(Cover art by Kate Malanaphy) An academic mindset tends to deflate all but the most technical music (i.e. some jazz, math rock). It negates the passion that fuels virtually every musician, especially when it's actually an assignment for school. The fear of a letter grade at the end of it all is an overwhelming barrier to creativity. On their latest EP, Taste , Minneapolis songwriter Kate Malanaphy shrugs off scholastic pretension and makes four songs that simultaneously fulfill the requirements of a syllabus and push their art forward in exciting, soul-stirring ways. The Bandcamp-exclusive release might strike a curious listener as a minor release. Maybe our streaming-poisoned minds tend to assume as much about anything that isn't uploaded to Spotify. Perhaps it's the fact that Taste is deliberately styled as a low-key release, serving more as an opportunity to "learn how to record and produce music by simply going for it," in Malanaphy's own words. The d...

We've had a bit of a rough go of it, huh? I haven't been to a show since March 11 (Marmalade + bugsy tour kick-off at Hi Watt House), which I'm guessing (and hoping) is roughly how long it's been for most of you too. Virtually every DIY band who was planning to tour, record, or release new music had to at worst cancel or at best rearrange everything. 2020 was a year of adaption. Without any of the prior infrastructure supporting a musician's livelihood, everyone had to scrounge together whatever they could to keep sane and try to survive. After approximately nine months of *gestures to everything*, we've hit the end point; the time to reflect. These are just some of the albums that brought me joy this year, that reminded me how incredible it is to be able to participate in such a community. I'm grateful to have been able to interview four out of five of these bands (Dad Bod, you're next) and help share their music and words with people across the state a...

(Cover art by Kara Slamka) ghostar - A Haunting in Two Parts  (self-released)   It was inevitable. After the breakout success of 2018's Hereditary , it was only a matter of time before some band sampled one of its iconic scenes. In the case of the new double-single from Madison's ghostar, Toni Collette's dinnertime freakout is the first thing we hear. What ensues is just over seven minutes of potent, multi-faceted music. ghostar bill themselves as a post-rock band first and foremost, which is surprising for a band who has never released a song that exceeds the six minute mark. Instead of getting lost in the swirl of anthemic crescendo-core, the trio plays around with a variance of guitar-centric genres, ranging from yelpy 90s emo to burnt-out shoegaze. The highlights of their music aren't found in any individual sound; rather, they're most present in the way they weave them all together, like knots of thorny vines climbing the side of a house. "Part I: Mortuar...

As you will soon realize, none of the bands written about here are from Minnesota. As we've grown more connected to the nationwide network of bands that Twitter refers to as "DIY," we've found a lot of music that we love. It sucked that we couldn't cover it (as per our own self-imposed limitations). So we decided to change it. This weekly column, the National Anthem, will be one of the primary places we explore releases from all-across the United States (and sometimes even Canada). Don't fret, our hearts (metaphorically and literally) are still in the Twin Cities. We hope that you can find a new band that you love from this. Interlay - "Spine" (self-released)   Our first venture into the great unknown outside of Minnesota doesn't take us very far. Interlay is a Madison, WI quartet making gothic shoegaze that feels as wide as the night sky. "Spine" is our first taste from a forthcoming EP, a follow-up to 2018's all-too-brief Ritual ...

Today is Juneteenth, the day that honors the end of slavery in 1865, when troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure the freedom of all the enslaved people. Bandcamp is donating 100% of their share of any purchases made today to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (and on every subsequent Juneteenth). Today is a day to direct attention and money to the voices of Black artists and bands with Black members. That should be the case every day. In addition to those listed below, Bandcamp posted a list of artists with special releases today , many of whom will be donating their proceeds to benefit racial justice organizations. Here is a crowd-sourced database of Black artists to support on Bandcamp. Here is a list of Black Twin Cities community members to support directly. Dua Saleh made a wonderful playlist of Black and BIPOC LGBTQIA+ artists to stream and support directly. Here's a  thread of trans Black women's Venmos/CashApps. The Current also put out a list of ten local artists ...

There's a reason cutting a record, live on the floor, has the vibe it does, because you are putting lighting in a bottle. So when musician and engineer Colin Loynachan approached multi-instrumentalist Warren Thomas Fenzi about trying to capture that magic, the pair went all out with Fenzi's newest project,  Live in the Atrium . "I wanted to approach this project differently to that of past projects," Fenzi told Ear Coffee. "The main goal being to really capture the human aspect of acoustic performance in all of its imperfect glory." Loynachan, Fenzi, the Kremblems (his backing band), and the Delphia Cello Quartet set out to record the album in the four-story-high atrium of the A-Mill Lofts, where they not only put music to tape but also shot a series of videos that feel less like individual performances and more like film vignettes. Fenzi's knack for storytelling combined with the vision of filmmakers Alex Munro, Garrett Wells, and Charlie Ber...

(Cover art by  Cora Rose Nimtz ) Sister Species is the longstanding chamber pop project of Emily Kastrul, also of Betazoid . That funky synth band was how I was introduced to Kastrul's music at large, which subsequently led to Ear Coffee's coverage of the first two singles off of Sister Species' new album, Light Exchanges . Previously titled Still I Am Still , Kastrul and their six collaborators (including three trumpet players) created a love letter to stillness and the peace that comes with it. Allusions to nature and the elements flow in and out of Kastrul's lyrics, as they dwell on their relationship with things greater than any of us. I sent a handful of questions to Kastrul, who was kind enough to answer. The following interview has been edited and (minimally) condensed. How did the current band that performed on/contributed to Light Exchanges  come together? You worked with nearly all of them on the last two Sister Species records as well (2016's Closer Now ...