Reveille sounds: The Twin Cities newspaper scene has taken a series of body blows of late, with buyouts and layoffs at the dailies, the shuttering of the altweekly Pulse of the Twin Cities, and what seems to be a mass exodus of writers from the remaining weekly City Pages. So the birth of Reveille, where many of the departed from other publications have ended up, is welcome news. The online music magazine includes staffers like Jim Walsh (formerly of City Pages); Steve McPherson, Tom Hallet, and Rob van Alstyne (Pulse); current HowWasTheShow.com editor Andrea Myers, and Kyle Matteson, who runs ArcadeFire.net, the Wilco fansite Via Chicago, and MoreCowbell.net.
Metronomy meets Mario: Metronomy, playing Summer Music & Movies in Loring Park on August 6, just played the G! Festival in the Faroe Islands. The review? “[T]hey impress brilliantly. Combining an esoteric, Super Mario-influenced blend of dance, techno and electro with choreographed stage moves, shirts with light bulbs on them and keyboards a plenty, the band recreates a sweaty club atmosphere despite the sun shining as brightly at nine in the evening as it was five hours earlier.” Perfect for the park…
Blue Note bonanza: Cribbed, co-opted, and celebrated, the graphic design of Blue Note Records album covers from the ’50s and ’60s remains, in my mind, some of the best design around. The Japanese site Vintage Vanguard chronicles hundreds of examples of famous and rare jazz covers from the era, including Donald Byrd Free Form, the un-PC Lou Donaldson album “Good Gracious,” The Three Sounds’ It Just Got to Be (pictured above), and the classic color scheme of for Andrew Hill’s 1964 release Judgment!
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