Cake In 15

In some exciting news, ascendant CakeIn15 pals Peter Wolf Crier signed to record label Jagjaguwar today, home of acts like Bon Iver, The Besnard Lakes and Dinosaur Jr. It is an exciting move for the duo of Peter Pisano and Brian Moen, who just released their record Inter-Be this last fall with the Jeremey Catterton-directed house show This Is Not For You and graced the First Avenue Mainroom stage as part of the “Best New Bands” showcase in January. Even more exciting for CakeIn15 is that Staciaann’s photos of the band, which have been widely used online and in their promotion, will grace the cover of the record when it comes out on CD and vinyl! It has been an exciting couple of months for the talented two, their record bears out that talent and we couldn’t be more proud of them.

Also, Jagjaguwar will be releasing the much-hyped Eau Claire/MSP yacht-rocking supergroup GAYNGS record Relayted this spring, so look for that for your prom flashbacks and summertime deck shoe wearing.

Saturday was also a big day, with the Modern Radio record label celebrating their 10th anniversary at the Cedar Cultural Center. The lineup featured Modern Radio mainstays Vampire Hands (performing sans Colin), STNNNG, Skoal Kodiak and The Plastic Constellations, specially re-united for the occasion. The night was boisterous and loud, with lots of flannel and shaking kids dancing around, chomping down on free cupcakes and taking advantage of the $3 discount at The Wienery, which essentially cut the bill in half. Staciaann shot the celebration for Vita.mn, which you can sere here, and congratulations Modern Radio!

Friday night kicked off a busy weekend for CakeIn15, starting with the CD release show at the Fine Line Music Cafe for A Badly Broken Code, the solo debut from Dessa of Doomtree. The night was an eclectic mix, with Jeremy Messersmith opening and showing off his Vikings fight song (alas, to no avail) and Cecil Otter working the crowd backed by live bass and drums, an arrangement that suits his ramshackle, Bukowski-rambling MC style. Dessa first hit the stage as a jazz chanteuse, showing off her singing chops, ably backed by a band featuring Sean “Twinkie Jiggles” McPherson on bass and producer MK Larada on drums, with guest vocals courtesy of Aby Wolf. After working through her material, Dessa left while her Doomtree cohorts P.O.S., Mike Mictlan and Sims lit up the stage, obviously having fun while working through familiar material. Dessa returned to cheers and performed some of her more MC-oriented material, old and new as the boys stayed on stage to back her up. She ended the night showing off her most surprising talent yet- a choreographed dance number with Omaur Bliss, riffing off her Mictlan-given nickname, “Dancing-Ass Dessa.” With A Badly Broken Code showing strong on iTunes and a set of great performances, the night was a hit, and not in any way like the TC Hip-Hop awards down the street. Staciaann captured the whole show for Vita.mn, which you can see here.

Alright Minneapolis, you had your ‘Mats fix last weekend and it’s time to move up in the decades and get to Lifter Puller. Available now at Treehouse Records, and Treehouse is the only store in the world to have it, is Lifter Puller Vs. The End Of, a slim, square book that mixes oral history of the young Craig Finn and photos from shoeboxes with the complete lyrics of all of Lifter Puller’s releases. All that is pretty sweet and it is a well put together glossy book, perfect for collecting or flicking through for inspiration, but it also comes with a download card. That card gets you the entire LFTR PLLR catalog, from the all the singles from 1994-2000 and all four studio records, 3 LPs and an EP. Whoever designed the download system had shit for brains (you have to download each track individually, all 57 of them) but it’s worth having if you want to hear the pre-Hold Steady Finn and Tad Kubler busting out some edgier, dirtier, mid-90s chops. With the cold coming on, it’s a limited run of 1000 and for only $25 clams, it’s worth the warmth and the party.

It doesn’t seem real that it has been two years since the release of Jim Walsh’s oral history opus, The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting, but it has been and you know, Walsh’s passion and Minneapolitan’s nostalgia for The ‘Mats hasn’t diminished in the intervening years. To celebrate the paperback release and the the spirit of itchy midwestern punk rock, First Ave was again turned into a ‘Mats playground, complete with Dan Corrigan recreating his iconic cover of Let It Be for fans with five bones (a man’s gotta eat- and so does Walsh, so buy the book already) and the current local music powers (Dan Wilson, Josh Grier of Tapes ‘n Tapes, The Idle Hands, Jeremy Messersmith, David Campbell and many more) churning out covers from the Entry to the Mainroom. As the saying goes, if you remember it you weren’t really there, so thank the sweet lord rock and roll that cameras were invented (or conversely, curse you, documenting devil) and Staciann was there with hers documenting the whole she-bang for a City Pages slideshow. Any way you shred it, there was plenty of booze and guitars, something that rock and roll can get behind, no matter what decade we’re living in.

Harper Simon may be the progeny of Paul Simon, but, well, you probably couldn’t tell at the Cedar Cultural Center Tuesday night. The Cedar was not allowed to use the familial connection in any marketing or promotion (partially explaining why tickets were slow-selling) and halfway through Simon’s set, it was clear that here was a decent guitar player leading a talented bar band around the country playing some jamming tunes and having a good time; all perfectly fine and nothing exceptional about the whole affair. Openers Peter Wolf Crier, on the other hand, have been building something transcendent with their debut record Inter-Be and live show This Is Not For You and any chance you get to catch them casting their intimate, gasping song live, you should jump at it. In fact, you should do it at the Turf Club on Friday, December 11th, because Peter Wolf Crier + No Bird Sing + Aby Wolf + Bethany Larson (reviewed by CakeIn15 here)= Night of Local Awesome, so don’t miss it.

For Staciaann’s full photoset from the Harper Simon show, click through to the City Pages site here.