(Picture by Sam Bramble ) In July 2020, songwriter and Twin Cities staple Natalie Fideler was the first artist to record a live session with Ear Coffee. "Caffeine Headache" was one of the five songs she performed; now, the song is finally being released as the lead single for her forthcoming sophomore record Three Man Army , which will be out next month. This is the first of four singles. According to Fideler, "Caffeine Headache" was written while her partner was trying to quit smoking. It digs into the desire to control a situation that is out of her hands and understanding previous trauma stemming from a loved one's addiction.  The track plays into the increasing anxiety felt with each passing lyric. Verses build from a melodic guitar and bass riff to restless palm-muted power chords before exploding into each raucous chorus. It gives the single this sinking feeling that doesn't have any sort of resolution.  The music video for "Caffeine Headache...

(Picture by Chelsea Oxborough ) Minneapolis "chill bop" quartet Getting By is back with their first new music in nearly three years with their brand new single and video, "Anybody."  Building off of the band's debut 2019 EP ... And Through It , "Anybody" showcases the full creative range of the band. A disco drum beat locks in with the guitars and bass to create a lively bounce that juxtaposes the track's themes of relational loss and closure. Bassist Aaron Frederick layers in screamed vocals during the choruses to drive home the track's raw energy and add weight as the band builds to "Anybody's" explosive ending.  The video itself depicts the main character, portrayed by Sequoia Hauck, trying to trace the moment that led to the end of their relationship only to come up empty. The literal string of memories Hauck's character follows is broken up by shots of the band performing "Anybody."  The premise for the video w...

(Cover art by the band) Kitchen Knife Blood Pact have been on quite a hot streak. After releasing six EPs in the spring, the label brainchild of Alien Book Club  settled into a steady schedule. The rip-roaring debut from Sockhop Massacre followed in June; now, we're finally hearing from Shush . The Minneapolis quartet has existed for nearly a year, providing occasional updates on new music but otherwise staying mostly quiet. At the end of July, word of a debut album and a forthcoming single finally hit the internet — "Staring Contests" would be released one week later. With familiar elements, Shush creates an incredibly potent form of indie rock. They effortlessly crescendo from chiming verses to ragged choruses, showing a careful consideration of the song's structure. "Staring Contests" is an unpretentious and beautiful gem; it establishes a framework for how Shush approaches their songwriting. Second single "School Nurse," which we're stoke...

Before the pandemic, a majority of bands could rely on shows as their primary (if not only) means of self-promo. Maybe they had some Bandcamp demos to send to the people running different house venues. Maybe not. As long as they could rip a gig every week or so, it didn't necessarily matter if they had an EP or album out. Despite their lack of recorded material,  Sockhop Massacre  held a sterling reputation as a go-to injection of noise for any bill, whether it was a prime weekend spot at Rowhouse (RIP) or a Tuesday at the Kitty Cat Klub. Almost a year-and-a-half later (and just in time for shows to start coming back), the Minneapolis quartet is making their triumphant re-entry with their new song "The Revolutionary." If we temporarily disregard their May 2020 single " Enhanced Interrogation Technique ," then "The Revolutionary" is their first officially released single. The group is working with Ear Coffee favorites Kitchen Knife Blood Pact to final...

(Artwork by Brick ) The Eau Claire punk act Gash has returned! After releasing their debut record haha in 2018 (partnering with the sorely missed Heavy Meadow Records) and releasing a split in 2019, the band took a breather between releases before returning last week with their roaring new single " Life of Dan ." Gash will be releasing their follow-up to haha on Friday, May 7, Leftern , but instead of having to wait for the full thing, Ear Coffee gets a chance to premiere the follow-up single, "My Head Hurts." For anyone who has had a migraine, you know that they are more than just a gnarly headache. It's completely debilitating, which is what vocalist and guitarist Logan Nyberg said they were trying to capture when writing this single. Throughout the entirety of "My Head Hurts," the band is on the verge of total collapse. With rickety, borderline discordant instrumentation, Gash piles forward with a scream while they look for moments of respite. Ny...

  (Cover design by Anita Velveeta) Anita Bauer has her eyes set on the future. No matter what, her songcraft unfolds to depict what the next few years might sound like. With her main project Alien Book Club , the band shifts around as a unit, but it is often bound to Bauer's determined exploration of the nooks and crannies of rock's history (doo-wop, no wave, jazz, punk). Under her pseudonym Anita Velveeta , she pushes the boundaries of electronic pop. Previous single " Jet Set Radio Futureless " went all in on flamenco-indebted trip hop; now, her latest track "Face Pix," premiering exclusively here on Ear Coffee, takes off for Rainbow Road hyperpop.  "Face Pix" fluctuates in tempo, timbre, and tone. Bauer is spinning a musical roulette faster than a pink-haired Tasmanian devil. At times, I can't help but hear what Newgrounds electronica circa 2007 would sound like if Laura Les got her hands on it. The winkingly retro cover art certainly adds t...

Late last year, Minneapolis songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eve Speers released their debut EP as EVV , Homebody . At a brisk nine minutes in length, it left listeners wanting more while still providing three great songs. Today, we're premiering the video for lead single and standout track "Dead to Me." One of the most immediately striking things about the video is the colorful, hazing lighting. Speers said, "My inspiration was to incorporate this idea of anger and sadness that we feel within our relationships, typically romantic ones. I wanted to mix the colors, showing the phases we can experience. The video was shot by Emily Schoonover, and Speers edited and put it together. Watch the "Dead to Me" video below. Listen to Homebody here .

Credit: August Schultz Despite the world dragging by amidst the pandemic, it hasn't been too long since we last heard from Minneapolis' Double Grave. The band released their second full-length album Goodbye, Nowhere! in August of last year, which gave them some of the national attention they deserve. While continuing to work on new music, Double Grave is putting out a few shorter, quieter releases as a stop-gap between albums. Today, we're premiering the title track to the first EP, "Chrysanthemum." You've already heard "Chrysanthemum" if you were among the lucky few who snagged one of the first 50 vinyl copies of  Goodbye, Nowhere! — the entire EP was included on CD with a cardboard sleeve and handwritten tracklist. The songs themselves originated from guitarist/vocalist Jeremy Warden's now-defunct Animal Actor  solo project, which featured Warden singing with a four-string bass. There were plans to put out a full-length Animal Actor record, bu...

  (Cover art by Chloe Crimmins ) Zaq Baker can't stop writing songs. Many of these songs have yet to see the light of day, but in recent months, the vaults have been opened. Baker's first album since 2018, Cardio , was released towards the end of 2020. Barely two months later, the theatrical master of song is putting out a new "mini LP," titled Maddie's Delivery Service .The lead single, which we're excited to be premiering here, is the studio version of a track originally released just before the pandemic. "She's Nocturnal" was originally part of Baker's as-yet-unfinished Good Kid Manic Summer project; now it serves as a hint of what's to come with the four new songs on his new record. Listening to the new, studio version of the song is like bursting into Technicolor compared to the sparse, black-and-white rendition from last year. The same group of musicians that gave Cardio its rollicking sense of momentum show up again here to invig...

Different bands have found different ways to cope with the pandemic and try to stay productive. Admiral Fox decided to make use of the free time presented by the initial period of lockdown by reworking the entirety of 2018's self-recorded debut Winter in Limbo . "Marcie Make It Better," a live staple and fan favorite, is our first taste of the new version of the album. The original Winter in Limbo was recorded while frontman Dan DeMarco was in the process of moving to Minneapolis, done entirely in GarageBand with his MacBook's built-in mic. The album was released before he had even met any of his future bandmates. In the two years since, Admiral Fox has grown into a quartet and released an album and an EP . The new versions of these old songs retain the "lo-fi, home-recorded edge" of the originals while simultaneously showing off the band's synchronicity. "I had better recording gear, a more capable voice, and more recording experience, so [quara...

(Cover art by Christine Lambert ) These songs may never have seen the light of day. Marie Finch , which started primarily as the solo recording project of Minneapolis' Joe Villano, had no immediate plans to release the material they had been sitting on for a while (all of it was initially written in 2018). They had been recording as a trio with Jack Daily of Fox Theory , piece-by-piece, since the fall of 2019. Both Marie Finch and Fox Theory were gradually working on new EPs but ended up hitting creative walls this summer. The EPs were tabled for the time being, until Daily had the idea of a split. Rather than leave the Marie Finch songs behind, it made natural sense for the two bands to team up. Not to be selfish, but I sure am glad all these songs made it out alive. Fox Theory has been honing their emo-punk stylings into some of the catchiest and best composed stuff I've heard with that sound. Meanwhile, Marie Finch's songs operate somewhere between "classic" in...

Minneapolis' GOWNS put out a punchy, straightforward three-song EP earlier this year. Just in time for the fall, the band is dropping a new single. "Castles" is a slightly different shade of bombastic indie, placing itself more within the aughts than the most 80s-inspired moments on The Hollows . The quartet locks into a perfect pop song structure and let their strengths show. Ebbing and flowing rhythms course through the guitars — including a riff right out of a New Order song — and crescendo right into the chorus. The chorus is where "Castles" shines. Soundtracking a celebratory scene in a heart-on-sleeve coming-of-age movie seems to be where this song is destined. Singer/keyboardist John Bair doesn't oversell his vocals, but injects them with enough momentum to soar through the guitars and drums. "Castles" is a natural evolution for GOWNS, and a rewarding hint of what they might be able to accomplish one day. In the meantime, you can stream ...

Ever since releasing their debut single “ moody knows best ” in early January, Minneapolis quartet bugsy has been making waves. Combining furious guitar riffs with beautiful harmonies, the band perfected a high-octane indie punk on their debut EP Teratoma , released in February. Their new single “talk to you” takes all that made Teratoma great and subtly expands upon it. Vocalist/guitarist Emily Schoonover remains one of the best songwriters in the Twin Cities and on "talk to you," they infuse their remarkably catchy style with a streak of darkness. bugsy has always operated in a happy-sad dynamic — the band makes ecstatic music that you can easily dance (or mosh) to, but the lyrics reveal a nuanced heartache and yearning. This time around, the band tinkers with their previous approach, letting the undercurrent of emotion bubble to the top and never letting it fully erupt. It gets awfully close (listen for the harmonies on the final chorus), but bugsy maintains ultimate con...

GrayBeat is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Robin Sedivy. With his brand new single "Fisherman's Gambit," he ushers us into a new era for GrayBeat. The scattered yet full-bodied "Fisherman's Gambit" sounds like it was recorded by a large Arcade Fire-sized band, with different instruments or chopped vocals phasing in and out of consciousness. Everything was recorded by Sedivy himself. His background as drummer lends itself fully to the immaculate kit playing on the track. The backbone provided by the drums gives support to the kaleidoscope of music contained within the song as a whole. Upon listening, one can immediately tell that each moment was tinkered with until it was exactly right, until the bass and myriad synths worked just perfectly together. Additionally, Sedivy recorded a whopping 26 guitar tracks. While the craftsmanship is apparent instantaneously, the story being told is less clear. Sedivy told us: The song tells the stor...

(Artwork by Stephanie Murck )   Following the release of their 2019 debut record Chew Toy , the grunge-pop quartet Sass showed they were anything but easily tossed aside. The record had the band's quick wit and petulant punk attitude on full display while handling some heavy topics. Stephanie Murck, Joey Hays, Alex McCormick, and Willem Vander Ark are now back with their first new single of 2020, "11:11." Making a wish at 11:11 am/pm has always been used as a moment to speak a desire into existence. It's rare to think about the thing we desire most not being what we expected. From the get-go, Murck questions whether she made the right decision, circling back on the phrase, "I swear that I'd be fine alone." It feels like a tug-o-war as the band goes back and forth between the verse and chorus before Murck relents say,  "But now I know how it feels, and I don't want to let it go."  Underpinning "11:11" is a wall of fuzzy gui...

I've always believed there is something in the water at Hamline University since so many fantastic acts have come out of that school. One of those bands, the sensual and melancholy Sal Paradise is letting us premiere their follow up to 2019's Table for Two  the single, "Voice Memos." There are a lot of thoughts and feelings left unsaid and circling the mind following a breakup. "Voice Memos" feels like talking to that ghost of a former relationship, like a final voicemail checking on the person who is in as much pain as you are. Co-written by band leader Samuel Ketcham and Kate Malanaphy , "Voice Memos" is the band's departure from their previous "jazzy by not jazz" songs. Ketcham told Ear Coffee, "' Voice Memos' sounded like such a song-song (front to back, clear form, etc.) and that’s kinda where we’re leaning now. Rock baby.  We got to work with some really talented friends like Kate Malanaphy who I brought the s...

(Cover art by Shannon Maroney) Allergen 's first single feels like a private conversation, being broadcast to the world. Well, technically it's their first official  single — the delightfully sad " Picket Fence " remains on Bandcamp exclusively. And even "Open Letter," which will be releasing in full tomorrow, was performed primarily by Shannon Maroney, the band's singer/guitarist, with drumming from the band's lead guitarist, Eve Speers. So we'll have to wait a bit for a full-quartet Allergen song. But "Open Letter" is more than enough to fill the gap in the meantime. Maroney's lyrics flow straight to the heart with an abundance of references to alcohol. The bubbling instrumental gives their vocals a sense of gentle buoyancy, especially during the first minute. Intensity builds like a gradually rising tide and releases with the chorus' arrival. Gloriously harmonized vocals plea a single word — "give." T...

(Artwork by Sara Legel) When Wrister put out their debut record in December of last year, it affirmed my opinion that anything over three minutes is prog rock. "Flowers On The Fault" is a raucous, unabashed ode to feeling complacent and looking for an out. It is two minutes of thrashing drums and jangly guitars that felt like a drop-out anthem. While Wrister's debut album Different Teeth feels like a party record with its loud instrumentation, it's more like a heartfelt conversation in the kitchen while the party goes on around. The record has the band looking for a place to connect, to relate, and to belong, beer-cracking sound effects and all. The album's second single "Lack of Truth" is an earnest look at trying to cut through the noise and uneasiness and find their base. As it progresses, Different Teeth gives way to subtler moments on songs like "Driver" or "Headlights" — the brashness opens up to allow for honesty. I pe...

Album art done by Aaron Mylungs If you follow  Bob Ross Mob Boss , you'd know that the band finds it difficult to put a genre tag on their music. Thankfully, the band has figured it out as they get ready to release their most definitive release yet with their second EP Everything's Chrome in the Future . Following up on their 2018 debut EP  Hot Sauce ,  the St. Paul-based quartet has been spending time distilling their sound down to a punchy blend of post-punk, emo, and alternative rock.  Today we are extremely excited to be premiering, "Honestly, Honesty," the first single off the upcoming EP. In an interview with Ear Coffee, members Aaron Mylungs and Bray Fischer talk about the single's theme of a strained relationship and their desire to move into a sonically heavier direction. "That song is a lot about interpersonal stress and feeling unheard in relationships and moving on in relationships," said Fischer.  Each verse is sung through a clenched...

Noted cow band Harper's Jar has been one of the Twin Cities' most revered and most mysterious bands of the last few years. Despite all the (deserved) attention, they still haven't released a full-length record. That is about to change. Today, we're happy to (sort of) premiere the second single off the debut record from Harper's Jar. "home is a roach motel" keeps things mostly within their wheelhouse, but fortunately, that is one of the best wheelhouses known to man. In an interview with Radio K, the band said that this song is the one that they're most proud of, and it shows. While the overall palette may be similar, it subtly reinvents the expectations fans/listeners may have built up over years of relentless gig-attendance. It lives up to the more colorful, more flavorful sonic universe the band promised. This sounds like a song that will inspire the next generation of DIY punks to start their own bands and flourish in their own realms of nois...