Ready Player One? BEGIN STATUS QUO SUNDAY!

 READY PLAYER ONE HYPE!

  
 Whoa! Whooooa!! (That was a Crash Bandicoot meme)



Look at all this EPIC gaming referencing! MY BODY IS READY! (That's a Nintendo meme)

I wish I could live in Osiris with Parchibald and Girl even though 99% of society is decaying in slums!

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CONSUME!

Yeah, I'm doing that cynical thing where I harp on something popular to get clicks my way. And yes, it's passe at this point to hit Ready Player One for all the references and stuff.

"But don't you do the same thing Mr. Makes Songs About Magic The Gathering and Overwatch and Shit?"

Sort of? In the back of my mind, I have a philosophy of "Themes, Not Memes". Basically, I try to find a "hook" to the song. Why does this song exist? What am I doing besides "making a song about a thing"? Mostly what I try to do with my music about a subject is put context and meaning where there wouldn't be. Most of my Magic the Gathering songs are about putting you in a place with a particular mind frame: "We're pirates!" "Let's work together and fight the big scary monster!" "I'm Nicol Bolas and you're going to die but love it anyway!". There's a pitch you can follow along with. Even Axe Cop is written so that you can follow it, even if you don't know what Axe Cop is.

With Status Quo Radio, it was a challenge to make 9 different songs that feel as different as how the Team Fortress 2 classes play. As life changed, and my politics became what they are today, so did the overall theme of the album into something different.

YouTube Video Producer Peter Coffin has a term he uses a lot in his videos: "Cultivated Identity"- identity, who you are and how you see yourself, that has been derived from what is consumed. And when an identity is driven by what you consume, it can be "cultivated", or be reaped for profit by a retailer like ThinkGeek (quirky nerdiness) or Hot Topic (rebellion!) or a production company like Disney (your childhood!) or- well, given the news Disney's all we're gonna get.

It's kind of how I feel about geek culture in general these days. It's not "Let's make this thing good", it's "Oh, ANOTHER thing to add on to the pile". Like, it's impossible to be into nerdy shit UNLESS you catch Game of Thrones, and 7 DC TV series, and are all caught up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, etc. Because of course you have to buy all this shit. It's "Geek Culture".

Net Neutrality was repealed today and Disney, the foremost manipulator of copyright law (seriously, it extends the length of public domain anytime Mickey Mouse is due) bought Fox, and now owns like 50% of popular culture BUT HEY GUYS THE XENOMORPHS ARE DISNEY PRINCESSES NOW!

So between that and being in between jobs, the world is feeling pretty barren right now.

NEW SONG ON PATREON- "Be The Solution"!

 I decided to whip up a song for the new Unstable set because I wanted to sound like Devo.

That AND "High Noon" are coming out AFTER Holiday Matsuri as a 2-for-1 deal because
A. I want some encouragement to come out to my show this week at Holiday Matsuri and B.I'm running out of space on my Soundcloud. All my album tracks will be available, alongside my MtG songs, but some of the older, rougher stuff will be taken down to make room.

Hardcore Nerdcore Punk (3:45 PM, Panel Room A)



Crank your Holiday Matsuri up to 11 when Rhythm Bastard brings his mix of punk rock and fandom to the stage! You like video games? Comics? Card games? Come on down and open the pit up!

Holmat Slam  (5:00 PM, Panel Room A)

Get ready to rumble in the hypest fake wrestling event Holiday Matsuri has ever seen! From the people who brought you AFO Rumble, Mizu-Mania, and Iwai-vor Series, comes Holmat Slam!

Play some old N64 Wrestling games, and compete for the chance to win a championship belt!

JAM OF THE WEEK: "Welcome To The Church Of Rock And Roll"
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This is from the last album by Foxy Shazam you can consider good, and man that opening is a real attention getter.

It's the musical number to a Rebellious Character that the Young Protagonist in a fantasy movie meets in the second act that draws him away from The Path, but our Young Protagnotist is Too Pure and Not Sure About This to stay in this Probably A Tavern for the rest of his days while The Bad Guy continues His Scheme Elsewhere. But when Young Protagonist tries to leave, he's stopped by Rebellious Charachter's Gang of Thugs but then the Young Protagonist gives a heartfelt speech about doing the right thing and-

Wait, where was I going with this?

Oh yeah, "Welcome To The Church Of Rock and Roll" is awesome.  

10 NEW Bands Who I'd Curbstomp Babies To See In Rock Band 4

So like I did last week with returning bands, I'm doing with bands that haven't had a song debut in Rock Band, Guitar Hero or Rocksmith yet. This cancels out some I wanted to do like The Misfits, but these should be reasonable.

1. THE AQUABATS 

The ONLY downside I can see with the Aquabats is that the loss of keys hurts some of the songs, but there's plenty straight rock songs in their library that would fit in well. Plus, their stock is rising with The Aquabats Super Show and Yo Gabba Gabba! so the younger kids will be familiar the everyone's rock and roll superheroes!
If Harmonix ever has a brain hemmorage and releases Lego Rock Band 2, The Aquabats should be front and center!
SEE ALSO: "Super Rad!" "Look At Me, I'm A Winner!"

2. DAFT PUNK

Another band that feels the loss of the keys, but there's still workarounds, it just requires very liberal interpretations of "guitars" and "vocals". Maybe not on disc songs, but it's time for add some Robots to Rock Band.  
SEE ALSO: "Digital Love", "One More Time/Aerodynamic", "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

3. FOXY SHAZAM

With operatic vocals that could give Freddie Mercury a run for his money and the energy of nine coke-fiends crammed into 5 guys, Foxy Shazam is a rock band in every sense of the word, who's soujnd has changed enough over the years to give a wide variety of play styles. You want thrashy, trashy and in your face? Go with something off of their album "Introducing Foxy Shazam". Harder rock? 2012's "The Chruch Of Rock and Roll". Found out that you don't have a lo9t of hard songs on vocals? Anything off of 2010's self titled album will have the guy with the mic putting in A LOT Of work.
SEE ALSO: "Unstoppable", "The Church of Rock and Roll"

4. JANELLE MONAE

Have I mentioned I fucking love Janelle Monae? Another artist that bounces all over the place with genres, Cindi Mayweather captures the more mellow side rock, while adding in a ton of funk and hip-hop influences, which Rock Band is sorely lacking. A few of the songs on RB3 that tried to fall into this category were either too spastic or too easy. No keys is a bit of a loss, but depending on the track, you wouldn't even notice it. Any vocalist worth their salt should be begging to have these songs included.
SEE ALSO: "Q.U.E.E.N.", "Tightrope", "Cold War", "Many Moons"

5. JAPANDROIDS

Imagine if the Black Keys got their influences from Arena Rock, and you'd have a pretty good idea of The Japandroids. It's really good "Drive With The Windows Open" music that's plenty of fun for the whole group.
SEE ALSO: "The House That Heaven Built", "Adrenaline Nightshift"

6. THE PROTOMEN

The Protomen make concept albums based off of Mega Man and try to sound as 80s as fuck while doing that. If that sentence alone doesn't convince you, let me repeat it: The Protomen make concept albums based off of Mega Man and try to sound as 80s as fuck while doing that.Keys are missing, but we can still give it the old college try, right? RIGHT?
SEE ALSO: "The Hounds" "Hope Rides Alone" , "The Will Of One"

7. REEL BIG FISH

While "Beer" might not be the most "family-friendly" song from the Boston ska band, it's the song that suffers the least from losing the keys. Like most ska (see "This Gigantic Robot Kills"), the bass is challenging, and the small licks on the lead guitar keep the mostly chord focused song interesting to play. Also, "Beer" was MADE for harmonies. It has "Whoa-oh-oh" part! Bitches love "Whoa-oh-oh" parts!
SEE ALSO: "Take On Me", "Sellout"

 8. BOWLING FOR SOUP

We have "Nerd Rock" in Rock Band with "Still Alive" by Glados, Brony music and Kirby Krackle, but we need more "Dork Rock" and Rhythm Bastard, while awesome and cool and talented and well endowed, it's JUST NOT ENOUGH. Bowling for Soup are a bunch dorks that make some really sweet pop-punk, and everyone's guarantee to know AT LEAST 1985.
SEE ALSO: "Girl All The Bad Guys Want", "High School Never Ends", "Punk Rock 101"

9. WALK THE MOON

I'm really surprised these guys haven't had a Top 40 hit yet. Hopefully by the time RB4 comes out they will have gained some mianstream attention, but it could still be an opportunity for Harmonix to be kingmakers.
SEE ALSO: "Tightrope" "Different Colors"

10. THE WOMBATS

Another alternative rock band that's been around for a while, but only managed one radio hit recently. The accent and British Pop Culture references my throw a couple vocalists off, but the relentless energy makes up for it.  
SEE ALSO: "Kill The Director", "My First Wedding"

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 25

DOWNLOAD LINK TO THE PODCAST

Self titled albums!

-I'm both surprised and not surprised Jeff didn't bring up Foxy Shazam's self titled. It's a lot more refined and focused than their earlier albums, but it has "Unstoppable" and "Oh Lord", which is probably the most uplifting combination of two songs since Akira The Don's "Slow Down Ghandi" and "Bittersweet Symphony" Mashup.


-Now the trifecta of Weezer's self titleds:
"Hey man, what's up? Yeah? That's awesome! Right now I'm doing this thing, but like my girl isn't that into it, but..."

"Oh? Yeah, that's cool. Defintely." (looks around the room, checking out who else is here) "No, man, I'm totally paying attention."
GREEN ALBUM
(ignores you, and is totally talking to the kinda cute Asian chick in the corner, drinking a can of PBR)
"Later" (as you leave because fuck this party)

-Tenacious D's  Self Titled, featuring all the songs from their HBO show that made them famous(er) before Jack Black blew the fuck up.



And for NON-self titled albums, Rhythm Bastard put "Dino Hunter MD: The Sound Track" on Soundcloud!

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 23

What was I supposed to be doing again?

Yes, Ice Festival is a real thing.

Some 2013 predictions I didn't/forgot to bring up:
-MUSIC: I'm not sure this counts, but harmonized music/boy bands are coming back. This was something a co-worker of mine stated sometime in late 2011/2012. To be fair though, that DID come true in the form of One Direction and  The Wanted. Maybe we'll see that happening in proper rock, but who knows.

-WORLD: The Republican Party, after losing the election in 2012, hyping it up ever since Obama's election in 2008, will either become more reserved (not necessarily more liberal, just less willing to open their mouths) and getting a fresh start in 2016 with new faces OR double down and become absolutely motherfucking batshit crazy to the point where they have scorhed the earth and have rendered the Democratic Party too scared to react.

-GAMING: The Anrgy Birds bubble will burst, as that stuff will have reached market saturation, and any future attempt to capitalize on it will become more desperate and fail miserably.

-GAMING: PC Gaming is going to come back. Not out of any creative decision, but because costs are going to be so prohibitive that mid-level games and studios are going to flock to the PC for it's lower development costs.

At work on the album, TRYING to have it out by the 11th.

That Was Halloween

Played a pretty good show despite my setup, danced like an idiot to some Beastie Boys and Foxy Shazam, and crashed on my couch at 3 in the morning wearing a Superman cape. Pretty damn good!

I had a digeriedoo as my opening act. The host was excited and got a couple people singing along to "Hell Yeah" and "Heroes Die", though the songs that went over best were impromptu acoustic renditions of "Party Rock Anthem" and "Teenagers From Mars".

OK, time for the Actual Updates!

1. DINO HUNTER M.D.: THE SOUND TRACK- Is ready for final production. Vocals have been re-recorded for a number of songs, a lot of stuff has been remixed and re-mastered, and there will be a bonus song or two added.

2. ROCK BAND NETWORK UPDATES- "Hell Yeah" is re-uploading as we speak. It's about 1/2-way done with the Peer Review phase, hopefully I can get this and "Lars Attacks!" out at the same time.

The next song  I'm putting on the RBN most of you have already heard if you listen to the Echo Chamber Podcast!

3. FUTURE CONS- Making a list, checking it twice, gonna sign up in advance cause this shit runs out quickly.

4. STATUS QUO RADIO- Once DHMD is done, that's what I'll be focusing on. There's a couple behind the scenes things I want to take care of, like an artist for the cover, and maybe a Kickstarter to pay for physical copies and whatnot.

5. File this under "Found Out About Too Late":