Once again it’s time for Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. As makers from across the globe gather in the Bay Area, it will certainly be interesting to see what effects social sites like Twitter and Dodgeball will have on how people organize throughout the weekend.
Last year I traversed the faire with my mighty PXL2000 and put together the attached video. The PXL2000 was made by Fisher-Price in the late 80’s. It shoots video on analog cassette tapes, the end result is obviously lo-fi and deliciously pixelated (hence the name). My PXL is heavily modified which you can see throughout the video.
I just added another track off of Me Geek Pretty One Day to TheSixtyOne. The track, Dropped, is one of Me Geek Pretty’s many instrumental songs and was one of the first songs I created using MidiNES. MidiNES is a cartridge interface and program that enables access to the Nintendo’s awesome sounds via midi controller (like a keyboard or a sequencer).
After years of use, I’m finally retiring my circuit bent Casio DM-100. The DM-100 is one of the rarest Casio’s out there and a unique piece for any collector. This keyboard is basically two separate units; the top tier, which is believed to actually be the guts from a Casio SK-5, where the lower keys are attached to a different circuit full of stereo sounds and whatnot. The keyboard’s sampler spits out wonderful lo-fi samples which can either be used with a built in mic or using the line in. The keyboard also has various line outs, including a l/r out.
This keyboard was modified by John from HighlyLiquid.com to accept a midi signal. John added the midi port to the back of the keyboard, and a patch bay to the top of the keyboard. Parts of this patch bay are wired to the lower keyboards circuit board, and the rest are tethered to the upper circuit board. This means that you can run the effects from the sampling keyboard through the other boards stereo effects and vice versa.
I’ve used this keyboard for many years for soundtrack and commercial work. This DM-100 was the backbone of MC Frontalot’s “Pr0n S0ng” and it also appears on many tracks on my new album Me Geek Pretty One Day. Check out the eBay auction for more pictures, details, and audio samples.
GM4A’s upcoming compilation, Here Comes A New Challenger, pits chiptune musicians against singers and nerdcore rappers to see what happens. The compilation is slated for release on April 30th. This awesome flash animation was created by the talented Doctor Octoroc (who’s beadsprite work I had previously written about here).
I’ve added another song to TheSixtyOne called “Skype Lyfe” which is, of course, one of the songs off of my new album Me Geek Pretty One Day. This is the only song I’ve done with MC Router, and it all started off as her idea. She originally asked me to make her a beat using those hot sounds in the Skype soundset, but after I heard her chorus I knew I had to get some vocals on there too.
Originally, Skype Lyfe was to appear on MC Router’s debut solo album, but before the album was released, she decided she wanted to switch gears and go for a glitchier/idm sound. She sent out a bulletin announcing that she would no longer be making nerdcore hip-hop and then she deleted her old myspace account. She has recently been working with new producers, and will start posting her new musics on to her new myspace account.
So… Skype Lyfe is officially the very last nerdcore song MC Router made.
Drown Radio’s debut solo album, Me Geek Pretty One Day, is finally here! To put it simply, Me Geek Pretty One Day is 50+ minutes of endearingly nerdy hip hop, instrumentals, remixes, and ringtones all for just $8. You can read more about MGPODhere, or just go ahead and buy it here.
Me Geek Pretty One Day is also the very first full length album available via SMS! Dial (515) 862-1000 from your cell phone and then pressing 6 to buy the album. If you forward the song to a friend, by pressing 3, you will be sent a free copy of lolCats (radio edit) via SMS.
I’m very happy with this release, as a matter of fact i’ve been listening to it every day for the past month, it’s great! It’s fantastic! It’s better than bad, it’s good! So please check it out, and tell your friends about it.
Tonight I’ll be on Jonny’s Partay, a live video chat show staring Jonny Goldstien. I’m really looking forward to this and I hope some of ya’ll can catch it.
“Join us this Weds, April 9, 9PM EST, as DocPop (AKA Doctor Popular AKA Drown Radio) is drops his new nerdcore album Me Geek Pretty One Day on Jonny’s Par-tay. Tracks like “LolCats” and “Gygax” will send you into a spiral of geekgastic ecstasy…
So come Par-tay with us! Here’s the details:
What: A live online interactive video free for all with Doc Pop, hosted by Jonny Goldstein, and served up with flavor by Scott Stead.
When: 9-10 PM EST, Weds, April 9
Where: www.jonnyspartay.com
Why: This is your chance to par-tay with nerdcore star, world third ranked yoyoist, fashion icon, comic book artist DocPop. Need I say more?”
The newest episode of the Tank Riot podcast is an in depth episode all about Leon Theremin, the godfather of electronic music. Theremin is best known for his invention that shares his name, but he has lived a fantastic life beyond his musical devices.
Each episode of Tank Riot features a new interesting topic that is thoroughly and entertainingly discussed for about 40 minutes. The boys at TR have a great sense of humor and a good perspective on history, but I love that they take any chance they get to diss on Edison. If you like this episode, be sure to subscribe to them on iTunes and check out some of their older podcasts (like Douglas Adams and Tesla!).
How to Speak Hip, the comedy album by Del Close & John Brent, has recently been posted in it’s entirety on Skyelab Music (via). Currently, they only have a flash player, so you can’t download the tracks, but a quick torrent search may provide you with a downloadable copy.
How to Speak Hip is a classic “how to” album that mocks both the “beatnik” scene and the 1950’s “square” crowd. Although you might not have realized it, you’ve probably heard bits and snippets of this album before. I’ve been heavily sampling segments of the album for a long time, in fact you may recognize quite a bit of this album as part of my Drown Pirate Radio podcasts.
I first heard skits off of How To Speak Hip when I was 15. I had delved deep to the beatnik culture of the 50’s, and came across some compilation tapes that featured parts of this album. I remember digging on lines like when the square reporter says “… in other words I’m saying that I am hip.” and the hipster authority responds with “Dig yourself baby, you’ve got a way to go.” I’m so glad to find this album in it’s entirety now, up until yesterday I had never heard the whole thing, even though I’ve been so affected by the parts I had heard for the last 15 years.
Me Geek Pretty One Day is out now! You can read about it here or buy it here!
Good question. I guess this is what I get for assuming I’d be able to get the album online within a week of finishing it. I’m still working on getting the SongNumber for Me Geek Pretty One Day and getting the shop working in WordPress. I appreciate all the folks that are checking the site for the album to appear or emailing for updates, but I have no specific date for when everything will be running, sorry.
As a consolation I’ve uploaded a brand new song from MGPOD called ButterPart. Check it out below. If you’ve heard me talk about the album being fairly eclectic, this is sort of what I’m talking about. MGOD flows from nerdcore raps, to R&B, to experimental instrumentals, to indie tracks like ButterPart. Enjoy:
The newest episode of the 