Electropunk is basically a catch-all phrase for a genre of music that combines electronic music with punk rock. Like original punk it has the feel of a do-it-yourself music spawned out of someone’s garage. (As a long time observer of grass roots rock from the Kingsmen to the Ramones, I can assure you that the best of all rock music was probably born in a garage) While no one area can claim to be the birthplace of electropunk, some people in the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul states their hometown musicians are at the cutting edge of this hybrid genre. I don’t know about that, but the ongoing album series titled TC Electropunk certainly makes a convincing case.

The Twin Cities Electropunk organization appears to be a collective of Twin City bands loosely headed by Todd Millenacker of Avenpitch. Each volume was printed up and distributed freely at the participating bands’ gigs. They are also available for free downloading at the TC Electropunk web site. So far there are four albums with weird and wild music by very talented and enthusiastic bands. Some are clearly punk with just a little electronic influence. Others veer closer to the electro-pop side but usually with a more boisterous and rebellious edge. Overall I find this music to be exciting and more innovative than any thing you’re going to find on the tired commercial end of either rock or electronica.

Some of the artists show up several times on the four albums so you get a good sense of what these musicians can do. The ones that I thought were consistently interesting were Avenpitch, Zibra Zibra, Mach Fox, and Tim Rally Gold. Best single tracks? Here’s my tentative at-the-moment faves…

Volume 4: Avenpitch’s “Desperado”, Ikki’s “Goodbye Cruel World” (Chumbawamba meets The Cure?), Milkbar’s “Stop (Check Me Out)” (The Spice Girls of electropunk?), Zibra Zibra’s “Lions on The Astroturf”, and Iron Ball Magento’s “Corporate Trance” (The Devo of Electropunk?).

Volume 3: Tim Rally Gold’s well crafted “Break-up at The Waffle House”, Mach Fox’s “Axion/FriXion” which could be called House Punk, Hondo’s all punk “H.A.T.S”, and Unicorn Basement’s way over the top “Necrophilia”.

Volume 2: Uber Cool Kung Fu’s “Stand Together”, Envy is Blind’s “Sea of Flames”, OBCT’s weird and hardcore “Consume Until Rupture”.

Volume 1: More cool tracks by Avenpitch, Mach Fox and Uber Cool Kung Fu, paranoid industrial punk rap in “Two Face” by Neo Void aka Audio Victim, and Endless Blue’s gorgeous “Ninety-nine” which is so trip-hop it sounds a bit out of place.

Over all, I was amazed by the consistently high quality of this overview of local talent in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Prince and Paul Westerberg better take cover. The second wave of the Twin City rock invasion is here.

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