Come on out to Club Underground tonight to see Jagged Spiral perform live!

On stage!

They might even play some music!

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Concert, Cool Event, Jagged Spiral, Minneapolis Event, music

While I find politics as distasteful as Emo music, and as boring as watching golf on television, it does give me an abundant supply of material to blog about.

Take votechooser.com for instance. Select your opinions on the issues that matter, and Vote Chooser selects the candidate whose opinions most closely match your own...

...except for one large detail.

Did you notice that only Republicans and Democrats are represented? There are other parties, you know. In fact, those who come to see Jagged Spiral perform at Club Underground tonight will get to hear me announce an entirely new and different political party! All the more reason to brave the cold and come out to hear some live, loud guitars!

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Concert, Jagged Spiral, political, Politics

For a change of pace at work today, I was trying to listen to KXXR, the local "Hard Rock" radio station also known as 93X.

Cake?
The White Stripes?
Red Hot Chili Peppers?

W.
T.
F?

Thought I had the wrong station for a moment, until they played some whining, crying screamo (Linkin Park), and then some Post-Black-Album-Metallica (AKA: Mooktallica), then I knew I had the right station: 93X, We Play Meddle for Boys in Caps! Crank it up while you drive your 4x4 down to the "World of Wheels"!

Bitchin.

And if it wasn't bad enough that the music is watered down like the drinks at the strip club, there were more commercials and annoying DJs than songs. Should anyone be surprised that terrestrial radio is losing market share to satellite?

Don't get me wrong, I think Tool deserve to be played every single day, but the Fucking Red Hot Chili Peppers?

This town needs a real Hard Rock / Metal radio station. Let's hear some Prong (Did you know they have a new album?) or Motorhead. There's an interesting genre called Melodic Metal, but 93X wouldn't know about that.

There's been some great releases in the last couple years; Kamelot's "Ghost Opera", Blind Guardian's "Twist in the Myth", The Deathstars "Termination Bliss", In Flames "Come Clarity", and more; bands that kick the piss out of crap like Godback and Nickelsmack, and might even make people interested in music again, but 93X has no clue.

Female-Fronted Hard Rock / Metal bands are going gangbusters; Nothing Gained, Scarlet Sins, Betty X, and my new favorite OTEP. I mean, here are some talented bands, and they are even TRYING to get Pop Metal stations like 93X to play them by doing metal covers of pop songs. Scarlet Sins did a cover of "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode, and OTEP covered "Breed" from Nirvana, you can check it out here:

OTEP - "BREED"

Add to My Profile | More Videos

This remake hit the Billboard charts in Canada. Have you even heard of this band? Of course not, because you were listening to Angry Teen Angst God-Damned-Nickel-Smack-Back on 93X.

Call me spoiled. I was so happy when 93X first launched, and they really were playing good music; Nirvana, Motorhead, G-n-F-n-R, Prong, NIN, classic Metallica, Marilyn Manson..., stuff that made me blow out the speakers in my car over and over again.

What happened? Regardless, the honeymoon is over, and where the playlist for 93X hasn't stagnated completely, it's moving into mook-rawk and screamo. Ever hear a radio station say they needed to go 'back to their roots'?

It's 2008, and 93X doesn't know Doro Pesch from Peaches.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: anti, Music Industry

Gothy places and events in the Twin Cities are difficult to find outside of Ground Zero. Not that the Heartland doesn't have a dark side, far from it. Its just that the cool events like the Zombie Pub Crawl and the Goth Prom get lost in the deluge of mook bars, DJs, and karaoke nights.

I try to help when I can, but even I miss out on things; for example, I didn't hear about the Zombie Fashion Show until after it was over. And I'm sure there's plenty of people who don't want to wade through my slanderous movie reviews and delirious raving about DRM, just to pick out the occasional gothy tidbit.

Therefore, the need for a website like darktwincities.com "Your source for all things Dark and Spooky in MSP". They focus mostly on music and clubs, but they also have music reviews and plenty of other gothy-goings-on in the forums; fashion, news and whatever else your dark heart desires.

If you know of a Dark and Spooky event going on in the Twin Cities, make sure to stop over at darktwincites.com and post it in the forums, or e-mail their staff using the link on the homepage, they will even get your event flier posted on the frontpage.

Like the Jagged Spiral concert next Thursday, for example:

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Cool Website, Ubercool

Just thought I should point out this article on First Avenue, which appeared in today's Star Tribune, and clear up some possible misconceptions:

-No, it is NOT my ass in the photo.

-Yes, it IS my star on the wall of First Avenue.

-No, none of the Conrads mentioned in the article are me.

No problem, happens all the time.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: A Day In The Life, Culture

The wait is over.

Songboom is a site that reviews other online music delivery sites. None of the sites reviewed have DRM. They even lay out a great comparison matrix of all the sites reviewed.

And FINALLY, download prices are realistic. How's about a DIME per song? Doesn't that sound better than the i-screw? I mean you could go to i-tunes and download Within Temptation's "The Silent Force" for the same price as a hard-copy, un-DRM-infected, artwork-included version, or you can to go mp3fiesta.com and download the entire album for $0.99

Oh, I'm sorry, i-tunes doesn't *have* "The Silent Force". Heh. Hey i-tunes? Blow me.

Or you could pay import prices for Coil's "Music to Play in the Dark 2" album, or you could get download it from mp3fiesta.com for $0.97

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Cool Website, DRM Sucks, music

Fearless Filmmakers is on Jan 30th this month at the Oak Street Cinema. This month's Fearless will feature content from local bands; documentaries, music videos and such, including my personal favorite - Revolver Modele.

And don't miss the after-party at the Kitty Kat Club, with live music by Bella Koshka and To Kill a Pretty Bourgeoisie. (As if you needed a reason to hang out at the Kitty Kat?!)

Hope to see you there!

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: indie movies, Minneapolis Event

Listening to Dir En Grey. Not bad, I suppose. I have to wonder, is it just me, or does "Clever Sleazoid" sound like "Scooby-Doo does Death Metal"?

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: music, music reviews