What does this mean to you?  It means get your fanny over to twitter and tweet @darktwincities for your free t-shirt or tank top and maybe we’ll throw in a poster or two.

FREE STUFF!  Get all the gory details (ok, there are like two details) here.

Unlike Nightraven, I wasn’t all that impressed with 2009 from a musical standpoint. There has been so much repetitiveness that things have grown either bland or completely stale in a fractured and shrunken scene. I don’t mean to imply there weren’t some fantastic releases in ’09 though. As part of what I do here I have to listen to hundreds of albums each year and like I mentioned in the list I put up twelve months ago it’s significant when you go back to albums about which you’ve already written. There rarely seems time to actually enjoy something again and again so I think it says a lot when an album compels me to put it in the player, sit back and not think about writing deadlines and such. I’m not going to make a numerical list and declare “bests.” I’m also not going to limit my selections to the psychologically satisfying number “10.” This list merely represents what I feel were such powerful works that they managed to rob me of valuable time which should have been spent working. I highly recommend you add them to your own collection.

Autoclav1.1 Where Once Were Exit Wounds (Tympanik Audio) –our review– While this isn’t a numbered list I felt compelled to place Tony Young’s latest work at the top as it was probably my personal favorite of 2009. If you’ve followed him album by album you’ve most likely enjoyed the progression as much as I have and WOWEW beefs up the organic instrumentation to a startling degree making for an electronic release that rocks about as hard as anything else out there, if not harder, regardless of genre. Yet in Young’s hands the songs are crafted with such emotional depth and layered brilliance that every spin reveals some new discovery, either in regard to the music or just yourself. Tony’s friend and collaborator Jamie Blacker announced this year he was putting to rest his ESA project after one more album. If Young made a similar pronouncement I might feel compelled to make an exit wound in my own body. He’s definitely one of the best out there in the current scene.

ESA The Sea & The Silence/The Immaculate Manipulation (Tympanik Audio) –our review of TS&TS– Okay, so I’m cheating on this one a little. Technically The Sea & The Silence was released at the ass end of last year just as its remix companion, The Immaculate Manipulation was put out at the very end of ’09 (and as such I haven’t had a chance to review it yet). But the impact of Jamie Blacker’s music was felt throughout the year and I feel both releases are worthy of a mention. Complex, challenging and fierce yet invitingly adventurous and strangely alluring ESA gets everything right with music that reinvigorates Industrial in a compelling way even as it celebrates the darker urges within the human condition. The remix album offers tracks that will make club floors quake and others that will broaden your perspectives on all that can be done with song structure and analysis. Both should be considered must-own CDs. Unfortunately, Blacker revealed in our interview with him last August that his plan was to record only one more album as ESA. I’m still having a great deal of difficulty coming to terms with that.

Prometheus Burning plague called huMANity (Crunch Pod) –our review– I was pretty shocked even from the first listen of this one. I mean, I was expecting it to be pretty good but I had no idea it was going to be so good that I would forget about everything else for at least a couple weeks. This album is an addiction and the sounds have a classic feel that still seem fresh and unique thanks to all the personality injected into the music. The vocals are highly acidic but I couldn’t imagine any other kind within the act’s sound and because of that I don’t think they diminish the appeal of ProBurn. All the noises are expertly crafted and mixed together with near-perfect precision. Beyond that the work can be ingested on a variety of levels with an overarching storyline, creepy artwork and recurring themes. I almost feel bad for these guys because I can’t imagine they’ll be able to top this. I just really hope they’re able to prove me wrong. Actually, I’m counting on it.

Impurfekt Human (Shinto Records) –our review– This is one of those “from out of nowhere” releases that can surprise the hell out of you in the nicest of ways. It’s self-recorded and, to be honest, sounds a little muddled with the low end levels mixed too high but musically Human is an amazing amalgamation of styles melded together to form a powerful and thematic piece of art. The rhythms have hooks like talons and the melodies sting with a methodical sweetness. Picked up by the rapidly rising upstart label Shinto Records this is one you simply must hear. Judging from this album alone I predict big things and much success for Aaron Russell.

Stendeck Sonnambula (Tympanik Audio) –our review– This isn’t just a good album. It gets better with every listen and has tremendous staying power. It can be beautiful, it can be harsh, it can be accessible and it can be complex. Throughout the duration it’s always appealing, however. Swiss musician Alessandro Zampieri has created a stirring epic of an album with Sonnambula and has manufactured a sound that is unique even as it references its influences. Beyond that it seems to fit in with most any mood or atmosphere. Regardless of how I happen to be feeling or what the weather may be like outside I find that I reach for this blissful collection quite frequently. It’s going to be interesting to see how Zampieri follows this up.

High Wycombe Reverser (Wycombemusic) –our review– The word that comes to mind when I think of High Wycombe is “smooth.” Reverser is a startlingly good progressive electro album with rhythms that aren’t necessarily aimed at dance floors but could find a home in any club regardless. The electronics and samples are extremely thoughtful and deliciously moody. This isn’t at all an oppressively dark release but it also ain’t bright and shiny either. As with Stendeck you could put this album on at any time and, goddammit, you really should. Guaranteed to impress on a variety of levels.

Imminent Cask Strength (Ant-Zen) –no review– Yeah. I never got a chance to review this. And if you happen to pick it up and listen to the first few tracks you’ll think you’ve been duped. It’s not as though those first three songs are bad, they’re actually quite interesting. But interesting enough to warrant inclusion on a list of the finest releases of the year? Eh. It isn’t until track four when Cask Strength begins dropping jaws and after that it never looks back. The level of diversity is stunning, from ambient to near-Gabber level intensity. This album is an amazing piece of work that will leave you beside yourself. I still pick up an diffent things when I listen to it. It’s not the kind of CD to which the club kids are going to flock but if your tastes are a little more open and adventurous you really need to experience Imminent’s latest batch of sour mash-ups.

dISHARMONY Evolution (Tympanik Audio) –our review– For all the talk in ’09 about how Coldwave was seeing a resurgence I guess I was more impressed with the return of great Dark Electro and it’s a trend I hope to see continue in the coming year. Evolution managed to surpass dISHARMONY’s critically acclaimed previous album, Malignant Shields, with stunning track after stunning track of bleak yet lilting numbers filled with the decaying remnants of human hope. Evolution is a study of the beauty in utter dessication. It even resurrects some of the funk aspects of classic Dark Electro though not to the degree for which someone like me might wish. Even so, this release isn’t so much memorable as it is haunting in a way that you will simply not be able to shake once you’ve given it a few spins.

Millipede All My Best Intentions (Hymen Records) –no review– I really wish I’d had the time to do a write-up for this one when it was released. It’s one of those unclassifiable albums that will most likely be labeled “Ambient” by default and yet the beatwork is incredible given that each track is mid-to-downtempo in nature. It’s much too powerful and heavy to be relegated to the airy atmospherics of most Ambient artists and yet there’s so much more depth and diversity than you would expect out of most uptempo electronic outfits. Every time you think you’ve got the aims of a song in mind Don Hill reveals a sly surprise that throws each expectation on its ear. Just as with Imminent the club kids aren’t going to “get” this one. And that’s a shame given the cerebral nature of Hill’s work here.

Cenotype Origins Unfold (Origins Productions) –our review– It seems pretty odd to me to include not one remix collection on a year end list but two. Remix collections are easy throwaways for artists. They don’t require work so much as handing over your tracks to other acts and letting them pass back to you material for a new release with your name on it. And yet just as the ESA remix collection encompassed a variety of styles that transcended the typical “extended club mixes” that you invariably get with these outings Origins Unfolds uses Cenotype’s debut album as a foundation for something stellar. A number of the mixes even take two, sometimes three tracks and fuse them together to further a non-linear storyline. While some of these reworkings could find a home in some enterprising DJs club set many of them set out for something deeper and less of-the-moment. The list of contributing artists is quite impressive and their handiwork is woven together expertly. Hopefully you didn’t miss this limited edition collection.

Uberbyte DOS (Crunch Pod) –our review– When it comes to straightforward, hard-hitting club music most people these days defer to Combichrist. Maybe that’s why Uberbyte is invariably compared to Leplegua’s crew. Yet Combi is at a point where the project is just spinning its wheels and Richard “Uberman” Pyne is juuust getting warmed up. Uberbyte’s second album steamrolled over their first effort to claim high ground within the Body Music category (EBM, TBM, what have you). Already a third and even more aggressive release is about to hit the internet and it’s virtually guaranteed to give Uberbyte some well deserved and wide-ranging name recognition. While my own list hasn’t quite been as friendly to the club kids as some may like I highly endorse this absurdly infectious piece of work that deserves rotation in every single DJ set list you see posted online.

SE Epiphora (Tympanik Audio) –our review– The introduction of harsh or scathing sounds in the midst of beautiful synth movements can be a tricky proposition and it requires as delicate a balance as you can muster to ensure neither approach cancels out the other. SE manages to achieve this balance in what comes across as a seemingly effortless manner, providing plenty of lofty, appealing atmosphere with an underlying edge that gives the music a bite you wouldn’t ordinarily expect out of Ambient. And it’s probably his work in other musical genres that lend him such a great hand at song structure. Hopefully we’ll be hearing a lot more out of Sebastian Ehmke in the future.

While these albums represent the ones I felt carried the most weight during the year there are certainly others that, at the very least, deserve an honorable mention. Tyske Ludder‘s Anonymous. Caustic‘s This Is Jizzcore. IAMX‘s Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction. W.A.S.T.E.‘s A Silent Mantra Of Rage. Access To Arasaka‘s Oppidan. Rotersand‘s Random Is Resistance. Cervello Elettronico‘s Process Of Elimination. Assemblage 23‘s Compass. Undermathic‘s Return To Childhood. And of course I should mention Tympanik Audio’s brilliant Emerging Organisms compilations, the third volume of which was recently released.

And now on to 2010…

During the course of our chat we discussed a wide variety of topics; the etymology of “Electronic Substance Abuse,” Industrial vs. Metal, composing, increasing the fanbase for dark electronic music, criticism and how to take it, file sharing, the relevance of “Industrial,” record labels, God vs. Satan, The Sea, and many more topics.

Along the way he talks about the future (or lack thereof) as it pertains to ESA as well as the tantalizing collaborations he has on deck for the immediate future.

So check it out – Jamie Blacker of ESA: The DarkTwinCities Interview. Then spread the word. If you don’t have any of his music your collection is sorely lacking. If you have friends and acquaintances who don’t own an ESA disc you should be working fervently to rectify the situation with haste.

ESA on MySpace

ESA on Tympanik Audio

We love giving away free stuff.  It makes us feel warm and fuzzy, like a lizard with a poodle cut.  Today we have 10 tickets to  a preview screening of The Collector on July 30 (next Thursday).

We’ll be giving them out in pairs today via our Twitter feed so follow us at http://twitter.com/darktwincities

Do the math!  You could be one of five lucky wieners winners!

The movie is in theaters July 31, but you can beat the sheep and do it with our blessing.  Plus we get to feel like we did something good for once.  Like helping an old lady cross the street, but without the cheek pinching and the lingering scent of Ben-Gay.

All the other important stuff is here:

WHERE: Mann Theaters, St. Louis Park

WHEN: Thursday, July 30th at 7:30pm

And if you aren’t sure you want to see the movie, here is the tasty promo text.  If this doesn’t sell you, nothing will… er, just remember we didn’t write it.

For handyman and ex-con Arkin, a quiet home and a family on vacation is an “opportunity”.  For inside his new employer’s country home lies a safe, and inside the safe is a gem – his only hope for repaying a debt to his ex-wife and keeping what’s left of his family intact.

Unfortunately for Arkin, inside the house is also a box containing the latest addition to a collection catalogued in blood, bone and tears. As the seconds tick down to midnight, Arkin becomes a reluctant hero trapped by a masked “Collector” in a maze of lethal invention – the Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg – while trying to rescue the very family he came to rob.

From Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, the twisted minds behind Saw IV, V and the upcoming Saw VI, THE COLLECTOR emerges as a real-time game of cat-and-mouse, melding primal horror with suspense thriller. The film stars Josh Stewart, Daniella Alonso, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth, Madeline Zima, Karley Scott-Collins, Robert Wisdom and Juan Fernandez.

If for some reason you’re entirely unfamiliar with Spybey’s work hopefully you’ve been able to adjust to the rest of the world after being freed from the closet in which you’ve been locked most of your life. Here’s a little refresher;

Download. Spybey worked on the first two albums of this post-Industrial act. While Cevin Key kept going after Spybey left the project Furnace and The Eyes Of Stanley Pain were the best offerings.
Dead Voices On Air. Whether moody and atmospheric or noisy and experimental; whether fully improvised or well mapped out; this has been Spybey’s main project for about seventeen years.
Zoviet France. Dissonant, Ambient Industrial pioneers, Spybey cut his teeth in this act which provided the springboard for the rest of his prolific career.
Beehatch is a collaboration with fellow Download veteran Phil Western where pretty much anything goes. This is great stuff you really should check out.
Reformed Faction is a collaboration with fellow Zoviet France alumni Robin Storey and founded on the premise that “over-reliance on the detached and distant excesses of technology creates stagnant and purposeless music.” RF is anything goes, improvisational, hand-tailored emotion transcribed as sound.

Sybey has also worked with Eric Pounder , Jean-Yves Theriault, Jarboe, Mick Harris, James Plotkin, Mark Nugent, Orphx, David Wright , Zev Asher, Darryl Neudorf, Ryan Moore , Niels van Hoorn, Kinder Atom, Evolution Control Committee, Chris Connelly, Martin Atkins, Can, Sofortkontakt! and…I dunno, just about every other artist/musician on the planet, I guess.

Read the interview and check out these links. The man and his work are deserving of your attention.

What could be better?  Only that the show is 18+ with guest DJ Monstergott!

Lets recap:

Angels On Acid with guest DJ Monstergott

Monday, June 22nd

The Saloon at 9th and Hennepin

18+, doors at 10:00pm

!FREE!

Damn right you’re going.

Full-size flyer here

*EDIT: Monstergott is out and DTC’s very own Christopher is in, spinning some great new Industrial tracks. Don’t miss it.

A.) Read our damn reviews page
B.) Download these comps and figure out for yourself what piques your interest.

First up: Rhode Island’s Force Of Nature Records. As their bio states, “Initially focused on harsh noise, dark ambient, and industrial styles, FON has grown to focus on a range of experimental styles including IDM, Breakcore, and more.”

Download the free comp here, featuring the remixing abilities of great artists such as Captive Six (Ben Arp of C/A/T), GASR, Synnack, Caustic, Memmaker and Prometheus Burning. How do you just pass that up without at least taking peek?

Next up: Crunch Pod. It’s a label that’s really been coming into its own as of late, releasing damn fine material that you should already own. If you’ve been slacking or just not paying attention (again, reviews page) now you can download a sampler for FREE that will allow you to learn just what you’ve been missing. Head on over to this area to add twelve great tracks to your collection and find out how to get a discount on Crunch Pod releases.

I post shit like this and I think to myself, “There are probably people who read this and don’t bother downloading the music, even though they aren’t familiar with any of it.” I can’t imagine that such is the case however. I mean, really. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this.

Now get moving.

Friday night, Angelic Creations and The Next Element present D-Day:Minus1 a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk fashion show at Ground Zero. The show features designers Velluto Nero Designs, Interchangeable Parts, Angelic Creations, and lingerie designer, “M”.  Amdeide will also play their last live show in Minnesota.

Ground Zero
18+
$6 21+ / $8 18-20, 9pm doors, 9:30 show
http://www.myspace.com/ddayminus1
http://www.myspace.com/amdeide

Friday Night Club Underground presents a fund raiser for The Maviks softbal team (TCGSL) featuing Harsh Reality, The Ugly Fat Kids, RiverBottom, Suckerfish and DJ Make Out King

Club Underground
21+, 8pm
$6 ($3 with TCGSL jersey)

http://www.clubunderground.us/
http://www.myspace.com/harshrealitymetal
http://www.myspace.com/riverbottomsuckerfish
http://www.myspace.com/theuglyfatkids

Friday Night, mpshows.com presents Skeletonwitch with Vulnerata, Cwn Annwn and The Terrordactyls at The Triple Rock Social Club

The Triple Rock Social Club
$10 at the door
18+
8pm

http://www.triplerocksocialclub.com/
http://www.mpshows.com/

Friday Night the Varsity Theater present the US Air Guitar Championships.  If you’ve never seen air guitar at this level, you really need to see this show.  There is nothing like it.  Seriously.

Varsity Theater
8pm
21+
$16

http://www.varsitytheater.org/

Friday through Sunday, the 43rd Edina Art Fair at 50th and France

Friday, June 5, 2009 10 am – 7 pm
Saturday, June 6, 2009 10 am – 7 pm
Sunday, June 7, 2009 10 am – 5 pm

All Ages / Free

More information at DTC here as well as at http://www.edinaartfair.com/

Friday night until 4am Sunday Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls presents the Pachyderm Electronic Music Festival

There is far too much going on at this event to describe here.  This is massive.  Check out the links for details.

http://www.highgradesystems.com/festival.html
http://darktwincities.com/dtcblog/2009/06/thought-thieves-were-right-pachyderm-festival-rocks/

On Saturday The Root of All Evil guys are at RECORD SHOW at the Lyndale Ave VFW in Uptown.  They’ve got a lot of bills to pay and a massive collection of music to sell.  If you know the Root of All Evil, you KNOW this is a great collection.  Go support Root of All Evil and maybe pick up a gem from the late Earl Root’s own phenomenal collection.

http://www.mnrecordshow.com/

Saturday night The Fineline present tributes to Radiohead, Rush & Pink Floyd.

The Mad Buggers perform Pink Floyd
http://www.myspace.com/themadbuggers

Exit Stage Right perform the music of Rush
http://www.myspace.com/tribute2rush

What’s That? (a Radiohead Project) perform the music of Radiohead
http://www.myspace.com/radioheadproject

The Fineline
9pm
21+
$6

Saturday through Sunday the Red Hot Art Festival takes over Stevens Square Park. Two stages, tons of awesome art and a pile of great performances.

Saturday, June 6th (11am – 7pm)
Sunday, June 7th (11am – 5pm)

Stevens Square Park is just south of downtown Minneapolis,
between 18th – 19th street (one block south of Franklin Avenue)

http://www.redhotart.org/

Sunday: Crystal Method Live at First Ave

18+
8pm
$20

http://first-avenue.com/event/2600/crystal-method

Sunday is Grand Old Day on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. This means ALL of Grand Avenue.  Seriously, this is one big-ass party.  Go see.

Tons of live bands and performances, vendors from all over the place… AND BEER!

Grand Old Day
Sun. June 7th

“LARGEST ONE DAY FESTIVAL IN THE MIDWEST”

http://www.grandave.com/grandoldday/

Ok, this isn’t supposed to be a music review so I’ll cut to the chase. Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls is throwing a big-ass Electronic Music Festival this weekend.  You can get the details from the DTC event post here.  DTC favorites Thought Thieves will be on Friday, but the festival runs until 4am on Sunday.  This is a chance to see some excellent performances, hear great music and get a taste of a local band with a lot of potential.

Believe me, you owe it to yourself. Go on. Treat yourself to the lasting treasure of great music.

I said, “GO!”