While May’s high profile major label albums might’ve dominated sales charts (Eminem, Green Day, etc.), it was the month’s independent releases that were the most compelling. Add to that a series of fantastic concerts, the Twin Cities’ largest hip hop festival and a few solid music videos and May measures just as strong as any other this year. Above all however, these are Culture Bully’s favorite things from the month of May.

Art-A-Whirl weekend: Art-A-Whirl, the yearly festival in Northeast Minneapolis, is a once-a-year opportunity to bring together the best of the local art and music worlds in our massively talented Twin Cities scene. This year, in addition to getting a slight sun burn and sore legs from biking too much, I saw more amazing local bands than I can even remember. Highlights included a crazy late night set behind the 331 Club by Skoal Kodiak, Private Dancer blowing away an afternoon crowd at the Modern Café and seeing two great sets by Gay Witch Abortion (one of which had them floating down the Mississippi). In all, I saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 sets (not including an amazing [non Art-A-Whirl] King Khan show Saturday night at the Triple Rock) that provided me with a great, but exhausting, weekend showing just how remarkable our scene really is. [Josh Keller]

Art-A-Whirl 2009 Report

King Khan and the Shrines @ Triple Rock Social Club: King Khan and the Shrines dropped by the Triple Rock this past month and delivered one of their signature no-holds barred performances. Though Peelander-Z is quickly gaining ground, these guys are still my favorite band to see live. Not only are the Shrines terrific musicians, they also know how to have a good time like no other. Their R&B boogie and garage rock never fails to get me moving and Khan’s stage antics are always fun to see. It was also great that I managed to avoid getting kicked out of the show this time… [Jon Behm]

King Khan and the Shrines, Mark Sultan & France Has the Bomb @ Triple Rock Social Club

Battle on the West Bank: OK, it wasn’t really a battle, but rather a pair of shows that CB helped present earlier this month that took place on the same night on Minneapolis’ West Bank. The first was Jeremy Messersmith & KaiserCartel’s performance at the Cedar Cultural Center, and the second was Guante & Big Cats!’s CD release show across the street at the Nomad World Pub. While both shows were fantastic, and still offer great memories when looking back on them, the highlight of the whole thing was having Messersmith, Guante & Big Cats! collaborate for a brief freestyle video beforehand. [Chris DeLine]

Jeremy Messersmith & KaiserCartel @ Cedar Cultural Center
Guante and Big Cats!, Chastity Brown, See More Perspective, the Tribe & Chantz @ Nomad World Pub

Toki Wright’s A Different Mirror: Rhymesayers will be releasing Wright’s album on June 9, but the title track was included on a free mixtape which was given out by McNally Smith college at Soundset. The mixtape, including songs from Doomtree, Hieruspecs, Invincible and many more (including myself; full disclosure) is full of gems, but Wright’s song is definitely the highlight. A terrifying journey through American history, an exploration of privilege and oppression, an emotionally-charged storytelling track—the song is one of the only truly exciting tracks I’ve heard all year (and it’s been a good year). If the rest of the album is this powerful, this innovative, or just this plain good, watch out. [Kyle "Guante" Myhre]

New releases from Big Quarters, Maria Isa, Toki Wright

Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest: Veckatimest is a supremely confident and composed record that is bound to wind up on many year-end best of lists (including mine). It’s a well-crafted album from start to finish, with every sound and nuance pondered and poured over for the best overall effect, with lush orchestration and arrangements buoying the songs’ already ethereal tone and mood. It’s truly an album that gets better with repeat listens. We are truly lucky to have them performing at the intimate, friendly confines of the Cedar Cultural Center and I, for one, cannot wait for to hear these beautiful songs live. [Erik Thompson]

Four Takes on Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear

Jay Smooth’s Ill Doctrine: There’s a weird little cottage industry that’s been built up around hip hop philosophy, blogging, academia and other non-musical explorations of the music in the past decade; and a whole lot of people have no idea what they’re talking about. Jay Smooth, through his video blog Ill Doctrine, is one of the precious few talking heads who really “gets it.” His observations are short and straightforward, but often illuminate truths that various warring factions just don’t want to recognize. His blog is full of gems, and he’s been particularly busy this past May, including a great post on Asher Roth and why “post-racial America” isn’t quite here yet. [Kyle "Guante" Myhre]

St. Vincent’s Actor: I am very glad to finally understand all the hype surrounding St. Vincent. Though I never really got into 2007’s Marry Me, I am enjoying Actor immensely. Annie Clark’s experimental arrangements range from gut-kickingly abrasive to gorgeously sweet, and in such way that stitches the two sides of the coin together seamlessly. This will undoubtedly end up being one of my favorite records of the year, and “The Strangers” is one of my favorite tracks. [Jon Behm]

Four Takes on Actor by St. Vincent

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ First Avenue: The band laid to waste any concerns their fans had about the rumored death of Nick Zinner’s guitar and a mellowing of the band’s intense live show by playing an absolutely storming set at First Avenue that completely slayed the sold out club. Mixing in a healthy dose of tracks, both new and old during their fiery and festive performance, the band seemed to be as happy to be in Minneapolis as the crowd was to have them here. And, on a Saturday night absolutely chock-full of great shows happening in Minneapolis, this proved to be the best of the bunch as it turned into one hell of a party. [Erik Thompson]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ First Avenue

Holy Fuck @ 7th Street Entry: I am a big fan of electronic music as a recording form, but have found that the genre’s artists can provide shows that are not always as memorizing as their studio recordings. While knob twisting and sonic musical thrusts can be scintillating in headphones, it sometimes leaves something to be lacked when presented in the live setting. Luckily Canadian duo Holy Fuck proved to be more than able to translate their music as such during their amazing show at the 7th Street Entry. Backed by live drums and bass, they played a tight and funky show that was able to show off their electronic wizardry (including some homemade machines) while still getting the crowd moving. It was a full-on dance party for much of the show and was one of the most engaging and entertaining performances I have seen all year. [Josh Keller]

Holy Fuck & Crocodiles @ 7th St. Entry

Moby’s Wait For Me & David Lynch: The soul of Moby’s new record is based off an experience the artist had listening to speech presented by David Lynch on art and commerce. And not unlike much of Lynch’s films, Wait For Me is dark and brooding throughout. The connection to the legendary director, screenwriter, producer (the list goes on and on) is one that is especially timely considering how many brilliant projects Lynch has his fingers in as of late. Aside from drawing the cartoon that was used as the video for Wait For Me’s lead single, Lynch has taken to an undertaking developed in part by his son called Interview Project. The series documents Lynch’s son and a friend as they drove some 20,000 miles around the country taking short interviews of people they met along the way. There are 121 interviews in total, and Lynch introduces every one of them. Oh, and he’s on Twitter… the man is everywhere. [Chris DeLine]

Moby Wait For Me Review

Also: Retroselective – The Best of January | February | March | April