Continued: Music: Palmer's jukes it up

One of those way-old Minneapolis bars where you're never really sure what hour or even decade it is, Palmer's could become more of a regular music venue this year -- and possibly fill the void left on the West Bank by the sadly still-shuttered Viking Bar.

Chris Mozena, who runs a new "alt-blues" label called Halfdoor Records upstairs from Palmer's, has also started booking bands downstairs. His first big show is Thursday with Mississippi boogie knights the Jukejoint Duo, aka Cedric Burnside (grandson of R.L.) and Lightnin' Malcolm, with a local support cast that includes the Brass Kings, Luther the Devil and Palmer's regulars Cadillac Kolstad and Cornbread Harris (7 p.m., $5). Kolstad and Harris will also celebrate their second anniversary of Sunday gigs there Jan. 25, and they have a "Live at Palmer's" vinyl album coming out on Halfdoor soon thereafter. Separated in age by 50 years, Kolstad and Harris symbolize the old-is-new aesthetic that could come to define Palmer's.

"We are looking to reintroduce the bar to Twin Cities alt/country/blues fans," said Mozena, who promised a semi-regular music schedule there starting next month, including more touring acts.

Plenty of local musicians boast of having Eastern European influences in their music, but Urban Hillbilly Quartet leader Erik Brandt can actually say he made his latest album in the Eastern Bloc. A teacher by day at St. Paul's Harding High School ("Go, Knights!"), Brandt took part in an exchange program in Budapest for the 2007-2008 school year. The Americana/folk tunesmith eventually made some musician friends there and wrote the songs that make up his new collection for the House of Mercy label, "Sometimes," an intimate disc that's sprinkled with Hungarian music influences but loaded with the kind of wide-eyed lyricism and sense of displacement that most of us would get from living in a foreign land for a year. Brandt will promote the disc Thursday at Ginkgo Coffeehouse in St. Paul (7:30 p.m., $8-$12).

I had one immediate reaction listening to "Cast Off," the latest CD by local dance-rock mainstays Avenpitch: Somebody has been listening to a lot of LCD Soundsystem. To be fair, though, comparing Avenpitch leader and local electropunk ringleader Todd Millenacker to James Murphy & Co. also would have been apt with their two previous albums. Millenacker's upbeat, punchy songs avoid the dour, goth-ish rut that too many other digi-rock bands fall into, and he incorporates punk and metal influences bravely, albeit sometimes clumsily. Avenpitch's CD party is Saturday at Club Underground (9 p.m., $5).

Attention, local Brit-rock fans: There's a new blog in town called Brit Rock at the Top, run by local tennis semi-pro Brody McCoy, who has put together a lineup Saturday at the 400 Bar featuring three new local bands with overt U.K. influences: Sika, a Radiohead-ish quartet made up of fellow tennis players (how Brit is that?!), plus the hazier and folkier Victory Ship, who have a song called "Rod Stewart" (also very Brit, or at least Scot) and Joey Ryan & the Inks (9 p.m., $5). ...

With drummer Chachi Darin living in Philadelphia to play with the Fueled by Ramen-backed punk band the A.K.A.s, the Janis Figure is playing a rare reunion set tonight and Saturday for the Cash Only IX tribute to Johnny Cash at the Cabooze. Ol' Yeller is also getting back together for the shows, which feature other usual suspects Sherwin Linton, Trailer Trash, White Iron Band and more (9:30 p.m., $12). ...

With midweek gigs more valuable than ever this time of the year, I thought I'd slip in a plug for Black Audience, who kicked off a month of Thursdays at the Red Stag in northeast Minneapolis last week (10 p.m., free). Not only was it a fine showing by the eclectic, all-acoustic Irish/gospel/folk ensemble led by ex-Valet singer Robin Kyle and his soulful wife Jayanthi, but the gig was also a great showcase for the stylish but laid-back supper club, with its warming red walls and candlelit tables -- and even warmer happy-hour-priced beer and wine menu. ... The Thursday Minneseries shows at the Nomad, meanwhile, are being led in January by newcomers Claw Like Things, a jaggedy, obtuse, shrill rock trio with traces of the Pixies and Violent Femmes (also 10 p.m. and free). ...

Eau Claire's Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) will issue his first new tracks since the acclaimed "For Emma, Forever Ago" on Tuesday, a four-song EP called "Blood Bank." There's no cabin-bound hibernation for Vernon this winter: He's currently on tour in Australia.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658