When you listen to the songs from folk group batteryboy’s first album, up for air, you’re quickly exposed to a project that sounds intensely intimate. Songs like “Choosing Sides,” “Winter’s Gate,” and “Matter of Trust” exhibit the group’s ability to showcase the sweet, yet endearingly bold vocals of lead singer Cobey Rouse against a soft sound palette filled with…

Mark Mallman, “The End Is Not The End” Following in his creative video-making tradition (see: “Terrified” and “It’s Good To Be Alive”), Mark Mallman plays with images using Prisma, a photo-animating app. The video jumps into the in between, showing people in dreams both individual and somehow shared. It’s split-screen; it’s “both and”; it’s questioning — and it urgently defies any typical narrative arc. As Mallman…

Now in its second year, Local Current’s DJ in Residence program is an opportunity for The Current to invite local musicians to take over our all-Minnesota music stream and share their favorite stories and music from the local scene. So far, Local Current’s DJs in Residence have included Danielle Cusack (Bruise Violet/Tony Peachka), deM atlaS,…

It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since we’ve heard new music from Dessa. She’s certainly remained busy since then, touring non-stop across the U.S. and Europe (she’s in Bari, Italy, tonight, and London on Tuesday), and even partnering with Izzy’s to create a new flavor of ice cream. On her new track, “Quinine,”…

As part of the “A.V. Undercover” series, Har Mar Superstar stopped by the A.V. Club’s Chicago offices to perform his take on the Built to Spill song “Big Dipper.” While he was there, the A.V. Club asked him to also perform his cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine.” Watch the video at the A.V. Club. Mercury…

Ask music makers, aficionados, or any guest on The O.K. Show, and they’ll tell you: Music can heal. This weekend, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation celebrates both music and healing with its fourth annual HazelFest, a one-day concert featuring musicians from around Minnesota. Located in Center City, Minn., Hazelden is a hub for recovery, seeking to help people who’ve struggled…

Smokey Robinson will serve as executive music producer of a new animated series inspired by the classic catalog of Motown hits. The series, being developed for Netflix, will feature the music of Robinson, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, Lionel Richie, the Supremes, the Temptations, and Stevie Wonder. “The latest series follows the adventures of an 8-year-old boy named Ben, who lives…

Before the 1984 blockbuster Purple Rain catapulted Prince on to the national stage, there was an Aug. 3, 1983 benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the recently re-branded First Avenue. It was there that the budding pop star debuted much of the Purple Rain album tracks, and recorded the versions of “Purple Rain,” “I Would…

“Iggy Confidential” goes all-Bowie Iggy Pop dedicated an entire episode of his BBC Radio 6 show to David Bowie, his friend and colleague. Listen for two hours of music and Iggy’s memories of the late star (including what happened when Bowie first played Iggy “Just Dance”). (Pitchfork) Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga among featured performers at Tony…

The return of Frank Ocean According to a New York Times source, R&B star and Odd Future member Frank Ocean will release Boys Don’t Cry, his second studio album, “through an exclusive deal with Apple Music.” Fans have been clamoring for a new album ever since 2012’s channel ORANGE, which won cult support and a Grammy for…