This show is a weird blend of brand new material and older cuts I felt like revisiting. The most obvious example of the latter is the YTCracker track, which I sort of have to include because of the relevant Sheriff Blubs sample.
Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 139: Kneesles [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 55.4 MB Running Time: 41:39 Subscribe to RFH
Show Notes:
It's a song about me. And you can't take that away.
Track 1: Supercommuter – "I Like It! (ft. MC Frontalot, Beefy) [DMG remix]"
"I like it cybernetic, I like it engineered / I like it at the party when everybody's weird."
Z's first interlude: "This little slice of plagiarism."
I dunno, I mean I did cite Beefy.
Track 2: Kirby Krackle – "Booty Do Math (feat. Adam WarRock) [Live]"
Such an amazing performance of this joint!
Track 3: Sean NH – "Betiking Poputok (Rarity vs. Ke$ha)"
Feels like I've been neglecting the brony listeners lately, so here's a mash-up.
Track 4: MC Lars – "Annabel Lee R.I.P"
Extra points for Tegan and Sara.
Track 5: Flip-Flop – "Sanctuary"
This Micro Techno collection is pretty damn tight. You should check it out.
Track 6: Shinobi Ninja – "Ill Ish"
That sample is from Don't Be a Menace, right?
Z's 2nd interlude: "A delightful combination of space travel, illicit drug use and Gravity Falls dialog."
That about covers it.
Track 7: Lenich – "Opening Theme (8 bit)" / Gravity Falls dialog
This cover made the rounds a week or two ago, but on the off chance you missed it here it is.
Track 8: YTCracker – "Take a Knee" / Gravity Falls dialog
As heard on episode 102.
Track 9: Spamtec and Hairetsu – "Isaac Kneeton"
Isaac Kneeton is my new go-to username.
Track 10: Kool Keith – "Livin' Astro"
I thought I'd played this one on the show before too. Turns out not so much.
Track 11: Andrew Allen – "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
Much respect to the SalesGeek for pointing me toward this album! Somehow I missed the original project pitch.
Z's final interlude: "That periodical of our collective childhood."
Okay, that's kind of a lie. I didn't actually subscribe to NP until I was in my 30s.
Track 12: Mega Ran – "Nintendo Power"
A nice new freebie from Random. I'm sad to see the mag go, but such is the way of the world.
I reckon as this episode posts most of y'all are either en route to or maybe even already at PAX or Dragon Con. Whichever you're attending, please wander around the show floor listening to this podcast – even if it's just for a minute.
That way it'll sort of be like I'm there too!
I was struck by the staggering revelation that, while I had grown up a lot since the 1990s, Rivers Cuomo had not. This isn't to say I didn't dig the album, or even that a writer necessarily needs to ripen emotionally in order to craft enjoyable songs. Where, for example would Trent Reznor be without his angsty and eternally adolescent rancor? But it does drive home a point about the sometimes tenuous place of the mature storyteller in popular music. 
, lyricist 
proved itself an exemplary effort. But that album, by the admission of the band itself, was a bit of a sonic experiment cobbled together from pieces of songs the guys created during hours lost in traffic going to and from their respective day jobs.
, builds on the data that our heroic bots collected from this preliminary study. While fans would've certainly been satisfied with more of the same, Supercommuter pushed themselves on all levels, and the release is all the better for it.
, the guys ably employ the sharp and resonant blips of the classic Game Boy, but even from these early moments something is drastically different. Brighter and noticeably more cohesive as it transitions to "
," there is much more in the way of melody, both vocally and instrumentally, than the band has previously displayed. Amid rapid-fire verses and a gorgeously textured chorus, "DMG" explains the group itself; it smashes the sonic fourth wall somehow without ever losing its darkly futuristic edge.
" quickly morphs into a genuine hip-hop banger with appropriately spacey singing and a quick drop-off that takes us back to earth for debut single "
." Thick and twisting, thanks in part to an enchanting counter-melody and a fierce breakdown, it drops the band's established sci-fi pretense.
," a song that sees the MC wrestling with inner insecurities via a very public forum. (And it's also a joint that boasts a truly clever allusion to
!) Then an unceremonious shift takes us back to the world of Wheelie's space bound alter-ego in "Frozen," a heartbreaking tale of interstellar travel, loneliness and creeping madness. 
," a four-minute marathon of erratic beats and churning 
," a stand-out cut that's only slightly diminished as a known property; it was previous released on the first 
" pairs Wheelie's motor mouth and Stumblebee's drunken baritone for the first time since the demise of Optimus Rhyme. It's also likely the music world's most upbeat post-plague narrative. "
" sounds a bit like a throw-back to the previous album, with an odd layering of vocoded singing and straight-ahead rap that fails to gel early on, but later turns into the project's most vivid story-song. Touching on the recurring motifs of isolation, the marriage of man and machine and the potential horrors of technology, it's complex but easy to love. 
" breaks tradition by relying heavily on acoustic guitar (although the electronic elements are still readily apparent.) Another stand-out, it retells Clarke's 
in exquisite detail, capturing both hope and misery in sharp detail. From there Products of Science draws to a close with "
." As upbeat as the name implies, it marks the album's end in true 8-bit style and genuinely channels that rush of "beating the game."
"
dialog / DJ Dain - "
in its entirety. 
isn't alive to hear what really happens when you remix a remix. 
soundtrack with a digital grindcore breakdown – is very indicative of the album's new feel.
