MUSIC REVIEW | Band Of Skulls electrify First Avenue

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Tonal energy poured forth from the speakers, fog meandered left to right mingling with blue and green stage lights, which pierced the darkness of the iconic black décor of the Main Room at First Ave. The crowd head banged, danced, and threw fists and devil horns in unison. The relentless sound created by Band Of Skulls was in full swing, reverberating through every inch and body in the space.They came out in full force to promote their new album Himalayan by performing the first track, “Asleep at the Wheel.” Traveling through peaks and valleys of tempo variation over the course of 19 songs, their grip never let up in stirring the audience into electric bliss. Each member a master of tone, and the stellar vocal tandems of guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson was perfection.Offering a mixture of tracks from all three of their albums, Band of Skulls demonstrated their power rock trio skills and got the crowd in a frenzy with songs like “Sweet Sour,” “The Devil Takes Care of His Own,” “Bomb,” and “Toreador.” A standout point was when they performed “Bruises” with its pounding intro and hypnotizing harmonizing by Marsden and Richardson, followed by the seductive “Cold Fame,” in which Marsden’s guitar moans and squeals like a man who just lost his love.Other arousing songs from the set included “You’re Not Pretty But You Got It Goin’ On”–a song where drummer Hayward displays his finesse and technical mastery–and “Patterns” which Richardson took control of with her powerful vocal chords.At the conclusion of the set, the crowd chanted “Band Of Skulls! Continue Reading

ARTS REVIEW | “Song of Jasmine” at the Walker Art Center: Ragamala Dance and Rudresh Mahanthappa fuse Indian and American cultures

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Ragamala Dance’s directors Aparna Ramaswamy and Ranee Ramaswamy collaborate with jazz saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa for the Walker Art Center’s newest commission entitled Song of the Jasmine. According to their website, Ragamala Dance studio draws “from the myth and spirituality of our South Indian heritage to make dance landscapes that dwell in opposition–secular and spiritual life, inner and outer worlds, human and natural concerns, rhythm and stillness–to find the transcendence that lies in between.”  The jasmine flower goes to the heart of sensorial worship in India, used not only for hair ornaments (as the dancers wore in this production) but also in worship rituals and even to bathe deities. This piece captures the essence of the flower, addressing and visualizing the poet Andal’s longing and the religious desire to connect, multisensorially with the god Vischnu–on the road to surrender.This newest commission from the Walker Art center draws on the poetry by the 8th Century Tamil mystic poet Andal. In 143 verses, called the Nachiar Tirumozhi (sacred sayings of the goddess), she wrote of her intense longing for Vishnu, the Supreme God in Vaishnavism Hiduism. Song of Jasmine expresses the poet’s intense longing for Vishnu. The songs are commonly used in rituals and serve as guidance how one can attain a state of bliss by surrendering body mind and soul to the Divine Existence (from a translation provided in the program).The tension created on stage comes from the refined movement and the relentless rhythm that drives the dancers on towards Vishnu, perhaps. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Graveyard with Kadavar and Bombus at the Fine Line Music Café

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I wore my favorite Misfits hat to the 1990 Too Dark Park concert at Central Park Ballroom in Milwaukee. No one goes to a Skinny Puppy/Babes in Toyland show expecting things to be sedate but the frenzy of the crowd on that particular night was a surprise and as a result of the melee I lost my favorite Misfits hat to the swirling storm of unwashed punks and rivitheads. I mourned it for days. I was 19.I mention this now, 20-plus years later, because the exact thing happened to me at the Graveyard show at the Fine Line Café in Minneapolis on Friday, April 25. There was one key difference: I was up there in the front getting some shots of Bombus and off went my hat back into the mass of spasming headbangers. Continue Reading

MUSIC PHOTOS | Leftover Salmon at First Avenue

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On Friday, April 4 Leftover Salmon and The Giving Tree Band played at First Avenue in Minneapolis.Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative.                     
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COMMUNITY VOICES | You really don’t want to meet the Dicks at Dick’s Resort in the Mall of America

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I’m not one to cry. Truth is, I rarely cry, but during a visit to Dick’s Resort in the Mall of America I was literally reduced to tears! The bartender was abusive, abrasive, and mean as HELL. I wasn’t sure why he was in a bad mood, but later found out that it is their “niche” to be mean as spitfire. Were they really trained to treat people like this, to the point of harassment? Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Damien Jurado returns to the Turf Club with his new record “Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son”

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Damien Jurado came to town again for the second time in a year on a cold, but not unwelcoming night. The sold-out Turf Club crowd filed in completely just before the veteran singer-songwriter inconspicuously took the stage, walking up in his winter gear from behind the merch table in the back, through the packed crowd, up the side stairs, and then to the front of the stage to claim his guitar. It was a fitting entrance for an artist so consistently good, he’s almost forgotten amongst the pantheon of new artists filling their spots in the zeitgiest of modern “indie” music.  He played his first song, the opening track fom his newest record, then took his jacket off.The whole of Jurado’s career, like it or not, has been an exercise in simple, integral Americana songwriting. He has given his listeners record after record of amazingly beautiful, thoughtful, and understated songs, all encapsulated within his yearning, golden pipes. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Somali music piracy highlighted

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When you hear `Somalia`coupled with `piracy ` it rings the bell that Somalia has grown over the years into a household name with sea piracy. But there has been another form of Somali piracy, a Somali music piracy since the downfall of Siad Barre`s military government in 1991. Of course this music piracy can also ring a bell as to what kind of Somali music piracy we are talking  about here, where one might think of it as being some kind of online Somali music piracy: but it is more than that. Over the years, I have personally witnessed usually young Somali musicians willing to emerge but using a shortcut to singing by singing old Somali songs of 1970s/1980s and then burning it into new albums/CDs. I am not ranting here to speak evil of the reputation of the emerging Somali musicians but I am trying to shape this writing of mine as a way not only to expose this habit of copy singing but mainly to raise awareness of the issue which I think the Somali music deserves at this modern era when piracy is evolving into forms hard to contain or predict.There is the nickname Wejiya xun coined in Somali for those who shamelessly do copy singing. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Pretty Lights, Blood Diamonds and Paul Basic bring a glowing crowd to Myth

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I’ve never been to the Myth night club before, and just driving out to it was a bit of an experience. Driving the 45 minutes it takes to get there from where I live felt like I was going to East Jesus Nowhere. The fact that Myth is also situated between several strip malls, a rug store, a hibachi place, and a shopping mall didn’t really alleviate the sentiment. Also, the Myth has a parking lot and you don’t have to pay for parking. Imagine that. Continue Reading

10 reasons artists need patrons, or get on over to Kickstarter

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You know how some artists in the old days used to have patrons? Think Michaelangelo, or other painters, sculptors or even scientists, who had the d’Medici family, popes, or kings and queens who supported their work and fed them so that they could get on with it.I’m thinking that is what is needed now for some folks. Sure, there are grants and prizes that award money for artistic merit. But I’m thinking something more personal than that – someone who knows the artists, really believes in them, and will not make them fill out reams of paperwork in competition with other artists to garner continued support. Not that I think grants and prizes are bad – it’s just a tough system, and most people who are successful at it have had to learn how to use it.I’m not just talking about painters and sculptors, either. Continue Reading