I grew up listening to Prince mostly because of my pops. Living in a suburb south of St. Paul for all of my childhood, I didn’t appreciate the Minneapolis music scene until I got out of it and left for college out West.
There I started to appreciate hip-hop and R&B on a much more personal level. Getting in much deeper with Prince, Atmosphere and other Minnesota acts towards the end of college, including Solid Gold, GAYNGS and Mel Gibson & the Pants. Finally, in the Bay Area I found Polica, Tickle Torture, thestand4rd, and most recently, Morly. Well, kinda.
I stayed in Minneapolis for a few years after college and covered my first show, Theophilus London at The Loft, in early 2012. There I heard one of the openers and fell in love (with her voice). It belonged to Katy Morley, now known as Morly. I remember tracking Astronautalis and her down to see if they had any music released. She didn’t, but I remember her telling me something was in the works.
Four years later and I run into her music while researching a post on Minneapolis (this one). Her voice is even more touching and her piano playing stands out more.
It’s good to have such talent sprouting from the Twin Cities. A lot of which have Prince all over them. Here’s a dozen or so and their songs.
Independent record labels are sprouting up all over the place — in location & style. And the ones that are doing it right not only have a choice selection in catalogue, but also take the time to artfully craft their image as they do their artists.
Each of these 12 labels sport some of the most well respected producers & musicians that belong on this blog and create a culture with style around their music. On here I may point out a few that lack in proper online presence, but they are all doing it right when it comes to the perception of this era’s evolution in music labels.
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I originally wanted to make a mix of music inspired by California about six months back when I moved to The Bay Area from Minnesota, but shit got hectic & I got lazy. I moved out to Cali because I wanted to get into the music/tech scene and Minnesota just wasn’t cutting it. Well, I’ve been in & out of some pretty cool companies since, but still haven’t landed a permanent job. Especially at the one company that actually drove me out here (quite literally), SoundCloud.
My attempts to get SoundCloud’s attention have been pretty much failures, most notably my SoundKlout project, but in the least it’s given you all a lot of good content on here. However, I still haven’t given up hope! (and never will) So for their recently posted “Communications internship,” I decided to do a few special projects to hopefully get their attention once and for all. Here I present Part I in hopes to tell a little about my story and get you all sympathizing for me so you actually help me out! Plus, we get to throw some quality Cali music at ya.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/34252574" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18"]
Syfy’s Being Human just threw me for a curve. When Solid Gold‘s “Who You Gonna Run to” played on their fourth episode, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice (If We Were Human)”, I remember thinking to myself, no fucking way.
I’ve been a BIG Solid Gold fan for the past year now and I couldn’t have been more happy for them. I love when films & shows throw in some good music and Solid Gold is […]
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Ever since I can remember, my father has hated the word fuck. I, however, kinda like it. It’s served me well, expressing my thoughts when I lacked the more appropriate words – it has so many uses. Yes, it can be crude & inappropriate, but it can express something like no other word can. It may even shock some at times, for example – when used in music, but isn’t that the fun in it anyway
Now, when I talk about it being used in music, I don’t mean by those hip-hop hooligans, they tend to overuse it. I’m talking about when a musician drops it when you’re least expecting it. A good example is Solid Gold’s “Just Like Everyone Else”. Zach Coulter’s voice is anything but crude, but when he slips in the good ol’ fuck bomb, it gets your attention. It was surprising at first, but after a while you start to understand its purpose. How else could you express such hurt & anguish from an ex-love Just picture the song without all the fucks, it’s just not as affective. I gotta give credit to Coulter for his use, and not overuse, of the word. Well played, sir.
If your in Minneapolis tonight, Solid Gold is playing at the Weisman Art Museum at 9. I may hit it up if I’m over in the Twin Cities tonight.
Edit: I just looked at the website and it’s sold out… fuck.
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I’m getting back to my rock roots, and from no better place than Minneapolis. But don’t worry, hip hop is still my first love (well, technically that would be rock…). I just want to diversify my music library to genres other than hip hop & electronica (I think hip hop’s at about 80%, right now). But who gives a fuck about all that, let’s get to the Gold…
I first set my ears on Solid Gold a couple months back when tuning into GAYNGS’s debut album Relayted. The trio teamed up with Ryan Olson of Mel Gibson and the Pants, among others, to do a collaborative project that’s nothing short of sexy smooth. Where GAYNGS is a seductive gang-bang of Minneapolis musicians, Solid Gold would more of a glam-rock/synth-pop band with lead singer Zach Coulter’s voice, which sounds a hell of a lot like George Michael’s. I’m still not quite sure what genre to categorize this under, but for once in a long time I’ve opened up to rock that isn’t 40 years old (there are a few exceptions – mostly ’80s/’90s rock). I should note, however, my first listen through the album wasn’t anything to boast about, but once I got use to the sound… I was hooked – this is especially for my hip hop fans, give it a couple listens before you move on.
If anyone could help me define/classify this, it would be much appreciated. I wanna start looking for similar sounds and you could be a real help. +If you do I may just post more… just maybe.
[audio:WhoYouGonnaRunto.mp3|titles=Who You Gonna Run to](Download Link in Full Article)