A Benefit for Matt Lindquist and The Twin Cities Music Community Trust

Date: 
Friday, February 12, 2010

Hosted by Brother Ali 8:30 Tal Tahir 9:00 Story of the Sea 9:40 Halloween Alaska 10:25 Murzik 11:05 The Idle Hands 11:50 Gay Witch Abortion $10.00/8:00PM/18+ With raffle prizes from Dusty's Bar, First Avenue, O'Donovans, Pizza Luce and more.... A benefit for 7th Street Entry sound engineer Matt Lindquist, who was recently hospitalized with pneumonia, and the Twin Cities Music Community Trust, an organization that helps out members of the local music industry with medical bills and other expenses.

Presenter: 
Performer: 

HALLOWEEN, ALASKA

Photo by Cameron Wittig

The latest album from Minneapolis-based Halloween, Alaska is a lean and instantly engaging testament to the group’s evolution from a studio-born purveyor of lush ambient pop to a full-bodied rock band with equal tastes for winsome melody, warm atmospheric flourish, heady lyricism and freewheeling sonic detours. In a deliberate departure from the slower, more methodical process behind previous albums, the bulk of All Night the Calls Came In was recorded live in a single room during a single week with all four members playing together — its toasty synths and spare electronic drum pads all struck with human hands, never programmed. Recording took place at The Terrarium in Minneapolis in late 2010, engineered and mixed by scene veteran Jason Orris. While its core moods and melodicism will ring familiar to fans of the band’s previous albums, this new one also documents the groupʼs most direct and stripped-down work to date.

OFFICIAL SITE  ::  MYSPACE  ::  FACEBOOK  ::  TWITTER

All Night the Calls Came In also marks the solidification of a new lineup following an extended period of tension and transition. Singer/keyboardist James Diers, guitarist Jacob Hanson and drummer David King (also known for his intrepid work in jazz trio The Bad Plus) are joined by newly recruited bassist William Shaw, a fellow alum of Minneapolis cult favorite 12 Rods. Halloween, Alaska broke into the indie consciousness in 2004 with an auspicious self-titled set of electronically laced art-pop. Initially hatched by Diers and King as a low-key, studio-based diversion from other projects, the group soon took on a life of its own, spreading by way of Internet raves and unlikely T.V. placements to amass a sizable cult following. After 2005′s Too Tall to Hide, the band’s moody palette began to expand as original keyboardist/engineer Ev Olcott resigned his post and Hanson began to introduce weightier guitar work into the mix. The change was evident in the restless sprawl of 2009′s Champagne Downtown, and when the group subsequently parted ways with original bassist Matt Friesen, the addition of Shaw set the stage for a more radical restart. All Night the Calls Came In is both a continuation and a rethinking of Halloween, Alaska’s tuneful aesthetic. Packed with forthright pop hooks and nervy idiosyncrasies, its 10 songs offer an earnest and compelling capsule of the band’s self-imposed reboot.

Special Guests / Opening Acts: 

GAY WITCH ABORTION

Brutally vengeful art formed in the bowls of the Twin Cities. Gay Witch Abortion’s debut album MAVERICK jams itself into that sort of a classification. Like a unicorn spearing it’s prey, having so little patience it completely shreads the kittens into tiny morsels of sweet bloody pulp candies. The taste of blood has ruined many a creature, there is a simplistic aura surrounding the violence, drawing you in, just close enough to feel the power, but still leaving an unconquered taste in your soul. So you go back and try it again and again.

Venue: 

First Avenue

Location

First Avenue
701 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55403-1327
United States
Phone: 612-332-1775
44° 58' 43.3416" N, 93° 16' 33.762" W

Event Details
Friday, February 12
Mainroom / 8:00 pm / 18+
HALLOWEEN, ALASKA
$10.00 adv | $10.00 door
Share