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"

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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

While many of you huddled in your homes running the furnace, stove, and possibly an open fire in the living room to keep warm, there were many hardcore music fans who braved the bone-chilling temps to attend "The Best New Bands of 2007 Showcase" at First Avenue.

Any time someone says "Best Of..." anything, I always ask who sponsors the event. In this case, Radio-K and City Pages. Like last year, the lineup was diverse and non-offensive, with the exception of the name of one band; "Gay Witch Abortion" which is only fun to say because it should offend everyone. Anyway, here's my take on the bands:

To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - Music to listen to as your overdose takes hold, and your life slips away from you. As they said in a recent interview: "We're more surprised by the number of people who get it than those who don't." I didn't. Maybe if they had played at a summer outdoor concert near running water, I would have enjoyed it more. Reminded me too much of Snowpony; dreary, sludgy soundscapes, drowning in reverb. They aren't untalented, though. Check out their video rolling around on the internet somewhere, it's hella cool.

A Night In the Box - Reminded me a bit of Scissor Sisters, minus the queer disco thing. (Um, I meant that as a compliment.) Violin, banjo(!), acoustic guitar and drums, with a whole lot of soul. Do yourself a favor, go over to their myspace and listen to "The Hustle" and see if you can avoid tapping your feet. Their myspace lists them as "Bluegrass / Folk Rock / Indie" but they forgot "Kick Ass".

Black Audience - Gospelish bluegrass with soul, although their myspace lists them as: "Zouk / A'cappella / Acoustic". Talented, and laid-back. Lots of band members playing in the half-round, including a banjo and one of those hand-drum-things you usually only see at Renn Fest.

M.Anifest - I'm probably the last person to ask whether a rapper is 'good' or not, but I can tell you this: M.anifest is quite the wordsmith, with a positive message. He isn't into "chick-slap-rap" or gangsta crap. His album "Manifestations" made 5th best in Star Tribune's Top Local Albums of 2007. His show relied on audience participation and call/answer which the crowd was too shy or chilled to deliver. M.Anifest had the energy and delivered the goods, but the crowd simply wasn't responsive.

Gospel Gossip - I will often get 'swept up' in a bands performance, but I can't remember the last time I got this pulled in, like a make-out session that goes farther than you wanted it to, but turns out to be an amazing experience... Sorry, I was drifting off there, but Gospel Gossip has a great live chemistry, sometimes pretty/shiny but not sugary, trippy but not really psychedelic, and much more energy than their myspace songs will tell. I have to see them again. Definitely the most "ON" of all the bands in the Showcase.

Mouthful of Bees - The drummer (Katelyn Farstad) was Really Really Fucking Impossibly Good. The songs...not so much.

Gay Witch Abortion - With a name like that, you better stand up, and you better stand out. They did. Its amazing to see two guys make so much noise. With only drums and a guitar that sounded like it was run through no less than six Superfuzz Bigmuff petals, they were by far the highlight of the evening for me. Imagine Prong with very few lyrics and a kind of freeform-style song structure. You cant. Thats why you should go see them live. Much like Vampire Hands from last year, I think this is a live band, and I wouldn't count on any recorded medium to capture their energy.

The bands that kicked all ass this year brought Energy to the stage. Gospel Gossip and A Night In The Box proved they didn't need to be loud or angry to do it. Gay Witch Abortion proved you don't even need a whole band or lyrics to do it. Good work, and another group of bands to catch live in 2008...

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Concert, Cool Event, Minneapolis Event, music reviews, Ubercool, year-in-review

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

2007 won't go down in the history books as a particularly memorable year, although with NO competition from the other 200x years, I would say 2007 wasn't that bad.

Things worth Raving about in 2007:


-jaggedspiral.com The website got a MAJOR overhaul, and I personally programmed every last line of HTML/CSS by hand using an esoteric combination of Notepad++ and Adobe GoLive. Thanks to James for the new, shiny band logo.

-Days From Evil the two-year long project finally released at the end of 2007 with one track released on the internet (FOR FREE) over the last 9 weeks of 2007. Click here and scroll down for the download links. Fans can use the "donate" buttons on the website to set any price on the album they like. Note that Radiohead took the same approach with their latest album, "In Rainbows".

-The Demonslayers Handbook - Is done. Finished in the middle of 2007, I set the book aside, and came back to it over the Christmas break, and read the whole thing, cover to cover. It is finished. Now, I'm ready to send copies out to those who are interested, and procure the help of an agent...

-Nine Inch Nails marketing genius. The Alternate Reality Game / Marketing behind the Nine Inch Nails release "Year Zero" was nothing short of genius. Trent Reznor remembered that an album is more than just an album, it's an experience. The more you can add to that experience for the fans, the better. In the case of Year Zero, the album is great on it's own, (and if you haven't heard "Capitol G", you're missing out) but the experience of the online phenomenon/pseudo-conspiracy pushed this album to the top for 2007, and showed the rest of the world how its done.

I-[fill in the blank] "I" is the new "E". Pretty much anything that started with "I" in 2007 was something you shoulda bought stock in. I-Pod, I-Tunes, I-Phone... And as much as I railed against the horrific, poisonous, anti-consumeristic atrocity that is DRM, you simply can't stop what the consumers want. The battle isn't over yet, but it's obvious that people want music, and they want to get it through the internet and not over the counter; badly enough to put up with DRM. The only thing holding up the works are the record companies who simply DO NOT understand the new system and keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Things worth Ranting about in 2007:

-DRM = Dumb RIAA Morons I railed on DRM in 2007. A Lot. I'll let up once its dead, along with those who supported it.

-35W Bridge Collapse. I was surprised at the reaction of many Americans to this disaster, specifically those NOT involved. If someone in Minnesota gets hit by lightning, you generally don't have people calling in from other states to see if you are alright, or bloggers posting announcements that they and their families are OK, and everyone running to twitter.com to update their status as "Uninjured". Strangely, if you talk to anyone in Minnesota (Except myself and Xtina) they will tell you they JUST drove over the bridge, moments before it collapsed. That's about 4,919,477 people, which pretty much explains *why* it collapsed.

Things to look forward to in 2008:

The End of ze world. Well, if we assume that Nostradomus made some kind of mathematical error...

-Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Not that I want to get my hopes up too much, but hey, it's too late. 22 May 2008 Baby!

-Guitars, not DJs. DJs are dead. Good riddance. Long live guitars!

-Jagged Spiral LIVE Look out world! Jagged Spiral is coming to a town near you! (...as long as you live near Minneapolis.) The band already held court at a private party back in October, and the first official public performance at Stasiu's on December 11th. Look out for two upcoming shows, at Club Underground on Thursday 31 Jan 2008 , and a Battle of the Bands at the Dinkytowner on 10 Feb 2008! Check out the band blog for more details, pix, and future concert updates...

-The Death of Emo

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: year-in-review

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