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Mind Inversion Exclusive Q & A with Tapes ‘n Tapes

Posted in Interviews, Mind Inversion Exclusive with tags concert, First Avenue, interview, Mind Inversion Exclusive, minneapolis, photos, question and answer, Tapes, Tapes 'N Tapes on Saturday, February 7, 2009 by Erik Burg

Between touring and recording, Tapes ‘n Tapes have been going seemingly non-stop for quite some time. Recent activity has included releasing their sophomore album Walk It Off to huge commercial success in 2008 and playing a string of international and homeland dates soon after, as well. The hard work is paying off though, with the band playing to sold out crowds across the nation on their current tour. Before they stepped onto the stage at First Avenue in Minneapolis Friday night they guys took some time out of their schedule to answer a few questions for Mind Inversion.

tnt_interview_band_side

Mind Inversion: So the tour is in full swing and you guys are currently on the west coast before heading back to the midwest, how has everything been going? Crowds been good? Venues interesting? Weather?!

Tapes ‘N Tapes: Everything’s been going great! Compared to previous tours, there has been way less physical and mental abuse. But seriously, we’ve been having a great time. The crowds have wonderful, and we’ve been in exploring some new cities on this tour. It’s always nice to play in new places, and we’ve got a bunch more coming up. The weather has been a welcome break from the subzero temps in Minnesota. It was sunny and 58 in Boulder on the 3rd day of tour. It kind of blew my mind after it had been 17 below the morning we left for tour.

MI: Heading back to the midwest, and specifically to Minneapolis, is there a different approach you guys have going into these hometown shows? Any different expectations?

TNT: I don’t have any different approach to playing in Minneapolis. I am excited to finally be playing in town during the middle of a tour. It seems like we always play either at the beginning of tour or while we’re not touring. Either way, we always have a lot of fun playing at home in front of our friends, family, and the hometown crowd. I don’t think I have different expectations for a Minneapolis show than any other show. I think every night we expect to have a great time playing together. It’s sounds cheesy, I know, but it’s the truth.

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MPLS show recommendation: RNC 8 Benefit Show @ Bedlam Theatre tonight

Posted in Concert Dates with tags benefit, best friends forever, black blondie, bouncer fighter, minneapolis, minnesota, republican national convention, rnc, rnc8, st. paul on Friday, February 6, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Don’t have any solid plans for the evening yet? As always, there is plenty to do this weekend, but my personal suggestion is to get out to the Bedlam tonight. Support a worthy cause, and see some amazing uplifting local music from Black Blondie, Bouncer Fighter, and Best Friends Forever.

“The RNC 8 are organizers against the 2008 Twin Cities Republican National Convention who have been falsely charged in response to their political organizing: Luce Guillen-Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald.”

Show starts at 10pm tonight, Feb. 6, @ Bedlam Theatre (on UofM’s West Bank in MPLS)

DIG DEEPER: RNC8.org – Concert link

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FREE Album Download: Iron Thrones, Visions of Light

Posted in Downloads, Music Reviews with tags death metal, free, iron thrones, minneapolis, minnesota, progressive metal, visions of light on Friday, February 6, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Iron Thrones is a band that truly embodies their name in several aspects. Not to be too corny, but the band hails from our own iron-rich state of Minnesota, and (despite their relatively short time playing together) you can easily consider them to be one of several crown jewels that the currently burgeoning and heavily varied Minneapolis metal scene has to offer. This is an epic progressive death metal quartet (though, on the lookout for another guitarist) that could easily find resonance with fans of Opeth, Death, Between the Buried and Me, Converge or even maybe post-rock like Mogwai. That’s not to say that Iron Thrones really follows in any of these bands footsteps though, as they have begun to perfect their own unique focused sound. Even on this debut, Visions of Light, the band achieve a rare and organic balance of naturalistic melodies and brutal shred. The album is the embodiment of yin-and-yang, a dense atmospheric album to one man and a nuanced progressive headbanger to another. Right now, it’s doing wonders for my ears.

Clearly the band knows how to treat its fans, as well. As such, these guys have posted their entire new album, Visions of Light, online for download. The cool thing is that they’ve gone the Radiohead way of things and made it available for free, “donation” through Amazon, Itunes, etc., or as a hard copy purchase. I’ve never heard how this model has worked out for a local underground metal band (as opposed to juggernauts like RH and Rez), and there’s no word when their $500 quadruple gatefold limited pressing with an optional commentary becomes available, but I really don’t see how it could hurt. There’ll still be many opportunities to support them and purchase hard copies when you’re seeing Iron Thrones in the live setting. They’ve got these area shows lined up, including a performance in Burnsville tomorrow:

Feb 6 @ The Garage w/ Rawhyde in Burnsville, Minnesota
Feb 11 @ The Rafters @ UMD w/ Empires in Duluth, Minnesota
Feb 27 @ Electric Earth in Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 28 @ The Uptown Bar w/ Zebulon Pike in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 3 @ Station 4 w/ The Body Beneath, in St. Paul, Minnesota
May 15 @ TBA w/ The Body Beneath & Rhynoceraptor in Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 16 @ TBA w/ The Body Beneath & Rhynoceraptor in St. Cloud, Minnesota

DIG DEEPER: Download Visions of Light! – Official Site – Myspace

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Concert Photo Recap: Solid Gold, Military Special @ the Uptown Bar

Posted in Concert Reviews with tags live electro, military special, minneapolis, Psychedelic, Rock, solid gold, uptown on Monday, February 2, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Solid Gold and Military Special played to another full venue on January 28th, 2009 at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis. Enjoy these photos:

Solid Gold

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Brief Soundset ’09 info & update

Posted in Concert Dates with tags Aesop Rock, concert, Evidence, Festival, Hip-Hop, minneapolis, Soundset on Thursday, January 29, 2009 by Erik Burg

Evidence moves the packed crowd in '08

The biggest and baddest outdoor hip-hop festival is back for another year in 2009. Anybody who attended last years events knows that it was absolutely banging and that the acts there were second to none. A few adjustments have been made to this years festivities, most notably the fact that instead of holding everything at the Metrodome the party will be brought to Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, MN. The date remains the same, memorial day May 24th starting at 11 am. Aesop Rock with “None Shall Pass” at Soundset ’08

No official artists have been announced yet for ’09, but their myspace (check it HERE) says that information will be released as soon as possible. So keep an eye out guys, because if the line-up is anywhere near last years this event will be one you won’t want to miss.

There will be a post up as soon as possible when artists and other acts are announced, so STAY TUNED!

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Che premieres tomorrow at the Uptown Theatre

Posted in Culture with tags benicio del toro, che guevara, minneapolis, minnesota, movie, steven soderbergh, uptown theatre on Thursday, January 15, 2009 by Ryan Buege

After over three years and $65 million spent on the production of Steven Soderbergh’s epic biopic about the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the critically divisive movie will finally make a debut on Minnesota screens tomorrow at the Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis. The epic 4-hour, 2-part film starring Benicio del Toro apparently plays much like a diary and serves as a very accurate, documentary-like depiction of the motivations that fueled this leader, teacher, fighter, and eternal symbol of human rights and protest. Rightfully so, as the script was actually adapted from Guevara’s own diaries. The first part of the film, “The Argentine”, is taken from “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War” (detailing the birth of the Cuban revoltuion and eventual overthrow of the Batista government), and second segment, called “Guerilla” (covering Che’s ill-fated continuation of the Latin American Revolution in Bolivia) is taken from his “Bolivian Diary”. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to see if these guys were able to make a movie that lives up to the monumental image of Che that I hold in my head. ..well, Del Toro still has yet to let me down, so I’m very optimistic.

Che will be shown in its entirety at the Uptown Theatre for only one week before it is officially released as a seperate features for individual viewing. Click here for more information on the showing and watch the trailer below:

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Concert Photo Recap: Høst, Vernal Pool, Said the Shotgun to the Head, Ambassador Gun, and Desolate Void @ the Hexagon

Posted in Concert Reviews with tags ambassador gun, desolate void, høst, hennes sistse høst, hexagon bar, live, Metal, minneapolis, said the shotgun to the head, vernal pool on Monday, January 12, 2009 by Ryan Buege

This was an amazing show on Saturday night (Jan. 10, 2009) at the Hexagon bar in Minneapolis from up-and-coming progressive/experimental black metal band Høst from Fargo. The show was opened by local psychedelic drone/doomgazers Vernal Pool, mathcore riff masters Said the Shotgun to the Head, death-grinders Ambassador Gun, and Eau Claire metal band Desolate Void

Høst

Vernal Pool

Said the Shotgun to the Head

Ambassador Gun

Desolate Void

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Visual Artist Spotlight: Ben Berning, “artage”

Posted in Art with tags Abstract, Artist Spotlight, Ben Berning, Graphic Artist, minneapolis, minnesota on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Today, we at Mind Inversion are pleased to introduce a recurring feature (as often as submissions allow) where we spotlight an amazing underground visual artist that contributes to our library. We will begin this exposé with an incredible, intricate collection of drawings from local Minneapolis, MN abstract graphic artist Ben Berning. The pieces in this exhibit are primarily in ink or marker and on paper. Click on a photo or hit read more to keep viewing the entire gallery.

“these are all i could fit on one e-mail, but yeah; some drawings from the past few years

– Ben”

In the Mind

Minneapolis Figures

Fallen

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Concert Photo Recap: Blue Ox, Ambassador Gun @ the Uptown Bar

Posted in Concert Reviews with tags ambassador gun, blue ox, coma eternal, dead to fall, death metal, doom metal, grindcore, minneapolis, nehemiah, nobot, uptown bar on Monday, December 22, 2008 by Ryan Buege

Last night at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis, Blue Ox and Ambassador Gun both played brilliant sets of bludgeoning death-n-roll stoner metal and razor sharp grindcore respectively. Although I missed the opening two bands (..I heard Nobot was very good electro psych..) thanks to the shitty road conditions, the fun shows that both these bands put on made the cold trip worth the while for me and the small group of my fellow drunken metalheads in attendance that night. AG even broke out an spot on cover of Sepultura’s infamous “Territory” to close their set! Here are some photos:

Blue Ox

Ambassador Gun

Full album of photos from both bands available on Facebook!

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Pavement: Minneapolis 6/11/92

Posted in Music News with tags 1992, live, minneapolis, mp3, Pavement, Stephen Malkmus on Friday, December 19, 2008 by Erik Burg

The fine people over at an Aquarium Drunkard have dug up a magnificent collection of live Pavement collection from back in their prime circa 1992. The 30 track set features plenty of highlights for any Pavement fan out there, I’m not huge on them but I know my man Alteezimo will be digging this for sure.