Grandchildren is the story of six talented multi-instrumentalists playing the parts of an ensemble double their size—often happening on stages with enough room to comfortably fit three, maybe four people at most. Despite having formed just a couple of years old, Grandchildren perform with the dexterity of lifelong instrumentalists and the confidence of seasoned veterans. Now with their debut album Everlasting on the horizon, the sky is truly the limit with Grandchildren’s potential. Not only are Grandchildren an ‘artist to watch,’ but quite frankly they currently reside among the best kept secrets throughout music today.
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Photo by Ryan Taylor and Josh Thacker

Minneapolis has long been home to a vibrant music scene—dating back to legends like Prince and the Replacements as well as more recent acts including Atmosphere, Free Energy, The Hold Steady and Low. Emerging groups from a diverse range of genres have been a defining aspect of Twin Cities’ music to say the least. Although the indie-rock quintet Hunting Club may be relative newcomers to the scene, they have continued to uphold this tradition as one of the most promising bands hailing from Minneapolis today.

Forming in 2008, Hunting Club aptly describe their style simply as ‘plaid rock’—citing their penchant for layering each of their musical components on top of one another, weaving together their intersecting sounds into precise arrangements, recalling the likes of Built To Spill, My Bloody Valentine and Grizzly Bear. The group also claims to draws influence from Radiohead, not just from a musical standpoint, but through their distribution of their first full-length album Hunting Club (The Plaid Album) released this past June, in which they used Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want model (which can be found here or streamed via the embed below).

During this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, we sat down with frontman Eric Pasi and bassist Nate Dykstra—both of whom were in attendance. While we took a break from Union Park’s blistering heat, we chatted about their beginnings, Prince, Radiohead’s distribution model and their dynamic live performances.
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The Artist to Watch feature, will, in each installment, highlight a little bit of unsigned genius in the world at a time. For this month, we have Coloradan James Cooley and his solo musical project ‘Mesita’. We discuss his musical beginnings, writing process, influences and future.
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A wise man once said, “I’ll be the first to go on record saying that Cymbals Eat Guitars will end up indie famous within the year”. That man was Charles Bissel of The Wrens. Let’s just say that I think that he was onto something.

Cymbals Eat Guitars are a New York based led by Joseph D’Agostino, lead songwriter and vocalist. Forming in early 2008, after D’Agostino posted an ad on Craigslist which brought guitarist Matt Cohen, bassist Neil Berenholz, and keyboardist Daniel Baer to the group. Shortly after, D’Agostino’s high school friend, drummer Matt Miller, joined the group. It was February 2008, and frontman D’Agostino was still 19.

Over the next year, their debut entitled Why There Are Mountains came together. The songs are composed of intense clashing guitars, florid piano, and the occasional, (and very welcome) horn section. Once combined with D’Agostino’s rugged vocals and infectious song-writing, the vigorous tracks truly come together. It is within the context of the album’s explosive energy and swelling melodies that comparisons to Pavement stand true.

The variety on the record is astounding in its own right. From the grandeur, and intense instrumentation of “And the Hazy Sea” to the atmospheric and cathartic workings of “Share”, Why There Are Mountains truly shows off the diverse range that the band can span.

Simply put, Cymbals Eat Guitars are brilliant and Why There Are Mountains is a release that no fan of indie rock should miss. After a single listen of Why There Are Mountains, the truth in Bissel’s words will become apparent.

Cymbals Eat Guitars – And the Hazy Sea

Cymbals Eat Guitars – The Living North

Why There Are Mountains will be self-released and available be available for purchase soon. Digital versions will be coming to iTunes, AmazonMP3, and Lala within the month of February. But until then, you can purchase a digital version from CDBaby. Look out for a review of the album soon.

Official Myspace
Band’s Blog
Purchase Digital Album
Official Website coming soon

-Evan Kaloudis