The Rhythm Bastard Experiment

Streaming From The Bunker Tonight

2012-01-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

Live broadcast by Ustream

Rocksmith, break, then Rock Band 3 PREMIREING NEW SONG COMING TO THE RBN!

Deadline For Your Submission Is This Saturday

2012-01-25T22:26:00.000-05:00

To be part of my new song.

Also in my State Of The Bastard 2012 Address, I said that the dad from That 70's Show "rubs" a retarded fish man. Please send pics.

Crowdsourcing A Bridge

2012-01-21T00:23:00.001-05:00

Right now, I'm working on the last (unfortunately) song for Dino Hunter, M.D. and it's about cliffhangers.

The song is pretty much written, but I figured for the breakdown, I'd try something different:

I want you all to be a part of it.

HERE'S HOW:
1. Record a clip of yourself referencing your favorite cliffhanger.
Some examples:
-"Finishing this fight" (Halo 2)
-"Who shot J.R./Mr. Burns/Laura Palmer?" (Dallas, The Simpsons and Twin Peaks)
-Anything referencing those stingers at the end of the Avengers Marvel movies

Basically, anything that got you super excited to watch the next installment.

2. Save it as RBCliffhanger_YourName.mp3 Your name refers to however you want to be referenced. If you use e-mail address, gamertag, whatever, go ahead.

3. Send an e-mail to rhythmbastard@gmail.com with "Cliffhanger Song (How You Would Like To Be Known)" in the subject line, and attach your .mp3 to the e-mail.

WHAT YOU'LL GET:
Basically, your name wherever this song shows up (this page, SOundCloud, NewGrounds, etc.)!

Like my "Invisiball" and "Heroes Die" videos, I'll also record a video of myself playing it and thank everyone beforehand.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:
-Make sure your recording is clear.

-More well known references are more likely to be used than more obscure ones.

-This is a free thing, but if you help, I'll think of someway to hook you up, like a personalized .mp3 of the song, where I tell you how awesome you are.

DEADLINE:
Saturday, February 4th.

Thank you so much! I really hope this works!

STATE OF THE BASTARD ADDRESS 2012

2012-01-11T22:36:00.002-05:00

1. I'm 24 now. Heck yeah.

2. NEW SONG: "Status Quo Radio" by my old band, The Bastards. We were the biggest thing in 1968, and this was our hit single. I finally got the rights back to it!
Status Quo Radio by RhythmBastard

3. It will be the new theme song to my radio show, "The Bunker" coming back to Ozone Radio this Thursday!

4. THREE Rock Band Network Songs for 2012:
"This Gigantic Robot Kills" by MC Lars
"Lars Attacks!" by MC Lars
"We Are Not Alone" by Akira The Don
"Radio Days, Pt. 1" by ME if I have time.

5. Another New Year's Resolution: One gig at a Con, preferably I-Con coming this March/April. I don't live in a very musical part of NY. The most you'll see at my music scene is old guys covering "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard", so gigs are few and far between not many want to venture into the city. I figured at a con, I may not get much in the way of fans, but it'll be a receptive audience, and that's the chance I need.

OK, now for my 2011 Highlights-
BEST TWEET- The time the official Axe Cop Twitter account retweeted my video of "Axe Cop: The Song" at The Vault.
That was a good day.

BEST FLASH GAME- Sagittarian 3
Where you can hear my song "Radio Days Pt. 1"!

BEST MOVIE THAT I WOULD ADMIT TO LIKING- "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes"
The best part was the few seconds of silence right after that character spoke. I never thought I could get so attached to the plight of a CGI monkey.

BEST MOVIE I FINALLY SAW- "Robocop"
The dad from That 70's Show tells some bitches to leave and rubs over a retarded fish man.

FAVORITE GAME- It was a tough choice, but I have to go with Arkham City.
Rocksmith has been a drug these past couple weeks, but nothing has tickled my brain in so many places like AC. Save for the Catwoman levels, the game, while not as cohesive or solid story-wise as Asylum, still manages to please. If AA was American Idiot, Arkham City would be 21st Century Breakdown.

FAVORITE WAY TO PLAY A GAME- Gears Of War as not manly as possible
Me and my friend start off with a hearty BRONUX and then play "Hey Homies!" by The Aquabats as we have a variety of teas coupled with Mike's Hard Lemonade. Then my friend describe the different architectural styles of each building we shoot Locust in. He seems to be more fond of GoW1 than GoW2, which is what we're playing through now.

FAVORITE TOP 40 SONG I'LL ADMIT TO LIKING- "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele
As much as the overplay of "Someone Like You" is starting to wear on me, I like this a lot. It's intimate, itt's got a strong beat, and listening to it with headphones now, I WISH I could make something sound this well put together with so little.

FAVORITE TOP 40 SONG I WON'T ADMIT TO LIKING- "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it sounds really happy and they're at the right amount of awareness for what the hell they're doing.

BEST INTERNET TV SHOW- Dino Hunter, MD
Dinos, action, POW AND music by me, The Rhythm Bastard!

BEST SONG RELEASED ON THE ROCK BAND NETWORK- "Steven Wells (He Was The Greatest)" by Akira The Don
Oh, is that my name on it? Hmm... It was one of Rock Band's Recommended songs... AND NOW ONLY ONE DOLLAR!!!

FAVORITE SONG ON REGULAR ROCK BAND- "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

FAVORITE BAND I JUST BECAME AWARE OF THIS YEAR- The Black Keys
I picked up "Brothers" and "El Camino" over the past couple months, and I really dig their sound. Both are good for wasteland wandering in Fallout 3.

OCCUPATION MOST DESERVING OF A PUNCH TO THE FACE- Cops/Politicians (save for Bernie Sanders)
Two groups of people who made perfectly clear that if you're outside their little world, you're FUCKED.

FAVORITE SONG I RELEASED IN 2011- "From A Mile Away (Boom, Headshot)"

FAVORITE GIG OF 2011- The Gig Of Legend

So overall, a pretty good year.

And that's it for now. More to come!

Rocksmith Thoughts

2012-01-07T23:50:00.001-05:00

Wanted to post this up while I was still thinking about it:
1. I've been playing guitar for almost 5 years, and I can still say this is worth getting. There's a lot to do here, and there is always something to push you out of your comfort zone.

2. Rock Band 3 and this game can happily coexist on my shelf. Rocksmith is for me, Rock Band 3 is for me and my friends.

3. No punk, save for "Go With The Flow" by Queens Of The Stone Age and "Song 2" by Blur (and that's with a very liberal interpretation of punk). All of the songs are focused around riffs, as opposed to chords. It's a smart decision for a teaching game, since it places finger dexterity and learning to find the frets as a main priority.

For example, the first two songs in the "Campaign" mode are "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and "Next Girl" by The Black Keys. The latter was the first song I mastered, whereas the former gets tricky in the pre-chorus. Regardless, they're two songs that get you used to the idea of moving your fingers.

4. The song list really is as hit or miss as it gets. A lot of the classic rock stuff really connects, but a lot of the new music is indie and alt rock and takes some getting used to. A couple breakouts for me were "Angela" by Jarvis Cocker, and "Where Is My Mind?" by The Pixies. The Tom Petty and Eric Clapton songs were a lot less fun then I was expecting, until they got to the solos, and while I haven't mastered them yet, it'll be a bitch when those sections get harder.

5. Speaking as someone who is partially colorblind, it was pretty easy to tell the difference between the strings. One of the problems I have is "finding" the strings by going up and down. Something like "Rebel Rebel" or "Sweet Home Alabama" throw me off.

6. One thing I noticed with the adaptive difficulty: It starts you off with single notes, then once you "master" that section, it moves up to chords. However, whereas you would be playing the full rhythm with the single notes, it slows everything back down when chords are introduced. The progressive difficulty thing is very well done.

7. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Higher Ground" and "Plug In Baby" are the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift for me of this game (for now at least).
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction": 83,735
"Higher Ground": 91,935
"Plug In Baby": 100,329

8. This game is totally fucking up my head with the RBN difficulty stuff.

State Of The Bastard Address January 11th.

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: Broadcast From The Bunker Episode 2

2011-12-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

FROM THE DECEMBER 8TH, 2011 "The Bunker"

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: Short Story "Deadline"

2011-12-14T00:21:00.000-05:00

All right, I just finished up the pic for this week's Broadcast From The Bunker, and that will be up in time for the show on Thursday.

So, since Wednesday is usually Video Of The Week time, and I still want something for Christmas Funtime 2011, here's the short story I submitted to Harmonix along with my resume for Narrative Designer:

----------------------

A rat lay open on the table, guts on display. It was clamped down on the tray, its tiny heart beating rapidly with fear. The professor removed it with utmost precision. Blood started oozing out.

“Now, the only organ this process does not work on is the brain,” he said. I scribbled down some notes in my pad. “However, even with that limitation, this can do some tremendous good.” I took a picture with my camera.

Before my very eyes, it seemed like the arteries grew, then formed together at the ends into a grape-sized lump. The lump began to beat again, as if nothing ever happened. “I don’t believe this!” I said. “This will make a great story! Thanks, Professor West!” I took another picture.

“Yes, this is quite remarkable. In fact, even more interesting is that a minute amount of blood can cause the gene to transfer.” He stitched up the rat and smiled proudly. The rat crawled again, as if nothing had happened. It stumbled a little, and moved much more slowly than before. “Well, the little bugger was cut open.”

“Any chances of this working on a human?”

“Testing may start sooner than you think…”

“When?”

“Now.” I was all ready to run to the exit, when he opened another door, revealing a man living in a spartan dormitory. He was very thin, and had a lot of scruff on his face. He looked at peace, sitting on his bed, reading a book. “You see, Fred here was homeless man until he volunteered to help with my experiment. Figured he had nothing else to lose, yeah?”

“How long has he been here?”

“About a week,” Fred said. “Best week of my life so far!”

“Are you ready for the test now?” Professor West asked.

“Sure am.”

“Good, good.” I took another picture. “I’d appreciate it if you took no more pictures.” He withdrew a needle and a vial, and injected its contents into Fred. Fred winced a bit, but after, he rubbed his neck and laughed.

“I’m gonna be fine, right?”

"Hopefully. Don’t worry, though. We’ll start minor. You still have your appendix, right?”

“Yeah, one of the only things I’ve managed not to lose”

“What if it doesn’t work?” I asked.

Fred looked down and sighed. “It’s OK. At least I’m going out with a smile.” He plastered a big grin on his face.

“Failure is part of the scientific process” said West. He looked down at his watch. He started heading out the door. “Good. Good. We’ll I’m off to yet another lecture right now,” he sighed as he closed the door behind him. “If you really want to see something really amazing, come back tomorrow.” I heard Fred say goodbye just as the door slammed shut.

The next day, I returned to Professor West’s lab to find Fred on the table. His wrists and ankles were clamped down. Fred just sat there without a tear in his eye.

Professor West came in wearing a lab coat and very thick gloves. “Well, let’s get started then, shall we?” He put Fred under with anesthetic. Fred turned his head and looked me right in the eyes just as he slipped into unconsciousness. I didn’t say anything.

West made an incision and got to work. He opened it up a bit to show me. When he wasn’t looking, I snuck a picture with my cellphone.

“This is so awesome,” I whispered.

“Yeah, isn’t it?” He put the appendix on the table and just stood there, arms crossed. “Now for the really awesome part.”

Within minutes, the hole in the cecum, the pouch that connects the small and large intensi- ties, where the appendix is located, started to close up. The covering drooped lower to form a small pouch.

“And that, my boy, is his new appendix”

"Wow.”

“What do you say we take this one step further?” West removed Fred’s liver. Normally the liver looks like a raw chicken breast, smooth and pink. However, Fred must have been one of “those” bums, since it was a brown, rough mess. West took it out, and again, a new liver reformed. The points at which the incisions were made turned from brown to pink, and tissue began to reform anew.

“And now Fred has a new liver!” He looked at me, but I stayed silent. West stitched Fred back up. “He’ll come to in a few minutes.”

I wanted to ask West some more questions, but with something this big, I was afraid of the answer. “So…why?”

“Why not? Disease and cancer would be a trillion times easier and safer to cure.”

"How do you see benefiting from this?”

“Hell, do you know how much they work me here? They’ve got me in all these classes doing lectures for students who could care less, doing research for the University’s sake, and all this other administrative bull I have to cut through, all for a meager salary. I’m going to sell it off to the highest bidder.”

“Highest bidder?”

“I’d rather be on a pharmaceutical corporation’s payroll than a University’s” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Wow. You guys put up with a lot, huh?”

“You know this project represents weeks and weeks of all-nighters? My hands are tied up in a hundred different other things during the day, so I work at night. But if Fred here wakes up, then I know all my work was worth it.”

Fred did. He was groggy, but other than that, he was all right. Professor West laughed and dashed over to the table. “Easy now, easy. Can you speak?”

Fred smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did it work?”

“Like a charm, old boy, like a charm!” He looked right at me, tears swelling up in his eyes. “I bet this will make great story for your paper, eh?”

“Great, great!” Fred managed to smile. He had a good smile.

However, his eyes rolled back into his head, and his gums started bleeding.

“God, he’s going through convulsions! Go get help!”

I ran out as fast as I could, dialing 911 on my cell phone as I dashed through the halls. Luckily, campus paramedics were on the scene a couple minutes later.

“We got your call. Where’s the problem?” I lead them to Professor West’s lab. Unfortunately, neither of them were there.

“We need to find them!”

"I’ll search the east wing, you guys take west!”

We dashed off, my trepidation growing. I had no stake in the matter, but I figured I’d see this story through to the end. I saw a woman on the floor in pain.

“Oh my god! What happened?”

“Some guy attacked me!”

“Who?”

“I don’t remember too well. He had a beard, kinda thin and pale…”

Fred…

I ran into the main hallway and tried to call the paramedics over. Unfortunately, she was gone by the time I turned around. The EMT guys gave me a condescending glare. “Listen, sir. Is there anyone here who needs medical attention? Otherwise, you’re wasting our time.”

“I swear to God, stuff is going down. Everything is just moving so fast I-”

“Call us when you have a real emergency”

They left, slamming the door behind them.

There’s something going on, and my deadline is tonight.

As I walked out of the building, I saw another woman, just like before, on the floor holding her shoulder. I rushed to get help, but she stood up, went into a nearby office, and got a first aid kit.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” She wrapped the bandages around her arm quickly, and never once stopped looking at the wound.

“Are you OK?”

“Oh, someone just gave me a little cut.” I was tempted to call the paramedics, but I didn’t want to head down that road again.

“Let me guess… beard, kinda thin, pale?”

“No, no, she-“

“She?”

“Yes, it was one of the PhD students. You’ve seen her around, short, long dark hair, Asian…”

“Shit…” That was the girl Fred assaulted. “Are you sure you’re going to be OK?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine! I’ll just get some water.” She walked over to the fountain. As I watched her drink, I saw the water turn red. She felt her mouth, and ran to the bathroom.

-who can blame them?

They walk through asphalt cemete-

I took out my cell phone. It was West.

“Hello?”

“Needless to say, I don’t want this published…”

“What?”

“If word gets out about this, I’ll not only lose tenure, but they’ll probably give me the death sentence!”

“I don’t care. I have to publish it. Lives are in danger.”

“Can’t you just say it works? Omit the side effects?”

“You know what? You said it yourself: Failure is part of the scientific process.”

“Think of m-” CLICK.

The clock on my cell phone read 9:20 PM. Less than three hours to go.

The office to the school paper was on the top floor of the library. The elevator was taking for- ever. I dashed up the stairs, taking two at a time. This story just had to get out. I took another look at my cell phone: 9:30 PM. Two and a half hours to go. Without much time to spare, I burst into the room and threw off of any writer I saw dicking around on Facebook.

“Whoa, whoa, dude, what’s your hurry?”

“I have something that’s just insane. Don’t bother me right now.”

“What’s it on?”

“You know how I said I was going to do an article on Professor West?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s gotten a lot worse. Just let me type.”

“All right. Some of us are going out to the diner if you-”

“No time.”

He left.

10 PM. Two hours to go, and I still had trouble coming up with a headline. “Ah, let the editors worry about that one.” I said.

My fingers flew across the keyboard as I hammered out possibly the only thing that could save everyone. The fluorescent lights flickered above, as the little clacks of the keys rang out through the empty office. Suddenly, everything went gray. My eyelids shook uncontrollably as I fought to stay focus.

But it was no use.

The next thing I remember was looking at the clock, and being even more tense than I was an hour ago.

Just then, the editor walked in. “Listen, if you want, go home, get some rest, and you can send it in tomorrow morning. We don’t publish until- ”

“No time. It needs to be out as soon as possible.”

“What’s so important? Should I call the police or something?”

“Nobody would believe me.”

He folded his arms and smiled. “You have sources?”

“Yeah.”

“Pictures?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, try me.” He gave my article a quick glance. His smile fell. “All right. I see where you’re going with this. Whenever you’re done, you’re done. Just relax. The issues already gone to print, I’m sure it can wait till tomorrow.”

Easy for him to say.

When that issue came out, I took a good, hard look at everyone picking it up in the library. There I was, right on the inside cover. But they weren’t shocked or scared, they were laughing. Some gave it only a sly smirk, others gave big hearty laughs and showed to their friends with an “Oh, shit! Dude, have you seen this?”

Without thinking, I leaped up on to the near- est table. “ARE YOU PEOPLE DENSE? HAVE YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS? DON’T YOU REALIZE HOW SERIOUS THIS IS?”

“Are you the guy that wrote this?” asked the girl whose coffee I accidentally knocked over.

“Yes.”

“Oh, it’s really good!”

“Did you even read the damn thing?”

“Yeah, man. It’s hilarious! This Photoshop work is sick!” said the guy sitting next to her.

“You, all of you, are goddamn illeterates.” I snatched the paper from the girl and opened the cover. There was my article, right on the second page. Not a word out of place, every picture helping tell the grim story I witnessed in that lab.

Then I looked at the date: April 1.

Once I opened my mouth, it went silent.

Anything I said fell on deaf ears, even mine.

I banged my head against the wall. The padded asylum walls felt comfortable, even after 20 minutes. Sometimes they let me out of the straight jacket, and I can still see the blood on my hands. Dinner was the same as last night: a vaguely meatish product, a piece of bread, and cold peas.

The doctors haven’t come around yet. I shuf- fled over to the cell door. It was silent, save for some faint groans. It happened to them, too.

All because my article on West’s Zombie Pandemic came out a day late.

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: Tony Hawk In Review

2011-12-12T00:28:00.000-05:00

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series is coming back as a downloadable title compiling select levels from the first two games. So far only "School" and "Downhill" from the first game are confirmed.

For Christmas Funtime, I'm going to a rough retrospective.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 is probably the one game I keep coming back to. I remember renting it back when it first came out, and barely knowing how string a combo. I didn't get far, but more than anything I loved the soundtrack: "Superman" by Goldfinger, "Police Truck" by The Dead Kennedys and "Jerry Was A Race Car Drive" by Primus, are all great songs- that got cut to shit on the Nintendo 64 version due to its limited storage capabilities. As I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for getting a game just for the soundtrack, and of all the THPS I've ROM'd, this is the one I always go back to. The only difference it feels so limiting after the sequels.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was the first THPS game I bought, and the first time I played through career mode, in the first level, The Hangar, I thought "This is bullshit, it's Warehouse, But Also Again. Then I launched off the vert ramp at the far edge of the wall, and crashed through a window.

"Oh. Nevermind. :(" I can speak in emoticons. What?

The best memory I have this game was trying to 100% everything in the game while my right wrist was in a cast summer of 2001. I think I got all the goals, but then I went after the gaps. Kids, this was life before Trophies and Acheivements. Oh, crap! I just remembered that Tony Hawk HD will have Trophies and Achievements!

The manual was a more welcome addition the more I got used to it, and it seemed like this game was more suited toward "street" skating.

THPS 2 for the Game Boy Color was just eh, and the GBA version was a little frustrating with the top down view.

THPS 3, I played on the Gamecube the winter after my family got the Gamecube. I remember we went on a trip to Niagara Falls, drove there, and me and my brother could each rent one game to keep us occupied while they were at the casino. My choice was, obviously, THPS3. I also played a bootleg version of it for the PC.

Being able to Revert was a huge deal. You could go up a ramp, do a trick or 7, come down, Revert, then manual, and still keep a combo going. It felt like cheating but it was SOOO GOOD, and brought vert ramps back into play. The levels were bigger still. but it kept 2 minute time limit and you can tell that it was getting to be a little constraing. Most of the time I'd one PERFECT spot to rack up a lot of points, but getting there took up half my run time.

Which brings us to THPS4. Another rental, but I didn't get too far into this one. There was an open world, and if I remember right, there were some overall goals (i.e. get XXX,000 points, etc.), so there was something to do in between the challenges you got in the course, and you can progress without beating them.

Now to what I thing to be the series' peak: Tony Hawk Underground. Other than two minor complaints, I loved everything this game had to offer: The levels (from a place in New York I actually recognize!), the soundtrack (Dropkick Murphy's "Time To Go"!, Social Distortion's "Mommy's Little Monster"!, Rubber City Rebels's "Pierce My Brain!", KISS!), and while in previous games, the levels got slightly bigger, only hinting at a sense of progression, the story gave everything a little more oomph (forgive me, I was in high school), like I, the Rhythm Bastard, were making it big in the world of skate.

The two minor things I mentioned earlier:
1. There was a feature where you could upload a picture of yourself to a website, and your custom skater would be able to play through the game with your face. It was fucking broken.

2. Speaking of fucking broken, by hitting (DOWN+RIGHT) and tapping Grind button twice, you could execute the Darkslide, and it automatically set your balance bar back to the middle. That would get abused ALL THE TIME in online games, especially on the Moscow level. I'd finish a run, and for another five minutes, people would still be skating around. It wasn't uncommon to see 7-digit scores. There was some clan, I remember, where you were assigned a letter based on your score. The lowest to join was, 1,000,000 and you got a letter of Z. People were getting 26,000,000 points on a "two" minute run.

The next game I played the hell out of was American Sk8land for the DS. It was portable classic Tony Hawk. I loved it.

However, the most important thing that came out of this game was that because I listened to these two songs so much, I knew them so well, (due to playing Sk8land anytime I was in a waiting room, bathroom or car ride), they became the first songs I learned how to play on guitar:

"Holiday" by Green Day and "Clash City Rockers" by The Clash.

Really, that right there ties all of this into a nice little retrospective bow, and so many nice, warm memories came back to me writing it.

But then I got a free copy of Tony Hawk Ride with my Xbox 360. That game was broken as shit, and it can go fuck itself, and the only thing of value was that I traded it into Blockbuster where I got $30 credit toward Beatles Rock Band Deluxe.

THPS HD, barring any horrific changes, is a Day 1 buy for me.

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: Broadcasts From The Bunker Premire!

2011-12-10T13:38:00.001-05:00

Hey! Did you catch my weekly radio show "The Bunker" this Thursday? No?

Damn! Every week I'll put up a highlight from that week's episode, and a little picture drawn by me!

So from the December 1st, 2011 Bunker Broadcast, I present to you a moment of insanity:
THE ANGRY VIDEO GAME BIRD-

Look for The Bunker on Ozone Radio Thursday Nights at 9!

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: December 7th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-12-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

It is a day that will live in infamy: The day I officially unleash "Invisiball" onto an unsuspecting populace.

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Invisiball" by The Rhythm Bastard in The Bunker

This too a few tries to get right, but it worked really well as an acoustic song. "Invisiball" came literally five minutes after my friends asked me to start doing music. The clapping/drum intro comes from the song I was supposed to Swede, "Centerfield" by John Fogerty.

VIDEO CONTAINING MUSIC OF THE WEEK: Dino Hunter MD Episode 4, "Invisiball"

Dino Hunter MD - Episode 4 - "Invisiball" from Cannibal Troll on Vimeo.

My favorite part is how "Pass The Class" is used just as Derek Maslo says "I feel a montage coming on!"

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: I'm Really Surprised "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"....

2011-12-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

Hasn't been used for an episode of Glee.

The most overplayed song NOT on the show that will take anything it can get?

Glee did "Friday" for fuck's sake.

The world kind of makes sense when you realize there's no God.

CHRISTMAS FUNTIME 2011: How To Make Nickelback Not Suck

2011-12-04T18:44:00.000-05:00

This came out more than a week ago, and since this week's Video Of The Week will be dedicated to whoring myself out, I decided to do the Advent and post this up today.

Just goes to that sometimes when you break something down, then rebuild it in a new and interesting way, the end result is much better.

The parts are fine, it's the construction worker that's the idiot.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM THE BUNKER!!!

2011-12-02T00:10:00.001-05:00

OOOohooohoohoooh!

November 30th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-11-30T10:42:00.002-05:00

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: “Cadaver Clutch” by Proxima Control

I’m putting this up because for the second time in a row, I’ve missed seeing these guys and I’m sorry, because it looks like a lot of fun. The lead singer, Jack, and I were going to play together at one point (he used to be a drummer), but something came up last minute. He and Proxima Control are kicking ass right now, and I’m glad it’s working out so well.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: “Pac Man Fever” by Bruckner and Garcia

R.I.P. Gary Garcia. I had these songs stuck in my head for the next day after hearing them during testing.

Fuck It, It's My Blog

2011-11-26T23:21:00.001-05:00

Ooh, Update Time?

Yeah, sure.

1. Thing I've been working on the most? Application to Harmonix for Narrative Designer. Working on the writing sample now. It's been hanging over my head for a while, and I just want to get it done.

2. Working on a couple new songs, AND a new video.

3. "This Gigantic Robot Kills" needs a re-do on the vocal section, but I should have it re-uploaded by Monday.

4. I recorded video of myself on last week's episode of The Bunker. Once I edit it up and splice the songs in, I'll post up something on blip.tv.

5. Fuck you, it's my blog.

November 16th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-11-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

SELF PROMOTION TIME!!!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Heroes Die" by Rhythm Bastard from The Bunker

VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

Dino Hunter MD - Episode 3 - "Where's Sheila?" from Cannibal Troll on Vimeo.

November 9th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "White Trash" and "Greenback Fly" by Southern Culture On The Skids

I came upon this song (eewww) via the teaser trailer for the movie that may or may not be coming based on The Goon, the state of which is in a "dissappointed limbo" along side Deadpool.

"White Trash" is short, but with a lot of punch. I like the songs where I feel the riffs being slung at me like sloppy joes by a careless cafeteria lady. Hailing from North Carolina, the redneck schtick is legit, and even speaking as a Northerner, I welcome you and your rockabilly-blues-punk wholeheartedly into my Winamp.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Satisfied" by Tom Waits

Tom Waits, I will buy your new album with all my money dollars. The video itself isn't much to look at, but it's a really good song, and Waits has always come from a long line of doing not-videos, which will probably be the subject of next Video Of The Week.

October 26th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-10-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba covered by They Might Be Giants

White people.

But seriously folks, I'm loving the A.V. Club Undercover series. I want to a batch of covers of my own. Someday...

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele

Normally I despise Top 40, but this really stood out to me as very intimate song, with a strong, primal beat. Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" is similar, but unlike "Rolling", "Dog Days" never really did it for me. I'm not sure why.

I have no fucking clue what's going on in the video, so I won't try to decipher it. There's no real story bring told, but it goes along with the line in the song "But you played it to the beat". The plates cracking on the pane, the rows of water glasses, the drummer, and everything kicking in at just the right time supersede the action itself. What matters is that this all going to the beat.

But seriously, what the fuck is up with the cocaine ninja?

October 12th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-10-13T22:20:00.000-04:00

THE BEST VIDEO OF ALL KINDS EVER: Dino Hunter MD, Episode 2: Attack Of The Robotmen!

Featuring my song, "Robotman's Lament"!

Working For The Man...

2011-10-12T23:07:00.001-04:00

But I will have a Video Of The Week tomorrow in time for The Bunker.

October 5th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-10-05T21:59:00.000-04:00

UPDATE FROM THE BUNKER!

Now back to our regular show:
LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Uprising" by Muse at the Fuji Rock Festival

Muse is always a great live band. Thank you Muse for helping a brother out.

"Uprising" is the Muse song for Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock. It's really simple, but I think it ties into the game thematically, with the whole RISE AGAINST THE BEAST thing.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Red Flag" by Billy Talent

What does the red flag mean anyway? Politically it's been used to signal Socialism or leftist politics in general, which confuses me as an American, since the Right leaning states are known as "Red States".

However, it's also been used to signal danger, and I think that's what the red flag mean in this video. Not starting a "socialist revolution", but warning that if things keep the way there are, we're going to be in some seriously deep shit.

"Like the smallest bee packs a sting,
Like the pawn checkmates a king,
We'll attack at the crack of dawn."

If the pawn were smart he would have bootstrapped his way to be a king.

ON A COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOTE:
Quick call back to last week: continuing my comparisons between Occupy Wall Street and Chanology, I remembered the point at which I said "This just might work!" (for Chanology)

It was the May after it first began, a video in which the head of Scientology in New York told a bunch of protestors "I smell pussy; you in particular" (5:34 in the video)

Now I had the motivation that the people they're protesting are assholes:

Those are police officers leading the group into the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, where they arrest 700 protestors. Apparently they had "a guy" warn them, but that was for 700 people.

To help them out, J.P. Morgan Chase donated $4.6 million to the NYPD.

Then someone decides to post this on the Chicago Board Of Trade:

You fuckers.

P.S. PROTIP: If a Ron Paul supporter has his sign saying Ron Paul 2012, tell that guy now is not the time.

September 28th, 2011 Videos Of The Week: Occupy Wall Street Edition

2011-10-01T00:26:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement started, with hundreds of protestors in a little tent city standing in front of the financial district. I was extremely cynical regarding it for two reasons:
1. There is absolutely no incentive for Wall Street to give a shit about these people. At the end of the day, no matter how bad a protestor made them feel, they can always go, "WELP I STILL GOT ALL THIS MONEY" then buy a politician to make protesting illegal. You can occupy it, but you can't make it give a damn.

Anonymous can say all it's going to change the world after the success of Chanology (the protest against Scientology), but I think that was lightning in a bottle.
The reason Chanology worked is because there is a period of time after your first encounter with Scientology, whether it be a stress test table, or walk in for their movie, where they can't be sociopaths. All the disconnection (where you have to separate from non believers) and Xenu come in to play a while after that first meeting.

A Wall Street exec can go his whole life without ever looking you in the eye, and still make it so you don't have any money at the end of the day.

2. When the protest actually started, my fears were confirmed that, yes, this was going to be absolutely useless. The audience was mostly college and post college 20 somethings; the same people who show up to EVERY protest.

Then they had to move to Zuccotti Park a few blocks away, on a day when no buisness was taking place.
Then came the Tweet asking for people asking for half vegan, quarter no cheese pizza.
Then came the Ron Paul supporters and BitCoin advocates.
Then came the topless yoga classes and I became curious.

Then I wrote the thing off. The second a camera gets on these people, the word "hipster" is going to be sung from the top of the tower as it fades into obscurity, with a bunch of voices all vying for the last breath.

Then, a week later, this happened:
VIDEO OF THE WEEK #1- Woman Getting Maced By Police Officer

Then they had my sympathy.

The officer's name is Anthony Bologna, or Tony Baloney. Don't accuse him of being an asshole or anything, I bet he got picked on a lot in school, like "Tony Baloney has a tiny penis" or, "Tony Baloney will be a sad old man who will be a cop because he's too dumb to do anything instead of, you know, because he wants to protect and serve" and now he's taking it out on women who only asked what the hell was going on. Oh wait, maybe he is an asshole.

Now it's getting actual, legit support from several different unions, including the Transit Workers Union and the ALF CIO

And now I'm glad that at least someone is there. This is a legit grassroots movement. The reason the Tea Party gets all the attention is because the same people OWS is protesting put a bunch of money to get a bunch of old white people riled up. While I can understand the anger of the old white people, all that cash just gives the TP a bad aftertaste.

So, three things I hope to see going forward:
1. Get more working class, "normal" people in on the protest. It's not a "Save The Whales" thing where it only affects one enthusiastic subset, it's a subject that affects all of us:

2. Lesson from Chanology #1: Be Persistent, and Don't Be Afraid To Be Rude
VIDEO OF THE WEEK #2: NYC ANonymouse Flashmobs CLO Building

Make it clear to these people that it's not worth it to be that wealthy and work in an environment that has screwed over so many. Some have actually left Scientology because the assholes standing outside an org won't leave and supposedly their tech was supposed to handle dissenters. How would this apply to OWS?

If someone be hatin', drop some knowledge, and make them feel like crap for being such bitches.

3. Lesson from Chanology #2: Be Active

I'd love nothing more than to see 20 homeless people covered in pubes just messing with the traders. But that conteracts point 1.

Again, would adopting Chanology practices work? Chanology was weird people fighting weird people. Wall Street is an institution that, like it or not, is a part of this country, and unlike Scientology, most people have already made up their minds in some fashion.

This is pretty stupid, but I promised something like this on The Bunker this week, so there it is.

Transmission Over

2011-09-30T00:09:00.000-04:00

I just wrapped up a set on Ozone Radio! The Ozone liked it, so I get to do more!

The show is called "The Bunker" and I broadcast it from my secret underground bunker as Radroaches gnaw on the outer breaches of my wall. ShoutCAST for WinAMP was not very cooperative, but neither were the Radroaches.

Party On The Radio

2011-09-26T23:23:00.002-04:00

1. I'm re-uploading "College Party". There were a few problems I had with the mix listening to it in the Dino Hunter M.D. episode. Namely, the mixing was off a bit.

College Party by RhythmBastard

ON NEWGROUNDS

2. In conjunction with submitting stuff alongside the NewGrounds Audio Deathmatch, this so happens to be the Bonus Round, so I'm uploading "Pass The Class" from Robot Rising to the Audio Portal as well.I didn't make these songs within the two weeks, so I'm taking it as a freebie, since there is a song I have finished, but personal reasons are keeping me from releasing it.

3. I'm going to be on Ozone Radio from Thursday 9-10 PM, doing a live audition! The show will called "The Bunker", and if you've read the blog, then you'll kind of know what to expect music-wise, but I will take requests.

4. I made this picture for Koltreg of Socialfist and Changeling fame:

It's from Batman #1 where he has to do community service and set up a Free Hugs station. I got into a couple of the DC reboot comics, but not Batman. That reboot thing seems to be real hit or miss.

September 14th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-09-15T00:10:00.000-04:00

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Knights Of Cydonia" by Muse at Wembley Stadium

The band that came into existence the day Guitar Hero 3 came out put on an excellent live show. A lot of lights, a lot of flashing, and a lot of bombast complient one of the most intense songs I've ever heard. I can't listen to a Muse song without having some a little movie playing in my head.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Babydoll" by Akira The Don

Fresh off The Life Equation, it's "Babydoll"

I don't know what song he sampled in this (Van Morrison, sounds like).
Either way, it gives the song and the video a nostalgic feeling, that takes the listener back to a simpler time that never really existed except in Hollywood.

September 7th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-09-07T23:20:00.003-04:00

FUCK IT, THE BEST VIDEO OF ALL KINDS OF ALL THE WEEKS IS RIGHT HERE:

BEST ANY VIDEO OF EVERY TIME FOREVER: "Pterodac to School", Dino Hunter MD

Dino Hunter MD - Episode 1 - "Pterodac-to School" from Cannibal Troll on Vimeo.

You know some of those songs I mentioned back when the Robot Rising EP came out? It's finally coming into fruition. The two in this episode are "Pass The Class" and "College Party", the latter of which has been taken down for a little while. I'll take another look at it, then put it back.

Now, since I missed last week, I figured I owe it to all 0 regular readers to do this.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Lars Attacks" by MC Lars
I know I start with the live video but I'm fucking with convention ALL OVER THA PLACE!!!

I was going to put another video here, but then I remembered that today, "Lars Attacks!" comes out! I got it last week thanks to his Kickstarter campaign, along with Indie Rocket Science.

I guess I should be talking about the album itself now:

In my mind, there are two types of songs I like listening to:
"Body" music- Stuff I workout or dance to. It's dynamic (from "quiet" to "loud"), intense and upbeat, and that energy transfers into me.
E.G. Punk rock and all it's variations. Also includes dance music, such as guilty pleasures "Like A G6" and "Party Rock Anthem"

"Head" music- Music I work to, like when I'm writing or when I'm cleaning around the house, or music I can put on and wind down to. It's consistent musically, so I can let the rhythms and words wash over me.
E.G. Primarily Rap, and some metal bands fall into this category, such as Mercenary. Chiptune/8-bit music also works here.

"This Gigantic Robot Kills" is "body" music. Some of the songs are straight up rock, and it's filled with lots of high culture (Hamlet, metric system) and pop culture (90's ska, Guitar Hero) references. It's something I can put on at a party.

"Lars Attacks" is "head" music. His rapping is faster, the instrumentals are more reserved, and the material is darker. He's trying to say more in each track, and go for bigger concepts. The goofy optimistic English major still comes through, and that's what keeps it fun to listen to, even through more reflective tracks like "Judas Preist" (about The Gospel of Judas) and "Francis Bacon Slashed The Canvas".

His DIY attitude been nothing short of inspiring, and every interview I've read with him proves one ultimate point: He gives a fuck about his music. Few have been as academic or as dedicated about what they're doing than MC Lars. Even though the RBN stuff is in limbo right now, I look at everything he's doing and think, "You know what? At least he's [touring Europe/playing Warped Tour/working on this awesome new album]", and it's this progress that's made him exciting to follow.

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The Vampires set at the Waterloo Coffee Shop in (presumably) San Diego, CA.

On the direct opposite end of the "Give A Fuck" spectrum, we have a group I found out about through the Mega 64 Forums. Not really a group, so much as an act.

But look at it. Not one fuck given. It's inspiring how little they care about what's cool. That's the kind of energy I'd love to be able to go out with.

August 24th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-08-24T22:12:00.000-04:00

Just got back from Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. Very good movie!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Wolf Like Me" by TV On The Radio on David Letterman

Great song.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "God's Away On Buisness" by Tom Waits as made famous by Cookie Monster

OK, maybe one more DIY video. Just to ween myself off.

August 17th, 2011 Videos Of The Week: DIY Edition

2011-08-17T22:38:00.001-04:00

A friend got me into Minecraft. My bad. And my mics fucked up right, so I had a song ready to go, but it'll have to wait.

OK, so one video I wanted to do for a long time coming was The Squeeze's "Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)". I couldn't find any decent live videos on YouTube (since the one with the best audio was when they played it slower).

VIDEO OF THE WEEK #1: "Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)"

I liked it because it seems to fit so well, and just has a nostalgic vibe to it that sort of puts me at ease.

Anyways, I was going to do a bit on some crappy homemade music videos made for actual artists, and use that on a "How To" section. However, when I did a search for such, I delved into a world that I did not anticipate. An, Uncharted Zone so to speak.

DON'T make it super obvious you're using green screen.

This guy was parodied in the "Brainpower" music video Mega 64 did for Freezepop, and again was brought up in their Gnomon University commercial.

DO be thematically appropriate.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #2- "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran

Never seen Lupin The Third, but it looks like it's a show about a pretty slick dude. And this is a very slick cover of a song about a creepy stalker guy. The lips match up when they're singing, and the tone of clips go with the tempo. I can look at this and see something complete.

DON'T just throw shit up there.

Hey! Reel Big Fish again! So what does the song "The Fire" have to do with a line for the bathroom? And why is it just showing me full clips from the show? Oh well, at least I know what the episode is. Good thing this guy didn't bother with video editing!

DO get friends who've been to film school.
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #3: "Take The Money And Run" by Steve Miller Band

I just want to applaud their effort. The shots here lead me to believe that they knew what they were doing, and everything with that car in it is pure gold. For such a small project, a lot effort was put into it.

Like the other two entries, it captures the spirit of the song, and UNF DAT CAR.

DON'T make a fucking slide show.

I was looking for something pathetic, like stills of Sasuke to Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness", but this is in the same vein of what I was looking for: Screenshot Video.
1. Take some pictures
2. Lengthen to 5 seconds each in Windows Movie Maker
3. Have people hit your video so they can have the song in the background while they do something else.
4. There is no profit. See step 3.

If you're the kind of person who lives off YouTube hits, go ahead, waste your time. At least a Rock Band FC video shows me what the songs looks like or if it's any fun to play, and, you know, took effort to capture.

That's what it boils down to: effort. If you put care into making it, I'll take care to watch it, and not use it as background to whatever I'm doing.

NEVERMIND GUYS! I FOUND THE WORST THING!!!

NEW SONG: Bad Doctors

2011-08-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

Bad Doctors by RhythmBastard

This was the song I was trying to make a couple weeks ago, but now I got it all mastered. For everything I'm iffy about, like the bass and flow, there's one thing I'm proud of, like the guitar and how my vocals seem to fit better.

August 3rd, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-08-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

Here's a band I first heard at the pre-show dance party at Rocky Horror: The Wombats.

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "My First Wedding" by The Wombats at The Max in Amsterdam

This was the song I was talking about. It was my first time going, and we were celebrating my friend and his then-GF's joint birthday (born on the same day, how weird is that?). I was going out with a friend of hers, and it was that night me and my friend were de-virginized (to Rocky Horror).

In the few times we've gone since then, this, "American Idiot", and "Here It Goes Again" have always been on regular rotation. The pre-dance parties are a ton of fun, and always full of energy. It's really good for shaking out the "Oh fuck, we gotta leave by 2:30 to catch the 3:19 AM out of Penn or else we're stuck till five in the goddamn morning" out of the system, and getting psyched up to watch a movie.

"My First Wedding" should be required playing at every party.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Kill The Director" by The Wombats

This song was about the movie The Holiday, and everything that you've just experienced is too good for a movie I forgot even came out. I haven't even seen Bridget Jones though, so what do I know?

Oh yeah, The Wombats the kick ass.

July 27th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-07-27T23:11:00.000-04:00

Playlist Updated

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Sharp Dressed Man" As Made Famous By ZZ Top performed by Rick K. and the All Nighters

In my experience from bands I was in that never made it to their first gig, drummers fall into two catergories:
The Phil Rudd- "I'm just here to play the basic beat. Leave me alone and tell me if we have any groupies leftover for me,"
AND
The Mike Portnoy- "Everything can use a Double Bass Pedal solo, right?"

This man is in a category all his own.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold

Fresh off Rock Band 3, it's "Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold.

The more commonly quoted factoid is that the song was inspired several verse of Chapter 17 in the Book of Revelations, ("Seven headed beast, ten horns raised from his head" "hatred strips her and leaves her naked"), but what I didn't know was the black tar effect, of those who have had their souls taken, was from the 8th circle of hell in Dante's Inferno.

NewGrounds Audio Contest Entry Live Blog

2011-07-22T14:23:00.009-04:00

Been putting off for a while, now I'm finally putting a song down, because this month's theme is... ZOMBIES!!!

2:23 PM- Spend all day dicking about. Now sitting down to type up the lyrics, listening to a Mario Party Let's Play

2:48 PM- Lyrics all typed up, now getting ready to record vocals. I so badly want to get outside, as I've cooped up all morning playing ~~Halo: Reach~~ DOING GOOD WORK FOR MY COMMUNITY, but the weather in NY right now is about 100F.

3:20 PM- Friend o' mine Koltreg's got two webcomics: Changeling and Socialfist, and by donating to his Kickstarter, you can get signed copies of both the books! I see a lot of potential in these young webcomics, and I'm gonna donate once I'm sure about what the hell is going on in Student Loan county and the Warped Tour jursidiction.

Also I just opened up REAPER, beats all set up. Holler!

4:00 PM- 2/5ths done with the lyrics. Like Robotman's Lament, it's a story driven song, so I'm trying vocals first. My singning lacks intensity when it's this fast, and there's no guitar to go off of. Hopefully it works out.

4:15 PM- 3/5ths. Parents want to go out to see Captain America. I kinda do too, since it's getting really good buzz, and it looks very self-contained.

7:55 PM- Bad news, I went to see Captain America. Good news, it was worth it, I'm full of 7-11 Chicken Strips and am ready to lay down guitar. Also, I discovered that I could either completely pay off one of my student loans or see Warped Tour...

9:58 PM- Shit, I've wasted a lot of time, haven't I? Right, so I've been through two takes, deleted them, not to my liking. At least I'm getting a lock down on what I do want. The way I figure it, I only have another hour, since I need to post it up and stuff.

11:42 PM- FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! At this point maybe some of the guitar tracks are acceptable. It's done, people are in the house looking to sleep and I only got maybe one good run-through left. FUCK. Prolly not making Warped Tour. FUCK.

July 20th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-07-21T00:28:00.000-04:00

In Honor Of Henry Rollins

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Rise Above" and "American Waste" by Black Flag

Sound quality's not so good, but the energy is just downright contagious!

First video, Rise Above, is with Rollins, and former singer Dez Cadena playing guitar, who then sings on the second, and earlier song American Waste.

Target Video was a studio that recorded a lot of punk bands live performances, including the Dead Kennedys, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Let There Be Rock" by The Hard-Ons feat. Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins will fuck a guy up if there isn't any rock.

The Hard Ons, one of Austrailia's bigger indie bands recorded a cover of the AC/DC Classic in 1991.
I was expecting him to half shout the song, but he delivers it. Still great, but I do miss a couple of the vocal flourishes that Bon Scott did in the original, like the southern accent on "Hear the finger pickin'", for example.

July 13th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-07-17T00:22:00.000-04:00

"Performing" on "TV Shows" is this week's theme!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "No More Heroes" by The Stranglers on Top Of The Pops

No, there's no Travis Touchdown. I know, I'm upset too.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a full version of said performance on Top Of The Pops, but one thing of note, is that at 1:41 in the video, Hugh Cornwell is playing air guitar, but the song keeps on going. Top Of The Pops always has their acts pretend to play over the song, and a couple other artists have goofed around like that during their sets, such as Green Day, in their first performance in '94, Billie Joe Armstrong wrote "Who Am I Fooling Anyway?" on a T-shirt.

I think this song would work really well in Rock Band, especially with the keyboard section, and I don't think anyone has anything to bitch about. Listening to some of the other Stranglers songs, the bass really does lead the way on a fair bit of them.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Brainpower" by ~~The Freezerpop~~ Freezepop

I was listening to the Mega 64 podcast while working on some new RBN stuff and I thought, "Hey, didn't these guys do a music video for Freezepop?"

It's pretty funny and the budget seems through the roof coming from Mega64.

Interesting they use the original, full synth version, as opposed to the Rock Band version where the lead synth is electric guitar.

And it's not the first time Mega 64 had Freezepop on their channel. For example, in The Freakout Theory video, you can hear a Game Boy rendition of "Science Genius Girl". Also, their Cosplayers series use the inter:sect mix of "Parlez Vous Freezepop?"

"Radio Days Pt. 1" in The Sagittarian 3!!

2011-07-11T16:15:00.001-04:00

One of my earliest songs, Radio Days Pt. 1 is in the new zombie adventure game on NewGrounds,
The Sagittarian 3!

I was first contacted about using that song in the game in April. Hyptosis, creator of the game, sent me a message asking for permission. Now, I hadn't touched my NewGrounds account in a while, and that message made me realize how worthwhile a system it can be. At the very least, lightning can strike twice, another artist can use another one of my songs in his movie/game, and that works out for me as well.

Also, quality of reviews aside, there's at least some brand of quantifiable feedback which, when used by someone knowledgeable and eloquent, can be very useful and encouraging.

P.S. I've already seen like 10 requests asking where Sagittarian 3 is.

Here's a live version of the song from my set at The Vault a few months ago.
Radio Days (Live from The Vault) by RhythmBastard

July 6th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-07-07T00:47:00.000-04:00

I WANT YOU TO WANT... to watch these videos.

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick Live At Budokan

Stephen Colbert psyches himself with this song before every show. I believe that it's all that needs to be said.

OK, it's really fun to dance around to all crazy like.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Dare To Be Stupid" by Weird Al Yankovic

I was going to put Devo's "Whip It" on here, or one of Devo's other videos, but I figured, "Why not put up EVERY Devo video?". It's like every 80's video cliche in one place: stop motion, animated, art from a child's notebook, and in a drab, white open space.

In fact, Marc Mothersbaug from Devo actually said that it's more or less the quintessential Devo song.

June 29th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-06-30T00:05:00.000-04:00

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Jackass In A Polo Shirt" by Dick Valentine

squidbunny knows what's up: "In This Video: Dick Valentine equates himself with Jesus Christ and assures a douchebag he will fuck him up in a cage match for the good of all. He is never mistaken."

I don't know what that song at the end is, and I don't care. All I know is that the last time I posted up Electric Six for Video Of The Week my state of New York allowed same sex marriage.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Perform This Way" by Weird Al Yankovic

There is quite a back and forth about this song, but that's for another time when I get around to editing this.

Rhythm Bastard Double Feature

2011-06-27T01:11:00.000-04:00

Two shows in two weeks! Hopefully I won't be too busy catching up on Regular Show...

JULY 2ND- THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND- 9:30 PM
FREE SHOW!!!
The band Remedy goes on before at 9 PM.
It's a free show, and it's nice little venue where I played the Gig Of Legend
I don't know if I'm going to be including "College Party" into the setlist, but who knows.

JULY 9th- BAR EAST- 9:00 PM
10bux, 21+

June 22nd, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-06-22T12:29:00.000-04:00

Gettin' right to it! Two videos I'm surprised I didn't mention already today!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Promenade" by Street Sweeper Social Club at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, MO

This made it for one reason: Tom Morello, and how he can make a guitar sound like anything.

Here's a video from 1998 where he shows how he does some of his guitar tricks on TRL. There was one where he shows all the tricks used in "Promenade", but I can't find it right now.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Gay Bar" by Electric Six

Watch it at work! Watch it in front of your parents! While a lot of those "Gaybraham Lincoln"s were Dick Valentine, stand-ins were used in a couple scenes.

BONUS VIDEO: "Danger! High Voltage!"

In case you want an Electric Six song without gay context.

Come Back Tomorrow

2011-06-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

FOR:
-"Axe Cop" the song on RBN (if you have a Creator's Account)
-New Tabs
-And for all you NewGrounders, I'll put up something that's been buried in my accounts.

June 15th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-06-15T12:00:00.023-04:00

We've got a nice little collection going for the playlist!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Bang Bang Rock N' Roll" by Art Brut in Cologne

I first heard this song in Saints Row 1, a game that was a lot better than I was expecting for a supposed "GTA Clone" released in the first year of the Xbox 360's lifecycle. Yahtzee recommened #2, but I started with the first, because "Look At Me (I'm A Winner)!" was in the game. Then I realized I could have burned the entire Charge! Album on to my 360 (gamertag RhythmBstrd).

I put it as the live video not because the performance itself is particularly interesting, but because it's the clearest version of said song on YouTube.

And, you know, because the tune itself kicks ass, and it fit in perfectly with the madcap anarchy of the Saints Row series.

What's Art Brut up to now? Lead singer Eddie Argos appeared on Akira The Don's new version of Living In The Future (2.5 to be precise) requesting Ghostbusters 3.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals

In Part 2 of "The Rhythm Bastard Shares Music From His Childhood", we come upon "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals.

Even in this day and age, it still fills me with hope for future, which is the kind of thing we all need right now.

The RIAA and MPAA can make it a felony to stream video with copyrighted music in it, even 100% FC FB RB runs.

We're sucking the dicks of the rich, who not only don't give back, but ship off jobs to other countries.

Even when rich people steal right from under our noses, and take everything to leave behind a scorched Earth, they only get a slap on the wrists.

Human life is just another commodity to these fuckers, like oil.

But when I listen to this song and see this video, all of that fades away, and I think that someday, we can win.

Rhythm Bastard's Coming To Rock Band!

2011-06-14T22:09:00.002-04:00

It's finally here!

The sound kinda sucks, but it's going to be one of those things I'll be fixing before I submit it this Thursday!

It's a little thing I've been doing in the interim in between songs. "Axe Cop" is the first, followed thereafter by "Robotman's Lament", which I'll start working on after I put up "Axe Cop".

And yes, I did get Ethan Nicole's permission.

NEW SONG: College Party

2011-06-13T20:00:00.019-04:00

New song from the upcoming Dino Hunter MD Soundtrack, "College Party"! Or is it "College Party!"? Who cares! or is it Who cares??

REGARDLESS, this is the last song I have written for Dino Hunter MD. The rest (that are not on the Robot Rising EP), I still need to re-do. Soon you'll be seeing all of those songs in one place, and it will be awesome.

For this song, they originally wanted me to do "Heat Of The Moment" but not really for copyright reasons. The director said it was because "it was the happiest song I could think of". I was in the middle of penning a song about two hipsters at an 80's night in Willamsburg, but then I realized something: we also use "ABC" by The Jackson 5. "College Party" is supposed to take place during a party scene in Episode 2, where a study session is interrupted by drug use. Also, the partyingest (FUCK YOU SPELLCHECK!!!) musician out there is none other than Andrew WK.

Thus "College Party" was born!

June 8th, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-06-08T15:00:00.034-04:00

2nd Week in a row!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Get Free" by The Vines on David Letterman

Some people say that this was a blown opportunity to make it big in America, and this was a mental breakdown that will be part of their VH1: Behind The Music Special which will never happen because they suck live.

Those people are retarded.

Some people say this was a dig at the music buisness, where they were expected to just give in to their corpratist overlords and sing like good little monkey. but they didn't because FUCK THE MAN!

Right attitude, wrong answer. They only get a 3 out of 10 on the Sarah Palin Fucking Retarded Scale, where a 10 is "Paul Revere's midnight ride warned the British troops that Americans still had their guns and were going to use their God Given Second Amendment Rights to keep their guns".

Where was I? Oh yeah, a guy got a little too high, and this happened. Unfortunate, but really fun to watch, whenever the singer still gave a fuck. We're talking about it, and that's all that matters.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182

OK, so here's my decision process for this pick.

I had nothing, so I looked up "Music Video" on YouTube. One of the results was "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem and I felt a bit nostalgic, since it was one of the music videos that was popular when I was getting into MTV. It had swear words cut out, it was risque and filled with pop culture references my parents were not OK with.

That led me to my next thought: was the first music video like that? What was the first thing I saw on MTV that made me think "I shouldn't be watching this, but goddamn does this rock so hard."

Blink 182's "What's My Age Again".

It was loud, and it featured the band streaking through the streets, just making a general nuisance. That was stuff 11 year old me, loved but never wanted to admit.

On the nudity, here's Mark Hoppus' quote on the video:

"[the] scene with the butt shots, when we were running down the street, were actually the only real nude scenes. We wore skin-colored Speedos for most of the scenes and when we were running, I realized how unattractive male genitals are. Everything dangling and such. I didn't think I could be embarrassed easily, but I really was."

I'm still working on a couple other things right now, mainly finishing up my last song for Dino Hunter MD and putting Axe Cop: The Song on the RBN.

June 1st, 2011 Videos Of The Week

2011-06-01T01:00:00.002-04:00

So, I'd figure I'd start one of these things, going over one live video.and one music video a week.

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Akira The Don and MC Lars at Slam Dunk Festival, "Living In The Future"

The sound's a bit off, but I finally found a video from this tour. Apparently this is "Living In The Future 2.5".

BONUS! Here's a video from the same tour that actually has decent sound:
MC Lars and Weerd Science "Signing Emo"

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Goldfish, "We Come Together"

This is a band I'm starting to get into. Goldfish is a dance/electronic group from South Africa. This is their latest single, "We Come Together". Everything here is timed perfectly, and the retro-look suits the song well. The "different levels" concept is reinforced by the color pallete for each level, from warm yellows and browns of the opening scenes, to the purples of the nightclub, to the dark browns of the final level. Looking at their YouTube page, this is only the most recent of a line of clever music videos and catchy tunes.

Have any suggestions for next week? Hit me up in the comments!

May 27th, 2011, National Underground GIG OF LEGEND

2011-05-28T22:28:00.009-04:00

All this past week, I had imagined all the way it could possibly go wrong: No ride, no equipment, snapped strings, even death. I started the week with the intent to practice one song a day. Sure, I slipped up a couple times, but mostly I was feeling confident come Thursday night. Staples had a bunch of stuff on sale, so I bought 100 CD sleeves and discs for around $20. Setlist was all planned out, my backing tracks were coming together, and I was on my game.

By Friday, I woke up wishing I had one more week.

I started burning CDs that morning, and even then I had only ended up with a lot of 10. After a light dumbbell workout, my shoulder started hurting a bit, and still felt kind of loose. Then I practiced a bit more, thinking that even if it was all I did until we left, I'd still embarass myself.

By around 4, I'd realized I had been in all day, and have yet to get out. I still needed to get some supplies, like strings and a connector cable for my laptop, but before I left, I had a crazy idea: ALBUM COVERS! I burned all these CDs, why not paste a proper label over them? Even print out a track list in the back! This was a big boy gig, and Xenu Damn It, I was going to treat like one!

Of course, after all this, Dad reminds me I still have to pick up my brother in time for work AND put gas in the car. Having no time for this bullshit, I head to the gas station near the Staples, open my wallet, and find that I left my debit card at home. It was about 5 when I left home again, and I had to drive to Douglaston to pick up my brother by 6.

As if that wasn't enough, the second I pull on to the expressway, it's stop and go traffic. So I'm sitting in the car, sweating profusely because the window's open and I'm not moving, panic sets in, and let out a long, guttural FUCK! to no one in particular, really stressing to feel that painful rumble in my throat. As the shit gets in, he asks me "What are you so stressed about?"
"I have a gig tonight."
"That's 5 hours from now"

Then he tells me that I have sand in my vagina.

We go out, get dinner, and I finally get my cable. I'm feeling pretty good as more people start to confirm that they'll be there, at least from what friends and family told me. I needed at least 5 to play, and 10 for the full 45 minute setlist. Here I'm thinking I might actually make it. Up to 5 minutes before we left I was pasting labels on my CDs. I think they came out OK, all things considered.

There was still one song I was weak on, "Pass The Class". I was trying to listen to it on the way over, but I could focus. Every time the second verse rolled around, someone in the car would speak up, and I'd miss my cue.

When we got there, Dead City Anthem was on stage. I liked them. At first this woman took over on guitar and was singing country-esque stuff, and then the drummer and her switched places, and then the set got a more alternative bend. My favorite part was when he busted out a near-perfect Bono impersonation.

While this was going on, I decided to chat up a couple people. This one girl was there with her friend to see Band Of Young Saints, the group that was going on next.
"We're here to see the John --- Experience" she said.
"Wait, is that what they're called?" I asked.
"I don't really know what they're called, I just grew up on the same block as the guitarist."
"Cool."
"Who are you here to see?"
"I go on after them."
"Well, I guess we'll have to stay!"

Then we talked about Willamsburg for a bit, and then Band Of Young Saints went on. While they had a "familiar" sound, it was a sound I could really get into, and I danced along with the rest of the audience during their set.

After their last song, panic creeped up again, and I prayed to myself that these people would at least stick around. I had no backup strings, little experience, and a hell of set in front of me. I put my laptop on the snare drum, and hooked up guitar. The Band decided to stick around, if only out of courtesy for using my amp.
Everything was all set up, and I clicked on my first planned song of the evening, "Force Of Nature".

It came in quiet, too quiet. The sound guy came over and looked at it, then went into the back. I looked out into the crowd, and all I could make out were silhouettes in the blinding light. This actually worked to my advantage, and killed all sense of stage fright. Still felt awkward about the whole "Laptop Not Working" thing.

I didn't want to stand around waiting for the problem to be fixed, so I thought of a fun song I didn't really need back up for:

DIRTY WATER (*****)
The crowd started cheering as I went into the opening riff. And some parts I could hear someone saying (not singing) the words along with me.

After that was over, I decided to reassess the laptop situation. Since it was plugged into the PA system, I figured that was the problem, so I streamed the sound through my amp directly, but it still came in quiet. Then I realized it was plugged in the wrong hole. With that fixed, I went into

FORCE OF NATURE (*****)

Then the rest of the setlist:
FROM A MILE AWAY (BOOM, HEADSHOT) (*****)
ROBOTMAN'S LAMENT (*****)
HOLIDAY (****)
STACK O' LEE (****)
The intro I messed up bad, and forgot half the words, but once it got going, it seemed to be a real floorfiller.

I skipped "Pass The Class", and went into
RADIO DAYS PT. 1 (*****)

Finally:
AXE COP: THE SONG (*****)
I introduced this song as "a song about a cop with an axe, who doesn't take shit from anybody". One of the silhouette said, "Wait, Axe Cop: The Song?" loud enough for me to hear. He didn't know me, but he at least recognized Axe Cop, and that gave me a little boost into this.

When it was all over, I shouted into to the mic "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN I AM THE RHYTHM BASTARD, THANK YOU, GOOD NIGHT!"

The woos were sparse and empty. I looked past the lights and saw my parents, my friend since high school, and the woman from earlier and her friends. That was it.
"We stayed for the whole thing! Good show!"

It was all I needed. I gave her a CD with the hopes she'd find me again.

Why was this The Gig Of Legend, you ask?

One, it was AWESOME!
Two, there's no proof of it. My parents brought the camera, but didn't record a second as it would "look dorky".

Then again, legends are what keep hopes alive.

It's OK, Nobody's Rapturing

2011-05-20T18:47:00.003-04:00

The Life Equation is here to save us. If he wants me to put any of this on Rock Band, I'm good to go!

Reading his tour adventures with Weerd Science, MCs Lars and Chris have been a blast so far. Only problem is that I haven't seen any bootlegs of it on YouTube.

The Life Equation by Akira The Don

Robot Rising EP

2011-05-14T23:33:00.003-04:00

Robot Rising EP by RhythmBastard

IT'S OUT!!!

1. Robotman's Lament (from the upcoming Dino Hunter MD Soundtrack)
2. Force Of Nature
3. Pass The Class (from the upcoming Dino Hunter MD Soundtrack)
4. Radio Days Pt. 1 (Live from The Vault)
5. Axe Cop: The Song

Recorded at Bastard Central
Mixed and Mastered at Industrial Light and Schoepher

"Robotman's Lament" and "Pass The Class" are two songs I did for an internet show my friends created, Dino Hunter MD.

So basically, they had me re-do like 5 or so songs they used in episodes. They're selling DVDs of Season 1, and want to avoid any legal kerfuffles. The list went as follows:
"You're The Best Around" by Joe Esposito
"Heat Of The Moment" by Asia
"Mr. Roboto" by Styx
"I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLaughlin
"Centerfield" by John Fogerty

Then I more or less disregarded all of those suggestions and did my own thing. I won't necessarily spoil the episodes as you can watch them at the FaceBook link, and the YouTube page.

It was an amazing experience, as I was banging out songs like a mofo, and I've been in "do shit" mode for the past month. It was great for breaking me out of a creative rut. So to all of the Rock Band Network people who follow me on Twitter, this has been why I've been inactive.

"Pass The Class" is used in a montage scene, so for this scene I went with all the intensity and jingoism of your average 80's montage, but with all the lameness of studying.

"Robotman's Lament" tells the story of an XZ71 Robotman Unit (the design I'm wearing in the cover) who- DOWNLOAD THE FUCKING SONG. Of all of these songs from the Dino Hunter MD batch, I think this one I'm the most proud of, since it's got 5 acts, chiptune, and intensity in all the right places.

The other three you'll have to wait until the DVD comes out later this summer, but trust me, it's worth it, and when I sent these to the guys in charge, they fucking loved it.

"Radio Days Pt. 1" and "Force Of Nature" are from... something else, but "Force Of Nature" is a re-record I did for....

WHEN AXE COP AND FORCE OF NATURE COME OUT FOR THE ROCK BAND NETWORK! I still need to get the animations right for "Axe Cop", and start on "Force Of Nature", but those are just two quick things while Akira the Don and MC Lars are on tour.

Download it and love it!

Robot Rising EP Coming Soon!

2011-05-13T19:51:00.003-04:00

So, this Sunday I'm releasing my first official release, the Robot Rising EP!!!

My first official release! I think this covers a fair bit of what I've done and what I'm working on since I first uploaded "Force Of Nature" on Newgrounds a year and a half ago, with some shit rerecorded and remastered.

1. Robotman's Lament (from the upcoming Dino Hunter MD Soundtrack)
2. Force Of Nature
3. Pass The Class
4. Radio Days Pt. 1 (Live from The Vault)
5. Axe Cop The Song

Recorded at Bastard Central
Mixed and Mastered at Industrial Light and Schopher

The thought occured to me to release an EP when I was in the middle of a few music projects, and I figured that something like this would be a good introduction to my music.

I've been working on "swedeing" some licensed songs for my friends' internet series, Dino Hunter MD, and that'll probably be my next big release.

I'll be putting up Robotman's Lament on NewGrounds when it comes out, and if I can get some more followers on Facebook, I'll put it out tomorrow!

Radio Silence

2011-05-06T22:04:00.001-04:00

I've been quiet the past few days, mostly being in "make shit" mode.

By next Thursday, I should have a song in the Rock Band Network OF MY VERY OWN.

New Music By Rock Band Friends!

2011-04-19T20:21:00.003-04:00

First up is MC Lars and Weerd Science's "How To Be An Indie Rapper"

How to Be an Indie Rapper (featuring Weerd Science) by MC Lars

Lars is a lot of fun, and eloquents as fuck as usual, and good Lord does Weerd Science know how to get my attention. How he'll fare at Warped Tour I don't know, but if there's money in my account, I'm going.

Akira The Don - Jamie by Akira The Don

And closer to the pop side of the spectrum, we have Akira The Don's "Jamie", sampling Sweet Child O' Mine. It sounds like then song you want to shout from your terrace the first time you've woken up before 10 in God knows how long as sniff in the morning dew, then get dressed and go outside on your day off...

Anyways, I'm getting two new songs ready for tomorrow.

Re-Recordin', Writing Bass Parts

2011-04-06T22:07:00.002-04:00

That's what I'm doing right now.
Why I'm rerecording?
I dunno.
My Lightsnake Guitar cable's been acting up, so I'm trying to rejigger it so it works again, but maybe I'll try recording 'em the old fashioned way.

Hey guys, remember when this blog was about me learning songs from Rock Band?

Good times.

In the meantime, this:

REPOST: Cee Lo Green Coming To Rock Band

2011-04-02T22:04:00.006-04:00

I should have told them to piss off instead

---------------------------
NinjaGamerGeek.com
CEE LO GREEN COMING TO ROCK BAND
by Pissed Jose

If you remember last time, The Rhythm Bastard was not so kind to us, telling us "Fuck You", when we relentlessly pestered him about MC Chris and Axe Cop in Rock Band. Normally, I, famed Blip.tv personality Pissed Jose, would make one of my famous hilarious rant video to put that sucker in his place.

OR DID HE?

That "Fuck You" actually meant that CEE LO GREEN'S HIT SINGLE "FUCK YOU" IS COMING TO THE ROCK BAND NETWORK!!!

We contacted Rhythm Bastard, but the phione kept ringing.

Blondie's "Hanging On The Telephone" in Rock Band!
-----------

My response.

REPOST: Axe Cop and MC Chris Coming To Rock Band?

2011-04-01T13:00:00.005-04:00

Never drunk Twitter at 3 AM kids. Otherwise you'll accidentally create an absolutely terrible article that parodies modern gaming news because that shit'll make Fox News look decent.

Axe Cop: The Song you CAN listen to on top there, but I doubt MC Chris will be returning any of my e-mails.

------------------------------------------------
NinjaGamerGeek.com
AXE COP AND MC CHRIS COMING TO ROCK BAND?
by Ben-Gaku Paddon-San

Recently, Rhythm Bastard tweeted on Twitter:

@_mcChris and @AXE_COP in #RockBand? Hmmm...
April 1st, 2011. 3:02 AM

Being that it is April 1st we were a little wary, but being that we're game journalists, that means it is absolutely true. Just take a look at the exceptional journalism at the political blog on our network, America USA Freedom Blog, with it's landmark piece "Is MC Chris A Communist Wizard?" by James O' Toole.

The Rhythm Bastard is authoring an MC Chris 3-pack of video game referencing songs (because we are a game journalism blog), including "FTW", "Nrrd Grrl" and "Japanese Maid", the latter of the three being video game related because it is about glorious Nippon.

This speculation absolutely has to be true, because he currently has Akira The Don and MC Lars ("Steven Wells (He Was The Greatest)" coming soon) in the Rock Band Network, who are also accompanying Chris on the Melanin Challenged Tour this May. Therefore, everything has to be taken to the most extreme conclusion.

After all, the title is a question so we're not really misleading people.

Josh Eppard, a.k.a. Weerd Science, is technically already in Rock Band, as the drummer for popular New Prog outfit The New Pornographers, but his music sounds like man exorcising his frustrations and past demons through razor sharp raps, and the guitar charts for those wouldn't even break devil tier.

However, most surprisingest is the "Axe Cop" announcement. Now, even though the Rhythm Bastard has a song about Axe Cop, the fact that only the one song is a little suspect. THat can only mean:

THE AXE COP CONCEPT ALBUM IS COMING TO THE ROCK BAND NETWORK!!!

All 15 songs from this album that may or may not exist will be playable:
"Axe Cop: The Song"
"CHOP!"
"Chicken Chicken Chicken Little"
"Ring of Axe fire"
"La la la goo!"
"hungry like a hungry vampire wolfer"
"the smart smart smart"
"I Wanted To Love You But Your A Dumb Girl So I Hit You With My Axe"
"Transcendental Chemistry Part 1: The Transcendentaling"
"Transcendental Chemistry Part 2: Soul of the Tomb Of The Mummy King"
"Transcendental Chemistry Part 3: Gay Bar (Electric Six cover)"
"Transcendental Chemistry Part 4A: M"
"Transcendental Chemistry Part 4B: DSDljksdf"
"Shake What Your Baby Gave Ya!"
"GHOOOOOST SOOOOOONG!!! (with the secret bonus track "Saturday" featuring Rebecca Black)"

Lots of stiff competition in the RBN, especially considering OzoneEntertainment's Crush 40 songs also coming to the Network.

We contacted the Rhythm Bastard for a response, and it is as follows:
"Fuck you"

More to come, like what I do into my Authentic Japanese Buku No- Den Bawashi Love Pillow.
------------------------------

WHY WOULD HE MENTION THAT?

YOUTUBE PARTY PARTY HARD!!!

2011-03-30T18:33:00.005-04:00

YEAH! I GOTS ME SOME VIDEOS! TGRK maybe delayed, but PARTY ON!

From 0:41 to 0:46? I MADE THAT!!!

Full play video of "This Gigantic Robot Kills"!

Iggy Pop feat. Sum 41. Pretty good song. This exactly what I'd expect a collaboration between the two to sound.

Garrett, your choice to be a homosexual offends Jesus.

ALCOHOLISM! PARTY HARD!!

This was just an excuse to post those first two videos. Sorry.

NEW SONG: From A Mile Away

2011-03-22T12:52:00.003-04:00

Let's see...
From A Mile Away (Boom Headshot) by RhythmBastard

Yeah, there it is... My first time trying finger tapping solos, and it didn't come out so bad. The vocal melody could use work.

This was one of those song ideas that was kicking around for a while, and only recently did I get the rest of the song behind it.

Anyways, I'm editing "This Gigantic Robot Kills" and thinking of what song to do next.

Also, I've been reading "Gimme Something Better", a book about the Bay Area punk scene. Just finished the chapter on Rancid. I'll do a full write up when I'm done, but it's interesting to see where and how some of these bands came about.

What I've Been Up To

2011-03-15T16:00:00.002-04:00

I had something to say about RockSmith, but not now, as I've got an Extra-ing gig to go to.

So, what I've been to:
-Mostly updating "This Gigantic Robot Kills" for RBN 2.0. I added keys and harmonies, which is really easy since he pretty much gave me all the stems for everything.
Pro keys I used the Auto Detect method that you'd use for vocals, and the result was pretty damn good.
Also helping: A basic knowledge of music theory.

-Finishing up a new song, one that I've been kicking around for a while.

-Also, practicing for another gig at The Vault.

That's all for now, might edit with more.

How Guitar Hero Can Redeem Itself

2011-03-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

I was going to have a song ready for today, but this post is already several days in limbo, and I need to re-do my vocals. But you can join my Facebook or Twitter, you can get it as soon as it's out.

Enough about me, let's talk Guitar Hero:
Now, as I've mentioned before, Guitar Hero needed to be a different game, and for the most part, Warriors of Rock accomplished that. GH5, while still enjoyable, felt like Rock Band 2.5.

Warriors of Rock cranked up the difficulty, and the crazy bullshit, which, while I haven't played it yet, I'd consider a good thing, as it separates itself from the more reserved and professional Rock Band 3. From what I hear, the engine's pretty solid, so there's no impetus to change that. Hear that [future bitch of Bobby Kotick]? The hard part's over.

In order to continue in this different, more arcade-y manner, I turn you to:

The Xbox Live Arcade, or your consoles analog.

Let me back up a second: the biggest complaint that everyone has with Guitar Hero AND Rock Band ends up being the setlist. Everyone has different tastes in music, and even fans of the same band will branch out in other directions. ScoreHero don't care what music it is, as long as the charts end up being Skittle vomit, and the titles have the letters FC on the end.

The normal reaction to this would be to encourage DLC sales, but that still doesn't solve the problem of justifying $60 for a disc 80-ish songs, maybe half of which you'd like. And GH's release schedule for DLC has been tepid at best.

My solution? Get rid of the disc. Let the end user customize their own game.

Here's how I'd start off with "Guitar Hero: The Rhythm Bastard Is Totes Awesome Sauce And We Are Indebted To His Genius Forever" (or GH:TRBITASAWAITHGF): a free version with 5 sample songs, donated by the staffers (similar to the bonus songs in Harmonix titles), with only one playable venue. All the old DLC still works, obviously. This would act as the hub for all future content.

Next, we'd release mini packs with ten or so songs each, and come with a venue or two, similar to Green Day: Rock Band. For example:
-The Indie Rock Pack could come with The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.
-The New Wave Pack would come with the Whiskey A Go Go
-The Punk Pack would come with 912 Gilman St.
-The Aquabats! Hi Five Soup! Album with unlockable Aquacadet uniform!
-AC/DC: Live at Donnington, now with Donnington venue!
and so on. Each pack would provide a little blurb on the location, to give it a little oomph.

Each of these would only cost $10-15, and act as expansions to the free hub.

Also, the DLC store could bring up song recommendations when you pick a song in your library, kind of like a last.fm type deal.

One thing I did consider was the, for the sake of argument, "suburban" market. This market usually isn't very tech-savvy, and would not be likely to have their system connected to the internet. Mostly comprised of Wal-Mart shopping families, you know, the kind of people who buy Cabella's Big Game Hunter and $20 shovelware.

This was the same reason the "Country Track Packs" for Rock Band still came on disc. You could release a more expanded hub on disc, that contains more songs and a few of the packs already on, but make it competitively priced. Or, just a disc with about 30 songs, sell it for $50, and include a code to redeem some of the packs. The codes for the rest can be bought as cards, like what GameStop does for some big DLC.

How often would the packs be released? I'd say monthly, bi-monthly depending, with 5 or so available at launch. The wait between releaes would be a point to say, "Now fill up your library with some of our old DLC songs!"

ToyMachine suggested a Rock Band Network equivalent in his article, and while that could fill in the gap, I'm not sure how charters and the artists would feel.

Another good idea he had? Rhythm guitar, even if it has to sub in for bass.

With all this in mind, hopefully GH:TRBITASAWAITHGF (pronounced Trib-it-ah-sah-way-th-gif) can make the franchise worth looking at again.

Letters From Bands Who's CDs I've Recently Bought

2011-02-17T18:50:00.003-05:00

All right, so I've actually bought (GASP!) music these past few months. Not necessarily because I wanted to, but the bands themselves personally sent me letters:

------------------------------------------------------
To Whom It May Concern:
Sorry for inventing modern emo-core music. We kinda wanted to make punk, but little did we know that yelling about relationships and wearing all black was going to be an official "thing". Gerard even dyed his hair red as his way of expressing regrets.

In order to make up for any grievance we may have caused, here is an album of party rock. Gerard's voice still cracks occasionally like he's just hitting puberty, but the man can't find himself to part with his skinny jeans.

Our new album, Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys still has some of the bombast leftover from our last one, Welcome To The Black Parade, but mostly we tried to stick to simpler songs that are just plain fun, like "Party Poison" and "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na)". Heck, there are even a couple dance numbers, like "Planetary (Go)!". Well, golly gee whiz, if don't get your toes a tappin', then YOU HAVE NO FUCKING SOUL.

Apologies, and have fun!
My Chemical Romance

P.S. Don't worry, it's not a concept album. We thought about it, but then we were like "fuck it", and tried to weasel some line about lights going out into every song.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Don't listen to Planetary Go! stoned while playing Geometry Wars. Just don't, trust me. You'll lose a fucking finger. A delicious finger, but a finger nonetheless.

Anyway, here's the other letter:
----------------------------------------------------------
Dear Cadets:
Sorry about taking so long between albums, but we wanted to make sure that it was absolutely super! That, and Space Monster M attacked the bank, so we kinda had to take care of that.
Also, there was the time we had to help Axe Cop fight demon vampire warthog babies, and there were a lot of them, so....

Here's our newest, Hi Five Soup! Now, I know how much you liked Charge!! but a lot of stuff happened between now and then, so we put a couple reggae-influenced songs in as well. So while it may not be as straight up punk as Charge!!, Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk's solo on "The Legend Is True!" will more than make up for any lulls.

February 12th Show At The Vault

2011-02-14T10:39:00.005-05:00

So, what was the biggest musical event this weekend? Right, my set at The Vault on Saturday!

I've been taking voice lessons, and my teacher has a little showacase where all of her students perform. There was a fair range of people there, from third graders to older women.

The Vault though looks like it operated out of some guy's house. There is a documentary about it sitting on my desk right now, but you can check out the website.

Anyways, it was a simple, 2 song set, with "Radio Days Pt. 1":

Which I felt really good about! I kind of like this acoustic version better...

And perennial favorite "Axe Cop":

Which has since been retweeted by the official Axe Cop Twitter!

The Great Plastic Guitar Gig In The Sky

2011-02-10T21:43:00.005-05:00

Activision has decided to shelve the long running Guitar Hero series.
Lo and behold, the end of an era. For however long, who knows, but there will not be any games within the Hero franchise released this year.

So, in it's honor, let's do the Time Warp. AGAIN!

Right, quick history lesson: back in November of 2005, Boston-based developer Harmonix released the first Guitar Hero game for the PlayStation 2. It was part of a collaboration between peripheral developer Red Octane. The first game came bundled with a black Gibson SG guitar controller.

In 2006, Guitar Hero 2 was released on the PlayStation 2, and after Activision acquired Red Octane, was ported over to the Xbox 360.

In July of 2007, Guitar Hero Encore: Rock The 80s, a collection of 30 songs from the 1980s, was released for the PS2. At this point, Harmonix broke off from the Guitar Hero franchise to make the Rock Band series.

Later that year, Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock came out for all major systems (Wii, 360, PS3, and PS2), and was the first game to feature celebrity guitarists, such as Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine and Slash from Guns N' Roses.

In summer of 2008, the first band centric game, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was released, and then Guitar Hero: World Tour came out, enabling full band play. But enough about basic history, that's what Wikipedia's for.

Guitar Hero ending like this, even though I've moved on to Rock Band, evokes a similar feeling to when Michael Jackson died: "Wait, this shit can end?" Even though it has been struggling, it was such a staple that you'd think it could go on forever.

My first exposure to the game was in October of '05 during the now defunct DigialLife convention. They were sharing some space with the In The Groove game, another Red Octane product. From the looks of it, people really took the guitar peripheral. I got the game that Christmas and just barely being able to get through it.

What surprised me was how many songs I ended up knowing just via cultural osmosis. It's like they went to a Guitar Center, listened to all all the people picking up a guitar were trying to play, and then added "Cowboys From Hell".

Guitar Hero 2 took a different approach, giving us some B-sides from bigger bands, like The Rolling Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" and Aerosmith's "Last Child", yet throwing in some classics like "Freebird" and "Sweet Child O' Mine". Also, for some reason it rounded out the Radio X station from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

I got the new guitar, the Cherry Red Gibson SG because my old one broke. It still works to this day, and I call it "Angus".

It was around this time my Dad, noting my obsession said, "If you like Guitar Hero so much, why not try the real thing?" That January I got a Washburn Lyon at Target
:HardcoreGangsta

Guitar Hero 80's I only rented, and thought it was was "just OK". For me, the set list really didn't pick up until the 3rd tier. Lot of good songs, but lots of "meh" too.

Now, keep in mind, up until this point, I've just been scratching the surface of Expert. Guitar Hero 3 I started on Hard and had trouble with. I rented that title as well, and I forgot hwo far I got on my Expert run, but I remember looking at the 7th tier and going "This is fucking bullshit."

Some of the movements seemed impossible, and there were a shit ton of 3-note chords. Beyond that was more metal I didn't really like and another boss battle that I couldn't quite manage.

Aerosmith was another rental. It didn't get me to like Aerosmith more, but The Clash instead. (Irony at 2:19)

Then World Tour came out, and by that time, I was officially in the Rock Band camp. At first, I thought "Why bother?" But then I saw the drum set. You gotta admit, it was a pretty neat set up, and would fare a lot better as a virtual drum set.

But it was so similar to Rock Band 2, that I didn't even rent it. Plus, it felt like a "me too" moment, and they were worse off for it. Skipped Metallica, brother bought Smash Hits when it was on sale, and it felt off. While it was nice to be able to play the songs of GH1, 2 and 80s on a modern day system, everything felt overcharted.

Guitar Hero 5 intrigued me, but again, Rock Band 2's DLC was able to keep me through that year.

Oddly enough Guitar Hero: Van Halen interested me, not because of Van Halen, but because of the bands that "inspired" them, such as Weezer and Fountains Of Wayne. Didn't get it though.

After getting my Xbox 360 to test RBN tracks, I needed new guitar peripherals. I saw GH5 bundled with the the guitar and figured "Why not?" As you can read from my review, I liked it a lot.

It was at this point that Guitar Hero was in a bit of trouble: There were so many games coming out that year, GH5 got lost in the shuffle, and it got beat out by The Beatles: Rock Band in sales. Rock Band 3 was looking to turn players into real musicians with Pro Mode, and the Rock Band Network gave the little guy a shot at the big time.

So Activision made what I'd call a "good move": instead of trying to copy Harmonix and possibly failing, it went in the opposite direction. Instead of making a game with a progression from small time band to playing in bigger venues, it went big and spiraled into the ridiculous.

The game wasn't about discovering new music, or new ways to play it, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was about big scores and spectacle.

Turn into ManBearPig and use the God Of Rock's magic axe to earn 5x Multiplier and 10% Star Power with a 10-note streak! Holy shit, you just got 40 stars and earned the Platinum streak challenge!

You've unlocked DRAGONFORCE!!! And RUSH'S 2112!!!

Yeah, the final setlist was all S.P.E.R.G. Metal (despite an otherwise pretty good setlist), and in general catered a lot to the hardcore FC-obsessive crowd, but that's what it needed to be. That's what Activision does best: video games; final bosses and high scores and all that jazz.

Harmonix is a group of musicians who happen to code video games. Activision is a group of gamers who happen to like playing music.

Had Cluster Fuck Hero 2009 not have happened, I think we might have gotten one more game in the main line, and I would have liked to see what happened if they continued in this direction.

As a Rock Band fan, I don't look at this at think "We Won!", far from it. I'm 23 for fuck's sake.

I look at this and think about what might have been.

Look on the bright side: We might finally get more Muse!

Todd In The Shadows: Best Pop Songs of 2010

2011-02-07T00:21:00.001-05:00

Moving Ahead

2011-02-05T00:10:00.003-05:00

Yeah, so the whole "learn songs from Rock Band" thing has gotten off track recently. I guess the long solo for "Flirtin' With Disaster" threw me off and I didn't really have the dexterity for it. And it's been so long since I learned a new song, that anything I write now feel stagnated.

So I guess what this means is that I'm back to square one, and start with the songs from Guitar Hero 1. I'll put it in the main setlist if the song overlaps with Rock Band.

I'll still give Run To The Hills a shot, though.

Night Of The Living Don

2011-01-31T18:34:00.005-05:00

Yeah, you've all heard the news.

BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THE ALLOCADES?

"From what I've played so far, it's great!"- Richard From Illinois

"Ace sounds you got going there. Makes me want to go buy Rock Band just to play it"- Kyle

"I normally don't like fast-hand drum songs, but Steven Wells (He Was The Greatest) is one of the most fun drum charts I've ever played"- Arcanon

"wow people have SD tv's still? does xbox even work on that lol..."- bloodredtornado

That last guy can suck it.

Anyways, Audition Mode has been patched into Rock Band 3, meaning I can start testing "This Gigantic Robot Kills".

But wait a minute, what's this?
Akira The Don and MC Lars going on tour in the UK! With MC Chris!
2 out of those 3 I'm doing/did RBN tracks for. Hmm...

Oh, right, I promised a lesson today.
Gather 'round children, let me tell you 'bout a man called...

STEVEN WELLS (HE WAS THE GREATEST)

It was a simple song to author, and the stems came in two parts: Lead and Rhythm, but all that means is which part of the barre chord is being played. The song is based around 4 barre chords:
G, B, C, A, or:

E---3-----7------8-----5-----
B---3-----7------8-----5----
G---4-----8------9-----6----
D---5-----9------10----7----
A---5-----9------10----7----
E---3-----7-------8-----5----

For the lead part, that is, the intro, chorus and outro ("It's Out Teenage Terror Totty". It was never "Tits..." and we were always at war with Eurasia), play either the entire chord, or the bottom half, like so:

Riff A
E---3---7---8---5---
B---3---7---8---5---
G---4---8---9---6---

Then you can just pad the bottom two strings with your index finger, and hold down the 3rd string with your middle finger.

For the verses, simple palm mute the chords, or just the top half.

The strumming pattern is a constant 8th note pattern, in this

G
Steven Wells he
B
Was the greatest
C
Of all time
A
A force replaceless
G
Napalm Death
B
To their Oasis
C
Pissed Down Neck Of
A
Fool Or Racist
G
Steven Wells he
B
Was amazing
C
Caps Lock down and
A
All guns blazing
G
Wield typewriter
B
Like Berreta
C
No one ever did it
A
Better

Dawn Of The Don

2011-01-30T11:48:00.003-05:00

WOOOOOOOO!!!

It's not up on the official RBN store yet, but you can still get it from there.

I've been following The Don since the "Hypocrite" video on NewGrounds and now he's all growed up, making awesome mixtapes about Street Fighter and getting props from Kotaku. Also, the Doncasts make great background music.

Right now, he's got a new track out, Big Iron, sampling the song that appears in Fallout: New Vegas. Ch-ch-check it out!

It was exactly one year since I first made contact with Akira The Don regarding putting "Steven Wells" on the Rock Band Network. Now, in my defense, a lot of that was because I didn't have an Xbox. I got it a few months ago, and then I was able to playtest exchange.

There was supposed to be a lesson here, but it can wait till tomorrow. It's 4 PM, Sunday, and I haven't been out all day.

NEW SONG: XZ71

2011-01-18T15:59:00.002-05:00

XZ71 by RhythmBastard

A little chiptune ditty I made for some friends of mine.

I used TriForce in Reaper and used my guitar's Flanger effect.

December 2010 Carries Into 2011

2011-01-17T22:44:00.004-05:00

Oh, right. This thing!

All right, some stuff that I forgot to write about during Advent 2010:
-I saw American Idiot on Broadway!
Full disclosure department: I've never listened to American Idiot in it's original form. I've heard in through GD:RB, and little by little, I'm enjoying it more than 21st Century Breakdown. The story feels more solid, and there's more straight up punk on this album.
The play overall was very well put together, giving a hilarious and tense context to the songs of not only Idiot, but some B-sides and Breakdown songs as well.
If you've heard the album, the plot is more or less the same: A disenfranchised youth, Johnny, (played by John Gallager Jr.), goes to the big city and falls in love with a girl (Rebecca Naomi Jones), but is distracted by rebel St. Jimmy (Tony Vincent). There's also two side plots involving his friends Tunny (Matt Caplan), who goes off to the Middle East to fight in the wars, and Will (Michael Esper), who stays home to take care of his pregnant girlfriend. Mostly it's just fill out the soundtrack, but they provide a good distraction.
There's a ton of energy, with a company of all shapes and sizes. A fucking blast to watch.

-A friend of mine introduced me to Pulsewave at The Tank in NYC on December 18th. Pulsewave is a showcase for chiptune music.
Honestly, I fell asleep at the concert. Not because I found it boring, but because it was so relaxing. I'm working on a chiptune song right now.

-Twitter has me down as Video Game News for some reason, so here it goes:
1. RBN2.0 is releasing soon, with the documents for authoring already available. Audition Mode for Rock Band 3 will be released sometime next week, with the newest version of Magma coming soon. After February 14th, the system will completely turn over.
2. In RBN news, Anamanaguchi's "Airbrushed" was in the pipeline, but will be released alongside RBN 2.0. It was vbreaking the boundaries between man and machine.ery fun to play, but it's clear that they were waiting for keyboard authoring.
In other RBN song news, Devin Townsend's "Ziltoid The Omniscient" will be coming to Rock Band,
3. Taskmaster will officially be in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

I have RockBandAide linked on the side there for a reason people!

That's it for now. I've got an Aquabats! album to get tomorrow.

Advent 2010: Side Player and MORE!!!

2010-12-24T22:09:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Soundcloud, you can hear all the songs without having to go to NewGrounds or MySpace!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

So, in celebration of Axe Cop's first birthday...

AXE COP: THE SONG!

Advent 2010: Todd In The Shadows

2010-12-23T15:36:00.004-05:00

This guy encapsulates everything I love and hate about Top 40 radio, and should defintely be checked out.

His most recent stuff is available on That Guy With The Glasses WARNING: There are A LOT more misses than hits on that site.

Advent 2010: Rhythm Bastard Christmas Mixtape 2010

2010-12-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

DOWNLOAD DIRECT

YES! Here's some Christmas tunes for all the hipsters and headbangers.

I was going to do a cover of Green Day's "Macy's Day Parade" myself, but I was pressed for time. Plus, I wanted to get Akira The Don's song through RBN, so I had to fix up those errors.

"Macy's Day Parade"- Green Day
"Good Mourning/Black Friday"- Megadeth (C WUT I DID THAR?)
"Holiday Road"- The Aquabats!
"Christmas Card From A Hooker..."- Tom Waits
"Don't Shoot Me Santa"- The Killers
"Oi To The World!"- No Doubt
"Mistress For Christmas"- AC/DC
"Punk Rock Christmas"- The Sex Pistols
"Yule Shoot Your Eye Out"- Fall Out Boy
"I Won't Be Home For Christmas"- Blink 182
"Fuckin' Up My Christmas"- MC Chris
"Things I Want"- Sum 41 feat. Jack Black
"All I Want For Christmas (Is To Kick Your Ass)"- Midnight Riders
"Let Me Sleep"- Pearl Jam
"Space Christmas"- Shounen Knife
"I'm Dreaming Of A Green Christmas"- MC Lars feat. Jaret Reddick
"Imagine" by John Lennon

Advent 2010: Last Year's Christmas Mixtape

2010-12-21T00:24:00.000-05:00

http://rbexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/12/rhythm-bastard-2009-christmas-mixtape.html

This year's will be here tomorrow!

Advent 2010: My 2010 Game Of The Year

2010-12-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, time for that thing you've all been waiting for, MY 2010 GAME OF THE YEAR!!!

Now, who will it be?

Your initial guess would probably be Rock Band 3: with all the new ways to play, and an improved sorting feature, I'd be all over it. Well, I only got to play it for an hour (Christmas Present, you see), but I liked what I saw. Besides, I got an hour out of it, and I'm sure I'd feel better about it once I got more game time in.

Now, next guess would probably be Green Day: Rock Band, since I've given them more BJs than Billie Joe's initials. But the fan in me did have a couple nitpicks, mainly that you can't have a Green Day live show and NOT have "Hey-o!" and "King For A Day". Good game, though, and cost efficient if you want a shit ton of Green Day in your library.

I also put in some time with Final Fantasy XIII, and while I can't say it's the game I hated the most this year, it's the game that hated me the most. Combat system was really good, but the rest of the game realized I'm not a virgin and shoved so much bullshit at me I got bored of it.

Fallout: New Vegas would have been up there, by the simple virtue of me getting to roleplay Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but well...

That and I didn't play it.

The Scott Pilgrim game was an ace bit of retro, and get the silver medal, but none compare to

MY 2010...

GAME....

OF...

THE...

YEAR....

....

Deadly Premonition

What is Deadly Premoniton? You're Francis York Morgan (But call him York, that's everyone always does.), an FBI Special Agent who's been sent to a small Northwestern town, Greenvale, to investigate the murder of a pretty, white, blond girl, while the town is being terrorized by The Raincoat Killer.

Which is different than Twin Peaks, where Dale Cooper, and FBI Special Agent gets sent to a Northwestern small town to investigate the murder of a pretty, white, blond girl, while the town is being terrorized by the world's luckiest stagehand.

Regardless, never have I seen so much thought and effort put into a game. All throughout I went "Oh!" "Ew" and "Wait, what?!?"

Now, to be perfectly honest, there is A LOT of shit you have to put up with in this game. The most obvious thing, is the dated graphics. While the animations and models are really primitive, but there's windshield wipers, turn signals, and realistic physics on the car, and the town of Greenvale is huge. Given the limited budget, the developers at least had their priorities in order. While it can't look real, it can feel real.

While it may be what turns most people off, it certainly isn't what draws my ire. The game opens up with a little bit of Resident Evil 4 style combat, if RE4 was clunky. It's cool at first, since you spend the first hour of the game shooting juggalos. The weapons suck, but it's the beginning of the game, and I'm willing to forgive a slow start. However, these sections are repeated far too often, especially in the latter half of the game, and pale in comparison to the real meat and potatoes of the game:

The town of Greenvale is a place filled with interesting people, York especially. The fun of this game comes from talking to all the people around town, and getting to know them. You can actually follow these people around, and they have set schedules, making it feel more like a real place. You even have to do real things, like shave and change your suit. There's little cool things you can discover throughout the town that draw you in ever more, like fishing and the darts bar.

Most importantly, it's one of the few games I've seen where the adults actually act like adults. Adults with a lot of hangups, but adults nonetheless. They have anxieties, and wants, and feel like real people, or at least the closest in a while. York's quirkyness doesn't become his main trait. While he does strut around and fire off rounds without breaking a sweat, well, there's a reason for that. Regardless, he's authoritative without being overly macho. He and the lead female don't hate each other one minute, then jump each other's bones the next scene/when it becomes convenient. All this makes it the more interesting, because I want to know more.

It's a shame, because being York in Greenvale is a lot more interesting than Silent Hill with Juggalos. If you didn't get it yet, all I can say is that the first time I met up with the Raincoat Killer after the opening scene, I was legit scared. Only problem is WHY CAN'T I SHOOT HIM?

There are more thoughts I want to share, but really, all I can say is that Deadly Premonition is a game that needs to be experienced.

At $20, you can't go wrong.

ALL RIGHT, I BE GETTING SPOILERY UP IN HERE!!!
BEAT THE GAME? READ MORE THOUGHTS!!!
REST OF YOU, SCROLL DOWN!!!

I was talking about the Lumbermill part, BTW. The Raincoat Killer starts hacking away at the door of a room you're in, and you have to hide somewhere in the room. It's a pretty chilling effect having both yours and RK's view shown in split screen. Then, once you successfully hide, you get out of the room, and he pops up again, prompting a quick time event.

SHIT! I think, as I start wiggling the analog stick. So, once I get some good distance on him, I think I'm safe, and it'll be an endurance contest. Then York runs in front of the box, even though there was a clear spot ON THE OTHER FUCKING SIDE OF THE HALLWAY.

Out of nowhere, the prompt for box pushing comes up, and hit A, while the RK's window showing my slow ass about to get chopped. The rest of the time he's booking, but I guess he understands the whole box thing is bullshit too. I just barely get the box out of the way in time, and keep running down the hall, steam valves going off behind me. I'm getting a little tired, and just as he catches up, I burst through the door to safety.

THAT was one of the most exciting moments in gaming for me.

OK, so I first go into the Sherrif's Office, and have to look for the keys to some files. So while I'm looking through the office, I come upon a dumbbell in the kitchen room, with the word "Arnold" on it.

"Cool," I thought. "He must be another officer, who's into working out."

So then I run into George, the Sheriff. He tells me that he's looking for Arnold to finish his routine, and that his partner Sylvester was looking for him. "All right," I figure. "So they're both officers. K"

I go looking for the keys some more, and wind up in George's office. I talk to him, and the option comes to give him an object. I gave him the dumbbell, figuring he'd tell me where Arnold was. Turns out, that's what he was looking for. He named his dumbbells Arnold and Sylvester. I went "Oh!". And then he gave me a trading card with them on it.

BUT this little moment made sense in the grander scheme of things as I played through the story. When George mentions his past, he mentions "the strong overpower the weak" and I had another "Oh!" moment. Thus, it came as no surprise when he explained his motivations for going through with the whole Raincoat Killer thing in the first case.

While at times Twin Peaks felt like it was making up stuff as it went along, Deadly Premonition feels like it has more thought behind it. There's lots of stuff that points to the fact George did it, and if you watch a lot of mysteries and stuff, it becomes pretty obvious. "I just happened to be here!"

Speaking of George, when you check Thomas's back for the inverted peace sign, there's a tattoo, Love G. At first I thought it was George himself, meaning that Thomas was gay. Even that was better than most games, where, sure he's feminine, cooking and running like he does, but it was pretty sedate. Maybe he's just a girly-man and "LoveG" was a red herring.

Then he threatens to kill Emily in a red dress, claiming George for his own, and his sister Carol confirms that they were substitutes in the freaky sex dungeon underneath the Galaxy of Terror.

The whole York/Zach dynamic I wasn't as in to, as I just thought the Red/White room stuff was where it copied Twin Peaks. Planet Redwood has that bit of mythology explained, though. I thought Zach was supposed to be a metaphor for the player, but actually playing as him got kinda weird. Still, he's above and beyond the rest when it comes to protagonists.

Take the ending, abridged:
George: A GOD AM I!
York: No, George, you're a first degree murderer.
George: FUCK YOU, I'M A DRAGON!
York: I'm still going to have to bring you in. (shoots axe into his chest. Win.)

OK SPOILER STUFF OVER NOW

Again, despite its flaws, I'd recommend giving it at least a look.

P.S. It does have Green Day! Sorta.

Advent 2010: Reaching My Threshold

2010-12-14T00:10:00.004-05:00

THRESHOLD

Yes, from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Awesome movie with tons of kick ass music, you should see it.

What I found most interesting was that Beck did all the songs for the fictional band Sex Bom-Omb. Which is weird, because Bweck doesn't normally rock this fucking hard. It's sad really.

The song is really simple to play, but as you'll see this Saturday, hard to Voxtar.

G--5--5-5------8---------
D--5--5-5------8----8---
A--3--3-3------6----8---
E-------------------6---

The there's a little fill that's basically Eb5, D5, C5.

Chorus is C5x8, Bbx4 then F#x4

Yeah!

Advent 2010: I Had Enough Of Your Shit America

2010-12-10T19:19:00.002-05:00

Seriously.

You can't claim that the Wikileaks leaks are unimportant, and utterly worthless, then go scramble to arrest Julian Assange.

You can't both have your fear of brown people validated, and your junk not touched.

Fear makes people retarded sometimes.

Advent 2010: The Bender

2010-12-07T23:45:00.002-05:00

Preping for the gig, and Wikileaks shit be pissing me off right now.

Man the fuck up, government.

Oh, Schaffer the Darklord! Why you so awesome?

Advent 2010: Map Of Metal

2010-12-06T22:56:00.001-05:00

Best Site Ever

Advent 2010: RBN Reviewing Part 1

2010-12-05T01:41:00.004-05:00

So far it's a quick and painless process. I'm still new to the reviewing community, and hopefully can get more in depth once I get a guitar that can fast forward through everything. But so far, here's what I reviewed (will add group later):
"24-7" by The Pursuits (Bass)- When in doubt, reduce.

"Falling Apart" by BSM (Guitar)- This song seems like a fun party tune! Unfortunately, I need to PT another song by this author, because apparently I already did one for this song when I was trying to upload "Steven Wells" the first time around. This was back when the Creators site was still buggy from the RB2 -> RB3 transition.

"Feast Or Famine" by Within The Ruins (Vocals)- This one was easy, being all talkies. I made a second pass through just to make sure they were time right.

"Lift" by Poets Of The Fall (Guitar)- I love the song, and despite it's length (I have the GH5 guitar, so I can't fast forward) it's a beauty to listen to and is mixed well. To listen to.
In Rock Band, the main guitar part definitely needs to be louder if you're trading off between two guitar parts. For an exmaple of how this is handled well, check out "Reptilia" by The Strokes.

Advent 2010: Day 2

2010-12-03T18:16:00.001-05:00

Oh shi- Missed a day.

I think I'll leave this here...

I also joined the Playtest group for RBN, so expect some updates from that.

Advent 2010: December 1st

2010-12-01T23:38:00.003-05:00

Whew, as if NaNoWriMo wasn't hard enough, here's what I've got on my plate for December:
-Show on the 18th
-"Steven Wells" in its last throes on RBN
-"This Gigantic Robot Kills" beginning
-Rock Band 3 and Rock Band AC/DC Impressions
-One or two new songs
-New Christmas Mixtape for 2010, which I've already gathered songs for

Chris, Lars and Darklord In Brooklyn

2010-11-30T21:29:00.003-05:00

Last week at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn MC Chris had a show, with Schafer the Darklord opening, and MC Lars (preview video coming tomorrow) and YTCracker doing a double set. I dragged a friend along with me into the middle of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, THE HIPSTER MECCA!!!

We came out unscathed, although now I have a better appreciation for music you've never heard of and I want to take up smoki- OH GOD. I am of course, saying that ironically.

And, unlike those mentioned in Daryl Hall's follow-up about nerdcore, everyone was actually talented.

First up was Schafer the Darklord. He dressed like he just got out of work from his job as an investment banker, but HOLY CRAP this guy got into it!

He has songs like "Boo! I'm A Ghost" (I'ma haunt your shit) and "Cat People" (meow meow). That's really all I have to say. I respect both his conviction and his ability to work with a backing track so well.

Funny stuff, will look up.

Next was the MC Lars/YTCracker set. It was more Lars than Cracker, but I didn't mind at all! One thing to note was that they're the only act that had a live band: a drummer and a guitarist who'd switch off guitar/bass. I thought the songs would sound weaker, but I didn't notice much of a drop off. It felt more, "loud", I guess.

They still had to sync themselves up with the videos playing in the background, though. I guess rap doesn't lend itself very well to messing around. MC Lars previewed a couple songs from his new album "Lars Attacks!", including a song about "Mad Men" and the title track. Also of note was the fact that this was the only venue where he played "Hipster Girl", so clearly he and my friend are on the same wavelength.

But seriously, people don't fucking lie about Williamsburg. SO MANY WOOL HATS!!!

The Lars took up the guitar and played "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock".

At long last, MC Chris took the stage, and like he was last year, was funny, awesome, and some son of a bitch had to bring the show to a screeching halt.

If MC Chris every finds himself having to put away the laptop and give up music (which won't happen with a children's album coming out later this year, and his new album Race Wars coming out next year) the man can still make a killing with stand up. Long story short, I've avoided Fallout: New Vegas and found new sources of baking grease thanks to him.

"Fette's Vette" and "Wiid", the standbys were played, as well one that I can't seem to bring myself to enjoy, "Drunk Asshole Stops Show". There's always some guy who has way too much, and it gets on Chris's nerves a lot.

PROTIP: If you hang toward the back, you drink all you damn well please. It took ten minutes for Cracker and Schaffer to escort some people out.

As for my friend, who the most he's heard of "nerd influenced rap" was when I showed him "This Gigantic Robot Kills" on Rock Band Network?

"At first I was like, 'not bad', and then I was like 'This is awesome!'"

Yes it was, buddy. Yes it was.

In other news, BASTARD'S BRINGING BACK THE ADVENT CALENDAR! FIRST UPDATE TOMORROW!!!

REVIEW: Guitar Hero 5

2010-11-18T20:00:00.003-05:00

WHAAAAAAAAA??

Yeah, the website named after Rock Band is reviewing Guitar Hero. I got an Xbox 360 not too long ago, and I needed a guitar controller. Luckily I was able to get the bundle for $45.

Obviously a review for a year old game in a major franchise that everybody got is very fucking pointless, but I'll give it a shot.

OK, so Guitar Hero 5 is the game where Neversoft FINALLY got all their shit together.

Guitar Hero 3 was a double assault of difficulty. The developer, being new at making charts, and a game company as opposed to a collective of musicians, didn't know what they were doing. That's why you see things like power chords charted with three notes, and Drop D tuning charted like power chords. Also, it feels like for the first half of the set list, they did a good job, but for the last two tiers, they listened to Score Hero and picked ridiculously hard metal.

Guitar Hero: World Tour suffered from trying to copy the Rock Band formula of having all four parts. A lot of the songs were taken from Rock Band 2, and the engine looked worse than 3 somehow. It was them starting all over again, basically. Any game using that engine (Smash Hits, Van Halen) looked weird and felt a little off timing wise.

Metallica I didn't play, but Smash Hits I did, and the demo for GH: VH.

Guitar Hero 5 is the 7th(?) effort from Neversoft, 3rd main game, and while it does have some problems, they've gotten so much right it's the only one I've enjoyed since 2.

Graphics wise, the character models are a lot smoother and more muted. The camerawork isn't as sophisticated or as diverse in Rock Band, but there's still enough to go on, and the characters animate appropriately, especially in songs such as "Sweating Bullets" where the singer sings right into the camera, in that whole "linear motion capture" thing I talked about.

While I at first balked at the soundtrack, there were a lot of songs I ended up liking. "They Say" by Scars On Broadway, "In The Meantime" by Spacehog, "Streamline Woman" by Gov't Mule, and "Six Days A Week" by The Bronx are a couple I've grown to love. I've even grown to disagree with Yahtzee's take on GH5, saying that aren't any epic classics. I point you to "Spirit Of The Radio" and "Do You Feel Like We Do?" While they aren't on the scale of "Freebird" and "Bark At The Moon", I still love 'em.

The difficulty curve is scizophrenic, where on the first tier I have "Sympathy For The Devil" that I almost failed out on, and on the sixth tier is Weezer's "Why Bother?" which is like "Song 2"-lite.
Other than that, it's basically the same thing. I was happy with the avatar I was able to set up from square one, so the challenges didn't really appeal to me that much. They did get me to switch over to bass every so often, which is really simple to do, at least in solo career.

While it's a bitch to setup since I'm playing on a non-CRT TV, the guitar I'm starting to get into. It's got a nice big, strum bar, slidey parts I don't have to use, and all the buttons are out of the way. The only thing I don't like about it is the whammy bar. It's not as loose as the RB Stratocaster's, and while we're on the subject, going from the Rock Band guitars to this brand was all CLICKITY CLICK CLICK CLICK. However, it does recognize up-strumming, so I was able to get the "Flawless Groove" achievement in RB2. Although I can't use the slide bar as solo buttons, so fuck that noise.

Party Play is a nice addition. It's NaNoWriMo, so I'd let the thing run in the background, work on the novel, and then pick it up whenever a song comes on.

What it seems to be my problem with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, other than whole ManBearPig Rocker transformations, is that while the core elements are retained, it seems like they went back to the Guitar Hero 3 way of doing things: listening to ScoreHero and picking the uberhard metal. While GHWOR's soundtrack still has some easy, recognizable songs, but the last two stages are just so jam packed with MACHINEGUNSKITTLEZ metal (also known as 'Sperg Metal for short), that I can't get into it.

Guitar Hero 3 was arguably the most popular one, because it was in the right place at the right time: GH2 just started to generate some buzz about the franchise, and by 3 people were eagerly awaiting the newest

GH5's final tier has a nice mix of prog, metal and blues, so even if I don't like one song, I can just skip over it and try harder on the others, since it has the "Earn X Stars" rubric that every game since GH: Metallica had. And yes, challenges do count toward your overall total. (1* for completeing them on the lowest level, +2* for the next highest, with the highest level granting you 3 extra stars)

FINAL VERDICT: Well, it's a year old so don't expect anyone to play with you (except for me). For the people who have been Rock Band purists this whole time, it's a lot of fun, and a pretty good change of pace. Also, consider it the only way you'll be able to play:
-"Sympathy For The Devil" by The Rolling Stones
-"All Along The Watchtower" by Bob Dylan
-"Spirit of the Radio" by Rush
-Anything by Muse other than "Hysteria"
-"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" by The Smashing Pumpkins
-and Kevin Bacon

November Follies!

2010-11-14T16:36:00.004-05:00

Yeah, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has taken up a lot of my time, so don't expect many update. I'll work on a song later today if I manage to catch up.

Some quick news:
1. Tried out this website "Sonicbids"where you can find gigs. Got one response, but I needed to buy tickets in advance. Will post about later.
2. FINALLY got "This Gigantic Robot Kills" in working order. Will video soon.
3. "Steven Wells" is ready for PrimeTime, but I'm having trouble uploading it.
4. Got Guitar Hero 5. Yeah, I'm cheap. At least I have a guitar for the 360.

Belated AND Spooktackular?

2010-11-01T10:44:00.005-04:00

Haven't had a song lesson in a while, so here goes:

TIME WARP
A great song from a cult classic!

The song itself is pretty simple, but you do need to perfect this one move:

A---7-7-9-7-7-7-9-7---
E---5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5---

It's similar to the blues riff in A:

D----2-4-2-4-2-4-2-4---
A----0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---

Preserve that same motion going to the following chords in the verse:
A (6th string, 5th fret)
It's astounding
B (6th string, 7th fret)
Time is fleeting
G (6th string, 3rd fret)
Madness...
D (5th string, 5th fret)
Takes its toll...
Then return to A position

And here's the riff for that line we all know and love (at least how I play)

G--------------5----------------7------------------------------------
D---3-3-3-----5-------5-------7--------7-------------------------
A---3-3-3-----3-------5-------5--------7---7-7-9-7-7-7-9-7--------
E---1-1-1--------------3-----------------5---5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-------

FULL TAB

You know what else is SPOOKTACULAR?

CARL PALADINO FOR GOVERNOR!!! AHHHH!!!

I thought I had a song about this...

NERDS?.doc

2010-10-28T00:00:00.003-04:00

Blogspot says this is my 250th post!

As a man who's done Rock Band Network tracks for a guy who did an entire Street Fighter Mixtape, and MC Lars, as well as writing a song based on Axe Cop I'm a bit into nerd music.

However, a recent (by the time I was like "Hey, maybe I could write about this...") Garbage Day article from Something Awful, prompted me to rethink things a little.

The main point of the article was that nerd music is more about nerddom than actual musicianship. There's no doubt that some are, dropping in references for the sake of people going "Hey! I know that reference!" (See: XKCD and Family Guy) and making the phat loot.

But I think in the end what matters most is this question: "Would I enjoy this song just as much if it weren't about video games/Star ____/internet memes?".

In the article, the writer, Daryl Hall, gives The Protomen as the "tamest" or "least bad" example of nerd-centric music, stating that their music, while not the worst, is only appealing because it's about Mega Man and they wear Mega Man helmets HEY MEGA MAN.

First: I don't think the story of any Mega Man game goes beyond "Here are some robots, kill them". If they do, then 1. I haven't been paying attention, and 2. that means you give a damn, and that's the kind of attitude that ruined Star Fox and Sonic.

Second, these guys really look more like robot David Bowie mixed with a shitty 80's band trying to stay relevant than Mega Man, but that's not the point I'm trying to push.

It's more of a loose interpretation. It's like they said Robots + Doctors = CLEARLY IT'S A DYSTOPIAN FUTURE!! (According to their Wikipedia page). They're not terrible, but like DH said, it's the Mega Man references that bring people in. Otherwise, they'd be a Survivor sound alike, maybe enjoying breif success after one of their songs is used in a montage scene in a movie.
Are they relatable? Eh. Like I mentioned, they sound like Survivor, but some of the songs get so heavy handed with their story it's like reading a book aloud with the radio on. A couple songs you can play for a non-gaming friend and might make decent workout music, but for the average dude, their get up might be a little hard to swallow. It's not that Aquabats! brand of weird where you can look at it and go "Oh, for kids." or "Oh, DRUGS"

Next, he brings up The Advantage, a video game cover band. These guys I can understand having a problem with. That problem is the same with all cover bands, but while listening to Basket Case play "Basket Case" will remind of the last time you heard "Basket Case", 'cause, you know, you like the song, The Advantage reminds me how I could be doing something more than just listening to Flashman's Theme from Mega Man 2 by downloading an emulator and actually playing the game.

Can someone explain to me the "gold plated batter's helmet" thing? I think I know where it is, but I can't remember...

But is The Advantage relatable? Sure. If I were to go to a remote village where people are too poor to afford water, let alone electricity, let alone video games, and blast the Tetris/Mario/Flash Man's theme, I could go back to that village a month later and they'd still be going doo do do doo do do doo do do dooo, because, as Extra Credits has taught me, the melodies of those old games had to be catchy due to limitations of the old systems.

But because they ONLY play videogame music, a point for Daryl, I guess. If you've never played the game, you wouldn't "get it". Although it'd be kind of badass to see a cover band that covers normal songs AND video game music. Then you got two markets covered.

Lastly, he brings up "nerdcore" or rap about nerdy shit, which he considers "fucking offensive" (or close to it). But I think one thing he misses is that rap/hip-hop is a genre, or a style of music, not necessarily a subject matter. If metal can be about anything from dragons and dungeons to rebellion, and punk covers a range of idealogies both left and right , then why can't rap be about video games or whatnot?

Because it doesn't take the scene seriously?

That kind of shit happened WAY before nerdcore was even a thought. While songs like "An Open Letter To The New York Post" have a lot more thought put into them than "Cant Touch This", Public Enemy look like a bunch of bad men, the kind I walk on the other side of the street as I see them walk toward me while MC Hammer is an inoffensive chap in shiny pants dancing about. One of the "good ones" so to speak. A "house- Well, you get the idea.

Pop sensibility trumps everything else in the end. Then again, "bitches and hos" sell well too, so the genre has been dragged through the muck.

For the relatible question, I'm just going to go over the triumvirate of nerdcore MC's: Chris, Frontalot and Lars real quick:

I haven't listened to much of MC Frontalot, but just listening to some of the song he has this weird harmony where by singing "off beat" he's creating a new rhythm. It's hard to explain. Sort of like he's doing a guitar solo with rhythms instead of melodies. And that's pretty much what rap is.

I outsourced this next bit to my good buddy Koltreg, who wrote a bit on Frontalot since I don't know much about him:
"Frontalot is considered to be the father of nerdcore, which instead of rapping about things like bitches and hos, raps about video games and lusting after goth girls."

But is he relatable? I asked as Koltreg admired my vast genius and broad shoulders.
"Nerd culture is becoming more mainstream. He has about 8 or so songs on really obsucre subjects, but he's got really good songs and can introduce you to something new."

MC Chris is probably the most hit-or-miss, since his songs cover a range: "Hijack" and "006" are typical "I'm awesome" songs. "Wiid" is about pot, but spelled Wii because NINTENDO. "Fette's Vette" is basically a boastful gangsta rap song about Boba Fett where "jetpack" can be replaced with "Bentley" and "bounty hunt for Jabba [the] Hutt" can be exchanged for "Cap mofos and get my hos".

He made a Ghostbusters reference in a "Twin Peaks" song. He actually made a "Twin Peaks" song, I know. What next, a "Deadly Premonition" song? No, because I wanna do a "Deadly Premonition" song called "F.K. In The Coffee". MC Chris is more than welcome to help.

Back to the "Twin Peaks" song, it's pretty self contained. Yeah, it'll help a ton if you watched the show, but most people can assume it's about a murder in a small town that has pie so good, it's a crime.

MC Lars covers the most mainstream topics, such as summaries of "Hamlet ("Hey There Ophelia") and "Moby Dick" ("Ahab"), ska music of the 90's ("This Gigantic Robot Kills") and a kid trained to be a pro gamer ("O.G. Original Gamer")

All three wanted to be rappers first, and just happen to be nerds. Even Hall conceded that this is people rapping about shit they like. Whether it's about girls, sex or games, people like what they like, and unless they're damn hipsters, they want to share it with the world.

Back to the original point: Is nerd music limiting the horizons of nerds, while dragging another facet of art into it's blubbery folds?

Music was already a part of nerddom in the first place, such as the 8-bit chiptunes The Advantage covers, or the orchestral background music in modern games like God of War. They're just adhering to sound musical theory. With Koltreg's point about nerd culture becoming more mainstream, who's to say what's "nerd" music at all?Or if it will even stay "nerd" music.

As far as limting horizons, that would be pretty difficult in the long run. Sure, you could make a shit ton of money relying solely on direct references (OH HAI FAMILY GUY), but they become dated after a while. This is the kind of nerd music we should be shunning.

Eventually the artists will inject themselves into the music, whether it be political (the line "If you're in the 80's Reaganomics was a scam" from MC Frontalot's "Spoiler Alert"), personal (MC Lars' "23" about the suicide of a former roommate of his), or even if it's outside the music, there are still things they feel strongly about (MC Chris' campaign against Cystic Fibrosis), that they will introduce to the audience.

Want to play a Frontalot song on Rock Band? You'll need the disc first, that comes chock full of a diverse range of music, from classic rock to heavy metal to modern indie.

And there are the opening acts at these shows. At an MC Chris show, punk band Whole Wheat Bread opened for him, and they're not nerdy at all, unless you count the school uniforms.

So don't worry, the nerds will see the sun eventually.

N.B. I did a "Speed Listen" of the first Protomen album with videos from YouTube and found this shit. That is why people hate nerds.

Thanks to Koltreg for the words on Frontalot, and Daryl "Fucking" Hall for the original article. I'll probably write more on the subject later, but I just wanted to cover the Garbage Day piece.

Hall did bring up a really good point about using familiar themes to expose people to other genres, mentioning metal, bluegrass and jazz. If you read this on Twitter, and know of any "Nerd-Non-Traditional Genre Here" acts, post it in the comments.

Crisis Of Infinite Aversions

2010-10-20T19:17:00.003-04:00

Got my laptop back today, hopefully everything works.

UPDATE: 10/21/2010
Got an external HD, as well as my 250 Gig Hard drive in the mail today. So, not only can I playtest songs now, but I can use any computer to record my stuff as well, since I'm installing it all on the EHD.

The bastard is now mobile!

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

2010-10-18T10:34:00.002-04:00

My laptop shit the bed.

I spent $270 trying to recover it, so everything I wrote and all the RBN stuff won't go to waste.

I GOT ME AN XBOX

2010-10-13T22:07:00.002-04:00

RhythmBstrd is my GamerTag. It's the same for the PS3, but nobody friended me :(.

SO NOW I CAN DO ROCK BAND NETWORK STUFF!!!

ANYWAYS, I released another song out into the wild. WHERE IS IT? WHO KNOWS??

Also, that was part of a three song dealy I was doing called the "Songs I Made For Other People LP" Whether you're a webcomic artist, a friend of mine, or a dickweed, I made these songs for those people.

However, recent events have made me add a couple more, so that's what I was working on.

Now, what I can guarantee whoever stumbles by the next couple days:
-Another song released. It's a cover of a Dead Kennedys song and I'll release it through Twitter.
-A video runthrough of "This Gigantic Robot Kills" on RBN, and an updated version of "Steven Wells"

Livestream Gig Recap

2010-10-07T00:00:00.002-04:00

CATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE!!!

Nobody watched, lots of stuff went wrong. But I still had fun messing around with my friend who came. We didn't have mozzareppas like I planned, but we had Molten Chocolate cake. It's like regular chocolate cake, but the middle oozes out when you cut into it.

Said Koltreg, "The sound is coming in choppy, and the video lags. I like the song." So, for next time, I should probably put the backing tracks on something that isn't the machine I'm broadcasting from, and take notes on which backing tracks come in loud. The only problem is that with the laptop I can change the volume of the individual instruments, and always make it louder. Or rather, keep the levels low, and crank it up on the amp.

99% of the time this blog is just me thinking out loud.

All right, let's do this (***- OK to *****-Great to *****G- Flawless Performance):
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?- *****
I couldn't find a backing track without vocals. It was fun to jam out on, and a relief not having to worry about singing as well.

FORCE-A-NATURE- *****
This was the song Koltreg liked. Played it twice. Once with someone watching.

HOLIDAY- *****G
Played it a million times. This song never gets old.

AXE COP- *****G
WITH SPECIAL GUEST. This song will always be fun, and it's a damn shame I haven't tried to promote it more. I'm serious, everyone I've played it for sings the chorus ("AXE COP! THat's what I said!") whenever I'm around. I legitimately work out to that song, and not skip it over like "AH I DID IT IT SUCKS I FAIL!!"

DAYMAN- *****
The lag and the transfer from the laptop to the amp warped the sound, but we pulled this one off. I've played it live before.

So, RL gigs are hard to get, and nobody gives a shit about online gigs. I've learned nothing and my Mom wants me to clean the basement.

Maybe next time I'll play Rock Band over the stream... When Rock Band 3 comes out?

Stupid Announcement Delay...

2010-09-27T20:59:00.003-04:00

Anyway, since I got home late both Saturday and Sunday, I have to delay my stupid announcement, which means all my stupid announcement stuff will be a day late. That 3 pack of songs I was going to give out, uploading MC Lars' "This Gigantic Robot Kills" to the Rock Band Network, and my LiveStream gig? Day later.

Yeah, so a free 3 song EP? Saturday.

Putting up "Steven Wells" by Akira The Don, and "This Gigantic Robot Kills" by MC Lars on the Rock Band Network?
Later in the week, maybe Friday. I need to take care of the paperwork and sound levels.

I WAS going to try to do a LiveStream gig this Tuesday at around 8:30 PM, but guess what?
I'll have to have it on Wednesday now.

SO NOW I'LL HAVE TO HAVE A LIVESTREAM GIG ON
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th, 2010 at 8:30 PM.
AT MY LIVESTREAM CHANNEL

I Will Announce My Announcement...

2010-09-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

At a screening party of my friends' internet show, Dino Hunter M.D., which is this Saturday. I dunno, I might be too tired by the time I get home to announce my announcement. So it'll be more like Sunday. My friends will be all over. So all you have to do is find out who I really am, and where I will be Saturday night. Also, I might be attending RockGamer Studios's Green Day Rock Band event tonight.

Som on Sunday, I will announce my announcement. AND IT WILL BE GLORIOUS!!!

REPOST: NinjaGamerGeek and Hookers and Oreos

2010-09-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

NinjaGamerGeek posted up another article, even after they've been shut down.
----------------------------
RHYTHM BASTARD WILL HAVE HOOKERS GIVE AWAY FREE OREOS

by Cranson Bashcraft

According to his twitter page, the Rhythm Bastard had released some details as to his upcoming announcement. Luckily, we're here to tell you what it means!

OK, r0x0r your b0x0rs. Who roxors boxors? Hookers, otherwise the only women who will sleep with me, because Julie that girl at the video game store, never goes out with me. I think she put me on her Friends Ladder. Baka Gaijin.

Anyway, then he puts the four zeroes as 0s. 0000. What does that mean? Well, there are two 0s at the beginning and end of the word. So since he doesn't have anything to do with Ohio, clearly it means Oreos. Like the kind I OM NOM NOMed a sleeve of.

--------------------------------

Clearly that bullet proof logic means that I will have hookers give away oreos. It's like Edward R. Murrow and Jon Stewart had a baby.

HINT TO MY UPCOMING ANNOUNCEMENT

2010-09-16T23:11:00.001-04:00

REPOST: NinjaGamerGeek Reports on the Announcement Of My Announcement

2010-09-15T18:16:00.004-04:00

So anyway, news of the announcement of my announcement has already hit the major game blogs. Or at least one of them, NinjaGamerGeek.com. Unfortunately, due to this economic clusterfuck us Yanks find ourselves in, it had to file for bankruptcy, and no longer exists. Still, I need to highlight such outstanding journalism:

-----------------------------------------
RHYTHM BASTARD: COOL STUFF AND BEAT PEOPLE UP

Sup dawg, I herd u liek announcements? The Rhythm Bastard announced an announcement so he can announce annoucements while he announces announcement. Lol. What a fage.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. RHYTHM BASTARD ANNOUNCES ANNOUNCEMENT.

NEW YORK, NY. Person who does a thing on internet Rhythm Bastard has announced today that he will make an announcement. When asked about the nature of said announcement, he said this:
"Well, it's certainly not because I'm finishing up work on a song, or some other cool stuff I was thinking of doing and didn't want to go a week without an update"

His accountant, Phil, claims "He stole my last name and then beat me with it."

As to why The Rhythm Bastard has announced an announcement instead of waiting till the actual date: "Because as much as I enjoy reading "Game Journalists Are Incompetent Fuckwits" I'm not a games journalist, just a music player. And I don't see no website called "Game Musicians Are Incompetent Fuckwits" and even then it would just be one page that says "DragonForce""

The Rhythm Bastard's only claim to fame was posting the Guitar Hero: Arcade setlist.

He also has a song about Axe Cop available for download.

--------------------------------

See how good of an article it is? You can tell it's great because they copied and pasted the article straight from my site. And I'm a good writer, so by transitive property, this is one of the greatest pieces of news of all time. Also, how the headline made assumptions, instead of reporting that I only announced an announcement which may or may not be cool stuff instead of actually doing it, was a nice touch.

Rhythm Bastard Pleased With Sucess Of Announcement Of Announcement

2010-09-14T14:00:00.002-04:00

SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2010. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: RHYTHM BASTARD PLEASED WITH SUCCESS OF ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANNOUNCEMENT.

NEW YORK, NY. Rhythm Bastard, who recently announced that he would make an announcement, boasts of his recent success:
"I got like, a million hits from just the idea that I'll be announcing something."

Records show he only received 16 hits. 7 of those were counted twice.

Will it be big? The Rhythm Bastard seems to think so: "With all these posts related to my as of yet unmade announcement of something big, it can't possibly be a letdown! Like Daiktana! Or the box-office draw to Scott Pilgrim vs The World" The latter being a movie staring Michael Cera based off a series of Graphic Novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The former is bieng turned into a movie starring Michael Cera and will be released in 2013.

His accountant Phil had this to say: "As a running joke that nobody gives a shit about as well as an accountant, this is a huge failure. He doesn't even sell anything, and barely bothers to network. For the love of God, please get me out of here. This man keeps me chained in his parents basement"

The Rhythm Bastard's father is equally unimpressed with the success of the announcement: "I don't care if my generation turned into a bunch greedy fucks and would rather make a profit than hire new people to ease the workload, I'm tired of him on the goddamn computer and playing his goddamn guitar."

His mother's take on the event is unorthodox, to say the least "Could you do me a favor and bring the laundry basket down?" She said, standing next to said laundry basket with perfectly functioning legs.

Regardless, the Rhythm Bastard remains steadfast that his announcement will bring him even more success: "Read my lips. I will make you my bitch."

He then proceeded to physically abuse his accountant, Phil.

The Rhythm Bastard had originally started a blog to chronicle his learning of the songs from the original Rock Band music video game. Now he does this shit and writes his own songs. His only claim to fame was posting the Guitar Hero: Arcade setlist.

He also has a song about Axe Cop available for download. Other songs can be downloaded via his Newgrounds Page.

Rhythm Bastard's Announcement to Announce Something

2010-09-13T20:19:00.007-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. RHYTHM BASTARD ANNOUNCES ANNOUNCEMENT.

Person who does a thing on internet Rhythm Bastard has announced today that he will make an announcement. When asked about the nature of said announcement, he said this:
"Well, it's certainly not because I'm finishing up work on a song, or some other cool stuff I was thinking of doing and didn't want to go a week without an update"

His accountant, Phil, claims "He stole my last name and then beat me with it."

As to why The Rhythm Bastard has announced an announcement instead of waiting till the actual date: "Because as much as I enjoy reading "Game Journalists Are Incompetent Fuckwits" I'm not a games journalist, just a music player. And I don't see no website called "Game Musicians Are Incompetent Fuckwits" and even then it would just be one page that says "DragonForce""

The Rhythm Bastard's only claim to fame was posting the Guitar Hero: Arcade setlist.

He also has a song about Axe Cop available for download.

Getting The Axe

2010-09-06T21:49:00.003-04:00

I made a song about Axe Cop, a comic written by a 6-year old and drawn by his 29 year old brother. And it's a lot better than you'd expect: amazing, even. It's a tribute to the imagination unfettered by the rules of writing.

It's the polar opposite of Sonichu, a horrible comic written by a 28 year-old who's mentally 6.

Anyway, here's my song about Axe Cop:

DOWNLOAD

It was a silly little thing I wrote about a silly little comic. Hopefully it'll be on the Chop!Cast.

I just finished recording guitar on another song based off a webcomic.

In other news, most of my efforts have been toward "This Gigantic Robot Kills" in Rock Band Network, and setting up a LiveStream concert, so learning Rock Band songs have fallen to the wayside.

"Steven Wells (He Was The Greatest)" is in Peer Review, so go to http://creators.rockband.com/, set up an account, and go here.

Comin' Down The Block

2010-08-31T01:02:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately I couldn't get a very good preview of the pre-Xbox stages, but I'm finished with the early draft of my new RBN song, "This Gigantic Robot Kills" by MC Lars:

YEAHHHHH!!!

In other news, Akira The Don's "Steven Wells (He Was The Greatest)" is in Peer Review.

Roy Clarke: Guitar Hero

2010-08-25T00:02:00.002-04:00

Saw this on an episode of the Odd Couple and had to YouTube it.

Juggalos Attempt To Kill Tila Tequila

2010-08-15T17:37:00.003-04:00

You're fuckin' weird, God.

BTW, Green Day said HEY-O alot at the PNC and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was a pretty cool movie.

Is Punk Right-Wing?

2010-08-12T12:16:00.010-04:00

In this whatever-it-is, I'm not necessarily talking about bands have conservative leanings, but whether the Johnny Ramone quote "To me, I think punk is right wing. " holds any truth to it.

First off, let's take a look at the music: Punk Rock was made in opposition to the mainstream prog rock of the 1970's. While bands such as The Who, Yes, Led Zepplin, Rush, etc. were making long, complex songs filled with deep concepts, played with virtuosic skill, punk rock was short, simple and loud. Jimmy Page and Pete Townsend were Guitar Heroes in their own right, but Joe Strummer of The Clash proudly proclaims "You're my guitar hero!" in their song "Complete Control".

Given that the intent of punk in the first place was to change both attitudes and rock itself, it's about as liberal as two black Islamic men getting gay married (What is that? I don't even-)

However, there are underlying ideologies that are associate with the Punk rock movement: namely, the Do It Yourself ethic. Now, the key here is the interpretation. Some examples provided by the Wikipedia page for DIY Ethic give such as examples as fixing your own clothes, starting your own record label, fixing your own bike, etc. The notion of self reliance is more or less the conservative view of government, all other factors aside. Self reliance implies that those who are skilled can be successful in a system where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Politically, this means free from government control (i.e. why Republicans voted down the Health Care bill, and spend more on defense than social programs).

Originally the DIY ethic was meant to avoid corporate interference. When President Reagan took office in 1980, his "Reaganomics" focused mainly on tax cuts and removing oversights on big business. In essence, this gave the corporations more power, the opposite of what punk tries to achieve. Couple that with the fact that most punk rockers come from middle class or lower class backgrounds, then clearly, the conservatives have done nothing for the punks.

But my opinions mean jack shit without Johnny's original statement. In full:
"To me, I think punk is right wing. What happened in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s was a lot of disaffected kids – the kind who would’ve been hippies a decade before – drifted into punk. But, when you think of who punks are, they’re greasers, people who didn’t fit in, but they didn’t back down either. Who above all, love America. I’ve voted Republican ever since 1960..."

So, going back to my earlier statement about the change punk provided to the music scene, in a sense, the Republicans provided that change he wanted from what he saw as the norm at the time. In fact, Trey Parker, one of the creators behind South Park said that: "[We're] all based on saying the shocking thing. We used to have a great time going to Hollywood parties and saying 'I think George Bush is doing a great job.' We'd clear out the room. I used to love it."

So if it's only used as a means to an end, then punk isn't right-wing in and of itself. Punk doesn't care. Punk just does.

Except Michael Graves. I've never heard much from The Misfits, but he reminds me of Taskmaster and I like that guy.

You can read Conservative Punk's Interview with Johnny Ramone here.