By Mickey Davis

Paragraphs Paragraphs is a four-piece band that formed in 2009. The first band on their list of influences is Atlas Sound and if you have ever listened to Atlas Sound, you will be able to tell that the band plays a large influence. Minimalist rock music with little to no singing, the band would not be out of place opening for either Bloc Party or Tegan and Sara.

Their CD is available online at prgrphs.com, and they are pulling a Radiohead by not setting a price for the album but instead letting listeners choose what they pay for it. As most college students won’t pay a dime, it is worth making the effort to go to the website and download the CD.

Ten Centuries

City Pages describes one of Ten Centuries’ songs off of their latest CD as “the ideal contemplative companion for a walk through winter woods,” which seems to be an alliterate way to describe the band’s music overall. The two musicians traveled to a northern Minnesota cabin to record this CD, and the influence of their surroundings shines through in the hazy guitars and shimmering keyboards. You can catch them live on April 2 at Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis.

DOSH

A local musician who really needs no introduction, DOSH is the stage name for Martin Dosh, percussionist / electronic music artist / brother of Macalester Political Science professor Paul Dosh. After playing in numerous bands through the ’90s, DOSH released his first solo CD in 2002, which introduced a keyboard- and percussion-heavy mix of samples and melody lines to create very involved music that features little to no singing.

DOSH’s new CD will be released in early April, and to celebrate he will be playing three back-to-back-to-back shows in the Twin Cities. The first show on April 9th will be at 7th Street Entry. The next night, he will be at the MacPhail Center for music and the following night will be at the Bedlam Theater.

The Envy Corps

Not technically a local band, as they are from Des Moines, but with the advent of the Internet and radio, what’s a few hundred miles anymore? The Envy Corps is a four-piece band that is played quite often on The Current here in the Twin Cities. After releasing an EP last August, the Envy Corps is in the studio working on their second full-length album, which is due out later this year.

The closest approximation of this band’s sound is that it is similar to the feeling one gets when the first morning of spring appears unexpectedly and all seems good in the world. That, plus a dance party. Lead singer Luke Pettipoole does his best to channel Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, only that he is singing happy songs instead of whatever it is Radiohead sings. They have also been compared to Coconut Records and MGMT, and they once opened for The Killers on a European tour. If you like the sound of any of these bands, the Envy Corps is worth looking into. Check them out at www.myspace.com/theenvycorps.