The news that was

Okay, why did no one tell me Hipster, please! was mentioned back in April at BBC.CO.UK? I mean, how did I miss that?

Yeah, apparently Collective did a piece on nerdcore and my little blog warranted inclusion. So, y'know, hurray for me... 8 months after the fact. ;)

It sort of makes me wonder what other cool places HP was mentioned, unbeknownst to me and my meager readership.

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 37: Geeky Make-out Party

We find ourselves at the end of 2007; all that’s really left to do is roll the credits. And yet, I can’t help but feel like we’ve missed something.

It’s been remarked from every rag looking for a filler story that this was the year of nerd culture. Exhibit A seemed to be the hefty number of nerd-centered television shows that hit the airwaves. Before the writers’ strike, that is.

Closer to home, nerdcore, wrock, and chiptunes also got some great press – and that’s nothing to sneeze at – but it seems like for every complimentary thing said about nerd music there was some journalist, reviewer, or blogger who just didn’t get it.

The funny thing is, that’s okay.

Let us not forget that we are fuckin’ nerds. We’re supposed to be looked down upon, mocked, taken for granted. Our contributions are to be overlooked while news of our failures is almost certain to be exploited. Such is the natural order.

Even if we find ourselves kings of the digital age, many are still apt to pass us by, or much more likely, to greet us with derision.

That’s why we celebrate our own, and this is our party.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 37: Geeky Make-out Party (hosting provided by Antisocial) Size: 72.6 MB Running Time: 1:19:23

Show Notes

Intro: Baddd Spellah – “Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)”

It beats the shit out of “Auld Lang Syne.”

Track 1: The Lonely Island – “Ardy Party Remix (Ardy vs. Kid Icarus)”
Sandles and socks.

Z’s 1st interlude: “Shut your fuckin’ hillbilly mouth and play us some music.”
The background music for this portion of the show is “Rubber Ducky” by Steve BC.

Track 2: The Grammar Club – “Balloon Flight”
Bremelanotide may well be my pick for album of the year. It’s definitely top three.

Track 3: nYgel – “Def by DJ”
This song was set to be the show opener, but I think it works better here.

Track 4: mc chris – “PW/OM” / MDT – “PW/OM (MDT’s Weird House-ish Remix)” / optimiss – “PW/OM (Optimissmix)”
I like all three versions so much that I decided to include a bit of each.

Track 5: Whore Moans – “Mecha Mechanics (feat. MC Frontalot)”
I’ll actually be sharing my impressions of Episode 2: Attack of the Moans in early ’08.

Track 6: The Depreciation Guild – “Butterfly Kisses”
I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t discover these cats until recently. Lucky I have GM4A to turn me on to stuff like this!

Track 7: Former Fat Boys – “Melany”
Hard Corey is way cooler than Snoop anyway.

Track 8: The Evolution Control Committee – “Conner Likes to Have Sex With Animals” / Go Home Productions – “Gay House”
Radio Free Hipster is nothing without quality bastard pop, and these artists easily make some of the best.

Track 9: Luzid – “Rebirthday Bash”
Luzid hipped me to this track right after he put it on his MySpace player, and I instantly loved it.

Track 10: Tom Milsom – “Internet Love Song”
Be sure to check out the YouTube video of this cut for the full effect.

Z’s 2nd interlude: “The type of artist that my projects exist to support.”
The BGM for this section is Steve BC’s “imighty1.”

Track 11: DJ Moule – “Positive Walk”
This is the only reason you need to join the MashupTown mailing list.

Track 12: Lyrics Born – “Do That There (Young Einsteins Hoo-Hoo Mix)”
Lyric’s Born is the ultimate nerd party hip-hop artist.

Track 13: Schaffer the Darklord – “Nerd Lust”
Schaffer’s Mark of the Beast is another contender for album of the year.

Track 14: T-byte – “so before bills and everything he actually makes like $1,500,000”
I could’ve actually just played Bad Apollo in its entirety and still had an excellent party episode.

Track 15: id obelus – “Rural American Rap”
I recently heard a rumor that id wouldn’t be on the big Mid-west nerd music gig going down next month. I am sorely disappointed.

Track 16: Skankin’ Pickle – “Gates of Steel”
I wanted to include some DEVO, but I felt like this was much more danceable.

Track 17: Talladega Nights dialogue / Buckner and Garcia – “Do the Donkey Kong”
Tom Brokaw is a punk!

Track 18: ZeaLouS1 – “How we /Roll”/ Scrubs dialogue
Z1 recounts a nerd throwdown of epic proportion in this club banger.

Track 19: Elfonso – “Geomancer”
Holy fucking shit, I love this track! I’d hazard a guess that there’s nothing else quite like Elfonso in all of nerdy music.

Z’s final interlude: “No better time for me to thank everyone.”
This interlude is backed up by Steve BC’s “Big Thanks.”

Track 20: DJ John – “Teenage Wasteland of 1999 (John’s Overproduced Mix)”
I could think of no more fitting track with which to end this year.

You’ll no doubt notice a bit of un-credited tomfoolery at the end of this ep. I reckon some of you will enjoy it (and some will just think it’s gross), but all Beasties fans will no doubt get the joke.

I’ll simply leave it at that and not ruin the surprise, but those of you looking for the full “bit” that birthed this mysterious sample just need to use a little basic Google Fu.

I know I spent a lot of time in the actual podcast saying this, but thanks so much for listening. Without you I’m just some crazy son of a bitch talking to himself, but with your support I am a podcaster. It’s a very fine line.

Happy New Year.

Xmas miracle

Holy flurking schnit! Yesterday, Hipster, please! got a mention over at Tiny Nibbles for, oddly enough, namedropping Violet Blue in that day’s NNIB. Yes, I am well aware that me referencing Violet referencing me referencing her is kind of meta, but realizing that an actual writer is aware of my existence is easily the best Christmas present I received this year. (Although the slot 1 card my wife got me was pretty boss too.)

Here’s hoping that all of you had an excellent holiday as well!

Nerd News in Brief

My slow and laborious crawl toward C-list Internet stardom made some real inroads this year. I landed feature interviews with My Parents Favorite Music, mc chris, Dan Lamoureux, YTCracker, ZeaLouS1, Random, and Dual Core. I scored countless free CDs and other delightful swag, as well as successfully put together my own compilation album. I, myself, was interviewed by the always entertaining Jason Tanz for Esquire magazine, and just the other day received an early Christmas present – Pac-Man for the Wii Virtual Console – from legitimate Internet celebrity Shael Riley. (Thanks, Shael!)

I am, indeed, moving on up to the East side. Hopefully, by this time next year, I will have finally received my piece of the pie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie.

• Work in progress: Yesterday, Dan announced that Nerdcore For Life is nearing completion. For real this time. By his estimation, the rough cut of the film should be done by year’s end, with the 90-minute final cut being completed by the end of January. Congrats to the NC4L crew on reaching such a milestone!
• Unscrewing the Crocs: Earlier this month, employees of The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle were spontaneously informed – via voicemail, no less – that they no longer had jobs. To help offset this shittyness, nerdcore haven and all-around kick-ass venue Chop Suey has joined forces with Three Imaginary Girls to host a benefit for the club’s former workers. The first of these benefits goes down next Sunday, December 30th, with a second show recently added for Friday, January 4th. So head out to Chop Suey, listen to some music, and help a brother out. Thanks to Matt for directing me toward this information.
• The damnedest places: Matt also hipped to a recent mention of Jaylyn (the former Fanatical) at Relix. Matt says of the magazine, “If you're not familiar with Relix, it started out as basically a zine for deadheads. It covered the Dead and various other 60s groups or groups that had some kind of connection to the Dead. After Jerry died they started covering more of the Jamband scene groups.” Sort of a weird place for Jaylyn to pop up IMHO, but it’s always nice to see her get some press.
• In ur internets, messin up ur memes: Yesterday, I tried to make a lolcat. I’m pretty sure I failed. I blame Shael.
• WWHD: In her runner-up featurette for Person of the Year (?!), J.K. Rowling shouts out both the HP Alliance and Wrock in general. I find it comforting that not only are folks using Wrock as platform for social consciousness, but that the author of their ultimate inspiration acknowledges and supports such a movement.
• The beautiful people: Uber-sex-ay author/educator Violet Blue just released her list of the top ten sexiest geeks of 2007. Coming in at the number 2 spot is our own MC Frontalot, whom Violet describes as “insanely panties-on-the-stage h4wt in his glasses and headlamp and tie.” Also just barely missing inclusion is my girl Nikki Nefarious, known here-abouts as Nikki "Buttnik" Lachen. Congrats to all y'all sexy nerdlingers.
• The OC: Front also made an appearance in Web comic Over-Compensating a couple weeks back. Is Jeffrey Rowland launching a scathing commentary on the state of nerdcore hip-hop? Well, that or he’s just fuckin’ around.
• Where is my beautiful (l)ife?: Old school nerd rocker David Byrne wrote an amazingly interesting piece for WIRED (?!) concerning “Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists.” The article breaks down the relative level of consumer spending on digital vs. traditional music media, outlines 6 primary distribution models, and traces the ever-winding path of where your money actually goes when you buy an album from a major label artist. It’s a fascinating read for anyone interested in an insider’s prospective. Further thoughts can be found at Headphone Sacrament.
• Oh, Christmas Wii: The Former Fat Boys have another mini-film/Christmas video single to help you wile away your days off. This one’s full of Laotians, eyes getting put out, and countless allusions to a certain Macaulay Culkin vehicle. You can check out the vid at YouTube and even download the single for a limited time. Outtakes FTW!
• Be sure to check the responses: To wrap up what will most likely be my last post before X-mas, let me share with you a little vid that Church turned me on to. I think you’ll dig it as it is uniquely appropriate both for the season and my usual readership.