Fresh Listen: KCMP (The Current) Minneapolis

Under any circumstances, Triple-A KCMP (The Current) Minneapolis would have rated a “Fresh Listen” as it approached its 21st birthday. 

Since its launch, The Current had redefined what was possible for a noncommercial Alternative or Triple-A outlet, foreshadowing once-unlikely 6+ PPM success stories from KEXP Seattle to KUTX Austin, Texas, to WXPN Philadelphia. 

The Current billed itself as Alternative when it launched. It reports to the Triple-A chart now, but over the years, it has helped make that a less-important distinction. The Current also foreshadowed Triple-A becoming more open to Hip-Hop and R&B. (Its first song was by local rap act Atmosphere.)

In 2005, only SiriusXM was credibly trying to wrest the “music discovery” franchise away from FM radio. Now, The Current and its Triple-A counterparts are chief among curation’s last broadcast-radio strongholds. In doing so, they’ve also shown that Triple-A doesn’t have to be mainstreamed to be viable (although they are currently playing Harry Styles).

The Current likely had an unlikely impact on Classic Rock KQRS. The onetime market behemoth drastically reworked its music a year ago — keeping AC/DC and Queen, dropping Journey and Bon Jovi, and adding Jane’s Addiction and the Arctic Monkeys. (I’ve updated my article on KQRS from last year to include a recent monitor.)

I was going to write about The Current just ahead of a planned Jan. 23 anniversary show featuring Joseph, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, and local singer-songwriter Colin Bracewell. On Jan. 21, two weeks after the ICE killing of Renee Good, the show was cancelled. Three days later, Alex Pretti became the city’s second casualty. 

I heard The Current two days later, on the morning of Jan. 26. In an hour’s listen, there were only two allusions to the turmoil there. One was a sweeper that promised “when the world feels heavy and unsettled, music brings people together.” The other was local music, Cloud Cult’s “Compassion” — a contemplation on the bad day the other person might be having, and hoping their doctor is calling with positive test results, regardless of what their bumper sticker says.

I heard The Current again in middays on March 11. KCMP played “Compassion” again. This time, Zach McCormick made the connection, saying that lead singer Craig Minowa had intended it as a comment not only on America’s division, but also on ICE’s presence in Minneapolis. (The song is a Current exclusive, posted only on the band’s Patreon.)

On March 5, there was another show that did take place, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit’s “A Concert for Minnesota.” That one was broadcast live on KCMP. If you listen today (March 26), you can hear the finale in their March Music Madness playoffs.

Here’s the Current just before 10 a.m., March 11 under PD Lindsay Kimball and MD Amber Hoback:

• Patti Smith Group, “Ask the Angels” — wrap-up of a “Coffee Break” salute to female-fronted punk rock, also including L7, the Donnas, Sleater/Kinney, the Slits, and others
• Vial, “Creep Smoothie” — local female punk
• Arctic Monkeys, “Opening Night”
• 10cc, “I’m Not in Love” — a logical segue from the “spacy loungey” feel of the previous song
• Sugar, “House of Dead Memories” — they’re doing a homecoming show in September
• Mitski, “Where’s My Phone”
• Eels, “Novocain for the Soul”
• Alvvays, “Belinda Says”
• Dijon, “Baby” — “fractured R&B,” in McCormick’s words, that bore more resemblance to Brandy’s off-kilter “What About Us” than the ’60s/’70s sound that often dominates R&B at Triple-A
• Cloudcult, “Compassion”
• Jade Bird, “Headstart”
• Harry Styles, “Aperture” — teased earlier but not commented on, rather segued into hard-rocking “local classic …”
• Lifter Puller, “To Live and Die in LBI”—Hold Steady leader Craig Finn’s earlier band
• Dry Cleaning, “Hit My Head All Day”