Bandmates since childhood, Singer/Guitarist/Frontman Adam Prince and kid brother/drummer Ian Prince grew up in a musical family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A grown-up move to the Twin Cities and various stints in well-known local bands (Manplanet and Houston) eventually led them back to what they know best: each other. They began STORY OF THE SEA as a guitar and drums two-piece, initially noted for Ian’s famous airtight skills on the kit. The brothers then added stand-out bass talent John McEwen from Align to record their first LP.

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Lunar Co. is a darker, richer collection of songs than the group’s lauded debut effort, Enjoying Fire. No sophomore slump, it’s smartly mixed by J. Robbins, complete with donated tambourine and satisfying, feel-good handclaps over “Own Device”’s plinky coda. The new line-up adds more depth and texture, as expected; a more melodic resonance including some terrific 70’s three-part vocal harmonies and keyboards.

DAVID CAMPBELL is host of "Radio Free Current," Saturdays 7-11 p.m. and "The Local Show," Sundays 6-8 p.m. Campbell is a long-time veteran of the Twin Cities scene. A fan, musician, record store clerk, record label staffer, and a 10-year staffer of KQRS and Drive 105's "Homegrown," Campbell's love for Minnesota music makes him a perfect fit for The Current. Best FM Radio Personality 2010, City Pages

JIM MCGUINN joined MPR's The Current in January 2009 as Program Director and on-air host, moving to the Twin Cities from Philadelphia, and WXPN. From seeing the Clash for his first concert, Jim has been hooked on rock and roll-- and whether it was radio programming, playing bass, or even teaching university level courses like Rock and Roll Cinema and Radio History. Jim has received numerous accolades for his innovative programming, and was even named Best AAA Air Personality in 2008 by Radio and Records. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife Christine, son Jameson, and cat Sylvia.

For such a patently American locale, the Twin Cities have lacked a remarkable group that evokes the American rock canon in a classic manner for a long time. Enter Night Moves. Formed in 2009 by guitarist and vocalist John Pelant, bassist Micky Alfano and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ritsema, Night Moves is a distinctly original concoction. Their honey-dipped sound seethes with a kind of down-home tenderness - and like the best glittering music - the arrangements are colossal in shape. Night Moves’ powerful debut Colored Emotions is this Minneapolis group’s first album.

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The three core members of Night Moves first met at Southwest High School in Minneapolis. Following the tangential fits and starts typical of early music projects (including a detour to college and back), the ensemble took definite shape as Night Moves and is the crowning achievement to the long-standing collaboration between John Pelant and Mark Ritsema, who first met as freshman. Pelant’s taste for Dylan, Blind Lemon Jefferson, et. al, would prove most propitious for their future work together in Night Moves. Ritsema describes himself as being into electronic music at the time – a Daft Punk fan – when he met budding folknik Pelant. Pelant throughout high school would write some solo material but hadn’t been keen on sharing. Whatever musical differences there were between them faded as the motivation to play music together persisted over the next years.

In 2009, with the group at last solidified with the addition of bassist Micky Alfano, Night Moves began the long, astounding odyssey that was recording their meticulous debut album Colored Emotions. Nearly two years in the making, the debut exudes the craft and professionalism of a seasoned band. It was these painstakingly self-recorded tracks Night Moves prepared themselves that attracted interest from Domino, further developed with the appointment of studio guru Thom Monahan to take the album and set it free, so to speak.

Pelant’s tone-perfect vocals on Colored Emotions serves Night Moves not just as its lyrical core but also its glittering adornment. With an extensive vocal range, his voice ventures where lone guitar solos cannot. Hence, there’s no cornball guitar hero antics in Night Moves. Instead, they carefully built their songs around strong acoustic and rhythmic grounds, the clarity of crystal-clear production, and Pelant’s deft howl. The reverb of hollow-body guitars, the bright wash of crash cymbals, the haze of harmonica and organ tremolo – this is the album’s bedrock and it shines like gold. The songs of Night Moves conjure a spiritual energy only twenty-somethings dislodged by adversity and isolation could produce. An album like Colored Emotions seems intent to turn inward to create a joyous universe within its own boundaries. Certainly, the group’s musical abilities are innate without ever being too self-conscious about it. It’s as if Colored Emotions came second nature to them and the arrival of the rest of us took them by surprise. [Anthony Atlas]

Connecticut transplant Joe Roberto is the driving force behind Poverty Hash. As the principle songwriter, Joe took his 20 plus years of performing, song writing, and life experience and poured all of it into the music represented on this album. What emerged is an album of hauntingly beautiful imagery that includes songs like “Blood Stained Hands”, a warning to all bar loudmouths, standing in stark contrast to “Rally Cry”, a semi autobiographical portrait of the songwriter.

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Joining Roberto is bassist and fellow founding member Jason Murray. A seasoned veteran of the Minneapolis scene, Murray joined forces with Roberto in Connecticut and brought him back when he returned to St. Paul. The two then enlisted the help of Robert Zemlin, a long time band mate of Murray and newcomer Dan DeMuth, a rising star on the Minneapolis scene whose other projects include Communist Daughter and Paranoid Dandroid. With these additions the current lineup of Povery Hash began making its mark on the local scene.

High on Stress is a 4-piece band that has received excellent notices and airplay in not only their hometown of Minneapolis MN, but across the nation and from as far away as the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The band has weathered enough personnel changes, geographic obstacles and wardrobe malfunctions to have killed a less recalcitrant band. Reviewers have favorably compared the band’s “almost alt.country” sound to REM, the Replacements, Wilco, and Josh Rouse among others. Their third and latest album, Living is a Dying Art, is due out in fall 2011.

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THE BEE'S KNEES

The guy and his guitar (and sometimes his backing band) has been done to death, but every so often something new comes along and demands that people take notice. John Swardson and Get Gone are the latest band in this vein to rear their bearded, denim-jacketed selves, and have quietly started garnering accolades. Swardson and company have played only a handful of live shows in the past couple of years due to multiple lineup changes, but this stellar dream of a triple bill should finally start the ball rolling the right direction. The sharp lyrics and occasionally quirky arrangements should quickly lay to rest any "Oh, it's just another guy strumming his guitar and wailing about life"-type reservations you may have, and by the end of the set you'll find yourself wanting more. It's easily accessible while not having been constructed out of easily identifiable, recycled material. Sure, the usual influences are there, but they're referred to on the sly, instead of being used as a shopping excursion. [Pat O'Brien, City Pages, March 2009]

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