The (Local) Fresh Five: She’s Green, Soft Cheese, Dog Pile, 12th House Sun, and Kaitlin Cassady
For the Fresh Five we pick out five great new(ish) jams that we’re currently obsessing over. All of these songs come from local (Minnesota) bands/artists.
She’s Green are a five-piece that have rocketed to local stardom in the last few years, largely on the strength of their (excellent) Wisteria EP. The band plans to release their follow up EP Chrysalis in August with a release show at the Fine Line on 8/15 (details). You can listen to latest single “Willow” now, a lovely track that continues to show the band exploring their wistful dreampop/shoegaze aesthetic.
Soft Cheese is a solo effort from recent Portland transplant Hugh Jepson. Recorded DIY in Jepson’s Minneapolis apartment, debut album SFTCHZ is a stripped down collection of grunge/shoegaze rock. Jepson cites such influences as Mogwai, Sparklehorse, and the Breeders but I also hear some comparisons to Low in this track “Wrestlemania.”
Stream/purchase SFTCHZ here
DogPile are a local quartet that play a blend of folk and country and western music. They have a (sort of) self-titled EP out from a few years ago – Dog Pile. Why I mention it now is that the band will perform as part of an absolutely stellar lineup at the White Squirrel on 8/23 (with Cowboy Thoughts and Lone Rock Bride). This show should be excellent. Yeehaw!
12th House Sun are a shoegaze/Emo band out of Minneapolis that recently released a split single with Psylo. You can stream/purchase “Low” now – a melancholic slice of heavy atmosphere driven by strong guitar melody, reverb-laden vocals, and a lot of distortion.
We featured local singer/songwriter Kaitlin Cassady last year for her record Home Away From Home. She just released the follow up North Star and you can stream the titular track above. As in her past work Cassady trades in melancholy-laced piano tunes that tug at the heartstrings. Cassady will officially release the record on 9/4 with a show at the Cedar Cultural Center (details).
Stream/purchase North Star here.
