Dana
Host of Rock 'n Roll Over
Monday-Friday 6-9 am

1. The Blind Shake: Carmel
2. Charlotte Gainsbourg: 5:55
3. Boris and Michio Kurihara: Rainbow
4. Caribou: Andorra
5. MIA: Kala
6. Big Business: Here Come the Waterworks
7. Electrelane: No Shouts, No Calls
8. Fog: Ditherer
9. Bjork: Volta
10. Deerhunter: Fluorescent Grey EP
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Machen
Radio K DJ

1. M.I.A. Kala Interscope
2. Bonde de Role With Lasers Domino
3. Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago Self Released
4. LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver DFA/Capitol
5. Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha Fat Possum
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs Is Is [EP] Interscope
7. Electrelane No Shouts, No Calls Too Pure
8. Celebration The Modern Tribe 4AD
9. Simian Mobile Disco Attack Decay Sustain Release Interscope
10. Feist The Reminder Interscope
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Jake
Radio K DJ

Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
Bonobo Days to Come
The Cinematic Orchestra Ma Fleur
Cloud Cult The Meaning of 8
El-P I'll Sleep When You're Dead
LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
Low Drums and Guns
Panda Bear Person Pitch
Vampire Hands Virgin Dust American Lips
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Katie A.
Radio K DJ

1. Low "Drums and Guns" (Even though "Hatchet" is a fairly terrible song, I like the sound of it. The alternative version is much better).
2. LCD Soundsystem "Sounds of Silver" (I actually agree with Pitchfork for once. "All of My Friends" was definitely the best song of the year for me).
3. Jens Lekman "Night Falls Over Kortedala" (A charming album that didn't make me roll my eyes. Also funny, so bonus).
4. Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (I love Spoon and they just keep putting out great records).
5. Simian Mobile Disco "Attack Decay Sustain Release" (The #2 record I listen to at work that gets this response, "What is this?" and not in a good way.
6. Imperial Teen "The Hair, the TV, the Baby, and the Band" (Seeing them live this year was one of my favorite shows. Why would you even choose Tay Zonday in the mainroom over Imperial Teen in the entry? It's like trading $10,000 for a box of broken hammers.)
7. Grinderman "Grinderman" (Nick Cave with a gross mustache. How could it go wrong?)
8. Michael Yonkers and the Blind Shake "Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons" (Michael Yonkers is awesome, and the Blind Shake are fantastic. Together they form something called "Fantsome").
9. A Place to Bury Strangers "A Place to Bury Strangers" (The #1 record I listen to at work that gets this response, "What is that?" Followed by, "No, seriously. What is that? Is your Ipod broken or something?")
10. The White Stripes "Icky Thump" (Way better than "Get Behind Me Satan". "Rag and Bone" also one of the best songs of the year.)
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Anna
Radio K DJ

1. Beirut Lon Gisland [EP] Ba Da Bing
2. Sunset Rubdown Random Spirit Lover Jagjaguwar
3. LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver DFA/Capitol
4. Klaxons Myths of the Near Future Geffen
5. Jose Gonzalez In Our Nature Mute
6. The National Boxer Beggars Banquet
7. The Ponys Turn the Lights Out Matador
8. Misha Teardrop Sweetheart Tomlab
9. Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortelada Secretly Canadian
10. Iron and Wine The Shepherd's Dog Sub Pop
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Now Like Photographs
Radio K's epic instrumental specialty show
Sunday 4-6pm

1 The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (Kompakt)
2 Six Parts Seven - Casually Smashed to Pieces (Suicide Squeeze)
3 Eluvium - Copia (Temporary Residence)
4 Akira Kosemura + Haruka Nakamura - Afterglow (Schole)
5 The American Dollar - The Technicolour Sleep (Self-Released)
6 God is an Astronaut - Far From Refuge (Revive)
7 65daysofstatic - The Destruction of Small Ideas (Monotreme)
8 Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (Temporary Residence)
9 Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky)
10 Maserati - Inventions for the New Season (Temporary Residence)

Congratulations to Abby M. and Jenny S. of Minneapolis for each winning a $100 gift certificate to the Electric Fetus.

Here is the remainder of the list!

1 Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha Fat Possum
2 M.I.A. Kala Interscope
3 PJ Harvey White Chalk Island
4 Radiohead In Rainbows Self Released
5 Deerhunter Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey [EP] Kranky
6 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Is Is [EP] Interscope
7 Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala Secretly Canadian
8 Low Drums and Guns Sub Pop
9 Blonde Redhead 23 4AD
10 Arcade Fire Neon Bible Merge
11 LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver DFA/Capitol
12 Feist The Reminder Interscope
13 Fog Ditherer Lex
14 Charlotte Gainsbourg 5:55 Because Music
15 Beirut The Flying Club Cup Ba Da Bing!
16 Cloud Cult The Meaning of 8 Earthology
17 The National Boxer Beggars Banquet
18 Shellac Excellent Greyhound Touch and Go
19 Electrelane No Shouts, No Calls Too Pure
20 Celebration The Modern Tribe 4AD
21 Tegan and Sara The Con Sire
22 The Ponys Turn the Lights Out Matador
23 Menomena Friend and Foe Barsuk
24 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Ask Forgiveness [EP] Drag City
25 Jay Reatard Blood Visions In the Red
26 Metric Grow Up and Blow Away Last Gang
27 Panda Bear Person Pitch Paw Tracks

Here are the albums that YOU voted in as your favorite albums as part of the Top 77 albums of 2007 countdown.

Tune in tomorrow at 9 a.m. as we'll countdown the last 27 records and reveal the number 1 album of the year!

28 St. Vincent Marry Me (Beggars)
29 Brother Ali The Undisputed Truth (Rhymesayers)
30 Digitata Two Daggers (Totally Gross National Product)
31 Simian Mobile Disco Attack Decay Sustain Release (Interscope)
32 The Fiery Furnaces Widow City (Thrill Jockey)
33 Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago (Self Released)
34 Michael Yonkers and the Blind Shake Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons (GoJohnnyGo)
35 Animal Collective Strawberry Jam (Domino)
36 Justice Cross (Vice)
37 Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino)
38 The Black Lips Good Bad, Not Evil (Vice)
39 Holy Fuck LP (Young Turks)
40 Land of Talk Applause Cheer Boo Hiss [EP] (The Rebel Group)
41 Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
42 Atmosphere Sad Clown Bad Summer 9 [EP] (Rhymesayers)
43 The Deaf This Bunny Bites (Learning Curve)
44 Battles Mirrored (Warp)
45 The White Stripes Icky Thump (Warner Bros)
46 Dosh Triple Rock [EP] (Dosh Family)
47 White Magic Dark Stars [EP] (Drag City)
48 A Place to Bury Strangers A Place to Bury Strangers (Killerpimp)
49 The Blind Shake Carmel (Learning Curve)
50 Glass Candy B/E/A/T/B/O/X (Italians Do It Better)
51 Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)
52 The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)
53 Okkervil River The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar)
54 Best Friends Forever Romance Conflict Adventure (Plan-It-X)
55 Deerhoof Friend Opportunity (Kill Rock Stars
56 Peter, Bjorn and John Writer's Block (Almost Gold))
57 Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone)
58 Sunset Rubdown Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguwar)
59 The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad and The Queen (Parlophone)
60 Caribou Andorra (Merge)
61 To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie The Patron (Kranky)
62 The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)
63 Thurston Moore Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
64 Vampire Hands Virgin Dust American Lips (Freedom From)
65 Fujiya and Miyagi Transparent Things (Deaf Dumb and Blind)
66 Liars Liars (Mute)
67 Mouthful of Bees The End (Afternoon)
68 The Long Blondes Someone to Drive You Home (Rough Trade)
69 Bjork Volta (Atlantic)
70 Jose Gonzalez In Our Nature (Mute)
71 Marnie Stern In Advance of the Broken Arm (Kill Rock Stars)
72 El-P I'll Sleep When You're Dead (Def Jux)
73 Sigur Ros Hvarf/Heim (XL)
74 The Owls Daughters and Suns (Magic Marker)
75 Grinderman Grinderman (Anti)
76 FT(The Shadow Government) The Black and White Album (Modern Radio)
77 !!! Myth Takes (Warp)

We spent the past few days tallying up the votes and we're ready to countdown the first half of the list starting tomorrow 9a.m.-3pm. We'll countdown the remainder of the list Thursday morning at 9 a.m.

Also, this Friday is Local Music Day. We'll be playing local music the entire day and having special guests in.

Steph from the Deaf will be in to guest DJ with Dana on Rock and Roll Over starting at 7:30 a.m.

Instudios from....

Ladyslipper at 10.

Kill The Vultures will be in at 11 to perform. It should be a huge treat to listen as we've never had all the members in.

Gospel Gossip will be kickstarting Off the Record at 2pm with a long set of cosmic rock and roll music.

Haley Bonar will be bringing it back all down to earth as she performs some songs off her forthcoming full length, Mayday, at 4pm. We hope she'll do some new songs.

Hopefully you'll tune in.

Wanna ring in the new year with some funky bluegrass? Trampled by Turtles, White Iron Band and Pert Near Sandstone will be playing a show at the Orpheum on New Years Eve. Send an email with your name and 'TURTLES' in the subject header to radioktickets@gmail.com, and we'll pick someone at random to fix up with a pair of tickets for you and a friend. WHAT: Trampled by Turtles, New Year's Eve! Monday, December 31st at the Orpheum Theater @ 8pm WHO: YOU and a friend! That's radioktickets@gmail.com

In addition to the two shows Andrew Bird (with help from local Martin Dosh and Jeremy Ylvisaker) will be playing tonight and Saturday night at the Guthrie, Mr. Bird has just announced he will be topping off the weekend with a Sunday afternoon show at the always intimate Cedar Cultural Center presented by Radio K.

Tune into Radio K over the next two days to win tickets to what should be a show for the ages!

Hey, want to go see Wu-Tang Clan in the First Avenue Mainroom this Sunday, on us? Send an email with your name and 'WUTANG' in the subject header to radioktickets@gmail.com, and we'll pick someone at random to fix up with a pair of tickets for you and a friend. No one under 18, please!

WHAT: Wu-Tang Clan, SUNDAY, December 16th in the First Avenue Mainroom 8pm, 18+

WHO: YOU and a friend! (18+)

That's radioktickets@gmail.com

It's true! The ever-infamous Doomtree crew stopped by the Crazy Beast Studio in Northeast Minneapolis this week to record an exclusive session for Radio K's local music show, Off The Record.

Tune in this Friday, December 14th from 3-5pm to hear the session broadcast on Radio K!

Check out more exclusive in-studio sessions from national and local bands (including recent sessions from Tegan and Sara & local favorites The Blind Shake) on our new and improved multimedia page

Looking for a rad holiday gift? Check out the new hawt Radio K merch at our updated store!

Using the power of the interwebs you can purchase the new Radio K t-shirts, zip up hoodies, travel mug, and tote bag!

And for those of you not ready to let go of the classic K logo we still have some old school merch available!

Holy F***

LP

[Young Turks]

Swearing can be fun. Swearing can be forceful. Toronto's Holy F*** can, nay, is both--to the nth degree. One could easily ramble incessantly in disfavor of the duo's "uncouth" appellation, but it really is one of the most apt band names that at least this music lover has ever encountered. When one's jaw drops whilst listening to rock music (which by the way, does not happen nearly as often as it should), a rock music appreciator does not spout, "Ah, the trembling might of the guitar!" No, when you're rocking out and your mind orgasms from a combination of volume, patterned noise, and general aural ecstasy, you exclaim either loudly or in a minor whisper, "Holy F***."

And yet, the six-stringed ax is nowhere to be found on this beautiful cacophony of an album. Wait, there's also no singer? That's right--Holy F*** manage to seduce and terrorize with only a mess of electronics (I don't even know what this means other than wires and buttons everywhere), a splattering of keyboards, and two what have to be mammoth drum kits. The word "mammoth" is essential to this equation. Without the wail of a voice or a wicked guitar solo, Holy F*** have to make every snare hit, every cymbal crash, every keystroke or ivory chord sound like a sack of bricks socking you in the face. While its intensity is by far the dominating factor on LP, it'd be unfair not to mention that this intensity has a playful heart at its center.

This isn't just crass noisy rock music minus guitars and singing. This is gorgeous melodic crassness that pleases the ear just as much as it deafens it. Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, lends his touching violin to "Lovely Allen," which could just as easily soundtrack a tearful slow-motion denouement to your new favorite movie as it could be headbanged to in earnest. Questionable vocals arise slightly underneath the percussive foreground of "Royal Gregory," but never intrude or detract from the album's main objective--to have fun, forcefully. This album is bona fide proof that rock music can be genuinely enjoyable and experimental at the same time, even if you can't shout along to its choruses.

Written by Chris Polley, volunteer and DJ at Radio K. His specialty show, Nowlikephotographs, plays the best in epic instrumental music every Sunday from 4-6pm and is also featuring Holy F*** as the Instrumental Record of the Week over at their web site nowlikephotographs.com and via their weekly podcast, which is available for free subscription through iTunes.

Stream: Holy F - Lovely Allen

Download

Radio K Presents Holy F*** and A Place to Bury Strangers at the Triple Rock Social Club on Monday, February, February 18th. Doors 9pm. 21+.

For all those too far from home on Thanksgiving come eat with your friends at First Avenue!

Radio K is proud to sponsor this banquet-style, free-style, Too-Much-Love style, on the lighted dance floor.

Bring all your friends!

Come gorge yourself with food from Rock Bottom Brewery, Solera, Palomino and more!

Free. Free. Free. Thursday November 22nd from 5:30-8:30.

Send an e-mail to rsvp@first-avenue.com with the number of people in your party. Walk-ins also welcome!

Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Radio K was featured on Pitchfork and MFR highlighting the awesome in-studio sessions we've had recently. Here's what Pitchfork and MFR had to say.

And if you haven't seen for yourself stop over to our revamped multimedia page! It's loaded with exclusive live performances from The Ponys, Jens Lekman, Final Fantasy and more.

Be sure to keep checking back as we will be adding more and more....and more in-studio sessions that you'll only hear on Radio K.

Michael Yonkers with The Blind Shake

Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons

[Go Johnny Go]

From an outsider's perspective, the Minneapolis music scene should seem impressive without being showy or bloated. I mean, you can't really call NYC, Chicago, or LA a city with a scene anymore--they're their own countries. It's honestly not interesting to hear that a band comes from these cities. Austin is getting on the overcrowded side, Omaha is a joke now (you did it to yourself, Conor), and hey, remember Seattle? My depressed and hormonal twelve-year-old self does. The closest rival that Minneapolis has is maybe Portland, but even that city has only recently blown up in its hipster factor.

No, Minneapolis offers consistency and modesty to music fans everywhere. When a band says they come from the Twin Cities, it means both home-cooked and reputable at the same time to most foreign ears. Unless of course you're really sore about and/or sick of the whole Tapes n Tapes thing. Well, this local release should perk up ears and earn another gold star for MN regardless of your opinion on past (sometimes) odd rises to the top from the city with a river running through it. Soul Asylum? See the above comment regarding Seattle. The Replacements? Let Paul rest, he's done his time. Husker Du? Thank God they're smart punks and there hasn't been any half-assed reunion record from these legends.

So we know Minneapolis has had a foothold in gritty yet friendly punk/pop-rock for decades. But who knew about this guy Michael Yonkers who is suddenly important enough to do an album "with" locally successful Fugazi-inspired hyper punk trio The Blind Shake, rather than simply appear as a guest on? Destijl Records and Sub Pop Records, that's who. Just this decade, they realized Yonkers's impact on angry yet accessible independent music and formally issued his 1968 album Microminiature Love. The album might have gone officially unreleased for more than thirty years, but any geek with interest in making his guitar sound like an angry wall of sound used him as a point of reference. Essentially, the 70s punk scene in the States could have never crossed over with the 60s psych scene if it weren't for this guy.

That might not seem outwardly influential to the landscape of contemporary punk or stoner music, but if you were to take the latest Carbohydrated Hydrocarbons as an example, you'll start to notice the significance. Naturally, his teaming up with The Blind Shake produces a bashing of generations--between Yonkers's heyday in the late 60s of free loving protestation and TBS's modern paranoid-with-just-cause destructiveness. Usually, the album propels into a solid balance of the two, with speedy yet anthemic numbers like the album's title track or "Don't I Get." However, it's the album's two tracks that sound like nothing else on the disc that show Yonkers's impact. "This One Again" is a guitar noise meditation that focuses on the instrument's capability to antagonize and intrigue at the same time and "Here's What I'm" is a bluesy epic with both anxiety issues and let-gos. Both songs take the aesthetic of the burnout generation (disillusioned yet calm wandering of sound) and the punk ethic (simple, rule-breaking) and demonstrate the power of the two working together.

Thus, ladies and gentlemen, is how intelligent punk music is born and bred. So next time you hear a punk song that makes you do more than just thrash, thank Yonkers and those who listened to him. Here's to hoping his comeback in his original hometown boosts morale to punks and psych-heads eveywhere.

Stream: Michael Yonkers with the Blind Shake - Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons

Download

Best Friends Forever

Romance Conflict Adventure

[Plan-It-X]

Welcome to the Local Release Spotlight. We all know how vibrant the Twin Cities live scene is, so when a local live favorite comes forward with a long-awaited release, we want to make sure you know about it. The first in this series comes from the two girls and a guy powerhouse trio Best Friends Forever, aka BFF. Even if you have no idea who they are, you can probably tell that cute is their name, their game, and their profession. And if you can't deal with that, you probably have a very dark and troubled soul and we're sorry for your loss of fun-having ability.

Now that's not to say that there's no such thing as "too cute." It's often hard for artists that incorporate handclaps, sunny keyboards, and witty sing-along lyrics to not cross that line into territory where critics call you "annoying," "childish," or "underachieving." Luckily, BFF already proved the opposite with their Say-and-Stay-Said Records debut self-titled EP in 2004. Their main priorities are unforgettable melodies and inventive delivery well before inundating you with invariable amounts of cuteness.

This does not change, but rather it becomes strengthened on their debut full-length Romance Conflict Adventure. Best friends (duh!) and co-vocalists Jes Seamans and Bri Smith swap controllably yet maniacally back and forth on the mic, outdoing each other with each new verse on the record, creating an unfinished, shaky, and absolutely endearing set of harmonies and yelping. Instrumentally, newly designated drummer Joe Rand perfectly captures and matches the ramshackle sound of Jes and Bri's bopping bass, guitar, and adorable keys, rounding out the undeniably solid lo-fi sound of BFF.

While this is what gets the kids rocking out and shaking their hips around town, it's the never ending supply of chuckle-inducing stories and confessions that Bri and Jes spout off that gets the kids grinning when they're shuffling their feet. "Handpocket" tells of various winter-related near-death experiences that could have prevented boys from being in love with Jes and Bri had they actually met their demise. "Eisenhower is the Father" acts as a kind of sequel to BFF's earlier obsession with Abraham Lincoln ("My Head in Front of Your Head"), this time showcasing a deep admiration for the man responsible for the interstate highway system.

Possibly the album's most memorable chorus melody and witticisms come from "Disaster Song," in which BFF's lyrical style becomes most apparent. Bri sings, "Now according to a study I'm narcissistic / simply because I want to be famous / and at times this type of thinking has a basis / with a drummer like Joe and with Jes as the bassist." The threesome is fully aware of how cute they are, but they love each other, they love BFF, and they're gonna show the world no matter what you think. Luckily, you're gonna love them too.

Stream: Best Friends Forever - Handpocket

Download

The video for Architecture in Helsinki's lovely new song 'Heart It Races' just came out. Their new album, Places Like This comes out next Thursday, the 21st.

It has a nice concept behind it: "Alright, we should all put on glow in the dark skeleton costumes and, like, run around in them."

Neat!

-Matt Herting

The Fringe Festival is overwhelming and popular by nature, and so it's not hard to wind up in a packed theater, especially at the Minnesota Fringe, but I always try to find something with only a few people. Watching a work with only three or four other people there adds a certain excitement that's impossible to replicate otherwise. Big audiences let you hide from the performers, which is nice sometimes, but such is not the case with Noel Williams's "Party of One," playing at the Playwrights' Center.

The show is a solo performance that emphasizes traditional clown and buffoon techniques, but it is also hell-bent on the destruction of the fourth wall. The show isn't so much a show as Williams trying to get you to interact with her. This both really works and really fails; while she can go into the crowd and talk directly at you as though she wasn't putting on a show, "Party of One" still asks you to flip back to act as though she couldn't.This inconsistent delivery makes the show more unpredictable, but it also gets really annoying really fast.

The story itself revolves around the character Mel leaving town by way of a train and the slow unfolding of her personality, her hopes, and her dreams; the character of Mel is interesting and so Amy Siderous-esque it was hard for me not to laugh a lot. The piece could have worked fine without the clown nose and makeup. Maybe I grew up on too many cartoons, but it just doesn't seem necessary to dress up funny to do physical humor and then slip into some dark depressing monologue. In the end, I was left feeling more frustrated then anything else because the piece seems like it could be better if it just focused a little and removed the extraneous costuming.

"Party of One" gets two and half out four Ks.

--Thomas Kwong

At the Pitchfork Music Festival a couple weekends ago, Amber Schadewald, Phil Borreson and myself sat down and chatted with Dan Deacon and an old friend of his from college, Abra Aduchi (if you're out there, help us spell your name better).

They were really nice considering we just sort of ambushed them with a microphone and portable recorder.

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Amber Schadewald: So, how are you enjoying Pitchfork?

Dan Deacon: It's fun. There's a lot...a lot of things

AS: What are some of your favorite things?

DD: There was this really great melon with basil yesterday. It was delicious. I had much of that. Backstage there was this huge bowl of guacamole and I really enjoyed that as well. Deerhunter was cool...and then there were these really good...what were they...

AA: Kabobs?

DD: They was some good Kabobs. These veggie Kabobs.

AS: Are you vegetarians?

DD: No.

AA: No, we just like veggies.

AS: But didn't you do a diet of only wild foods for a while?

DD: That is true.

AS: What exactly does that consist of?

AA: It consists of foraging through Maryland's forest preserves and park districts looking for mushrooms that are classified as not poisonous as well as raising crickets for food.

DD: I never actually raised the crickets but I looked into it. I started foraging acorns for a while but I foraged these nuts and I got this hellacious rash all over my face, arms and penis, so I stopped. I didn't want to loose my eyes or penis.

AA: Which would you rather lose: your eyes or penis?

DD: I don't want to think about that.

AA: I'd chose penis if I were you.

AS: Let's talk about yesterdays show. Was that planned? Like do you always jump in the middle of the crowd? I missed your show in Minneapolis. Were you on the stage for that one?

DD: No, I always play on the floor at least for now. I'm going to try and devise a new set that is more inclusive of the stage more than the floor. I just came up in the house and warehouse scene where all the shows had no stage, so I've never really played on a stage. Whenever I play anywhere with a stage the idea is just foreign, so yeah, I just play on the floor.

AS: And did you discuss that with Pitchfork beforehand?

DD: Well yeah, they hated the idea, and I think they really regret letting me do it since the fire department came and everything got really insane. I took like three months to convince them to let me do it and then I don't think they ever really did let me. I just kept asking the people and they were like "as long as they said it was ok," and I would just call the other people up and ask them if it was ok, and they go like "as long as they say it's ok."

AS: And then they shut it down anyways.

DD: Well the fire department shut it down. [Pitchfork] didn't actually shut it down. I guess the fence by the space over there, while its large, can't like hold the capacity of what was going on over there. I guess it holds 5,000 people and there was like 8 or 9,000 people or something insane like that.

AS: How does that make you feel?

DD: A little weird.

Matt Herting: You mentioned a little bit before how you're kind of changing your show. I've seen you a bunch over the last few months. When I first saw you in March at South by Southwest before your album had come out there were maybe like fifteen of us standing around your table and then yesterday if you peered back above the crowd you could see people going back like blocks and blocks and blocks. How do you think your set will change to accommodate more people now that you've gotten bigger?

DD: Well I'm just gonna try and make a performance that more geared toward large audience rather than small audience but still try and have it maintain intimacy. Abra's going to make fun of me but I've been going to a lot of churches and seeing how church functions happen like the unify factor.

AA: I'm not going to make fun of anything you truly believe.

DD: Thanks Abra. People have been saying that it has the weird sort of religious feel already. I just think it?s really a lot like the song Wham Citiy. Like a large chanting sing along with a dancing breakdown in the middle. And more stuff like that where its very audience based but not geared towards still a visualization. Does that make any sense? Just have it more ritualistic rather than being in a rock club, to sound as pretentious as possible.

MH: So you're aiming for a religious experience?

DD: No, just what I like about playing the floor is that it's easier to connect with the audience and easier for the audience to connect with themselves. You know what I mean like when you're looking at someone up on a stage you're just staring at this person. [With playing on the floor] you can't see anything. You have to dance and all you can see is the people around you, and it's interesting seeing how other people are reacting. I think the audience becomes sort of like a feedback cycle where what's happening is like what I'm in. Where otherwise I?m just staring at this band and it's like a very detached experience. So I try and make sure that as it gets larger it doesn't loose that intimacy and the connection.

Phil Borreson: I definitely went and squashed up against your butt a few times so I love the intimacy.

AS: Me too!

DD: COOL! Butt squashing!

AS: I'm guessing you have lots of creepy fans. Do you have any favorites?

DD: Abra Aduchi.

AA: I'm his biggest fan. I started his news letter it's called Dan's Fans. Basically it just a bunch of articles making fun of Dan. For instance one of them is a report that says "Dan Deacon Fears Mouse!"

DD: I didn't fear a mouse

AS: Yeah you did. When we were in Baltimore you jumped and scared me.

PB: I think it's his white teeth.

AS: I'm really obsessive about brushing my teeth and I don't smoke.

DD: I brush me teeth as well quite often.

AS: (gasp) Oh my god, he just pulled a tooth brush out of his pocket.

DD: I gotta keep my teeth white.

AS: What kind of toothpaste do you use?

DD: I use this fancy, weird organic toothpaste. It has no whiteners or stuff like that in it.

AS: I'm probably getting cancer with my tooth whitener, my Colgate whitening toothpaste. Maybe you're better off in the long run anyway.

DD: I don't know. We'll see. Thirty years from now we'll look into each others teeth. The recap interview.

MH: One last question. What have you been most excited to see this whole weekend?

DD: I don't know. I was really excited to see Girl Talk and Deerhunter and Beach House. Yoko Ono, I couldn't really get anywhere close to see Yoko Ono. I've never played a big festival before other than like DIY festivals so I was more just excited to see how this ridiculous situation works.

AS: Would you play one again?

DD: Yeah, I would do it again, but I would definitely do something different than my regular performance. I don't want to get shut down by the fire department again. It's weird how like even in the most professional settings I still get in trouble with the fire department.

AS: I get in trouble with them sometimes too. Alright we'll let you on to the rest of your day. Thank you for your time and enjoy the rest of Pitchfork

DD: Thank you! I'll see you in the future. Oh and check out Wham City.

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Video: Dan Deacon - Crystal Cat Myspace: Dan Deacon Myspace: Wham City

-Matt Herting (Big thanks to intern Joe for transcribing)

A handful of us went down to Chicago a couple weeks ago to enjoy the second annual Pitchfork Music Festival. Some of us had cameras.

Here's what the main stages looked like. The green folks are GZA and his crew on the first day.

Right after they finished playing Daydream Nation, we got Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth to make a funny face

Crowdsurfing during Dan Deacon's crazy set on Saturday. There were so many people that the fire department shut him down

Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear rocks the recorder

Meanwhile Beach House rocked soft

Fujiya & Miyagi coordinated their shoes

The bicycles were extra colorful on Sunday

Bradford, the lead singer of Deerhunter, had a crazy puppet glove

There was a huge record sale as well as a craft festival and poster convention

Of Montreal had about a million outfit changes

Axel Willner of The Field made this face for all of his DJ set

Dan Deacon and sweaty fans tried touch the ceiling at an afterparty Sunday night

Thanks to Simon Blenski, Amber Schadewald, and Beefnog for contributing pictures. There are a whole bunch more on Our Flickr, including Bradford from Deerhunter attacking a fence, Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear cuddling with a pole and Jamie Lidell being shiny.

Pop back here over the next few days to read interviews from Deerhunter, who talk about their controversial poop blog in entirely too much detail, Dan Deacon, who talks about the future of his live show, and Girl Talk, who talks about the dirty south and partying with Clipse.

-Matt Herting

As part of a tour supporting their new album, Baby 81, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (or BRMC) played last night at First Avenue. Before the show, Radio K's Simon sat down with Peter Hayes, the guitarist for the band. They talked about the new album, the return of their old drummer Nick, and Peter's secret life as a Minnesota farmer.

So this spring you guys are on a tour that covers about 30 dates and takes you pretty much all over the States. Who have you guys been touring with so far?

Well right now we are on tour with a band called Eastern Conference Champions and another band called the Cobbs, who are friends of ours. Earlier on we did the west coast with The Black Angels and will be doing some more shows with them when we head over to Europe later this summer.

Besides of course yourselves, would you say that The Black Angels are your favorite "black" band?

Uh, yeah. No, they're a good and band and a lot of fun to listen to.

You just released your new album called Baby 81. Nick, your old drummer is back for this one, right?

Yep.

What was it like while he was gone? Did the band's dynamic change when he came back to record this album?

Well, we were only without him for about six months and for four of those months there wasn't really a band. I took off for a while, just to take a break from music and business for a while. Then Rob and I started to finish Howl without Nick. Nick actually did come back and finished one song for Howl. That same day we recorded "666 Conducer," which we decided to save for this record. We toured with Howl for almost six months with him and then headed straight into the studio right after that. So he's been back with us for a while now and for the entire recording of this album.

So you mentioned that you saved material that was recorded during Howl, but didn't get released until Baby 81. Did these songs not fit into the overall sound of Howl or was there just not enough room on album for them?

Well, yeah, we needed a place to go for this album. We used the tracks we recorded back then as a guide to show us where we might like to go. We recorded a lot, I don't know how many songs, but a lot, plus the b-sides. So there was plenty there for us to work with.

I wanted to talk a little more about Howl. It was a definite change in the band's sound. Were you guys listening to anything specific at the time that may have triggered this shift?

To us it's not really about shifting. We?ve been listening to that stuff forever--Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash, Dylan, I mean the list can go on. But we listen and then write in anyway that we can. If you have an acoustic guitar, you write songs that way. During sound check you have an electric guitar, so a lot of songs are written that way. In our band nobody cares. A song's a song, acoustic or not. And that's the fun of it, that's the freedom of not being tied down to what you think people want.

Where did you guys record Baby 81?

Los Angles, the Sandbox. It's the same place we did Howl.

You're originally from San Francisco, is the band still based in the area?

Well, the band actually met in San Francisco, the East Bay. I actually grew up on a farm in Minnesota until I was 13.

Where about in Minnesota?

A place called New York Mills. Not sure if you're familiar with it? It's over by Wadena, a little south of Fargo.

Ever think about coming back and being a farmer again?

I don't know about being a farmer. I think I had my fill of that when I was here. Yeah, it's real hard work, but I like the idea of it--having all that land.

So, do you have any plans for the rest of the summer? This tour takes you through the end of June, right?

Yep. We've got a couple days off after that, then we head over to Finland for a festival, then Tea in the Park in Scotland, some dates in Germany as well.

Do you like the audiences over there better, or do you prefer home audiences more?

An audience is an audience. As long as someone wants to hear us, it doesn't matter where you are from. As far as people going wild, that comes and goes with every city. If it's a weekend, people are willing to drink a whole lot more. On a Tuesday night, people are thinking, "Ah, I've got to work tomorrow, can't get wild." It doesn't mater where you are in the world. That's just the way it is.

So last time you guys were in town at the Varsity Theater, you played an acoustic set after the show at the Kitty Cat Club. Is this something you do often, or does it come up on the fly?

Oh yeah, we did. I forgot about that. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, every once in a while we will do something like that.

Any plans for a post-show performance tonight?

I don't know, we never really have plans. Maybe?

So there's still a little time before the show, did you guys have time to eat dinner?

No, no. It's too close to show time. Can't upset the stomach. I'll wait 'til after the show.

Best of luck to you and the rest of your tour.

Thanks!

One of our favorite bands here at the station is local group Digitata. Comprised of Maggie Morrison (vocals and keys), Drew Christopherson (drums) and Ryan Olson (all other sounds and gadgets), they have been playing together since 2004. Establishing themselves quite well in the Twin Cities, the trio has expanded both their sound and fan base since they first formed - even touring with Atmosphere in the spring of 2005.

Just in time for summer, Digitata is releasing their second album, Two Daggers, which will be out on Totally Gross National Product. To mark the event, the band is playing two Radio K sponsored CD release shows tonight at The Entry. Doors for the all ages show open at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. for the 21+ show. Last week the band stopped in our studios to play a few tracks off their new album. They also sat down with Aimee to talk about the new album, their complex songwriting process, and what Maggie does in her free time. You can check out the session by tuning into our local show, Off The Record, today at 4 p.m. or by clicking below!

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Two of our sister public radio stations are celebrating significant anniversaries the weekend of May 4 and 5. KUMD at the University of Minnesota Duluth will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Check here for information about anniversary events. And KVSC-FM at St. Cloud State University officially has a mid-life crisis, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Details here. Radio K, KUMD and KVSC are all members of Independent Public Radio.

Did you want to see inside of Radio K? It doesn't matter! When you watch this video you're going to see the inner workings of our station, meet some of our personable and attractive DJs, and be so overwhelmed by emotion that you will want to support us right away. You won't be able to help it...

Find the video in our full, all-out blog section by clicking on the little continued button below. Check it out now.

If you haven't donated yet, hey, you're already at our website. Why not head over to our Donate Now page and support your favorite station? You'll get a gift for your trouble and the pride of supporting college radio when it needs it most.

Huge thanks to Taylor Stevenson, Joey G., and all the other fantastic people who helped put together this video.

If you go to the Twin/Tone Records website, it claims to currently be in "mothballs." Now whether or not the label ever decides to come down from the attic, anyone who has any knowledge of Minneapolis music knows that Twin/Tone was the most influential label to exist in the Twin Cities. Twin/Tone first signed The Suburbs in 1978, but have also helped bands like The Replacements, Soul Asylum, and The Jayhawks become household names both locally and at a national level.

The sound that came out of Twin/Tone was everything from post-punk to jangly-pop to hard rock and country, but above everything else it was smart music. All the artists on the label were known for their music, and not much else. From the standpoint of a listener, that's a good thing and something that is still evident in the Twin Cities music scene today.

This week on The Friday Focus, Simon will look back at Twin/Tone Records, the mark it left on the local music scene, and play some of your favorite artists. Tune in this morning at 8 a.m. during Rock 'n' Roll Over with Jenny or go to The Friday Focus blog to listen to this and past shows!

Hear more of this Friday Focus segment
Twin/Tone Records website