For Minnesota Music Month, The Current polled the local music industry for April’s edition of The Scouting Report. A total of 112 people filled out this year’s Minnesota Music Month Scouting Report ballot, and 489 unique artists were chosen overall. The top 10 artists who received the most support include Bizhiki.

On a song called “Franklin Warrior,” the experimental music trio Bizhiki pays tribute to unhoused members of the Little Earth community along Franklin Avenue in south Minneapolis. To this day, Bizhiki vocalist Joe Rainey claims this area is the best pocket of the city, and his mother still lives there in the house where he was raised. 

During his upbringing, Rainey witnessed the determination of unhoused Indigenous community members. Caretaking meant hopping in the car on cold days to cruise the neighborhood and ensure that these “Franklin warriors” had the necessities to keep them going. “Growing up in the Twin Cities Native community helped me understand the impact of collaborating through everyday life,” says Rainey (Red Lake Ojibwe). “The Native youth programs I was a part of helped shape the direction of my life.”

“Franklin Warrior” is the opening song on Bizhiki’s 2024 album, Unbound. Created with Rainey’s adopted brother Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) and multi-instrumentalist and producer S. Carey, the 11-song album combines traditional powwow singing and electronic-leaning production. Like Niineta, Rainey’s 2022 album featuring collaborations with electronic musician Andrew Broder, the songs challenge listeners to rethink their expectations. Unbound also proves that traditional Indigenous singing is a satisfying fit within contemporary soundscapes.

Wisconsin-based Bizhikiins Jennings received his name from mentor Eddie Benton-Banai, a supporter of Twin Cities Indigenous youth and co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Bizhikiins means “Little Buffalo” in Ojibwe, the language heard on the album, along with English.

Like Rainey, S. Carey had a big 2022, releasing his fourth full-length album, Break Me Open. Between separate tour schedules to promote their solo releases, Carey and Rainey communed with Bizhikiins Jennings, an academic focused on environmental topics, to create an expansive and reflective album that weaves together personal and collective moments. The music creates space for Indigenous listeners to hear powwow songs reframed against backdrops of pulsing electronic waves, piano chords, and vocals that add urgency, lamentation, and hope. 

“On the Bizhiki album, I think everyone should listen to ‘Nashke!’ In my opinion, it’s the best example of the collaboration aspect we tried to achieve with Unbound,” says Rainey. Dreamy vocals in English enmesh with wistful guitar, higher-pitched undulations, and low, throaty singing in Ojibwe. Bizhikiins Jennings’ passion for environmental preservation is also present in songs like “She’s All We Have.” He sings: “Take what you want from me, don’t hurt those rivers and streams / This is our land and she’s all we have.” The impactful lyrics come next to piano, strings, saxophone, and ascending lap steel. 

The fingerprints of local musicians are all over the album. From former Low member Steve Garrington playing bass to Jeremy Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer, the Suburbs, the Cloak Ox) contributing guitar, and Ben Lester on keyboards. There’s Bon Iver collaborator Mike Lewis on saxophone, and Justin Vernon himself adds backing vocals to “Gigawaabamin (Come Through).” Also, Marijuana Deathsquads’ Isaac Gale adds his pipes to “Trying to Live,” a defiant pushback against the displacement of many of the Franklin warriors Rainey saw growing up. 

While the album is loaded with Minnesotan musicians and performers, Rainey want to also acknowledge of Minnesota’s community of powwow performers. “Among singers, we joke that Minnesota is home to 10,000-plus powwow singers,” he continues. “And that may actually have been true somewhere down the line. I’m very proud to be from a region where our powwow culture has always thrived.” 

Rainey, who now lives with his wife on the shores of Lake Michigan,  would also like to see more Twin Cities venues book Indigenous artists. “It’s about damn time,” he says. “If you’re someone at a venue that needs help with the local Native part: Ask!” 

Bizhiki will perform a free show at Strib Unbound: Outdoor Adventure for All at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis on Saturday, April 26. Info

Related:  Minnesota Music Month Scouting Report 2025: The top 10 new local artists