Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 78: Book It

The muse, she is a fickle mistress. And whether you're writing blog posts or songs or long-form fiction or technical manuals, sometimes you just can't seem to make the words fit together.

More than anything, I think that's what National Novel Writing Month is about. It's about pushing through that wall that sometimes forms between you and inspiration. It's about committing not so much to the timeframe, but to those 50,000 words.

And that's a lot of goddamn words.

This show is for all the writers out there, but it's also for the readers. It's all about authors and books and writing and creativity, and all the myriad of amazing forms they take.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 78: Book It [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 38.2 MB Running Time: 41:42


Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Baddd Spellah and Beefy: the greatest story ever told!

Track 1: Metaforce – "Writer's Block"

As you can tell from the lack of updates over the past couple of weeks, I am currently suffering from a bit of the ol' writer's blockage myself. Ere go this track seemed a proper starter.

Z's 1st interlude: "Help those of you participating in this month's National Novel Writing Month challenge over that final hump."

Big up to all my NaNoWriMoers!

Track 2: Better of Metal, Bitches – "Reading Rainbow"

This song is pretty awesome, but don't take my word for it.

Track 3: Bloodhag – "Madeline l'Engle"

I have long suspected that this show needs more tesseracts.

Track 4: Beefy – "Write a Song About"

A Beefy/Advantage mash-up, of sorts.

Track 5: People Within – "Write All Day"

You can pick up the audio for this entire show for free over at Archive.org.

Track 6: Lords of the Rhymes – "9-Fingered Frodo"

I sometimes forget how very much I enjoy Lords of the Rhymes.

Track 7: mc chris – "Neville"

This one is a personal highlight from mc's Part 6 Part 2.

Track 8: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets dialog / Danny Dementor – "Death (Adolescent Mix)"

And I would characterize this as one of the best WRock songs of all time.

Z's 2nd interlude: "But that's also this vocation's drawback."

Another proposed title for this ep. was simply "Writing is Hard." Oddly, while calling oneself a writer is almost effortless, living up to that moniker is significantly more problematic.

Track 9: Switchblade Kittens – "Size 12 is Not Fat"

From the Kittens' Rebel Princess LP, a fine album even for those not into chick lit.

Track 10: TwiRockett Music – "Be Safe"

I entertained the notion of including a number of different Twi Rock songs, but in the end this one won out because it has such a similar feel to the follow-up track.

Track 11: NeverEnding Story dialog / Limahl – "NeverEnding Story"

This song's inclusion may seem a tad counterintuitive, but NeverEnding Story is a fine piece of nerd cinema, so I thought it fit.

Track 12: John Anealio – "George R.R. Martin is Not Your Bitch"

John actually has a song about NaNoWriMo that would've worked even better in this edition, but I've literally been waiting 3 months to play this one!

Z's final interlude: "That annoying voice that is your internal editor."

Due to budget cut-backs, I was recently forced to fire my internal editor.

Track 13: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – "Every Day I Write the Book"

Do you hear the interplay of the bass line and the keyboard lead? That is called songwriting magic.

It seems as though I totally forgot to credit the background music in-show, so allow me to point you toward the Final Fantasy 7 OC Remix "Every Story Begins with a Name." It's by Big Giant Circles and zircon, and comes from the Voices of the Lifestream collection.

I'll go on record as saying that this probably isn't gonna be one my most popular episodes. It alternates at times between harsh metal and ultra-mellow pop fluff, but, in all honesty, that was kind of the point. The creative process is a lot of things, but above all else it is uneven. Messy even.

I reckon that made for sort of a bumpy musical ride, but I actually think it came together pretty well. Here's hoping you think the same.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Experience Nerdapalooza (All Over Again)

Word from the Nerdapalooza camp – and by "the Nerdapalooza camp," I mean my boy Hex – is that the live album from this year's festival is all set to go.

Priced at a scant 10 bucks and boasting some 19 tracks from everyone from MPFM and Doc Awkward to The Megas and Uncle Monsterface, it's a sweet-ass deal in its own right. Of course, when you factor in that all proceeds from the sale benefit Child's Play, it becomes even more of a must-buy!

And since Hex is all about giving back to the community, he also opted to provide a second disc worth of additional promotional tracks even to those bastards too cheap to spring for the album proper. This 9-tracker is available for free download, with an additional 10th song to be made available when/if you purchase the aforementioned charity comp.

Track lists and links are provided below, so as to whet your musical appetite:

Nerdapalooza Live CD 2009
  1. My Parents Favorite Music - "Just a Game"
  2. Devo Spice - "Platform Wars (ft. the great Luke Ski & int eighty of Dual Core)"
  3. Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew - "Yo Ho Ho"
  4. Marc with a C - "Nerdy Girls"
  5. Dr. Awkward - "Geekquilibrium (ft. Scrub Club) "
  6. Krondor Krew - "Sneaking"
  7. 3P!C-1 - "Sungem"
  8. The Megas - "Annihilation of Monsteropolis (Airman)"
  9. YTCracker - "Meganerd"
  10. MC Frontalot - "Tongue-Clucking Grammarian"
  11. mCRT - "Penis Monologues"
  12. Emergency Pizza Party - "Zombie Jesus (ft. Funky49)"
  13. Dual Core - "Hostage Down"
  14. Fred Lives & the House of Black - "The Bleep Out Song"
  15. ZeaLouS1 - "Headshot (ft. Benjamin Bear)"
  16. Uncle Monsterface - "Lobster Building"
  17. The Grammar Club - "Red Cyclone"
  18. Schaffer the Darklord - "The Bender"
  19. MC Frontalot - "Nerdcore Rising (ft. Beefy & MC Lars)"
Nerdapalooza Live Free Sampler
  1. Scrub Club - "Nerd Party"
  2. HDNinja - "FatFoot (ft. MC Wreckshin)"
  3. The Spork - "Scoundrel"
  4. MC COOL WHIP - "Hellen Keller in Space"
  5. Dual Core - "Magnificent 7 (ft. Remmington Forbes, Beefy, YTCracker, Schaffer the Darklord, MC Lars, & MC Frontalot) "
  6. UUDDLRL :: MAJA
  7. Beefy - "You Can Call Me Beef (ft. Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire)"
  8. MC Lars - "Bruce Campbell (ft. YTCracker, Schaffer the Darklord, & ZeaLouS1)" unlockable upon purchase of Nerdapalooza Live CD 2009
  9. Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire - "Publishing Rights (ft. Schaffer the Darklord)"
  10. Uncle Monsterface - "Triforce Mike Theme (Live from Nerdapalooza Southeast 2008)"