction, and play our part. This is a rallying cry. Together, we will meet this challenge and lead our community forward. Because Intermedia Arts matters. Because your voice matters. Because Intermedia Arts is YOU."

Amen.

The Little Skeleton That Could Not- An Essay

Cake in 15 imagines itself as a "culture blog". Yeah, there is a good dose of music, but we are all omnivores here, with wide and variegated interests. As writers, photographers, actors, critics, commentators and god-knows-what-else, we are not just content to let culture happen around us, but attempt to be an active part of the discourse and agents of our own change. In that vein, and full of shameless self-promotion, I offer up an essay that I wrote following The Little Skeleton That Could Not by Lamb Lays with Lion, the theater company of which Cake in 15 contributors c.a.s. and Dan O. are members. It's not your usual blog fare, and if you don't like it skip it. Just 'cause you're in Blockbuster doesn't mean you have to rent a movie.

WHO ARE WE AND HOW DID I GET HERE?
The Little Skeleton That Could Not by Lamb Lays with Lion 11/20/2008, The Hexagon Bar

What just happened on stage? Nervous laughter is good, a punctuating belly laugh is better, seasoned, confounded silence is best. As one reviewer put it, “It all would have been in rather poor taste if it hadn't actually been quite funny.”

The Little Skeleton That Could Not, the latest group work by Lamb Lays with Lion played out like this at the Hexagon Bar on November 20th, 2008. It is a triptych of short scenes, each one growing with misplaced enthusiasm and senses of well-being.

In the first vignette, LLwL company member Jayne Deis takes the stage, obviously not in the best of health, hiding behind her notebook from the harsh illumination provided by the single handheld spotlight and proceeds to tell us that she is going to tell us about the 12 Steps of alcoholism. Instead, though, of reading from the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Step program, she haltingly starts off on a list of her own creation that has darker, more personal overtones; “Number One. If you look into the mirror and find you have nothing to live for, you might be an alcoholic.” Pitiable down the list, she re-visits points until she is interrupted by Ashley Smith and Julia Mae Fairbanks Thompson, dressed in matching black pant and white t-shirts who inform her that this was last week’s performance, that she missed because she was “passed out at Memory Lanes.”

Debauched Identity Theatrics after the Jump

Smith and Thompson, having dispatched Deis, proceed into “an informative talk” about “an important subject”: AIDS. You can see the parenthetical quotes around their dialogue, the vernacular spins off from PSAs and After School Specials and Fairbanks one-ups Smith with biological details about the functioning of the HIV retrovirus. The discussion of transmission, a serious topic, devolves into scatological repetition of bodily fluids as the flustered twosome try to keep their place. Their scene is abruptly ended by the appearance of a skeleton onstage.

The skeleton (Melissa Anne Murphy) smiles and has an upbeat, sunny, if flip disposition. She, too, is here with an important message. She is here to talk about anorexia, and how it may be right for you. Look at the wonders it has done for her. She talks of becoming a role model for other anorexics, her temptations and the support her community brings her. If she were talking about recovery from alcoholism it would be a downright heartwarming scene. But she is not, the crowd is uncomfortable, heckles a bit and then the skeleton is interrupted by Thompson and Smith who charge back on stage with “AI” and “DS” scrawled on their shirts and skull make-up smeared on. Look at what they’ll do to pull attention back to themselves. There is a back and forth, dramatically lit, of heavy breathing, statistics that are patently false, upbeat non-sequiturs of encouragement, building until the band that has amassed quietly behind them tears into a howling rock-blues number. “Die Die Die” goes the band and the trio onstage galvanize into a goofy show-tunes dance offstage right. Deis charges back on only to be chased away by the skeleton. The band keeps playing and goes into their regular set.

What just happened here?

The closest extant category that Skeleton could be dropped in to, and was in post-show discussion, would be agit-prop. But this is no cardboard cut-out protest with a single-minded end of revolution. If Skeleton is to be considered agit-prop, it must be considered so in newer and more subtle terms. Jan Cohen-Cruz outlines these terms in the introduction to her collection of essays entitled Radical Street Performance:

“Notwithstanding,… agit-prop is possible in ‘culturally pluralistic’ societies, but with these caveats: 1. as social contexts become more complex, agit-prop may serve a an educational function around a specific issue, not necessarily advocating general revolution; 2. the actors must believe that they know a solution to a compelling social problem and be prepared to take the same steps they are urging upon audiences.”

Vaguely, the work of Lamb Lays with Lion could be considered within these parameters, but subverts them both. There is an “educational function” implicit in the use of data: you now know that 1-800-CDC-INFO is the number to call and www.hivtest.com are resources about disease control. Jayne Deis serves as an apropos discourse on alcoholism, given the locale of the performance. Even so, Skeleton, is more about the conflict of datas, the falsity and truths of abutting statements and their uncomfortable relationships. The Skeleton character builds up a positive community taken directly from support sites by and for anorexics to keep them anorexic, but this is not disclosed to the audience, nor is it presented at face value- she is a skeleton! A happy, smiling, fulfilled skeleton telling you how great anorexia can be. No wonder there are uncomfortable laughs; even if it doesn’t fall into the category, Lamb Lays with Lion is surely trafficking in agitation.

Nor Lamb Lays with Lion does not posit a solution or bring down a moral judgment with which they exhort the audience. The show starts out identifiably strange and plunges into absurdity, and this keys into how the performers identify themselves. Jayne Deis’ “Jayne Deis” might just be a hungover Jayne, a slight abstraction- you know that girl. Therein lies some of the original humor. Telling stories of drinking cigarette butts the morning after appeals to a base-level gross out humor, but also, for the young bar crowd assembled, contains a mote of self-identification. If you haven’t done it, you probably know someone who has. Thompson and Smith’s “Julia” and “Ashley” step up that distance, transforming themselves into an empty sounding board from where their research and the data they hear echoes forth. The Skeleton is familiar in tone, but so far afield in content that it makes conscious and exposes that this is a performance, and not a testimonial. The malleability of our own identity and our desire to hear information that conforms to expected conventions is toyed with and exposed in subtle, disturbing ways. The sources of information are untrustworthy, what we identify with may be further away than we think, we should be able to describe that disconnect.

So again, what is it? It is rock and roll; self-indulgent and generous, it is theatre; playing with shifting identity and information, scripted and spontaneous and not what one would expect at a bar. The words you heard had come out of a process of discussion, research and play. The scene’s absurdity comes from our own senses and the barrage of information, all of them untrustworthy in their own way. As artist Jenny Holzer’s proposed in her series “Truisms”: “Description is more valuable than metaphor”. Lamb Lays with Lion is here to describe, channel and filter the world around you, not to make it easier for you to understand.

* De Young, David “Lamb Lays with Lion w/Plastic Chord video from the Hexagon” (How Was The Show Blog, http://howwastheshow.blogspot.com/2008/11/lamb-lays-with-lion-w-plastic-chord.html)
** Cohen-Cruz, Jan Radical Street Perfomance, (London: Routledge Publishing, 1998) 14
*** Holzer, Jenny The Venice Installation, (Buffalo, NY: The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1990) 3

Also at the Lamb Lays with Lion website: www.lamblayswithlion.org

The Little Skeleton That Could Not will be presented at the Bedlam Theatre January 16-18 in conjunction with Paint the Town by Insurgent Theatre from Milwaukee and musical performance by To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie.

New Jersey? Really?

Bands are hard to keep together and long-standing Minneapolis punky-country group Chokecherry find them selves in a break-up way. Bassist Bob, often times Sound-Guy-for-the-Hex Bob is moving to New Jersey- you'll have to ask him what greener pastures he sees there. The farewell shindig is this Friday the 19th at the Hex, with a grip of sounds and friends in Luther the Devil, the Nightinghales and Marvelle. As always, the Hex is free, and buy your drinks from the back bar, that gets split among the bands.

Sorry about the cut off poster, Blogger is apparently face down in the egg-nog right now.

Plastic Chord to release "Electric Tendrils" EP this Saturday

As many bands hunker down for winter hibernation and creation time, arty rock ensemble Plastic Chord are out releasing a new EP to keep the winter blues away. Frontman Orion Treon says that the 5 track disc is poppier than some previous releases as it is comprised mainly of previously unrecorded live staples. Expect the danceability of their big clattering noise to get kicked up a notch, especially with tracks like "Thang Goin' On", so come on out and get down like all those mischievous skeletons in your winter closet.

Saturday December 13 2008, 10pm at the Hex. FREE. 21+

With party-rockers The Guystorm, This Machine and The Hasbeen.

Dance Band's Holiday Shakedown!

Everyone's favorite booty-shakin' Minneapolitans are generously giving away FREE holiday tracks to celebrate the season. The tracks are the product of an alum, The Perfect Beat, who moved to Duluth for a job earlier this year. Our thanks to The Perfect Beat and everyone in Dance Band for the killer tracks. Now go shake some ass!

Get it here.

Oh, Noel and Liam...

I remember when I first heard (What's the Story) Morning Glory? On bootleg tape in my friend Alex Watson's bedroom- a chubby, beady-eyed Brit who hated everything about living overseas and who smoked cigarettes and drank- perfect for introducing me to the Brothers Gallagher. The bickering, the blasphemy, the beautiful roaring guitars. Go back to Definitely Maybe and the lure of sex and drugs an alcohol, the idea of escape and and those epic, self-indulgent lyrics: "I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed/'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head." I took fiercely partisan sides in the Oasis/Blur debate, tried to learn enough guitar to try and twang out "Wonderwall and "All Round The World". "Wonderwall" is still the only song I know the chords to. Anyway, years past, I moved stateside, I couldn't stomach anything from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants except for "Fucking in the Bushes" which was on the Snatch soundtrack. So it goes. But rockers die hard, especially ones with nation-sized egos and aspirations of Beatlesesque grandeur, not to mention some goddamn talent. So they come roaring back, and now they come roaring into town.

I suppose it is too much, since they are on tour with Ryan Adams, for some sort of giant cluster-fuck epic rock and roll meltdown. No, the boys made nice, Ryan Adams has put out the juggernaut disc he's always been promising, and everyone seems to be even keel to rock stardom and longevity. The Rolling Stones will needs a replacement on the aging rock circuit, and as Noel has reportedly said, "Who wants to be a drug addict at 40?" Keep the fights down, the spirits high, live forever. Here's some good old Oasis, live on Jools Holland, 2000:


Oasis with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals at the Target Center, December 10, 7:00pm.

(Oh, and who knew the Target Center had a blog?)

UPDATE: Via NME: Oasis are set to release an iTunes exclusive EP on the 9th, basically an "I'm Outta Time" single with some demo material and re-mixes. Sweet.

UPDATE UPDATE: Walking home Tuesday night and Liam Gallagher was smoking outside Ping's, talking to some of his entourage. Not so much worse for the wear, he looks pretty good, definitely not in Keith Richards territory. I did a double take, and kept on going.

Nada Surf Cures the Common Cold at the Fine Line

On the day after Thanksgiving, (I believe it to be known as Black Friday) I was tired and felt like a major cold was about to consume me. I had been in the car for 4 hours and was tired. What I needed was to go home, get in my p-jams, and down some Alka Seltzer Cold & Flu. What I got was--Plop, plop, fizz, fizz—a great set from Nada Surf at a semi-packed Fine Line Music Café.

I have been waiting to see Nada Surf since 2003, when they dropped their 3rd album, Let Go. (My schedule never matched up with theirs, until now.) It was worth the wait. Matthew Caws, Ira Elliot, and Daniel Lorcahe all hit the stage with great energy and excitement for the crowd assembled. (Matthew later declared The Fine Line as one of their favorite places to play.) I gladly followed the boys as their set ebbed and flowed through their melancholy softer tunes, like "Inside Of Love" and "Your Legs Grow" into their rocking melodic pop songs such as, "Whose Authority" and "Do It Again." Of course, a highlight for me was when they played their mid-90’s hit, "Popular." I was immediately taken back to my pubescent years in high school — a good visit down memory lane, but I’m glad I don’t have to go back. It is definitely not my favorite song in their library of tunes, but one I’m glad I got to hear live. The boys kept their momentum all the way through to the end when they finished their encore with "Blankest Year" — a song that was my anthem for a better part of a year in college.

It is always a bit of a gamble when you see a favorite band for the first time. Will they live up to what you expect, or will they disappoint? Luckily, Nada Surf didn’t let me down. They are an excellent live band who enjoys what they do. Ira even threw some comical comments out to us from behind his drum set, showing his enjoyment of the show. I’ve never really seen that from a drummer. Unfortunately, Matthew and Daniel didn’t really interact with each other. Was Life on the road getting to them or did one of them hog all the stuffing the day before? Who knows? Either way, they played a great show and I am very glad that I wasn’t a pansy who stayed home to nurse my approaching illness. In fact, Nada Surf was just what the doctor ordered (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). The next morning I felt great, as if the boys and their infectious music had cured me. Thank you Nada Surf for saving me a trip to the medicine isle at Walgreens.

As a side note, I unfortunately missed the first opening band, The Jealous Girlfriends. I did, however, catch Delta Spirit, the second in the line up, and I highly recommend this group from California. You should definitely check out their album Ode to Sunshine.

Review by guest writer Jake Lindgren.

Download mp3s by Nada Surf:
See These Bones
Do It Again
Blankest Year
Blonde on Blonde

The Alarmists Hit the Studio

Check out this update from Tony Najm, bass player for local Minneapolis band The Alarmists:

Hello Everyone, it has been a while since we last chatted. We hope you've all recovered from Thanksgiving week, and being back at work isn't wearing you down too much. A lot has happened in Alarmists camp since we last spoke. Back in August, we were still looking for a producer, a studio to record in and all that stuff that comes with making a new record.

Through the powers of the internet we met Producer extraordinaire Andrew Lynch. Andrew expressed interest in working with us, and we were dumbfounded since his catalog includes producing the latest Earlimart record 'Hymn & Her'. So that was a pretty easy choice as we're all HUGE fans of Earlimart, and you should be too. As for what studio to record in? We contacted our longtime trusty friend Producer/Engineer Adam Krinsky, and he said 'you should definitely head straight down to Flyte Tyme, and grab a case of beers on your way.' As some of you may know Flyte Tyme has now become the great Masters Recording Institute, and it's where hundreds of pop records from the likes of Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey, and even Michael Jackson were made.

So into the Studio we headed for 10 days, we got all the music done on 12 FRESH tracks as they say :) The new record should be out early summer, a lot more updates and pictures will be coming your way. Thanks for reading.

Love,
The Alarmists

Please enjoy a slideshow of photos I took over a series of three days in studio with the boys. After hearing the few tracks I was privileged enough to be in the studio for, I can honestly say I can't wait for the new album. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Music at the Walker Art Center

The Walker just sent out their monthly music email, which included details for shows this spring. Shows start at 8pm and vary in cost. The Dean & Britta performance, slated for February 28, looks the most interesting, as it accompanies silent film portraits shot by Andy Warhol.

Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips
February 28
Singer/guitarist /composer Dean Wareham (formerly of Galaxie 500 and Luna) was commissioned by The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to compose music to accompany some of Warhol’s rarely seen silent-film portraits, which the artist called Screen Tests. These extraordinary documents of the 1960s New York art scene constitute a voluminous portrait gallery of well-known celebrities, Factory superstars, and anonymous teenagers. Wareham’s wistful tenor and languorous songs and Britta Phillips’ dreamy harmonies make the perfect live sound track for Warhol’s technically simple yet transfixing films.

Preshow celebrity-portrait gallery tour at 7 pm (free with event ticket).

Dirty Projectors
March 6
Premiering music from his upcoming CD.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy
March 19

Get tickets and more information on the performances here.

Western Fifth - CD review & interview

Listening to Western Fifth’s recent release Stand Like a Thief is a little like dancing that achingly fleeting slow dance with the girl (or guy, depending) that you almost but never quite asked out in high school. This is not to say by any means that the music itself evokes high school – it feels more like the late nights spent on porches across America at the end of a party where those remaining are a little too drunk to get home and so sit, smoke cigarettes and wait for sobriety or dawn, whichever comes first. Add those two (somewhat disparate) elements together and you’ll get a basic approximation of this encompassing and enjoyable debut offering.

When put onto I-Tunes, the Genre listed is “Country,” which lead me to wonder who makes the determination of the genre. Does the band get to decide what their genre is? If asked to pick a genre for Western Fifth, I’d probably offer up some strange hybrid like post-country shoe-gaze indie rock, which doesn’t fit in the genre box on I-Tunes, so it’s probably best that no one asked me. The band has an interesting and rewarding way of reminding the listener of a different band with every listening. Upon repeat visits, I have uncovered sounds and songs influenced or reminiscent of Wilco, The Walkmen (see below for why this isn’t an influence), Okkervil River, and surprisingly upon my most recent listen – a dose of early Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers. Listen to the burst of organ on the their third track “In the End I Went Away” and see if you can disagree.

Cake in 15 was lucky enough to secure an exclusive email interview with Western Fifth’s singer/guitar player Ryan Holweger! While the fact that the questions are mostly longer than the answers might call into question my journalistic abilities, I will respond by saying that a) I’m a writer, not a journalist, and b) think of it as an interactive interview/review and you’ll be just fine. Enjoy!

Cake in 15: The first time I listened to the new album all the way through, I was driving between Chicago & Minneapolis, having dropped my fiancée off at the airport to fly off to New York, leaving me on my own for three long weeks. My Ipod got in a fight with the car stereo system and froze. I had brought the "Stand Like A Thief" album along to see how it felt on the road, and due to the sudden loss of Ipod (at 10 am, I might add - Two hours into a six hour drive) I put it in and sped through the Madison area. Would you consider this the best way to listen to the album? If you could chose, when & where would you recommend a listening party for maximum aesthetic & emotional impact?

Ryan Holweger: Although I think listening while driving is a good way to hear this record, it might be better suited for a dimly lit room, a couch, some liquor, and a good set of headphones. I think a good place for a listening party would be a small, cozy dive-bar, or maybe in the living room of an old house.

C15: Do you hate being compared to other bands? For instance, if I said that upon first listen I was instantly reminded of Okkervil River's *Down the River of Golden Dreams*, would you be annoyed or pleased? Would you rather be compared to The Walkmen?

RH: I’d be very pleased with a comparison to Okkervil River (one of my favorite bands). I’ve never heard the Walkmen, so I guess I’m not sure about that. I don’t think I’d ever be annoyed with comparisons to other bands, as long as it holds some merit. I feel that it’s a very effective way to give a reader a good idea on how a band might sound.

C15: Name one band you'd love to be mentioned in the same breath with, as well as one that you'd rather never be compared to again.

RH: I’m not sure if there is one single band I want to be compared to the most, but we are pleased with the different comparisons we’ve had so far (Wilco, Band of Horses, The Replacements, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Okkervil River, etc). As far as a band we’d never want to be compared to again, I’m not sure I can answer that. I suppose we’d have to be compared to a band that we don’t like before we can hope it never happens again. That being said, I hope no one ever compares us to The Eagles.

C15: The air of melancholia pervades the album - Seeps through the cracks, and many of the lyrics deal with death, love, defiance, or a combination of all three. As artists, do you find that writing in a certain mood helps to articulate your work?

RH: I find that for the most part, the mood definitely has an effect on the writing, in that I typically don’t write unless I’m in a certain mood. If I’m not in that certain mood, then the songwriting doesn’t happen. I rarely just decide to sit down and try write a song – it usually only happens after an idea comes first. That’s not always the case, but generally that’s the way it is.

C15: Do you seek to immerse your listener in the world that you've built, or is it enough to simply offer up a song for the listener to react to however he or she chooses?

RH: I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about like that. For the most part, we just hope the listener will take the time to enjoy the music, and hopefully get something out of it if they choose to – if they become immersed in the song, or the album as a whole, that is even better.

C15: What's next? Where can the Cake in 15 readers find Western Fifth in the near future?

RH: Well, we’ll be playing out around the Twin Cities as usual, hopefully getting some people interested in the new album. We’re also promoting it a bit in Europe and getting some airplay, so we hope to build on that as well, maybe sell some records over there. We’ll probably do another tour sometime next year. This past summer we hit a bunch of Midwestern & southern states (Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Missouri) so hopefully we can go back to those places, and maybe to the East Coast, too.

C15: Thank you! Readers can access the band’s Myspace page here and the album is out and available and highly recommended.

Cloud Cult: Feed the Living

Cloud Cult at The Whole 11/21/2008“…We’re very happy to be back in Minneapolis- it’s been a long time- in Minneapolis- since we’ve played for such an intimate setting, so this is pretty cool. Thanks for being here.” Craig Minowa smiled out at the crowd, sleep-mask askew on his forehead, one bare foot tapping. The band tuned between songs, the painters- Craig’s wife Connie and Scott West- at work producing rainbow-mixed birds and tragically sad women. And then came another song, another rush of noise, another uplift into escape.

Cloud Cult had come back from tour to play one last show before their winter hiatus, and had crammed themselves onto the tiny stage at the Whole. The room in the basement of the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union is best described by the removal of the “w” from its’ name; a long, low cave of a room. The assembled crowd had sat in patient anticipation, semi-circled like kindergarteners, through the opening set by Jelloslave. The four-piece of two cellos, Indian tables and a drums had played a warm opening set that had people clapping and swaying with occasional burst of surprise and recognition. Even though their regular drummer Greg Schutte was away, he was more than capably subbed by JT Bates, indisputably one of the best and most affable kit-men in Minneapolis. Tripping through mixes and medleys that swung between ragas and covers of the Beatles, Joy Division and closed with a bang with Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

It’s not hard to give love at a Cloud Cult show, in fact, it is a prime motivation of the band. Unlike some feel-good jam band that their name would seem to imply, this is a serious rock band whose core- Craig and his wife Connie- have traveled through darkness and back into light. It was the sudden death of the Minowa’s 2-year old son in 2002 that galvanized Craig’s songwriting and dedication to the music- working through grief. 2007’s Meaning of 8 was so titled because that would have been the age of the lost boy. It would seem morbid, near exploitative to hold tragedy that close, but without it the escape, the honesty of sharing and hope that so embodies the canon of Cloud Cult would be nowhere near as sublime.

Standing pressed up against the stage with the bass amp by my feet the music literally vibrates against my body, and when I am told that everybody here is a cloud I look around and see other people around me, all intangibly happy and our mouths form the same worlds together and purpose is not something that we need to worry about now. Now we are all together and we know the darkest places of ourselves are not so dark with other people there with you. No, it is not a cult; it is transcendental meditation, Plato’s creation myth of being divided halves looking for our other part, it is meteorological metaphors for turbulent times. It is crystalline sense of purpose, womb of sound, it is rock and roll music. To cop another local band made good, it won’t save you but it can bring you to a place where you can save yourself.

Minowa looked sheepishly out into the audience and apologized- the band is all sick, he said- we have been on tour and passed the same cold back and forth. But, he promises, “we are going to put on the best show possible for you.” From the crowd, someone yells, “You always do!” And we cheer, and they smile, because they love us and we love them.

No One said It Would Be Easy into Chemicals Collide:

File under "Things White People Like"

Cities97 released it's Sampler Volume 20 today, and here a couple fuzzy phone shots of the crowd at the downtown Target:
It's a good thing the proceeds go to charity, because I would hate to think of all these people lining through the skyways for exclusive Jason Mraz and Matchbox 20 tracks. (To be fair, the Sampler also has locals like Jeremy Messersmith and the Glad Version on it, so that's great. I just think a lot of white people in awkward crowds is funny.)