REVIEW: J Fernandez in the 7th Street Entry 12/9

An engaged, rapt audience welcomed Chicago-based artist J Fernandez back to Minneapolis Wednesday night, his first visit since opening for Unknown Mortal Orchestra at the Triple Rock last June.

Over the last few years, Fernandez has been quietly building a treasure trove of recorded material–two EPs in 2012, an EP in 2014, and this year’s debut full length Many Levels of Laughter, released in June on Joyful Noise Recordings. Although his history as a bedroom recording artist has earned him a reputation of an introspective DIY-er, Fernandez and his band delivered a sharp, confident performance Wednesday night. Playing a wide range of material spanning Fernandez’s entire back catalogue, Fernandez and his band focused largely on the groovy, upbeat tunes, with just a few exceptions (the slightly meandering “Malleable” being one of them).“ Highlights were "Casual Encounter,” whose repetitive organ lines and vocal pleas were thoughtfully countered by artful guitar outbursts; and a heart-wrenching rendition of “Image,” whose high range vocals and killer guitar solo were among the most emotive of the set.

Lyrically, so much of Fernandez’s work seems to be about life on the periphery: listening through walls and behind doors, forgetting faces, failing to communicate, and fading away. Yet live, the physicality of Fernandez and company lends an assured weight, a self-awareness to the music. Live, it becomes clear this work is really about the confidence of memory; artful resilience as an antidote to isolation.

Fernandez kept banter between songs to a minimum, with the exception of a couple humorous interjections including an audience poll rating his recent self-given haircut (the consensus: maybe a little uneven in the back but otherwise pretty sharp!). Fernandez has built a small but dedicated and diverse following – I overheard audience conversations on punk, metal, psych rock, and folk. Fernandez’s influences are just as varied – he cites early electronic music, Can, Yo La Tengo, and Jim O'Rourke as influences, and It was not difficult to hear these diverse influences coming through tonight. One might also hold his semi-baroque, groovy stylings next to fellow 2015 breakout artists Jacco Gardner and Jaakko Eino Kalevi.

Fernandez and his band treated fans to an encore set of 2012’s “Fading Out,” ending the set on a melancholy note. Featuring a sparse, baroque guitar line and muted vocals, this simple arrangement was a perfect note on which to end–a meditation on time, impermanence, and the imperfection of our day to day lives.

Opening were Twin Cities bands Panther Ray and The Awful Truth. Panther Ray started the night off with a quick, energetic 30-minute set of wide ranging psych pop grooves. Their layered vocals alluded to a grittier Joanna Gruesome, their fiery guitars and propelling bass line perhaps channelling a poppier Moon Duo. Minneapolis folk rockers The Awful Truth delivered the second opening set of mostly new material that, like their strongest track, “let the light in slowly.” Lead vocalist Brent Colbert is the most compelling part of this group–his warm, subtly emotive tenor is a great match for the soothing instrumentation of the band which prominently features cello on many tracks.

[Photo Credit: Kaitlin Frick]

J Fernandez Setlist:
Between the Channels
Casual Encounter
Holy Hesitation
Memorize Now
No Luck
Read My Mind
Souvenirs
Jewelry Watches Gold
Image
Malleable

Encore
Fading Out (2012 EP)


Review by Kaitlin Frick

J Fernandez
with Panther Ray and The Awful Truth
Wednesday, December 9 2015
7th St. Entry

Posted 3 years ago

INTERVIEW: Josh Scott of Aero Flynn, Tomorrow at the Turf Club

Photo Credit: Cameron Wittig

Hello, all! Happy Friday! I’m hoping your bellies are still full from a great Thanksgiving, and turkey sandwiches for the next week abound.

But, now, looking toward the weekend, and in between leftovers and naps, you can check out MFR’s chat with Josh Scott of Aero Flynn fame below, and snag your tickets to band’s last show of its tour in support of its debut, self-titled album with Halloween, Alaska and DEM YUUT tomorrow at the Turf Club.

What was the writing process like for the new album?

I was kind of writing fully formed songs and I started exploring a different side of myself and I think where I was writing was with a kinetic energy—everything had a movement and a tempo, and open-ended questions. These songs were exploring that side of how I wanted to write. There were a lot of differences, whether it was cinematic or pointing to different genres of art and I wanted to make it an open canvas for people to collaborate on and flush out with me.

Everything started small in my house and I would just kind of draw the rest of the song in the studio.

When you were taking a break from music, were you writing that whole time? Or did everything just come all at once?

It definitely sprung from somewhere. I was always kind of writing. Like I’ve said in the past, when you’re not playing and you’re kind of in a lone place it’s harder and harder to say something. When you’re just writing for yourself, you need that feedback from people or need that feedback from other musicians, so the well was drying up a little bit, but I finally got back on pace when I wrote the first song on the record, “Plates,” and that song kind of became a different way than I’ve written before and everything came through that. As I started to record, I was so inspired in that moment that I just started to write in the studio and wrote the record that way. I had never completely stopped writing.

When you get into the studio, you obviously have some ideas about where you’re going with a song already, but do you go and jam a little bit, or is it mostly done and you just tweak a little?

Definitely not mostly done, it usually starts pretty bare-boned and you build it up, that’s how I work anyway, and there’s a lot of spontaneous combustions of ideas that spring out of that, and depending on what kind of studio you’re in, it’s more like layering and layering. I think about it like how a director would work, like spitting out ideas. We let a lot of instruments fly and throw everything at the wall, then edit everything down. So yeah, it’s not really a fully formed idea where we’re jamming full band. That never happens on the record either, where everyone is playing at the same time.

What was it like collaborating with Justin Vernon on the album? He helped produce and record it, right?

Yep, it was he and I at first. You know, he’s been a buddy of mine forever and he was always hounding me to record and it was one of those things where I needed time to figure out my life. By the time I got there—and he’s such a great engineer—he made it easy. It was really cool because having that place allowed us to have a lot of collaborators on the record, and each session we’d have a different personnel coup that I could use. But overall, yeah, it was incredible. He’s definitely inspiring.

How do you think your fans are responding the album?

It’s been great. It’s a record that takes a bit to process, there’s a lot of long-form and a lot of space in the record, but I think everyone that’s heard it has been drawn to it. It can be something for all people I think in a weird way. Whether it’s a person who’s really engaging with it, or it can be on while you’re cooking. There are a lot of free-flowing ideas in it.

When you first started playing a decade ago, what was the music scene like in Eau Claire and Minneapolis? How is it different now?

When I was in college it was pre-social media a bit, so it was a lot more secluded in that way, where the music scene in Eau Claire was mostly local. I met Justin and the Megafaun boys immediately and we all played in bands together. And in that way, Minneapolis was a big city and that was almost making it in that era for us. Then we ended up meeting the Love-cars and Halloween, Alaska and had this amazing form so we’d just play back-and-forth with those guys, and I think looking forward to the show, having Halloween Alaska play with us is a really big, awesome, cool thing.

What was it like playing with all of your buddies at the Eaux Claires Festival?

It was incredible. To have all of our scene, a crazy, vast river system of artists everywhere across the states and worldwide, to have them all there in the Chippewa Valley was amazing. The collaborations that were happening and just watching all of our friends doing their thing was incredible. I couldn’t have thought of a better festival.

What was your favorite moment? Was it playing or watching another band?

Playing was incredible. Playing with Justin was pretty fun. There were so many snapshot moments. It was great how well the festival ran for its first year.

What’s next for you guys?

We’ll be touring all the way until the Turf Club show.

Any words for the fans coming to the Turf?

Come see Halloween Alaska for sure. (laughs)

It’s gonna be a blast. It’s gonna be really special.

Interview by Sam Fischer

Aero Flynn
and Halloween, Alaska
w/ DEM YUUT
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Turf Club
7:30p // $12 adv $14 door

Posted 3 years ago

INTERVIEW: Peter Wolf Crier, Tonight in The Entry

Photo Credit: Cameron Wittig

Happy Friday to you all! The weekend’s here; let’s party. MFR caught up with Brian Moen of Peter Wolf Crier in support of the duo’s show tonight at 7th Street Entry. You can check out our chat below, and remember to get to the entry early enough to catch Al Church and J.E. Sunde. Doors open at 8 p.m. Cheers, you animals!

Being that it’s been a few years since PWC has introduced us to a new album, what’s the most nerve-wracking thing about releasing a new album? Do you ever get nervous about how people will react to new material?
To me, making the music always seems like the easy part of putting out a record. We’ve got a great manager who takes care of us, but we’re pretty hands-on about a lot of the business side of things. So it’s organization and deadlines that are nerve-wracking. Then figuring out how we want to present the record live — sometimes that’s a bit of a doozy in a two-piece.

How did the making of Plum Slump go down? I.e. writing, recording, etc.
This was our most collaborative album to date. Much of the songs were still Pete’s that he brought to the table, but it was the first time there was any material that started as jamming. After a few years of touring together, we decided that we loved playing in the same room and wanted to capture some that spontaneity and energy on the record. Pete and I also lived in Toronto and Oakland respectively so it was made in random short bursts at my parents’ cabin an hour north of Minneapolis, whenever Pete had a work break.

What type of writing atmosphere do you prefer?
For me, feeling comfortable is really the most important thing when we’re writing. That’s been the draw to recording ourselves — we have a great freedom when we’re by ourselves.

What’s your favorite part of coming back and playing the Twin Cities?
Seeing our friends, no question.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Um, none that we can mention…

When you and Pete started collaborating as PWC, is this where you envisioned you’d be?
Being that the project started as Pete’s solo record, I think it’s probably pretty different than what he originally envisioned. But I think we’ve always come at our music from such different places that we routinely end up in places I wasn’t expecting. This band is constantly changing because we’re each drawing on new inspirations all the time.

What is your philosophy about taking risks as an artist, or in life in general?
We’re not going to make our best music if we’re trying to be popular or successful. In my mind, the second you start trying to make decisions based on selling more albums, you’ve missed the point. So we’re just putting out our best effort each time, captured at that particular point in our musical discussion.

Interview by Sam Fischer

Peter Wolf Crier
w/ AL CHURCH(Full Band) and J. E. Sunde
Friday, November 13 2015
7th Street Entry
18+ // 8p // $10 adv $12 door

Posted 3 years ago

REVIEW: City and Colour at First Avenue 11/7/2015

The man behind City and Colour, Dallas Green, and his backing band showed up to play for a sold-out crowd Saturday in the Mainroom at First Avenue. Overheard before the show: “Judging by the name, it’s probably EDM.” Oh, sir. How wrong you were.

Green’s smooth guitar and velvet vocal stylings met a full room of concert-goers, transcending us through time and beating into us a heavy 12-song set full of that raw emotion that Green wears on his sleeve so well. Taking from a decade’s worth of material, the songs Green played resonated with the crowd just as well as they did the day he released them.

It didn’t take long before the audience started to sing along, hanging on Green’s every word. With pieces of random confetti occasionally floating through the air–no doubt left over from concerts past–coupled with a hypnotizing light show and wall full of stars set behind the band for the duration of the show, Green sang songs about leaving, loving, waiting and wondering. For “Hello, I’m Delaware” off of 2010’s Sometimes, you could feel an emotional and intimate connection with everyone in the room–it felt otherworldly at times. By the time “Lover Come Back” rang out into the room, the occasion turned into a sing-along–if your friend snapchatted you from the show, it was probably during this one.

Green also made a special shoutout to First Avenue and the one’s who work tirelessly to keep the venue rocking. The band played “We Found Each Other in the Dark” off of 2011’s Little Hell to honor infamous Twin Cities music vet Billy Sverkerson who passed away in 2013.

“There’s something special about this place and the people who work here,” Green said. “It’s rare to find a place where you feel at home.”

In true great-performer-fashion, Green came back onstage after the band’s main set for a solo acoustic four-song encore. The full band rejoined Green halfway through “The Girl” off of 2008’s Bring Me Your Love, and proceeded to close out the night with a full-band rendition of “Hope for Now.”

Posted 3 years ago

VIDEO: Strange Names - “Trespassing”

[Premiered via Paper Magazine]

Just out from the guys over in Strange Names. This is the stuff weird-ass dreams are made of. We like it.

Posted 3 years ago

GIVEAWAY: See The Oh Hellos at the Varsity Theater 10/22

Want some sweet, sweet vocal harmonies to fill the void of your Thursday evening? Well then you should probably head to the Varsity Theater tomorrow night and catch The Oh Hellos with guests Family and Friends, and Cereus Bright.

To win a pair of tickets hit up brittany@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com with your answer to the following question.

What’s your favorite way to say hello?

The Oh Hello’s
with special guests Friends and Family and Cereus Bright
Thursday, October 22 2015
7p doors - 8p music // 18+ // $17.50 adv $20 door
Varsity Theater

Posted 3 years ago

VIDEO: Kitten Forever - “Temple” // [MFR LOCAL]

[Premiered via Brooklyn Vegan]

Rad trio Kitten Forever just released a new video for their single, “Temple.”

Currently being awesome and touring with Babes In Toyland, you can pre-order their 2016 release, 7 Hearts via iTunes.

Posted 3 years ago

GIVEAWAY: See MS MR at the Varsity Theater, tomorrow 10/15

Need a little Hump-Day motivation to help get you through the rest of the week? Well we’ve got it for you. If you didn’t get a chance to catch MS MR the last time they rolled through town when they hit the Twins Stadium, the time has come again. Catch them this Thursday 10/15 at the Varsity Theater along with openers Jack Garrat and Vérité. You’re not gonna want to miss any of it.

To win a pair of tickets hit up brittany@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com with your answer to the following question.

Where’d you rather see a show? Stadium or Small Venue?

MS MR
with special guests Jack Garrat and Vérité
Thursday, October 15 2015
6:30p doors - 7:30p music // 16+ // $26 adv $31 door
Varsity Theater

Posted 3 years ago

STREAM: Day Wave - “Come Home Now”

Day Wave’s new 7" Come Home Now out Nov 6th on House Arrest Records.

Posted 3 years ago

GIVEAWAY: See Patrick Watson at the Varsity Theater 9/29

Hello! It’s been a while, so before we head into weekend we wanted to throw out a pair of tickets for Patrick Watson’s upcoming show Tuesday 9/29, at the Varsity Theater. Patrick Watson has spent the last few months touring behind his emotional, and mechanically inspired album, Love Songs for Robots. For those of you who’ve seen him before, Tuesday will be a treat. Released May 12th via Secret City Records, you can find Love Songs for Robots here.

To win a pair of tickets hit up brittany@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com with your answer to the following question.

What’s your favorite kind of robot?

Patrick Watson
Tuesday, September 29 2015
7:30p doors - 8:30p music // 18+ // $16.50 adv $18 door
Varsity Theater

Posted 4 years ago