Woody McBride Woody McBride, international DJ, recording artist, label owner and promoter, cites an unlikely band as an inspiration. "I saw Sonic Youth on my 21st birthday, and soon after I started using my student-loan money to buy records," he says. The Minneapolis dance scene was in its infancy, but McBride took a "leap of faith" and dropped out of art school, working with Kevin Cole in the early '90s. "I bought some cool analog gear, Pink Floyd synthesizers, and started making really ballistic techno music," McBride says. "I was one of the first [DJs] on the international circuit, mainly because I was recording. Once I established myself, I started a record label." McBride's Communique Records, launched in '94, is an umbrella company for three imprints: Communique (techno); Sounds (house) and Head in the Clouds (experimental). The label has released more than 100 records by McBride, Freddy Fresh, DJ Apollo, Gene Farris, Derrick Carter and others; McBride has also collaborated with Josh Wink, and in '97, he sold 13,000 copies of his "Basketball Heroes." His upcoming "Good Great Wonderful" will be out before year's end. McBride continues to crisscross the world as an in-demand DJ. "Dance music is a very complicated thing. A lot of it is just a matter of taste and raw skill," he says. "But I've always been very abstract-minded, reworking current themes and taking them in a new direction."
Bellwether The No Depression phenomena has helped the burgeoning roots-rock movement, but few bands possess the same kind of shared vision and commitment that Bellwether does. "We're into the romantic idea of being a band," vocalist/singer/ songwriter Eric Louma says. "Bands that we look up to and respect are Neil Young and Crazy Horse and The Band, bands that stayed together for years." Bellwether, which includes Louma, guitarist Jimmy Peterson, bassist Phil Tippin (Swingset) and drummer John Crist (Dashboard Saviors), released "Turnstiles," which Louma dubs a "Sunday afternoon record‹for an afternoon filled with pining heartache and wistful hopefulness and helplessness. A lot [of "Turnstiles"] is modeled on the sound of a natural voice," he says. Bellwether's spare studio effort differs from its stage show, which has an ever-growing following of fans. The band's infectious sound has landed "Turnstiles" on such Minneapolis radio-station playlists as Radio K, Cities 97, KFAI and Zone 105, and the group has been prominently featured in local mainstream and alternative mags. Having sold more than half of its first pressing, Louma says that the band is ready to record again. "We have the songs, definitely, he says. "We're trying to record and remedy things ourselves."
Atmosphere Minneapolis is known for its soul but not it's hip-hop‹until now. Atmosphere, and the larger Rhyme Sayers conglomerate, have worked long and hard to engender a thriving, rhyming scene. The group, which includes vocalist/lyricists Slug, Beyond and Spawn, and producer/DJ Ant, has built a national base with its Internet tape-trading, tours (Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis) and a following that turns out for shows at First Avenue and local coffee houses. "I've had opportunity to travel and realize that kids from other places can't do what we do here," Slug says in regard to Atmosphere's improv rhyming tactics. The group's debut, "Overcast," has sold 3,000 CD copies, is into its second vinyl pressing and continues to sell about a dozen copies a week more than a year after its release. The record also made its way onto playlists at Radio K, KMOJ and KFAI; Atmosphere is routinely applauded in the local press, including The Source. As a side project, the group recently released "Dynospectrum" and will record another Atmosphere release, due this spring. The busiest crew in town, Slug says that Atmosphere's approach is to keep it interesting. "It gives us the freedom to move in different directions so that it never gets tiring for us," he says.
Mason Jennings There's something irresistible about Mason Jennings ‹ quite simply, it's his songs. "I've had people write me letters that said, 'You can't stop writing music, it means so much to me,'" says singer/songwriter Jennings. "It's just kind of weird; I'm just one guy putting out this record." The response to his work exceeds phone calls and letters: At a recent show, he was surprised to look down and see young women in the front row weeping as he played. The 23-year-old Pittsburgh transplant was drawn to the Land Of Lakes because of its musical history. Jennings has made his way into the public's music consciousness, with notices in the local press and airplay on radio stations Radio K, Cities 97 and Zone 105. His eponymous CD swings gently with a loping folk/pop delicacy while he lyrically strolls through fear ("Honey, I'm afraid to sleep at night"), living out a pipedream in "California (Part II)" and lamenting his lot ("Baby, I still don't know about you"), never sounding less than honest. "I have enough material for another record," he says. "I'm looking for an old jazz sound or something like an old Johnny Cash record. But I have to keep writing songs‹I guess it's a process for living."
Lunar 9 The long, bitter winters of Minnesota are enough to make anyone want to see a few bright rays of sunlight. Since no one can control the climate, bands like Lunar 9 create a wash of color with a multi-hued mass of fuzzy pop/rock. Songwriter/ vocalist Jon Hunt joined forces with guitarist Rob Robello, drummer Terry Haanan Jr., keyboardist/vocalist Renatta Hunt (Jon's wife), bassist Chris Hill and programmer Jason Ducklinsky‹like-minded peers who had all done stints in locally based bands. "In Shatterproof [singed to Fort Apache], I was just the side guy," Jon Hunt says. "I had a pile of 15 songs just collecting dust on my tape machine. We like noise, things that are psychedelic, dance grooves and melodic pop music." Working in the studio with Polara's Ed Ackerson (who's reviving his Susstones label), the group is preparing a series of singles soon to be released; in the interim, they've become darlings of the collegiate and hipster rock set with kinetic performances. Helped by radio rotation on Radio K, Lunar 9 has hatched something of a scene. Jon says, "I think we had a hand in bringing people together. I think we may be the most accessible aspect of that scene‹our songs are catchy."n
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