Is Minnesota music in a golden age?
Over the decades there have been some really robust cycles in Minnesota music, to the point where they’ve been described as “golden eras.” The local garage rock craze of the mid-’60s is one such period. The 1980s, when Prince owned the national airwaves and groups like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü made Minneapolis an indie rock hotbed, is another. What about right now?
You can’t scientifically measure whether a music scene is going through what some might call a “heyday.” But there are signs. Indicators. And some are too big to ignore. The Star Tribune’s Chris Riemenschneider got a powerful hint at this year’s South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.
“Everywhere you looked there was a Minneapolis band…’oh they got a big gig over here we got to get to this one, oh but wait … Howler’s playing over here; but wait you’ve got Doomtree over here and Brother Ali,’ and it was impossible to keep on top of what everyone was doing.”
