Openers Harp and Finial were a collision of country bar-rock, angular post-punk, and less-than-half ironic shredding and associated guitar histronics. Made me happy music started an hour late, and I caught the first act. Closer Kid Dakota was sparse and moving, with Darren unexpectedly precise on guitar; fantastic, as expected. I said hello after the show, picking up a ten-bone copy of So Pretty (which is always about $17 at Cheapo) and giving him a MFR button.
But it’s Dosh that has become a Twin Cities favorite of mine. Sometime during my first week in Minneapolis, I caught a morning-drive interview with Martin Dosh on Radio K; it didn’t include any actual music, but hearing people talk about Dosh’s music made me need to hear it.
Which didn’t happen until January, and Radio K’s “Local Music Day.” At home I recorded Olympic Hopefuls’ live in-studio performance, along with some others throughout the afternoon, and Dosh was one of them. To hear the sounds he could make, and know it was just one guy, was a beautiful mystery, a magic trick that made me feel eight years old in a good way. Dosh’s live songs start with little, click-y loops over which he layers electric piano and drums in imaginative, jazzy, hip-hoppy, childish ways. The tracks I’ve downloaded from his studio albums are good, and seeing his show Saturday night was very good, but it’s those radio performances that I love best (Dosh has an EP available of his set for KLAX in Los Angeles). Knowing it’s only him making sound from moment to moment, but being unable to see what’s coming next; something wonderful without a name happens in that space.