mnartists.org Releases The Music of Here. Now.
mnartists.org, a joint project of the Walker Art Center and the McKnight Foundation, announces the release of The Music of Here.Now., a CD compilation by Minnesota-based musicians, at this year’s Minnesota State Fair (August 25–September 5). Reflecting the diversity of artists registered on the Web site, the CD features tracks spanning genres as diverse as punk, new age, hip-hop, and Andean folk. The featured musicians were selected by a panel of six judges from more than 200 entries. The Music of Here. Now. will be distributed free of charge at the mnartists.org booth located in the Fair’s Education Building. Kathleen Kvern, Project Director for mnartists.org, says, “My goal with the Call for Musicians event was to diversify mnartists.org with more Minnesota musicians. We had overwhelming success with over 200 new members as a result of the contest! The quality and diversity of artist submissions was impressive—I encourage people to visit mnartists.org and listen to all of the music!”
Throughout the duration of the Fair, the mnartists.org booth will be staffed by Minnesota artists participating in the site, including several artists featured on the CD. Additionally, The Music of Here. Now. will be distributed through AMPERS (Association of Minnesota Public/Educational Radio Stations) radio stations statewide. Copy Cats Media, which has created thousands of professional CD and DVD projects for Minnesota musicians, will initially produce 1,000 copies of the CD.
In celebration of the release of The Music of Here. Now., mnartists is throwing two CD release parties.
CD Release Parties
Saturday, September 17, 2005, 7 pm–12 midnight
In partnership with KUMD Radio
The Historic Nor Shor Theater
211 E. Superior Street, Duluth
Several of the artists on the mnartists.org mix CD will perform live.
Saturday, September 24, 2005, 7 pm–12 midnight
In partnership with Radio K
Grumpy’s Downtown
1111 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis
Several of the artists on the mnartists.org mix CD will perform live.
Hosting over 6,000 members, mnartists.org is an online database of Minnesota artists and organizations from all disciplines developed and maintained in partnership with the Walker Art Center and the McKnight Foundation.
A complete listening of artists and song titles for The Music of Here. Now. follows.
The Music of Here. Now.
Zac Bentz featuring Haley Bonar – Hell on Skates
Adam Dachis – Mean to Me
Brother and Sister – b-e-s-t s-I-s-t-e-r e-v-e-r
BOY GIRL BOY GIRL – Go Go Girl
Low Orbit – Speak ‘n’ Glitch
Cheap Cologne – Deadhuman
Matt Schufman – don’t be so afraid
Ben Connelly – Evangeline
Dallas Johnson – Letting Go
Rochelle James – Earth Spirit
Dan Greene – Crisis of Conscience
Di Dollari – North Star
Pushpause – Blackout City
Jake Keller – Duckbeat – EatMeat
Erik Dahl – Habit
Sigcell – Breathing In
Pachamama Band – Fiesta de San Benito
Michael the “Hook” Deutsch – Hook Bops
ACME – Stay, Don’t Go
Fable – 99 Miles to Macon
The Music of Here. Now.
Judge Biographies
Kandis Knight
Kandis Knight is a musician and music critic for The Pulse of the Twin Cities. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in journalism and a passion for music. She began writing for The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, where she interviewed local musicians and a few Grammy-winning artists. In 2002, she began writing about local hip-hop for the Web site www.dunation.com, which led to her first weekly column, Verb, in The Pulse of The Twin Cities. She produces the “Future Flava” hip-hop radio show on 89.9 KMOJ on Fridays from 10 pm–2 am.
Chris Godsey
Chris Godsey is a writer on music and other arts from Duluth and Minneapolis.
Janis Lane-Ewart
As Executive Director of KFAI Radio since 2001, Janis Lane-Ewart manages the station’s staff and volunteers and oversees fiscal and programming operations. KFAI serves listeners in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and worldwide via www.kfai.org. Also one of the station’s 90 volunteer programmers, Lane-Ewart has hosted the weekly jazz program “The Collective Eye” since 1989.
Rachel Lee Joyce
A.K.A. DJ “Nite Nurse,” Rachel Lee Joyce is Public Relations Manager at the Walker Art Center. Prior to joining the Walker staff, she worked as an independent publicist for local musicians, artists, and events, including Brother Sun Sister Moon and Sound Unseen. She is the host and producer of “Playing with Fire,” a music and cooking television show featuring local musicians preparing their favorite meals and cocktails. She has worked in the music industry for over 15 years in marketing, sales, artist management, and concert promotion.
Shelley Miller
Shelley Miller is currently Program Coach at Radio K (http://radiok.cce.emn.edu) where she coaches and mentors the on-air staff. Her most recent position was promotions director and on-air announcer at Drive 105. She has also worked at Cities 97, Zone 105, and Rev 105 and at stations in New Jersey and New York.
Chris Strouth
Chris Strouth is founder of “Future Perfect” and a curator for the American Composers Forum. He is also the founder of UltraModern Records; formerly the director of artists and product for the Twin Tone Record Group, where he oversaw dozens of releases and a stable of 10 labels . Currently he is the director of artists and product for Innova Recordings, the label of the American Composers Forum. He is one of the guiding hands behind the Composers Forum’s Sonic Circuits Festival of Electronic Music and Art. He also started the Red Eye Collaboration’s Difficult Music series, the first new music series of its kind in the Twin Cities.