Thursday, April 15, 2010

Visitations: A Musical Tribute to Doctor Who

In recent years my love for the Doctor Who franchise has grown as big as Matt Smith's head…

Wow, that was a terrible way to start this off.

At any rate, I am not alone in my love for the series, so I had little problem rounding up contributors for a Doctor Who-themed compilation project. Which I will now dispense to you. Freely.

I actually went at this compilation a little differently than my previous endeavors. First and foremost, I didn't put quite so much emphasis on exclusive material. Don't get me wrong, there's some new hotness herein, but I also relied a bit on the tracks that inspired the original concept.

My friends Videogame Orchestra let me include their stellar theme song cover that's been in circulation for a while, and Navi from Metamystiks Inc let me toss in their classic track "Superior Beings," which, while not a Doctor Who song, per se, makes fantastic use of Dalek samples.

DJ Bentelli likewise hooked me up with his amazing mc chris mash-up that samples, among other things, "Doctorin' the TARDIS," while both Antisoc and Dale Chase let me use Who-flavored tracks from their forthcoming albums.

I also mined the sub-(sub-sub?)genre of Time Lord Rock in the form of contributions from Turn Left (AKA: The Geek Chic Band, AKA: RiddleTM, AKA: Victoria and Georgia) and The Vashta Nerada (featuring my internet homegirl MaryBeth), a pair of tracks you may also have happened across in your musical journeys.

Still, I have to give fervent props to rapper MC_Loki, chiprocker Jonny Nero Action Hero, mad Canadian genius Snake Eyes and my old jangle-rockin' pal Brux for contributing brand new material.

It this blend of old, new and in-between that also inspired the flow of this album. From the get-go it felt to me like a mixtape, so I took special care to overlay the songs in a similar manner. Of course, since I can't imagine anyone but me would want a 40 minute Doctor mega-mix in his collection, I also edited the final product down into independent tracks for your listening pleasure.

Sure, I intended for it to be digested as a whole, but this is the internet and folks seldom do as you anticipate. And thusly, here is Visitations: A Musical Tribute to Doctor Who, the latest Hipster, please! compilation album with a name that is itself a tribute to the property in question, to enjoy as you see fit.

Much love to all the contributors, to the killer design team of Talkie Tim and Spiky Zebra, without which you'd still be waiting on this album's release, and to you. Because you rock. And you know this.

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Download Visitations: A Musical Tribute to Doctor Who in its entirety right the hell here.

Individual downloads for those with lousy connections:

1. MC_Loki - "Who be the Man?"[Explicit]

2. Videogame Orchestra - "Doctor Who Theme"

3. Metamystiks Inc - "Superior Beings (feat. ArmageddonMan)" [Explicit]

4. Jonny Nero Action Hero - "Cyber Octicks (feat. Audio in the Pregap)"

5. DJ Bentelli - "mc chris for the TARDIS" [Explicit]

6. Dale Chase - "Who's Your Doctor?"

7. The Vashta Nerada - "Song for the Doctor"

8. Brux Callison & The Entangled Photons - "C'mon Leela (Put Your Knife Away)"

9. Antisoc - "The Doctor is In"

10. Turn Left - "There's No Such Thing as Impossible"

11. Snake Eyes - "Blink"

Life's just not worth living without a handy playlist.

And here are some liner notes. Because everyone wants to read another few hundred words of my foolishness.

Don't forget those amazing front and back cover images I was telling you about.

And for folks who just can't abide a digital release, here's a printable version of both to dress up that burned CD.

37 comments:

Dr. Confusion said...

w00t!

I'm SO excited to listen to this. Congratulations all! beforehand!

Brüx

Ian S Carr said...

Oh, hell's yes! Been waiting for this since you mentioned it on HipTrax. It might be the only thing I listen to today.

Z. said...

Thanks for the enthusiasm, Brux. And for kicking in a great track. :D

Thanks, Iscarr. Lemme know what you think of it once you've had time to give it a proper listen.

Ian S Carr said...

The first listen (at work, while only half-paying attention)?

T A S T Y. Tasty. Like a bacon-burger. With cheese.

Z. said...

Mmmmmmm... bacon.

Tyler said...

Neat. I'm sampling tracks now. Saving the full listen for when I get the complete album into the media player.

MC_Loki said...

Once again, Z, thank you for giving me the opportunity to hop on this.

antisoc said...

Strictly speaking it's the 15th sub genre, which makes it sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub sub genre...

Z. said...

Thanks, Tyler. Lemme know what you think.

And thanks for hopping on, Loki! ;)

Thanks for clearing that up, Soc.

Church said...

I thought there were only 12 sub-genres...

Great album, Z

Z. said...

Even now scientists are discovering more, Church! And thanks, man. :)

Dr. Confusion said...

Great Godamighty! those Turn Left girls can SING!

I've listened to the whole comp 3 times so far...so so so so so good!

Jonny Nero said...

This is awesome Z. Thanks for letting me be a part of a great record

Z. said...

They certainly can, Brux. They are easily among my favorite Time Lord Rock acts. Also my fave Wizard Rockers!

Thrilled to have you aboard, Jonny! And really looking forward to your full album release. :)

Anarchangel said...

Great album Z.! Thanks to all the contributors!

talkie_tim said...

This is a great comp, Z. Thanks for putting it all together and all your hard work and skills on this.

Z. said...

Thanks, Anarchangel! Glad you dug it, man.

And thanks for coming through with the fantastic cover photos, Tim! :)

Jimi said...

Nice, been looking forward to this for ages!

Z. said...

Hope it suits, Jimi.

Jimi said...

It certainly does, it's great!

Also, since my twitter is protected and you wouldn't get my @ reply, I'm going to give it here (in response to "Is there any interest in me doing another mixtape-style ep. based on @wilw's PAX East keynote (like I did in '07)?")
@hipsterplease Yes please!

Z. said...

Wait; how the hell am I not following you on Twitter, Jimi? What's your username?

Jimi said...

@HassanISahba

Church said...

How did I miss that tweet? Frakin' Twitterific can be flaky sometimes.

Anyhoo, YES! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY YES!

erin said...

Thanks for making this happen. : )

Z. said...

And thank you for checking it out, Erin! :)

Davey said...

Yes. Yes a thousand time yes.
Dunno if you know but Dr Who screenwriter linked to this on his website :)

Davey said...

Paul Cornell I meant to say...

Z. said...

I noticed that too, Davey! Tis exciting. :)

Mike Faulkner said...

I have been completely addicted to this album for months now. Absolutely love it. Thank you for the effort and care displayed in putting it together.

Z. said...

Thanks, Mike! The fact that fans like you are enjoying it makes it totally worth the effort. :)

olivia federici said...

I love these songs! But they all stop after either the first 30 seconds, or the first minute. Any one else have that problem? If so, did you find a way to fix it?

talkie_tim said...

Olivia, what are you playing the tracks with?

olivia federici said...

Zune.

Z. said...

They seem to be working for me, Olivia. Have you tried re-downloading the RAR?

olivia federici said...

I have a few times. It fixed one of the songs for a while, but then went back to only playing the short amount.

olivia federici said...

Never mind. I got it! Now I can enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed.

Z. said...

Glad to hear it, Olivia! So sorry for the trouble.