Ah, Rocktober! Too narrow a word, actually, to take in the different kinds of great music you can experience live this week. Does Fatoumata Diawara rock? Does yeule? Do you? Yes, Racket reader, you surely do rock.
Tuesday, October 3
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
- The Handsome Family with Paul Fonfara @ Cedar Cultural Center—I’ll admit it—like a lot of musical acts I fell for 20-plus years back, I haven’t been keeping up with the husband-wife team of Brett and Rennie Sparks much recently. I should have been! Their 2016 album Unseen is a bit doleful even by their melancholy standards, but tell me, exactly how lively were you that wonderful year, pal? For evidence that Rennie’s pen is as sharp as ever, check out this stanza from “Good Old Days”: “There was no time or space/When I was growing up/We had summer all winter/The moon rose with the sun/And music sounded better/We recorded on rings of ice/And as the songs turned to water/We couldn't help but cry.” And Brett’s stolid baritone hasn’t exorcized a single ghost that haunts it. The Sparkses’ 11th studio album, Hollow, out later this week, offers even more spectral but wittily grotesque Americana. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the Handsomes, you might recognize “Far From Any Road,” which served as the theme song for True Detective. And if you don’t trust me, well, Phoebe Bridgers covered “So Much Wine” last Christmastime, and you think she’s pretty cool, right?
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
The Brook & The Bluff with Bendigo Fletcher @ Fine Line
Saliva and Drowning Pool with Adelitas Way and Any Given Sin @ First Avenue
Kevin Gamble Trio @ Green Room
Coco Canary (EP Release) with James Samimi Farr @ Icehouse
Bill Simenson Orchestra @ Jazz Central
PG-13: Peter Gabriel Afterparty @ KJ's Hideaway
Bluewater Kings Showcase @ Minnesota Music Cafe
- Rodney Crowell with Laurel Lewis @ Parkway—Rodney Crowell was Americana before the marketers had a term for it, working in the craftsmanlike tradition of Texas forebears like Guy Clark and joining Emmylou Harris on the road. But he's no country outsider: He also spent his '80s learning to score with Nashville country-pop, both as Rosanne Cash's collaborator/husband and on his own, and in the years since he's written hits for Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. Now 73, he's out to prove he knows his way around a song on The Chicago Sessions, produced by (why not?) Jeff Tweedy. The album gathers up the committed heartbreak of "Loving You Is the Only Way to Fly" (originally written for the TV show Nashville), the gun shy "Lovers Out of Friends" (co-written with the great Ashley McBryde), and Townes Van Zandt's desperate "No Place to Fall." But maybe Crowell's greatest achievement on the new album is writing about a love that doesn't end badly: The source of the happiness expressed on "Lucky" may not literally be Claudia Church, his wife of 25 years, but "Oh Miss Claudia" certainly is.
Jack Botts with Ben Camden and Ben Goldsmith @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with David Stoddard @ 331 Club
October Conspiracy Series featuring the Ya Ya Boys @ 331 Club
Cut Worms with Ryder the Eagle @ Turf Club
Two Steppin’ Tuesdays feat. Sammie Jean Cohen, David von Schlegell @ White Squirrel
Peter Gabriel @ Xcel Energy Center
Wednesday, October 4
Dehd with Sarah Grace White @ Amsterdam
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Vintage Crop, Dummy, Kapital, Miracle Debt @ Cloudland
Maggie's Wednesdays: Leslie Vincent @ Crooners
Brynn Batanni, Missing Tone Circuit, Turbo Pastel @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Miss Myra and the Moonshiners @ Eagles 34
Cannibal Corpse and Mayhem @ Fillmore
Samantha Fish with Eric Johanson @ Fine Line
Matt and Kim with Pkew Pkew Pkew @ First Avenue
The Runaway Grooms, Twine @ Hook and Ladder
Dream of the Wild with White Line Darko @ KJ's Hideaway
Craig Clark Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Werewolf by Night: Music in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
slowdive with Drab Majesty @ Palace Theatre
Bad Idea vs. Arson Class @ Palmer's
King Kustom & the Kruisers @ Schooner Tavern
Kate Bollinger with Sam Burton @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Jackie Daniels @ 331 Club
Generationals with mmeadows @ Turf Club
Lars-Erik Larson & The 2nd Stringers @ White Squirrel
Loretta Lynn Tribute Night @ White Squirrel
Thursday, October 5
Slow Pulp with Babehoven @ Amsterdam
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
- Fatoumata Diawara @ Cedar Cultural Center—You've gotta be a real jerk not to get something out of the Wassoulou singing tradition. A West African musical style dominated by women with expansive voices grounded in strength, their upper registers honed to a keen edge that suggests pain kept in abeyance, Wassoulou music has spread through the world over the past 30 years, with the unrivaled Oumou Sangare its greatest champion. Born in Mali, based in France (a hardly unusual sitch for West African performers), Diawara has been the most prominent practitioner of the style on the touring circuit since she made a splash with Fatou in 2011. Her latest, London Ko disrupts her music's circular rhythms with some more linear urban beats and stocks up on mostly superfluous guests—nothing against Damon Albarn or Angie Stone, but I won't miss them at the Cedar. Live, she'll fill the room with a voice that'll make you proud to be a human.
Buio Omega, Night Witch, In Lieu, Lack @ Cloudland
Gregg Inhofer: Tribute To Fallen Heroes @ Crooners
Natania and Ticket To Brasil: A Tribute To Antonio Carlos Jobim @ Crooners
Jordan Johnston and The Elevation @ Crooners
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Sour Guts ⏤ Olivia Rodrigo Dance Party @ Fine Line
Sturniolo Triplets @ First Avenue
Worriers with Kali Masi @ The Garage
Jest, Valors, Water Dog @ Green Room
Resonant Rogues and Steam Machine @ Hook and Ladder
Derecho Rhythm Section @ Icehouse
Dream of the Wild with Sabyre Rae Band @ KJ's Hideaway
Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Dirty Lowdown Fools @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Sammy Rae & The Friends with Kiss the Tiger @ Palace Theatre
Joe Roberto's Poverty Hash @ Palmer's
Corzine & Zaq Baker, The Aftergreens, Rachael Bearinger @ ROK Music Lounge
Cosmo's Factory @ Schooner Tavern
Trousdale with Anna Vaus @ 7th St Entry
Celtic Thunder Odyssey @ State Theatre
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
Activity with ahem and JØUR @ Turf Club
Neckbolt, Big Chomp @ White Rock Lounge
Tiny Daggers with Zombies, Mean Magic @ White Squirrel
Friday, October 6
Devon Worley Band (Album Release) and Banshee Clothing Line Reveal @ Amsterdam
Martin Devaney + Faith Boblett @ Aster Cafe
The Good, the Bad & the Funky @ Bunkers
Kommuna Lux with Di Bayke @ Cedar Cultural Center
Nate Coles & the Blue Diamond Band, Lifestyle Shakes, Pill Cutter, Car Sliders @ Cloudland
Erin Schwab and Jay Fuchs: Ladies of the 80’s @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Emily Green and Chris Lomheim @ Crooners
GZA and the Funk Nomads @ Dakota
Hater's Club, Street Hassle @ Driftwood
All Women's Dance Party @ Eagles 34
- Margaret Glaspy with Tasha @ Fine Line—While Margaret Glaspy's songs are sharply crafted and recorded vocals up-front, like a regular singer-songwriter, her guitar work is what sells them, Her playing is quietly virtuosic without her ever merely showing off, with a fancy chord tossed in occasionally not to keep you on your toes so much as to gently inflect the melody. On her latest Echo the Diamond, she's stripped away the synths that sometimes marred Devotion, reverting back to the sparer sound of Emotions and Math. Highlights include the ecstatically infatuated "Act Natural" and its ingenious bent-string riff, the proud, angry, chugging "Female Brain," and "Irish Goodbye," about a woman who ducks out on a guy who falls for her way too fast.
Vacations and Last Dinosaurs with Eliza McLamb @ First Avenue
Products Band (Album Release), Fenix Dion, Keep for Cheap @ Green Room
“Horn-ucopia” Fall Funk Fest @ Hook and Ladder
Sleeping Jesus (Single/Video Release) with The Get Together and Gabacho @ Icehouse
Will Kjeer Trio @ Jazz Central
Kijanna @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Cult of Lip (Album Release) @ Mortimer's
TopHouse with Craig Paquette @ Palmer's
Sammie Jean Cohen, D.C. Leonhardt and Ponyfolk @ Palmer's
The Robert Cray Band @ Pantages Theatre
MODWOP Collective @ ROK Music Lounge
Chris Farren with GUPPY and Gay Meat @ 7th St Entry
Craig Clark Band @ Schooner Tavern
The Roundabouts, Jason O'Dell @ Terminal Bar
FLOWTUS, Leslie, Getting By @ 331 Club
- Ratboys with Free Range @ Turf Club—I was glad to see the glowing Pitchfork review of The Window, the just-released new Ratboys album, deployed the exact phrase that had been bouncing around my head: This is a level-up record. The twangy Chicago indie-rock band had already dropped four serviceable LPs, though this Chris Walla-produced effort unlocked something special. Vocally, singer-songwriter Julia Steiner is a dead ringer for Kerry Alexander of local group Bad Bad Hats, and she spends all 48 minutes of The Window bouncing between tender ache and melodious wail; her skillful, riffy, and increasingly muscular band is tighter than ever throughout.
Possessed by Paul James with Placaters @ Uptown VFW
Octoberfest @ White Rock Lounge
The Matt Arthur Contraption with Todd Partridge @ White Squirrel
Saturday, October 7
Maude Latour with Devon Again @ Amsterdam
The Band Camino with Bad Suns and THE WLDLFE @ Armory
The Good, the Bad & the Funky @ Bunkers
Novalima with Radio Pocho @ Cedar Cultural Center
5 Cent Reality, Tiny Traces, the Plushies @ Cloudland
The Birthday Club: Dan Chouinard and Prudence Johnson @ Crooners
Kathleen Johnson’s Kat Band Project @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Vicky Mountain and Chris Lomheim @ Crooners
Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap @ Dakota
Not Quite Dead, Strolling Clones @ Driftwood
Good Trouble and Friends @ Driftwood
The Jazz Outlaws with King Baron @ Dusty's
Funk n Spuds, Pandelion, Efmi @ Eagles 34
Thank You GeorgeTown @ Eagles 34
KennyHoopla with Groupthink and Surly Grrly @ Fine Line
Low Cut Connie with Matthew Logan Vasquez and Mik Cool @ First Avenue
- Jonathan Richman @ Fitzgerald Theater—As Richman has aged from unlikely trailblazer to eternally boyish institution, you can forget how crucial an influence he's been. Oodles of indie rockers might never have thought to rip off the Velvet Underground without his example, and, not exactly paradoxically, he also made it cool (or at least "cool") for sensitive souls to bare their soft, twee underbellies. His setlist seems to flit about through his career these days, though mainstays like "That Summer Feeling" and "I Was Dancing at the Lesbian Bar" pop up regularly. He'll be joined by longtime collaborator Tommy Larkins on the drums.
The Von Tramps, Cindy Lawson, The Carnegies @ Green Room
Molly Brandt with Eric Carranza @ Icehouse
Dave Hause and the Mermaid (Album Release) with Tim Hause @ Icehouse
Playtime Trio with Steve Kenny Quartet @ KJ's Hideaway
The Original Westside Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Cole Diamond with Redwing Blackbird & Jeffrey Robert Larson @ Mortimer's
John Roy + After Party @ ROK Music Lounge
Jack Knife & the Sharps @ Schooner Tavern
- Wu Tang Clan, Nas, De La Soul @ Target Center—Why are arenas flooded with rock nostalgia tours while middle-aged rappers tend to get consigned to state fairs and clubs? You’d think fifty-somethings would have the disposable income to make tours like this an inevitability, but even when they do happen they’re not guaranteed attendance. Which is especially odd when you consider that tickets for this show start at $24, which is like three bucks a Wu member. While members have had their differences over the years, Staten Island’s finest kung fu rapper collective puts on a surprisingly un-chaotic live show when they’re in the mood. Nas will never quite recover from the misfortune of beginning his career with an all-time classic rap album, but on his King’s Disease and Magic series of albums, he’s demonstrated those qualities that rap cherishes in a veteran—he enjoys rapping and he rarely embarasses himself. (I contend that the sometimes clumsier and always more adventurous albums he released in the era that preceded his ascent to elder statesman are more interesting—and often better—but that’s a topic for another day.) Catching openers De La Soul will be bittersweet—our first time to see the Native Tongues crew since their music hit streaming services, but also the first since the death of Dave “Trugoy” Jolicoeur in March.
Mean Magic, Dirty Pretty, Hayley Ann @ Terminal Bar
Ice Climber, Orthe, Linus @ 331 Club
Buffalo Nichols with Mary Cutrufello @ Turf Club
- Stokley @ Uptown Theater—To quote Sean McPherson: "Mint Condition (RIP) and their individual members are an underappreciated part of the Minnesota music scene. Is a big part of this racism? Absolutely! We have a gold-selling R&B band that hails from St. Paul and is revered the world over for their live performances and songcraft. And besides a cover story (legit work from Peter Scholtes) I bet they were mentioned in City Pages 1/2 to 2/3 as often as many bands with vastly smaller fanbases and national profiles. Even to this day Stokley shows up on records with the likes of Robert Glasper, Nate Smith, and other rising stars in the world of forward-thinking Black music without getting the love he should be from local media."
An Evening with Sweet Stache @ Uptown VFW
Discoproof with DJ Rowsheen & DJ TNA @ Uptown VFW
Adekunie Gold @ Varsity Theater
Rosie Castano @ White Squirrel
Ear Candy: A Live Electronic Music Series @ White Squirrel
Muun Bato with Erik’s Iridescent Tent, LYXE @ White Squirrel
Sunday, October 8
Lauren Sanderson with poutyface @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Boots and Needles + Debbie Briggs @ Aster Cafe
The Small Glories, Newberry & Verch @ Cedar Cultural Center
Jens Lindemann: Rhapsody and the Blues @ Crooners
Red Hot Django Peppers @ Crooners
Mick Sterling and the Stud Brothers @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Shrimp Olympics (Album Release) with Rupert Angleyes, Larry Wish @ Green Room
Red Hot Django Peppers @ Icehouse
Bre Kennedy with Sarah Walk @ Icehouse
Church of Cornbread: Cornbread Harris and His Band @ Palmer's
Poor Nobody's with Chris Hepola @ Palmer's
Momentary Lapse of Floyd @ Parkway
Stephanie Was @ ROK Music Lounge
Krooked Kings with Caleb Dee @ 7th St Entry
Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ 331 Club
Emarosa with The Dangerous Summer and First and Forever @ Turf Club
French Cassettes & Immaterial Possession @ Underground Music Venue
Caitlin Robertson & Alex Sandberg with Ian Alexy @ White Squirrel
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, October 9
Lucia Micarelli & Leo Amuedo @ Dakota
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Queer Contra Dancing @ Eagles 34
- yeule with SASAMI @ Fine Line—Saying someone's lyrics reflect their online experience seems a little redundant in 2023, like pointing out that they use electricity. Still, some do explore their cyber-consciousness more thoroughly than others, and "multiverse entity"/"dissociate self" yeule is among them. On their new album, Softscars, titles like "Sulky Baby," "Software Update," and "Cyber Meat" tell more than half the story, and the femme chirp in which yeule delivers imagery like "the rottеn flesh of my own carcass" tells you most of the rest. The internet has welshed on its promise to allow us to transcend the gross prisons of our material bodies, hence all the not-exactly-mixed metaphors about sex and wounds and lines like "God created man, motherboard, wires and/Blood, bones, flesh, breathing, suicide engineering." But there's some guitar to keep digital non-natives oriented—a little art-rock here, a little grunge there, a little (how could there not be) pop-punk too. And all in all, these are ultimately just catchy songs about being miserable, a form of expression that existed long before DARPAnet was a gleam in the military industrial complex's all-seeing eye.
JUST DREAM PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: A NIGHT OF RNB @ Icehouse
RiFFs: Jazz and Comedy @ Jazz Central
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's
Scowl with Militarie Gun, Big Laugh and Prize Horse @ 7th St Entry
Juliana Hatfield with On Being an Angel and DJ Jake Rudh @ Turf Club
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Mumblin’ Drew’s Oldfangled Orchestrators Monthly Residency @ White Squirrel
