WEDNESDAY: Fleetwood Magic: A Tribute to the Mac
While most of us tend to wait until Thanksgiving to say thanks, Hot Roxx cannot wait another day. The night before the holiday, join us in thanking the spirits for more than four decades of Fleetwood Mac! Fleetwood Magic: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac will feature some of the finest musical luminaries of the Twin Cities including Red Daughters, Just Perfect (aka Brian Just Band), Meg Ashling, Pleather and Lace (aka The Chambermaids), and Robust Worlds paying tribute to the greatest band in human history.
FRIDAY: Kylesa
The Savannah, Georgia-based Kylesa are, fundamentally, a metal group, but they are otherwise difficult to categorize: elements of hardcore punk, psychedelic stoner rock, technical speed metal, and good old-fashioned Black Sabbath sludge appear in their music. Also, with a front line consisting of three very different singers instead of a single focal point, Kylesa have a musical variety lacking from many of their more monochromatic peers. Kylesa formed in Savannah in 2001, taking their unusual name from “kilesa mara,” what Buddhist teachings term demons of defilement and delusion. Guitarist and singer Phillip Cope and bassist Brian Duke were former members of the Savannah grindcore act Damad, which had released two albums in the ’90s; the original lineup was completed with the addition of guitarist and singer Laura Pleasants and drummer Brandon Baltzley. After the release of a single and a split EP with Memento Mori, sessions for Kylesa’s debut album were tragically cut short when Duke died during an epileptic seizure. Replacing Duke with bassist and singer Corey Barhorst, the band completed its self-titled debut, released in late 2002. More singles and a placeholder EP, 2004’s No Ending 110 Degree Heat Index, followed before Kylesa signed with the indie metal label Prosthetic Records and released their second proper album, To Walk a Middle Course, in 2005. Following the release of that album, Baltzley left the group, replaced by a pair of drummers, Jeff Porter and Carl McGinley. Kylesa’s third album, Time Will Fuse Its Worth, was released on Halloween 2006, followed by Static Tensions in 2009. The following year, Kylesa dove even deeper into the psychedelic waters they’d been exploring with Spiral Shadow, which arrived on Season of Mist. The trend continued on their more melodic and expansive sixth album, 2013’s Ultraviolet. But Cope and Pleasants never stopped writing. They stockpiled riffs, melodies, and production ideas before embarking on a grueling bout of touring that would last into 2014. When the pair reentered the studio, it was with new drummer Carl McGinley. They delved into their stash for source material. In July of 2015, they announced the imminent release of the album The Exhausting Fire with first single “Lost and Confused.” Recorded at the Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina and produced by Cope, the set compiled and compounded virtually every sound that Kylesa had explored on earlier records as well as some new ones. The Exhausting Fire was issued on October 2. [Billboard]
Sounds like: Baroness, Black Tusk, High On Fire
SATURDAY: Rhymesayers Tunes ‘N Toons Vinyl Brunch with Booka B
Saturday Morning Cartoons with Booka B playing records all morning. Stop in for brunch, peruse the goodies on sale from Fifth Element, and pick up a pair of tickets to Rhymesayers 20th Anniversary Show at Target Center on Friday, December 4. Tunes ‘N Toons 10AM-2PM, Serving Brunch 10AM-3PM. Kids welcome!
SATURDAY: Aero Flynn | Halloween, Alaska
Break out the Justin Vernon family tree! Aero Flynn is the project of Josh Scott, a musician whose old band Amateur Love shared members with Vernon’s old band, DeYarmond Edison, more than a decade ago. (Specifically, the two bands shared future Megafaun members Brad and Phil Cook and Peter Wolf Crier’s Brian Moen.) Scott is revered in the Wisconsin music scene that yielded Bon Iver, Volcano Choir, Field Report, and so many other great bands. And after years in obscurity, he might finally be ready for his spotlight moment. Field Report’s Chris Porterfield, who was also in DeYarmond Edison, fills in the backstory in a lengthy post on Aero Flynn’s website, but the gist is this: Amateur Love was viewed as the better band back in ’02, and the series of events that led to Bon Iver’s genesis might never have happened if Scott hadn’t blown up Amateur Love and allowed his bandmates to focus on DeYarmond Edison, whose move to North Carolina and eventual burnout sent a defeated Vernon into that lonely Wisconsin cabin to make his masterpiece. Also, that line in Bon Iver’s “Holocene” about “Lip Parade” is a reference to one of Scott’s songs, contrary to what the geniuses at Genius think. Back to Scott, though. Apparently he had a second chance to sign a record deal and pursue a music career after Bon Iver blew up, but he balked again. Something must have changed because it looks like he’s finally going for it. Now based in Minneapolis, he’s assembled a touring lineup and is about to release a self-titled album as Aero Flynn.
Sounds like: Glass Ghosts, Sam Cohen
Halloween, Alaska took root in the early ’00s as a semi-electronic diversion from its members’ primary rock/jazz projects (The Bad Plus, 12 Rods, Love-cars, Happy Apple, et al). A self-titled debut album made sufficient waves to inspire more recording, more shows, more expenditures, more experimentation. Over the course of three more albums, a string of US/UK tours and couple of lineup changes, the group has continued to expand its palette outward from a dedicated core of arty, ambient rock. As of 2015, the band is completing a fifth full-length album in its hometown of Minneapolis in collaboration with engineer/producer Brett Bullion.
Sounds like: Communist Daughter, Jeremy Messersmith, Cloud Cult
SUNDAY: World’s Most Dangerous Brunch
The World’s Most Dangerous Brunch is a new, monthly brunch series that features music from the World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band, Polish brunch items on special, and sausages from Minneapolis landmark Kramarczuk’s. “The World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band at the Turf Club is a perfect fit,” says General Manager Nate Kranz. “We’ve both been popular longer than most of our fans have been alive, and we felt like with Nye’s impending closing we had to make sure this iconic group has a new home.” The World’s Most Dangerous Brunch takes place the last Sunday of each month through the end of 2015. Open for Brunch at 10am-3pm | Music 11am-3pm
Blog by Gina Reis
