Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis is one of my favorite places in America. It's serene, speckled with emerald oak trees and gravel pathways, centered around a hole-in-the-ground waterfall. It's also an anomaly.
How could a park so lush and organically overgrown exist two miles from an international airport? Five miles from an NFL football stadium? Six miles from the nation's biggest shopping mall? Quad-City Times Reporter Gannon Hanevold An urban jungle surrounds this real one. Old railroad tracks loom over the top of the Minnehaha walkways. Metal and moss merge into one.
This duality defines the Twin Cities, so it feels like no coincidence that it also aligns with the sound of St. Paul-born band Hippo Campus, a pop-rock group who exploded to indie fame with 2017's "Landmark." The four-piece act has songs that are equal parts aspen and asphalt.
The inspiration often comes from their hometown, Hippo Campus guitarist Nathan Stocker said in a Friday interview from a 62-degree media trailer, at the piping hot Hinterland Music Festival in Saint Charles, Iowa. Hippo Campus lead singer, Jake Luppen, performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Friday, August 2, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
"For me, that's really important in those moments where I'm looking for jumping-off points of inspiration," he said, speaking with calculated pauses before each word. Hippo Campus is releasing their fourth full-length album, "Flood," on Sept. 20.
The album's press release calls it Hippo Campus' best one yet, and the killer singles "Everything At Once" and "Paranoid" make a compelling case. But lead singer Jake Luppen disagrees with the tagline. "I think the idea of best anything is ridiculous," he said, sitting across from Stocker, looking his bandmate's way for a nod or a laugh.
This is not Hippo Campus' best album, he says. But it is the best Hippo Campus. That matters even more.
Hippo Campus performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Friday, August 2, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Ahead of "Flood," the band got sober together, processed the grief of a close friend together, and went to group therapy together.
Asked about that last part, the band's disconnect with the "Flood" public relations push becomes apparent once more. "Did that make it in the press release?" Luppen asked, with a frustrated chuckle. "That's unfortunate.
" But still, the two were candid in their answers. Luppen said the group has performed in a state of "arrested development," since they've been on stage together since they were teens. Stocker said the therapy was necessary, because the last few years have had some "not so flattering moments.
" That's when Luppen corrected him, asserting they are no Metallica. There is no drama. This is just a group of friends figuring out how to grow together after the warm glow of inception has worn off.
It's working. Indie rock band Hippo Campus performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Friday, August 2, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
"We're the healthiest that we've been," Luppen said. "And I could see us going a lot longer, having done the work we've put in now. I couldn't when we were 23 and just running off of sheer adrenaline, fear and excitement.
" Longevity is the goal now for Hippo Campus. There is no tier above their current level of fame that they want to reach, so they now measure success in moments. "There's a space that we tap into when we're playing music together that is very unique to this group of people, that fulfills us in a very deep way," Luppen said.
"There's been moments when (that feeling) has dwindled and felt low, but I think success for us is preserving that." You could see it on stage at Hinterland, when Stocker and Luppen pushed each other around during opener "Yippie Ki Yay," stumbling like kids on a playground. While playing "Flood" single "Tooth Fairy," Stocker's tatted arms bounced like an antsy teenager's tapping on a wooden desk.
Toward the end of my interview with Hippo Campus, we talked about those tattoos — both Luppen and Stocker have sporadic sleeves of trees, vases and faces. But they also have one piece of ink in common: a zip code on their side that everyone in Hippo Campus got inked. "That one means a lot for sentimental reasons," Luppen said.
Hippo Campus performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Friday, August 2, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. The five digits almost certainly harken to their Twin Cities roots, but Hippo Campus won't confirm it.
I ask anyway, looking for the stuff you can't find on a press release, and Stocker declines. "That's all you get to know." While playing "South," one of the band's earliest hits, there was a huge crowd reaction at Hinterland on Friday.
There was also a complacency in Luppen's eyes, and I can’t blame him. He's played this one many times. He'll play it again at Lollapalooza the next day.
Underneath that look, though, was a certain satisfaction, a sort of permanent smirk. That must be the feeling, the home they sing of in “The Halocline." The best Hippo Campus yet.
A look at lead guitarist's Nathan Stocker left arm sleeve while Hippo Campus performs at Hinterland Music Festival. It's a busy live music weekend, so I can't pick just one concert to see in the Quad-Cities, so I'll throw a few at you. Saturday: Summer Jam '24 at Vibrant Arena ($35, 7:30 p.
m.) The Mark's first rap show since 2022 will certainly be a fun one, with a stacked lineup of throwback acts: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Xzibit, Yung Joc and East Moline's own Torrian Ball. I'll be there to review the show, and I'm really looking forward to seeing "Tha Crossroads" and "X" live.
Sunday: Twen & Enumclaw at Raccoon Motel ($15.88, 6 p.m.
) I've been struggling with the Sunday predicament of seeing Pete Davidson's comedy at the Capitol Theatre or an alt-rock show at Raccoon Motel. I'm leaning toward the latter, simply because Twen's "One Stop Shop (For A Fading Revolution)" has been all over my rotation, and I have a hunch that Enumclaw is about to drop one of this year's best records with "Home in Another Life" at the end of August. The Seattle band's singles this year ("Change," "Not Just Yet") have rocked, and their 2022 album "Save The Baby" was a Swiss Army Knife of well-written alternative.
Tuesday: Ben Folds at Capitol Theatre ($35, 7 p.m.) Rock singer-musician Ben Folds will perform at the Capitol Theatre in August.
I'll also be writing a review next week of the Ben Folds show at the Capitol Theatre. The pop-rock virtuoso has played songs for movie producers, novelist Nick Hornby and, now, the Quad-Cities. His "Paper Airplane" request format for this show will be one of this year's most unique show gimmicks.
I'm a huge fan of the B-sides on "Rockin' The Suburbs," so I'll be practicing origami in anticipation. Macklemore Lastly, I want to admit something that's controversial but shouldn't be: Macklemore is a good rapper. The Seattleite burst onto the scene with his Ryan Lewis collaborative album "The Heist" in 2012.
It won Best Rap Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards in a disgraceful pick over Kendrick Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.
d. city." But Macklemore's screenshotted apology text to Kendrick, his few obvious duds and the radio oversaturation of "Can't Hold Us" and "Thrift Shop" made him easy to hate.
He also became easy to parody, with politically self-conscious tracks and often corny punchlines. Macklemore, left, and Ryan Lewis appear on NBC's "Today" show at Rockefeller Plaza on Thursday, June 23, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP) This is the truth, though: "The Heist" is a great record.
It somehow balances the silliness of tracks like "White Walls" and "Gold," and the sincerity of songs like "Starting Over" and "A Wake." In a Daytrotter session recorded in 2009 and released this week in 2012, Macklemore played an acapella version of "Heist" track "Wing$," under the name "Air Jordans." He also performed the anti-addiction anthem "Otherside," with a different instrumental that samples the Red Hot Chili Peppers song of the same name.
It's called "Hollywood" on this tracklist. "This is my offering card, the only thing I have to offer is bars," Macklemore raps, in a freestyle called "Heartstring," over a dynamic, orchestral beat. The improvisational song is spiritual, but skeptical, a flip-phone picture of a Seattle kid who found God in a Nas song on his Walkman.
This is Macklemore at his most endearing and honest: a rapper, and a good one, who grew up obsessed with hip-hop until hip-hop became obsessed with him. Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
A young girl gets a boost while watching Chappell Roan at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. A sold-out crowd watches Chappell Roan at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. A woman, decked out in pink, watches Chappell Roan at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
A woman holds up a handmade poster of Sunday's performers at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Women dress up in honor of the Chappell Roan and Ethel Cain performances at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain's bassist, an Iowa native, wears a Caitlin Clark jersey, at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. A bartender sprays a guest with a super soaker at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
People used water to stay cool in the mid-90-degree heat. Scenes from Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
A bartender poses with a water gun to soak over-heated guests at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. A group of friends poses for a photo at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Two young girls wear matching pink cowboy hats and heart-shaped sunglasses to Chappell Roan's performance at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
People film performers from the barricade at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. An over-crowed venue watches Chappell Roan's performance at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Pink beach balls bound around the crowd during Chappel Roans performance at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Chappell Roan fans pose for a photo before her performance at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. A fan dances to Chappell Roan at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. People pose for a photo from the barricade at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. People watch Ethel Cain's performance at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Chappell Roan performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Scenes from Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Scenes from Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Scenes from Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. Scenes from Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
Ethel Cain performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa. Festivalgoers wait in line to refill their water bottles at Hinterland Music Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in St.
Charles, Iowa. On the first day, people waited in line for 30 to 45 minutes, with at least one person cited of passing out from the heat. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Entertainment Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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