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.