LOOKBOOK
Presented by Radio K and City Pages Picked 2 Click
Lookbook - Over and Over from Bo Hakala on Vimeo.
LOOKBOOK
Lookbook was formed in mid-2008 by Maggie Morrison (Digitata) and Grant Cutler (Passions, Tomhanks) in Minneapolis. Combining Cutler’s sparkling, synth-laden sounds and sparse guitar with Morrison’s Pat Benatar-meets-Chrissie Hynde vocals, the band garnered rave reviews and an energetic following for a sound that’s at once familiar and unique. Though the band counts Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Phil Collins as inspiration, Lookbook’s new-old electro sound has found critical acclaim for its leaner, more minimalist take on ‘80s new wave.
MYSPACE :: FACEBOOK :: OFFICIAL SITE
The critically-acclaimed band was named “Picked to Click” in 2008 and “Best New Band” in 2009 by Village Voice-owned weekly Twin Cities publication City Pages; has opened for the likes of Junior Boys, Tapes ‘N Tapes, and Solid Gold; and is receiving regular rotation on Twin Cities-based NPR station 89.3 The Current. Most recently, its song “True to Form” was written up on Pitchfork.
SLAPPING PURSES
Dance party eccrine and experimental noise abrasion may seem like distinct corners of the musical universe, but those with their nose in the Twin Cities underground know the explosive potential when the 'tween do meet. Like a methed-out Afrikaa Bambaataa scratching your itch for brain scrambling distortion, Slapping Purses is this nexus. Kick drum whumps, bass boom throbbing, garbled bombardments of sharp noise, and the most sinister command of breaks, breaks, breaks, since Marley Marl and Co.
ZOO ANIMAL
A paradox is not an impossibility. Zoo Animal, the band’s self-titled second record, reveals itself to uphold such a maxim with a sharp yet subdued sound that is informed by equal measures of classical minimalism and ‘90s grunge. This contrast is just one of many as Zoo Animal’s stark, articulate pop music vacillates between gentle and aggressive, volatile and peaceful, light and dark. It’s graceful, hushed, soul-stirring music, yet it rests atop traditional rock instrumentation – simply guitar, drums, bass – that can turn visceral at the drop of a drumstick.
