Apparently I’ve been missing out on an entire genre of eclectically-cool music for quite a while now… it’s called “nerdcore,” and I’m finding it utterly enjoyable. So, as penance for having not discovered this stuff sooner, I’ve been putting fourth some minor efforts to spread the word around - and as of now, those efforts even include a blog post (impressive, huh?).

The music has been described well elsewhere (with not one but two movies dedicated to the topic), so I’ll spare those details and just say that my favorites thus far - for whatever they are worth - are MC Frontalot, MC Lars, and Jesse Dangerously, with honorable mentions to Optimus Rhyme and MC Chris.

“Discovering” this genre lead to other searches, some of which have produced good results. The latest “find” was Random, a “chip music” artist. Sure, MIDI-style music has been around for a long time, but I guess I never quite appreciated how far one person could go using only 8-bit sounds: for an example, check out this track.

…and that concludes my promotional efforts for today. Remember kids, stealing music is bad… unless the artist explicitly tells you to. ;-)

5 Responses To “Nerdcore”

1. nhelder   2008.09.15, 12:31 am
   

   Coincidentally, if you are ever disappointed with the content you find on this blog - or the lack thereof - feel free to play this song to help you unload all of those pent-up frustrations. :-p

2. Soland   2008.09.17, 11:57 pm
   

   Thanks for the MC Lars suggestion. I think he’s got the more robust and developed sound out of the artists you listed. “The Graduate” is pretty dynamic with respect to the style of each song, punk, hard rock, “crunk rap”… I think “Space Game” is my official song of the month.

   Frontalot is great lyrically, but some of his hooks get on my nerves because of the discord. “Origin of the Species”. I really love the steel guitar at the beginning, but the rest of it just gets on my nerves. The augmented minor tones of the chorus are difficult to digest and if you watch some live youtube vids, aren’t that tonally accurate when performed.

   MC Chris is hilarious because of his voice. I really like “Reese”. When you’re singing a straight edge song about candy, it helps if you sound like a 9 year old.

   I think this might be a byproduct of nerdcore: http://gizmodo.com/5051226/caption-contest-vader-love

3. Frez   2008.09.18, 10:32 pm
   

   MC Lars isn’t the only one promoting crime and villiany…
   To quote The Front’s early opus, “Crime Spree”:
   =====
   I’m the #1 menace for miles around,
   with the littering, the loitering, the mattress tags,
   all the piratated mp3s I grabs [arrrr]
   =====

   It makes me happy that nerdcore has touched your heart.

4. nhelder   2008.09.22, 7:25 pm
   

   Soland: it amuses me that you and I can (apparently) have such different tastes in music, yet still listen to many of the same bands. Case in point, “Origin Of The Species” is one of my favorite tracks from “Secrets.” ;-)

   Your observation about the less-than-100%-reproducible nature of Front’s songs made me realize something about myself I hadn’t previously noticed: I’m really not bothered by that at all. At first blush, it seemed like I should be concerned with, but in the end the logic that won out was that 99.9% of the time I’m listening to studio tracks of an artist’s work, and I’d rather have them be really well-mixed, dynamic, and otherwise good-sounding (and be not-fully-reproducible) than I would have them sound comparatively more simplistic and flat and be easily performed live.

   Continuing the ramble - and transitioning, albeit tangentially, to Frez’s comment - for me, as a person who might (hypothetically) have an mp3 or two in his library that he may or may not have entirely paid for, going to concerts is more about showing my support and getting money in the hands of the artist (with a theoretically smaller % being skimmed by the various middlemen) than it is about anything else. If a band can reproduce their sound and really work the crowd, then great - but personally I’d be just as happy if I could stand in a line for an hour or two, give the artist $60, maybe shake their hand, and go home.

   Which once again makes me think that the idea of http://www.donatetoartists.com is one worth pursuing… if only I had a clone or three of myself to pursue such things. *chuckle*

   Ok, ramble aborted. If you made it this far, thanks, and you may now return to your daily business.

5. Soland   2008.12.09, 5:02 pm
   

   I’m definitely digging the new 8-bit Christmas music. Reminded me of what I read in this post, so I brought it back here for consumption.

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