Unfortunately, my interview with Toki Wright yielded far more points of interest than my 500 word limit would allow. Not wanting to just lose all the great things we talked about, I decided to post the rest of the interview here. Enjoy!
Toki Wright on Obama:
“[The economic crisis] has always been there in the urban community, and now its an issue for the entire country to have to deal with. Food shortages, the prison system, violence… Unless these conversations happen, unless we work together …
Sitting down with Mike Michel from the Bill Mike Band, I knew I was interviewing a blessing to worlds both musical and otherwise. In fact, it isn’t difficult to know Mike after seeing Bill Mike Band shows. The band’s recent Truce CD release show at the Cedar beautifully testifies to why. The energy with which Mike (guitar, gizmos), Chris (bass), and Steve (drums) played their unusual musical creations, clearly improvising some of the individual particulars according to each musician’s spontaneous emotional whim, forced hapless listeners into a prison of musical engagement for a few hours. Listeners couldn’t complain: although they …
When I ran into Military Special for this interview, they were in the midst of an argument over aesthetic. Short songs versus false endings? Are the beats to be hard and heavy or do they just come off as sad bastard music? How much minor key is too much? “I wanted this song like a drunken anthem,” said guitarist Peter Blomgren, “but [keyboardist] Danell wants it to be a serious happy song with a melody,”. The band bandied back and forth their ideas over …
One of the most common questions I hear when I talk about zines is “what the fuck are zines?’’ They’re not necessarily books, comics, magazines or pamphlets, but they draw influence from those already defined forms of print media and expand upon them. Zines are small, usually independently produced publications held together by staples, glue and devotion. Unlike contract authors, who have their titles sitting on the shelves of Borders thanks to the sales and marketing divisions of their publishing companies, zine artists draw heavily from the Do-It-Yourself mentality of punks and take on the roles of author, editor, producer, …
Brother Ali made a stop at Coffman’s Whole Music Club last night as part of the Making Music Series, a monthly event where artists come to discuss their craft in front of a live audience. Ali talked at great length about his process of writing and recording music, his connections with Atmosphere and Rhymesayers, his childhood and early influences, his belief in Islam, and his views on the racial politics of hip-hop culture. Host JG Everest (of Lateduster fame) sat down with the man, but wound up not saying too much, as the rapper began to dominate …
Beatrix*JAR are couple Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR), and together they create innovative soundscapes using assorted tampered-with electronics, a technique known as circuit-bending. Any battery-powered, sound-producing device is fair game, and Beatrix*JAR utilize quite the impressive array of drum machines, keyboards, children’s toys, and other non-traditional instruments to play music they describe pretty accurately as “fuzzy sound collage”. On top of performing their music live, the couple also holds circuit-bending workshops in which they teach the art …
While most Minnesotans have stuck comedian Al Franken in their minds as the next Minnesota DFL Senate candidate, St. Thomas peace studies professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is still vying for the party’s upcoming June nomination. Despite barely being mentioned in the local media, Nelson-Pallmeyer surpassed Mike Ceresi in the race and is slowly but surely winning over the most liberal sectors of the DFL. After looking into his campaign, I found out that Nelson-Pallmeyer is a more progressive, less elite …
College freshmen tend to bring something familiar along with them to campus, to keep in touch with their roots. Some people bring favorite movies or a warm pair of slippers. Travis Lee brought hip-hop. In the 1980s, the University of Minnesota was an important place in the Twin Cities’ budding hip-hop scene for Lee and others.
In 1981, the young Brooklyn native moved to Minnesota to attend his first year of college at the U of M. But it was more than a large metropolis he …
Twin sisters Tegan and Sara stopped at the Pantages Theater on Nov. 30, amidst an extensive tour of the United States. During a stop in Carrboro, North Carolina, Sara took time out from her busy schedule to discuss everything from Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla to National Public Radio. The duo has been touring in support of their great new album, The Con. If you happen to hit up Australia this December, you can catch the girls down under. Otherwise this is as close as you’re going to get.
The Wake: So you guys are currently in Carrboro, North Carolina. …
Despite touring perpetually throughout their musical career, Against Me! still managed to release a critically acclaimed punk album last year, one that was nominated for several album of the year awards. New Wave, the band’s sixth release in their decade long career, has inspired a slew of new tour dates across the country, including a show at the Target Center with The Foo Fighters on February 27th. The Wake’s own Deniz Rudin caught up with Warren Oakes, Against Me!’s drummer, for an interview:
Warren Oakes: Hello?
The Wake: Hey, I’m …
The Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships are near (April 27 to April 30), and both teams are aiming to win their respected conferences. But this will be a difficult task considering both the men and women will probably have to overcome division goliaths to win. The women’s conference goliath manifests herself as a wildcat. The Northwestern Wildcats have won seven consecutive Big Ten Championships and they are once again dominating the division with an undefeated conference record. The women’s conference championship will be held in Champaign, Ill. Meanwhile, the men’s division has been dominated by Illinois, with the …
Hangar 18 recently released The Multi-Platinum Debut Album. Their inaugural debut on Definitive Jux, Platinum – paWL, Alaska and Windnbreez — is more of an ironic understatement than anything. Maybe it’s their defense against fears that they’re fall into some kind of indie hip-hop pigeon-hole like so many indie rappers seem to have done —but probably not. It’s mostly just funny. And it’s pretty obvious they don’t need to worry about anything musically. Talking with MC Alaska, I learned a few things —notably, that yes, they are actually named after the Megadeth song and prior to hip-hop, Alaska’s favorite group …
Wilco’s John Stirrat recently spoke with The Wake about the new album, ghosts, and sporting venues gone terribly wrong.
The Wake: What’s up?
John: Nothing much, just a little recuperation from the last leg of touring.
The Wake: How is that?
John: Oh, it’s goin’ great. Just fantastic. It was – y’know, couldn’t have asked for a better tour really. We did New York – Radio City [Music Hall] – for a few nights, so it was crazy. We’re lookin’ forward to getting back to Minneapolis after that kinda heinous show we did at the gallery [laughs]. Editor’s note: Wilco played a show in …
Since 1991, John Darnielle, the one-man powerhouse behind the Mountain Goats, has released more than 30 seven-inches, tapes and CDs. Self-recording most of his music with an acoustic guitar and a Panasonic boombox, Darnielle has developed a cult-like following. Fans have to search for the songs, too – most of the Mountain Goats’ albums came out on a handful of obscure labels, many now extinct. This homemade feel lends a personal quality to the Mountain Goats’ folky yet often pissed-off songs, capturing every flubbed guitar chord and voice crack in a medium Darnielle compares to a Polaroid snapshot – instant …