Posts Tagged ‘Schaffer the Darklord’

It feels like yesterday that I had the pleasure of meeting Shael Riley and Ty Guenley, the masterminds behind the 8-bit indie rock band Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire and their newly-released album Ultimate Songs from the Pit. They had been visiting NYC to get the album mastered a year ago, thus bringing Shael and Ty in proximity to me and each other. This came not long after the Backfire’s success in funding the mastering through a Kickstarter, which gained nearly twice as much monetary pledges as the initial goal. The cash certainly didn’t go to waste: even songs from the band’s previous EP Songs from the Pit feel refreshed and immediate due to Drew Lavyne’s mastering and Ty’s mixing.

Although the process of finalizing and mass-duplicating the CD was long, Shael and Ty were hardly at rest in their music making. As incentive for the Kickstarter, the band recorded cover versions of songs commissioned by those who made large pledges; one such cover, a remake of Shael’s Castlevania homage “Juese Belmont” was posted at OverClocked ReMix. The Double Ice Backfire also contributed to albums that covered “Weird Al” Yankovic and They Might Be Giants. My favorite song from Ultimate Songs from the Pit, “Hobby Model” almost seems like a cover itself, with its refrain resembling that of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman”.

Genius loves company, and so the album has a fair number of guests. Fellow chip rocker Brian Mazzaferri of I Fight Dragons shares lead vocal duties on “Bootstraps” while Schaffer the Darklord drops lines into “Publishing Rights”. Additional rhyme-spitting comes courtesy of Mega Ran on “Area Dolls” and Billy the Fridge in “Rarest of Elements”. Ricky Henry, the ‘third-ice’ in the band’s live shows, was responsible for the album artwork. Ultimate Songs from the Pit is available now at Bandcamp for streaming and as a paid download, with the lead track “How to Fire a Gun” as a free single.

It is finally June 1st, and you know what that means! The highly anticipated album from Random AKA Mega Ran and producer K-Murdock is finally available. Forever Famicom is 14 songs of incredible and fresh nerdcore rap over some of the best (and often more obscure) video game beats I have yet to hear.

From Earthbound, to Chrono Trigger, the album covers a bit of everything from the NES and SNES days, and not just as fan service. K-Murdock seems to have chosen the best songs, despite their obscurity or fame, to create amazing hip hop beats with, and work seamlessly with Random’s various rap styles which show up on this album. K-Murdock’s beats take on a ton of various styles like the rocking Chrono Trigger track Epoch or the upbeat nostalgia in the Little Nemo beat flowing through the track Dream Master.

Of course Random lays down the rhymes. He touches on autobiographical incidents in Dream Master, and, of course, what it’s like to be a gamer in this day and age with the jaded gamer anthem Drop The Load. The latter track listens like a list of complaints that game developers in this day and age could really take heed of. And seeing how I have complained about many similar things as well, this is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. We also have to stop back at the track Epoch, which lays down a rocking remix of Chrono Trigger beneath an intense, reference heavy set of rhymes that I think would make a fantastic music video (hear that Ran?).

On the lyrical side we also hear from two other heavyweight nerdcore rappers in int80 of Dual Core, and Schaffer The Darklord in the laid back anthem For The Gamers, which is another amazing track on an album full of nothing less than stellar tunes. This track ends with a fantastic shout out from Random to a ton of classic games which shows off both his gaming knowledge and rap skill in one quick attack.

This is only touching on the album as well, expect a fuller review of the album soon, until then, give the album your own listen and of course grab your copy through this link (or physical copy via this link). I thoroughly recommend grabbing this album, not to mention seeing Mega Ran and K-Murdock live this June 15th in Los Angeles at West Coast Wigout 2!

A new album has been released by the almighty Nerdcore artist Beefy! “With Sprinkles” is nothing but epic. It’s cluttered with various tracks to please our inner nerd. Beefy has been one of Nerdcore’s higher standing rappers. With his rockin 2008 album “Rolling Doubles” and being part of the band The Grammar Club (Along with Shael Riley and DJ Snyder/KASPAROV) Beefy does nothing but conquer and win. His name is well known in the Nerdcore community and one of the few to even been known outside of it.
In his new album “With Sprinkles” you get assorted topics any nerd or geek can relate to. He shows that his geek swag is still intact and he isn’t afraid to show it. Featuring artists such as Schaffer the Darklord, Epic-1, MC Lars, Dual Core, YTCracker, and Dr. Awkward, this whole album will knock you out of seat and have you hit  replay in an instant. With Beefy being one of my very top favorite Nerdcore artists it’s hard to choose a few favorites because they’re all so good! But I did narrow it down and I have to say my top faves go to “Join My Guild”, “Press Start” and “Geek Out”. Now I won’t lie, “Join My Guild” tickled my fancy because I love the MMO World of Warcraft (and the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV!) and I’m a huge fan of the show “The Guild” which this track has a lot of references to! Whether you’re a thief, an orc, an elf, or a druid…you’ll love this song! “Press Start” is just all around bad-ass! Featuring Dual Core, these guys go at it challenging each other in various games whether the genre is Fighting or Shooters. With a legit beat and these two combine, it definitely became an instant favorite. And lastly, my number one goes to “Geek Out”. Going through all the daily quirks geeks typically endure and having a great chorus that will have you yelling GEEK OUT in reply, this track I expect will have high play counts.
There is no reason to not get this album! With so many awesome tracks with awesome artists rapping about awesome things, don’t you want to be an awesome fan? Show Beefy some love and buy this album now for $10 bucks (or $9.99 to download) and let it be known that Beefy is “bestestist”!

The summer season is almost upon us, and with that comes the convention season as well. In that vein Nerdapalooza has gotten their act together for 2010 and unleashed a bevy of information on the masses.

First up is the venue. Looks like things have moved to the more travel friendly Orlando Airport Marriot which is right near Orlando Airport of course, so tranportation is now a simple matter. So now that you know the venue, you probably want to reserve a room. Well then you should know that Nerdapalooza 2010 will take place the weekend of July 17-18. If you do plan on reserving a room, be sure to use Nerdapalooza code “fnefnea” (or this link) for the special NAP rates.

Now that you have a room and dates. Now you of course need tickets. Ticket prices remain unchanged from last year at $20 per day or $30 for the whole weekend. You can order your tickets right now through Brown Paper Tickets as well. Not bad for two days of gaming, once in a lifetime concerts, and generally hobnobbing with all those cool people in the nerdcore scene.

Oh wait, how can I forget that several bands have been announced! That is sort of the reason for Nerdapalooza after all. So far we have gotten announcements that the likes of Schaffer the Darklord (with burlesque show in tow), Emergency Pizza Party, and the eminent presider over all that is nerdcore, MC Frontalot are all announced to be part of the festivities this year.

Stay checked in with us here at GM4A or nerdapalooza.org for all the latest details on this epic festival of all that is nerd culture.

Breaking news! Well it would have been if I had gotten this post up earlier, but cut me some slack, it’s Christmas! Anyway, an all star cast of Nerdcore’s finest is out and in the holiday spirit they have released the brand new holiday EP Come Down the Chimney! The cast of this Christmas special includes Billy the Fridge, I Fight Dragons, Schaffer the Darklord, Uncle Monsterface, and Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire.

Be sure to download the free EP before the day is through. Also help out by joining in on the twitter campaign for this album and tweet a link to the download page.

Track listing after the break
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A few months ago an amazing event was brewing and has finally exploded to the surface like an incredible volcano which rather than lava, seems to rain down some sort of nerdy type of liquid…Bawls possibly? Anyway, with the failing of that analogy I would like to introduce you fine folks to the coming invasion. Nerd Invasion.

Now before I go and make more terrible analogies to aliens and social awkwardness or what have you, I will just hand things over to the Nerd Invasion press release.

Start Time: Friday, November 6, 2009 at 7:00pm
End Time: Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 12:00pm

Silver Screen Entertainment Complex
7280 Plantation Road
Pensacola, FL

This is Nerd Invasion. And it’s going down November 6th – 7th, 2009, in Pensacola, Florida! THIS IS AN ALL-AGES EVENT!

Proceeds go towards the “Open Source Rhymes Project,” which is a charity organization that helps underdog Nerdcore artists with musical instruction, performance assistance, and purchasing of equipment to less fortunate musicians. It will also put on many more events just like this!

Confirmed so far (much more to be added!):

PERFORMING
Schaffer The Darklord
Scrub Club
Krondor Krew
Zealous1
Dual Core
Shael Riley
Marc With a C
The finalists of Scrub Club’s Versus Mode competition

(Scrub Club artists making an appearance / performing: MadHatter, Dr. Awkward, Kabuto The Python, Benjamin Bear, Chester, Kasparov, and DJ CutterJ… so far)

SPONSORS
Nerd Rockstar
Scrub Club Records
Wizards of the Coast
White Wolf Games
Asahi Brewery
Homefield Sports and Games

EVENTS
Magic: The Gathering tournament
Versus System tournament
8Bit Conflict: A classic NES tournament
Console gaming
Tabletop gaming
Rocky Horror Picture Show at dawn
Panels with musicians, gamers, and others
Cosplay contest
Miss Poindexter ’09
The Secret Thirteen
World premiere of George Clinton’s “Gongafunkadine”
Nerdcore music video showcase

OTHERS
Full bar / restaurant open 24 hours
8 hotels within walking distance

That’s an unusually shaped album cover…wait! It’s because Shael Riley has released his latest effort on a cassette tape! Shael Riley and The Double Ice Backfire (comprised of Shael Riley, Ricky Henry, Ty Guenly with appearances by Shaffer the Darklord and Jon Titterington) have released Songs from the Pit, and for now it is exclusively available via cassette tape (available via bitpopshop). The album is a rock oriented album covering everything from being a small time musician to an outcast nerd to a Chinese ninja warrior. With catchy hooks, heartfelt lyrics and a heavy dose of rocking live instruments this album takes a strong step back into something more reminiscent of 90s rock. A small loss of $4 will get you 1 of 100 numbered limited edition cassette tapes. I have gotten an advance copy of the album and will say that it is definitely worth the price of admission. Just get your old boombox or walkman out and crank that dial, the volume dial, and enjoy!

I will be having a full review of the album soon for those on the fence about purchasing this highly catchy and enjoyable album, so keep an eye out for that as well! Also word on the interstreets has it that some of the songs available on the cassette tape will not be available once the album is available for download or pressed to CD. so keep that one in mind when considering your purchase!

So Hex of Nerdapalooza has just today announced that tickets are now on sale for Nerdapalooza 2009. Tickets are currently on sale with All Weekend passes priced at $30 and one day passes at $20. You can purchase your tickets at nerdapalooza09.eventbrite.com/.

The event takes place at:
Holiday Inn – Orlando International Drive Resort
6515 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819

So since the concert this year is going to be held at a hotel, this means discounts for those who stay at the hotel during the show should be announced soon as well.

For more info about Nerdapalooza 2009 check out the Schaffer the Darklord
Marc with a C
My Parents Favorite Music
Krondor Krew
Rocket Propelled Geeks
mCRT