Nerd News in Brief

Oh, the joy of the holidays! When we buy too much and think too little. ‘Tis the Season!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. On my end, the family Z. overate, drove three counties away, and then overate again.

I’m neither proud nor ashamed of this dubious accomplishment.

Thankfully, the post-Turkey Day downtime afforded me the opportunity to do a little housework, pick up a number of new videogames on the cheap, and catch up on my movie watching.

Idiocracy – which I watched at JMIC’s insistence – comes highly recommended.

• Santa, baby: Dear Mr. Kringle, this X-mas I need more weird-ass, import videogame accessories. You know what I’m talking about.
• Stop with all that standing still!!!: My comrade-in-arms Matt has recently let me demo some of the second-tier features for his newest venture Stop Standing Still. While they are not yet available to the public (and while I’m unsure how much I’m at liberty to divulge), suffice it to say that band, genre, and location filtering are in the works, as well as some very interesting community features.
• SF Weakly: On the nerdcore tip, Church recently came across a review from MC Frontalot’s own native SF Weekly. While I didn’t dig Front’s recent Secrets from the Future with quite the fervor as his previous effort, this reviewer just didn’t get it. And that, apparently, is somehow Front’s fault.
• The creature stirs!: According to Shael Riley, the forthcoming album from geeky super-group The Grammar Club “is completely recorded and in post production.” Said album is slated to be released before December 14th, and, in preparation, the band’s Web site has recently been upgraded to include things like information. Sadly, there’s no word on Glenn Case’s proposed 24-hour dry-cleaning chain as of yet.
• The sneakiest otaku: While I was fighting off old ladies for $10 copies of Cooking Mama, Ultraklystron went and released his new album under the ol’ radar! Yep, Opensource Lyricist has gone gold and copies are available for purchase even as I type these words.
• The thunder from: The Ranger himself recently dropped a “grossly slept on” Down Underdogs track over at Rhyme Torrents. “Nerd Herders (Empire Mix)” is a sci-fi tour de force that is neither, half witted nor scruffy-looking.
• Like so much mana from heaven: In an answer to my earlier prayer, Random and Maja also dropped “The Halo Above Your Head (Metamystiks Remix).” Production for this cut was handled by another Sedgwick Avenue Alliance member, my man Myf. This release also marks the first track from the nerdcore super-group project dubbed The Cartridge Family. Life, as they say, is good.
• What I (don’t) like about you: Old school Michigan power-pop outfit The Romantics are suing Activision. Apparently, when the group gave Activision permission to make a cover version of their big hit song for inclusion in the game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s, the band didn’t know the song would sound so much like their original. Say it with me now: what the fuck?!
• The shadows breathe: killsaly, a DJ/producer that is, in my own opinion, totally underappreciated, recently released a demo of his remix of “Burn” by mopey dorks The Cure. Those of you looking for a little geeky electronica with which to pass the time are encouraged to check it out. (And while you’re over there, be sure to ask why his superlative remix of “Super Shiny Metal” is conspicuously absent from his SoundClick.)
• Go ask Alice: While not nerdcore in the strictest sense, free-thinking heads might wanna check our MC Mega’s latest (free) release Escape From Wonderland. It’s a surreal hip-hop journey of alienation and braggadocio from a cat who’s vocally somewhere between mc chris and LogicOne and lyrically just left of center. I’d recommend it.
• Two-for-one: In the spirit of Black Friday, I’ll offer you a special: two closing vids for the price of one. The first is a how-to from my pal micomusician balmyjoey that tells you how to use your Rock Band drum kit as a MIDI controller. The second is a new project from my boy Church that exposes the underlying angst of … um… a… Cylon.

A-B-A-B-right-left-right-left-down-down-up-up

Hey, look who it is! It’s that other Z. Y’know, the cute one that doesn’t drink liquor around small children.

Yeah. That one! Little Miss Gamer.

And she’s got another retro game review for your collective ass. This one is for old school shmup Gyruss. It’s kind of a long one, which is fortuitous as I’ve just run out of words.

The Strangeness of Kinders

You’re all aware that the last few weeks have been a little rough for your old pal Z. – what with the teeth getting yanked out and whatnot – but it hasn’t been all bad.

There were the drugs, and those are always fun. Of course, I’ve also received an ample infusion of nature’s analgesic: swag. Nothing speeds up the process of convalescence quite like new tunes, and my dorky comrades have made sure to provide me with a nigh endless supply of new entertainment options.

Nerdcore producer nYgel, for example, was nice enough to give me a pre-release copy of his forthcoming mixtape Nature’s Outcasts. I won’t dwell to much on this at present, as I plan to give it a full write-up after its official release, but suffice it to say he brought his A game.

I also received a care package from the very bowels as hell (aka: New York) from none other than Schäffer the Darklord. Schäff provided me with both his debut release Meet My Maker and his new album Mark of the Beast. You’ve no doubt heard a bit of the material from the former, as I played the delightfully profane “Attack of the Clonefucker” on an edition of Radio Free Hipster. In case you missed it, let me sum up: Meet My Maker treads some magical line between the pomp of rap and the unbridled malevolence of metal without ever devolving into the unsavory potage that is rap-metal.

Consequently, Mark of the Beast takes everything that was right about its forerunner and builds on it. It’s more literate, more lyrical, and more lascivious. Plus the production value and overall flow of the album have really been ramped up.

I’m what you might call a comedy purist. Okay, I’m actually what you might call a douche bag, but I’m what I call a comedy purist, and as such I generally feel that musical comedy is only slightly more palpable than the dreaded prop comedy. Still, Schäffer manages to be both musical and comedic in turn without ever leading the listener to feel that one element is a tacked-on shtick meant merely to help the other go down smoothly.

What I’m getting at is that Meet My Maker is good. It’s fun and humorous and enjoyable and would be a welcome addition to anyone’s collection. Mark of the Beast, however, is a must-own. I know that STD has never fully been accepted by the nerdcore masses, but, as I’m sure anyone who caught him on tour with Frontalot can corroborate, he’s one of us. Come for the “Cat People,” stay for the “Nerd Lust.”

This brings us, of course, to ZeaLouS1’s newest offering The Living Epitaph. BOSSFIGHT’s own Dark Prince was nice enough to hook me up not only with a free copy of Z1’s newest masterwork, but one of the ultra-exclusive limited editions. Included in the slick black packaging was a pair of die-cut stickers (I love stickers!) and a logo pinback (I fuckin’ love pins!), as well as a signed copy of the disk itself.

The album is what you’d expect from ZeaLouS at this point in his artistic development, and that is in no way an insult. As the premiere BOSSFIGHT artist, Z1 has always been about quality, and The Living Epitaph takes that to a whole new level.

From the simple, poignant invocation that begins the disk to the last strains of the album’s closer, ZeaLouS1 takes you an a journey that’s equal parts sci-fi and real life, equal parts fact and fiction, equal part poppy hooks and fierce lyricism. It’s easily his most accessible work, but Z1 stays true to the nerd life just like long-times fans would expect. Tracks like “By Your Side” will both surprise you with delicate aural textures and waylay you with the one-two punch that is the next evolutionary step in ZeaLouS’s musical maturity.

I’m gonna assume that many of you reading this have already purchased this album. Those who haven’t should. It’s that simple.

I know I make a lot of suggestions about how you spend your hard-earned entertainment dollar, so I’ll sweeten the deal: if you’re not an early album adopter, just keep listening to my podcast. I can guarantee that you’ll be hearing a lot from STD and Z1 in upcoming episodes.

Nerd News in Brief

So I’m back. In a manner of speaking.

The good news is that the offending teeth have been dealt with. Dental retribution was both swift and, of course, bloody.

The bad news is that between the frequent antibiotics and the potent painkillers I am hazy at best and incoherent at worst. So please excuse me if this Nerd News in Brief is structurally confusing and verbally meandering.

• Homage vs. parody: Last week Monzy was once again called on to spread the good word of nerdcore, and Church was quick to find the piece and pass it on to me. As usual, Monzy manages to keep his expectations regarding the genre reasonable while at the same time letting his geek flag fly.
• The great racism debate, part XVII: Church was also kind enough to direct me to this piece about MC Frontalot in Northwestern University’s Medill's Journalism mag Medill Reports. It’s a pretty interesting read, but I especially like the authors’ simple summation that “Nerdcore was not created in a vacuum,” which plays oddly against the included criticisms of the Village Voice’s Tom Breihan. Take a gander and lemme know what you think.
• Long live Wrock: My pal Matt also recently passed on word that the Wrock EP of the Month Club is about to become an exclusive affair. With somewhere in the neighborhood of only 50 subscriptions left, if you’d like to snag 12 exclusive CDs featuring new music from Wizard Rock bands for the low-low price of 50 bones, you best act now.
• Ultra Magus: Matt also hipped me to the finalized dates for Wrock festival Magus 2008. Next June 20th through 22nd, Morgantown, WV will literally explode with Potter-related merriment. Be there or suffer the wrath of hundreds of rabid Wrockers!
• Why must you destroy all we hold dear?: WIRED magazine has a small feature – a featurette, if you will – on nerd culture Web comic xkcd. Just because I couldn’t find any glaring inaccuracies doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Consider the source.
• Note to self: Shoes not nerdy enough. Must buy these custom Reeboks.
• Geeky even by band nerd standards: In case you missed this when Jason blogged about it earlier, Kotaku has some crazy clips of the UC Berkley band’s videogame themed halftime show. The Tetris bit alone deserves your utmost attention.
• The WB: The gamer community known simply as Plat4mer recently posted an interview with geeky Canadian wordsmith the Wordburglar. The fake street lingo interview style is a bit grating, but Burg comes off as smooth as always. Plus, he admits to loving the DS, proving once and for all Wordburglar is the shit.
• I bet the icing is sharp and acrid: MC Router just announced the forthcoming release of her first full-length album. The First Lady of Nerdcore will be dropping 8-BIT CUPCAKE on us December 15th. How many references will Router make to PBR in the first track alone? I’m gonna guess a bunch.
• Straight Outta Winamac: On the subject of new music, last week, while in the aforementioned drug-addled haze, I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of Id Obelus via MySpace. Check out his profile for a taste of his clean, arty, challenging, and imminently nerdy rhymes, and for info on his new release flyourfavorite. I think you’ll dig it.
• I haven’t the words to describe it: And just to let you know the kind of stuff my friends have been funneling me in my altered state, let me wrap up today’s post with this vid. It’s both seasonal and surreal.

Lortab and Gonzo journalism

It’s very important for me as a blogger not to have any original ideas. And since Tim from popular Web comic Ctrl+Alt+Del had his wisdom teeth removed last month, I thought it’d be a good idea if I did the same.

Okay, that’s bullshit. The truth is I’ve developed a fairly nasty infection due to a rogue wisdom tooth and, since the others are more than likely conspirators in this mutiny, I’ve elected to have ‘em all extracted at once. The procedure is scheduled for early tomorrow morning, and safe money says that this’ll be my last blog post for the week.

On the off chance that I do post something, odds are it’ll be a drug-addled rambling about how I am the living embodiment of Zolthar, pagan god of lawn furniture… or… y’know… Tommy Stinson. So I guess that’s something we can all look forward to.

In the meantime, please continue to share your thoughts on the most recent podcast, pass on info concerning any nerdy happenings I might’ve missed, and feel free to lavish me with extravagant get-well gifts.

Y’all wish me luck.

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 34: Dork as Fuck

We’ve been tossing the term “punk” around for so long that I think any inherent strength it may have once had has long since been exhausted. Many crusty old bastards – me being one of them – like to hold onto the word, like to put it on a pedestal, but it’s really just that: a word.

Its genuine meaning is clouded in mystery and colored by our own very human predilection for romanticizing our collective past. We can point fingers at those who we feel betrayed the proud culture for personal gain. We can bitch about kids today and their total lack of respect for the musical roots of the movement. But at the end of the day, punk is just like nerd culture; it’s more a vague collective mind-set than a shared set of ideals, and therefore, policing it for fakers is an exercise in futility.

Let me elaborate.

At its best, punk is an underground element that flirts with the mainstream. It's a group of outcasts tied oxymoronically together via invisible threads. It’s a series of individual attitudes backed up by one simple fact: whether by personal choice or by damnable fate, we just don’t fit in.

And just like punk culture, nerd culture is wholly subjective. This means, of course, no matter what you do, some assholes are gonna call you a poseur.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 34: Dork as Fuck (hosting provided by Antisocial) Size: 46.6 MB Running Time: 50:54

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – “Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)”
Little know fact: Baddd Spellah and Beefy are both former members of The Buzzcocks.

Track 1: DJ Schmolli – “The Great Sean Kingston Swindle”
Why does Sean Kingston only have an accent during the verses of this song? Maybe I need to contact his diction coach.

Z’1 1st interlude: “We’re focused on punk as an aesthetic.”
Again, I’m sure folks are gonna nitpick simply because I used the term punk, but I feel that each of these tracks has a uniquely dorky punk rock feel.

Track 2: Dead Milkmen – “Punk Rock Girl”
The Milkmen were my introduction to college rock back in the day. They gave so much and asked for so little.

Track 3: No Kill – “No Kill I Theme Song”
Sadly, it looks as though I won’t make it to tonight’s screening of “The Menagerie” due to health problems. Instead, I’ll get my Trek on by listening to more No Kill I.

Track 4: Bloodhag – “Robert Silverberg”
There are few acts more unabashedly nerdy and more unapologetically intense than Bloodhag.

Track 5: MC Lars – “Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock”
Lars slams Hot Topic and yet they carried his merch. I totally don’t understand that relationship.

Track 6: Fourteen Year Old Girls – “Sockfull of Tokens”
Nintendo Punk at its best.

Track 7: Wesley Willis – “Agent Orange”
Rock over London. Rock on Chicago.

Track 8: The Four Eyes – “Earth 2025”
Buy The Four Eyes' Five Songs EP. It’s simply amazing.

Track 9: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – “House of Clocks”
My only complaint against the Thickets is that they don’t tour far enough south.

Track 10: T-byte – “Chocolate Rain (rock mix)”
I’m gonna save my ample praise for T-byte and his abilities for his forthcoming Hipster, please! interview.

Z’s 2nd interlude: “I was raised with rap, but I grew up punk rock.”
I love hip-hop, but I feel like sometimes when I write about it I’m writing like a travel journalist: commenting on the beautiful landscape of a country not necessarily my own. Punk rock, though, is where I’m from.

Track 11: Brent Simon – “Space Camp”
Brent’s domain is nerdpunk.com, so he probably would've been included just by virtue of that. This song, however, is an emotional retelling of his time at space camp, and it is punk as fuck.

Track 12: Totally Radd!! – “Mike Tyson’s Punchout”
Totally Radd!! is another band that is, in my opinion, horribly underrated.

Track 13: Brad Sucks – “Bad Attraction”
This one is from the album I Don’t Know What I’m Doing. It and “Sick As A Dog” stand out as two of Brad’s best.

Track 14: Remus and the Lupins – “Wizards Who Died”
Quick: name a Jim Carroll Band song that isn’t “People Who Died!” You can’t, can you?

Track 15: IRN MNKY – “Under Mi Air Guitar”
This mash-up also has a little Vanilla Ice for good measure.

Track 16: Mary Prankster – “Punk Rock Heaven”
Thanks again to Matt for hooking me up with this one!

Z’s final interlude: “Legs McNeil.”
Here’s that quote from Legs again: “13-year-old kids can start a punk band, and it's as valid as anything I ever did. I don't have to like it, but that doesn't make it invalid.”

Track 17: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – “Radio, Radio”
I always planned to use this track as unofficial RFH theme, but I could never get it edited right. And then Beefy and Spellah favored me with a legitimate theme of my own.

I tend to speak really cynically about punk rock, but that's only because it meant a lot to me in my younger days. Truthfully, it still does. The problem with punk is that it's cyclical, and I don't mean that in a traditional sense.

Punk rock propagates this very exclusive mindset where the old schoolers harsh the newbs based solely on principle: I was here first so that makes me better than you. The old schoolers usually move on after a time and the newbs become the new ruling class. They, in turn, harass the next group of neophytes. and the circle remains unbroken.

Here's hoping that the burgeoning nerd culture can find a way to omit this particular cycle from our community. It really doesn't accomplish anything, save make you and your kind seem like elitist pricks.

Nerd News in Brief

I’m a sucker for an Internet love story. No, not the one where the chick you’ve fallen madly for over IM turns out to be a dude. That one's kinda sad. I mean this one.

A young lady caught this guy’s fancy last Sunday on the 5 Train, but he lost her in the crowd before he could talk her up. So he did what any red-blooded American male would do: he bought a domain and drew a crude picture of her. But did it work out?

Well, apparently he found her, but they’re leaving the rest up to our imaginations. Just the way I likes it!

Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but shit like this really takes my mind off of the problems of the world… like the looming threat of a renewed Egyptian zombie attack.

• Differentiation of Fat Joe’s Liquid Based Promiscuity: The rap game is complicated, and sometimes every head needs a little clarification concerning the directly proportional relationship between money and problems. In these instances, you might find the following charts and graphs helpful.
• The sleeping beast stirs: DJ Snyder recently announced that a Metamystiks, Inc. mixtape was coming… eventually. While we don’t yet have a release date or a track list what we do have is cover art. You know how they do.
• RAHM Radio: Need a little more Random in your life? Then may I humbly suggest you check out The Reform and Healing Movement West Coast Radio Show, hosted by Random and DN³. “RAHM Radio West (The RandomBeagle Show) is … formatted to showcase current quality Hip-Hop music by influential artists, classic joints, as well as music by RAHM Nation affiliates. Current events, movies, other entertainment, as well as community uplifting issues will be discussed.” The first episode of this weekly event is currently available for download and features Jay-Z, Little Brother, Common, Kanye West, and a new track from Random himself: an impressive line-up, to say the least.
• Radio, Radio: Also on the subject of quality programming, Church mentions that his local public radio affiliate runs a weekly five-minute feature called “Digital Cafe.” Afterwards, these segments are posted as podcasts, and, as last week’s featured an interview with Bit Shifter, you’ll probably wanna check it out as well.
• Book learnin': Matt turned up some really interesting reads concerning nerd culture last week. The first is an entry the CNET blog entitled “Welcome to Geek Culture.” The second is a scholarly paper from 2006 named “Geek Culture, The 3rd Counter Culture.” Read both and find the ample cultural conversation fodder therein.
• Act now: Matt also points out that, according to WizardRock.org, there are now less than 1,000 copies of the holiday-themed Jingle Spells Wrock CD left to order. If you wanna get in on this yuletide dorkery, now is the the time.
• More charts, not hip-hop related: While rooting around at kottke.org, my pal Brüx came across this brilliant Sci-Fi Starship Size Comparison Chart. Feel free to spend your afternoon geeking out over this thing. It is quite wonderful.
• Remember the one where…: I’ll leave you with another Trek-related item, both because I’m really excited about attending tomorrow’s special screening of “The Menagerie” at my local Cineplex, and because Antisocial was nice enough to dig this one up for me. It’s a very Animaniacs-esque TNG episode guide, in song. Feel free to geek out to this one too.

More Nerd News in Brief

A lot of people who happen upon this blog or the podcast or the HP MySpace tend to assume that I refer to myself as “Hipster,” and they generally address me as such. Let me clear that one up right now; honestly, folks, I’m just Z. Hipster, please! is the name of the site.

I’m actually not a hipster. I’m not cool in the slightest. I’m pretty much a huge dork.

The name originally came about as an inside joke, and then became relevant when hipsters began adopting elements of nerd culture into their uber-ironic styles of dress. Like so many things I do, it was supposed to be funny… but no one really gets it.

For more information on hipsters, check your local library. Or just cut through the bullshit and peep Hipster Hunter. It’s funny because it’s true.

• Where my chemists at?: The big talk between Church, Matt, and me over the last couple of days has centered on a number of narcotics related stories, but none so bizarre as this one. Apparently a popular Australian toy turns into GHB when ingested. The fuck?! My prediction for next week: Ketamine found in glow-in-the-dark Play-Doh. You heard it here first.
• More than condoms, gun control, and Bill O'Reilly: Boston’s Weekly Dig has an… oddly aggressive piece up about our beloved MC Frontalot. Schaffer the Darklord and mc chris are both mentioned in passing, and designations like “backpack battlecats” and “roughneck gat-clappers” are bandied about like so much hateful confetti. Plus, it includes the phrase “socially retarded,” just in case you’d finally started to feel good about yourself.
• Ego trippin’: While looking for totally unrelated information, I stumbled across a blurb about nerdcore at hip-hop marketing blog ProHipHop from earlier this year. Writer Clyde Smith took some time to relate his thoughts on the relative importance of The White Rapper Show versus both nerdcore hip-hop documentaries. Smith even makes the astute observation that “nerdcore appears to be an authentic representation of a subculture that's going to do its thing regardless of what the so-called hip hop community thinks.” How the fuck did I miss this until now?
• You awaken in a large complex: Have you ever thought that Pac-Man would be way better as a text adventure game? Of course not. No one has. And yet, it exists. Thank Church when you’ve wasted your lunch hour on this farcical venture.
• Wrock around the clock: Wizard Rock also got some love this week, in the form of Wrock-themed edition of Webzine Brown Paper Bag. Personal favorites The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, and The Moaning Myrtles are all represented, as well as at least one Wrock outfit who doesn’t begin with a definite article. Thanks Professor Trelawney and Her Crystal Balls!
• Kill him first!: Nerdcore MC and fervent Radio Free Hipster supporter Captain Spalding has a new song about Team Fortress II available on his MySpace. Strap on your healing gun and enjoy.
• The artist formally known as friendly: Prince hates you. He honestly hates you. How dare you display his likeness on your meager fansite! How dare you post the lyrics to “Erotic City.” How dare you, y’know, talk about how you dig his music and shit. For shame! Glenn, I’m afraid he’ll be coming for you soon enough.
• Can you feel the love tonight?: Dan recently posted a link to a Grand Buffet interview from The San Francisco Station in which member Lord Grunge claims the group “invented [the nerdcore] genre 10 years ago with [their] first record.” Of course, he’s thrilled about this, going on to say: “I know for a fact that we influenced some of the people that went on to make some of the worst music in the fucking world. I’m not proud of it, but fuck it, there are way worse things out there than shitty nerd rap. I’m not psyched about it. Call us the biggest poser, limp-dick half-assed rappers, but don’t call us nerdcore.” How lovely.
• The nerd herd: YTCracker, MC Frontalot, MC Router, mc chris, and an ass-load of other artists got namedropped in XLR8R magazine last month. The piece touches on the ever-sticky topic of what is nerdcore, and goes on to interview Nerdcore Rising director Negin Farsad.
• Pancake makeup and meditation: I know this one’s a month too late, but Church hipped me to a new self-help book for the living impaired and those who’d like to emulate them. Watch the zombie yoga bit and try not to feel inflexible and downright un-centered. I dare you.
• DMC got straight A’s too: Matt presented this one to me as the world first nerdcore hip-hop track. I’m not sure if I wholly agree with that summation, but it is truly a thing of beauty. Here’s hoping Mos Def will pop up on The Wiggles to teach my kids how to conjugate verbs.

Nerd News in Brief

I received a copy of Guitar Hero III for my beloved Nintendo Wii just a couple of days after launch. (I, like all the other good CAGs, pre-ordered directly from Red Octane.) I’ve played previous titles, but this is the first time I’ve actually purchased the game myself. There really is something to be said for being able to get your GH on at the drop of a hat; it’s simply liberating!

It seems like whenever I pick up that controller I learn something about myself. The first day I realized that I never feel more at peace than when I’m rocking out to Social Distortion’s “Story of My Life” in my underwear. True story. And last weekend I suddenly became aware that I remember “Welcome to the Jungle” almost note for note after not hearing in its entirety for well over a decade.

Weird.

I’m not what you might call a “serious” Guitar Hero player, but they’re out there. Hell, Church even found this blog that an ethnomusicologist named Kiri Miller uses to research the title’s place within the echelons of videogame music. It’s a damn fine read, so check it out.

• Rock out with your Hawk out: MC Hawking got some well deserved love in a recent Boston Globe article about nerdcore hip-hop. MC Frontalot, YTCracker, and Monzy also got the nod, and the piece ends with an odd juxtaposition of mc chris’s fear of being lumped into the group and MC Lars’s fervent defense of the intrinsic importance of just “picking up a mike and rhyming over a break beat.” Personally, I was always under the impression that the shortened form of the word microphone was mic. Thanks for setting me straight, Boston Globe!
• So it’s that kinda thing: According to, well, damn-near everybody, Ron Paul is down for the nerd vote. I came upon this Time magazine piece last week, and when I mentioned it to Church and Matt, they pointed me toward this vid posted over at Nerd Arts. And then there was this post from YTCracker about the Paulnomenon. So apparently Ron is one of us. And all this time I just thought he was some old guy with two first names!
• Probably a much better idea: We talk a lot around Hipster, please! about nerd ink, so imagine my surprise when Church found these fake geek tattoos. If your nerd pride has a definite shelf-life, these are much simpler to remove than the real thing.
• Arkansas Traveler: Last month, southern gamer rockers The One-Ups got some sizable press from MSNBC. The piece doesn’t touch so much on VGM as a movement as the band themselves, but The One-Ups definitely deserve the pop. Unfortunately, it seems they don’t do bat mitzvahs. :(
• Peeing in the sink: MC Lars has recently graced the world with a poetry book. Bukowski in Love and Other Poems is available through Lars’s own merch store, and he even provides a few excerpts for the discriminating buyer.
• Westway to the world: While MC Lars in embarking on a tour of the UK this month, mc chris is spending his November in the southeastern and Great Lakes regions of these United States. Info for both should be available at your one-stop shop for nerdy gigs Stop Standing Still.
• His name is Mark, so it’s actually quite clever: Also on the gig front, there are still a few dates left in the MC Frontalot/Schaffer the Darklord tour. If you’re planning to attend, be sure to pick up a copy of STD’s newest disk Mark of the Beast. Once again, let me refer you to SSS for more details on venues and times.
• To the Top: ZeaLouS1’s newest release The Living Epitaph has finally arrived! Peep Z1’s site for further info and previews of this album’s offerings. Or just wait for tracks to start popping up on Radio Free Hipster, which you can be damn sure will happen soon.
• Dissecting the geek: Jason over at Geek Studies really gets around. Last weekend he went to an open casting call for Beauty and the Geek and the (somewhat regular event) Nerd Nite at Boston’s Midway Café. What nuggets of nerdy ephemera did he glean from these disparate journeys? Read for yourself.
• Are you man enough?: I have heard hushed whispers and received furtively encoded messages that lead me to believe that Doctor Popular is planning something big. As near as I can figure it’s what they call a “12 Hour Music Project,” a musical ironman competition that challenges Djs and producers to create a set number of tracks within a very stringent set of mechanical and thematic constraints. I’ll be sure to pass on more info as it becomes available.
• Steampunk laptop: Sometimes my ramshackle wit just fails to create a headline as interesting or ridiculous as the actual item to which I am referring. This is such an occasion.
• I iz dead AND dreaming: A clockwork laptop is a tough act to follow, so let me close this long overdue edition of NNIB with my favorite new literary-centered Internet meme the lolthulhu. Cultists: he haz em.
  

Dance, dork, dance!

If the concept of nerd culture seems downright oxymoronical to you, chances are you’re not alone. To say that a nebulous classification of individuals renowned for their social ineptitude somehow has a shared set of customs or norms is a bit of a stretch to the outsider, but anyone familiar with the myriad of “styles” of nerdiness can attest to the fact that each possesses its own delicate community flavor, its own subtle social slant. It’s the overall framework of the greater “nerd tradition” that proves a bit more difficult to quantify.

If Hipster, please! has any underlying concept at all, it’s the idea that what it means to be a nerd is both wholly subjective and ever-evolving. Thankfully, I am not alone in the proposition of this fairly radical concept.

Jason of Geek Studies, for example, spends his time exploring not merely how nerds interact en masse, but also how modern geeks have come to proudly identify with a term that was once a badge of shame. Lev Grossman brings nerd issues from the BBS to the media forefront through his work with Time magazine, though that is often a thankless task indeed. Artists like YTCracker, Jesse Dangerously, and ZeaLouS1 even go so far as to force us to reconsider both how we view the nerd and how those who we once may've thought of as social outcasts have become such dynamic public personalities.

In short: I’m not alone in my quest. Hell, I’m not alone in this meager endeavor!

Though their names appear far less likely than they rightly should, Church and Matt have their fingerprints on practically everything that I do here at Hipster, please! From feeding me links for my regular Nerd News in Brief segments, to suggesting potential feature artists, to sharing with me geeky tracks from their personal collections for the podcast, Matt and Church – referred to collectively as The Lads – help to motivate me with content and with immeasurable moral support.

Matt has taken his love of geeky music and the people who make it a step further with his most recent venture. Motivated by a love of live music cultivated during his years in the jamband scene and the inspiring work of folks like Becky (from Becky’s Cool Music Stuff), Matt has recently launched a site simply dubbed Stop Standing Still. SSS is, by his own admission, “a listing of geek music concerts from all over the world,” but it’s actually much more. It’s a blank canvas on which memories are painted: recollections of road trips and new friends, spilt beer and haughty sound guys. More than anything, Stop Standing Still is about opportunities.

I’ve always been of the opinion that music was meant to be experienced rather than simply listened to, and the easiest way to experience your music is, as all of us crusty old ex-punkers like to say, to go to the show. Unfortunately, the musical element of nerd culture is also multifaceted and each individual component miniscule, particularly when compared to the extravagant buzz of more conventional events.

Matt’s remedied this by taking information on Wizard Rock, nerdcore, geek rock, chiptune, and game rock shows and compiling it into a single event calendar. When you have to check a dozen sites about info on two dozen bands (like a certain diminutive nerdy music blogger who shall remain nameless) it’s easy for a gig to slip your attention, but when you can see an entire month’s worth of shows from a multitude of acts and genres on a single screen things get significantly simpler.

The events are color-coded by musical theme – nerdcore, game-related music, Wrock, and other – but I urge you not to cherry-pick. This is your chance to experience both artists you know and to explore those you don’t with minimal effort, and I encourage you to do so. Matt’s doing the legwork in the name of the greater good for musical dorks everywhere, and your job is fairly simple.

But heading out to the shows is only part of your role in this brave new world of musical nerditude. If you’re a nerdy artist, keep the SSS crew abreast of you gig plans (be they local shows or a bona fide tour) by hitting ‘em up at matt AT stopstandingstill DOT net, and encourage other acts to do the same. If you’re a regular nerdy concert goer who’d like to share show impressions of help out around the farm, give Matty a holler at the same. But most importantly, when you do make it out to your gig of choice, don’t just fuckin’ stand there. Dance. Yes, you’re gonna look like a total geek. That’s sort of the point.

Little Miss Sunshine

I don’t own a PS3 or a 360. I have no idea what bump mapping is, and I’m only vaguely aware of what, exactly, constitutes a particle effect. I have yet to play Halo 3, or, for that matter, more than a few minutes of Halo 2. I’m an avid gamer, sure, but I’m certainly not your average gamer.

Mostly, I base my game purchases on handheld titles I can play in quick bursts in my office (or, much more likely, in the second floor men’s room when I need to sneak out for a brief sanity break) and console titles that I can “play” with Li’l X. And, like any geeky 30-something, a significant chunk of my annual videogame budget goes to retro titles for play on the consoles of my halcyon youth.

If you, like me, aren’t currently crotch-deep in Portal or Eye of Judgment, chances are the more established channels of videogame journalism have left you a bit wanting of late. If that’s the case, then allow me to introduce you to Little Miss Gamer.

The Little Miss Gamer show is the most recent project from our friends at PBC Productions, the folks who brought us The New Adventures of Captain S and the recent Gamers Against Violence documentary. It features PBC’s own Lindsey – who is also, coincidentally enough, known as Z – and it really runs counter to what we as gamers have come to expect from video reviews.

She doesn’t try and dazzle us with technical specs and industry-speak, nor does she play the whole thing for laughs. It’s simply a low-key, conversational, woman-on-the-street approach that works exceedingly well.

Admittedly, Lindsey’s no Yahtzee, and in this case that’s a very good thing.

In this premiere episode (the previous review mentioned in the viewer mail segment was for Still Gaming), Z reviews Missile Command in both its classic and contemporary incarnations. Her approach is both nostalgic and anecdotal, and she even manages to work in the slightest hint of social commentary. In the end, you come away from a viewing feeling more like you’ve just had a casual conversation with a friend than watched a videogame review.

PBC touts Little Miss Gamer as “a game review show for everyone,” but I respectfully disagree. It’s actually more of a game review show for those gamers who are neither Xbox Live douchebags nor Evercrack addicts; it’s a game review show for folks who game for pleasure, as opposed to those who do it for the sake of following the lead of their respective demographics.

In other words: it’s a keeper. Watch it. Discuss it. Digg it.

Nerdy boys, get ready to meet your newest geek girl heartthrob, and, discriminating gamer girls, prepare to welcome one of your own.

Free to be Random

There has long been an undercurrent within the nerdcore hip-hop community that delineates artists in relation to their apparent nerdiness versus their hip-hop chops. There are those who argue that the strength of nerdcore is rooted solidly in the style’s openness and accessibility to artists and fans who feel that mainstream rap simply isn’t for them. Likewise, there are those who feel that without a genuine love for and connection to the roots of hip-hop, nerdcore is a slap in the face of a proud musical tradition.

Fortunately, these two facets are not mutually exclusive; it is perfectly possible for a rapper to honor and embrace hip-hop history while simultaneously proclaiming pride in his “dork side.” Acts such as Jesse Dangerously, YTCracker, and Optimus Rhyme have been doing it for years, and newer groups like Metamystiks, Inc. and Dual Core skillfully follow suit.

Also among this number is Random: another artist who understands that hip-hop is about self-expression, even if that that expression concerns science, D&D, or videogames.

Random was nice enough to take some time out of his hectic schedule for an interview with Hipster, please! There-in we discussed the runaway success that is Mega Ran, the nature of musical inspiration, and the nerd’s true place in hip-hop. Read on to get inside the mind of a hip-hop visionary who is unafraid to embrace his nerdy predilections.

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Mega Ran is very much a concept album. What was the genesis of this project?

I really couldn't tell you. I literally woke up one day and got an idea to make an entire project on Mega Man beats. I gotta credit YTCracker for his NES album, which was the first time I'd heard an entire album with NES-sampled tracks. So, 2 years later, when I read that this was the 20th anniversary of a character which pretty much defined and shaped my childhood, I wanted to make one track, and when I couldn't find just one to use, MEGA RAN was born.

You've been rhyming for nearly 15 years, and you've enjoyed both underground success and numerous accolades from within the hip-hop community. Given that Mega Ran followed hot on the heals of your critically acclaimed release The Call, was there any initial fear that hip-hop audiences wouldn't feel an album based on the exploits of a diminutive blue robot?

Well, yeah, but I tried not to dwell on it… When people who were fans of The Call would ask about my next album, I made sure to tell them that Mega Ran wasn't my next album, just a fun experiment. I didn't expect too much from the underground crowd. When I let folks close to me hear it, a lot of them just wouldn't say anything… It made me worry, but maybe they just weren't Mega Man fans like I was. One thing I've learned is that people don't know what they want… so I've gotta make music for me. Mega Ran was for me. I'm fortunate that people enjoyed it like they did. I didn't think about it until it was already out, but I could've committed career suicide with this album (laughs). Still, I've never heard or read any negative comments about the album, even got my highest review from a site that is considered an underground hip hop site.

Stylistically, would you consider yourself a part of "conscious hip-hop," or do you prefer to eschew such labels?

Well, the opposite of conscious is unconscious. So since I'm awake, yes, I am a conscious hip-hop artist. I hate that label, as I hate all labels. Labels are for products on a shelf… Music is about emotion. Since I don't curse, or make songs about shooting people or smoking weed, I guess I'd be labeled as a conscious emcee. But Mega Ran, for example, has no social commentary, and that was the way I wanted it. I like to alternate between serious and playful themes on albums. The next album will be a mix of the two.

For those who may be unfamiliar, could you please explain RAHM Nation, and your place within the organization?

RAHM Nation stands for Reform And Healing Movement. Within the organization, I am an artist and producer. RAHM is a collective dedicated to reversing the trend in today's music through creativity. As an independent label, we have so much more freedom, and that's the reason a record like Mega Ran can come out. Would a major label allow me to go from The Call to Mega Ran? Probably not. It feels good to be free… Free to be Random.

Your overall output is both positively spiritual and cleverly political, and you've even gone so far as to call yourself "a rabble-rousing, freedom-fighting, bad-guy slaying emcee's emcee." Given that the character of Mega Man is quite literally a crusader against institutionalized injustice, did you feel comfortable sliding into the role of such a hero?

Absolutely. To risk sounding cliché, Mega Man and I experience the same things... there were, what, 10 Mega Man games with the same plot? That's me. I've been rapping for years, experiencing the same things over and over... the disappointments, the ups, downs… as a teacher, its the same too. I moved from Philly to Phoenix and see the same things in the school districts, from the kids to administration… and it's funny that you think things are different on the other side of the world, and they're pretty much the same. I consider myself somewhat of a rap superhero… the voice of the voiceless.

One undeniable facet of the album is that you manage to make your take on the Mega Man mythos a very personal affair. Hell, you even manage to weave a compelling romance sub-plot in there (i.e.: "Aqua Soul")! Was there a formula or a rubric you followed to ensure that Mega Ran was equal parts canonical Mega Man and genuine Random?

No, no formula. I mean, would it be Random if I had a set formula? I recorded tracks that I liked, and on each album, I have a theme of a multi-layered story, as on The Call ("Tainted Love" parts 1-3): just something to keep the listener interested… in this game it's all about giving the listener something new. If every track was just "Random's the best rapper" over Mega Man beats, then what makes one track more interesting than the next?

Many of your previous efforts have been peppered with styles such as gospel, soul, and R&B. The Mega Ran track "Metal Man," however, has a very distinct guitar-driven groove compliments of videogame rockers The Megas. How did this collaboration come about?

Big shout out to The Megas!! I had heard their stuff and I was so impressed. What they do is very similar to what I did with Mega Ran… They replay Mega Man beats and add their own lyrics and story to the track. So I got in contact with them about remixing one of their tracks, and "Metal Man" was born. I even had an opportunity to perform with them in San Diego at the House of Blues this summer, and that was a huge experience. One of my goals in Mega Ran was to fuse different styles of music together. Most of the Mega Man remakes I had heard turned the tunes into dance tracks… kinda techno-ish… so that'd been done. So I mixed Hip-Hop, Rock, even Reggaeton on the "Ringman" joint.

There is an admitted lack of profanity and overtly violent motifs in your work. Given that these pervade modern hip-hop - at least in the mind of the uninitiated outsider - is this more a matter of social responsibility or simply personal preference?

It's personal preference. I don't wanna hear an album full of profanity, because I don't use it in my everyday life. I can't control what everyone else does, but before being an artist, I'm a fan. So everything I do, from construction of an album to my live show, I think of what I would want to hear as a fan. Rappers could reach so many more people if they could step outside of themselves and look in. I think so much more could be accomplished if rappers just watched their language, in my opinion… whether you want to sell more records or heal the world.

Especially rappers who do Nerdcore, or overly commercial stuff. I mean, you're sampling an 8-bit video game that was played by pre-teens. Do you really think you should be cussing all over it? That's kinda disrespectful, and I'm sure it would be to the videogame's creators... But I love Nerdcore because it's about people doing what they want to do, speaking to an audience that has been overlooked for quite some time… but to commercial rappers: imagine how many more records you could sell if the CD didn't have that "Explicit Lyrics" sticker on it…

You take your role as an educator very seriously. Do your students know about your dual life as a "mild-mannered school teacher" and an underground rap sensation?

Yes, they do know, I give them my CDs when they're well behaved, and we talk about it from time to time... I had the coolest experience last week with them. I showed them my performance video from Nerdapalooza SE in Florida, and I had a little girl ask me, "Are you famous?" I said no. As she watched the video, she turned back to me and said, "Yes you are! They're singing your words! You don't have to tell me, I know you're famous." I got a hearty laugh out of that one.

Who are your primary musical influences? What about non-musical influences?

Hmm… well, they change every day, depending on my mood. Right now I'm listening to Kanye West, and I must say, the new album is pretty inspiring. Other than that I'd say Marvin Gaye, Maroon 5, Bob Dylan… anyone who tries new things and tells stories.

But for inspiration I usually don't have to look any further than my own camp. Ohene is spectacular. I'm always eager to hear what he has cooking; I think he's the greatest mind in Hip-Hop, hands down. Outside of music, my students are a huge influence. I see the things they go through, and that influences the things I say and do, since I realize that I'm always a role model, even when I don't want to be.

It's apparent that you know your way around an NES. Are you still a gamer?

Oh yeah, I still play whenever I get time. Looking forward to getting my hands on that Halo 3!

Mega Ran generated quite a buzz within the gaming media, with mentions popping up at sites like IGN, gaming blogs like Kotaku, and even from Capcom itself. Were you at all surprised by its warm reception?

Yes, very surprised. I look at IGN every day, so to see myself on IGN was a huge shock! I was scared to death when Capcom got involved. I really didn't want to get sued, so I wasn't going to sell the album at all. Then folks at Capcom told me that they not only supported it, but encouraged me to sell it, AND invited me to Comic-Con to sell and sign autographs at their booth. Unbelievable. Early press releases said the album was free, and we had to stay true to that… so I made the album free for 7 days, and it got a ridiculous amount of downloads. Now that it's for sale, it's surprisingly become my best-selling album in less than a year! So I'm thankful. This showed me, more than anything, that it was okay for me to be myself.

Mega Ran was also well received within the nerdcore hip-hop community. Given the strained relations - generally running the gamut from idle disinterest to outright disdain - between more traditional forms of hip-hop and nerdcore, were you at all concerned that you'd crossed a line in the sand?

Nah, I wasn't. I didn't want to be the one to bridge the gap between nerdcore and "traditional" hip-hop, but if this could do it, that'd be cool. I think the only problem that hip-hoppers have with nerdcore is the sound quality… I think it's a pride thing; if you put your music out for the world to judge it, it only makes sense to put your best foot forward. When I made Fundamentals, the sound quality… well, it sucked. But, I thought, and still do, that if people could look past that, they'd find a great album… funny, entertaining and lyrically on point.

There are some wack rappers in mainstream hip-hop, so nerdcore is no different… but there also are some gems in each. I'd put cats like YTCracker and Zealous1 against anyone when it comes to song structure, concepts and overall creativity.

Not to drag you into what is a thorny topic all its own, but is there a place for nerds within hip-hop proper?

They're already there, they're just hiding out. Lupe Fiasco proved that you don't need to fit into anyone's mold to break in. There's SOMEONE out there who listens to lyrics still. There are plenty of undercover nerds out there, we just have to get them out of the closet.

You shared the stage with many nerdcore MCs at August's Nerdapalooza SE. Do you feel as though you connected well with the audience and the other (admittedly geeky) performers?

Absolutely. I had a blast. I love nerdcore events, they're always fun… and people aren't afraid to be fans. When I do shows at traditional hip-hop venues, anyone who gives me props usually has to preface it with "I'm not a groupie or anything, but… your stuff is tight." Most of the time in underground hip-hop venues, you're rapping to an audience who are rappers themselves, with their hands in their pockets, who the whole time you rock are thinking "I can do that better than him." Nerdcore fans aren't afraid to get loose and have fun.

You're a member of the Sedgwick Avenue Alliance, along with such artists as Jesse Dangerously, Metamystiks Inc, Savant, and Grandmaster Pink. Is there a lot of creative give-and-take among the members of the Alliance, or is it more a loose confederation of artists?

So far so good. It's a great thing, it allows us to show off new tracks, get feedback and connect in new ways… I haven't been using it to its full potential as of yet, but I will… and I when I do, it'll be DANGEROUS! Look forward to hearing some new Alliance collaborations really soon.

Okay, I ask this one checkbook in hand: how much will it set me back to hear you and Maja on a track together?

(in Dr. Evil voice) one….BIJILLION KIBBILON DOLLARS. (laughs)… actually, you might be happy to know that Maja and I have recorded not one, but TWO tracks together… No idea where they're gonna end up, but they're done… and they're SICK!! Look for at least one of them to debut on Sedgwick within the next month. Maja is an extremely talented cat, and we've done some building, and I've learned a lot from him in a short time.

What other kinds of collaborations and future projects can we expect from Random in the future?

Right now I'm just knocking out beats and collaborations for some folks… just finished a track with a group out of TX, Crew 54, "Can't Lose," I did the beat and a verse, it's on their site now. My producer and DJ DN3 and I are working on something called "The House Project," which will feature DN3 on the beats, myself and him on the vocals, and a talented guitarist Grieg Schrock laying down some licks. It'll be really musical, pretty soulful. I'd like to have a short mixtape-like project out in the winter, just a collection of songs that I've been working on, and my next full-length will hit in August 2008. Anything other than that, you're gonna have to keep your ears and eyes open… I could wake up tomorrow and want to release a whole new album… I have ideas in my head about another nerdcore theme album… but I don't know if I can let the cat out of the bag yet.

If there's any single constant across your body of work it's a devotion to the concept of musical experimentation, both lyrically and stylistically. Is there any single musical style or element that you've yet to tackle that you've got your sights set on?

I told some close friends a while back that my first single on the next album was going to be a techno-styled track, but nowadays that's being done, with Timbaland and others mashing Hip-Hop and dance music. So, I have my sights on other genres, and you'll be seeing those really soon. I really want to record with a live band, or an orchestra… and who knows, the Random country album might not be far away….

In the meantime, get Mega Ran! And get The Call! Support indie music!

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I originally planned to title this piece “Rocky, Cheesesteak, and Mega Man” - a reference both to his track “City Boy” and to Ran’s affection for the Blue Bomber - but after reading the finished product, it seemed imprecise. You see, while Random is, no doubt, proud of his Philadelphia roots and is equally at peace with his love of classic videogames, he is far more than the sum of his history, his interests, and even his skillfully selected words. Ran is an artist dedicated to his craft, and embracing that craft means not only growing with his music but growing through his music.

Transitioning from a successful album such as The Call to a concept as novel as a videogame inspired project was a bold move, and one that Random admits he worried over. Though it was obviously his intention, there’s no way he could have possibly known that Mega Ran would capture the interest of hip-hop heads and videogame fans alike. And yet it did; a humble, honest, committed artist managed to weave a cohesive tale of danger, romance, betrayal, and, ultimately, victory not by agonizing over the differences between rap cannon and geek aesthetic, but by focusing on their common, underlying nature.

To put it simply: good music is rooted in passion. Such passion is palpable in Fundamentals, The Call, and, yes, Mega Ran, proving unequivocally that nerdcore and hip-hop are not separated by some thematic wall. Even if nerds and heads sometimes are.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from your (creepy) old pal Z. at Hipster, please!

PS: Read Scary Go Round. It's an amazing Web comic.

PPS: Luzid just hipped me to a new RE 4-themed Halloween track up at his MySpace; check that shit out as well.

Nerd News in Brief

The U.K. Subs were right: everything does smell like horse shit down on the farm!

Last weekend, the wife and I took L’il X. to a local pumpkin patch as a little pre-Halloween treat. The pumpkins were pretty picked over and the whole joint reeked, but it wasn’t a total wash; they had llamas.

I dig llamas but I can’t help but be little creeped out by ‘em. There’s just something about those vacant llama eyes that makes me uncomfortable.

Behold the true face of evil.

• “This is my thesis man! This is my closing argument!”: Computerworld recently ran a story about celebrity geeks. It presents a collection of “celebrities who work at traditional artistic pursuits to make their way in the world, but have been known to kick back with a little astrophysics or microbiology in their spare time.” It’s got some no-brainers (Wil Wheaton and Bill Nye) as well as some surprises. Mr. Bean’s an electrical engineer?
• Cruciato!: Just last week I was bitching to Matt about the lack of free Wrock, and, lo and behold, yesterday I was directed to this Halloween present from our friends at WizRock.org. It’s a free-to-download album by the Cruciatus Curse. Next I plan to complain about the lack of free booze and videogames and hope for the best.
• Poor decision making: I recently mentioned my dismay at the “controversy” surrounding J.K. Rowling’s outing Dumbledore. I just didn’t see why it was a big deal. Mostly because I don’t have a huge tattoo of a gay wizard on my back. I feel bad for the guy, but he also has a kid named Paris, so I’m assuming that he makes faux pas like this all the time.
• Clothe thyself: If you too are presently embarrassed by an enormous tattoo on your back-parts, you might want to cover it up with one of these fine t-shirts from the Jesse Dangerously camp. They feature a delightful cartoon necktie on the front and a screaming Jesse logo on back. Jesse’s also got hardcopies of Verba Volant and Inter Alia for sale as well. They make great gifts, especially for your favorite nerdy music blogger.
• Another prayer answered: Metamystiks, Inc. MC and occasional producer Mythril Nazgul – known affectionately as Myf – has elected to start releasing more solo joints. His first shot comes in the form a the freestyle “Track Record.” Listen and be amazed.
• Health update: Thanks to the efforts of cat’s like The Awful Show guys, T.Y.T.’s collected approximately $700 for his father’s liver transplant. T.Y.T. fervently thanks all who have contributed, and he now has merchandise for sale to generate a bit more scratch. Among the items is his new disk “Shattered Life,” from which all proceeds will go to his father’s health care.
• More ways to help: T.Y.T. is also hoping to put together a Rhyme Torrents compilation album, the sale of which would also supplement his dad’s health care fund. For info on the parties involved or to throw your own hat in the ring, check out this thread.
• On to a happier subject: Morlocks! Oh yeah, the Daily Mail reports that the human race will one day split into two distinct species: “an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures.” Guess who agrees? Science. Also science fiction, so you really can’t go wrong there.
• One last thing: I reckon I can only work in one more blatantly Halloween-y vid before y’all start looking at me funny, so allow me to close this final October NNIB with an amazing mash-up. It’s Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” vs. Doves’ “Hit the Ground Running.” Good times!

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 33: The Geeks Come Out at Night

Sometimes I don’t know where a show is gonna go until it’s finished. This was just such an episode. I had a veritable grocery list of tracks squirreled away for this edition of RFH and I knew from the get-go that there was no conceivable way to work them all in.

I tried sorting them, classifying them, linking them by theme and genre, but in the end none of those felt right. So I did what I always do when I’m in the inspirational doldrums: I just had fun with it.

The show, as it ultimately came together, was a good bit different than I had planned. There was a lot more weird retro tracks (and overall unsettling cheesiness) than a normal episode, but I think things stayed well within the bounds of geeky Halloween revelry.

With the exception of Whodini. I don’t know where the fuck that came from.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 33: The Geeks Come Out at Night (hosting provided by Antisocial) Size: 49.9 MB Running Time: 54:34

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah – “Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)”
This Halloween I plan to fuse Beefy and Spellah together a la Brundlefly. True story.

Track 1: Monsters Crash the Pajama Party trailer / The Cure – “Lullaby” / e gibby & slackmaster d – “10Year Old (Lullaby Dub)”
Again, I know that mc isn’t exactly everyone’s favorite person of late, but I think this track is amazing.

Z’s 1st interlude: “Is that sleazy enough for ya?”
I can’t help but feel that Rob Zombie is one of us: he was raised on comic books and trash culture and he spends a significant chunk of his time in costume. That sounds pretty nerdy to me.

Track 2: Frog the Dawg – “DMX vs. Rob Zombie”
Be sure to check out the rest of the songs on the Mashing Pumpkins compilation.

Track 3: Antisocial – “Remember My Name”
Soc sent me this track in the 11th hour, but I liked it enough to put it in. It actually worked out pretty well, as it split up what would otherwise have been a very lengthy mash-up sub-set.

Track 4: Howard Hallis – “Haunted Bela” / DJ NoNo – “County Sound” / Billy Butterfield – “The Headless Horseman”
I was actually hoping to find the version of “The Headless Horseman” included in Disney’s retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but no luck. :(

Track 5: Ton Ruckert – “Humanoids from the Deep” / The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – “Cthulhu Dreams” / Dave Edmunds – “Creature From the Black Lagoon”
Admittedly, the instrumental lead-up to “Creature From the Black Lagoon” is a little lengthy, but I couldn’t bear to edit either of those tracks any more than I already had.

Track 6: Vampire Playgirls trailer / Mr. Fab – “Dark Shadows Chachacha” / signed long int vs. The Breakfastaz – “The Night I Broke Out”
sli provides the first of three tracks from Rhyme Torrent’s Halloween 2.0 compilation. I’ve already spoken at length about it, but let me reiterate that you should check it out.

Z’s 2nd interlude: “A couple of rules of thumb concerning the content for this podcast.”
I do try and refrain from putting too many similarly styled songs together back-to-back as well as including multiple tracks by the same artist, but what fun would rules be if we didn’t bend them?

Track 7: Lon Chaney Jr. – “Spider Baby Theme”
I’d go so far as to say that this is the most disturbing thing Chaney ever did. There’s just something slightly unhinged about his vocal meter and cadence.

Track 8: The Ghastly Ones – “Banshee Beach”
SoCal garage rockers that dress like 19th century morticians? Yeah, you could say that’s nerdy.

Track 9: Graveyard Tramps trailer / Whodini – “The Freaks Come Out at Night”
This is another vanity track: it doesn’t really have anything to do with the show or my underlying theme, but it made the cut for no other reason than the simple fact that I like it.

Track 10: Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra – “The Raven” / MC Lars – “Mr. Raven”
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I kicked it weak and weary. / Dark and cold just like Lake Erie. Brand new sample, someone clear me.”

Track 11: Thriftshop XL – “Antichrist (EOTMC mix)” / MC Lars – “The Roommate from Hell (Fire & Ice mix feat. mc chris)”
Yep, more Lars and mc chris. I wanted to include the above Raven motif, but I also really wanted to end a set with this track. I ultimately elected to do both.

Z’s final interlude: “It can be as playful or as sinister as you want.”
Let me just pause for a moment to remind you to keep Halloween evil. Don’t have a “Fall Carnival” or a “Harvest Festival:” have a fuckin’ Halloween party complete with witches, vampires, and zombies. You’ll be glad you did.

Track 12: Metamystiks, Inc. – “Voices”
Snyder, myf, and SDX are the 3-headed monster of hip-hop. Are they nerdcore? Who gives a shit! They’re excellent musicians and nerdy enough for inclusion; that’s all that matters to me.

Though I’ve still got a few more days of Halloween carousing, I’m already looking toward the next couple of podcasts. Presently, November looks to play host to nerd punk and superhero-themed episodes, and, of course, December will feature a holiday special and a New Year’s party ep.

Got any requests for the above shows? Got any theme ideas for ’08? Just want to tell me that I need a better mic and a more functional grasp of the English language? Well, let me know.