Monday: Land Speed Record 35th Anniversary Show
A retrospective of local legends Hüsker Dü’s debut album, featuring a performance by Grant Hart and the The Glandolinian Army Band – Grant Hart (@GrantVHart) + Dylan Richie (@TeenageStranglr) + @TimothyAlleick of Livid – and a panel discussion with notable Twin Cities punk pioneers such as Steve McClellan (former general manager, First Avenue), Grant Hart and Greg Norton (Hüsker Dü), Terry Katzman (Garage D’Or Records), Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland), and more.
Tuesday: Zig Zags
Zig Zags started in a room lit by a single green light, which changed them from humans to Zig Zags in the summer of 2009. Within the next five years, they’d record a song with Iggy Pop and an album with Ty Segall and go from playing house parties for pizza to staring off the stage at the Fillmore West. But back then that was still in the future. Their most recent album is a self-titled EP produced by Ty Segall for In The Red.
Sounds like: The Blind Shake, Useless Eaters, Cheap Time
Wednesday: Gaelynn Lea EP Release Show
Gaelynn Lea is a musician and public speaker from Duluth, MN. She has been playing violin for over twenty years. Gaelynn has played alongside many notable Minnesota musicians over the years, including Alan Sparhawk, Charlie Parr, and Billy McLaughlin. Gaelynn Lea released her debut solo album, All the Roads that Lead Us Home in November 2015. On March 3, 2016, Gaelynn Lea was named the winner of NPR Music’s second-ever Tiny Desk Contest. The very next week, Gaelynn performed a moving Tiny Desk Concert, at which the show’s host Bob Boilen said “there was hardly a dry eye.”
A handful of busy months flew by after winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest, and somewhere in that whirlwind Gaelynn managed to record a 6-track EP titled The Songs We Sing Along the Way. This record was released on August 15, 2016 and is a blend of Lea’s original songs, traditional fiddle tunes, and her own poetry. Lea identifies equally as a songwriter and a fiddler, so much like her debut solo album, Gaelynn constructed this EP to be a winding exploration of both art forms. However this time around she took a slightly different approach, choosing to collaborate with Minneapolis songwriter, guitarist and percussionist Alan Church (BBGUN, Al Church and State) – who will be joining her for this show. He skillfully added texture and color to each track as they improvised together in The Pearl Recording Studio in the Twin Cities. Gaelynn Lea hopes this EP will provide her new, wider audience with a sense hope and an appreciation of what the violin can do and has done for hundreds of years.
Sounds like: The Wild Reeds, 10 String Symphony, River Whyless
Thursday: Noble Beast | Aetheric | Lords of the Trident
Brazilian power/speed metal band Hibria has canceled due to via issues. Tickets purchased online for through Etix will be refunded automatically. Tickets purchased in person at First Avenue, the Turf Club, the Depot Tavern, or through our local ticket outlets can be refunded at The Depot or the Turf Club. Minnesota’s own NOBLE BEAST and AETHERIC and Wisconsin’s own LORDS OF THE TRIDENT (previously supporting Hibria) will still be performing on August 18, with doors opening at 7:00pm and the show starting at 8:00pm. Refunded ticket holders get into the show for free (bring ticket print-out for admission).
Friday: Ness Nite Album Release Show
“My mantra [is] ‘Braless, Flawless, Lawless.’ That’s going to be forever. If people are ever going to ask me what kind of music I make, it’s braless music. I feel like it just covers a lot,” says rapper, singer, and producer Ness Nite. The phrase evokes the femininity and lack of restrictions that characterize Nite’s sound, music floating in an intentionally undefined space among genres, weaving together vocal styles and varying production elements to create a sound heavy on vibe and light on constraint.
Celebrating the release of Ness Nite’s debut EP, Nite Time, this show will feature performances from Dizzy Fae, Metasota, Destiny Roberts, and DJ BVCKWOODS, and will be hosted by MicaMaryJane.
Sounds like: Lewis Del Mar, O Mer, Kiiara
Saturday: Graveyard Club Release Show
Graveyard Club recorded a collection of haunted, synth-laden songs in a 19th century mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota in the fall of 2013. These songs would comprise the group’s lo-fi debut EP Sleepwalk, released in January 2014. Founding members Matthew Schufman (vocals, synths) and Michael Wojtalewicz (guitar) began the project inspired by a unique list of shared interests: the classic short stories of sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, the music of Ryan Gosling’s little-known band Dead Man’s Bones, and a fascination with both 50’s crooners and 80’s pop music. In the latter half of 2015 and early 2016, Graveyard Club wrote and recorded their sophomore LP, Cellar Door at Humans Win! studio in Minneapolis.
Sounds like: Arc Waves, Goodbye Heart, Run Things
Sunday: Weaves
In a little over two short years, Weaves have gone from a collection of voice memos on Jasmyn Burke’s iPhone to establishing themselves as one of the most stridently individual acts to emerge from Toronto’s fertile and multifaceted DIY scene. Led by the collaborative efforts of Jasmyn Burke and Morgan Waters, the band have built a devoted audience while capturing the attention of the international media with a brand of ebullient, art-damaged pop music as difficult to categorize as it is to ignore.
Sounds like: Summer Cannibals, The Beverleys, Witching Waves
Blog by Ellie Moonen
