Welcome to The Scouting Report, a monthly list of 10 Minnesota artists with exciting new projects, as curated by our local music team. If you like these picks, check out The Local Show on Sundays from 6 to 8 p.m., hosted by Diane. For more music discovery from The Current, watch for Jeffrey Bissoy's The Come-Up, highlighting new local hip-hop and more. Also, each Thursday, The Current's music director Jade picks great new tracks from around the world.

Lots of great music out this month — and lots of great concerts, as detailed by our buds at Racket and our own Darby Ottoson. Hope you’re able to enjoy the abundance this spring!

FènixDion

FènixDion is the new project by Keston Wright (Static Panic) and Sam Bramble (Native Kinds), who have been friends and musical collaborators since childhood. If we had to guess: this is the project of theirs that’s going to pop. Their debut single, “Mama Say,” is a simmering stew of funk, rock, reverbed vocals, and clever drumming. We’re looking forward to more from their album Sugar, which drops later this year. FènixDion will perform at Bauhaus Brew Labs’ Liquid Zoo on May 21. - Cecilia Johnson

The SuperModels

One of the Twin Cities’ most prolific and interesting songwriters, Mark Ritsema was barely out of high school when his band Mouthful of Bees started to get national attention. Ritsema went on to co-found the ascendant Night Moves with ‘Bees buddy Mickey Alfano before landing back in Minnesota to pursue his own musical vision: the provocative, neon-blasted glam-pop of Suzie. While Ritsema retired that moniker in 2019, you can hear Suzie’s platinum-bright hooks shining through on the SuperModels’ track “Not in Love,” this time filtered through the flickering VHS screen of early ‘80s college rock and new wave thanks in part to input from drummer and co-conspirator Fez Felzan (Wild Firth, The Shrinking Violets). The SuperModels will release their debut album on Apr. 8 at Mortimers with MURF and the recently-reunited We All Have Hooks for Hands. - Zach McCormick 

Yam Haus 

Fresh off their stretch representing Minnesota on American Song Contest, Yam Haus released their pop-rock song "Ready To Go" via Atlantic Records. The song’s sharp wit lands supremely amongst the fun and joyous background. The group has an energy that could only come from musicians that are totally excited to be playing together. However, the band failed to make it to the next round, explaining via Twitter: "for every yam haus hater there is 5 devoted moms who absolutely love our band." Yam Haus will tour the U.S. in May. - Youa Vang 

Cult Vibes  

Explosive, danceable, assertive and peculiar are just a handful of words that come to mind when listening to Cult Vibes debut record, Let’s Celebrate. The alternative rock band is a “pandemic born” trio consisting of Kentucky Gag Order’s Dōjō Holliday, Greg Schaal, and Catbath’s Matthew 'Gravey' Graves. Dōjō's lyrics are nothing short of magical poetry, which bounces along to Graves’s punchy guitar work and Schaal’s drumbeats. A spirit-lifting musical project, indeed. We especially recommend track one, “Celebration,” which offers the reminder: “If you’re shoveling grief, shove it up your sha-la-la.” - Diane 

Timisarocker 

The way I have been playing this song on repeat. Timisarocker is a St. Paul quartet fronted by Tim Dooley (the titular rocker), and this band can write a song — their single “27 Club” offers ruminations on fame and mortality on top of one of the catchiest choruses I’ve heard in a minute. For me, this song scratches the same itch as Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer” and the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’s “Face Down.” That’s right: pop punk is back! Timisarocker will open for Weekend Picnic at the Underground Music Cafe on Apr. 23 and perform at White Squirrel on Apr. 29. - Cecilia Johnson 

Mary Bue 

Dense as the bones she writes about, Mary Bue’s new tune sees her writing about heartbreak and past lives and holding them close. Her pain hangs around like an old ghost that refuses to move on, and Bue uses “Bones And The Marrow” as therapy. The piece carries her deep voice up and down corridors of hurt until you can just see a sliver of hope at the end. No one can write vulnerability like Mary. The new single is a glimpse of what is to come on her upcoming album, The Wildness of Living and Dying. - Youa Vang 

Lady Midnight 

Lady Midnight’s latest single, “Arms Around Me,” floats in an atmosphere of ambient electronic sounds with delicate-angelic soul singing. Mike The Martyr's trap beats lightly shape-shift, rattle and pulsate around Midnight’s vocal center. It’s meant to be heard intimately – perhaps with other humans in a dimmed room. Makes sense that the acclaimed Minneapolis artist is doing a month-long residency at Icehouse, a warm, industrial venue, ideal for chilling out to cool music. The first three Thursdays in April, Lady Midnight’s residency will explore different themes with special guests from the Twin Cities. - Diane 

Alien Book Club 

An easy first-ballot pick for “Best Local Band Name” honors since they formed in 2019, Alien Book Club are a cherry bomb of personality dropped into the toilet bowl of indie rock’s algorithm-induced stupor. Thumbing its nose at lazy categorization attempts, “ABC’s” March 2022 album Desecration of the Whispering Salamander careens from manic Jeff Rosenstock pop punk to Zappa-esque acid rock, taking pit stops for gory emo murder ballads and ska-punk sax solos. “Ghosted by Sharupa” showcases Alien Book Club in all its schizophrenic glory, insightfully tangling with concepts of gender identity and sexuality while sounding like the kind of super-fun party that the squares wish they weren’t too freaked out to attend. - Zach McCormick 

Graveyard Club  

Graveyard Club make music that yearns for the simplicity of childhood, when daydreaming and careless exploration was encouraged. Their latest single, “Nowhere,” sounds at the point of painful heartache as vocalist Matthew Schufman sings “I know where/ I’m nowhere.” The joyous music softens the tone and blossoms out the melody, with production and mixing work by familiar names in our local scene: Andy Thompson (Cloud Cult, Matt Wilson) and Beau Sorenson (Bob Mould). Graveyard Club’s next full-length, Moonflower, will release June 17. - Diane 

Rich Mattson and the Northstars 

Storytelling is set deep in Rich Mattson and the Northstars. Mattson has been penning tunes for the last four decades and releasing them as steadily as someone who knew that music would always be his calling. The newest single, “Greetings From The Island Of The Guitars,” finds us and, well, greets us with deep guitar grooves. It’s comforting and charmingly unpretentious in a way only Mattson can deliver in his humble northern Minnesota manner. The band will be sharing this new single at the Hook & Ladder on April 23 with Leslie Rich and the Rocket Soul Choir. - Youa Vang 

"Greetings From The Island Of Guitars" premieres on April 11.