Pick Six: Praise of 'Song Exploder,' Purple Mountains, Queen, Lyle Lovett, St. Paul Peterson

Jay Boller of City Pages:

1 "Song Exploder." This podcast lets musicians dissect one of their songs — from inspiration to execution to recording. A recent episode highlighted folk-rock Big Thief's "Cattails," a mesmerizingly beautiful ode to singer Adrianne Lenker's Minnesota grandma.

2 Purple Mountains, "Purple Mountains." "You see, the life I live is sickenin'/I spent a decade playin' chicken with oblivion." So begins David Berman on his debut as Purple Mountains, a dynamic new platform for the former Silver Jews leader's bleak-yet-hilarious lyricism and cowboy shuffling.

3 Pizza Lucé Block Party. Night Moves, the twangy and trippy Twin Cities breakout stars, will precede Har Mar Superstar on Aug. 10.

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Jon Bream of the Star Tribune:

1 Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" video reaches 1 billion views on YouTube. It's the first pre-1990 video to achieve that mark. Thank "Wayne's World" and the 2018 Rami Malek biopic for reinvigorating interest in this pre-MTV 1975 video clip.

2 Lyle Lovett, "12th of June." Harmonizing with fiddler Luke Bulla and mandolinist Keith Sewell at the same microphone at the State Theatre, the Texas guitarist offered this new bluegrassy-folk love song about the day twin children were born. Expect it on his new album in 2020.

3 St. Paul Peterson, "Something in the Water." This new single is a simmering synth-funk salute to the Minneapolis Sound, with shout-outs to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Sonny T, Morris Day, André Cymone, Jellybean Johnson, Bobby Z, Willie Murphy and pretty much everyone but the Purple One, who so obviously influenced all this funkiness that he doesn't need to be namechecked.