Each month, we’re rounding up the latest local music that’s been on repeat. Follow our Spotify playlist to keep up with new music releases from Minnesota.
“Bathroom Floor” by KC Rae
This single from alt-pop duo Now, Now member KC Rae’s debut solo album, Think I’m Gonna Die, finds her at the beginning of what seems to be a life-changing moment, opening with a devastating two-parter: “Isn’t it funny how your mind changes with the wind / I’m just one sad song away from crying again.” Change has to start somewhere, even if it’s at a low point like the titular bathroom floor. Catch her performing at the 7th St. Entry on Dec. 14.
“New in Town” by Remo Drive
The indie rock duo turn the volume down a bit on this subdued number, opening with a gentle organ and bass before the song blossoms with instrumentation that marks a quieter step in a new direction for the Bloomington brothers, and the uncertainty that comes with arriving in a new city.
“Fastlane” by Zora
Rise up #ZoraNation, nobody sounds like they’re having this much fun in the rap game, especially with its cheeky video, video game-inspired cover art, and high-velocity raps about hyping yourself up and putting down obsessed bros who can’t keep up. Zora: Take the wheel, because we wouldn’t mind riding along in the passenger seat. Haters: Get out of the way!
“Laughing As a Symbol (Note Passing)” by d’Lakes
On their sophomore album, Heaven is a Silent Disco, d’Lakes returns with an album that straddles the line between rock and ‘80s synth-pop. Their lyrics gaze at the ceiling—part introspection, part John Hughes-party when your parents leave town, part trying not to giggle along with the glee-filled tune. The result is a collection of perfectly complementary samples snipped and assembled to form a compact celebratory listening experience. With their new music, the band strived to bring in queer elation, but through a more realistic story where the music “wanders through the forest of ambiguity to the clearing of peace and certainty.”
“Frogger” by Rabeca
Rabeca’s musical choices come out in little bubbles of creativity that are complex but simple, choppy but fully thought out, lyrically accessible but just a hair beyond what you can imagine. Their new album, Junk, is a little angsty, a little silly, and mixes instrumental and vocal songs inspired by the pandemic and talks mainly about life and how our choices shape where we eventually end up.
“Demon” by Silver Summer
Silver Summer combines glam, disco, and punk with a wash of synthesizers for a nostalgic look into the future. The band is an amalgamation of side projects coming together to form something that can’t be contained or distilled into one genre. “Demon” is so warm and blissful, it aches. It’s a conflation of all your favorite experiences: the dense orange heat of a midnight beach bonfire, laying back in deep, soft, shaggy grass and lazily looking at clouds, paddling in a shallow stream, holding hands in the heat. It’s pure shoegaze happiness.
“And Then the Sun Came Out” by Toussaint Morrison
Toussaint Morrison is more than a musician. The creative uses his social media platforms to dismantle white supremacy and bring to light social injustices along with rendering poetry. In between these endeavors, he creates the most compelling music that calls you into his world that grabs your attention in absorption, jostles you awake, and drops you off miles down the road. In Morrison’s world, creativity and contemplation intermingle and everything has intention. “And Then the Sun Came Out” is pulled off his latest album The Very Best of Ricky & Jane, which coincided with the release of his poetry book Best When Sung From the Gutter.
“Cornfields and Roadkill” by Humbird
Siri Undlin is constantly reinventing herself in sound and artistry. On her new single under her moniker Humbird she shrugs off her signature solo acoustic sound and trades it in for a dark electric guitar feel. “Cornfields and Roadkill” bring to mind a dark rural road where mystery thrives, reminding you the heart was born free. We just wish Undlin would quit teasing us with singles and share a new album already.