Karina Rykman and Tarias and the Sound, 7th Street Entry (Oct 11 2026)
- Late Checkout
- Shoegaze Summer
- Easy Rider (with Erotic City)
- Plants
- Change My Flight
- I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot (Ween Cover)
- City Kids
- Riverside Drive
- Childlike
- Spacecase
- Reboot
- Working Man
- Atom Dance
- Elevator (with Detroit Rock City)
- Gimme All Your Love (Alabama Shakes Cover)
- Supernatural
- Say It
- What Kinda Man?
- The Wolf and the Honeybee
- Maybe Rollercoasing
On a record-setting Sunday in October, where the Twin Cities saw its second 90+ degree day in a row, 7th Street Entry played host to local artist Tarias and the Sound and child of the Upper West Side (Shout out Zabars!), Karina Rykeman. I’m going to be honest, you know, in contrast to the lies I normally tell you, I was not looking forward to heading to a concert on a Sunday evening. I had a big day tomorrow at work, the couch was soft and cozy, my wife and daughter were about to watch Attack of the Clones (one of my top-12 favorite Star Wars movies), but I had a gig. A concert needed me to review it, so I put on my pants, well shorts because it’s crazy hot right now, drove the 12 minutes to 7th St, found great parking and psyched myself up to be present in the moment. And aren’t I glad I did. I was witness to a spectacular display of artistry, and now I will diminish it with my clumsy review. Enjoy.
Tarias and the Sound is the passion project of Tony Omodt-Lopez and according to the website, he plays with a different set of musicians for every live performance. Tonight he was joined on stage by bassist (6-string bass?!) Thomas Ritchie, guitarist Kellan Ireland-Niemeyer, and drummer Evan Espinoza Robles. All are local artists who play with other bands. They must’ve played together before because they had really good chemistry and it was evident they were enjoying themselves. They started off with a fine cover of “Gimme All Your Love” by Alabama shakes. Tony was not daunted by the relative emptiness of the venue, there were only four of us on the floor for the first song, and kept his energy and engagement up. By the end of the set, the floor had filled out nicely and the crowd, which included quite a few friends of the band, was loud and appreciative. After the initial cover, the band played six original songs. “Supernatural” was the first and Tony told us about the power of music and using it to get into the “flow” as a description for the song. “What Kinda Man” is Tony’s counter to toxic masculinity and a call out for positive masculinity and getting us thinking about maybe what a man should be – I can get behind that. There was a guitar switch between songs, which led to tuning, which led to a broken guitar string. “First time that’s ever happened on stage” he told us while laughing. Back to the gold guitar. It seemed like each song gave an opportunity for one of the artists to shine and they all took advantage. They did a nice job of warming up the crowd.
Karina and her band (Adam November – guitar, Chris Corsico – drums, and newest member Pete Miller on keyboards) took to the stage at 9:10, which according to their set list was actually five minutes early, not ten minutes late like I originally thought. Karina, who we have reviewed before, was wearing a black pajama onsie or coverall maybe? I don’t know, look at the pictures and decide for yourself what it is. She did a quick happy hello and then launched into the title track off of their new album Late Checkout with a shit ton of energy. There has been many a comedy sketch about the low status of the bass player in a band, but when the bass player is also the dynamic lead singer, those tropes go out the window. Karina just exuded charm and energy as she bounced around the tiny stage, putting her wee foot up on the speaker while strumming a sick bass line that melted a fan’s face with its proximity and intensity only to stride to the other side and melt another fan’s face with her bass talent. By the end of the show, I counted at least ten faces completely melted off; it was a horrifying blood bath, but the music was so good the fans tolerated the carnage. OK, so maybe faces were only metaphorically melted, but that still counts as a melted face, which, I’m told, is the highest aspiration of any jam band out there. Well done Karina Rykman band, well done. Karina mixes a lot of covers into her songs and we saw that first with her single “Easy, Rider” mashed up with Prince’s “Erotic City”. She knows her audience and appropriately paid homage to the “Great Purple One” as she called him. As the show went on, Karina became more talkative and the crowd grew louder. This was clearly a crowd that knows her music well. She called out one fan in particular, Jimmy “the wired guy” (maybe he kills people for the mob using a piano wire? No, I feel like they would just call him “the pianist” if that were the case. Maybe he’s just high on life?), who travels around the country going to their shows. He was definitely wired and the crowd loved it. Having a good friend who grew up on same the street on the Upper West Side, I enjoyed her call out to her childhood street with the song “Riverside Drive”. Over the course of the hour-and-a-half set, they played fourteen songs, which really showcased their talents. Karina seems to have boundless energy and a real joy about performing. When you’ve got those two elements plus talent plus fans that adore you, it’s going to be a great show. I’m incredibly grateful I overcame my ennui and ventured out on a steamy Sunday night in October to be a part of the magic the show created.
