Music

The tenth studio album by Bright Eyes is one that few would have expected to hear in 2020 after Connor Oburst said that The People’s Key (2011) would be the band’s last release, but after nearly a decade, and a large mess of current public and personal events, this album is a warm welcome back for the band.

Not many bands are both as brash as they are positive as IDLES, and their newest release Ultra Mono is no different. They continue their streak of defeating social norms in a volatile, yet meaningful way; angry chants of anti-war kick off the album, and it refuses to slow down from there. They are not burdened by the meager criticisms of their critics, who say that the band churns out too many cliches. Joe Talbot approaches this criticism head-on, by releasing the single ‘Mr. Motivator’, a song all about cliches that make no sense.

The featured album of the week is the grunge album SUGAREGG by Nashville based artist Bully. This third installment in the band’s strong, emotionally driven discography was brought into existence by the singer, songwriter, engineer, and producer of the band, Alicia Bognano. Bully began in Rosemount, Minnesota in 2015, and Bognano has always been the mind behind the music and lyrics; but SUGAREGG now marks the first time that she has worked under the bands name entirely as a solo entity.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release, this week’s Featured Album on the Basement is
Radiohead’s Kid A.

This week’s Featured Album of the Week on the Basement is The Avalanches’ debut record,Since I Left You. This album was picked for this week in anticipation of the new Avalanchesalbum, We Will Always Love You, which was announced earlier this month and is the follow-upto their 2016 comeback album Wildflower. 

Tune in to the Basement every week for our latest Album of the Week selection. This week we're featuring Thee Oh Sees new one, Protean Threat.

In lieu of the events that had been slated to run from May 16 through May 24, there will be a number of virtual events to celebrate Duluth’s native son Bob Dylan’s 79th birthday on May 24.

The final Sunday of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival is known as Brunch and Recovery Day, a chance to sleep in and wind down another year with a chill, daylit  final Homegrown hang. This year, everything was different; what we were recovering from was not a week of late nights and overindulgence, but a week that, while it had many fun moments, just felt...off. No kickball, no "Happy Homegrown!" said while passing friends on the street on the way to another venue, no trolley, no hugs.

Saturday of what would have been the 22nd annual Duluth Homegrown Music Festival dawned sunny and was the warmest day so far this year. Under normal circumstances, it would have been perfect weather for a little #RockandRun jog  led by Low's Alan Sparhawk followed by a gathering of  musicians kids, and pets at the annual Friday bands vs. Saturday bands kickball game at Chester Bowl. Social media was full of fans mourning the loss; eventually, a handful of folks met up for a socially-distanced gathering at the park to take some pics and commiserate.

The Friday schedule for the 2020 Duluth Homegrown Music Festival's looked to be epic, with many performances from artists we don't get to see regularly these days for one reason or another. Red Mountain, Jim Hall, Charlotte Montgomery, Purple Hearse, and a reunion set from The Very People, a soulful band from the '00s were among the highlights that could have been.

There was a lot to choose from on what would have been Souptown Night for Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival. Early risers could enjoy Teague Alexy's daily Tea with Teague set or flip over to the Duluth Coffee Instagram for another Actual Wolf performance from his kitchen.