Bass Wheelie Squee, Ultra-Nerdcore, & REAL!

Wow, that whole "late update" thing got away from me. I have great ideas and plenty of free time for next week's post, but let me try and make up for this week a bit.

On Twitter, my personality shines through to other personalities. One of my Fave. front-men (lawl, Nerdcore, FRONT-men) Wheelie Cyberman, previously of Optimus Rhyme, now of SuperCommuter tweeted . . .

Upright bass solos are boring.
— Wheelie Cyberman (@WheelieCyberman) April 23, 2012

And I though to myself, now that can't be right . . . I love stand up bass . . . So I hit the webs and found this little gem after some poking about . . .

And tweeted out at him "Skip to 1:50 and then 2:30. I didn't think it was that boring . . ."
And then, one  of my fanboy moments occurred where an idol of mine interacted with me on the internet.

@h47 I give it bonus points for the zebra print.
— Wheelie Cyberman (@WheelieCyberman) April 24, 2012

I was over the moon.

So that was fun, also, in other Nerdcore News, if you haven't heard, Ultrasklytron dropped a new HUGE album. Go snag that. some excellent gems in many areas of musicality. Try out here . . .

AND . . . speaking of nerdy goodness . . .

IM HOSTING PANELS AT FANIME!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!
ARMOR-GEDDON In association with THE TWILIGHT KNIGHTS (who have been running The Dojo at Fanime for years ) Present:

Is It Real?

No restrictions on video recording or photography.

Suitable for All Ages.

A panel on blade knowledge basics. Twilight Knights & Armor-Geddon-ites discuss tips & guidelines for the modern collector & user regarding classic weaponry. Functional v. practical, display v. live steel, martial arts schools, jokes, with a Q & A to follow.


Yup on

Saturday, 12Noon-1pm in the Dojo (The Almaden Ballroom in the Hilton Hotel)

&

Sunday, 5pm-6pm in the Dojo.

yours truly will be hanging with the Knights and teachin' about blades. COME AND SEE IT!!

3rd 4 t3h NRRD: Nov. '11

Way back at the beginning of this blog, over two years ago, I did a post about Optimus Rhyme which would begin what I now call 3rd 4 t3h NRRD. In the comments below that post I typed up a short follow up mentioning - Supercommuter.
Well here we are again.


Two albums deep, Childs Play proceeds gig with Penny Arcade and a solid track on Nerdcore Now means these cats are steady and strong. You can check them out All Over The Internets, except, strangely Wikipedia. Can someone please take a few to make a worth-while page for them. Apparently the last one was deleted for "lack of relevance" or something like that. They have a link and are referenced on the Opt. Rhyme page, but then you get the deleted page.


Why should you listen to them/buy their albums? Duh. I know a lot of nerds who love some clean chip-tune/chip-hop work, so you get that. I have covered how AWESOME Wheelie's vocals are before, see the link above, I can't put enough of his vocals in my earhole. All of that combined makes for silly-good tracks, and the added vibe that the bulk of them were written & composed during the actual COMMUTE up in WA makes it even more fun.
So, click through those links, find that playlist up on youtube and get chipped off these beats & rhymes. I wanna hear those beeps, boops, thumps & spits out on the asphalt while I'm stuck in that gridlock!

Meme-Orables: Memeingful Interactions

Around May/June '09 I decided to increase my net presence by joining a bunch of social networks. Since then I have been reminded why I disdain many people and their issues. I have discussed this phenomena with some friends and I think many might share my view that if you're going to post your soul for everyone to see . . . . .
*looks down at soapbox* balls, where did that come from? Um, short and concise . . . I have some of my soul up here. I've read it a few times and am prepared for whatever comments might come up. I feel they are entertaining/give an insight into the mind that is blabbering around here, and they have not scared off any of my readers. (the whole handful of you!) Maybe I will go into this more later, somewhere else . . .

The POINT! Oh, there it is! Back when I used to frequent less than savory forums and message boards where the cruel rule of schoolyard logic and bullying ruled, we developed harsh yet concise manners of conduct and if they weren't followed, everyone let you know what you did. Blathering, Flaming, generally being a whiny, stupid noob was not only frowned upon, but attacked. To be honest, I miss some of these times and as such, got nostalgic about some of the relics from that time. I have dug them out and present them here. Two of my favorite standbys. As well as a catchy song to get you into the mood.

Optimus Rhyme: P.S.

If THIS!!! filled your ears and your soul as it did mine . . you might wanna see/hear/osmose THIS! (Supercommuter)

*edit 8/18/09*

*hits dead horse with large 2X4* What? this is fun. what more proof do you need of how awesome Optimus Rhyme was?

3rd 4 t3h NRRD! Monthly music.

I found it eerie and fortuitous that the last time I really spoke of nerdcore was last 3rd (of June) mayhaps I can maintain a monthly set schedule for blathering about beatmasters and lyricwrights? (probably not, so don't get your hopes up.)
This months Nerdcore Artist is the band Optimus Rhyme. Their site is over NYAH! and you can buy some of their music hierNYAH.
Based out of the wet north (hehe, wet . . ) of Seattle, Washington, the Autobeats (yes, they embrace their theme) seek to destroy all Wackacons. With tight guitar tickling, steady bass rhythms with some phunky skank on em, steady crashes from the drums, all give a garage band feel to set Wheelie Cyberman's rapid-fire clean and clear lyrics against.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite artists. Wheelie has a wicked flow, can keep the words pounding and bouncing like a cheap . . . well, and he keeps his voice running the scale like high school bleachers.
If there's one thing that will start to turn me off about most nerdcore rappers is the monotone, one note, speaking fast, bull. Yes rapping is heavily comprised of dense verbage, but its also a MUSIC style, which means, unless you're as good as Cake (which in my opinion, still matches the little variation he has to the overall songs) get some music theory in your spit, j0!
aright, back on to Optimus Rhyme . . . I'm also a bit of a sucker for things that stick to a theme and do it well. O.R. does this. The pseudonyms the band uses when they're performing are amusing, as well as a greater portion of the catalog uses the transformers theme as song content. Another selling point is that although they embrace the theme, they dont nessecarily beat you over the head with it. Not every song is literally "we autobots, hur, hur, wackacons esplode when we play, yay!" well, one or two are like that, but by and large the songs accept that they exist in this reality and don't beleaguer the point. At least for me.
As mentioned before, I love the guitar. Powerthighs lays it down by keeping a steady back drop, but definitely keeps the strings taught and tickles them mercilessly. He can drop down and meld with the group to create a harmonious sound, but brings it right back up for fast fingered audio filigree.
Stumblebee, the bassist, do what a bass do. Sets a steady line that the rest of the band may walk, but when you walk, you gotta have a swagger if you're as bad ass as an autobot. When not keeping it steady he throws down and rumbles the speakers, dancing the chords with an ease and skill that would make the fleetest of fingered lesb . . . what? Music is sensual. well, actually, the bass, its so phunky. I'm shaking my own head typing this at how this doesn't even begin to describe it.
As for Grimrock, honestly, he does what any good drummer needs to do. Plays so well you don't realize he's there. Honestly! A lot of nerdcore is geek rap, right? Most of it is back beats and samples with an MC in front of it. For someone to be a live beat machine, and stay in sync with a live band, AND stay steady with a repetitive beat setup, is a challenge. Its a mix of paying attention, staying IN the music and keeping tempo. Not a task for the flippant and lame. Serious kudos to the kicker/thumper of Optimus Rhyme.
Choice songs include -Anxiety- off the album "TransF0Rmed" - Powder Blue Egg Hatch- & -JZ75- off their self titled EP, "Optimus Rhyme" (in case you didint realize) and also -AUTOBEAT AIRBUS- off "School The Indie Rockers"
All of those are very high energy songs, but that's one of the reasons I enjoy them so. That should wrap it up for now. Nerdcore 4 life, microsoft-WERD!