Captain’s Log: Supplemental

The Google Alert is an amazing thing; you mention a feature at a particular Web site, one of the staffers from that site gets a message stating that you blogged about it, and they contact you with further information.

I have seen the future, and it is facilitated by an army of ceaseless Googlebots.

That being said, here is an embed of that Frontalot/Negin Farsad piece from OurStage.com that I mentioned yesterday. Watch it in good health.

Nerd News in Brief

Do you see this plate?

It is full.

I have a full plate.

I am currently working on 4 interview features and 5 album reviews, and damned if I haven’t just taken on one more of each. Sweet merciful shit!

I obviously don’t know when to quit.

But on the positive side, I did ship out all my sticker requests yesterday. So if you sent me your address, stickers should be forthcoming. I also tried to send everyone a nice little note. Whether they ended up in the correct envelopes remains to be seen.

I am, admittedly, spread a bit thin.

• A place called home: To celebrate the release of his new album Starblazer, FLA nerdcore dynamo funky49 has totally revamped his official web presence. It is now 49% funkier.* Take a look for yourself.
• Him against the world: Philly-born lyrical titan Random has a nice new interview up at Clap Cowards that you really need to check out. Therein Ran talks about his background, his musical motivation, Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, and Gang Starr. (Why don’t more people namedrop Gang Starr?!) My only complaint: not enough talk about his forthcoming release The 8th Day. Reckon I’ll have to press that issue in my next interview with him.
• Open call: My friends from Game Music 4 All are gearing up for another compilation. Yes, another one. Already. This project is a tribute to the Sega Genesis (known to our foreign constituents as the Mega Drive). The deadline for submission is October 1st, and full details can be found in this post.
• All the way live: My pal Antisocial recently played his first live show. And since some of us couldn’t make it down to attend, Soc was kind enough to make the video of his full set available. Peep the full half hour, all 784 MB of its glory, here.
• Blame Soc for this: “Pipetting all those well-plates, baby, sends your thumbs into overdrive. And spending long nights in the lab makes it hard for your love to thrive.” When science tech meets 90’s boy pop, it’s called epMotion.
• T-shirts! Get your t-shirts!: Nerdcore For Life t-shirts are back in stock. Get them while they’re hot, and, more importantly, get them while they’re available. These suckers sell out fast, so grab one now.
• Burning down the South: Mega Man-centric rockers The Protomen have a trio of shows lined up this week in Kentucky and Tennessee: July 24th (tonight!) at Glassworks in Louisville, KY, Friday the 25th at Nashville’s 12th & Porter, and Saturday the 26th at JJ’s Bohemia in Chattanooga, TN. Show up and help ‘em give Wily what for!
• AKA Sweatshirt Assassin: killsaly, one of my favorite DJ/producers, has just put the finishing touches on a remix of a mc chris’s “Hoodie Ninja.” Yes, I know a number of you no longer listen to mc chris, but I still do. Moreover, you should all still listen to killsaly. So check it out.
• Delia all my life: Church recently sent me a link to this BBC post containing Doctor Who theme composer and early electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire’s experimental “dance” track. Delia invented techno. I’m just sayin’.
• Pre-PAX Nerdcore Nirvana: Amid rumors of a break-up – I say “rumors” because until Wheelie Cyberman himself tells me that the band is gone for good I refuse to accept it – Optimus Rhyme has announced a pre-PAX show at the High Dive in Seattle on August 28th. To sweeten the deal, MC Frontalot, The Goondocks, and Beefy are also on the bill. Be there!
• WRock around the clock: Virginia-based WRocker and dulcimer enthusiast (and friend of Hipster, please!) Snidget has announced info concerning her new EP To Dwell on Dreams, her up coming tour, and a button design contest. Check it out, and tell her I said hi.
• Back in the Alley: And thanks to Matt for pointing me toward this recent edition of the Alleycast recorded live at this month’s Portus festival. Will it match the foulmouthed drunken revelry of the Letters vs. Numbers ‘casts recorded at Nerdapalooza? Listen to both and find out for yourself.
• Their Stage: OurStage.com, which has, in recent months, featured nerdcore artists such as Beefy, Benjamin Bear, and Jaylyn, has a new video piece on nerdcore hip-hop. It boasts interviews with MC Frontalot and Nerdcore Rising director Negin Farsad, and it comes highly recommended. Give it a look and share your thoughts.
• “Sweet as a natural 20!”: And rapping things up for this week’s NNIB is another installment of ultra-geeky web show Dice Jockies. This one broaches the age-old question: Power Girl, Princess Leia, or Xeni Jardin?

*Your actual funkiness may vary.

All about NC4L

While this year’s Penny Arcade Expo might not include a performance by mc chris, I’ve just been informed that it will feature a screening of the Nerdcore For Life documentary. Congrats to Dan Lamoureux and all the artists involved – many of whom will be in attendance – for pulling off such a coup! The showing will be at 10:00 PM on Saturday, August 30th at the Walrus Theater. PAX attendees are encouraged to attend and rock the fuck out.

The documentary also made a triumphant second appearance in fake news/real culture periodical The Onion. Dan et al. appear on the cover of the coveted San Francisco edition. Check the Crapbot Productions site for scans.

And while you're there, be sure to read the crew’s full impressions of the SF Frozen Film Festival screening. Featured artists Doctor Popular, Nomad, and MC Lars were in attendance, as was GeekentertainmentTV’s Irina Slutsky, thus assuring that the event was resplendent with geeky glee.

In what was perhaps the most important aspect of its sojourn to the Bay Area, the film won the festival’s “Best Music Documentary” award! Peep the embedded video for the official event recap, the bulk of which directly concerns our friends from the doc.

And they said it couldn’t be done

Surely no single event did more to shine a spotlight on the burgeoning nerdcore scene than the original Rhyme Torrents project. By the same token, no single community in the hallows of all of geeky music produced more drama. Such is the nature of the beast.

And with the dissolution of RhymeTorrents.com, the future of those surviving members of that oft-tumultuous family unit seemed a great question mark. Would RT rise from the ashes with renewed vigor or would it simply fade into the internet ether? Something few of us counted on was a third solution: relocation.

Helmed by a new consortium of tech-savvy rap dorks and nestled snuggly at the similar (but just different enough to make a difference) RhymeTorrents.org, a new RT is poised to continue the longhead tradition of nerdcore compilation albums. And probably a little drama too, but, again, it comes with the territory.

The first musical offering from this aspect of the community comes in the form of Rhyme Torrents Volume 7, a two-disk collection that became available last weekend. Mastered by EMPulse Record’s The HT, RT7 boasts slicker production, higher bitrates, and contributions from Magitek, Antisoc, ZeaLouS1, Random, id obelus, The Ranger, and many more. But most importantly, the comp is still free!

Take a moment to download this newest iteration of the nerdy mixtape. I assure you’ll find something to your liking.