Music is Life. Life deserves music. I dance. I blog. I vlog. I write. I listen. I create. We can all do the same. Life is too short to ignore and take for granted. Find My Soundcloud Channel of Local Music Gems at
https://soundcloud.com/matt-sudduth Find my YouTube channel at RageDancinMatt Sudduth http://www.youtube.com/user/fangar5?feature=mhee
The hauntingly beautiful singing and enveloping atmospheric sound of this album stood out immediately for me when I was considering my favorite albums for the last year. Though the first pick for my favorite local album in the last year was clinched by the upbeat message of the under-appreciated sophomore EP released by the band Moving Parts, my second pick goes in basically the opposite direction. The message is darker and embodies the nihilistic love lost frustrations of an older generation.
I got a copy of Enemy Planes' forthcoming release "Beta Lowdown" when they gave a few out at a "Monastery" house party a few months back. Though it is not even technically out yet, it easily takes second place among my favorite local albums in the year since I started my blog. This album stands out for me based on the sheer musicality of the sound and the dynamic flow of the album as a whole. It's cynical and jaded lyrics are juxtaposed against intensely perfected rhythmic shifts and soaring electronic sounds that remind me of the orchestrations I love by bands like Radiohead and M83. It's ethereal melodies will overwhelm your senses leaving the empty you decaying away into a void, replaced by a shade looking down from above at your former self falling away.
I know it's not fair to say this is one of my favorite albums, since the general public can't get it yet, but you'll just have to wait in anticipation as these guys build momentum to become one of the next big bands out of Minnesota. They are set to release the album next January 2015.
In addition to the quality of their studio recordings, this band has the adult perspective towards playing music that comes from members of the band working for years on the other side of the stage at venues like Cause Spirit and Soundbar in Minneapolis. Likewise, this group's live shows at house parties and small local venues have been just as musically intense as their well crafted studio versions. These guys thoroughly deserve to be acknowledge for their incredible musical talent and professionalism.
So far they have released two official music videos to Youtube.
With more than 11,000 views since it was released, "We Want Blood" will give you a glimpse into the dreamlike melancholy frustration that flows freely in this album.
Want to get in on the action before they get big? Buy some merch! These are the shirts I like the most, but they have more available through their full website here.
From the very first words of their short sophomore EP to the soft accoustic finish of the last song, the music of this local band is upbeat happiness mixed with notes of the melancholy misunderstood.
I love the way you speak our language/
most disregard me as a strange kid/
but you find beauty in the strange/
I've made a point to do the same/
and I love it when you speak my language/
Moving Parts is a local band out of the Twin Cities of Minnesota including musicians transplanted from the likes of Iowa, Indiana, and South Dakota to this city of independent artists looking for their big break in the Midwest.
Each track has it's own special message that has resonated with me from the moment I first heard it. It's truly easy to start "trippin on our ego", "getting locked up in your head" looking for that next big break. Their wonderfully humble perspective is juxtaposed against the mundane selfish indulgence of our daily lives. In addition to the quality of this album, they have consistently refined their live sound and energy on stage to fill their audience with the undeniable desire to dance away their worries and find the strength to abandon the selfish indulgences of our modern reality. With light and airy guitar riffs mixed with perfectly placed keyboard flourishes and dancy rhythms, this brief album will leave you refreshed and introspective about the deep significance of the lyrics, which will linger in your head to reinforce the positive messages hidden in it's passages.
We have walked for days, just to loose everything/
And I've been seeing things, nobody else has ever ever seen/
I feel like an empty shell, oh, the sea knows something but can't tell you...
Music From the Monastery is an album of upbeat positive music that should be on everyone's listening list. Of all the albums by local musicians that have flown under the radar of the mainstream music interests in this big small town over the last year, the one that I think for sure deserves way more exposure than it has received is this beautifully succinct set of music. I do not use these words lightly when I say that this album is my favorite of the last year. There have been many other great albums from local underfamous artists like Danger Ron and The Spins, Enemy Planes, Dead Larry, The Jelly Project, The Lone Crows, Turn Back Now, the list goes on and on. But, though many of those are fun to listen and dance to, this one struck me with it's truly substantive and positive message that has helped to reinforce my own desire to flourish in life. The positively optimistic message of this album stands out over the others, which have sought different purposes for their self expression. Each song in this album has a positive message that hides beneath the misunderstood reality of our modern day lives.
We're passively vicarious, I find that to be the scariest/
We live through a screen, through the eyes of another being/
Well, I know, yes I know, that we don't know, na we don't know a thing/
They like to think they know a little something, about everything/
Well you can tell us we're the reason/
I'm gonna have to disagree/
Oh, You just keep your composure/
keep living passively...
I know it may seem like I am trippin on my own ego, since I now live with these guys at the monastery(house). However, it was precisely that possitive mentality and desire to attain meaning in life that drew me to live with them in the first place. Besides, these guys haven't been, and that's why they are still an unknown. But they deserve more. Not only do all of the songs of Music From the Monastery have a fun, upbeat, and lively sound, they also each hold a message of constructive thinking and hopefulness that fills me with intrigue and thoughtful circumspection each time I hear them. It's five songs are a brief interlude into the mundane daily frustrations we encounter.
We'll celebrate in your memory/
well be dancing at the revelry/
I hope we live until were 93/
It's not about the bad times anymore/
its bout what the future has in store/
there's bound to be so much more...
I've been working on a business card design for my blog today. Planning on making it a sticker too. You may start seeing something like this around to expand my audience through advertising.
The radiant weather we have been having lately has been forecast to continue through this whole Memorial Day weekend! To accompany the beautiful weather, there are a healthy plenty of events this weekend starting with today. It's going to be a fantastic weekend of beautiful weather and high spirits. The university and college students have finished the spring semester and everyone is ready to spend exorbitant amounts of time outside in the sun. Please remember to wear sun screen and keep track of how long you have been out in the sun. It would be a shame to spend the rest of the weekend miserable when hit by the sun's warming rays because proper precautions was not taken early on.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some much anticipated shows this evening:
First of all, The Kitty Cat Klub will play host tonight for MinneCon II. It will be a rowdy night of entertaining local music by Turn Back Now, MeMeMe, Thee Evil Creatures, and Devil Baby. This will also be the much anticipated release of Colby Swanson's first comic book for the band Turn Back Now. This is a FREE 21+ event. This will also be the first show Thee Evil Creatures have played since taking a six month hiatus to get prepared for performances with their new female lead vocalist.
"For the past six + years Turn Back Now has been piecing together a seven part story we call Welcome to Free America. On May 22nd we celebrate the release of Issue # 001 And Your Coat Like A Cathedral On A Park Bench By the River, the first issue of Volume 1: Gumbo Friction. Issue #001 introduces us to Simon, a young lover pondering the meaning of life on the edge of heartbreak."
If you miss the show you can also find the new comic book later at these fine establishments:
The Source Comic College Big Brain Hot Comics Extreme Noise Treehouse Records Uncle Sven's
MinneCon II will also host several local graphic artists:
Today is the second day of Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. After a delicious brunch at The Colossal Cafe near our house, I headed off toward northeast to see the festivities.
Along the way I bumped into a few frends as the wanderlust was focused into a particular venue. Having been there yesterday, and with a meal ticket courtesy of my friend Tristan from Hot Damn!, who didn't use his yesterday, it was decided the 612 Brew taphouse was once again the place to be.
Sure enough, I met a great many cool people in the crowds at the brewhouse. It's local brews and local music drew a liesurely crowd to listen and relax. As per usual, I brought my dancing energies to accompany the music, which was very well recieved. It was a really fun space to dance with the bright sun beaming down and the accoustic beauty of the amphatheater accompanying our energy.
Soon enough, I got a few more of the crowd moving as their restless desire to dance finally overpowered the social awkwardness they felt as everyone else just stood or sat around absorbing the energies of the sun and the music instead of vibrating with it and resonating the energies. None the less, the energies flowed wonderfuly as I danced along with the music of a local band that is new to me called False Teeth. The energy level was still high and full of exuberance when I finally had to leave in the middle of Botzy's set in order to get ready for work. All in all it was another fantastic experience.
The time has just flown by! May is now half over already. Please forgive the impromptu hiatus of the last few weeks. I landed a job doing Delivery driving for a delicious and authentic Chinese Restaurant in Dinkytown Minneapolis named Pagoda. I have been busy brushing up on my chinese skills and working a ton to stow away some funds to make real breathing room in my finances. This spring has been infused with powerful emotions tugging at the ebb and flow of the turbulent but sunny waters we are riding as the tide of a powerful swell brings us to the crest of a long awaited wave of creation and energy.
Today is Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. I wish I had the time to see all that the area has to offer both in art galleries and live music at all the venues and spaces in the area, Like the event going on all day today at the Plex. I did manage to make it out to see Hot Damn! Perform at the new 612 Brew taphouse in Northeast Minneapolis. They have a very impressive amphitheater out the back end of the building right next to the walls for Broadway NE and Central Avenue NE. The space has really impressive accoustics that threw the band at first since their amps needed to be turned down to accomodate the powerful accoustic ressonance of the area that overpowered the PA system.
Not only was it a fun show out in the sun, but when the clouds passed over the sky and dimmed the sun's beaming light for a moment I suddenly noticed a giant rainbow halo surounding the sun in the sky. It was marvelous and apparently had been that way for quite some time already. The sun's radiance brought warmth to the budding greenery that has so thuroughly enjoyed the wet and warm spring we've been having.
It's always fun to run into people I haven't seen in a long time at a show. Last night's Enemy Planes show at Cause was one of those nights. The crowd was packed at Cause. It was almost too small a venue for the crowd. Soon it will be. But, since they are intrinsically linked to Cause Spirits and Soundbar through at least one of them working as a bartender for the venue, it was a fitting place for their show.
Likewise, I would be remiss if I didn't find something new and interesting to show people at the show. Between the great music and the high energy of the crowd, there was one such point that stood out to me. Apparently Enemy Planes joined My Morning Jacket, Sarah Jaffe, and Others in covering songs by Jason Molina for an album now being released by Rock The Cause, a local non-profit record label. Though I had never heard of Jason Molina, a quick Google search showed the tragic tale of an impressive musician with a fair number of releases under his belt struggling with the age old problem of alcohol abuse. He died last year as a result of his vice. This album fits with Rock The Cause's purpose with a message of appreciation for the artist's life and creativity. Available now on iTunes for $11.99 It's an great mix of music in tribute to the late Jason Molina. Thank you to Rock The Cause for their desire to support the local music scene and incorporate that into a cause worthy of recognition.
Thanks again to Enemy Planes, Back Pocket Hymnal, Puff Puff, and Mississippi North for putting on an incredible show last night.
As I have said before, this winter in Minnesota was tiresome. The local musicians I love here are the traction that keeps my feet firmly planted in this harsh climate. Since I have not been writing regularly about the music scene this winter, I should start by pointing out one of the most impressive local bands I've encountered in recent months. The band Enemy Planes has only been performing for a short time, but they have already released an incredible CD that became my anthem for the late winter months. Their dreamy pulsating songs have been the soundtrack to my life since I first saw them at a house party in February.
The haunting melodies of Enemy Planes remind me occasionally of the affinity I have toward M83's album Hurry Up we're still dreaming.
Definitely check them out. They are very fun to see live. In fact, they are playing at Cause Spirits and Sound Bar in uptown Minneapolis later today Saturday, April 12th, 2014. They also will be playing at the Midwest Music Festival in Winona, MN, Saturday April, 26th. Find out more about them and their music at enemyplanes.com
Enemy Planes was one of the bands who I've learned about through the Monastery House parties. These parties have grown in scale and scope into impressive showcases of local musicians with a long list of bands eager to play. These gatherings have even produced some music videos which have garnered attention from some mainstream music media. Twice The City Pages has included videos shot in the basement of this house for their top 10 must see Minnesota music videos for the week.
Since I'm pointing out local shows to go to, I should give you a few more for the upcoming week. Next Thursday April 17th, 2014 Dream Crusher, Simon Calder band, Glow Mechanics, and DJ DT will be performing at the Kitty Cat Klub in the Dinkytown area by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN.
The winter is gone! Well... ok, that may be overstating it. It's technically spring now, since we passed the vernal equinox on March 20th. However, Minnesota has remained cold and snowy. The snow pack we accumulated over the winter remained frozen in large slabs of occasionally melting ice across the frigid tundral climate. Not only that, the weather remained cold enough for the snow to continue flying unabated by the longer length of the spring days. This winter has been tiresome for the spirits of the hardened souls living here. Compounded with the intensity of the overbearing winter, this season has been particularly tumultuous in my own personal life. After getting hit by a car while biking in december, my life was tossed akimbo as the questionable safety of winter biking was confirmed. Biking had been my primary mode of transportation. The snowbanks, which encroached far enough into the streets of Minneapolis for officials to limit parking to one side of the street so emergency vehicles could traverse the narrowing lanes, made the margin of space for bikers disappear. After my parent's bought a new car and generously gave me their old car to drive, I was relieved of the wearisome burden of winter biking unsafety. But, with a car came new financial obligations that stymied my ability to attend the shows I love. That being said, this winter has been somewhat of a dark period for my writing as a result. However, that is not to say there was nothing to speak of.
Music aside for a moment, another one of my favorite activities was much more affordable to me this winter. Despite being a sport that many other people have to pay significant money to enjoy, I worked at Hyland Ski and Snowboard area this winter as a chairlift operator so I was able to snowboard for free all year. This year I progressed quite a bit in my snowboarding skills. I only once recorded a day of riding with a friend, but I put it to music by the local band the Moving Parts. I used the song Noel as the background music for the video I uploaded to my YouTube channel.
At the end of the winter, just before the end of the snowboarding season at Hyland, my life was changed dramatically again when I was invited to live with some of my musician friends in the house near the University of Minnesota known as The Monastery. I had decided to move out of my lonely efficiency apartment at the beginning of January 2014 because I realized the expenses of car insurance and gas for the used car my parents gave me gobbled up all the disposable income I had enjoyed while biking. I had originally made plans to live with friends of mine from the band Thee Evil Creatures. However, I needed to wait till the rental agency found someone to rent my apartment, or till the end of March, because I gave my two month notice a day past the January 5th deadline for an end of February move out. Then, during one fateful week in February, everything came into place. I casually mentioned to my friends at the monastery that I was in transition from my current place to a tentative place with some friends of mine. It came up that they had a room opening up, and they offered it to me. Within a couple days I found out from the rental agency that someone wanted to move into my old place. Additionally, the person wanted to move in the very next week. As a result, the rental agency asked me to vacate as soon as I could to allow them time to prepare the apartment before the lease signing. Therefore, I quickly packed all my things into boxes and prepared for the move. That started a whirlwind of change blowing through my life. Within a week all my life plans had shifted dramatically. Now I am living in a house with 13 people that hosts house parties once a month where half a dozen local bands perform to a bustling crowd of interesting people.
With the matters of my own life out of the way, It's time to finally highlight one of the winter event's I haven't covered yet. On February 21st, 2014 the music video for the song "The Free People" by Moving Parts off the album "Music from the Monestary" was released. I got a chance last fall to be a part of this music video, along with quite a few other friends of the band, . The shooting was done at the Monastery house wher I now live months before I moved in.
That will be all for now, but I assure you there has been quite a few event's, releases, and other happenings I intend to relay eventually. Thanks again for reading. This spring and summer promise to be abundantly full of energy and creativity. Look forward to more soon.
It has been quite a while since my last blog entry. So let's play catchup a bit. Perhaps later I will expound on some of the more interesting points of those months, but for the time being I leave them to be recorded later, as it is such a large amount of accumulated experiences that it would be an epic undertaking and a long read. So, I will proceed forward with the most current events in music.
The fall had a great many fun shows, CD releases, and interesting experiences. However, my professional life was in a tumult. Dealing with a boss who thoroughly hated me despite multiple appeals to her sensibilities was frustrating. That behind me, it was time for the winter months to bring employment for me at the Ski Hill.
Soon the winter was upon us hard and strong. The cold came early in November, bringing with it snow to cover the hills with a blanket of glistening white. I returned to my position at the ski Hill in Bloomington, MN. The snowfall and cold weather, which constrained much of the rest of our society, was instead a boon to the cold weather sports enthusiasts of the region. I greatly enjoy the work I do at the hill. I have the opportunity to bring the local music I love, along with admittedly more main stream Pandora Radio, to the slopes via my guitar amplifier. The days are beautiful. The skill level of the snowboarders and skiers who frequent the terrain park these days are far more impressive than the average more than a decade ago when I was in my nascent years of snowboarding experience. Now people all wear helmets for one thing. That's mostly because there has been a great push in the social dynamic towards the protection of our valuable brain boxes. With the added security that affords people, they now likewise go much bigger than they often would years ago. People throw cork 900's, backflips, front flips, 270's on to rail slides with 270's off, etc. It's impressive and entertaining to watch. Likewise, the experience of doing some mean tricks gets the heart rate going and provides a fantastic physical exertion. I love riding.
So, this has been much less about music than I originally anticipated, but perhaps it is high time I started simply using my blog as a means of recording my thoughts in general. At the end of the year in 2013 I finished yet another physical journal. It is such a liberating experience to recollect one's own experiences through your own thoughts and assessments of reality. It helps to keep a person grounded.
Among the great events of the recent months were several much anticipated CD release shows for bands I have been following, tours by other bands, some music video shoots, and my performances along with dozens of others tuesday nights at the open mic nights at Moto-I in Uptown Minneapolis.
The year to come promises to bear a great deal of musical fruit for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. There are a great deal of powerful currents running under the main vein of culture that is MPR's The Current. But for most of Minnesota, these months tend to be the times where musicians and artists hunker down to hibernate for the winter, providing time to hone their craft.
One important point in my personal life happened in late December of last year. I was hit by a car while biking to choir practice December 18th, 2013. I had just finished up work at the ski hill for the day. I got in a little snowboarding after work in the afternoon, ate the dinner I had prepared for myself, then I took off on my bike to make my way to Angelica Cantanti Encore Alumni Choir practice in south Bloomington. At the time, biking was my main mode of transportation. I got rid of my last car about a year and a half prior. I traveled down to 98th street by Normandale Community College, and I was passing by the Bloomington Ice Garden when all of a sudden I saw the headlights of a car in front of me as if I was standing in front of the car looking away from it's license plate. I had only time to realise I was being hit, but not to react, then I was tossed akimbo into a blurry out of body experience, where I remember wondering at one point if I was underneath the car, then, taking assessment of myself, I realized I was not maimed. I got up, brushed myself off, and proceeded to record the event with the video camera on my phone. As I was being carted away in an ambulance to the hospital, I posted the experience to YouTube. Truly thankful of being alive and not crippled, broken, or concussed, I have nearly fully recovered now from the minor injury to my ankle, knee, and wrist. Additionally, being the active person I am, I have been making good effort to utilize and strengthen the muscles of those areas to ensure a full and speedy recovery. In a move of grand generosity, confronted with my determined assertion that I would continue to bike because it was my only affordable method of transportation, my parents decided to buy a new car for themselves. That done, then they give me their old PT cruiser. Having been saved serious injury in my first gravely serious accident on a bike, they decided to alleviate the financial burden for me of purchasing a car. Alas, though I truly am thankful for their kindness and generosity, the added expenses of automobile insurance, gas, and maintenance have devoured the little expendable income I had previously relied on to finance my excursions to the shows of my friends and the music community. So this last month I have spent the better part of my time working, saving money, and preparing to move to a new apartment at literally half the cost of my current living situation to alleviate my fiscal constraints.
That said, I do intend to write more frequently about the local music scene via the wireless bluetooth keyboard I bought to write post with on my phone. I am far more efficient at typing than at touch screen poking or swiping. Admittedly, it is a little frustrating dealing with phone technology lagging behind in compatibility with certain mundane tasks modern programs are capable of like a built in active spell check, and the lack of functionalities defined to mouse click and drag movements in web browsers... None the less, I will pioneer forward with my utilization of this newer technology to pursue my goals effectively on the go. The only thing I am missing is a good stand for my phone to keep it upright for reading while typing.
But now I am rambling, so I will conclude this entry on the first actually musically relevant point of the day. Last Friday was the video shoot for MeMeMe's song Thee Dirty Heaven. I awoke in the early morning on Friday groggy and stiff from a few good physical workouts involving snow removal at work in the recent days. It was my day off, yet I still felt inclined to get up about the same time as I usually do for work. The first thing I did was check my phone for the Facebook events of the weekend. To my surprise, I found the Music video Shoot for MeMeMe was that morning just 15 minutes from the time I awoke at 8:45am. I scrambled to get prepared, and soon was on my way in the bright, but cold, sunshine of the last day in January. The filming was already underway when I arrived after being caught in the fierce grip of gridlocked morning commuter work traffic. The theme of the video was appropriately a raging rock house party. The first order of business upon my arrival was the destruction of a bottle of wine with a golf swing captured in slow motion. After a few botched attempts, and one broken club, the bottle exploded in a maroon balloon splash. Having skipped breakfast myself to get there as quickly as possible, I was compelled to find some nourishment. Although a Keg of beer was brought to legitimize the party vibe of the film, I set out in search of something breakfasty. With a suggestion from the peanut gallery of the party it was decided on the tastily delectable pastry delight of doughnuts. Though stymied by a lack of
local options for such confections, I returned in a little over an hour from a fairly decent trip to the closest cub foods with the questionably reliable sustenance we desired. Through more shots of the blossoming party, I soon grew weary of the closed confines of the house party with such beautiful weather outside in the chilled sunshine that would feel so balmy and enjoyable on the slopes of the Hyland Ski and Snowboard area. So, I bid adieu for the early afternoon to travel south tfor some riding in the beautiful weather. Once I got my fill of the terrain park from being the only person in the larger section of the park for nearly a half hour, allowing me to get in a huge number of runs, I was exhausted and returned to the video shoot just in the nick of time. As I walked into the set, the patrons of the party had just began taking swings at a piano destined for slow motion destruction capture for the video shoot. Around the floor blew a layer of down feathers drifting and lofting, the fallen soldiers of a pillow war recently waged. Intermingled with the floating feathers was a haze of dust from the ancient chambers of the piano's bowels, spewing forth the intestinal gasses of the long musically constipated piano into the room.
I stepped in line and got in some good whacks myself. The camera is sure to have caught some incredible moments for the video. There were only a couple more shots to get after that and it was a wrap. A good time was had.
I know it's not fair to say this is one of my favorite albums, since the general public can't get it yet, but you'll just have to wait in anticipation as these guys build momentum to become one of the next big bands out of Minnesota. They are set to release the album next January 2015. 
