It's highly inconvenient, to say the least, that Tuesday the most exciting day for live music this week. But there's plenty to do on the non-Tuesdays this week too, culminating in the perfectly named Caterwaul Fest that takes over Mort's and Palmer's this weekend.
Tuesday, May 23
- Rico Nasty @ Amsterdam—Over the past few years, Amsterdam has established itself as the place for cutting edge female rappers visiting the Twin Cities, hosting the likes of Flo Milli and Leikeli47. So it was only a matter of time before this ferociously exuberant DMV rapper came to St. Paul. Rico cleverly calls her sound “sugar trap,” and she does sweeten those rattling 808s with her many-voiced rhymes, but on her latest mixtape, Las Ruinas, she works with a variety of producers, a few of whom favor old school jungle breakbeats. Few MCs enjoy rage for the sheer energy it provides them quite as thoroughly as Rico (Ms. Nasty if you’re nasty), but she’s got her sensitive side too, often expressed through her alter egos Tacobella and Trap Lavigne. She’s not averse to tossing some pop-punk into the mix either, and she’s a burgeoning fashion icon, and—look, let’s just say there’s a lot going on with Rico Nasty.
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunkers
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
Fenne Lily and Christian Lee Hutson with Work Wife @ Fine Line
- Hot Chip with Cadence Weapon @ First Avenue—Is there a nicer dance-pop band in existence than Hot Chip? I mean that as a compliment—how much simpler to rev your beats toward ecstasy, sour your sentiments with archness, or douse your songs in moody textures than to just go about your business as decent, upstanding, tuneful blokes? While Hot Chip peaked back in 2006 with The Warning, they’ve been unwaveringly consistent since, with Alexis Taylor chirping lyrics of humane outreach over familiar yet ever-so-lovingly tweaked beats. Their eighth album, Freakout/Release, out last August, is slightly (and quite explicably) more anxious than usual, but they’ve hardly gone neurotic—they’re just bummed and dancing their way toward emotional equilibrium. Come early for ace Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, who appears on the Hot Chip track “The Evil That Men Do.”
- Devin the Dude with Bdot Croc @ Granada—A rap show in the swanky Granada? It's happened before, and it's happening now. Houston stoner dude Devin made a deserved critical splash almost (can it be?) 20 years ago, and though I haven't checked out his recordings in a while (the last, Soulful Distance, came out just two years ago) I bet he delivers a fun spacey set.
Elskavon with Jacob Pavek and Syvers @ Icehouse
COLD with Divide The Fall and Sygnal To Noise @ 7th St Entry
- Billy Porter @ State Theatre—Porter will be "telling his life story through song" on what's billed as The Black Mona Lisa Tour: Volume One. The press materials promise original material, old and new; a little bit of Broadway; and "a nod" to Netflix's Pose.
April Conspiracy Series featuring theyself, Mike Munson @ 331 Club
Worker's Playtime, Sherry Minnick @ 331 Club
DREAMERS and Robert DeLong with CARR @ Turf Club
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
Residency, Thy Name is Jeremy @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, May 24
Maggie's Wednesdays: Mia Dorr @ Crooners
- Rickie Lee Jones @ Dakota—As a recording artist, Jones is mostly an interpreter these days—Pieces of Treasure, released in April, is only the latest in a string of covers albums. But a glance at recent setlists suggests she'll lean heavily on her originals during this Dakota stand, from her beat-inspired early days through the more introspective periods that followed. Hopefully she'll mix things up a bit over the course of these four shows.
Russians Against War, My Buddy Eric @ Driftwood
- Converge with BRUTUS and Frail Body @ Fine Line—This is as good a time as any to share one of my most favorite tweets: “Dude been wearing the Jane Doe zip up since 2010… bro I think it’s time you converge with some hoes!!!!!” And here’s another Converge fan attack I like that’s even meaner, and yet no less true. As one of the most influential metalcore bands (if not the most influential metalcore band) of all time, Converge are almost too easy to meme. But the coolest thing about Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou, and co. is that they never sound the same from record to record; 10+ full-lengths in, 2021’s Chelsea Wolfe collab Bloodmoon: I sounds like something utterly different. Even if their (middle-aged, possibly balding, almost certainly Vans-wearing) fans haven’t updated their wardrobes since the ’90s.
Molly Dean + Joe George @ Icehouse
Prairie Clamor, Larry Wish, Alonzo @ Mortimer's
Becky Kapell with Gini Dodds @ Palmer's
Bazookatooth, Hallux, Identity Criss @ Pilllar
Trash Panda with Nordista Freeze @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with the Ditchbillies @ 331 Club
- Caitlyn Smith @ Turf Club—I would love to love Smith's songwriting. A lot of big Nashville players are in her corner, including label head and ace songwriter Shane McAnally. Amanda Shires plays violin on her new album. Miley Cyrus has a co-write. Garth Damn Brooks sings backup on one cut. But Smith is also staying true to her Cannon Falls roots with what she's calling "The Minnesota Residency"—tonight's gig follows a solo set at the Entry last week and precedes a September Mainroom show and a Christmas performance at the Fitz. But the songs on her latest, High & Low, sound, like the songs that have come before, merely pro, even the one she co-wrote with McAnally and the truly great Lori McKenna. I'll keep listening though.
Nights With Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, May 25
Toussaint Morrison + Roz @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
Ondara with Kiely Connell @ Cedar Cultural Center
PK Mayo Acoustic Trio (CD Release) @ Crooners
Divas Through the Decades @ Crooners
- Rickie Lee Jones @ Dakota—See Thursday's listings for more details.
Sad Machine, Xmas on Neptune, Waar Party, GOV @ Driftwood
Bones, Xavier Wulf, Eddy Baker @ Fillmore
Jeremy Harvey and Bad Dad Band @ Green Room
Retroreflector with Brandon Wozniak & Mike Wolter's Early Planets Trio @ Icehouse
Virgin Whores & Guests @ Mortimer's
Mozart’s Paris Symphony with Jonathan Cohen @ Ordway
The Front Porch Swingin’ Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Ice Climber, River Sinclaire, Anita Velveeta and Desert Liminal @ Palmer's
Waldemar with Aldrich and The Nunnery @ 7th St Entry
Ricardo Arjona @ Target Center
All The Pretty Horses, The Silent Treatment, Butter Boys, and Surly Grrly @ Turf Club
David von Schlegell with Francis Emil Johnson, The Sparks @ White Squirrel
Friday, May 26
Nathan Griner + Boots & Needles @ Aster Cafe
Chase & Ovation: The Music of Prince @ Bunkers
Wayne Anthony Jazz Ensemble with Lucia Sarmiento @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Chris Lomheim with Colleen Raye @ Crooners
Dylan Night, Curt Copeland @ Driftwood
Drew Simon & Friends @ Eagles 34
Mechanix feat Echo Brown, Defecks, Ren @ Eagles 34
Summer Breeze Yacht Rock Fest @ Hook and Ladder
Cariah Brinaé Birthday Bash 2023 @ Hook and Ladder
All Terrain Vehicle @ Icehouse
Curtis Salgado @ KJ’s Hideaway
- Caterwaul 2023 @ Mortimer's—The death of the Twin Cities musical festival may have been (ever-so-slightly) exaggerated. “Noise, electro-punk, punk, garage, metal, hardcore the list goes on… How bout we just refer to it as the ‘subgenre fest?’” Caterwaul organizer Rainer Fronz told New Noise of the event, which reemerged from a pandemic hiatus last year. Over 50 bands from across the country will descend, amps cranked, for a four-day marathon of noises that fall somewhere under the broader punk umbrella. We're talkin' Tongue Party, Elephant Rifle, Child Bite, Big'n, Vaz, USA Nails, and, on Monday at Palmer's, festival headliner Flipper, the influential Bay Area punk greats who were famously adored by Kurt Cobain; Shannon Selberg of local AmRep staples Cows will be an honorary Flipper member as part of a special Caterwaul collab.
Mozart’s Paris Symphony with Jonathan Cohen @ Ordway
Luke Callen, The Foxgloves, Long Mama and Wolf Van Elfmand @ Palmer's
The 241's and Jeffrey Robert Larson @ Palmer's
Star Student, Anita Velveeta, Brave Room Terrified @ Pilllar
Kate Malanaphy with Trash Date, Marvelous and Greta Ruth @ 7th St Entry
The Black Dahlia Murder @ Skyway Theatre
Dave’s Manual, Kylie Nova, The Owl-Eyes @ 331 Club
Spring Dreamin' @ The Treasury
Desperate Electric, Vinny Franco, Beneath Green, and ELOUR @ Turf Club
New Confusion, Civil Decline, MOLD, & RiGBY @ Underground Music Venue
Subhumans, War//Plague, Cop/Out, & Surrogates @ Uptown VFW
The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel
Saturday, May 27
Scott Zosel (Album Release) @ Aster Cafe
36-Year Anniversary with Dr. Mambo's Combo @ Bunkers
The Andrews Sisters: Music and Memories @ Crooners
The Brian Grivna Quartet @ Crooners
Mick Sterling Sings Bruce Springsteen @ Crooners
Erin and Jay Cabaret @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Rick Carlson with Dennis Spears @ Crooners
The Dreamrunners. Boxcar @ Driftwood
Cindy Lawson, Whiskey Rock and Roll Club @ Dusty's
- Backyard Boombox One Year Anniversary Party @ Failing Knife Brewing Co.—We’re not the most dance/DJ-savvy operation, but we’ll confidently declare that Backyard Boombox—a roving, rotating DJ party that visits Twin Cities breweries—seems pretty neat. Falling Knife Brewing agrees, considering it’s hosting the dance event’s first birthday blowout that’ll bring 14 DJs to the taproom. Headlining is BVRNOUT, a rising 30-year-old house producer from western Massachusetts. The brewery promises “food trucks, giveaways, freebies, and special drinks,” plus a one-off seltzer release named after the birthday crew.
Kat Dahlia with Sinego @ Fine Line
Watsky with Abhi the Nomad and Feed The Biirds @ First Avenue
Lady Midnight, Fanaka Nation, Kwey @ Green Room
Cornbread Harris Ensemble @ Icehouse
Zacc Harris Group with Steve Kenny’s Trio, Not Trio @ KJ’s Hideaway
AFK X CROWELL X ZUBAH X DRIPPY @ The Loft
- Caterwaul Afterparty @ Mortimer's—See Friday's listings for more details.
Mozart’s Paris Symphony with Jonathan Cohen @ Ordway
Remixer with DJ Jen-E @ Palmer's
Bad Decisions with John Murph, Adrian Loving and Pour Hommes @ 7th St Entry
13 Arrows, Cassandra Cole, Kylie Weber @ 331 Club
The Riffin' Trio and Hemma @ Turf Club (Clown Lounge)
Power of Love – A Throwback 80s Rave @ Turf Club
Arkangela, AfterTime, Once Around, and Morningstar @ Underground Music Venue
The TJD Trio with Dilly Dally Alley, Bryan Lowree, Becca Tremmel @ White Squirrel
Sunday, May 28
Conway the Machine with Sauce Walka & Jae Skeese @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Honky-Tonk Jump: The Texas Swing Music of Bob Wills @ Crooners
Mick Sterling Sings Van Morrison @ Crooners
The Andrews Sisters: Music and Memories @ Crooners
Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Elder with Ruby the Hatchet and Howling Giant @ Fine Line
Johnny Sincerely Orchestra @ Granada
Kai Brewster's Millions @ Green Room
Mubbla Buggs (Video Release) + Betty Won’t @ Hook and Ladder
Vlad Messing & Friends @ Icehouse
Taylor Robert (Album Release) @ KJ's Hideaway
- Caterwaul Afterparty @ Mortimer's—See Friday's listings for more details.
- Caterwaul 2023 @ Palmer's—See Friday's listings for more details.
AK Fields with Obi Original, OAOJOOO, A.K.A. Kobi @ 7th St. Entry
Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, May 29
Argiflex VS. Amy Bestevez @ Amsterdam
The Beatles Reimagined @ Dakota
Maria and the Coins @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Big Mike & the Funktion @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
- Caterwaul 2023 @ Palmer's—See Friday's listings for more details.
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Sciurus Sequencia: Jazz and/or Creative Music Series w. 5ifth House @ White Squirrel
