Twin Cities Electropunk, Vol. 3

ARTIST: Various artists

ALBUM: Twin Cities Electropunk, Vol. 3

LABEL: TCElectropunk.com

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 8-11-07

More free stuff from Minnesota, this is the third volume in a series, collecting tons of tracks from underground, loosely-related Twin Cities bands. Like previous entries, the tracks are all energetic and fairly raw, but that (and the fact that they all employ electronics to some degree or another) are about all these bands have in common. Avenpitch start things off with chirpy keyboards and off-key punk rock shouting, and then Tim Rally Gold takes things in a totally different direction with the sentimental "Break-Up at the Waffle House," which comes off as an earthier, less precious version of The Postal Service. From there things go in all different directions. Evarial's "I Ain't Too Keen on That" is cheerful, female-fronted synthpop, Thosquanta's "Lovelife" is old school industrial with a hint of breakbeat, and Uber Cool Kung Fu's "I'm OK" is unabashed pop punk with keyboards and horn samples thrown into the mix. There's plenty of aggression, if you're in the mood for that, in the form of OBCT's rap and metal-inspired "Falling on the Sword" and Gabber Nullification Project's ruthless "Joe Lunchbucket," but there's plenty of offbeat fun, too. Mach FoX's "AXion/FriXion" is Devo-inspired New Wave, Hondo's "H.A.T.S." is deliberately grating punk fun, like The Dead Milkmen with a drum machine, and Unicorn Basement's "Necrophile" is, well, a lot happier than you'd probably think. If you live in the Twin Cities, you've probably heard of at least a few of these bands, so go ahead and grab yourself a free copy at one of their shows. Everybody else, head on over to the Twin Cities Electropunk website and download all the songs for free. There's no excuse not to check out free music, and there's enough variety on display here to satisfy every taste.

Download your copy at www.tcelectropunk.com.