Last week was Art-A-Whirl, the unofficial start of outdoor music season. This week's calendar ends with Memorial Day, the kickoff for Minneapolis's annual Music in the Parks series. It's also festival season, and this week that means the Caterwaul fest at Mortimer's and Palmer's, a roundup as true to its name as you could ask.
Tuesday, May 21
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
- Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Orchestra @ Dakota—If you’re familiar with Don Was at all, it’s more likely as a producer than a musician. Yes, there are some of us old enough to still remember when "Walk the Dinosaur” brought funk to late ’80s modern rock radio—some of us even still pull out our Was (Not Was) records on occasion. But he’s better known as the man whose production on Nick of Time helped buoy Bonnie Raitt’s career, or maybe even as the guy who recorded the late-model Rolling Stones at their best (A Bigger Bang) and their worst (Hackney Diamonds). Toss in work with Dylan, Willie, and Wayne Shorter, and you’ve got a solid resume there. (A personal fave Was production credit is the Algerian rai artist Khaled’s 1994 crossover bid, N'ssi N'ssi). The guy’s also spent more than a decade heading up Blue Note Records, and now he’s getting to live his jazz bandleader dreams with the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. The all-Motor City lineup includes Eminem collaborator Dave McMurray on sax, keyboardist Luis Resto, trombonist Vincent Chandler, trumpeter John Douglas, drummer Jeff Canaday, percussionist Mahindi, guitarist Wayne Gerard, and vocalist Steffanie Christi’ann. Expect something soulful but not slick.
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Sounds by: Velvet Negroni @ Mortimer's
Social Distortion with Lovecrimes @ Palace Theatre
Sovereign Marshall, P.B&J, Lieutenant Fish @ Pilllar Forum
Local Showcase @ ROK Music Lounge
Vincent Lima with Matt Haughey @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase hosted by Open Mic MPLS @ Sociable Cider Werks
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime: Dave Babb @ 331 Club
May Conspiracy Series feat. Theyself, TABAH @ 331 Club
LustSickPuppy with Prolaps & SYM1 @ Underground Music Cafe
Hanabie with Left To Suffer, Outline In Color @ Varsity Theater
The New Halvoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
Leslie (Residency) @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, May 22
- LCD Soundsystem @ Armory—Farewell show? What farewell show? In 2011, around the same time N+1 was asking “What Was the Hipster?” James Murphy made a bigger deal of hanging up his rock ‘n’ roll shoes than anyone since The Band, with a big ol’ Madison Square Garden to-do, captured for posterity in a concert doc that came complete with an extended interview where Chuck Klosterman served as the Frost to Murphy’s Nixon. As a man of deep, abiding principle, Murphy waited four whole years before getting the band back together. Still a good band, though. They’re wry, they’re funky, they’ll make you nostalgic for Obama-era Williamsburg even if you were still living with your parents in Roseville at the time, and you’ll see all your friends. Those ticket prices may seem steep, especially for GA in the hardly intimate Armory, but you might not ever get another chance to see this band live again. Or, you know, you just might.
SomeSurprises, Nona Invie, Despondent @ Cloudland
Sisters of Swing: The Music of The Andrews Sisters @ Crooners
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Juniper FLy, Corzine, Emily Rhea @ Green Room
Zak Khan + Charlie Bruber @ Icehouse
Korpiklaani with Visions of Atlantis and Illumishade @ The Lyric
Maurice Jacox @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Prairie Clamor (Residency) with The Mortiholics, Alonzo, Rosie Rossi @ Mortimer's
KFAI'S Desert Islands Presents KFAI'S hosted by Theyself with Mother Banjo @ Palmer's
Stephane Wrembel Quartet @ The Parkway
DÍA, JustHANO, Asa Spades, Jimmie, Kalhoun, 98retro, eNDIO @ ROK Music Lounge
Swamp Poppasf @ Schooner Tavern
Ezra Bell with Second Hand Dan and Raynah @ 7th St Entry
Chris Holm @ Sociable Cider Werks
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Doug Otto and the Getaways @ 331 Club
BORN OF OSIRIS, ATTILA, TRAITORS, EXTORTIONIST, NOT ENOUGH SPACE @ Varsity Theater
Nights with Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, May 23
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunkers
Little Fevers, Call Me Spinster, Union Suit @ Cloudland
Cafe Accordion Music @ Crooners
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Ross Thorn & The Spine Stealers with The Penny Peaches @ Green Room
Astronomy Town (EP Release) & Conor Lee (Single Release) @ Icehouse
Half Baked Jazz Quintet @ Jazz Central
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mountain Singers, Aros E-V, Paul Thomas Flynn @ Mirror Lab
DJ Kenny D @ Mortimer's
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Dystopian Dispatch, Ray Gun Youth, BirdCop, Los Pinches Gueys @ Pilllar Forum
Glencircle, The Thirsty Giants, Dashed @ ROK Music Lounge
Mubbla Buggs, 13 Howell @ Schooner Tavern
GLOM with Dad Bod @ 7th St Entry
Dance Church Pop Up with Kate Wallich @ TU Dance Center
Wayfarer with Sonja and Graveslave @ Turf Club
Fine Dials, Red Lovely, & Hiving @ Underground Music Cafe
Bass Thursday PHOR, Dopeonme, Tarnished, & Gemini Danger @ Uptown VFW
See No Evil, Sock 'Em, AllGodsChildren, Identity Crisis, Sucker Punch @ White Rock Lounge
Lake Davi with Kiernan, Sine Iris @ White Squirrel
Academy Darling @ Zhora Darling
Friday, May 24
RX Cowboy with DJ Butangel420, DARKO DGAF, Acid Brat, & Roc Barboza @ Amsterdam
Mwago Kuria + Thomas Richey @ Aster Cafe
Dale Alexander/Tom Pieper @ Berlin
Bryan Nichols Quintet @ Berlin
No Limits: The B Sides @ Bunkers
killusonline, Gnaw, Identity Crisis, Adomania @ Cloudland
Magraw-Olsen Quartet @ Crooners
The Music of Huey Lewis & the News @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
DJ Blue Funk presents MINT JAMS @ Dutch Bar
Bermuda Squares, Stepsister, Laugh Track @ Eagles 34
Lena & the Lovekills @ Eagles 34
- Emo Nite with Melissa Marie (of Millionaires) @ Fine Line—Look, millennials, I know our whole generation is doing an emo backslide. Sugar, we’re absolutely going down—so just stop pretending you ever wanted to take My Chemical Romance out of heavy rotation and get ready to scream along to “A Taste of Ink” and “Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)” when Emo Nite returns to the Fine Line this weekend. Tonight’s special guest is Melissa Marie Green, singer of the '00s Cali crunkcore band Millionaires. (Remember Millionaires? "Alcohol"??) On Saturday (see below) the same venue will hold a DJ night themed for another generation, INTERNET KIDS: Hyperpop Dance Party.—Em Cassel
Small Town Sindrome, Virgo, Cole Allan @ The Garage
Molly Brandt with Reilly Downes & the Acid Cowboys and Clare Doyle @ Green Room
Lonesome Losers with YFM @ Hook and Ladder
Toivo Hannigan Trio @ Icehouse
Kevin Washington & RA Spirit @ Icehouse
Ahee, Dirty Snatcha @ The Loft
The Legendary R Factor @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Juice!! Present by Love @ Modist Brewing
- Caterwaul 2024 @ Mortimer's—This annual Memorial Day weekend fest, which takes in pretty much every genre centered on loud guitars, kicks off tonight with local rockers Murf and just keeps going from there. Featured over the next three days at Mort's and Palmer's: unpredictable San Fran experimentalists Oxbow, London noisemakers Part Chimp, reunited Ohio scene-fomenters Brainiac, Jawbox album J. Robbins, and plenty of locals, including Scunchies, Gay Witch Abortion, and Another Heaven. Bring an extra set of earplugs to keep those stereocilia safe.
Richard Goode Plays Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 18 and 23 @ Ordway
Michael August @ Padraigs Brewing
Vacant, Misery, War Plague and Die Hard Corps @ Palmer's
Speakeazie, Adult Video and Ditch Pigeon @ Palmer's
Blvejvy, What, DD the Spektrum, Yung J.B, $elfsame @ Pilllar Forum
808 & AUX: Hiphop & Dubstep @ ROK Music Lounge
Sunshine & the Night Walkers @ Schooner Tavern
Me Nd Adam and Caleb Dee with Wonderstate @ 7th St Entry
MVO Crewtet @ Sociable Cider Werks
Rinally, Chris and Jen, KvN b2b MooZoo @ Studio B
4th Annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash @ Turf Club
Groovetronixx: Sole2dotz & Dj M’Baku, Talia Knight, Tek @ Uptown VFW
Vioaggression, Yotuma, Defiled Sacrament, Visceral Reaction @ White Rock Lounge
The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel
Saturday, May 25
The Neighborhood Quartet @ Aster Cafe
Trish Hurd-Paczkiwski/Graydon Peterson @ Berlin
Bryan Nichols Quintet @ Berlin
Anarky, Infantile Disease, Halux, Stone Harp @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Buck Meek with Jolie Holland @ Cedar Cultural Center
Humid, Radiator Girl, Stony Point @ Cloudland
A Tribute to Jackson Browne @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Shabby Road Orchestra @ Dakota
The Matt Arthur Contraption and Big Trouble House @ Dusty's
The Dagnabits, The Haws, Speedbilly @ Eagles 34
612-JUKE Vol. 2 HEAVEE in Minneapolis @ Eagles 34
INTERNET KIDS ⏤ Hyperpop Dance Party @ Fine Line
AMPLITUDE FT. DISTINCT MOTIVE, ANNA MORGAN, HYPHO, DE-TÜ, TUNIC, & VERSA @ Granada
Right Thurrr: A 2000s Dance Party @ Green Room
- MAKR AN ERIS (Album Release) with Naeem, Mike Mictlan, & Shannon Blowtorch @ Icehouse—On ME 2, the not-so-unlikely team up of the bottomless font of crafty beats MAKR (aka Mark McGee) and the ever-hype Sophia Eris whip through eight songs in 14 minutes (Typical highlight: Eris responds to men thinking she's stupid wiht "And I am—only for the night though.") Like so many quickies, I bet it has more lasting power than a lot of belabored masterpieces. Come early for Naeem, a sometime-Minnesotan who has followed up on his excellent 2020 album Startisha with some comparable singles, veteran Minneapolis rapper Mike Mictlan, and ubiquitous for good reason DJ Shannon Blowtorch.
Alex SK Quartet @ Jazz Central
- Club Nouveau @ Minnesota Music Cafe—What are these '80s hitmakers (you know you remember their jaunty remake of Bill Withers's "Lean on Me") doing at the MMC, whose stage is usually held down by fantastic local soul, funk, and rock veterans? Dunno, but seemed worth a mention.
- Caterwaul 2024 @ Mortimer's/Palmer's—See Friday's listings.
Richard Goode Plays Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 18 and 23 @ Ordway
Luke Bakken, Viv Piston @ Padraigs Brewing
LYXE, Crush Scene, and Beneath Green @ Palmer's
Headwar, Calamity @ Pilllar Forum
Herbert Quain, Kelsifer, Astrospook, Sophia Amare @ Red Sea
Badcat (Video Release) @ ROK Music Lounge
The Dalmatian Club, Scorched Waves, rosie, and My Buddy Eric @ 7th St Entry
AlienPark x Pierce @ Skyway Theatre
ERRL, Deep Daek Lake, Riggs Calvero and the Convoy @ 331 Club
COLD and Orgy with Horizon Theory and I Ya Toyah @ Turf Club
Live Video Game Music: Jam Session, Abandon Quest, Joey Z64 @ Uptown VFW
Ballentine's Burlesque @ Uptown VFW
Minnesota Soul @ U.S. Bank Stadium
Lords of Acid @ Varsity Theater
Deterioration, Gored Embrace, Selenoplexia, Kalot @ White Rock Lounge
Meghan Kreidler, Dan Dukich, Chelsie Newhard @ White Squirrel
Saturdays Are Instrumental with Big Trouble @ White Squirrel
James Eugene Russell @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, May 26
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Haley (Residency) with Black Widows @ Berlin
Porangui @ Cedar Cultural Center
Reza Khan and Friends @ Crooners
Essential Songs of Van Morrison @ Crooners
BZ3 Organ Trio & Brandon Commodore’s NRG @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Heavy Metal Brass Band, Savage Moods, Clocks and Clouds @ Green Room
- Caterwaul 2024 @ Mortimer's/Palmer's—See Friday's listings.
Anita Velveeta, Thumper, Haze Gazer, Bussy Guys @ Pilllar Forum
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Old Salt!, Lost Dead, The Subversives, Sleeper Cell @ Uptown VFW
Spite and Bodysnatcher @ Varsity Theater
Lurking Corpses, Electirc Assualt, Rad Enhancer @ White Rock Lounge
The Daily Norm with D.C Leonhardt, The Cottonwood Shivers @ White Squirrel
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, May 27
The Spinzone with McG @ Berlin
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
World Music Monday @ Eagles 34
G Flip with Florrie @ Fine Line
Anti-Skip Protection, Belfast Cowboys @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
- Caterwaul 2024 @ Palmer's—See Friday's listings.
Metal Monday @ Schooner Tavern
TimaLikesMusic Presents ⏤ That 90’s Love @ 7th St Entry
Open Mic Night @ Sociable Cider Werks
