Eleanor Friedberger/Colin Meloy and Juliana Hatfield/Matthew Caw

We like The Fiery Furnaces' Eleanor Friedberger, having caught her in Minneapolis a few times (in June and in September). She's returning here on the last date of the Colin Meloy support tour.

Colin Meloy, as you probably know, is the lead singer of the much-beloved The Decemberists. The band is currently on a break, but in the meantime, you can catch Meloy on his various project.

His latest cover lover EP is called Colin Meloy Sings The Kinks, which is part of his series of bands and musicians that has shaped Meloy's life… including, of course, Morrissey, Shirley Collins and Sam Cooke. I believe many of these physical CDs can only be purchased at his live shows.

As for Friedberger, expect her to sing some of her novelette songs from her Personal Record, co-written by Wesley Stace (aka John Wesley Harding). I caught Stace recently, and he actually does a song from Personal Record ("When I Knew"), so it tells me he's quite proud of his collaboration with Friedberger on that album.

Colin Meloy and Eleanor Friedberger tour dates:

Minor Alps, otherwise known as Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws (of Nada Surf) just released their debut album, Get There via Barsuk Records.

I don't think either Juliana or Matthew requires introductions, but in case you didn't know: we like both musicians.

As long as I can remember, Hatfield started her music career with the Blake Babies. When they broke up, she had a massive hit with "My Sister" in her newly reformed band Juliana Hatfield Three (which I caught them in 1995 at the height of their popularity).

A few years ago, we caught Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) in Toronto, Canada at NXNE. I can tell you that she looked and sounded great!

And who doesn't love Nada Surf? We caught the band last year when they were touring in support of The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. The band was super tight, and you can tell they've been playing and operating as a band for a long time.

The duo will be out touring in support of Get There, can't wait for them to get here in Minneapolis.