Andrea Swensson

To quote the ever-quotable Toki Wright: when a door closes, a window opens. Just six months after finding out that he would lose his long-running position as Department Head of the Hip Hop Studies program at the now-shuttered McNally College of Music, Toki has announced that he’s relocating to Boston to take an Assistant Chair…

Sandwiched between the release of her new album, Chime, this spring and her first full-length book, My Own Devices, this fall, Dessa spent much of last month taking an eye-opening trip across China and Hong Kong with her bandmates Aby Wolf and Matthew Santos. Orchestrated by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Arts Midwest, which provides tour funding and cultural exchange…

Dwynell Roland stopped by the Local Show to perform music from Young Roland.

In the two years since Prince passed, one of the biggest revelations that has surfaced about his personal life is just how much money he was quietly funneling toward the causes he believed in, especially those that worked closely with marginalized youth in urban communities and provided students with access to music education. On what…

BJ Burton likes to keep a low profile. He mentioned this several times while chatting over coffee on Wednesday, a sheepish grin creeping across his face as he squinted into the morning sun. That low profile is probably why, even after several years of co-writing, producing, engineering and mixing critically acclaimed albums by Bon Iver,…

He grew up in Austin, Minnesota, and he's been back for about seven years. Recently, synthesizer icon John Maus stopped by The Current to perform "Episode," "Touchdown," "Pure Rockets," and "Quantum Leap."

Although Janelle Monáe is most commonly associated with her birthplace of Kansas City, Kansas, and her current hometown of Atlanta, more information has come to light recently about the short time Janelle  spent living in various locations in the Twin Cities — and specifically in Minneapolis, the same hometown as one of her biggest mentors…

Every Wednesday night this month, the Chicago-based punk poet Ike Reilly will hold court at Icehouse to celebrate the release of his new album, Crooked Love. The artist-in-residence concept has become increasingly common at Twin Cities venues this year, particularly in the colder and slower winter months. But for Ike, it’s an approach to playing…

Riding the release of their 2018 album 'We Were Made to Forgive,' Roma di Luna visited The Current to talk with Andrea Swensson and perform "Estate Fair," "Made To Forgive," and "Envisioning."

Black-Eyed Snakes have been one of Alan Sparhawk's most elusive projects for the 18 years they've been around. We finally got them in The Current's studio to record a session and talk about the band's past, present, and future.

Duluth-based Trampled by Turtles are back with their latest release, 'Life is Good on the Open Road' and it's our Album of the Week.

Al Church, of solo musicianship and many Twin Cities bands, releases his album Night Games on April 27. Ahead of the drop, he visited the Local Show to play some music and talk with Andrea Swensson.

On the night that Prince and the Revolution were recording their historic August 3, 1983 concert at First Avenue — where the band would debut “Purple Rain” — the studio technician Susan Rogers was celebrating her 27th birthday and packing up her life in Los Angeles to move to Minneapolis, where she would spend the…

Earlier this month, the longtime promoter, manager, advertising executive, and musician Owen Husney released his long-in-the-works memoir Famous People Who’ve Met Me. Owen is best known in the Prince universe for his role as Prince’s first manager — specifically, the one that was at Prince’s side helping to negotiate his historic three-album deal with Warner Bros.…

As we approach the two-year anniversary of Prince’s untimely passing next Saturday, April 21, hundreds of people from around the world will make the pilgrimage to Minneapolis to honor him in his hometown. The week will culminate in the big Prince from Minneapolis symposium at the University of Minnesota on April 16-18 and the now-annual Celebration…

This Friday and Saturday, the annual Minnesota Music Summit returns with a timely new theme: “Amplifying Our Voices,” a two-day series of events at St. Catherine University that seeks to elevate women and nonbinary artists in the music community. The headliner for this year’s summit is the revered Portland songwriter Laura Viers, who will deliver…

After a year spent driving around to parks and and playing pop-up shows to promote his unapologetically joyful album of lo-fi solo material, 11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs For Ukulele, jeremy messersmith has finally unveiled his next studio recording, Late Stage Capitalism. Recording sessions for the album began roughly two years ago and were finished in the…

jeremy messersmith is hosting his Late Stage Capitalism release show at First Avenue on Friday, March 30. The week beforehand, he visited the Local Show to talk with Andrea Swensson and perform four songs from the album.

Americana duo Dusty Heart release their self-titled debut album at the Southern on March 16. Ahead of the show, they stopped into The Current to perform new music and talk with Andrea Swensson on the Local Show.

Today is International Women’s Day, and the Current is in the midst of a 24-long celebration of influential women artists — find our full day of programming here. As we spend the day reflecting on the issues facing women around the world, it got me thinking about all the incredible, pioneering artists who have broken…