Eleni Mandell on NPR's Morning Edition

Eleni Mandell was featured this morning on NPR's Morning Edition! Her stunning new album Artificial Fire comes out next Tuesday on Zedtone Records.

Listen here.

Chooglin' LP finally here!

About a month and a half after the record release show, we finally have records.

The newest Heart of a Champion release is a vinyl-only release from Chooglin'. Titled Nice Place, Nice Party, Nice Folks (HoC-025), it was recorded live at the 7th Street Entry in December 2007. All songs except for one are exclusive to this record. None of them will appear on Chooglin's new studio album, which is coming out on the Fat Possum imprint Big Legal Mess later this year.

Anyhoo, this LP is pressed in an edition of 500. Each one includes a CD copy, but the CD is not available separately.

The record is currently available at Treehouse Records in Minneapolis. It will be up for sale on our website store and in other Twin Cities stores at some point over the next week, and distributors should have it within the next couple of weeks.

Unreleased TITV album now available as free download

The late, great Thunder In the Valley have been gracious enough to give away their final album Aloha in the form of a free download. Recorded in Philadelphia with Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man), some of the songs appeared on their Where Oh Where Oh Where EP, but the rest of 'em never saw the light of day during the band's active lifespan.

Download it here!

The Evening Rig's "Never Been'er" gets 4.5 of 5 stars in Alternative Press!

Unabashedly Midwestern, undeniably good
The Evening Rig - Never Been'er

[4.5/5]
You know you're looking at the definition of a bar-rock band when their MySpace blog offers up guestlist spots to anyone willing to serve as the group's designated driver. Featuring ex-members of Minneapolis mainstays Cadillac Blindside, the Crush and the Cardinal Sin, the Evening Rig channel hometown legends the Replacements and throw in an extra touch of twang to their infectious choruses, making Never Been'er every bit as enjoyable as the newest efforts from alt-country superstars Wilco or the Weaktherthans. Through a consistent blend of shoegazer and anthemic rock, the veteran quartet are an amalgam of everything great about the Minneapolis music scene and a worthy introduction for those yet to explore alt-country's honest and drunken flair. Listeners seeking screamers and blastbeats need not apply. (HEART OF A CHAMPION) Kevin Wade

Mike Gunther repeats as "Best Vocalist" in City Pages Best of Twin Cities 2008

BEST VOCALIST (MALE)

Mike Gunther

When it comes to the discography of Mike Gunther and His Restless Souls, comparisons to Tom Waits are a necessary evil. But while Waits's voice box took nearly three decades to stagger from the piano lounge to the flophouse to the chicken coop to the machine shed, local Mike Gunther has developed a powerful vocal presence that manages to telescope not just Waits's career but whole epochs of American roots music in the span of a single chorus. Equally adept at a buttery croon, a scrapyard growl, and the frenzied, multi-register incantations of a traveling evangelist, Gunther expresses in his singing a predilection for all things antique and bygone. On Burn It Down for the Nails, his sophomore full-length, Gunther exhibits a sweeping vocal versatility. One hears echoes of Howlin' Wolf, of Charlie Parker, and of vintage Leonard Cohen. Even if it didn't come all gussied up in Gunther's immaculately rumpled three-piece suit, his would still be the most singular and unmistakable voice in the Twin Cities since Craig Finn packed his steamer trunk and split for the Big Apple.

The Ghost of Sean Arthur Peterson - "The Weekend Song"

Live at the Triple Rock Social Club, March 16, 2008.

Reveille Mag feature on The Evening Rig

"The Scream Remains the Same" by Rob Van Alstyne, December 2004.

photo by Alexa Jones