Omari Eternal is a multidisciplinary artist with roots in the Twin Cities and talent that takes them around the country. Thinking of DJing as a way to paint a picture, Omari Eternal’s mix shirks genre in favor of a message for liberation and unity.

We chatted with Omari Eternal about their background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below:

Music has always been a huge cornerstone of my life. I met my partner, Pauli Cakes, in 2020 and they showed me how to mix and blend music. It changed my perspective, and that's how I got into DJing. 

Very eclectic, sporadic. I like to use many different sounds. I'm not afraid to bend genres. I'm not afraid to bend social norms. 

What have been some of the most gratifying moments for you as a DJ?

The most gratifying moments have been when I'm DJing and I look up and see people having a good time. Dancing, not on their phones, just present in reality. That's a really hard thing to do in this day and age, to get a person to pay attention to something. It's the attention economy, after all.

You're an artist in a lot of different rights. What are some of the other media that you like to express yourself in?

I'm a tattoo artist and I also draw. Pretty much any medium that I can get my hands on, if it can make a stroke, then I probably will use it.

It's all connected. I see myself as a painter. No matter what I'm doing, whether it's making music, DJing, or tattooing, I'm putting a painting together for people to view. That's how I see it.

Today, we're gonna be going into my mind a little bit. I also want to draw the parallels between the struggle in Palestine to liberation in general. There's a parallel between the Black struggle and the Palestinian genocide that's happening currently today. That's something I want to try to convey through my set, if possible.

Stay tuned for new mixes on Carbon Sound every Wednesday. If you’re a DJ and want to be considered for the series, email a mix of yours to jgreen@mpr.org.

Julian Green built and manages the music library for Carbon Sound and oversees content creation.  


Julian Green

An intentional mix from a multidisciplinary powerhouse.


Omari Eternal (4/2/25)

House, Electro, and more from Omari Eternal | Carbon Sound

Every 1st of the month, we’re creating a roundup of our favorite tracks, projects, and music videos that were released by Minnesota artists from that previous month. 

Keep our favorite tracks in one place with “Carbon Sound’s 1st of the Month” Spotify playlist. Expect an updated 1st of the Month Playlist on……every 1st of the Month.  Mark your calendars accordingly.

Minnesota is lucky to have a collective of talented artists like Ozone Creations. They have consistently released jam after jam. “Feel It” is the latest single from Mack OC and I have been genuinely obsessed. The production and vocals are top-tier, and it’s a perfect tune for the upcoming warm weather. - Natalia Toledo

I'd pay good money for a vocal chain reveal from REVII, who lays down an angelic performance on their new track "Take me as I am." Great vocals, a killer hook, and a powerful beat come together to make this special track. - Julian Green

There’s so much to love about Jesirae’s new track “Intuition.” The production that feels like a sunny day stroll, her storytelling, and throw in a catchy hook as well. My intuition tells me to expect more great vibes like this from Jesirae all year. - John Kueppers

Chanelmarie Brooks - A Soulful Silhouette

XINA - PURE POTENTIALITY (Official Video)

Fat Twin - Can't Even Tell | Presented by No More Heroes

14HunnitVon - Woah Shawty! (Official Music Video)

Mack OC, Ozone Creations “FEEL IT” Lyric Video

Mack OC, Ozone Creations - FEEL IT (The Only Lyric Video)

LASALLE "That Was The Moment" | Pardon the Noise (S6, E05)

NUNNABOVE’s Red Noise performance at Green Room

NUNNABOVE- Red Noise (tribute to The Wiz)

Brother Ali “Immortalized” On The Radar Performance

Jovonta Patton’s “When the praises go up” with Maya Marchelle and Jazze Pha

Jovonta Patton - When the praises go up ft. Jazze Pha & Maya Marchelle(official Video)

Dwynell Roland and P.O.S’ song featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]}]}

Author

John Kueppers

Natalia Toledo

Highlighting Carbon Sound’s Favorite Minnesota made tracks, projects, and music videos released over the month of March, 2025.


Carbon Sound's Best Minnesota Music from March 2025 graphic

Natalia Toledo | MPR

Carbon Sound's 1st of the Month

NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES

A Soulful Silhouette

SECRETS

SEASON SIX

FURFANTE

Selah C.- Doctor Bills (Official Video)

Minnesota Music Releases to check out from March 2025

SYM1 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things pop music.


The Message - SYM1

I Don't Have To Pay For This

Right 1 4 Me

John Kueppers | MPR

Interview: SYM1

This weekend, a Minneapolis dance festival puts improvisation center stage — not as a rehearsal technique, but as the performance itself.

One of those performers is Taylor West, who’s exploring what it means to create movement in the moment.

“I took improvisation class or classes in college and have learned about the technique of improvisation,” West said. “I’ve been in processes with choreographers where they asked dancers to improvise a little bit.”

West admits she’s still fairly new to using improvisation as the product of a process

“It’s been a very interesting learning, discovering process for myself,” she said.

West is developing a piece for the 2025 Black Dance Improvisation Festival, which is taking place Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis. She is one of several artists whose work will be featured.

The festival is organized by Leslie Parker, a Twin Cities-based dance scholar and choreographer. She says it offers artists a space to explore their connection to improvisation and its cultural meaning.

Parker says that for Black dancers, improvisation isn’t just a technique — it’s often tied to questions of identity, history and cultural legacy.

“Sometimes, artists want to know more about improvisation and more about, ‘OK, what does it mean to be a Black body in improvisation, and what is this lineage?’ And then ‘do I fit?’” Parker said. 

“This is an opportunity for that, for them to explore even more.”

She is the founder of the Leslie Parker Dance Project, which engages in research, performance, and training opportunities that explore and advance Black culture. She points out that improvisation is an art form expressed through different mediums like music, visual arts and dance. 

Taylor West, photographed on March 18, is one of the dancers whose work will be featured at the Black Dance Improvisation Festival.

“It is a way that I think about community and bridging communities around conversations, and the way that I imagine what a Pan-Black African experience could look like in the dance community, surrounding the world of Black improvisation,” she said.

While Parker studies the pedagogy of Black dance improvisation, she says the festival focuses less on technique and more on how each artist approaches the form.

“It’s not just a tool for exploration. It is the end of what it is that we’re doing, and it is a very thoughtful process,” Parker said. “It requires a degree of reflection and taking the time to understand what an individual’s process is.”

For West, that process has been a sacred one, that has led to reflections beyond dancing.

“To live as a Black person is to improvise, in every sense of the word.”

The Black Dance Improvisation Festival will be held at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

Jacob Aloi

The Black Dance Improvisation Festival in Minneapolis invites artists and audiences to see improvisation not just as a tool, but as a complete performance form rooted in Black cultural traditions.


Courtesy of Black Dance Festival 2025

Jacob Aloi | MPR News

Black dance festival highlights improvisation as performance, not process

We're proud to announce UNBOTHERED as our next resident DJ curator. 

Dedicated to celebrating life and music through dance, UNBOTHERED is the brainchild of Yasmeenah, a DJ and event organizer based in Minneapolis. Through careful curation, UNBOTHERED has celebrated the Black roots of electronic music. Living legends such as Kai Alcé, modern mainstays like Ash Lauryn and Akua, and rising stars, local and national, have had some of their first-ever appearances in Minneapolis thanks to UNBOTHERED bringing them to town for unforgettable events.

As a DJ herself, Yasmeenah is a fixture of the Minneapolis scene with a healthy list of superlatives. Her DJ in the Park series last summer brought warehouse ravers (and their dogs and kids) into the sunlight. She has played nationally on lineups legends like Marcellus Pittman and even opened for Fred again.. when he came to town last fall.

Yasmeenah will represent UNBOTHERED during its residency on Carbon Sound. Expect deep explorations through the annals of house history every fourth Wednesday from now until July on Carbon Sound.

We chatted with Yasmeenah about her background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below:

This is your second time in the studio. How has the last year treated you?

It's been busy, but a good busy. I'm really excited for what's to come

A little recap - You had your DJ in the Park series, you opened for Fred again.. How did that come together?

The Fred again.. show was really random. They hit me up, like, two days before the concert and were like, “hey, do you want to open for Fred again..?” And I was like, why not? It was a great experience. I've never played for that many people, and Fred again..’s team was really accommodating.

DJ in the Park was probably one of my favorite things that I did the past year. I really liked being outside and playing music for people outside of the nightlife setting. It was cool seeing  fellow party goers bring their children, family, and friends who normally don't come out at night. It will be coming back this summer.

UNBOTHERED is just a lifestyle. I feel like there are lots of things in this world that make us feel bothered. With UNBOTHERED parties, I want people to feel free to express themselves and release from their body. I think in order to do that, you have to allow yourself to be unbothered. 

Soulful, Jazzy, deeper house tunes. Lots of instrumentation. I love live instruments and and percussion. Then, easing into what I like to call “party house,” what I would normally play for a packed dance floor. 

I think my goal with the [UNBOTHERED residency] sets ia to let the tracks breathe and let people hear what they have to give. I've noticed with longer tracks, some of my favorite bits end up being in the last four minutes. But all around, I would just call it good house music. Period.

UNBOTHERED Presents: Yasmeenah (3/26/25)

Deep House mix from Yasmeenah | Carbon Sound x UNBOTHERED

Each week, we add new music, older tracks, which are known as “Gold adds”, and tracks that might not fit our general format, but still deserve a place in rotation because they serve our mission of showing the depth, breadth, and influence of Black musical expression - These are known as “Variety adds.”

. If you make music and want it considered for rotation, 

 If you want to give feedback directly, reach out to me at jgreen@mpr.org.

Tune in to hear our host Sanni B. live on The Message from 10 AM to 1 PM Monday through Thursday!

Keep all these tracks in one place with the 

 Spotify playlist. This playlist is updated weekly with all the new adds. When that playlist is cycled with new tracks, the tracks live forever on the 

 playlist. That playlist contains all of the music that we've added since the week of July 11, 2022 in chronological order of when it was added. All of the tracks available on Spotify, at least.

All of the tracks added to rotation on Carbon Sound the weeks of March 10 and 24, 2025.


Image for New on Carbon Sound Spotify playlist

New on Carbon Sound

Old on Carbon Sound

New Music on Carbon Sound - Weeks of March 10 + 24, 2025

David Smith sat down with Carbon Sound’s host Sanni and talked about his journey in music production and arranging for live shows, his new band (@0308band) that’s bringing a modern feel to the Minneapolis Sound, and more.


David Smith sat down with Carbon Sound’s host Sanni and talked about his journey in music production and arranging for live shows, his new band that’s bringing a modern feel to the Minneapolis Sound, and more.

The Message - David Smith

Everybody Got "Tipsy" With Shaboozey Ft. J-KWON's Mashup Of "A Bar Song" | BET Awards '24

Interview: David Smith

I’m a super daydream-y person but there wasn't a lot to daydream about in my surroundings. Except for being on the bus going to school, where they would play the radio. I would always think about what the DJs must be doing. That was the first time I can remember being really interested in it. When I was 18 or 19 I met Shannon Blowtorch, which kind of reignited that fantasy that I forgot that I had from being a kid.

I'm very much rooted in the technique of hip-hop battle DJing, which I think is kind of rare in the house scene that I play in. A lot of my technique is more hard cuts and stuff like you would hear in hip-hop mixes; more turntable technique as opposed to the more melodic stuff that I personally see out a lot from house and techno DJs. I noticed that they play a lot more with sound frequencies and stuff like that, whereas I'm much more about certain musicality things within the music I listen to; especially if I'm doing hip-hop sets and house sets, because there will be little things in songs that remind me of this other little thing from this other song. I'm very open to playing with stuff, whether or not it sounds good, and just figuring it out. If I can make it sound good, that's even better. I think it's playful, but careful.

A couple came to mind right away. One was the set I did last year for May Day at Powderhorn Park. I think that was one of my favorite sets I've ever done. I could only see the first five or six people that were in front of me and nothing else, so I played for them. Little did I know my friend was up on the hill getting a video of the whole crowd. I think if I knew how big the crowd was at the time, I would have been really, really scared. But getting to see it in the aftermath and realizing I can move people that way — not just physically, but emotionally — with music is really gratifying. 

The other one was, we had an employee party for my day job. We got to go to Paisley Park and they let me DJ for the party in the NRG lounge, where Prince threw parties in his house. It was one of the coolest moments my entire life and probably one of the greatest experiences I think I'll ever have. I don't think I've ever been treated that way as an artist — having to come in through the loading bay and and give my ID to a security guy for an all access pass, having people carry my things and escort me to the stage. It was really jarring at first, until I actually got to be on the stage, take the setting in, and realize how special the opportunity was.

Some house and some UKG I'm really excited about. I think having house, and the particular kind of house that I feel like people know me for playing, made it a really easy avenue to get into UKG. I think UKG is like house, but it has a swing to it that just puts a little bit more in your step than house might. 

Stay tuned for new mixes on Carbon Sound every other Wednesday. If you’re a DJ and want to be considered for the series, email a mix of yours to jgreen@mpr.org.

Fun house and garage edits from a Minneapolis mainstay.


DJ Sci-Fi (3/19/25)

Person with afro puffs smiles in Polaroid photo 1

House and UK Garage mix from DJ Sci-Fi | Carbon Sound

We're proud to announce Tim Wilson as our first resident DJ curator! Tim Wilson is the owner and proprietor of Urban Lights, one of the few remaining Black-owned record stores in the US. 

Wilson has been a longtime pillar of hip-hop in Minneapolis through his work at the store, artist management, and hosting Faders Up - a weekly session for hip-hop DJs and turntablists.

Tim selected the four DJs that will be featured in Urban Lights' residency. Urban Lights' mixes will air every second Wednesday for through May.

Behind the decks is Tony Williamson aka DJ Layz T, who hails from the north side of Minneapolis and began DJing in 1978. He began spinning records in the park and quickly elevated to the radio and club scene. We chatted with DJ Layz T about his background and intentions for the mix.

We chatted with DJ Layz T about his background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below:

It's hard to say. I came across it by radio. There used to be a radio station, KBEM, way back in the day. 

 had a mix show from 10 to 12 [PM]. We got hooked on to that. Then it was just like, “okay, how can I do that?” So, we started mimicking it from there. 

It really hasn’t. Of course, my forte is hip-hop, but there’s also R&B. I've done a bar mitzvah, quinceañera, all the hood parties, house parties, neighborhood clubs, corporate. So, you know, you gotta be versatile. Play the pop music, country and all that. I can go wherever, if I need to.

How did you get involved with Tim and Urban Lights?

It's kind of funny. It's a house party. He's friends with a guy named Troy Foster who's a south sider. We used to be running buddies. Long story short, we went to a south side house party and ran into Tim. Back then it was north side versus south side, but we just hit it off from there. Tim was doing a record pool, then he got his own shop over there. So that’s where we're at. He's been at that record shop, what, 30 years? We been together that long.

I set up something, but it'll probably change. Normally everything's real speedy. I came across an idea where I slowed everything down. So, it's a different tempo. Same vibe, just different tempo. Because if you know the songs, you'll be like, “oh, it ain't that slow.” So we'll change it up.

Hip-hop throwbacks from an Urban Lights Faders Up mainstay.


DJ Lazy T (3/12/25)

Hip-Hop throwback mix from DJ Layz T | Carbon Sound x Urban Lights

Urban Lights Presents: DJ Layz T (3/12/25)

Ori The Ghost is a DJ and producer based in Minneapolis. A fixture of the underground electronic scene in the city, she is affiliated with local collectives PIVOT and Acme. Ori’s high-octane style is filled with left turns and kinetic, hand-sculpted grooves.

We chatted with Ori The Ghost about her background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview, edited for length and clarity, below:

Not a great place, actually. I’ve always considered myself as someone who's usually on the outskirts of things. So much so that I felt like a ghost in a lot of spaces I was part of. I didn't feel like I was connected with a lot of people. These days, it's a lot different. But the origins of me also being an online person, playing a lot of video games, and having a lot of internet relationships made me feel almost like a transparent entity rather than a regular DJ. I also make stuff and produce things, so I felt like putting the word DJ in my name never made sense.

Has being a DJ helped you become more connected with people?

100% If it wasn't for DJing, I don't know where I would be creatively right now. I wouldn't have so many outlets in which to express my creativity, especially in the city. Without DJing, all these opportunities would just be left in my bedroom. DJing has brought the opportunity to let me share ideas that I have and a lot of the music that I love and have been collecting for a while. It’s been a wonderfully net positive.

The universe. I'm not a super spiritual kind of person, but I do believe in signs. I resisted the idea of being a DJ for a while because I just never made sense for what I was making at the time. Then I got an opportunity from the a local DJ here who gave me the idea to start, but I said no. DJing still wasn’t on my mind. They eventually asked again and I was ready at that point, but they had a big year and got busy, so my opportunity passed. 

Eventually, I got a presented with the opportunity again by someone separate, Gerardo Morado. He's the head of the Acme Collective. He like, was like, “yo, I see you on the floor. I see you have a sense of rhythm, do you want to learn how to DJ?”  I think at that point the universe was slapping me in the face. All signs point to doing this I was very blessed with the opportunity to have my hands on actual CDJs and XDJs. I feel like a lot of my growth came out of being given these opportunities.

People's responses. I get really scared, specifically when it comes to playing stranger rhythms,  more abrasive sounds that I'll probably sprinkle in between some of the hardgroove that I really wanted to play today, because I'm scared of people's reactions to them. 

Being from Iowa, a lot of people don’t even want to listen to regular dance music, let alone the more abrasive sounds. So, I felt very timid about sharing that with people, especially at shows. When I did, there were people who identified with wanting to hear these sounds and wanting to experience the dance floor with music that they listen to. I felt super gratified in the sense that what I'm doing is doing something for at least a few people, that's enough for me.

I have a mixture of a few sounds. Hardgroove and a more a fast-paced 140 [BPM] feels right for this space and the legacy of what I hear on Carbon Sound, but also honoring the sounds that I really love and enjoy. I think hardgroove is a really good conduit for that… There will be a lot of different ideas in there that all have high-octane, metallic energy to them that I like to bring to most of my music and sets.

Mark Broom - W.W.W.W.W.W.W.WORK (Original Mix)

INTIMATE CLUB RECORDS - Submarine FM - Cute Boys

Ori The Ghost - When Did It Get SAUR Hard (i think about it all the time edit)

Constantine -  I Want To Be Down Vs Boy Is Mine

Mark Broom -  Paid In Full (Mark Broom Edit)

Groovy techno and daring club from a Minneapolis underground mainstay.


Groovy techno from a Minneapolis underground mainstay.

Ori The Ghost (3/5/25)

Person holds two peace signs and smiles brightly in Polaroid photo

Stories