Music
Duluth Band Profile: Chase Down Blue
Chase Down Blue creates its own mythos with Red V. The group’s blend of spacey, post-punk links earnest emotions with the feelings of Lake Superior. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
PDD Quiz: Homegrown Band or Fairy Tale?
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
In honor of Homegrown Music Festival, which begins on April 30, this month’s quiz features a mix of Homegrown band names and fairy tales from around the world. Can you tell which is which? Take the quiz and see how well you know your field guide.
Glen’s Neighbor – “Open Road”
Duluth-based bluegrass band Glen’s Neighbor releases its second album, Your Unknown, on April 21. The video for the first single, “Open Road,” was shot in October while the album was recorded at Pachyderm Studios. Shane Rock Nelson directed and edited the video; Dan Huiting handled the cinematography.
The band performs at Blacklist Artisan Ales on May 6 during the Homegrown Music Festival.
Duluth Band Profile: Kaylee Matuszak
Kaylee Matuszak’s aspirations for music began on the playground. With the release of her debut Stirring Skies, she isn’t stopping anytime soon. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
UMD Profile: Matthew Knudson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_8fOzkvGs
For a digital storytelling class in the journalism program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, junior Kevin Ott produced this short profile of senior Matthew Knudson.
Knudson is a music education major with an instrumental focus. From arranging his own music to working as a radio DJ at KUMD, het has immersed himself in music.
Ott and Knudson have been singing together in vocal jazz at UMD for two years. Ott selected Knudson as a subject because of his knowledge of music and the visually engaging environment in which he interacts with it.
Gin Street – “High Life”
Duluth band Gin Street released a two-song cassette in February titled Singles. The opening track, “High Life,” is featured in this new music video.
“We made it with an old box television set and no money,” says director Quentin Stille. “Also shouts out the titular beer, High Life, which we are all trying to live.”
Gin Street plays May 6 at Blacklist Artisan Ales during the Homegrown Music Festival and June 11 at Beaner’s Central during Pete Fest.
Duluth Band Profile: Mama’s Stolen Horses
Kristoffer and Abby Jo Robin of Mama’s Stolen Horses steal the stage with their bend of folk and Americana. But, it’s how Abby Jo stole Kristoffer’s heart that keeps this duo alive. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Rachael Kilgour in City Pages
Duluth’s Rachel Kilgour plays the Aster Café River Room in Minneapolis on April 8. She shared the story behind her new songs over tea and a light dinner in Uptown with Youa Vang for a story in City Pages:
Rachael Kilgour stands up for herself on ‘Rabbit in the Road’
Spring 2017 Duluth-area Beer Festival Primer
The United States now boasts over 5,000 craft breweries as the thirst for quality beer continues. The Twin Ports are clearly part of the trend. Duluth and Superior are home to eight breweries, with two more planning to launch in 2017. Several others dot the north and south shores of Lake Superior. The great news for beer aficionados: there’s no shortage of local beer and opportunities to taste the latest batches. The next three major swillfests are highlighted here.
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Duluth Band Profile: Jacob Mahon
Jacob Mahon developed his songwriting skills playing bars and backyards across central Minnesota. Since his arrival to Duluth, he’s learned how a single compliment goes a long way. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Duluth Band Profile: Pizzaghost
Pizzaghost takes audiences to the ethereal plane of noise and punk rock. Keyboardist Jack Klander and bassist Ben Jacobson explain the anarchy of the group’s live shows.
Help Kaylee Matuszak appear onstage with Brandi Carlile
From Kaylee Matuszak:
Hi everybody! If you know me, you know how much I love Brandi Carlile and what a huge inspiration she is to me. She’s running a contest in which I submitted a cover of one of the songs from her album “The Story.” If my video gets enough votes, I could be chosen to perform the song live onstage with her in L.A.! So if you’d please take a minute to vote for my video and share this around, I would be forever grateful to you. You can vote once a week! Voting ends on April 17th at 9am, so don’t delay! Thank you so much!
Vote at: Brandi Carlile Cover Stories Contest
Dubz – The Westside Walk Videos
“Don’t You Cry” video by Hunter Bjork.
The 19th annual Homegrown Music Festival features a block of Duluth hip hop on Friday, May 5, at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon. The lineup features Willie Diction, Eddiedition, Dubz and Jaze.
Featured in this post are seven music videos from tracks off the debut Dubz album Westside Walk, released in March 2016. Take a step back and watch him work.
(more…)Dead Man Winter on Conan
Because of security encryption issues, PDD can’t embed the Dead Man Winter performance of the song “Destroyer” from last night’s episode of Conan. The best we can do is offer a link to where it’s viewable on teamcoco.com.
Duluth Band Profile: Kat Fox
Rapper Kat Fox isn’t one to walk away from the mic. In her video “Kat Calling,” she questions not only the sexism in hip-hop, but also society’s gender norms.
Video Archive: Insane Clown Posse in Duluth
Crack open a Faygo soda and … do something other than watch this video if you know what’s good for you. Nothing of much interest happens, unless you are enough of a Juggalo that listening to professional wrestler Pat Tanaka talk about the size of Andre the Giant’s penis sounds appealing. Nonetheless, for the purpose of novelty if not entertainment, Perfect Duluth Day presents two segments from the earliest days of video blogging, when the Detroit-based horrorcore duo of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope brought their Insane Clown Posse to Duluth. (more…)
Dong Dot Surgery – “Bound for Glory”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ftb7kXiH0
Electronic weirdness by John Holden and Matt Norby. They play the Barrel Room on May 1 at 9:45 p.m. during the Homegrown Music Festival.
Duluth Band Profile: Àlamode
Àlamode brings us back to the pop and funk mixture of the Minneapolis sound. Nathan Holte and Ned Netzel explain why the song “My Mistake” isn’t a mistake. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Chase Down Blue – “Skin & Bones”
Chase Down Blue‘s folk/rock sound has evolved in a post-rock direction on the album, Red V. In this video, the band performs live in KUMD’s Studio A on Feb. 15.
Upcoming gig: May 3, 10:15 p.m. at the Kom-on-Inn during Homegrown
.Homegrown Rawk and/or Roll: Jim Hall’s Mix
Available now for free download on Bandcamp, 117 megabytes of local rawk and/or roll selected by Jim Hall. It’s the eighth mix in the Homegrown Music Festival‘s series of compilations highlighting music that has shaped the Duluth music scene. (more…)
Sonic Divide: States
This short art video by Payton MacDonald features paintings by Duluth’s Kenneth D. Johnson. Sonic Divide documents a performance-art piece in which MacDonald mountain biked more than 2,500 miles — from Mexico to Canada — while periodically stopping to perform music. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea – “Watch the World Unfold”
Melanie Schantz, a musician and visual artist from New Jersey, produced this music video for Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea. The song “Watch the World Unfold” features Al Church on guitar and is from the 2016 EP The Songs We Sing Along the Way.
The Hoot Owls – “Scandinavian Hot Rod”
Ray Pirkola’s 1936 Ford Coupe debuted at the Million Dollar Motorcade car show at the Duluth Armory in 1955. Featuring 1940 Ford fenders and a hood grafted to a chopped and channeled 1936 five-window body, it was the first “full custom” car in the region. The song “Scandanavian Hot Rod” by the Hoot Owls celebrates the car and the self-determination of Ray Pirkola, father of the Hoot Owls singer and guitar player Barry Pirkola. The song is from the band’s 2010 album Alien Scrapyard.
Haley Bonar is now simply Haley
Twin Cities musician Haley Bonar, whose career took off during her years living in Duluth, announced today she is changing her surname from her paternal birth name, Bonar, to her maternal family name, McCallum. As a performer, however, she’s shortening it up to simply “Haley.”
Below is the statement from Haley’s Facebook page.
Her European tour begins March 25 with a sold out show in Glasgow, Scotland. (more…)