Local music: Winter warmup

The two best times of the year to see live music in the Twin Cities are the most extreme of times -- outside in the heat of summer, when the sweat drips through your T-shirt, or inside during the freeze of winter, when the sweat permeates your thick-as-Cee-Lo coat.

Case in point: last Saturday night, one of the worst of the god-why-do-I-live-here nights of weather lately. Falling snow was about the only noise around an especially sleepy Dinkytown, but the doors of the Kitty Cat Klub opened up to reveal a boisterous, sizzling scene.

A few hundred fans had turned out to see Mel Gibson & the Pants' first show of 2009 (and their first since early 2008; they're promising more this year). The size of the crowd alone was genuinely a warming sight. Yes, mom and editors, people really do go out to see these bands I write about every week.

But equally igniting was the attentiveness paid to opening act Lookbook, a buzzed-about new electronic-pop duo that made the lineup for the First Avenue Best New Bands of 2008 showcase next Wednesday.

Forget hibernation. Winter in the Twin Cities music scene is more in line with spring's rejuvenation. It's all about discovering new bands -- and not just because there's little else to do for fun, though that's a good enough reason. There also are all the year-end lists this time of year that tip people off to newer bands (true in Lookbook's case). Plus, there are more open dates on club promoters' calendars for local bands to fill. Everyone else is too chicken to play here in January and February.

Hence the Best New Bands show at First Ave, which is consistently the best live compilation of new talent from year to year and a great event for the uninitiated-but-not-disenchanted to stay up on the local scene. The lineup comes from an informal poll of scenesters plus a little in-house favoritism by First Ave/Entry booker Sonia Grover. Here's a rundown of the acts playing this year (in no particular order; the show's schedule has not been set).

Lookbook With her former band Digitata now on hold, indie ingenue Maggie Morrison formed this duo with guitarist/keyboardist/electronics guy Grant Cutler -- sort of the Dave Stewart to her Annie Lennox. Some of their songs indeed have a Eurythmics-ish '80s pop vibe, but others are ethereal and pretty like Kate Bush or futuristic and haunting à la Portishead. They've issued one EP and are working on another.

Yer Cronies This quartet of Apple Valley childhood pals got a big boost in the spring when Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses (who has a main squeeze here in town) recommended them to his Sub Pop labelmates Fleet Foxes for an opening act. It was a good fit for YC's echoey, reverb-soaked, dramatic but not weepy brand of Radiohead-meets-Neil Young brand of rock, as heard on their startlingly clean, self-released, electrifying '08 debut CD, "When I Grow Up."

The Dynamiters When these guys landed on the Picked to Click poll this past fall, they joked on their MySpace page, "By 'Click,' they are no doubt referring to the sound of our arthritic joints." No, they're not babes. Co-leaders Nathan Grumdahl and Dave Gardner spent almost a decade playing in the Selby Tigers and a few more years in the Monarques and Die Electric!, respectively. Like a lot of veteran-filled bands, their new garage-punk quartet has a just-for-fun mantra that results in some serious rock 'n' roll oomph.

Kristoff Krane A member of the experimental rock band Abzorbr and part of Eyedea's freestyling Face Candy crew, Krane (aka Chris Keller) spun off on his own with "This Will Work for Now," a solo CD that effectively, spastically bounced between edgy, fast and freakish rapping, Everlast-like singer/songwriter growling and a little psychedelic trip-hopping.

Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps Another willowy, folky, college-age tunesmith like Lucy Michelle, the banjo-plucking Smith cut her teeth on a weekly gig at the 400 Bar (a jumping board for Mason Jennings and more) and has developed more of a modern indie-pop style, with hints of Feist and Sufjan Stevens. She and her three bandmates issued their first CD in November, titled "Backyard Tent Set."

Bouncer Fighter "What the..." is the most oft-heard reaction to this mad whir of a band. The experimental coed quartet is made up of longtime friends who started borrowing instruments in 2007 to create an utterly ramshackle, head-scratching, Butthole Surfers-ish, kitchen-sink mash-up of punk, surfabilly and sheer noise. Musically, anyway, they're the "newest" of First Ave's new bands.

Tisdales' dirty 'Dozen' Since his old band, Ol' Yeller, came to an end more because of personal schedules than artistic differences, it's neither surprising nor disappointing that Rich Mattson sticks relatively close to a familiar Americana-garage-band formula on "Baker's Dozen," the debut by his new band, the Tisdales. About half of the 14 tracks easily could be mistaken for Ol' Yeller music -- even including the ones sung by Mattson's new like-minded bandmate, Tony Derrick, whom Mattson teamed with after producing Derrick's previous band, Hotel Corral Essex.

Plenty of new life and ideas can be heard on the CD too. "Faces," which isn't actually about Rod Stewart's old band, still has the Faces' jovial, boisterous vibe. And there's a sweet Pirner/Murphy vibe in the melodic rocker "I'm Getting Out," plus several heavier, stormier gems with the two-guy appeal of the Raconteurs. Considering the Tisdales are very much in their infant stage, it's an impressive debut. They're promoting the CD with a party tonight at Stasiu's Place (10 p.m., $5).

Random mix Lots of local musicians, club staffers and scenesters gathered at the Cedar Cultural Center Tuesday for a memorial for sound engineer Tom Cesario, a fixture at First Ave and other venues around town. He died just after the holidays at age 35 of undisclosed causes. "Those of us who knew him are still in shock that his presence will be absent in our lives," said Martin Dosh, one of the acts Cesario worked with (also: Andrew Bird and Yo La Tengo). ...

Almost five years since they first started performing together again, former Jayhawks leaders Mark Olson and Gary Louris have finally scheduled a hometown gig Feb. 21 at the Varsity Theater to promote their album "Ready for the Flood," in stores Jan. 29. Tickets go on sale Jan. 16. ... Another Minneapolis-bred reunion coming to the Varsity: Information Society on March 28. ...

Minneapolis' queen of music booking, Sue McLean, has been nominated for independent concert promoter of the year by the industry's top trade magazine, Pollstar. McLean's gigs include the Music at the Zoo and Women of Substance series, Basilica Block Party and lots of Guthrie and Fitzgerald theater shows. ... Xcel Energy Center is also up for another arena of the year award from Pollstar, their seventh in as many years. Since no one is building arenas in this economic climate -- especially NHL halls -- the St. Paul venue could remain a favorite national venue for years to come. Now if it would only vary its beer selection and keep the gyro stand open during concerts.