From the banjo capital of the world (Duluth, Minnesota, USA) comes the newest banjo sensation Banjrone (banjo drone). The sound of a herd of turtles racing across the world, risking their lives, “trampling” all in their path.

Duluth’s own drone/dark-ambient unit Dirty Knobs (me) is hoping to release his (talking about myself in the third person) next album A Disenchanted Snake as a double vinyl package sent around the world (Hello, Italy!). You can watch the video, hear some clips and read a lot more about it (and past Dirty Knobs stuff) here on Kickstarter.

If you were alive in the 2000s, then you were part of the international phenomenon knows as Bothomania, an uncontrollable urge to listen to Both. Unfortunately for many, this frenzy often resulted in the complete and total destruction of all physical materials associated with the band.

Flash forward to today (the future and present), where we have all shuffled off this physical coil and all things are made accessible though tubes aligned in series. Things including the three (3) studio albums (aka LPs aka CDs) that the band released before achieving a simultaneous state of burning out and fading away.

You can stream them (aka listen to them on your computing box/calculator) and download them (aka store them on your phone/game machine) for free (aka for no money or trade) here and here and here but not here.

Two debut albums from new synth-pop project The Electric Witch (aka Zac Bentz aka hey, that’s me) have just been released.

Assassin is an album of all original material. Featuring synth heavy tracks and vocoded vocals from local legend Marcus Matthews (the Surfactants, Bull Feathers, the Virgin Marcus, Puddle Wonderful) it’s an album of darkness, danger and spaced-out electronics.

NEScapism is a collection of (you might have guessed) old-school Nintendo covers. From the ambient swirls of Final Fantasy to the gritty witch-house beats of Castlevania, it’s an album of loving nostalgia for those classic games.

Both albums are free to stream in their entirety, feature free tracks and are only $1 to own. Also of note, both albums were recorded almost entirely with iOS apps, Animoog (an official, all new synth from Moog) specifically.

Hello. I released two new albums today. I am so sorry.

You could call them “dark-ambient.” “Electro.” “Drone.” “Doom.” “Soundscape.” “Experimental.” Together they are almost six hours long. Listening to them will probably feel much, much longer. Ug.

You can listen to all of it for free. $1 each to buy them. That’s not very much, but probably enough.

I hope to release four more albums this year. They will not be anything like these. Thank god.

Ghost Geometry
I am Sitting in an Infinite Room

I’m wondering, why is Homegrown punishing Trampled by Turtles fans by making them pay an extra $20 to get in? Isn’t having to wait in line for 24+ hours going to be bad enough?

It’s been a few years, but the Surfactants have finally released their second full-length album Our Dead Bodies. If you don’t know who the Surfactants are, that’s probably for the best.

You can stream it all for free and/or buy it here. It’s $4 or pay-what-you-want. There are also two singles featuring some remixes that are $1 each. There are currently no plans to produce any physical media. (…because CDs are just going to go in the garbage anyway and you can download very high quality files when you purchase them. And besides, if we made a CD and you bought the CD then you’d be paying twice as much for the same music and a bunch of garbage. So really your $4 [or more] is saving you $4 [or more].)

Oh, and there’s also a cover of a Haley Bonar song on the album, and she’s nice.

Listen, download, pirate, burn something (one).

Here’s some more free music! The Surfactants just uploaded their live set from last year’s Homegrown (that would be 2010)! You can listen to it all and download it for free or for money if you want.

Grab it now and get ready to rock with them at Luce this Friday night!

Apologies. Bit of a humblebrag here. But my new 8 hour dark ambient/electro/doom album, recorded under the name Dirty Knobs and titled Field Recordings from the Edge of Hell, has been getting a fair bit of press lately.

It started with Warren Ellis, writer of Transmetropolitan and Crooked Little Vein, who blogged, “…I have little more to add…I swear I can hear organs playing from inside a pit…Wonderful.” Andrea Swensson of the City Pages recently wrote, “…something quite extraordinary…haunting at points and shimmeringly beautiful at others. It sort of makes me want to listen to it forever.” And Greg Swan of Perfect Porridge said “Thick, brooding and unforgiving…an interactive sonic canvas experiment, custom colored by the listener’s current emotional state.” I also talked a bit about the recording process with the Duluth News Tribune’s Christa Lawler on the While Your Were In blog.

So if you’re looking for something terrifying/relaxing to listen to all day at work or at home or while you’re tidying up your panic-room, then maybe give it a listen/like/tweet. You can stream the entire album for free, download three songs for free (that’s over 60 minutes) and buy it all for just $1 (or more if you’d like.)

This Saturday at the Rex — 10pm — $5

American Rebels
The Surfactants
Cars & Trucks

Hey music fans. The show with American Rebels, the Surfactants and Grey Matador at Luce has been called off due to the snowstorm. Sorry! Stay safe/warm.

Grey Matador
The Surfactants
American Rebels

So much rock! This is one that’ll melt your face clean off. Not for the faint of heart! Start hydrating now.

Fazebuke E-Vant

A couple rock shows happening at Teatro Zuccone in July:

Teatro Zuccone
July 10
7pm – $5 – All Ages

BNLX (Twin Cities – Electro-Rock duo)
The Surfactants (Twin Cities/Duluth – New-Wave Rock)
Albino Ghost Monkey (Rice Lake – Solo 8bit/chiptunes)

Teatro Zuccone
July 24
7pm – $5 – All Ages

Grey Matador (Twin Cities – Rock)
The Surfactants (Twin Cities/Duluth – New-Wave Rock)
Humanoid (Duluth – Solo Experimental Indie Rock)

Renegade improv comedy follows both shows.

Larger images here and here. Facebook events here and here.

I’ve got a Novation K-Station with a bad key. It’s pressure sensitive and only works when you slam down on it, and even then it’s a bit quiet. Is there any place/one in town that can fix it?

Right now you can watch the entire Homegrown 2010 set by the Surfactants on thesurfactants.com.

(poster by Becky of Tiny Kitten Teeth, with revisions by GO! Laboratories)

Come celebrate Anti-Valentine’s Day with Duck Duck Punch (synth-pop from Duluth), The Surfactants (new-wave from Duluth, Superior, St. Paul) and International Espionage! (spy-rock from Minneapolis.) This will be the most electric and eclectic Anti-Valentine’s Day celebration anywhere.

Commiserate with us at Pizza Luce, Saturday, February 13th, 2010. $5. All ages. Bring (just) a friend.

Congrats to Mr. Lundgren for winning this thing.

I like the part where Enger seems to think Goggleye is a made up character.

New Year’s Eve
Thursday, December 31st
RT Quinlan’s

BLACK EYED SNAKES
The Acceleratii
The Surfactants

10PM
$5