The Magnificent Seven

New-band nights are sometimes a good way to catch a diamond in the rough, though of course there's always the risk that what you're really going to get is one small diamond and a shovelful of gravel. First Avenue's annual Best New Bands showcase, taking place tonight in the Mainroom, is not your average evening of newbies, though. Think of it as a freshman honors ceremony: Chosen by First Ave staff and invited members of the Twin Cities musiceratti, these bands have earned growing fanbases and demonstrated the potential for future greatness. In other words: Show up early and stay late for this show. Here's a look at the seven bands on the slate.
 
Bouncer Fighter
Genre: Punk
Bouncer Fighter might be the most appropriately named local band in years: Listening to their music, it's hard to not feel like you're witnessing a child at play. Not content to simply sit around hitting blocks into holes, Bouncer Fighter is the kid running around grabbing whatever looks interesting and then speeding off to the next thing. First you’ll notice the customary elements of the spazzy punk that typifies their songs: guitars, drums, keyboard, and—wait, that's a viola. And where did that saxophone come from? This slam dance of a band writes pretty much everything: organ-fueled dirges, western fueled two steps, and good old thrashy punk. A lot of anger and depression is laced into the music, but Bouncer Fighter is nonetheless a band all about keeping positive when surrounded by things that are heavy.

Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps
Genre: Indie-pop/folk/acoustic
With a voice as feisty as it is delicate, Caroline Smith is the Twin Cities’ best new singer of lullabies for grown-ups. This group makes folk-y music that sounds like an endorphin rush and Smith puts a bit of wavering beauty in each lyric, often backed by an upbeat banjo and an airy acoustic guitar. Throw a bubbly tambourine into the equation, and the result is straight-up whimsy. Maybe that’s why so many Good Night Sleeps songs sound as pretty as fairytales—yet with their subdued smartness, never stale or saccharine. Even with all of the music’s good cheer, The Good Night Sleeps still sound raw and organic, so Smith never comes off as Walt Disney’s doting ingénue.

The Dynamiters
Genre: Garage/punk-rock
“New” band? In one sense, yeah. The Dynamiters may have formed in 2007 and debuted its first 7” single only recently, but the punk quartet is suffused with experience, rock-star status, and music cred. Rotating vocalists Nathan Grumdahl (guitar) and Dave Gardner (bass) played together in the lovably bratty Selby Tigers, and with guitarist/singer Brian Shuey and drummer Jeff Guntzel on board, The Dynamiters can further add Die Electric!, Freedom Fighters, Monarques and more to its collective resume. The resulting sound is that of a band that knows exactly how to translate a scowl into an impossibly catchy song. Sing-along anger anthems like “(Do The) Do As Your Told” are fiery, sometimes snarling, and not without a sense of humor. Despite its membership’s many side-projects and impressive day jobs (Gardner records and masters albums for bands like The Hold Steady and Doomtree; Guntzel is senior editor of the Utne Reader), The Dynamiters sound cohesive, convincing, original, and very much “this band is my life.”

Kristoff Krane
Genre: Hip hop
Having collaborated with Abzorbr, Saturday Morning Soundtrack, and Face Candy, Kristoff Krane is a poster child for a thriving Minneapolis music scene. But his solo album This Will Work For Now is deserving of consideration free from comparisons and name-drops. A hip-hop singer/songwriter given to message-driven, experimental music, Krane samples beats as carefully and intentionally as he chooses his words. His instrumentals and vocals are smooth contrasts to the turbulent stories in his lyrics. His poetic narratives are dense with meaning and hard to shake; the distress coursing through his music is as deliberate as the positive message it ultimately, and characteristically, contains. Krane also turned author with the recent publication of The Other, an interconnected collection of lyrics, letters, poetry, and other written works. He’s credited for being exceptionally connected to his fans—a rapping Dear Abby for some, he often records songs live with his audiences using a loop-pedal.

Lookbook
Genre: Electronic
Here’s all you really need to know about Lookbook: In-store play at the Electric Fetus of EP I Fear You, My Darkness prompted no fewer than three of the half-dozen people in the store (a snowy, slow night) to ask what was playing. One person bought it on the spot, and it’s not hard to see why: The record opens up views of vast, empty spaces—fields, deserts, cathedrals, parking lots—lit by starlight, moonlight, candles, and the flat, salty glow of streetlights. Cool, metallic drum machines slice through the fuzzy haze of analog synths and on top of it all floats Maggie Morrison, whose pure, limber croon intertwines with Grant Cutler’s falsetto, a ghost of Morrison’s voice. Live, Morrison is free to strut her stuff while Cutler cues the breaks and swirls the sounds, occasionally unslinging the mic from his shoulders to provide vocal counterpoint. It’s all seductively casual, appropriate to the spareness of the music, and completely compelling.