From RIFT Magazine:

TC Electropunk CD Compilation Release Show 1/12/08
By Rich Horton

Just for a quick primer on Electropunk, Rift's Definition anyway. Electropunk is sort of like Depeche Mode meets The Sex Pistols. It's indie, there are electronics and computer generated music mixed with guitars and sometimes with a full band. On the mainstream side a band like Nine Inch Nails would fit, but locally it's generally not that serious of a tone and the local bands like to have a bit more fun with it.

Over 4 years ago, Todd Millenacker had the idea of putting out a CD compilation of just Electropunk bands. It came from a marketing brainstorming session with a few other musicians. Seeing that other bands in another genre of music were pooling their resources to put out a compilation, Millenacker thought doing the same with Electropunk could help build some awareness of their growing scene. It would also help promote his own band Avenpitch.

Now 4 years later, Millenacker is releasing the 4th version of the compilation and while some bands from that first comp are now long broken, some bands have made a return appearance for each comp. He also has been able to add new bands which keeps it fresh as well.

I asked Millenacker about the Electropunk and if he thought it was still growing and evolving:

"Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I've been able to fill four volumes of Twin Cities Electropunk thus far, so that's a pretty encouraging sign. Being how "electropunk" is still such a loose and undefined term I think the door is wide open. Ideally, I'd like to think that some 7th or 8th graders will come across these comps and be inspired to put together a genre defining "electropunk" band and really show us how it's done," said Millenacker.

Even though all the bands chip in, Millenacker donates his time and some extra money to the cause just to keep it rolling. He already has plans for a fifth compilation and hopes eventually the number can go into the double digits. He finds all the bands, collects the tracks and organizes everything.

"All the bands involved are either folks I know or bands that have emailed me expressing interest in being a part of the Twin Cities Electropunk series, a couple I have sought out (on Volume 4 Zibra Zibra and Screaming Mechanical Brain). I just keep an email list together and when the time comes to start organizing another compilation I put word out and see who's interested in being a part of it," said Millenacker.

With the release of the CD also comes a huge release party, Millenacker filled me in on the bands and the logistics of the evening.

"Let's see... it'll be Thosquanta, Milkbar, Avenpitch, Apox/Mercy Kills, OBCT, Amdeide and Zibra Zibra. One band will be playing house-party style on a homemade stage to the right while the other band sets up on the main stage. Last year this worked extremely well and I'm hoping this year will go just as well. If not, I suppose it's only rock'n'roll!" said Millenacker.

Millenacker has realistic expectations about his own music career, he figures he will always be making music. Whether he does it part time like he does now, or an opportunity comes along where he can make it a full time deal. The compilation is a great chance for him to network with the other bands, have fun at the release show and do something for the scene. He let me in on his future plans.

"Keep making music and keep on keeping on. The nice thing for me about the comps is it's not like a label or anything and I don't have to personally oversee the bands on a daily basis; they all have to sink or swim on their own terms. Some will get bigger, some will burn out. It's fun/interesting to see what happens."

"As for Avenpitch, we're working away on a new album. Actually we have a new album ready to go, but we're writing more songs and then killing the runts of the litter hoping to make one super strong album. We'll see how successful this strategy is when it's finally released!" said Millenacker.


From Brainerd Dispatch:

Upbound Train
Avenpitch is driving the engine of the Twin Cities electropunk movement
By JOHN HANSEN
Entertainment Editor

Todd Millenacker wrote a song called "Jack the Idiot Dance," and at live shows he takes on the persona of Todd the Idiot Frontman - climbing on bar tops, hanging from ceiling fixtures and even running out the door of the club as if he has a cordless microphone.

But during a phone interview, he's decidedly less idiotic as he analyzes the music of his Minneapolis electropunk band, Avenpitch.

"I admit everything I do is ridiculous and stupid, but it's also fun," the 29-year-old vocalist/guitarist said of his onstage antics. "You've gotta shut off the judgmental part of your brain. You've gotta have some type of shtick, especially now. It used to be a lot easier - Elvis shaking his hips, Jagger strutting around, Bowie dressing like an alien. There's no way I'm gonna be as cool as those guys, but I've got pretty good endurance, so I can freak out."

Millenacker runs marathons and half-marathons as a hobby and plays Ultimate Frisbee throughout the summer. That's good, because not only does an Avenpitch show require endurance, but so does creating an Avenpitch song.

"The way Avenpitch works is I write song, we jam through it, I tinker around and I record it," Millenacker said, walking a listener through the genesis of "Desperado," the band's contribution to the recently released "Twin Cities Electropunk Vol. 4." (The album can be downloaded for free at www.tcelectropunk.com and CDs will be handed out to early arrivals at the band's Jan. 18 show at the Eclectic Cafe.)

"Originally, it was called 'Burn the Disco Down.' It was suppose to be a companion piece to 'Jack the Idiot Dance.' After I got it done, I thought it was too slow, so I took the files and hijacked it up a step. It's lots of trial and error. I'm going through CDs looking for sound effects. With the computer, I kept layering in parts. I think there are 110 parts going through the song."

Computer programs play a big role in electropunk, but of course, they are just the tools; the talent is supplied by the musicians. Guitarist Darren Siaw is a holdover from Millenacker's previous band, the Fleshpeddlers; drummer Paul Hudalla joined when Avenpitch formed in 2003; and fiery-haired keyboardist Sarah France - whose stage energy almost matches the frontman's - joined in 2005.

The band has put out two albums and will probably release a third later this year. Lately, though, Millenacker has been pushing the scene at large through the "Twin Cities Electropunk" collections, the first of which he shepherded in 2004. Although the term "electropunk" is at least 25 years old, efforts by Millenacker and others have nudged it closer to the mainstream.

"It's a catch-all phrase that encompasses anyone with cheap keyboards and a do-it-yourself aesthetic," Millenacker said of the genre. "It's about getting out there and making it work. We use cheap computer software and see what works. As for style, I don't think it's any one particular thing. ... It's definitely an acquired taste; it's not music you'd take home to mom. It's something some weird kid would discover and say, 'This is awesome.'"

Millenacker would be proud to see music historians equate electropunk with the Twin Cities the way grunge is linked to Seattle.

"People associate it with Minneapolis, which is pretty cool. Maybe in 10 years' time people will think, 'That was the place to be back in the day.' I think the music scene will be around a lot longer than Avenpitch or any of the bands."

Not that Avenpitch intends to go away anytime soon. The Eclectic show will be the band's 100th, and Millenacker sees Avenpitch as a long-term project. After graduating from the University of Minnesota – he majored in philosophy, but now works as a freight broker - he disbanded the Fleshpeddlers and started his "last serious band."

"I wanted to build something I could still be doing in 15 years," he said. "I look at the band in a long-term perspective. That's the whole idea with the compilations. You just keep playing shows and don't try to suck up to whoever, you just be honest and do what you do."

Even if that means climbing on a bar to belt out your tunes.


From Star Tribune:

Electropunk: Officially a Genre
By Chris Riemenschneider

The definition of electropunk is still as open to interpretation as a Jim Jarmusch movie, but the genre is taking on a clearer focus locally with this week's release of the "Twin Cites Electropunk, Vol. 2" compilation CD.

The first "TC Electropunk" disc brought together 10 acts that, to put it in general terms, use a lot of neato-keeno electronic gadgets to make their music but are still generally rock or pop (not techno). Most of those groups and several more make up this second compilation.

The point of both discs, said organizer Todd Millenacker, "is to gain some respect for these acts, and maybe some gigs."

"It's hard to get into most venues around town if you don't have a drummer," said Millenacker, whose band Avenpitch actually does feature "real" drums but is only one of four on the new CD to do so.

Besides Avenpitch's frantic, New Wavey rock, the music on the compilation ranges from Telephone!'s coy, girly pop to Trashed Actor's hard-hitting digi-rock, and from OBCT's 311-like rap-rock to the bizarre libido static of Mark Mallman's and Ryan Olcott's duo act Future Wives.

Before you rock purists go imagining a bunch of Mac geeks sitting in their basements pretending they're rock stars, you should check out some of these acts. Yes, it's true, they use a lot of computers, drum machines, digital samplers and maybe even an electronic toy or two. But it isn't true that they're all just basement tapers. Except for Future Wives -- who will be represented by Olcott's new circuit-bender act FoodTeam -- all of the compilation's artists will perform at an upcoming release show, originally scheduled tonight at the Varsity Theatre (see next item).

"It's actually one of the requirements of the CD that you do play live," said Millenacker, who said a lot of these musicians play, or have played, in conventional rock bands, too.

One of the compilation's main participants, Telephone! singer Lolly Pop, believes the electropunks might be even better as live acts. Ms. Pop herself is so into her stage act that she didn't even want me to use her real name.

"There's more room to experiment with electronic music, and you're freed up more to carve out your act," she claimed.

I'm not going to lie: Some of the music on this compilation should be downloaded straight into the recycling bin, in my opinion. At least two or three of the tracks sound like they were made for Mike Myers' old, black-clad "Saturday Night Live" character Sprockets.

However, some of the tracks are pretty great, especially the New Order-like closer by the Tim Rally Gold, which I have no idea who or what it is.

And taken as a whole, the compilation's overall concept might be what's most exciting. Really, "TC Electropunk" represents a brave new world in music making, which you also can see around town in acts such as Askeleton, Melodious Owl and Halloween, Alaska. Even if the "punk" in the name doesn't always reflect the sound, I do believe it reflects the spirit of this compilation.


From RIFT Magazine:

Electropunk
By Christine Mlodzik

Pop quiz: What do Home Depot, public access television and the Twin Cities electropunk scene have in common?

Answer: do it yourself, or DIY.

"Electropunk is electronic music, but it's punk in the attitude that you're doing it yourself," said Todd Millenacker, member of electropunk band Avenpitch. "We're not waiting for someone to write about us or promote us – we're doing it ourselves."

Charles Sadler, member of electro bands Little Tin Box and [space bar], agrees."We're doing it our way; we aren't going to conform to anyone else's rules. That's the way punks did it."

Electropunk isn't a single genre, rather, it's rooted in two genres: electro and punk.

Electro is an umbrella term for various electronic styles influenced by 80s new wave and punk, with synth keyboards, drum machines and sequencers as its key components.

Sadler doesn't think everyone wants to be under the same umbrella, believing electronica artists need their own classification. "Electronica is kind of like Pokémon. Every little kid is possessive of their favorite Pokémon, thinking theirs is the best," he said. "Each electronica artist is possessive of their style, whether it's techno or garage house."

Punk is the DIY punk work ethic of creating and promoting your own music without a major record label backing. DIY came about in the late 70s and early 80s when punk bands promoted their own shows and established small independent record labels. While the musicians had relatively low (by record industry standard) sales, they remained independent and uncompromising.

Millenacker embraced DIY after his and other electro bands weren't getting press coverage. In 2003, he came up with the idea for the compilation, Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 1, a promotion piece with two goals: one, to get recognition for the electro scene and two, to get the electro musicians' names seen and sounds heard.

"Everybody talks about doing something. At some point you've got to put your money where your mouth is," Millenacker said. And he did just that, paying for the 750 copies out of his own pocket. He gave copies to each of the bands on the CD, asking for a nominal amount to help cover costs. The bands then gave away the CDs at their shows.

Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 1 is a cross-pollination of genres including beat-driven punk, 80s new wave, industrial, metal and synthpop. The end result is a unique sound, yet one which will appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes. Avenpitch is electronica-infused rock; Uber Cool Kung Fu is New Order-esque; Endless Blue is slow and sensual; Thosquanta, Trashed Actor and Astral Grey are moodier; TELEPHONE! incorporates hip-hop; Mach Fox is like Bauhaus with bombastic guitars; and a Nine Inch Nails influence can be heard inboth Circa A.M. and Neo Void.

Capitalizing on Volume 1, Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 2 is due to be released in February 2005. On the second CD, Avenpitch, Endless Blue and Mach Fox each have a new track. New additions are Heliosphere, Apraxia, Envy is Blind, [space bar], OBCT, Tim Rally Gold, Fadladder, The Eighth Day and Future Wives, collaboration of Mark Mallman and Ryan Olcott.

Olcott commends the work Millenacker's done on the compilations. "He was smart to put these groups together on a CD to get more attention for the electro scene," Olcott said.

Across the river in St. Paul, electro is getting its share of attention with Electro-Tank at Station 4. Electro-Tank is a mix of local electronica music from Minnesota and surrounding states. Just a few of the bands in the DJ's rotation include Future Wives, Amateur Love, Psychadelicates, Astronaut Wife and Halloween, Alaska. In addition, there are two alternating live bands playing one song every 15 minutes.

Sadler and Jonathan Ford are In.flect, Electro-Tank's remix production team.Their goal is to introduce different styles or genres that haven't been introduced before. "We're not trying to sample sounds, instead, we merge sounds and blend arrangements that include rhythms of bossa nova, punk or surf with minimalist progression," Ford said.

The two do all their own promotion, from handing out flyers to creating radio spots, and paying for it themselves. "We wouldn’t be doing Electro-Tank if we were just trying to make money," Sadler said.

If the punk predecessors could see what the Twin Cities electropunks have accomplished so far, odds are, they'd be proud.

"I'm not interested in making myself known, I just want to get the songs heard," Millenacker said. "And If I can’t do it the way I want, I may as well stay at home and mow the lawn."


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