While there was no shortage of über-serious sets this weekend, the Thermals played a bouncing and lively show under a (rare) sunny blue sky Sunday afternoon.

My first time seeing the spectacle that is the Mae Shi coincided with the group playing its final show before splitting up into two bands: the Mae Shi and the Signals.

With a little help from mother nature, the Antlers provided one of the more arresting moments of the festival.

The three piece group out of Montreal, which plays folk-y indie rock, blasted through a great 45 minute set that highlighted the songs on its amazing LP Parc Avenue.

Saturday afternoon started off the same way it ended Friday night, with some good old fashioned indie rock guitar heroics.

The three piece group sounded excellent as they tore through their set, which was selected by the crowd as part of the “write the set list” night.

The 52 minute Hospice is dramatic, moody and emotionally exhilarating. The 10 songs take a while to built up steam, but they are well worth the investment.

With Time to Die the Dodos find themselves in the unenviable position of having to create a follow-up to the amazing 2008 album Visiter…

When the Basilica Block Party announces its musical lineup each year it generally serves as a good chance to mock and ridicule its main sponsor, Cities 97, for being so out of touch with the wealth of local talent that Minneapolis possesses…

You have to give the Rurall Alberta Advantage props for not giving up…

Noisy garage rock kindred spirits Micheal Yonkers and the Blind Shake have combined for their second album together with the release of Cold Town/Soft Zodiak. The 27 minute record is a snarling joy that shows two Minneapolis institutions firing on all cylinders to create on of the strongest Twin Cities’ releases of 2009.

With its highly entertaining sophomore release Fits, White Denim has yet again proven to be a wildly innovative band which is unafraid to do as it pleases, even if that means creating an album that is completely outside of any recognizable genre.