A very special week at The Cedar

This here's a Tuesday post amidst a very special week at The Cedar. This week is special because The Cedar stage sees two of my new favorite artists - The Luyas and Sharon Van Etten. But this week is also special because nearly showcases women in music.

I recently read Love is a Mixtape, a wonderful book by Rolling Stone contributing editor, Rob Sheffield. While mostly a personal memoir, the book poses some questions about what happened to music after the 90s. Primarily, what happened to women in rock? Yes, Mr. Sheffield, I tend to think that most musical perfection happened in the early nineties. But I'm glad to say that I have evidence that women are still rocking, including The Cedar schedule this week. 

The Luyas performed last night to a small but lovely audience. Local openers Brute Heart returned to The Cedar after opening for Dark Dark Dark in December of last year. I think that Brute Heart is one of the most interesting things happening in the Minneapolis music scene. Crystal, Crystal, and Jackie do a lot with a minimal set up of drums, bass, viola, and vocals. Their sound is haunting and arresting at times, but also very beautiful. The two groups seemed to be quite taken with each other, which I think helped The Luyas settle in. Front woman Jessie Stein made a point of having the audience move closer so that she could see their faces and continued to lock eyes with audience members throughout their set. It was The Luyas first time in Minneapolis, but hopefully not their last. With a music video on the Pitckfork homepage and SXSW under their belts, I think we may be hearing a lot more from these folks from Montreal (Speaking of SXSW, stay with me, my recap is below).

Tomorrow night The Cedar welcomes back our staff favorite Sharon Van Etten. This will be my fifth time seeing Ms. Van Etten (in three different cities), as she has stolen my heart completely. I even blogged about her last October. Her performances are the result of a soft, mysterious, and powerful voice, honest songwriting, and charmingly bashful and quirky banter. Not only does her success bode well for women making music, but also for the indie-folk genre as a whole. She creates depth without bloating a song with too many instruments or voices - an ailment from which so many new groups are suffering. Sharon will be joined tomorrow by Little Scream and StarDweller - more examples of women making music worth listening to. I'm especially excited to see Little Scream, enchanted by this video, and intrigued by the appearance of Adam Luksetich (of a favorite Iowa City band, The Tanks) on bass. April is jam-packed with shows, but this is the one I am most excited for. There are still tickets for this show, and if I were you I would get on that today.

Expert banjoist Abigail Washburn appears at The Cedar (a co-present with Sue McLean) on Friday, April 8 and Sunday, April 10 The Cedar hosts singer-songwriters Over the Rhine and Lucy Wainwright Roche. 

It's exciting to me, all these examples of amazing women making music, and all of them at The Cedar within a matter of days. 

*****

About three weeks ago, I headed down to Austin, TX with Main Figurehead for the SXSW Music Conference. After 4ish days and 50ish bands, I crashed and spent a few days in bed. The Figurehead already wrote a thoughtful and thorough SXSW recap, including some highlights of artists I enjoyed as well. Forgive the overlap, but these were my favorites.

Charles Bradley (video)

(It appears this one isn't working. Try this link instead)

Brandt Brauer Frick (video interview)

Jana Hunter of Lower Dens (video)

Colin Stetson (Check the Figurehead's post for a nice video, or try this one)

Here's the full list with some additional notes:

James Vincent McMorrow - Carrying on the Bon Iver tradition, James too sings in falsetto and recorded his album in a secluded cabin. However, this guy has some soul elements thrown in that make it just a little more interesting. I'm curious to see where he goes from here.

Jessica Lea Mayfield

Dry The River

Jamie Woon

Bombay Bicycle Club - Young, quick, with fans singing along to all of their songs

Suuns - AMAZING, LOUD, GUT BUSTING. 

Lia Ices - So lovely. Feist-y in both her sound and appearance. 

Fidlar

Harrys Gym

Beautiful Nubia and The Roots Renaissance Band

Admiral Fallow

Erland & The Carnival

The Belle Brigade

Still Corners

See of Bees - Charming front woman. Nice songwriting

Ben Sollee

Art vs. Science

Papercranes

Juliana Barwick - Not sure how I went this long before I saw Juliana. Mesmerizing. 

Ava Luna

Yellow Ostrich - "Whale" is pop song perfection, and the rest is good but not great. I want to hear more from this band.

Glasser - The beginning and ending of the set were flawless, but the middle fell flat. Songs were too similar.

Kids of 88

The Heligoats - Charming, witty songcraft. Simple execution. 

Lucy & The Popsonics

Gold Motel

Colin Stetson - Unbelievable skill. It is refreshing to see an artist WORK HARD. I did not know that a saxophone could make so many sounds.

Mexian Institute of Sound

Brandt Brauer Frick - Fresh, energetic, smart, danceable electronic music. 

The Felice Brothers

The Loom

Lost In The Trees

Boy & Bear

Lower Dens - Dark, different. It works, even though I'm not sure why.

Nickodemus

Beach Fossils - The most problematic set of any that I saw (sound problems, instrument problems, temperament) but still pulled it off in a inspiring way. A nice balance between pop and something more complex, their sound is both edgy and light. 

Herencia di Tembiqui

Charles Bradley - The real deal. The James Brown/Al Green of 2011. I can't wait to see him again in two weeks.

Fared Shafinury & Tehranosaurus

Deer Tracks

Adam & Alma

Toro y Moi

Deer Tick

Denison Whitmer

The Lonely Forest - Really poppy, and reminded me of older R.E.M. at times. Clever lyrics. 

Fredrick

Agnes Obel

Haley Bonar

Sharon Van Etten - <3

Typhoon