Tonight: Three CD Release Parties: Big Quarters, Gay Beast, Magic Castles

*MP3: Big Quarters - “Good Look”

If you don’t already have plans this evening, check out one of the three CD release shows going on tonight at various venues in the MPLS. First off is the CD release show for hip-hop duo Big Quarters. Though it’s been online and in stores for nigh on three weeks now, it’s only tonight that the duo will be celebrating their latest release, From the Home of Brown Babies and White Mothers, tonight at the Triple Rock. Mothers is attracting solid press from both blogs and print alike, so hopefully the duo can translate that momentum into an energetic live show. (As if that need be in doubt.)

Check out the lineup for the show tonight (via):

BIG QUARTERS (CD RELEASE SHOW!)
MANKWE NDOSI
KILL THE VULTURES
ALISSA PARIS
AND SPECIAL GUESTS
w/ DJ’s: NOAM THE DRUMMER, TODDA, & BENZILLA

18+ | 9:00 PM | $7.00

*MP3: Magic Castles - “Emory’s Memories”

Of course those looking for music that’s equally as chill, but in vasty different in terms of genre, can look no further than the CD release party for spaced-out psych-rock collective Magic Castles, who release their very meta-indebtedDream of Dream of Dreams (nice work, Sigmund). We’ve already discuss the Castles and their magic earlier this month, so we can let the music speak for itself—and, based on the dreamily peaceful, otherwordly soundscapes and 60s rock melodies, there will be plenty of people who will want to listen. Check out the lineup for the CD release show at the Hexagon, which reads as a magnificent primer (Daughters of the Sun, Vampire Hands) for the city’s burgeoning psych scene. Show is at the Hexagon, is 21+, and the cost is free!

But if it’s something with a little more visceral appeal that you want, then you probably couldn’t do any better that see a band with a name like Gay Beast. The duo’s eccentric, unclassifiable music definitely makes them stand out amongst several already worthy duos who take electronic sounds to newer, scarier places. The duo celebrates the release of their Second Wave record tonight at the 7th Street Entry, and with them are several of MPLS’s wonderfully out-there (Mute Era, to name but one) duos. Check it out at the Entry for an 18+, $6 show.

(Jon Graef)