You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t Pick to Click.
September 6th, 2010
Minneapolis’ City Pages is releasing their annual “Picked to Click” issue on October 20th. Each year, this issue highlights the Twin Cities’ best new bands based on the voting results of various music critics and industry folks. Like the all-star voting in Major League Baseball, “Picked to Click” can sometimes be contentious, with seemingly deserving bands sometimes getting overlooked. Most bands worth a damn don’t care about such recognition, however, and I’d like to tell you about two of them.
Voytek
Voytek is the best not-givin’-a-shit band in town right now. They play snotty, funny, smart/stupid punk rock the way it’s supposed to be: up-beat, care-free, and loud. Every Voytek show is a guaranteed good time, so long as you check your inhibitions at the door and learn not to take life so seriously.
I’m no historian, but I believe they started off as just a two-piece consisting of brothers Sam and Max, and bassist Dusty provided low-end to the lineup after declaring his need to be in the band while recording their album at Nicollet Park Recording Studio. Guitarist Jon moved back from Denver last year, and a full band was born. Dusty’s always traveling the world as a guitar tech for the Hold Steady, so Taylor Harris has since picked up regular bassin’ duties.
New Labor
New Labor just released a brand-spankin’ new 7″ at the Hexagon Bar on Saturday, and the show was one of the best I’ve seen from them so far. I read somewhere recently some mention that they cross Jello Biafra’s vocal stylings with Nomeansno songwriting, and I’d say that’s somewhere in the realm of accuracy. What I like most about this band is their ability to slow things down and throw in some lounge-inspired interludes, and somehow make it work when the manic-slash-crazed stuff kicks back in. That type of risk-taking can quickly muck up a great tune, but more and more, New Labor is turning into a craft, and in turn, providing Twin Cities show-goers with a new, inventive band with whom to provide their rock and roll thrills.
What’s more, I discovered yesterday that New Labor is in the video-making business, something I’m usually not crazy about, but I hope to see more of these from the guys. Check out their video for “Dangerous” on YouTube:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhaswZ2cjCo&fs=1&hl=en_US]
Sam McPheeters from Born Against recently wrote an article in Vice Magazine that poses the question, “Is Rock Over?” Rock stardom, perhaps, but otherwise it’s all about where you look. Perhaps Sam should check out what’s going on in the Twin Cities.