First Avenue and 7th St Entry are two historic music venues housed in the same landmark building in downtown Minneapolis. The nightclub sits on the corner of First Avenue North and 7th Street North, from which the venues get their names. The two are colloquially distinguished by locals as The Mainroom and The Entry.
John Munson is an American musician who is best known as the bass player for Semisonic. He was also a member of Trip Shakespeare during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1997. The band's line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Justin Pierre, lead guitarist Joshua Cain, keyboardist Jesse Johnson, bassist Matthew Taylor, and drummer Tony Thaxton. Over the course of their career, the group has toured heavily and released six studio albums, the majority on independent label Epitaph Records. The band's sound, usually described as pop-punk and/or emo, makes notable use of the Moog synthesizer. Pierre mainly handles the band's lyrics, which often touch on themes of anxiety, alienation, relationships, and self-destructive behavior.
Arcwelder is an American punk rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1987. The band, a perennial local favorite, consists of brothers Rob and Bill Graber and Scott Macdonald, all of whom share in songwriting and singing.
The Fendermen were an American rockabilly duo, composed of Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey, active in the early 1960s. They are best known for the 1960 hit single "Mule Skinner Blues", a cover of a song written by Jimmie Rodgers.
Oddjobs was an alternative hip hop group from Minnesota formed in 1995. The band released three studio albums and several EPs, including 2003's critically praised Drums, and broke up in 2004, with the members re-forming as Kill the Vultures and Power Struggle.
The Awesome Snakes were a two-person punk rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring Annie "Sparrows" Holoien on bass and Danny Henry on drums.
Koerner, Ray & Glover was a loose-knit group of three blues musicians from Minneapolis, Minnesota: "Spider" John Koerner on guitar and vocals, Dave "Snaker" Ray on guitar and vocals, and Tony "Little Sun" Glover on harmonica. They were notable figures of the revival of folk music and blues in the 1960s.
Stephen T. McClellan is an American concert promoter and educator. For 30 years he worked at a series of nightclubs housed in a former bus depot at the corner of First Avenue and 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis, promoting the careers of local musicians and expanding the reach of talent from around the world. These clubs—beginning with The Depot, Uncle Sam's, and Sam's —eventually became the First Avenue & 7th St. Entry nightclub that buoyed the Minneapolis sound and contributed to the development of alternative rock and independent music.
Totally Gross National Product is an American independent record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Kill the Vultures is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota formed in 2005.
Dylan Hicks is an American singer-songwriter and novelist from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Boiled in Lead is a rock/world-music band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of MusicHound Folk called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s." Influential record producer and musician Steve Albini called the band's self-titled first album "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." Their style, sometimes called "rock 'n' reel," is heavily influenced by Celtic music, folk, and punk rock, and has drawn them praise as one of the few American bands of the 1980s and 1990s to expand on Fairport Convention's rocked-up take on traditional folk. Folk Roots magazine noted that Boiled in Lead's "folk-punk" approach synthesized the idealistic and archival approach of 1960s folk music with the burgeoning American alternative-rock scene of the early 1980s typified by Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. The band also incorporates a plethora of international musical traditions, including Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Scottish, Vietnamese, Hungarian, African, klezmer, and gypsy music. Boiled in Lead has been hailed as a pioneering bridge between American rock and international music, and a precursor to Gogol Bordello and other gypsy-punk bands. While most heavily active in the 1980s and 1990s, the group is still performing today, including annual St. Patrick's Day concerts in Minneapolis. Over the course of its career, Boiled in Lead has released nearly a dozen albums and EPs, most recently 2012's The Well Below.
Mixed Blood Majority is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The trio includes producer Lazerbeak of Doomtree, and rappers Alexei "Crescent Moon" Casselle of Kill the Vultures and Joe Horton of No Bird Sing.
Ed Ackerson was an American musician and producer from Minneapolis. He produced or engineered dozens of records including works by prominent artists such as The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Dave Davies of The Kinks, Wesley Stace, Mason Jennings, Mark Mallman, John Strohm, Brian Setzer, Lizzo, Pete Yorn, The Wallflowers, Rhett Miller of The Old 97s, Jeremy Messersmith, and Juliana Hatfield. He owned a recording studio in Minneapolis, Flowers, and co-founded the Susstones record label. Ackerson led several notable Twin Cities pop/rock bands including Polara and The 27 Various, and released several solo records under his own name. He was also a prolific producer of albums by Twin Cities bands, and was regarded as one of the linchpins of the Minnesota music scene.
Jetpack Blues is a 2002 album by Minneapolis alternative rock band Polara, their fourth full-length record, and first after breaking with Interscope Records and going independent. It was released on bandleader Ed Ackerson's Susstones Records label, and produced by Ackerson at his recording studio, Flowers, which he founded by reinvesting the money from the band's Interscope deal as well as an otherwise unsuccessful deal with Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures.
Flowers Studio is a recording studio in Minneapolis founded by Ed Ackerson, leader of the alternative rock bands Polara and the 27 Various, and co-founder of the Susstones Records label. Many notable musicians have recorded at the studio, including the Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Brian Setzer, Golden Smog, Mark Mallman, Soul Asylum, the Old 97's Rhett Miller, Clay Aiken, the Wallflowers, Pete Yorn, Juliana Hatfield, Free Energy, Lizzo, Jeremy Messersmith, and Joseph Arthur.
You're Not Alone is an EP by rock band Semisonic. Released on September 18, 2020, it is the band's first collection of new material in 19 years following their hiatus after touring 2001's All About Chemistry. The EP was preceded by the release of its title track on June 26, 2020.
The Careless Flame is the second album by Minnesota alternative hip hop group Kill the Vultures. It was released in 2006 by Jib Door.
Roma di Luna was an American folk/Americana group from Minneapolis, Minnesota formed in 2004. The band released four records, including most recently We Were Made To Forgive in 2018. The group began as a husband-and-wife duo comprising Alexei Casselle of Kill the Vultures and Channy Leaneagh, later of Poliça, before expanding to a group of seven.
