One of the many reasons to be sad about the Triple Rock closing was that the last installment of the Advanced Placement Tour skipped Minneapolis. Well it’s back and found a new home at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul. The spring tour features 3 artists that you will be quite familiar with if you are a SiriusXM Alt Nation listener. Aussie band Mansionair, Nashville’s Mikky Ekko, and L.A.’s NoMBe. They will be at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall on 4/19. Tickets are available HERE
Reminiscent of a diary, NoMBe’s just released debut album, They Might’ve Even Loved Me, is a brutally honest account of family, romance, sex and heartbreak. His initial singles have already caught the ear of Pharrell, who noted, “He makes music for the subconscious with colorful layers and unexpected water slides. He writes and produces dream sequences.”
Sydney-based trio Mansionair made their debut with breakout hit ‘Hold Me Down’ which made radio waves from the clubs of Australia, over to Paris and across the ocean to Brooklyn. It all began in 2014 when singer Jack Froggatt, who had been playing the local music scene, accepted an invitation to top-line a suite of production beats by producer/guitarist Lachlan Bostock and drummer/producer Alex Nicholls. “Hold Me Down,” a mélange of ethereal falsetto and ambient-synth-pop, hit one million views in just two months, brought together the individual talents of each musician and solidified the formation of the three-piece band now known as Mansionair.
Mikky Ekko has come home. After recording in places as far-flung as London, Stockholm, and Los Angeles, Ekko returned to the city that has proved both a permanent address and the creative sanctuary for his new album, Fame. It’s said that people have lucky cities, a geographic location where they seem to flourish or feel they are their best selves. Born in Louisiana and raised in small southern towns, Ekko believes Nashville is magic.
Photo Credit: Phil Mou
