So I was nominated for a Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast! Again!
I'm not sure who keeps tossing my name into that hat, but, given my small but dedicated following, I certainly have some ideas. The thing is, no matter who did it – or, for that matter, why – I'd just like to say thank you. It was a dash of good news that came along when I needed it most.
Intro: Baddd Spellah– "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
It always feels weird to find myself talking over this.
Track 1: Wordburglar – "Fred Broca"
From RFH ep. 143, 10/26/12. I didn't do my usual year-end round-up back in 2012, but this was easily one of my favorite songs from that year.
For those of you keeping score at home, I've won two of the four Parsecs thus far awarded in this category. Would I love a third? Sure, but – as cliché as it sounds – just being nominated, especially as the RFH project has sort of run its course, is truly an honor.
It's hard to live here in modern America and not think about political divisions. Shit, it's practically all we think about.
At the core I believe the real difference comes down to two simple ideologies; those at the farthest point to the left want everything to change, while those at the farthest on the right want nothing to change. And while I lean more toward the former with regard to actual socio-political philosophy, I can be pretty damn right-wing when it comes to my own life—almost staggeringly inflexible.
I am content to do the same things in the same ways not just because it helps to dull my perpetual anxiety, but also because it's easy. Sadly, things seldom stay easy.
Right now things are especially not-easy, so I'm stepping away from some projects for a while. Hopefully just a short while more, mind you, but the podcast—at least as I left it last year—seemed particularly… unfinished.
Track 4: R_Garcia – "Indifferent Times"
Definitely check out No Holds Bard. Garcia always manages to impress, but this one is especially engaging.
Track 5: Illbotz – "Michael McDonald's Crunk Classics (skit)"
If my life is gonna be a Michael McDonald song it's damn well gonna be one sung by Big Perm.
Track 6: Stenobot – "Welcome Home"
I dream of an R_Garcia/Stenobot collab. It would surely be a chip-rock masterpiece.
Track 7: Reel Big Fish – "Ask"
A last-minute addition to the play list, but one I'm definitely happy I included.
Track 8: Anchorman dialog / The Police vs. Jungle Brothers – "Lonely Jungle Brothers"
Call this one a throwback to the earlier days of the 'cast.
Z's 2nd interlude: "Another gorgeous composition."
I never got around to reviewing All the Things, even though I rightly should have. Suffice it to say it's excellent, and you oughta own it.
Track 10: The Grammar Club – "Phonin' It In"
I actually pushed this show back a bit so as not to step on Bioavailable's release date. Didn't wanna let this track slip out before you could actually make it your own.
Track 11: DJ Earworm – "United States of Pop 2012"
This one should have been a part of my year-end podcast, which sadly never happened.
Z's final interlude: "The best thing, the strongest thing about this community—about this culture—is you."
File under: Cheesy But True.
Track 15: Optimus Rhyme – "Daryl Hannah"
"How will you feel with an expiration date?"
Before this goes any further I'd just like to thank you all for your kind words and support over the past few weeks. They've meant a lot. More than you could know.
Now as for what happens around here, well, that's still being discussed. It seems that, while my need for some time off was understood and unanimously supported, my plan to let the land go fallow was, well, less so. I've had a number of allies inquire about minding the blog while I see to moving and whatnot, and even some parties interested in keeping the podcast going in my stead.
How does one, as a blogger/podcaster, tell the world that he's taking a break from blogging/podcasting? I mean without writing a blog post or making a podcast about it?
Such is the dilemma with which I've been wrestling for the past two months. In the meantime I've been doing very little to get the word out regarding where the hell I am and what I'm doing.
Which I reckon is an answer in itself.
In that time I've slept on a number of amazing moments in geeky music, from another Vocalist/Producer Challenge to Frontalot hitting basic cable to a sweet new Dual Core video to Nursehella's second coming to, Christ, probably a cool half-dozen new EPs from Adam WarRock. I've let it all pass by unremarked upon, internet. Because I'm tired—oh so tired!
It wasn't until a friend asked if I had closed up shop here at Hipster, please! that I began to consider my answer to a question that, it turns out, was being asked by more than a few of you. Up until that point I thought that the project was merely resting. Like the Norwegian Blue.
Pithy Python references aside, I'm still not sure what's to become of Hipster, please! and Radio Free Hipster. I only know that I, as the proprietor, have wearied with age and circumstance.
I am currently stretched thin emotionally, financially and, given the toll it's obviously taken on my output, creatively. I'm finding my way into a new life that may or may not include this as a part of it. My gut instinct is to bookend things, to wrap up the podcast—which has really become the focus in recent years—for the sake of closure.
The thing is as much as I consider this site a pet project, a one man show, it's not. There have been, since the earliest days, folks behind the scenes providing art assets and story scoops and moral support and pretty much propping me up at every turn. And just because their names aren't beside the posts doesn't mean they don't have a stake in this too.
The site itself is in dire need of some housekeeping, a redesign and, y'know, regular content, and it's not something I can do myself right now. Whether that means I let things ride while I attempt to get my shit together, write the whole thing off as another faded internet relic or bring in some help to run the store remains to be seen. But whatever the outcome I simply wanted to take a moment to say how very much I've enjoyed the experience, and that I genuinely hope to have the luxury of enjoying it again in the not-too-distant future.
Season's greetings, faithful listeners. Apologies for delaying this particular episode, but things have been… complicated.
Unlike the Halloween eps, which I see as a treat, these Christmas shows always strike me as a bit of an obligation. But that being said, this one is probably the best I've done so far.
I hope you dig it, and I further hope it helps you through this most joyous season. Which always seems to come bundled with its own unique complications.
Z's 2nd interlude: "Let's keep the holiday mash-ups coming."
If you don't already have Santastic 7 in your collection your yuletide playlist is sorely lacking.
Track 14: John Anealio – "Winter Day"
Probably one of my favorite Anealio tracks. Not as Christmassy as the rest of the EP, but so beautifully textured.
Z's final interlude: "At month's end for 2012's last hurrah."
I already have some quality tracks lined up for this one.
I ain't gonna lie to you, guys; I have likely never felt less like dispensing seasonal pleasantries in my life. But any way you slice it this is the season of giving, and the least I can do is give y'all some tunes to help you through your own holiday hassles.
With that in mind, I'd like to point out that the name of this episode – while continuing my tradition of bad jokes – references my good friend Datavortex. We've been homies online and off for a long time now, and he and the Missus recently sent me a gift that once again helped me level up my podcasting rig.
While we're not exactly having sleepovers and braiding each other's hair—Though god knows I keep suggesting it!—Adam WarRock and I talk fairly regularly. Our communiqués generally concern what he's writing and how an individual recording (or broader project) is coming together. Or, y'know, clothes. But the primary topic of discussion often turns to where Adam is and where he's going.
And I mean that literally.
Eugene Ahn is, like Ricky Nelson before him, a travelin' man. Like Lisa Stansfield he has been around the world. (Though I reckon the very important distinction is that finding his baby was not the primary motivation.)
Adam WarRock has spent nearly two years on the road touring, recording, writing, creating, growing. But now he's back home in Memphis, and in true WarRock fashion he has turned that homecoming itself into a creative endeavor!
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Alright, Euge, let's go back in time a few of months. We're standing in the parking lot of the Milestone, and you're telling me about a new project you're working on.
Ahhh, the Milestone. I can smell the bathrooms now. That was the NOFRIENDS tour, right?
Exactly. And you were telling me how this new project is your Mid-South EP. It's your tribute to Memphis, not to mention your exploration of the artist it's helped shape. Hip-hop is very geographic. Always has been, and it only got more so during your formative years of the 1990s. Why wait so long to rep your city?
Mostly, because I wasn't THERE. I grew up in Memphis, and moved back around early 2010 and then proceeded to tour fairly consistently for the next two years. I was just never home. My friends basically stopped knowing when I'd be home and when I'd be gone, so I'd just show up at the bar on Friday and it would be a surprise. I was pretty burnt out after a tour I did in May, and I ended up taking three-plus months off, just hanging out around the city, seeing friends, drinking, having fun. I got a chance to really fall back in love with the city, and know how much of its character became a part of the man I grew up to be. I started working on an EP after August or so, and it was pretty obvious I wanted to show this city some love.
City Beautiful was produced by Rob Viktum, and he brought a lot of bright, beautiful funk and soul to the beats. How did you two hook up?
He's friends with some of The Variants web series guys, and ended up DJing a live art event that I performed at. He kept spinning all this amazing old school and early 90s hip hop, all this indie stuff, and other than the live artists I was the only other music person there. I basically stood next to him and asked him to play random hip hop songs, and he obliged. He's had a pretty rich history with some of the bigger indie houses in the 2000s, but had been done with producing beats for a while. I basically egged him on to make me some beats, and he eventually obliged. The rest is history.
"THX" is your kick-off, and it makes for a really strong start. You name check everyone from Zulu Nation and the Cold Crush Brothers to MC Frontalot, and it almost sounds… cathartic in a way. Are you at peace with your position in contemporary hip-hop? Are you happy being a guy that sort of drifts between indie and nerdcore?
I don't know if it's cathartic, I think I tend to write chronologically when I talk about hip hop. So it just made sense to start the first song off this very "HIP HOP" album with a line about Bambaata, Cold Crush, and all those guys from pre-90's. Talk about Big Daddy Kane getting his slang and hooks stolen. And then kinda compare to how small and insular scenes nowadays have the same problems, though now it's not the Black Spades and Juice Crew, it's Internet message boards and social media and dumb things like that. The Frontalot line was definitely an intentional shout-out to the fact that everyone seems to think I DON'T want to be nerdcore, or nerdy. I don't know why that is, and I have a healthy amount of respect for people who want to intentionally make nerdcore. I honestly just make music about whatever, without thinking about it. And if it's nerdy, so be it; if it's not, then that's fine with me too. But I love nerdcore. I love Frontalot and the nerdcore genre. People get way too bogged down in that distinction. I'm just happy to be making music, period. I just always want people to know that I know that nerdcore definitely gave me a name in the beginning. Hence the Front line, who most definitely still holds the crown in it. I mean, won't he always? He invented it.
"Rodin" almost hits a G-funk note there, musically...
Huh. I guess you're right, if there was a synth in there. I never thought of it like that.
Yeah, but lyrically you're still very much looking inward and trying to speak this universal truth about living your dreams. The lyric "for everyone who ever swallowed a dream" comes through as uniquely confessional; do you ever wonder what would have happened if you hadn't gotten stuck in a job you hated? To what extent does that experience still power your career?
I'm pretty sure if I was at all content with my job, I would've never gotten here, maybe never started making music again. So it's weird to think that the act of stifling the things you love makes you love them more; and then doing what you love for so long makes you love them less. That's probably a good way to put it. I'm probably over-thinking it. Which is a good way to describe "Rodin."
Each Adam WarRock release has a sort of musical mission statement, and the title track "City Beautiful" is definitely it this time around.
Well you know where that title's from? It's from the fact that Memphis's city beautification commission was the first one formed in the country, back in 1930. It was called, obviously, Memphis City Beautiful. It's a municipal history nerd in-joke.
It seems like a proper love letter to the city that made you. Did you find yourself re-exploring Memphis while you were recording this EP?
Maybe not while recording this EP, other than what happened organically just by having enough time home to have a proper social life. When we made the music video, however, we definitely did explore the holy hell out of the city.
You leaked "Get Smart" as an early single, and I can't say enough about how well you, Beefy, Jesse and Rob gel on that cut, but where did that core allusion come from? The extended reference to Maxwell Smart alongside a critique of lazy, dumbed-down culture was surprising effective.
Ha. It all kinda comes from the original idea me and Rob were going to do for an EP. I was going to name it "Noir," as a sort of shout out to Marvel Noir comics, but mostly because everything Rob was making sounded so…noir-y. When I heard the "Get Smart" beat, it reminded me of some kind of spy movie, and I just started goofing on the hook and that "rappers wanna get buck, I wanna get smart" line came out. Jesse was on it from the get-go, way back when we first were doing the Noir EP, and added that verse. We grabbed Beefy (who ironically got bumped from my Vampire Weekend EP, so I promised him a spot on the next EP) and he added that last verse months later. Those guys really murdered it. I pretty much put my verse down, and then got the hell out of the way.
You've got some solid guest spots on this one, but "CAPS LOCK" seems more like a full-on collaboration with YTCracker. Had you ever worked with Bryce before?
Me and Bryce have talked about doing some stuff, we have a song floating around out there that never materialized into something (hopefully will someday). Bryce is one of those core nerdcore guys that was nice to me from the start, and I always appreciated that about YT. I wanted him on the album for sure, and he sent that verse back in record time.
Okay, I'm still kinda scratching my head about "Oppenheimer."
Hahaha. Okay. Me too, to be completely honest.
How does a post-apocalyptic narrative fit in with the concept of Memphis and the evolution of Adam WarRock? Was it just a good excuse to drop in that sweet Ozymandias line? (Because I am totally alright with that.)
It's weird. I mostly knew I was going to do a track with Schaffer, and every time I start pitching ideas to Schaffer, they always seem to be about Armageddon or dying or something dark and ominous. He has that effect on me, I guess. I fell in love with the name "Oppenheimer," I mean it just LOOKS cool. And I pitched Schaffer and Tribe the idea of doing a song about being scientists that invented the atom bomb. Schaffer came back and asked if he could do it as a scientist who had no remorse, and directed Tribe to be the scientist who felt great regret. I view it as Schaffer being the devil on my shoulder and Tribe being the angel on my shoulder. Which in real life, is kind of accurate.
If "City Beautiful" is a love song to a place, this one is a love song in the traditional parlance. But at the same time it's... more self-aware, I think, than your average romantic fare. You acknowledge the transience of verse—strong feelings might change or fade, but the track itself will always stay the same, frozen in time in your catalog. How hard is it to pen a realistic love song? Isn't the very nature of art form sort of intentionally self-deceptive?
Not so much self-deceptive, but there's definitely an awareness of knowing that you're talking a big game for something that, at least by modern definitions, will most likely not last forever. I mean, isn't it over 50% of marriages end in divorce now? The idea of a one true love is something that we like to talk about, culturally, but none of us really believe it's real, even when you feel something that sort of approximates it, right? You could be totally in love with a girl (or guy) and in the moment think "I want to be with this person forever," but still in the back of your mind thinking "But that most likely won't happen." When you pen a love song, you're basically kinda throwing this thing out there that you know in a week, a month, or however long, it might be all completely untrue and kinda… painful to listen to. But you still gotta sell it as much as you can, or else there's no point in doing it.
Okay, what about that Alex Chilton bit? Are you a serious Big Star fan, or was that a meta-reference to The Replacements song of the same name, or was it simply a skillful namedrop of another of Memphis's native sons?
It's funny, I wasn't a huge Big Star fan until I LEFT Memphis sometime late in college or after it. I was willfully ignorant of anything that wasn't punk, hardcore, and hip hop, so Big Star was not really a concern of mine as a young kid full of piss and vinegar. And I think I found my way to Big Star BECAUSE of The Replacements song, "Alex Chilton," which is basically all about being in love with a song, which I guess has a nice cyclicality to the whole thing.
But really what that line is about: it's a reference to some other b-sides songs that I recorded before, lines written about a particular girl who loves Alex Chilton. Those songs never came out. So I scooped some lines out and put together a nice pastiche to end the track. Really only ONE person in the world will know where all of those are from. I told you it was a self-indulgent track.
Seeing as the work is so personal, it seems rather fitting that you close City Beautiful on a throw-back track to your seminal release. Did you give Rob any direction re: that "Silver Age" remix, or was that all him?
Nope. I basically sent him the a cappellas and said "Do whatever." He sent back the remix, and I asked him to scoop out the third verse spots so me and Tribe could try to do a new verse for fun. It was so boom bappy (I think we said it sounded like Jedi Mind Tricks, but in a good way), we wanted to add something really hip hoppy to it.
So where are we going from here, man? We've only got about three more weeks left in 2012. I reckon that gives you time for 8 or 9 more EPs and a full-length.
God, I don't know Z. I have a handful of ideas for mixtapes and EPs, and I've been working on my next album (tentatively titled Middle of Nowhere) for next spring or fall. But really, I wanted to take a long break from live shows, and mainly just kinda focus on making music for myself again. If that means making music about movies or TV shows, so be it, y'know? But whatever comes next, it'll be what I want to do. Hopefully everyone wants it too.
I'm really not sure about this one, y'all. I mean, I sometimes have my doubts about individual shows and I personally really dig how this one shook out, but I gots that angst.
Still, I gotta admit it felt good to just throw the thing together, to just start dragging in tracks and slapping them in haphazard order. Maybe it's a little messier than usual—hell, maybe even a tad dissonant at times—but I hope you find something in there you really dig.
Track 4: Phil Retrospector – "Killing Kids"
There were a lot of MGMT mash-ups making the rounds there for a while, but I just happened to find this one sitting on my desktop. No idea how/when it got there.
Track 6: Alestorm – "That Famous Ol' Spiced"
I started to play some Dethlehem here—I'm going to see those guys in Charlotte again next weekend—but went with pirate metal instead.
Z's 2nd interlude: "Ruining your high."
/glances at Larry
Track 7: Dj Moule – "303 is TNT"
I wanna say this particular bootleg is at least a couple of years old. Kinda surprised I've never played it!
Track 8: Abinox – "Absolute No Give Up"
I couldn't in good conscience not play a song called "Absolute No Give Up."
Track 9: rockleetist – "Laika (English)"
Did this one bring you down? It… it brought me down.
Track 10: Klopfenpop – "Prime Obsession"
Oh course then Klopf picked shit right back up again. With maths.
Z's final interlude: "Protracted crock-pot related analogies." Crock-Pot.
Track 11: Tribe One – "Midlife Crisis (ft. Adam WarRock)"
I sometimes worry that many don't yet realize what an amazing talent Niles truly is. I really wish he could tour more. And release that goddamn full-length!
Next up is my annual holiday episode, so feel free to hit me up with your yuletide picks. After that comes my year-ender; I've been squirreling away tracks for that one for months. And after that?
I don't really get that into Black Friday. I mean, let's be honest here; I don't exactly require a lot of stuff. I've got mad stuff already, y'all. And just as importantly I'm a big fan of sleep. I cannot say enough nice things about sleeping.
Online sales, however, are the shit. We're all sorta sitting at monitors all day anyway, so that's the very definition of convenience. As such, here's a quick rundown of where I'll be dropping a few duckets throughout the day.
Mimoco
I'm sort of obsessed with the Adventure Time and TransformersMimobots. Today those products and pretty much everything else Mimoco sells are 20% with the code BloohFriday20. And of course there are also further discounts on their dedicated sale page.
ThinkGeek
ThinkGeek's Black Friday deals are a little thin this year, but the $5 blinking D20 and $10 Star Wars family decals are solid buys.
iTunes
Let me be clear; I only ever buy Apps from the official Apple store. My music all comes from Amazon when I want to be thrifty and Bandcamp when I want to make sure the artist gets his/her fair cut of the sale. Even when I do buy Apps I'm hardwired not to pay full price. Today's game deals include Jumping Finn Turbo – by current fave time-waster – and a volumes 1-7 of the Gamebook Adventures choose-your-own-adventure-style RPG stories for 99 cents apiece. Get 'em!
MC Lars
Right now everything at Lars's online merch shop is 50% off. That means $10 tees, $6 CDs and $17.50 hoodies. Now is the time to stock up.
mc chris
mc is doing his regular post-Thanksgiving sale as well, but currently the actual Indiemerch page itself seems to be fucked up. You can browse for merchandise manually, though, where you'll find shirts for $5-$10 and hoodies for $20.
Mikal kHill
This year my homey kHill is throwing his hat in the savings ring as well. He's offering 25% off on a bunch of digital downloads (including the pre-order for his upcoming EP buy product.) and CD/t-shirt bundles. He's also throwing in free CDs and comps with different purchases. Check out his blog for the discount code and for the pledge such deals entail.
Amazon
Last but not least, Amazon has pretty much everything else you could possibly be looking for. The first season of Adventure Time is under $20 – Have I mentioned I love that show? – and 3DS launch title Steel Diver is appropriately priced at $5. Plus when you buy shit from there using my links I get a little cash on the back end. Which is how I got all that mad stuff I was talking about.
UPDATED
Rusty Shackles
I totally didn't realize that my brother Rusty Shackles also had a Black Friday sale currently in progress! If you read this blog you've obviously seen this guy's amazing work on the old style concert posters of MC Frontalot, Adam WarRock and Mega Ran. Peep Rusty's blog for details and directions.
With less than a week until Thanksgiving, one thing has become abundantly clear: 2012 is about tapped out. We've drained all the juice from this one, folks, and all that's left is to dispose of the husk and tap another.
But we can't do that until we settle the dirty business that is my final four podcasts. Onward!
Z's 1st interlude: "That autumnal spirit."
You know the one.
Track 2: Mike Phirman – "Thanksgiving Dinner"
I've never actually had a family member come out during Thanksgiving dinner, though apparently that is a thing.
Track 3: Optimus Rhyme – "Anxiety"
It's been a while since we brought the Jackson 5 back.
My December episodes will follow the prescribed themes – all inflexible and shit. The next 'cast, however, is wide the fuck open. Hit me with your song suggestions if you feel so led.
So my homie Eugene has a new EP due out early next month. I've been following its development pretty closely, and I have to say it seems like the next evolutionary step for Adam WarRock; his shit's been getting more personal and simultaneously broadening in overall appeal for a while now, and this one definitely follows suit.
He and I have worked out a rather unique concept for a hybrid review/interview feature that I think you're gonna dig. It too will drop on or around December 4th, but in the meantime check out this promo video.
Okay, so admittedly, my mind's been on that other site I write for this morning, but that doesn't mean I don't have another heaping helping of musical goodness for you. Remember that forthcoming album from J-rocker/nerdcore hip-hopper/constant cosplayer Rai? That one that's been "coming soon" for, like, ever?
Yeah, well it's still coming soon. But I did get to hear an early version of one of the bonus remixes, and it's pretty fuckin' grand.
If you'd like to hear some new noise from Rai and help her out, peep her piece for Square-Enix's The World Ends with You vocal auditions. Rai's already made it to the second round; if she can make it into the third she'll participate in a live concert with people like soundtrack composer Ishimoto Takeharu, and if she wins she'll actually be featured in the new sequel!
The winners of this round will be partially determined by user votes, so head over to the contest's official Facebook to let 'em know you're on team Raika by voting for entry #5. You can also holler at the project's musical coordinators directly via Twitter: @sem_sep and @ishimoto_t.
The original TWEWY was a phenomenal DS title, and I'm really excited by the prospect of returning to its surreal version of Shibuya. Even more so given that I now have a chance to know someone on the soundtrack!
Every election year we have yahoos from both sides of the aisle proclaim that if their dude doesn't win they are totally gonna move to Canada. Only the Great White North is having none of that shit -- the last thing that great nation wants is a bunch of surly expats!
And that's a good thing too, 'cause if they weren't so goddamn picky we'd probably all live there. I mean, who wouldn't wanna be Canadian? They've got progressive views on marriage, are chill enough to have two official languages and they freely share their single greatest natural resource with the rest of the world.
Election season is officially over, so we've got that going for us. But whether you voted for that one guy or the other guy the simple truth is you did it wrong. Turns out Death*Star DJ extraordinaire and registered Seattle hell-raiser Bill Beats also had his hat in the ring for the highest office in the land.
You can familiarize yourself with his party platform via his recent release Bill Beats for President Vol. 1. It comes in both the regular flavor and a deluxe edition. Y'know, for you one-percenters.
At long last I have returned from my extended stay in the darkest recesses of Mouse Country.
Okay, I kid; it wasn't that bad. Spending my Halloween at Walt Disney World was actually a solid choice because A) it's the off-season and B) mu'fuckin' Haunted Mansion, y'all! I had a great time and the wife had a great time and the children had a great time and we somehow managed to finagle a free meal plan, which means we got to eat on property without getting totally hosed by those outrageous prices. So, yeah, it was a rare win for Team Z.
But enough about that shit. The only thing weirder than being totally sheltered within the walls of "The Most Magical Place on Earth" during one of the biggest storms the East Coast has seen in recent memory was not writing for so long. I mean, aside from the random tweet I was pretty much silent for an entire week.
Yet that didn't mean the world stopped turning. There was a ton of musical news in my absence, and, while I won't endeavor to backtrack and cover it all now, I need to at least point you toward one notable Halloween-themed release that I managed to miss in my pre-vacation coverage.
It's the latest from my friend Mikal kHill, but it's not just his general brand of bleak hip-hop. The Walking Dead is part rap concept album, part audio novel and all southern zombie apocalypse. It has also been a labor of love from kHill and the various other members of the slowly widening NOFRIENDS circle over the past several months. A family affair, if you will.
Zombie epics are currently a dime a dozen and a zombie themed album isn't exactly unheard of either, but the difference is all in the way that Mikal presents the story. There's no camp here, there's no B-movie breaking of the (lyrical) fourth wall. It's a first-person narrative of desperation and hopelessness. It's a tale without heroes, absolutely devoid of noble Mary Sues. I won't spoil the ride for you, as it’s the storytelling itself that really makes it something special, but suffice it to say that the door message from the television show of the same name likely sums up the ultimate fate of most of the project's characters.
Speaking of, you'll hear from many of your favorites on The Walking Dead. kHill's longtime partner in rhyme Sulfur is there, as are Adam WarRock and Jesse Dangerously. Tribe One lends his voice on one of my favorite tracks, and you'll hear shades of other artists like cecilnick, DJ Empirical and Stemage is you listen closely. Hell, even I make a brief cameo – which, I'll state here explicitly, isn't the kind of thing I'd usually do. But kHill's my brother, and I realized after revisiting the album's roots that I wasn't just signing up for some schlocky monster movie parody here.
The Walking Dead is a tragedy told in 12 tracks. It's… well, I started to write "truly fucked up there," but I think that's an oversimplification. Instead I'll go with "uncomfortably personal," "oddly revealing" and "genuinely disturbing."
Yeah, those all work better.
It's available for a mere 10 bucks right now via Bandcamp. Or you can stream it for free, which you should definitely do anyway.
Halloween has come and gone and zombies have all but become passé. But human drama and living (or, y'know, not) with the repercussions of tough decisions? That shit is always relevant.
And Mikal kHill? He's like the Randy Newman of hip-hop horror.
Oh, second half of my annual Halloween Crap-tacular, how I love you! How I loathe you! I'm all conflicted and shit.
It's a bittersweet event, y'all. It means that the Halloween season is nearly behind us. But, of course, Halloween itself is almost here. Wrap you heads around that.
Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Beefy mentioned via Twitter that he was dressing like Soos for Halloween. Dude better not be joking.
Track 2: CW2K3 – "December 4th (Castlevania III)"
After the nuclear apocalypse the only things to survive will be cockroaches and Jay-Z remixes. I've done the math.
Z's 2nd interlude: "My very first Halloween podcast."
Halloween Crap-tacular Prime!
Track 8: DJ BC – "Haunted House of Mash-Up"
I'll play anything that samples "Werewolves of London" save that fuckin' Kid Rock song.
Track 9: Nocturnal Symphony – "Trioxin Theme"
So this guy's office is right next to mine. As you can imagine horror movies and metal are our go-to water cooler topics.
This year's selection of Halloween-themed releases boasts some of the best (and most eclectic) to date! Obviously you'll be hearing more from each in the second edition of my annual Halloween Crap-tacular, but, in keeping with the dark prophecies traditions of old, I shall also break them down for you here in the prescribed manner.
The Monster Mash-Up collection is always at the top of my list of seasonal projects, and The Curse of Monster Mash-Up is no exception. This two volume set hits numerous diabolical highs with cuts like Thriftshop XL's gritty remix of "Bring the Noise" and Socolfn dubstep-y "Zombie Planet." It includes all the usual suspects – VOICEDUDE's "SCARY CUDA" is oddly satisfying, as is fettdog's "Texas Whip It" – but newer names like brutal redneck ("lily monster aquaviva") also manage to stand out among the album's best. Still, likely the finest selections come from stalwarts DJ BC (the project's original curator who'll again be taking the reins for next year's comp) and current coordinator cheekyboy.
It turns out the cheeky has instead turned his attention to creating original music, and another appropriate release, Sam Haynes's Halloween Carnival, comes courtesy of his evil alter ego. Created as an album that's both podsafe and specifically engineered to serve as ambient music for holiday haunted attractions, Halloween Carnival runs the gamut from the delicate "Creeper" to the dynamic "Haunted House" to the aggro disco of "Something Wicked." Of all this year's releases, this one was certainly the most surprising as well as the most cohesive. Definitely pick it up if you're looking to inject a little atmospheric creepiness into your Halloween festivities.
For those in the market for more rock-inspired instrumentals, I suggest the Something in the Dark EP by one man band Nocturnal Symphony. The light keys of intro "Cellar Dweller" quickly give way to the massive bass and smart leads of what is easily my favorite take on "Trioxin Theme" from Return of the Living Dead, and it only gets crazier from there. Paying tribute to beloved properties like Evil Dead while simultaneously exploring wholly original soundscapes, it's a satisfying slice of symphonic metal that's available for whatever you choose to pay. But maybe you should hit this guy with a couple of bucks for his trouble; David, the man behind the mask, is actually my officemate, and I know he's not exactly making mad bank at his day job.
Surely the biggest arrival on the hip-hop front is the debut full-length from Canadian trio Swamp Thing. Consisting of rapper/producer extraordinaire Timbuktu, Savilion (whose guest work on the latest Toolshed release was nothing short of exquisite) and Chokeules (equally renowned for both his gravelly spit and what is likely the world's greatest Twitter feed), the crew crawled out of the swamp earlier this year with the slasher film-themed Grindhouse EP. Standouts "123" and "All About the Brains" from that release return for the late-night picture show that is Creature Feature, and they're joined by 11 more about monsters ("B-Movie Monster"), time travel ("Time Machine Massacre") and just how goddamn dope Swamp Thing truly is. Oh and also weed ("Reefer Vendetta"). This one's a Hand'Solo joint, which means two things; first and foremost there's not a single stinker among its 13 selections, and secondly there are guests galore. Its closer, which also happens to be the title track, is a five minute, stripped-down posse cut with Modulok, Jesse D, Burg, Ghettosocks, More or Les, Ambition and my pal Mikal kHill all pitching in to rep their favorite movie villains. The bad news is this one won't be available until Friday the 26th, while the good is you can pre-order now. Which you should.
And though it's not a Halloween release by any stretch of the imagination, Random's Language Arts Volume 2does include a relevant track that, not-so coincidentally, was just released as a new video single. So I will leave you to enjoy the pre-pubescent slaughter of "Zombie High."
I've got the spirit, friends. I already have that Halloween spirit. And I'm inclined to share. By way of, y'know, a podcast or two.
We have a lotta ghosts this time around, with some zombies and assorted demons for added flavor. Oh, and also samples from cartoons. 'Cause I am a grown-ass man!
One down and one to go. That means if you have Halloween-y requests, get 'em to me with the quickness.
Come to think of it, the post-Halloween/pre-Christmas show playlists are starting to fill up as well, so feel free to hit me with non-spooky song suggestions as well.
Depending on the granularity of your individual pop culture intake – not to mention your satellite/cable provider – you may or may not be aware of FX's fantasy football-centered sitcom The League. Yes, I know you don't much care for the sportsballs, but bear with me.
Two of my favorite people on these here internets, graphic arts god Rusty Shackles and nerdcore heavyweight Beefy, have just released a freebie EP based on their shared love for the series. It celebrates the sights, sounds and smells of a show that's forth season just so happens to premiere tonight.
My go-to gag regarding Adam WarRock simply concerns how goddamn prolific he is; he's an artist that I fear seeing live, because by the time he makes it to the stage he's already replaced all the joints I know with brand new material.
And this trend shows no signs of slowing down.
Hot on the heels of his hip-hop retelling of the opera La Boheme – itself a 4 track EP produced by your friend and mine Mikal kHill for Opera Memphis – Euge has just dropped yet another freebie. This one reunites WarRock with Vince Vandal for a fun and infectious collection of rap-pop. It's based on the music of frat rockers Vampire Weekend, and, to paraphrase the piece's mission statement, it's meant to be a bit of a musical pick-me-up for the artist himself as well as anyone who's currently struggling with… life. (God knows it's helped me through a rough week.)
On a purely artistic level, this is personal favorite podcast of mine. The song selections are superb, and I think there's a cool flow to the sets themselves.
For me personally? It's been a huge pain in the ass. Mic trouble led me to record my bits via iPhone, and with my nice headphones on the fritz mixing it was a bear. And now for some reason the bitrate/file size is coming out all funky. Ugh!
Still, I just hope you enjoy it despite its technical weirdness.
Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
It's still the best damn theme I got!
Track 1: xaeroseven – Gravity Falls dialog / "Call Me Gangnam"
Yeah, totally unrelated Grunkle Stan clip there. Just because.
Z's 1st interlude: "Lo for I am the prophet."
Don’t exactly know what this is about either. Perhaps I am simply ackin' cray-cray.
Track 2: Polaris – "Waiting for October"
Just to be clear, I meant that my current mindset involves waiting for October. Not, y'know, that I'm presently obsessed with doomsday prophecies or anything.
Track 6: Death*Star – "Your Mom"
Guys, I am so sorry for this. I mean, this track is foul, but I love it so fuckin' hard.
Track 7: Gravity Falls dialog / A plus D – "Close to Konichiwa Bitches"
This really seemed like the only song that could possibly follow that Death*Star track up.
Z's 2nd interlude: "Three quarters of Connecticut alterna-rockers Miracle Legion."
For the record: Pete and Pete was the best goddamn show ever.
Track 8: Soul Coughing – "Circles"
Another nice slice of 90s nerdery.
Z's final interlude: "The illusive Reba McEntire sex tape."
Yeah, I just included this to see how much country perv traffic it generates.
Track 12: MisCast – "Drive"
Pick up this one and "Name Is (Live)" right now over at Bandcamp. And thanks to Jay for the sweet hook-up!
So I'm going on vacation in late October. This means that I'll be recording both my annual Halloween Crap-tacular episodes back-to-back, and releasing them closer together than usual.
Assuming my podcasting rig holds up, of course. Curse you, fickle technology!
I brought my field recorder to last weekend's final show of the NOFRIENDS TOUR 2012 in nearby Charlotte, NC. I also brought my iPhone steadicam mount to capture some live video. But I ended up leaving all that shit in the car. I decided, for the first time in a long while, instead to totally lose myself in the show. And I did.
Okay, well not immediately. I mean, first there was the requisite pre-gig dinner at Pinky's. (Sean owed me hush puppies!) And then we kicked around the Milestone's well-worn bar in part two of our ritual. Where I mostly pestered poor Jesse Dangerously – fishing for listening suggestions from the substantial number of Canadian hip-hoppers who are what you might called Backburner-adjacent and complaining about how wholly unprepared I am when approached with questions concerning things of greater global import than, say, music or video games.
The night kicked off in earnest with MC Stealth, a local rapper that I know better as "that chick that stands next to me at the Dual Core show." She brought the house to order with a blend of sultry swagger and geeky self-awareness that I wasn't quite prepared for. Up to this point I'd only really seen her do the odd guest verse with The ThoughtCriminals, and though the crowd was sparse this early in the night she played to the goddamn rafters.
Next up was Sulfur, a cat I often see perform as part of the aforementioned TCs, in a sharp but too-short solo set. In the absence of the rest of the crew, Sean's personal style – I like to describe it as that of the world's warmest and most fun-loving street corner prophet of doom – really came through, especially on joints like the atomic-powered "1945." Oh, and let me pause here to give a nod to Tribe One for pointing out that Sulfur has a spit that is rather reminiscent of another southern hip-hopper, Goodie Mob's Khujo. (Good ears, Niles!)
Sean's musical soulmate Mikal kHill (AKA: The Human Disaster) then did his thing, and I was once again reminded that, no matter how many times I see that same dude at that same venue, kHill always brings something a little different to each set. Like Sulfur, Mikal naturally comes through a little different in the absence of the funky chip-rock of his fellow ThoughtCriminals, and that dynamic naturally shifted yet again with a little on-stage assistance from his various tour-mates.
Halifax Rap Legend Jesse Dangerously took the stage in one of his very rare appearances this far south, and, as I said to the man himself after his set had concluded, it was exactly the performance I'd been waiting 5 years to experience. Jesse had mentioned going in that he planned to concentrate on newer material, but I was particularly impressed by how well his latest single, the haunting "Slept Through a Landslide," translated within what had been up to that point a predominantly aggressive musical event.
Tribe One, who served as Jesse's immobile monolith of a hype-man took point next, and, as I've been assured he did literally every other night of the tour, fuckin' killed it. From massive set-ender "Kaiju (CrushKillDestroy)" to the nigh Jesse D level of motormouthery in "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z" (which hit hard on my Wired podcast earlier this week) to the goddamn-Niles-don't-make-me-cry-at-a-rap-show performance of "Different," Tribe delivered the goods.
A mowhawked Adam WarRock did the final solo set with a fairly eclectic selection from his vast back catalog. He came correct throughout despite late night time constraints, but "Waka Flocka Swanson," with its crazy audience call-back, was an easy highlight. I honestly expected the guys – especially Euge, who'd only recently returned from the road prior to embarking on this tour – to be a bit worn down at this show, but they were electric. I never should've doubted.
The final ThoughtCriminals set, which was really more of an everybody set, was a proper sendoff to a night of lyrical magic. I've come to the realization that there is simply never a time when I don't want to hear a live rendition of "Earthbound," though I can't imagine that puts me in the minority. I'll stop short of saying this was a perfect show, mind you, because the Milestone is no place for perfect shows; it's more a place for loose experimentation and seat-of-your-pants set lists. In short, it's the perfect place for this motley crew of musical miscreants.
The 'Stone is a live venue in the truest of fashions. It's a place brimming with history that only seems to take on more relevance as it expands its scope into an ever-branching series of distinct musical tributaries. The audience and the performers are separated by mere inches, and that sort of intimacy feeds directly into the brand of hip-hop community-building that NOFRIENDS is all about. Okay, it doesn't hurt that Sulfur and kHill quite literally grew up on that stage, but regardless it speaks volumes about both the often ignored strengths of the Queen City as a live music destination and the pure artistry of its local talent and their vast network of allies.
Maybe I didn't get to hear "Gravity Falls" or "Out of Gas," but I did get a night of unbelievable performances from friends fam old and new.
