Lorde gets the…green light You know the cryptic Lorde promos that have surfaced the last few days? A third one dropped on Wednesday on imwaitingforit.com, and Lorde tweeted that they’ve been leading up to a single called “Green Light.” “It’ll make you DANCE,” she wrote, which is fitting considering the last teaser seems to be set in a…

Today, P.O.S can sell out a show at First Avenue’s Mainroom. In 2004, though, when he’d just signed to Rhymesayers, he toured as an opener for St. Paul hip-hop group Heiruspecs. “We were playing a really poorly attended show in Cleveland on the first night of the tour,” remembers Heiruspecs bassist Sean McPherson. “Stef [P.O.S]…

Diva swap for Coachella After Beyoncé postponed her Coachella appearance due to her pregnancy with twins, festival organizers reportedly decided a woman still needed to headline Coachella (for the first time since Björk did so in 2007). On Tuesday, Lady Gaga was named as Beyoncé’s replacement, coming off her Super Bowl halftime show and the release of last year’s…

The album art features a single, well-worn amplifier blown to oblivion, the cross-hatching fraying to reveal the speakers underneath. Which seems like just about the best way possible to announce Time Bomb, the first album in 39 years from the riotous, explosive and highly influential Minneapolis trio the Suicide Commandos, who helped pave the way…

It’s been almost five years since Brother Ali (Rhymesayers Entertainment) released an official album, but he’ll be back on May 5 with All the Beauty in This Whole Life. Ali’s sixth studio LP, All the Beauty was entirely produced by Rhymesayers co-founder and Atmosphere producer Ant; “It might be our best work,” Ali writes, which means a lot considering the three…

Mike Justen, whose advocacy and mentorship touched countless musicians and sound engineers across Minnesota, passed away last week. He was 78. Mike, who owned the West Saint Paul guitar shop Eclipse Music with his son John Justen, started out in the music business as the owner of the legendary Scholar Coffeehouse in the late ‘60s.…

Paisley Park has announced tomorrow’s film screening, and has also announced that the Friday night Paisley Park After Dark events are ending as of April: events will only be held on Saturday nights, alternating between DJ nights and film screenings. Until now and, Fridays have featured weekly dance parties and Saturdays have featured film screenings.…

Paisley Park has announced, via an e-mail to ticket buyers, that a presale for replicas of Prince’s “Tamboracca.” The Tamboraccas will run $80 each, and those interested are being encouraged to email preorders@officialpaisleypark.com for additional information. The custom yellow-and-purple instrument includes an early version of the famous Prince insignia in the center. Described as a blend of a maraca…

This week, we received not one but two Hippo Campus videos for Friday Five (you can send your submissions to cjohnson@mpr.org). To celebrate the band’s album landmark, which came out today, we figured we’d share both new videos and a few old favorites, too. Give landmark a listen once you’ve checked out these gems. Hippo Campus, “simple season” Purple…

The fourth annual Drone Not Drones event is happening tonight at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. At 7 p.m. Friday, drone music will begin playing for 28 consecutive and uninterrupted hours as an estimated 67 musicians will overlap and transition on and off stage. Artists taking the stage for the first time will include…