Sneaking a listen to the Walker's free outdoor music series—Mallman, M.anifest, Mouthful, and more

by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet • June 28, 2008 • On Mondays from July 14 through August 18, the Walker Art Center will be reprising their successful Summer Music & Movies series in Loring Park—free live music, free live DJs, and free live (so to speak) movies. (All shows are free; music begins at 7, with films rolling at dusk.) This year’s theme is “Elected!” The PR-savvy art center sent a preview disc featuring this year’s artists, and I took a listen.

Arts Orbit is a multisource blog about the local arts scene, featuring both original contributions by Daily Planet writers and entries reprinted from partner blogs and online publications.

The Alarmists (July 14, with DJ Barb Abney and Duck Soup) are “ringing the bell for a new era in Minneapolis rock,” says the Walker. The preview disc starts with their far-out instrumental “Headspace,” which suggests that the new era in Minneapolis rock is also the new age. Could it be that University of Minnesota alumnus Yanni is finally making his mark on the local pop scene? The Alarmists’ other two tracks on the disc are throwbacks to the crunchy, jangly alt-rock of a decade past. Either way, the Minnesota Daily is right: It’s a 90s revival summer in the Twin Cities.

Black Audience (August 11, with DJ Dave Campbell and State of the Union) are represented on the disc with two tracks coyly titled “Live Song #1” and “Live Song #2.” The Walker invites audiences to “join the hootenanny” at the Black Audience gig, but there’s nothing good-timey about the two tracks they provide, which feature vocalist Jayanthi Kyle declaiming the blues over spare, chugging arrangements. If you close your eyes at the show and lie back, you might just be able to imagine that those yipping Pomeranians are hound dogs on your trail.

If you don’t appreciate Califone (August 18, with DJ Mark Wheat and the original Manchurian Candidate), says tastemaker Pitchfork, you’re stupid. The Walker reminds us that we’re darn lucky to get to see this band, “the new soundtrack of Americana,” for free. (What was the old soundtrack of Americana? John Phillip Sousa? Woody Guthrie? Bob Seger?) Sampler tracks “The Orchids” and “3 Legged Animals” answer the question, “What would it have sounded like if Wilco had peaked early, burned out, and hired Brian Eno to produce a comeback album?”

Rapper M.anifest (July 21, with DJ Steve Seel and The Senator Was Indiscreet) delivers “promise-filled lyrics that touch globally recognized themes of love and life,” says the Walker. The loping flow M.anifest delivers on the burbling “Babylon Breakdown” suggests that if the Ghana-born MC is over-hyped, he’s not dangerously so. “She Lives,” the rapper’s second track on the sampler, hits a summery sweet spot. M.anifest’s laconic storytelling and playfully naughty sense of humor (“this shit is so hard, way past constipated”) recall his local peers Slug and Brother Ali.

Mark Mallman (July 28, with DJ Jill Riley and the original All the King’s Men) is a performer/scenemaker/recording artist (in that order) in the mold of Har Mar Superstar, but he’s slightly less likely than Har Mar to be seen in the company of Paris Hilton, and slightly more likely to leave his shirt on for the duration of any given performance. His appealingly synthy pop—represented on the Walker sampler by the ominously titled “Death Wish” and “Substances”—is also slightly more likely to leave a lasting impression.

Mouthful of Bees (August 4, with DJ Bill DeVille and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington) are a buzz band. You know it. I know it. They know it. But they’re also “much more than a buzz band,” notes the Walker. Whether that’s true is hard to judge from the muddy-sounding tracks, “The Now” and “Jessica,” on the Walker sampler—but the Bees do sound capable of uncorking a little chaos. With handclaps.

Photographs (Alarmists, at top, and M.anifest) courtesy of the artists