Nerd News in Brief

Hey Floridians, your rightful place as the nerd motherland of the east coast is dangerously close to being usurped. Apparently the dorks in Baltimore are armed.

I am serious, kids, you do not want to fuck around with Johns Hopkins chem majors. They will cut you. Consider yourselves warned.

• Home Away from Home: Let me start this week's NNIB with a shout-out to Eye-shuh. In response to a shout-out she gave me at her blog. Which was based on a message I sent her with the last of the Hipster, please! promo stickers. Which she earned by sending me a nice donation to the site. As you can see, shit gets complicated, but the important thing to remember is that Seattle is obviously home to my kind of people.
• Rancor vs. Sarlacc: At this stage in the game, another puff piece about "geek chic" is all but expected. What is not, however, is a sports blogger catching hell for botching a Star Wars reference. This spectacular piece of reverse-nerdery was brought to you by the one and only Church Hates Tucker.
• Antique Optical: The latest album from the Protomen, Act II: The Father of Death, is currently available for purchase. On CD no less! Keep that digital dinosaur alive by buying one from the band's merch store.
• Horny Devil: Speaking of new albums, mc chris has just unveiled the official title of the new iteration of his "part 6" project. Peep the hellfire.
• Chryme Doesn't Pay: Also on the new album front, my pal Antisoc has dropped his latest free EP. And it's early! Who even knew that was possible in the realm of nerdcore?
• All Samples (Un)Cleared: Probably my favorite new (and also free) release of the past few weeks is K.Flay's MASHed Potatoes. It combines two of my favorite things: K.Flay's own unique brand of lyricism and bootlegged beats. Check out what she does with tracks from Usher, Paramour, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and others right cheer.
• Reach for the Stars: Also free, though not exactly new, is funky49's hip-hop space opera Starblazer. I'm not sure how much longer Steve is gonna let this one sit out there in his freebie folder, so get on that shit now!
• Ackbar's Lament: Meanwhile, a new song has also been dropped by my homie The HT. Enjoy the chippy goodness of his "A Trap" over at 8-Bit Daily.
• Tuesday's Gone: The Painted Man has begun publishing an ongoing interview with Shael Riley. Okay, so maybe "interview" isn't the right word. But as anyone who's ever talked to Shael can attest, you just gotta let the man preach. Semantic nitpicking aside, be sure to check it out.
• Wizardry: Congrats to my friends at Nerd Invasion for scoring an amazing sponsor. Wizards of the Coast, makers of every single game you play, have generously donated a metric shit ton of +1 swag for the event.
• Must-See TV: Don't know what to watch this new fall television season? Why not let geek rock troubadour Jonathan Coulton steer you in the right direction?
• Your Time to Shine: Have you ever watched an MC Lars video and said to yourself, "I can totally do that shit?" Well prove it, asshole!
• Prove Yourself (Again): And while you're at it, Lars has also challenged all comers to remix his 2005 collab with mc chris. Winning entries will be featured on his site.
• Single and Ready to Mingle: And speaking of collaborations, be sure to check out Kupek's new mope-rock amthem "Heard About You" featuring Canadian MC supreme Jesse Dangerously. Wait, how have you not downloaded that yet?!
• Everything's Coming up Front: If you have yet to see the MC Frontalot documentary Nerdcore Rising, you are fast running out of excuses. The film is now available via Netflix and rental copies have even been sighted at Seattle's Hollywood Video. In related news, the film's official site has set up a nerdcore-specific Song Fight! that I'm sure many of you will want to participate in. Meanwhile, Front has toasted his continued success by both dropping another track into the Rock Band store and opening his own virtual storefront for downloadable albums.
• Bangor? I hardly Know Her!: The film will even be screened at this weekend's BangPop! comic and pop culture con in Maine. If you're headed that way, be sure to give my buddy Lance a how-do on my behalf.
• Mostly Ghostly: Closing us out this week is the first execution of this year's PAX prank from our friends at Epic Default. Does it match the might of last year's Bad-Horsing? Wil Wheaton certainly thinks so.

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 73: Eat, Drink & Be Scary

And so we find ourselves once again in the very throes of Drunken Podcasting Month (better known as September). It is an occasion I can't help but be proud of, despite how reprehensible the entire affair truly is.

Just like last year, my pals Matt and Church join me for the festivities. Drinks in hand, we make our way through over an hour's worth of music, supplementing it with nearly half that time in intoxicated banter.

Notice, if you will, how we begin slightly sloppy and easily distracted, and devolve further into slurring, marble-mouthed buffoons. Why I actually call Church "Chuck" at one point.

Shameful!

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 73: Eat, Drink & Be Scary [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 82 MB Running Time: 1:29:38

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Beefy was totally trashed when he recorded the vocals for my theme song. It's a fact that I just made up.

Track 1: MC Lars & K.Flay – "It's A Party Y'all"
I reviewed Single and Famous last week. Check it out.

1st drunken interlude: "To celebrate this auspicious occasion."
How hard is it to convince Matt and Church to get drunk with me? Not particularly.

Track 2: Dr. Awkward – "F.U.F." / Scrubs dialog
As if you couldn't tell from our constant gushing, we all really dig Doc's Next Generation.

Track 3: Mr. B – "Sherry Monocle" / Scrubs dialog
Many thanks to La Bete for turning me on to the Gentleman Rhymer.

Track 4: Hidari – "ChocolaTommy"
Hidari's Wine and Chocolate is an amazing album, even for listeners unfamiliar with the language.

Track 5: Wilbert Roget II – "Chicken Tenders"
My favorite song about chicken tenders ever!

Track 6: The Bloodclan – "Vampire Party"
This track was a special request from Matt. It's from a collaborative project including MC Loki and MC Diabeats.

Track 7: Selfhelp – "Drunk Last Night"
No episode of Radio Free Hipster is complete without the inclusion of at least one Canadian.

2nd drunken interlude: "What are your respective poisons."
One of these years we really need coordinate our drinks. I'm just sayin'.

Track 8: Mattias Holmgren – "Legend of Zelda Zelda Heineken OC ReMix" / Scrubs dialog
This OC ReMix stills blows me away, despite the fact that I've been listening to it for months.

Track 9: mc chris – "Pizza Butt"
Confession: I totally chose this song so I could also include that "drunk on cheese" bit from Scrubs.

Track 10: English Pete – "Killing in a Gay Bar"
Because everyone loves a "Gay Bar" mash-up.

Track 11: Beefy – "Table Top (tanner4105 remix)"
RAWK!

Track 12: Uncle Monsterface – "Bring Back the Eggplant Wizard (Song for Gunpei Yokoi)"
I am currently playing through Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, and I gotta tell you those Eggplant Wizards are motherfuckers!

Track 13: People Within – "Lovesick"
People Within features Optimus Rhyme's Broken English.

3rd drunken interlude: : "The refined English version of our own beer goggles."
Brits are just fancier than us.

Track 14: Superpowerless – "Jizz In My Pants (Remix)"
Superpowerless does some of the most amazing covers and remixes I've ever heard, and he is crazy prolific.

Track 15: YTCracker – "Over and Over"
This I consider one of YT's best, an often overlooked gem from Serious Business.

Track 16: Jonny Nero Action Hero – "Back Porch" Scrubs dialog
Check out a special message from Jonny at the end of this episode.

Track 17: Billy the Fridge – "Cadillac Rollin' Fat"
I've been waiting for months for just the right time to expose the listening audience to Billy the Fridge. At last, that time has come.

Track 18: Billy Mays – "Breakin' Your Back"
Is it in poor taste to include this track in a show about overindulgence? Probably.

Track 19: Dual Core – "Give Me Wings (Remix)"
Nobody does better Dual Core remixes than their own c64.

Final drunken interlude: "I am eternally in your debt."
Let it be known that Hipster, please! truly couldn't exist without the help and support of Church and Matt. Them's m'boys!

Track 20: Glenn Case – "Glutton"
I can not even begin to express how excited I am for Glenn's forthcoming album Throw Money!

Bonus: A Message from Jonny Nero
Be sure to express your thanks to Jonny by checking out his Epic Default podcast!

This is usually the space where I recap the episode or talk up the following show, but this time I'm not gonna do that. Instead I just wanna take a moment to remember Jim Carroll.

He passed away earlier this week at the age of 60, but it was greatly overshadowed by the death of Patrick Swayze. Not that I'm bitter; I mean, Jim's lot in life was to remain largely unnoticed.

For me, Carroll held personal significance. Not just because we battled similar demons, but because of what he symbolized to me. While Updike showed me that it was okay, even interesting, to write about the exploits of unremarkable people, Jim Carroll showed me that it was also perfectly acceptable for us unfortunate freaks to put pen to paper ourselves. To record our own histories.

And now he finds himself, however fittingly, among the people who died.

Jimmy, this drink's for you.

Maja League

While most of the attention being paid to Maja of late has centered on his turn as a voice actor in a series of Phoenix-area McDonald's spots, surely no one has forgotten that his primary focus is music. And thankfully, some 2 years after the release of his stellar debut, The Amalgam Project, he is back in the proverbial saddle.

Peep the recent communiqué from Maja's command center:

Hey,

This is a message from yours truly, MAJA.

I am sitting here ready to release my sophomore album, which I have named BLEACH’d OUT. Seriously, I am literally sitting in front of my PC in the middle of the night looking at the cover that was designed by Robert Kim, who has done some really good work. You can check out some of his other work here: http://artofroboto.blogspot.com/. I am really excited about what he’s put together. You should totally check him out.

Anywho, here’s why I’m e-mailing you fabulous fan : I want to give you the album first. And for FREE. Yes, this is not a lie. I am going to upload the album on my new Reverbnation page and allow all fans to download it for FREE. BLEACH’d OUT is my anime-inspired album that I hope speaks to all of you as much as The Amalgam Project did.

The more fans that download the album, the better. T-shirts coming soon, too!

The album is releasing THIS FALL so stay tuned!

Here is the vid that I just uploaded on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcaiB2ZSX00

You can add yourself now on Reverbnation by clicking the link below:
http://www.reverbnation.com/majatron?add_email=true

Thanks for the love and support!

-MAJA

To reiterate, there is good news - Maja's sophomore follow-up is ready to drop – and better news – it is gonna be made freely available. So keep a keen eye on Reverbnation for further rumblings concerning BLEACH’d OUT. The promise of more top-shelf otaku rhymes is not to be taken lightly.