Wednesday is just unfair. On any normal night, I'd be happy to check out Yard Act, but they're up against PJ Harvey and Juvenile. Save some for the other six days!
Tuesday, October 1
The Family Stone with St. Paul and the Mpls Funk All Stars @ Armory
International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's
Maryna Krut with Maja Radovanlija @ Cedar Cultural Center
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Ivy Lab with Player Dave, Lake Hills, and Mirror Maze @ Fine Line
Bill Simenson Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Bluewater Kings Showcase @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Grooves with DJ JEN-E @ Mortimer's
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Palmer's Songwriters Showcase @ Palmer's
Songbird Series @ Pilllar Forum
Divide and Dissolve with Pain Seminar and DIN.DRONE @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
October Conspiracy Theory featuring Ditch Pigeon, Emery Snow & the Flakes, Emmy Woods @ 331 Club
Kaitlin Butts with Angel White @ Turf Club
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
Homunculus Rex (Tuesday Residency) with Easeupkid, Amateur Hour @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, October 2
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
I owe the land a body, When the Dust Settles, x3on3d3n @ Can Can Wonderland
Gao Hong and Ignacio Monteverde @ Cedar Cultural Center
Great Women of Jazz with Judi Vinar @ Crooners
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
- Yard Act with Omni @ Fine Line—Yard Act rock the kind of postpunk that aspires to dance music rather than the kind that flaunts its own rhythmic deconstruction, and I'm happy to report that this Leeds quartet ups the funk quotient on its latest album, Where's My Utopia? The assembled grooves offer an ideal setting for the post-ironic musings of frontman James Smith, whether he's justifying his hustle on "We Make Hits" ("I'm still an anti-C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-T/It just so happens that there's other things I happen to be.") or indulging in a childhood memory as a way of understanding with what it means to be a dad on the seven-minute tale "Blackpool Illuminations" ("I attained perfection with you/So why the fuck was I wondering what wankers would think of album two?").
- Juvenile and the 400 Degreez Band with Mannie Fresh @ First Avenue—It’s official—you’ve been backing that azz up for 25 years now, grandma. And to celebrate that landmark, the man who first set those backfields in motion will perform with a live band, as he first did a summer ago for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. (That is, after he famously rejected the possibility out of hand on Twitter, replying to a fan’s suggestion with “Wtf is a tiny desk 😂and no 😂😂.”) As one of the Hot Boyz alongside Lil Wayne, Juvie helped popularize the jumpy rhythms of beatmaster Mannie Fresh, whose style derived from New Orleans bounce (and who’ll also be performing tonight), and though he never rose to Weezy’s heights as a rhymer, Juvenile still embodies the joyous spirit of early Cash Money Records.
Open Mic with host Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffeehouse
Gully Boys, Jigsaw Youth, Haze Gazer @ Green Room
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Lazy Scorsese (October Residency) @ Mortimer's
- PJ Harvey @ Palace Theatre—Has Harvey really not played Minneapolis since 2004? In fact, her last show anywhere in Minnesota was at the Zoo in 2009. Her most recent release is the haunting I Inside the Old Year Dying, a musical adaptation of her book-length poem, Orlam, which loiters among the linguistic byways, landscape, and folklore of her native Dorset, England. If that all sounds a bit hermetic coming from a woman whose riffs and belted vocals were once world-conquering stuff, Harvey’s innate ability to communicate with an audience are intact—as ever, her mysteries are intriguing rather than distancing. Elvis even makes his way into this world, through quotes from “Love Me Tender” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” I don’t know what it all means, but Harvey does, and that’s what matters. Expect a full career retrospective tonight.
Karaoke Crime Scene @ Palmer's
Radio Joe Old School Soul @ Schooner Tavern
Jonny Darko and LaSalle with Callback and Matcha Fever @ 7th St Entry
The Collection with Mike Mains and Harbor & Home @ Turf Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Erin McCawley & Brad Borg @ 331 Club
Apollo Suns @ Underground Music Venue
The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel
Nicotine Addiction with Emery Snow & The Flakes, 1947 @ White Squirrel
Thursday, October 3
The Rumor, Red lovey, and Topiary Blush @ Acadia
Gradience with MVRROW & Blame The Witness @ Amsterdam
Joel Shapira Quartet (Album Release) @ Berlin
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's
Music from Iconic Jazz Trios @ Crooners
Sue Scott's Island of Discarded Women @ Crooners
Tribute to Duke Ellington featuring Mary Petrich @ Crooners
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Intercourse, Robot Slide, AskSerpent, Gundams @ Eagles 34
Ocie Elliott with Chris Staples @ Fine Line
Hippo Campus with Lutalo @ First Avenue
Snapped Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Emily Haavik (Album Release) with Haley E Rydell @ Icehouse
Michael Gold Quintet @ Metronome
Lowdown Dirty Fools @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mary Elias's Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Ghosting Merit (Album Release) @ Mortimer's
Sammy Rae & The Friends with Victoria Canal @ Palace Theatre
Throwback Thursdays with DJ Bootsy Ballins @ Palmer's
Eric Julio Carranza @ Peavey Plaza
Cheap Bouquet with Allergen and TIMISAROCKER @ Pilllar Forum
13 Howell, Institutional Green @ Schooner Tavern
Mystery Meat, Odd Prospect, jonger, and Lydia @ 7th St Entry
Northeast Invitational @ 331 Club
Marika Hackman with Art School Girlfriend and Hemma @ Turf Club
Frankie and the Witch Fingers @ Underground Music Cafe
Maddie & Tae @ Varsity Theater
Oliver Phibes with Unattractive Giant Monster, Desert X @ White Squirrel
Friday, October 4
Slenderbodies with Tim Atlas @ Amsterdam
Songwriters Round with Annie Fitzgerald, Matthew French, & Zachary Scot Johnson @ Aster Cafe
House Proud with Mike Gervais @ Beast Barbecue
Jovon Williams & Marvelous @ Berlin
Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunker's
The De'Lindas, Becky Kapell & the Fat 6, Gini Dodds & the Dahlias @ Cabooze
Night Jobs, Rafters, Benjamin Drevlow, Tight Whips @ Cloudland
Honky-Tonk Jump: The Texas Swing Music of Bob Wills @ Crooners
Fresh Vibes: Piano/Vibraphone Jazz Takes On Crossover Classics @ Crooners
From Bebe With Love @ Crooners
Wurk with Sunshine and the Night Walkers @ Day Block Brewing
Sam Graber Band, the Great Northern @ Driftwood
Odie Leigh with Blood Root @ Fine Line
Hot To Go⏤Chappell Roan Tribute Dance Party & Drag Show with DJ Mommy Long Legs @ First Avenue
David Cross & Larks' Tongues Band with ten thousand lakes @ Granada
- Molly Brandt (Album Release) with Roe Family Singers and Jest @ Icehouse—Brandt moved up from Iowa just before the pandemic hit, remade herself as a country singer-songwriter, and released an excellent debut, Surrender to the Night, in 2023, that was celebrated by some very important local music tastemakers. Tonight she’ll be celebrating the release of her new album, American Saga; lyrically she’s developed her gifts as a storyteller with political insight, and musically it ranges further, thanks in part to the contributions of guitarist Eric Julio Carranza, while still highlighting Brandt’s capacious down-home voice. Hope that all sounds interesting to you, because I’ll have a feature on Brandt later in the week that I expect you to read.
Urzagaste, Carrothers, Cox, Kogan @ Jazz Central
Emorfik with FROM SJ & TwoPercent @ The Loft
The Jazz Bridge Project Minneapolis @ Metronome
Johnnie Brown @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Rope (Album Release) @ Mortimer's
Kit Downes with Bill Frisell and Musicians of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra @ Northrop
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Ms. Dorothy & the Sky's the Limit @ Papa Legba Lounge
Rigby with DJ Luzia Fuchsia, Odd Prospect and Fend @ Pilllar Forum
Jiggs Lee Invasion @ Schooner Tavern
Devon Worley Band with 13 Arrows and Samuel John @ 7th St Entry
Eaglehorse Mountain, Chris Cashin @ 331 Club
Pony Bradshaw with Will Stewart @ Turf Club
The Airborne Toxic Event @ Uptown Theater
The Gated Community with Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ White Squirrel
Saturday, October 5
Homeshake with Freak Heat Wave @ Amsterdam
Billy Johnson's Sideshow @ Aster Cafe
Celebration of Life for Andrea Nelson Hernandez @ Beast Barbecue
The Stylites (Album Release) @ Berlin
Kavyesh Kaviraj & Omar Abdulkarim Present @ Berlin
Jumpsuit: Funk and Disco Dance Party @ Black Hart
International Reggae All Stars, Singing Tony @ Cabooze
Larry Wish with Obchod & New Year's Steve @ Can Can Wonderland
Emo Night @ Can Can Wonderland
Tonal Whiplash, The Meshes, Mommy Log Balls @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Robin and Linda Williams with Maya de Vitry @ Cedar Cultural Center
Cloudland Birthday Party @ Cloudland
A Tribute to the Music of Luther Vandross @ Crooners
Erin & Jay Cabaret Present 1969 @ Crooners
They Call Us the Breeze: A JJ Cale Tribute @ Day Block Brewing
Michael Grooves Band, Forever 41, Wisteria @ Driftwood
Prairie Clamor, Oran Delphi, Lyn Corelle, Kenan Serenbetz @ Eagles 34
JP Cooper with Sam Fischer @ Fine Line
Tommy Bentz Band @ Gambit Brewing
Allen W. Brown, Caleb Gampson, Drest @ The Garage
The Royal Opera of Madrid @ Granada
We Are the Willows (Album Release), Lamaar, the Nunnery @ Green Room
Luke LeBlanc with Weeping Covenant @ Hook and Ladder
BPM Beat Battle hosted by Dimitry Killstorm @ Hook and Ladder
Urzagaste, Carrothers, Cox, Kogan @ Jazz Central
Big Blue Moon and Russ Kaplan +2 @ Metronome
The Original Westside Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
- Till Lindemann @ Myth Live—With his new album, Manning Fireworks, this North Carolina—oh wait, wrong guy.
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
M.A.Y., Warcake, Crash Cuddle, Whiskey RNR Club and San Ardo @ Palmer's
Maurice Jacox & We Still R @ Schooner Tavern
Zolita with Meg Smith @ 7th St Entry
Hatebreed with Carcass, Harm’s Way, and Crypta @ Skyway Theatre
BnC Collective / Dream Addict @ Terminal Bar
John Forrest and The Model Citizens, Rhino Shrine, Simple Motions @ 331 Club
- Rosie Tucker @ Underground Music Cafe—Rosie Tucker can never quite tune out global catastrophe while they go about their daily life—as they sing-song their latest album, Utopia Now, “I hope no one had to piss in a bottle at work to get me the thing I ordered on the internet.” Or maybe you prefer “While Palantir sells us to LAPD/I get jealous when someone I know’s on TV”? Tucker’s tunes whirl about with memorable charm, commitment-shy as they flirt with fixed melodies. And while Tucker has lost some of the buzz they had while recording for Epitaph, an experience they seem understandably not entirely over emotionally, they chirp too pleasantly and write with too much perspective to come across as bitter. Even when they follow up “Unending Bliss,” which they wish upon their foes, with “White Savior Myth,” a petty takedown of an unnamed indie star who “is skinny like a teen and exactly as depressed/And a genius.”
Yeah Yeah Fine with Ben Lexau @ White Squirrel
Ear Candy Vol. 8 @ White Squirrel
Quietchild w. MilesBlvd, Natanyael, King Swank @ White Squirrel
Background Character, Of the Orchard @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, October 6
- Air @ State Theatre—These subtle Frenchies will perform their 1998 easy-listening breakthrough Moon Safari in its entirety, offering a time capsule of a moment when many cool people got bored with loud guitars but didn't feel like dancing. And while I actually prefer 2004's spacey, perfectly recorded Talkie Walkie, Moon Safari, equal parts gorgeous and silly, is Air's true testament.
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Curated by Bassist Liz Draper (feat. Bryan Murray & Davu Seru) @ Berlin
Singing Tony Sundays @ Cabooze
Steve Solkela's Overpopulated One-Man Band @ Can Can Wonderland
Monthly Bluegrass Jam @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Natania and Ticket to Brazil @ Crooners
Willie Watson with Jack Van Cleaf @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
The Black Dahlia Murder and Dying Fetus @ Fillmore
Abhi the Nomad with Khary and Harrison Sands @ Fine Line
Music of Fleetwood Mac + More for Kids with Running in the Shadows @ First Avenue
The Royal Opera of Madrid @ Granada
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka with Yasmin Williams @ Palace Theatre
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
Larry McDonough Quartet @ Parkway
Mike Viola with L.A. EXES @ 7th St Entry
- Coco & Clair Clair @ Varsity Theater—Clever gals, these two—one white, one Black, both exploiting Kreayshawn's far-from-neglected shit-talking fashion-victim legacy over beats that float like a G6. They've sweetened up some on album No. 3, Girl, covering CSN's "Our House" without irony and boasting “I'm all about the lovin', you can call me bell hooks,” on "Kate Spade." But before you worry that they've gone soft, they're still haters enough that they call one rival "a floozy" and observe that "the dumb bitch economy is boomin'."
The Sounds of Schmidt @ White Squirrel
Bluedriver with Yuhh, Ditto @ White Squirrel
Monday, October 7
Bright Light Bright Light with Daddy Issues @ Amsterdam
Sally Gates / Steve Hirsh / Daniel Carter (Album Release) @ Berlin
Alessandro Cortini with Aida Shahghasemi, Jeremy & Max Ylvisaker @ Cedar Cultural Center
Chief Opossum, Honey Tree @ Driftwood
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Steve Clarke 'n Band @ Eagles 34
Vinny Franco & The Love Channel, Fanaka Nation, Kokoukah, Poetic Roots @ Green Room
Jake Baldwin with Jovon Willliams, Dilly Dally Alley @ Icehouse
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's
Kate Bollinger with Sharp Pins @ 7th St Entry
American Aquarium with Abby Hamilton @ Turf Club
Stardust with John Forrest & The Model Citizens, Nathan McCarthy @ White Squirrel
