Sudan Archives
80/35 Music Festival. Des Moines, IA
July 7
Violinist, singer, songwriter and producer Brittney Parks has been through town once before, in 2021, so her ridiculously energetic set as Sudan's Archives was no surprise. But this summer it arrived with extra firepower Natural Brown Prom Queen, the tour de force of house, R&B, hip-hop, and pop was released in 2022. Alone on stage in a miniskirt and heels, Parks belted, lived, and expertly sawed her fiddle, winning over an early evening audience waiting for guitar headliners the War on Drugs. For the celebratory finale “Selfish Soul,” Parks joined what she called her first backup dancers, students from a free ballet and dance program for black and brown youth offered through a local nonprofit. Embedded in the movements of both Parks and the dancers was a sense of spontaneity and promise that stood as a counterargument to so much of the top-down, blockbuster-dominated pop culture of 2023: If he can do it, they can and them, so can you. – Mark Hogan
Sweeping promises
7th St Entry; Minneapolis, MN
August 20
After a stellar and bittersweet final set by local punks Green/Blue, Sweeping Promises' show at 7th St Entry, the small venue attached to the historic First Avenue club, got off to an inconspicuous start. Lira Mondal quietly sang the opening lines of 'Eraser', the first track from their latest album, The good life is coming for youbefore the belt at full volume. Good life is an album with a built-in lo-fi muffle, but without any distance between audience and band, everything became infinitely louder: the bass grooves, Caulfield Schnug's guitar solos and above all, Mondal's extremely powerful voice. The show took place days after the mass shooting at Minneapolis' DIY Nudieland venue, and the band, which emerged from a similar network of DIY scenes and punk shows, played a celebratory tribute between songs. It was a great show for a community to experience loud, great music together in a small room. – Evan Minsker
