This week we honor Mimi Parker of Low with a landmark performance by the band from 2018. We also feature the latest songs from Phoenix, SZA, Lee Fields and Buffalo Nichols, and we feature a track from the debut album of New York-based artist Miss Grit.

Low, live at the Fitzgerald Theater, 2018

Legendary Duluth band, Low, pioneered their own sound — it was rocked out, it was heavy, and it was slow and melodramatic. With fans including Sleater-Kinney, Robert Plant, and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, rock stars Low stayed true to their vision and stayed in Duluth. Another famous Minnesotan, Prince, once told Oprah Winfrey that he never moved away from Minnesota because, “It’s so cold, it keeps the bad people out.” We lost another good one on Sunday, November 6, when Mimi Parker of Low died from ovarian cancer at 55. Bandmate and husband Alan Sparhawk shared the news with a heartfelt message: “Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but she passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.”

Phoenix, “After Midnight”

The pandemic and loss actually put French band Phoenix into the mindset of joy, celebrating their friendship after decades of playing together and looking ahead to a brighter future on their new album Alpha Zulu. The music became a form of communication between the members of Phoenix during quarantine. Frontman Thomas Mars was a world away from France and his bandmates while they were under lockdown, and that isolation during the wildfires in Northern California kicked off an album that tries to break out of the desolation. 

SZA, “Shirt”

Fans of SZA who have been craving new music might recognize her newly released “Shirt” from a tease on the artist’s Instagram from all the way back in 2020. A fan grabbed the clip and posted it to TikTok, where it went viral and led to dance challenges and people begging SZA to release it. Two years later and here we are, it’s finally out, with more songs being teased for the first album in five years from the R&B singer. 

Lee Fields, “Save Your Tears For Someone New”

Sounding fresh at the age of 71, Lee Fields (sometimes called Little JB for his vocal resemblance to James Brown) is back with a new album, Sentimental Fool. Lee Fields and The Expressions debuted as a band in the late 1960s, and Fields has spent time over the following decades working with Kool and the Gang, Hip Huggers, and Little Royal. It’s soul with enough years and history to ground it with actual soul.

Miss Grit, “Follow The Cyborg”

New York-based, Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn, aka Miss Grit, is not approaching their debut record with any timidity. This is a fully thought-out concept album, Follow The Cyborg, out February 24. It’s a dive into identity, and like Janelle Monáe before them, it’s the concept of android life and expectations of society that create the centerpiece. It’s glitchy, with guitar solos that St. Vincent would be proud of, as Sohn declares their state of being.

Buffalo Nichols, “Meet Me In The Bottom”

Teaming up with Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) to produce his new music, Buffalo Nichols sounds gritty, loud, and heavy. There is heft and bluesy rock. The drums sound wet and muddy, the guitar sludges in between verses, and Buffalo Nichols’s voice drags you down as low as he is on “Meet Me in the Bottom.”

Playlist