Every week, I'm on the hunt for the best new local music, the best new local music videos, and the best upcoming live shows. Why should this weekend be an exception?
Night Moves, With Autumn Closin’ in
Last we heard from the Minneapolis groovin’ rock duo Night Moves was in 2019, when they released Can You Really Feel Me and then launched a COVID-curtailed tour. They’re back with a new song, “Fallacy Actually,” and, as is so often the case, a new video as well: Singer John Pelant intended the video to have “a UFO abduction, backroom Estonian roller rink discotheque kind of vibe.” (Oh, we’ve all been there, my friend. And by "there" I mean "Elsie's," the northeast bowling alley that appears in the vid.) Additional new tracks will be released serially, like a Dickens novel, and Night Moves will be at the Fine Line on Friday, November 26, which is the day after Thanksgiving, so it’s an extra weekendy Friday.
Can’t Live Without K.Raydio
K.Raydio is one of the Cities’ most prolific producers and vocalists—so prolific, in fact, that her work, which she often releases in small, modest batches rather than as ballyhooed grand works, can get lost in the local music shuffle. A recent recap: She released the largely instrumental collection Beat Tape? Vol. 2 in September, then a few weeks ago dropped a video for “Broken Spell,” one of two tracks she’d released on Bandcamp in October. The video, which drifts through a non-Minnesota city we’ll just call “Chicago,” is an ideal visual companion piece to the introspective R&B track. Word is there’s a longer project in the works, and this time, we’ll be ready for it.
Dylan Hicks Is Bringing Sex to Icehouse! Oh, Wait, No, That's "a Sextet."
Dylan Hicks’s Accidental Birds is one of the best Minneapolis albums of the year so far, but don’t take my word for it—check out this review here. (Scroll down a bit, you’ll find it.) Oh, wait, I wrote that review. So, actually, do take my word for it. After all, why would you even be reading this if you don’t trust me? Anyway, after gigging sporadically about for the past few months, Hicks has booked a bona fide “evening with” event at Icehouse, where his sextet (the best of all the ’tets) will essentially open for itself. And since the group consists of some top-notch bandleaders or standout instrumentalists themselves—guitarist Zacc Harris, cellist Michele Kinney, woodwindist (woodwinder?) Christopher Thomson, bassist Charlie Lincoln, and drummer Peter Hennig—some intriguing arrangements are possible.
Listings. Listings? Listings!
As a service to you, the Racket reader, I’ve been compiling show listings below. I hope you find them useful, and I’m trying each week to make them more so. Where previously I’ve stuck to local shows, for instance, this week I started adding touring acts too, ’cause why the hell not. These listings will never be all-inclusive, but I still want to make sure I’m not omitting anything obvious. So if you have suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. (OK, I’d like to. Let’s not get carried away.) But be nice about it: This is just something I dick around with on Thursday nights while I’m catching up on my Hulu stories. Don’t expect perfection. Anyhow, take a look!
Friday, Nov. 12
Niiice, Rhino Shrine, Haze Gazer, Beneath Green @ Amsterdam
Liam Gerard with Estefanía @ Aster Cafe
The Mystery of Etta James w/ Aretha & Her Men feat. Kathleen Johnson + Friend @ Dakota
Levi Hummon and Roman Alexander @ Icehouse
Puma Blue with Sarah King @ Fine Line
JPEGMAFIA with Zelooperz @ First Avenue
Rich Mattson & The Northstars, the Silent Treatment, and That's What You Get @ Palmer’s
Amythyst Kiah @ Parkway Theater
The Right Here, Lutheran Heat, Permanent Residue, Loss Leader @ Part Wolf
The Sparks, Rob the Carpenter, The Del-Viles @ Part Wolf
Nothing with with Frankie Rose and Enumclaw @ 7th St Entry
Kill Palace, Luddgang, American Cream @ 331 Club
Sleeping Jesus, Present Company, Karate Chop, Silence, and Dad Bod @ Turf Club
Mustard Plug with Something To Do, Space Monkey Mafia @ Uptown VFW
The Carnegies @ White Squirrel
Saturday, Nov. 13
Hot Mulligan with Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Sincere Engineer and Super American @ Amsterdam
Kid Dakota with Martin Dosh, Dan Murphy, & Kraig Johnson @ Aster Cafe
Nada Surf with Pom Pom Squad @ Cedar Cultural Center
The Mystery of Etta James w/ Aretha & Her Men feat. Kathleen Johnson + Friend @ Dakota
Pit Stop (album release), Products, and Pleasure Horse @ Eagles 34
Jack Harlow with Babyface Ray and Mavi @ Fillmore Minneapolis
The Happy Fits with M.A.G.S. and Snarls @ Fine Line
The Hold Steady with Gully Boys and Kiss the Tiger @ First Avenue
Storyhill @ Fitzgerald Theater
Sound Unseen After Party with Black Widows and Honey Dick @ Hook and Ladder
Turn Turn Turn with Surge and the Swell @ Icehouse
Sound Out - Sonic Encounters @ Mirror Lab Studios
The Sapsuckers, Paisley Fields & Ross Fellrath @ Palmer’s
Odds Of An Afterthought, Scared Of The Dark,Kept Awake, The Atlantis Theorem @ Part Wolf
Timisarocker, Size 5’s, Die Ghost @ Part Wolf
Thumpasaurus with The Controversial New 'Skinny Pill' and FènixDion @ 7th St Entry
Voltage Controller Vol 1, Chris Hepola, Lo Mismo @ 331 Club
The Carnegies, Colossalraptors @ 331 Club
The Unnamed and Eleganza! with Mad Mojo Jett and BrassZilla @ Turf Club
Folios with We Are the Willows (solo) @ White Squirrel
Sunday, Nov. 14
Citizen with Drug Church, Glitterer and Floating Room @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
The Weight Band @ Cedar Cultural Center
Smallpools with morgxn @ Fine Line
Bootblacks, Autumn, Services, DJ Gwiingwans @ Mortimers
Thundercat with Channel Tres @ Palace Theatre
Church of Cornbread: Cornbread Harris and His Band @ Palmer’s
Kai Brewster’s Millions @ Palmer’s
Jimbothy Starpower, Hana Fleur, Mood Light, Esse of Luki @ Salt Salon
The Hold Steady @ 7th St Entry
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School @ 331 Club
Tonstartssbandht with Paul Jacobs @ Turf Club
Sound Unseen Afterparty with RuDeGIRL @ Uptown VFW
Monday, Nov. 15
Phony Ppl with Student 1 @ Amsterdam
The Lemonheads with Heyrocco and Sass @ Fine Line
The Driver Era with The Wrecks and Moontower @ First Avenue
Cody McKinney Residency, Week 3 @ Icehouse
Lil Jamez with Tae Supreme, GYM, Quita LaShae, and more @ 7th St Entry
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur & Friends @ 331 Club
Subtle Transients @ White Squirrel
Tuesday, Nov. 16
Tommy Goodroad with Boy Howdy and Pine & Fire @ Amsterdam
Tennis with Molly Burch @ Cedar Cultural Center
Bad Religion and Alkaline Trio with War On Women @ Palace Theater
Shovels and Rope @ Parkway Theater
The Garden with the Runts @ 7th St Entry
November Conspiracy Series featuring Francis Emil Johnson, McCoy Seitz, Spikelean @ 331 Club
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, Nov. 17
Chvrches with Donna Missal @ Armory
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Quinteto Astor Piazzolla @ Dakota
Needles in the Haystack: A Listening Party with Michaelangelo Matos @ Eagles 34
SAINt JHN with Tyla Yaweh @ First Avenue
Humbird Residency, with Faith Boblett and Laura Hugo @ Icehouse
Cole Diamond November Residency @ Mortimers
Getting By, BLUE SWANS, Fosternicole, and TeawhYB @ Part Wolf
King Buffalo with Transcendental Strangers? and DIIE @ 7th St Entry
KFAI House Party Presents Back Up and Push @ 331 Club
Radio Five Watt presents @ 331 Club
St. Paul Mudsteppers Monthly @ White Squirrel
Thursday, Nov. 18
The Minneapolis Songwriter Rounds @ Aster Cafe
$NOT with Keshore and Brusho @ Fine Line
Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets with Paul Cebar @ First Avenue
Brett Newski & the No Tomorrow with the Cold Casuals @ 7th St Entry
American Scarecrows with General B and the Wiz and Oklahoma @ Turf Club
Pig’s Eye Records presents… Gawker Slowdown w/ John Magnuson @ White Squirrel
