Five and a half years ago Avenpitch frontman Todd Millenacker took it upon himself to formulate a new little community within the locality of the twin cities Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It was a community populated by a group of bands that incorporated synths and other electronics with organic pop, rock and punk instrumentation. Compiling ten tracks from ten acts he put out the first volume of what would be an enduring compilation series called Twin Cities Electropunk in May of 2004. Each subsequent release was kicked off with a showcase featuring many of the bands on the roster and physical copies of the compilation were available for free to anyone who attended the show or later shows hosted by any of these bands until supplies ran out. The compilations would also be put up as a free download on TCelectropunk.com.

At a time when it seems everybody and their Mothers are in a band vying for money, attention and label support Millenacker took the chance of assembling a collective, turning a local music scene into more than the sum of its parts. If solidarity wasn't succeeding at bringing in crowds it was time to grow this thing into a multi-headed monster of an effort and over the years forty three separate acts have contributed to the beast's rampage. Yet, Millenacker has his own band, his own life and his own concerns so he's decided it's time to bring this era to a close with TC Electropunk, Volume 5. These Cds and the shows they spawned have been a taxing endeavor to assemble and Millenacker is to be credited and commended for putting so much work into making them a success.

Three acts in particular have provided music for each of these five releases and they're all here to represent once again. Avenpitch, of course, leads off the collection with "Soon Enough," another fuzz box blast of wailing synths, buzzing guitars and feel-good propulsion. Thosquanta returns with "Alstas," an energetic and clanging headspinner that represents two minutes of focused confusion. Halfway through the list the mighty Mach FoX swaggers in with their space-age synth-funk. "Dr. Night" is slinky and infectiously sublime as only Mach FoX can deliver.

Thirteen other bands lend their voice to the project this time. "Wasted Heartbeats" allows newcomers The Eighth to present crunchy guitar and wicked synth that sounds like Talking Heads meets Bella Morte with brains. Pop Inc. bring the drama and paint it with flashing white piano and juicy red guitar riffing on "Disenchanted." Lying in stark contrast to that Gabber Nullification Project go for the throat with the grimy and aggressive "Tickle Me Panzer." Thought Thieves, a local act building in popularity rather quickly - and for good reason - are featured with a spacey remix of "All I Pretend." Mike's smooth vocal lines actually seem to glisten in a warm bath of synth and piano. IKKI, who submitted one of the best tracks in the last compilation, offer one of the most curiously appealing songs this time around. Soaring vocals and dreamy instrumentation make "We Can Fly" an irresistible throwback reminiscent of The 5th Dimension's "Up, Up And Away," with contemporary flair but without all the schmaltz. Toward the end The Trapezoids give a nod to Kraftwerk with the synth minimalism of "BASIC: 20 Goto 10."

There are sixteen tracks in all spanning almost fifty-five minutes for the low, low price of...well, it's free. Many will be sad to see a series like this come to an end. There's been a lot of derision aimed at the name "Electropunk" for its questionable lack of substance but in the end it's just a silly header for something that is impossible to classify or categorize. In any event the circus-style, multi band release blowouts were some of the most fun nights out on the town in the Twin Cities and hopefully these acts all remain close and stick together in the coming years - learning from each other, offering support and building each other up. That's what community is all about after all. Even for a wily group of Electropunks.

See also: Review: Twin Cities Electropunk, Volume 4