Wednesday, December 26, 2012

NEW SONG: "Ride On"



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

So, one thing I've been working on once I've settled in is my part of a gift exchange for TF2Chan, where artists and writers trade prompts. The one I received was "Sniper/Engineer. Surprise me. I'm a sucker for sad, tragic stuff, but fluff is fine too!"

Thankfully this was easy to write a song to. Below is the song entitled "Ride On" and the companion piece I had to write, which felt good after not writing anything not set to music for like, 2 years. (I figured since it is available on TF2Chan (warning: site is NSFW, as it is a *Chan) and the song is on my Soundcloud that I could repost it):
RIDE ON

“Well, where are you off to, Stretch?”

Those were the last words the Sniper wanted to hear.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath.

He turned around to see the team’s Engineer, wiping the rust and blood off of his favorite wrench, trademark welder’s goggles still on. The Sniper put his backpack down, “Oh, I didn’t mean to wake you…” he stammered as he tried to look casual.

“Shoot, no trouble at all! Just getting’ everything all ready for tomorrow.” Engineer took off his goggles and wiped them down. His gaze traveled to the sack. “What’s that for?”

“Nothing, just dropping it off to the van”

“Quite a lot you got there. Need any help?”

Sniper let out a short grunt. He knew where this was going, and there was little sense in trying to hide it. After all, it was the Engineer’s nature to ask questions. Not that he was nosy or anything, just that his natural curiosity didn’t know where to stop..

“I was hoping the Admin would tell ya this, but-“ He stopped short as he caught the sight of Engineer’s goggles. As affable as he was, on some days, when the sun is beating down on the battlefield, and the BLU team had been pushing hard on the point, one could catch a glimpse of the Engineer’s eyes behind the goggles and see the fear as he tried to keep his machines running. That very moment, the Sniper was able to see those same eyes in the dim lantern’s light of the outskirts of the RED base.

Still, he soldiered through.

“-but my contract’s been… altered…”

The words echoed off the wooden walls of the Granary base, and hit the ears of the befallen Texan.

Engineer took his goggles off and dropped his wrench, trying to make it look like a simple fumble, as he picked it up off the floor. “Wha- What do you mean?”

“I’ve been hired by BLU.” Before the Engineer could spit out another “What?” the Sniper continued, “Listen, it’s really good money, and they said I’d be stationed at 5Gorge, miles away from here, so I wouldn’t have to shoot ya.” He tried to laugh, but it came out forced and robotic.

“Oh… You tell anyone else?”

Sniper looked at the floor, and kicked and kicked a stray rock underneath a cabinet. “No, I was hoping to leave before anybody noticed. You know, goodbyes and all that…”

“Yeah, I can see. So you’re really leavin’?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

Engineer wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked down at his wrench. After a long deep breath, he closed his eyes hard, like a child would at the scary part of the movie. “Was it an easy decision?”

Sniper remained silent, trying to avoid eye contact, occasionally looking out to the van, waiting patiently in the moonlight.

“I just figured after a couple years, you’d at least had the nerve t’ let us know about things like this.” Engineer swallowed hard, but coughed to cover up the sound. “I know Demo and Scout are gonna take it hard-“

“So I guess it’s not about what I want, is it?” said the Sniper as he picked up his sack and started toward the van. He knew that he had a family in the RED team, but he was after all, a mercenary, and had to go where the money was. It took all he could to give one last nostalgic look back at his home for the past two years, but he kept forward, not wanting to show any weakness.

“Listen, I’m sorry,” the Engineer yelled, as he ran as fast as his little legs could toward the van. The keys were already in the ignition when he caught up to the camper van. “Hell, it’s just we’re going to miss you- I mean, miss having you out there in the thick o’ things, you know?” He fumbled around his overalls, and pulled out a small mining light that he sometimes wore on his hard hat.

“It’s not much, but I figured it could be of some use to you?”

Sniper looked down, and a tiny smile crept across his long, narrow face. “Thanks, Truckie”

“Don’t mention it, partner.” He sniffed and extended a gloved hand. “Good luck out there.”

Sniper stepped out of the van. “Same to you, mate,” he said in kind.

The two men embraced, holding on for one last time. The rest of the world could wait, as the entire universe stood still for this one final moment.

Engineer watched as the van drove off into the desert night, and kept looking out toward the horizon for another good hour.

When he walked back to his room, he went through the old routine: got the guitar from under the bed, sat on the edge, looked out the window, and started playing.
-----

The prompt I gave was "Demoman and Scout (at least) drunkenly singing. Preferably to celtic punk." and this is the picture I received:

It's a nice little picture and a thanks to whomever made it.

Moving Down

Recently I had to relocate to Florida, as my Dad got a new job, and I haven't gotten anything consistent. So as of this past Thursday, I'm now in Florida set up with all my internet, so I guess it's time to put up a blog of some kind.

To sum it up, I left behind one of the best cities in the world, a bunch of acting/music opportunities, and all of my friends. My Mom left behind stuff. Just... stuff.

I drove for about 26 hours from New York to Palm Beach, and not including my lingering sickness, it was not as bad as I had anticipated. The Black Keys' "El Camino" and The Stagehands' "Silent City" make good driving music.

It's a nice place, and I got my Xbox setup in my room so I don't have to interrupt the family to do RBN stuff. This area nearby, Clamatis St. is pretty much this area's version of Willamsburg/Brooklyn/Hip Place With Young People.

However, the water here sucks. It tastes like a kid peed in the pool, and they just added more chlorine to it while everyone was still inside. Oh, and I'm really starting to reach my breaking point living with my family.

At the very least Christmas was good (Kinect and Dance Central 3), and work continues on the album, and HOPEFULLY it'll be out by the very least my birthday.

Song to go: "Cliffhanger"

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

ADVENT 2012: "Hell Yeah" for Download and RBN Undercover Week 4


I'll try to get it one step closer to completion before I move tomorrow. Also, Week 4 of RBN Undercover, a cover of Brodyquest:

Monday, December 3, 2012

ADVENT 2012: Soundcloud Songs: Get' Em While You Can

So I'm going to begin to take down all the songs from the Dino Hunter M.D. Soundtrack to make room for the new versions coming soon to Bandcamp/CD. I'll be taking away one track a week, so head on over and get what you can.

So every day until the album is ready, I'm going to have the old song free to download, then delete it two days later.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

ADVENT 2012: MC Lars Talking With TED




Pretty good stuff. This and "Flow Like Poe" should help you with ANY English test!

Personally, I prefer the limerick meter myself. Check this rhyme:
There once was a man from Nantucket,
Whose co-

What was I talking about? Anyways, presently working on the album with Jesse.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

ADVENT 2012: Typing Words Like It's NaNoWriMo

SOMEWHERE IN ALL OF THIS THERE IS NEWS:

OK, yesterday I was in a Martin Scorsese film. Wow, Scorsese is auto-corrected. Not a whole lot to do, but they had the best crafty EVER!!! I need to cure my movie retardedness with him. Also getting lots of SAG wavers for this so I might actually go somewhere in this biz.

Jesse's on the phone with me right now telling me that he can make the album sound like analog tape. Sweet!

Must fight Florida, Florida is dream killer. HOWEVER, I am applying to cons in Florida, because Florida is a cheap whore that I'm using for it's lower rent and stable job that my Dad and uncle are hooking me up with. Now he's on the phone with my brother telling him how he should "Definitely check out this one place [he] found!"

PAX East is coming in a few months, and it looks like I'll be sharing a room with Owen of Ozone Entertainment. So I need the following things: Leather straps, a skintight morphsuit, a sword, and a human skull.

For a Taskmaster cosplay I might be doing. 

Later.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Guess Who Didn't Have A Podcast This Week?

Echo Chamber! Nothing to download!

-In RBN News, "Lars Attacks" by MC Lars is now available for the Rock Band Network!

-In Potentially Depressing Rhythm Bastard News, I'm going to be relocating to Florida with the family sometime by the end of the year. It sucks, but I won't let it put a damper on my music. I'll be back within a year.

-So, can we talk about The Walking Dead game? Please? After finishing up Episode 5 a couple days ago, and talking with Ozone really sealed the deal on how awesome this is and how video games can really be used to tell a story in their own way, utilizing things such as tension and catharsis to provide an emotional experience that has now raised the standard.

As a game, it's bare-bones as it gets with simple puzzles, but all this does is hide the seams that "THIS IS A VIDEOGAME". I don't even want to replay the game now, because then it would feel too much like I'm trying to get the "best" result as opposed to "Oh man, what do I do?" There will be a spoilery version of my thoughts, but for the purposes of a "HEY GUYS HERES WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO" post, this'll do.

The beauty of the game is that EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE IS THE WRONG ONE. No matter who you save, the game has a habit of making you feel guilty for it, and you know what? You'll feel bad. Everyone has their charms, everyone has their flaws, and as is with the comic, everyone can die. Just like real life, you'll be wondering "What If?" the whole time.

It's been a blast to see how other people and came to their decisions, and not once has there been a choice that has had a decision swing 100% one way.

-So to pick me up, here's a thrash version of "Pac-Man Fever"


-Then I read the Walking Dead TPB 17 and am now depressed as fuck.

-Todd In The Shadows covers Chumbawumba:


And teases that he's going to review Pac-Man Fever.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Dino Hunter MD: The Sound Track Coming Soon!

COMING NEXT WEEK TO BANDCAMP!!!  

Featuring all the songs from Dino Hunter M.D., the webseries!

Track listing:
1. College Party
2. Pass The Class
3. Robotman's Lament
4. XZ71
5. Heroes Die
6. Invisiball
7. Cliffhanger
8. Hell Yeah
9. Space Tambourin
10. Hell Yeah (Choral)
11. Spectrum

Not sure how much it's going to be yet, but all these songs have been remixed and remastered and actually sound good!

Rhythm Bastard...............Guitar, Vocals, Bass
Jesse Schopher.................Production, Bass, Keyboard
Matt Willemain.................Backing Vocals on "Hell Yeah" and "Hell Yeah (Choral)"

Original Dino Hunter M.D. Series Created By...........David K. Ginn, Jeese Schopher and Justin Meltzer

Monday, November 19, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 19

DOWNLOAD AND MAYBE WE WILL START MAKING SENSE

One thing I always wanted to do is boot up Flash again and do "animated" highlights for our discussions, and there was plenty of fodder here.

-"It's like America's two favorite things: Power and Violence!"

-"They're just yelling YOLO and jumping off cliffs"

-My description of the Crossfire Cartoon, leading into a discussion of My Little Pony

We need topics again you guys.

This Wednesday, RBN Undercover kicks off! ARE YOU STOKED GUYS?

Sunday, November 18, 2012

RBN Undercover Starts This Week!

Special thanks to Fairwood Studios for setting up the thread!

11 RBN Artists, 11 RBN songs. What's gonna happen?

DA LIST:
  • An Endless Sporadic- "Impulse"
  • Bang On A Can All-Stars- "Cheating, Lying, Stealing"
  • Buckner and Garcia- "Pac-Man Fever"
  • Evanescence- "Going Under"
  • Flogging Molly- "Requiem For A Dying Song"
  • iwrestledabearonce- "Tastes Like Kevin Bacon"
  • Jukebox The Ghost- "Schizophrenia"
  • Lemon Demon- "BRODYQUEST"
  • The Main Drag- "Don't Let Me Down (Slowly)"
  • OK Go- "White Knuckles"
  • Rainbowdragoneyes- "Heavy Weather: The Storm Ov The Undead"
A lot of really good diversity in here, with plenty of hits, alongside some solid indie tracks and METAL that the RBN is known for. Right now, I'm updating the YouTube page with links to the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy the songs.

First video goes up Wednesday!


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Todd In The Shadows: Worst of 2004



It's amazing both how memorable and how forgettable each song on this list was.

10. This was one of those first "Oh yeah..." songs, where I remember Jessica Simpson being a big deal back in the day. Like, seriously, EVERYONE knew about about "Chicken Of The Sea" thing. Now, maybe it's just how the pop machine works these days, but is she still doing music? I was on a shoot yesterday, and this was a subject that came up: as big as noone is, artists really don't have albums you can get excited about, it's just a constant stream of singles. Is she even doing that?

9. Nickelback. I've mentioned it on a previous podcast, but I'll gladly take "How You Remind Me" and "Someday" butt-rock Nickelback over "Photograph" acoustic red-state-rock (for Canadians) Nickelback, and "S.E.X." date-rapist Nickelback.

8. Hey guys, remember Sean Paul? More and more, I'm starting to take a better look and what goes on behind the scenes of the music industry, and when I start to see familiar names of producers and songwriters, things become a little more clear. For example, Metallica's "musical un-integrity" era from the Black album through St. Anger was because the producer for all of those albums also worked on a lot of Glam Rock like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. Scott Storch's involvement in nearly every pop song from '03 to '06 brings a lot of that era into focus. With, as Mr. Intheshadows puts it, world music riff with a hip hop beat. He also did Paris Hilton's album. Wow.

7. The band that made "Crawling In The Dark" was responsible for this shit.LET THAT SINK IN.

6. Good news about text is that I don't have to care how Chingy is pronounced. "Right Thurr" I remember, but this one I forgot all about.

5. Another song I don't remember, but this song is quintessentially the psuedo-RnB comeback that came up a lot in 2004. The interstital song

4. Kelis' "Milkshake" was never really a song to me. It was more like "background noise". Like me and my friends in high school would be at a dance, or in any public place, and this song would just happen in the background. If my life were a movie, this song would not be on the soundtrack to my high school years (that of course belongs to R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" and Green Day's "American Idiot"), but rather in the Official Score To The Movie Based On Rhythm Bastard's Life (the kind of thing that only hardcore movie geeks buy) under the title "There Are More Than 2 Young People In A Public Establishment and Having A Good Time"

This video though was the first time I ever actually saw what Kelis looks like. Not bad.

3. Don't remember. Don't want, moving on.

2. Holy crap this guy is so whiny. I remember the hook "All those kisses didn't mean jack it/Don't want you back", but listening to this again, it sounds like Eamon is crying through out the whole thing.

1. OH GOD. Now, count me in the camp that likes "Funny" Eminem. This is back when that meant "Real Slim Shady" and "Without Me". Listening to this song again is a rehash of "We Made You": No flow, no bite and too juvenile to be taken seriously. It's appropriate that the hook of the sounds like a car horn; it's urging you to go ahead and keep moving, because there's nothing here for you. Seriously, Eminem implies, get the fuck out of here.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Podcast 18

DOWNLOAD AND DONATE 5 OZONEBUX TO THE ARCANON DROPKICK FUND

This was probably the most funnest episode we did in a while!

-THE AWESOME FANTASY!!!


-THE DISAPPOINTING REALITY!!!


-This was another one where as SOON as we went off, I thought off a dozen more, but those were all video game related, and while we did bring up the Halo Theme at the end, it was mostly songs heard in 30 seconds. And to be honest, it's not that memorable to me, at least because I always skip the intros and stuff. But it is a point to make in the "Video Game Theme" episode: Not a lot of earworms in modern gaming. Halo has a good theme, BUT that will not stick in your head the same way anything from the 8 or 16 bit era would. Not to say the games are "scored" these days are to its disadvantage, far from it. However, a "score" and a "theme" are two different things.

-Back to the topic, a "theme" sets the scene for the TV show. A lot of shows these days don't really do that, instead co-opting another song. "Community" is a fucking amazing show, but it's song has not a lot to do with the show itself. Contrast that with "The Big Bang Theory", while I do not enjoy the show itself, the theme by The Barenaked Ladies sums up the show quite well: Science, more science, and friends that all game together because an invisible skyman of events that followed the Big Bang.

-However, the Pysch theme is one of those awesome little coincidences (It's about a guy posing as a psychic detective to solve crimes)


And let's face, the show is pretty damn awesome.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Green Day's DOS! Streaming On Rolling Stone

HERE

"See You Tonight"- Nice little acoustic ditty, reminds me of something by Simon and/or Garfunkel. It's only a minute, so it doesn't outstay it's welcome.

"Fuck Time"- This was the song in the preview for "Dos!". Not a fan of the chorus, though. At least the solo's solid, and it is a nice departure from the usual Green Day fare.

"Stop When The Red Lights Flash"- That hook is really what drives the song, and comes in at just the right time. The solo's OK, a lot of bends.

"Ashley"- They're using the phrase "screaming bloody murder" a lot in these two albums. It's like the phrase "When the lights go out" in Danger Days: The Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance. Of all the songs, so far this is the closest to something of Dookie.

"Lazy Bones"- "The silence is so deafening it's like picking at a sore"? Really? The intro is really close to that of "Give Me Novocaine", but at least they do something interesting with the progression.

"Wild  One"- Eh, is all I can really say. Some good lyrics, but like "Oh Love!" from Uno! it plods on for way longer that it should.

"Makeout Party"- A song written by men who are all married and have children. As a song it fucking rules, but this fact kept going in the back of mind. Tre's drumming is really good in this at least, and the second solo acts as a nice cliff before the quiet bridge.

"Stray Heart"- I'M WORTH A MILLION IN PRI- I mean, it's a great beat and all, but wait- This sounds so much like Jet it's not even funny. Green Day's Power-Pop-Punk now I guess.


"Baby Eyes"- All right, now we're back to the punk! And it's about shooting babies!

"Lady Cobra"- Harkens back to the Foxboro Hot Tubs days, which I liked a lot.

"Nightlife"- Wow. They're really trying to get into the Top 40 with this shit. This must be the first time Green Day had a guest vocalist.

"Wow! That's Loud"- Like Lady Cobra, I'm getting the FBHT vibe from this

"Amy"- Pass.

So overall, it sounds a lot better than Uno!, which I put toward the bottom of the Green Day canon, but this  I'd say resides in the top half.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Halloween Party: The Movie

Henry Rollins. Tom Waits. Iggy Pop.

These are just some of the awesome rock legends that also act in cool things watched by awesome people. Tonight, I present to you IN A TOTALLY TIMELY FASHION, A movie by my friends at Cannibal Troll "Halloween Party"!

Also featuring two new songs, "Sounds Of The Macktastic Coffee Shop" and "Halloween Party In Da House". I also heard "Space Tambourine" in there too. 


FUN FACT:: I was wearing that same shirt in my "Pass The Class" video. 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

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":




Saturday, October 27, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 15

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET!
 


New York Comic Con was a lot of fun, I made some new friends, and I got some really good books, "Twisted Dark" by Neil Gibson, and "I Kill Giants" by Joe Kelly (writer of Superman vs. The Elite and Deadpool vol. 1).

I have an NYCC video I've been meaning to put up, but I also got a lot of stuff I have to do to get the DHMD Soundtrack ready. ALSO BONUS SONG!!!

So yesterday, after I've mentioned on this podcast that I'm all Gangnam Style'd out, three things happened:

1. Dance Central announces "Gangnam Style" as DLC

2. Just Dance 4 announces "Gangnam Style" as DLC

3. I get asked to be a security guard in a beer commercial that Psy is doing. It was for Heit Beer, which is a Korean Beer, and after a quick Google search revealed Psy is going to be the new spokesperson. So, I'm walking toward holding, and on set, what do I see, but PSY in big letters.

"Oh fuck", I thought.

Then he did the dance and everything live, and suddenly I forgot that I've heard "HEEEYY SEXY LADIES!" 9001 times.Also, TONS of ladies in skimpy club outfits, while I was macking on extra swag in my suit and shades.

Like most extra shoots, it was long hours and little pay, but at least I got a story out of it.

And here's Deadpool again:

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Redeem 400 Posts for 3 Albums

 So, at long last, I'm announcing three album length projects I'm working, AS WELL AS a date for my next live performance. Let's get to it!

1. DINO HUNTER MD: THE SOUND TRACK.
All the songs for the webseries, Dino Hunter M.D., now remastered, remixed, re-everythinged, with two new bonus songs! Me and the guys at Cannibal Troll were talking about releasing a proper album for some time now, since the closest anyone has ever had to a physical soundtrack was the copies we gave with the DVD at I-Con in the halycon days of this past March. Also, making the video for "Pass The Class" gave way to a better version, since my singing has gotten a lot better, and not under the stress of a deadline.

So this would be out by November on Bandcamp, and talks of physical copies will come as the project nears completion.

2. A TEAM FORTRESS 2 INSPIRED CONCEPT ALBUM (CURRENTLY TITLED "STATUS QUO RADIO")
So after getting a good earful of "The Protomen (Act 1)", and seeing the "American Idiot" musical, this project has been in the works for EASILY the past two years. In fact, my Soundcloud has a few early demos. Go ahead!

The idea came for this really after the first time I played TF2 and started writing my own music: an album where each song would be inspired by each of the different classes. It's finally nearing completion, as it's been on and off for a while.

This one I'll try to have out by January 11th, as part of 2013's State Of The Bastard Address.

3. ACTION BASTARD (A COMPENDIUM OF COMICS BASED ON COMICS)
"Axe Punk" and "Wanderin' Johnny" were just the tip of the iceberg. After NYCC and broadening my horizons a little bit, this will be along the lines of the DHMD soundtrack: what I've already got redone given better equipment and know-how, along with some new songs that have been in the ether for a while, based on Atomic Robo, webcomic Manly Guys Doing Manly Things and more?

This would be coming out around Spring time for PAX East.

NEXT SHOW:
Halloween Spooktacular! It's my first house party gig for some friends who are well equipped with video, so you won't have a shitty recording like my Dad is known for.I'm looking for some good Halloween-y type songs to cover, so drop me some suggestions.

HOW IT REALLY WENT DOWN:
RB: OK, I made 400 posts on a blog that hardly anybody reads, what does that get me?

Clerk: Well, for 10 you can get a Chinese Finger Trap, and fox 800,000 you can get a Nintendo Wii!

RB: Just a Wii?

Clerk: Yeah.

RB: Fuck that, what's over here?

Clerk: Oh, those are just albums that you've already been working on in some capacity that you've finally decided to go ahead with full throttle.

RB: How much?

Clerk: 120.

RB: I'll take three! And that Milky Way bar for 40.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 14

HERE IS WHERE YOU WOULD DOWNLOAD IT!

AND HERE IS WHERE I TALK ABOUT IT- oh

Right, so this week we all talked about live shows!

-First and foremost, the Rhythm Dadstard (a.k.a. Lead Bastard, a.k.a. My Dad!) made a guest appearance to talk about one of his concert stories, where he saw the J. Geils Band before they got all synth-poppy and popular.

Thank you so much, Dad, and despite my lukewarm reception for Pink Floyd and The Band and whatever other Dad Rock you play in the car, you're still the music man to me :)

-First live show I ever went to see was The Blue Man Group for my 18th Birthday. I just remember being entranced the whole show with this spectacle of light and sound. While I'm sure there's tons and tons pages of explanations and whys and hows for the act, it still delivers one hell of a show that can entertain everyone. Maybe I should learn how to play "Axe Punk" on PVC piping... 


-I wasn't lying about Green Day:


-I don't know whether or not I'm jealous or lucky that I haven't gotten into any fights at shows. Then again, nerdcore fans aren't known for their physicality. Ska fans maybe, since their kind of dancing involves kicking the air (skanking), though not as bad as the hardcore kids who think they're in an invisible game of Final Fight. (N.B. If you hardcore dance at shows, then you're too young to remember Final Fight.)

-The Platinum Banana is NONE OF YOUR GODDAMNED BUISNESS!!! AnimeCow, if you're reading this, make sure you respond to the proxy's prompt with "Flip the broccoli"

-THIS JUST IN! MORE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW!

-THIS ALSO JUST IN! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT FRIDAY!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 13

DOWNLOADEN ZAQUI!!

Our musical histories! The biggest thing I left out? From 7th grade through my sophmore year of college I played trumpet.

For all of high school, I played for the Concert Band at Townsend Harris High School, and for my first year of college I was on the Stony Brook Marching Band, back in its infacy. It's been kinda cool to hear from old friends on Facebook and stuff how big the bands getting, playing in parades in the Bronx and stuff.

So when this video's been making the rounds, I can't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia for those halcyon days:

Monday, October 8, 2012

This 398th Post is Killing Time Until The 400th One



OK, Cool.

No, wait, not cool. Two of those posts are things I copy pasted from Something Awful. Damn.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Nerdist Presents: Henry Rollins

It's an amazing interview and every time this man opens his mouth I'm inspired. So I've started buying more RBN songs, inspired by Henry Rollins "One Album a Day" thing.

So far I've bought:
"-20% For Being A Loser" Very dirty, loose metal, kinda like The Melvins. -20% reccomendation if that shit's a My Little Pony reference.

"24-7"- Nice, laid back song with a good guitar line, and a strong drum beat. Resembles Young The Giant if you listen to your local alt rock station.

"28 Days"- Probably my favorite song out of the three, it's got a lot of energy. My best comparison? Probably R.E.M. in it's peppier tones.

Someone on the Something Awful Forums randomly tipped me off to this song, by Japanese artist Cornelius, "Last Night In Africa" and I LEGITIMATELY OBTAINED the album that came from, 69/96.

Also picked up Green Day's oldest album (1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours) and newest album (Uno!) in the same FYE trip.Listening to Uno! right now. Nothing terribly special. It's a return to more straight forward rock, but something feels lacking.

Right now, a lot of my efforts are on the Rock Band Network stuff and getting "Hell Yeah" and "Lars Attacks" passed and playtested. However, in addition to a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON, I'm trying to put out a new song every two weeks.

Monday, September 17, 2012

NEW SONG: "Enlist Today!"



Yeah, this pretty much word for word what happened the day before... Nevermind...

This is my first song done entirely in Studio One and with my new interface, and I'm getting the hang of a lot of things, so hopefully this means I can work more independently, and bringing my friend Jesse in would only add the production, not be the be all end all.

Hmmm... looks like I'm only a couple posts away from the big 400...

Friday, September 14, 2012

September 14th, 2012 RBN Liveblogging

Doin' some work on "Lars Attacks!" and "Hell Yeah"

7:36 PM- Mega64 Podcast on, coffee in my mug, let's do this. I got some people working on a song tentatively titled "Class2", so that should be up Sunday the latest.

7:49 PM- The Walking Dead game is SOOOOO good you guys. Seriously. Oh man.

You know what else was good? The notes Ozone sent me for the vocals on "Hell Yeah". The problem is, he reccomended adding a third vocal track, but a lot of these stems are bused together, and the one that is free isn't very interesting and is only in the third chorus. I guess it'll go in as well, since "This Gigantic Robot Kills" had that third harmony bit in the bridge and only then.

8:07 PM- You know what else is a good zombie thing? Dead Alive. Peter Jackson directed it, there's some hilariously awesome scenes in it, and really the entire thing plays out like a class in Subtext 101. Once you get past the weird New Zeland-ese accents, it's a fun time and much better than that piece of shit Street Fighter me and my friends saw after that movie.

8:17 PM- Now I'm TRYING to fit in a HARM3 part, but these vocals are bused solid, and I don't have the original project files. Right now my priority is getting it re-uploaded.

So anyways, The Walking Dead game. It TECHNICALLY has no wrong decisions, they're all in your head, where one decision could screw over the politics of your group, and a character who I thought was my ally turned on me over the course of the episode, because I tried to play things too diplomatically, which I believe led me to find a serious character flaw about myself. In trying to please everybody, I please nobody, and that leaves me miserable.

Also, my stem for this week's podcast uploaded. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 9

Download it here fools!

I wasn't able to make it this week and all my podcast bros (save for AnimeCow) got it before me, so I haven't been able to comment on it until now.

At least they remembered me :3

TOPICS DISCUSSED:
-I got "Stronger" out of the way as soon as possible because fuck that song.

-If I had gotten a copy free, I would have bought some songs from Single White Infidel, Freen In Green, Brucker & Garcia and Mystakin, but alas I got Walking Dead Episode 2 instead. Don't worry, I'll pick some up when I buy WD Episode 3.

-It's a completely different beast than Amplitude/Frequnecy/Rock Band Unplugged, and in a way, it becomes an entirely new game.

At first I thought since there were only going to be two "buttons" is would be easier, but not as easy as I thought. Some of those solos can mess up with your timing.

One advantage of having it "simpler" is to put more focus on strategics; what power-ups you're going to use, what track you go to first, how you level everything up, etc.

-One strategy I learned from the podcast: Blast notes and Bottle Rockets are your friends. On slower tracks, I tend to go for the Jackpot Overdrive power up.

-The Walking Dead is really fucking good you guys.

-New song should be up by the end of the week.

Friday, August 31, 2012

NEW SONG: "Let The Bombs Go Off"




So, I have officially graduated to Studio One. Jesse Schopher, who did all of the work of the Dino Hunter MD Soundtrack, uses it and hooked me up with all of the plugins he uses, and gave me a crash course in mixing and setting up my stems, and this song I did pretty much all by myself, after he showed me how to bus drums and stuff like that.

I've used REAPER and Audacity in the past, but seeing Studio One in action has straight up blown me away, with how good it is for mixing. Maybe it's because it's what Jesse's familiar with, but playing around with this thing has absolutely blown me away, especially using the plug-ins. While it has made things "too easy", when you work 8 to 5 and trying to get this music shit off the ground, any little bit helps.

Besides, I'd like to think my strength lies is songwriting :)

:(

X(

:smileyforinfinitesadness

This was another one of those songs that sort of came to me when I was dicking around on the guitar and built around one particular riff, so D# octave was the seed for this song. 

FUN FACT: The working title for this song was "Class 4"

FUN FACT:  JTHomeslice deserves big ups for this:


I've yet to pick it up because I'm not sure if I'm going to be fired after my first week on the job, and I'd like to make it to at the very least the first paycheck.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 8

PODCAST TIME!!

Hope you didn't die from the explosion!

I just want to introduce Jeff to the least sucky Christmas song:


As far as subject matter goes, this one I had trouble with, since I'm not a very aggressive person and are all like "this sucks that sucks". I keep all my hate on the inside.But my first thought when I hear a bad song isn't "Why did they do wrong?" it's "What didn't they do right?". Or turn it off.

One thing I didn't mention as my least favorite Green Day song: "Ha Ha You're Dead". You see, occassionally I suffer bouts of mental retardation, during one of which I thought the Deadpool movie would still be a thing someday, and looking through some Green Day videos on YouTube, I saw the title "Ha Ha You're Dead" and thought "Hey, this should totally be in the totally-gonna-happen Deadpool movie!"



At first it was all right, but every time it comes on my MP3 Player, the thing just plods along and doesn't live up to the hooks Green Day is known for. 

Then again, it was off Shenanigans, their B-Side album, so it was practically a non-contender in greater context of their catalog.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Why August 26th Is A Good Day

-Working on Lars Attacks and Hell Yeah for Rock Band Network, and should be uploading new versions soon.

-Finishing up 2 new songs! Check my NG account. However I'm also...

-Playing Team Fortress 2's new Mann vs. Machine mode! At first it seemed like too much to take in (upgrades? Waves? What is this witchcraft?!?), but it's a lot of fun, especially if you have a tenacious group of bot battlers.

-Speaking of which, Team Fortress is 16 years old! It started as a mod for Quake, then after the designers were hired by Valve, it was ported over to the GoldSrc engine where it became a mod for Half Life in 1999. The sequel Team Fortress 2 was in development for a while until its release in October 2007. So, no, you're not (that) old.

-Also, today just so happens to be the day that "Status Quo Radio", the first, last and only single by my first band, The Bastards, hit #1 on the Rock And/Or Roll Type Music chart in 1968!

Of course, later that day, the rest of my band died in a freak groupie accident right on the stage of Rock Everyone Demands!, the most popular of all 1960's music countdown shows, save for Best List Undisputed!, it's most heated rival.

That's another story for another time. All I'm saying is, I got some wicked cool scars out of it.

FREE DOWNLOAD:


-All my podcast bros seem to have Rock Band Blitz before me. NO I'M NOT JELLY AT ALL!!

-To show how NOT JELLY I am, here's an Adam WarRock vid:

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 7

POST GAME MOFOS! 

-So the reason why Black Album was a major departure for Metallica was because producer Bob Rock worked on stuff that was more glam, like Dr. Feelgood and Slippery When Wet. Metallica still had to make the conscious decision to write the Black Album, but that certainly contributed.

-Musical Un-Intregrity was actually used on Wikipedia for "selling out" in reference to Metallica:
Exact definition for musical un-integrity:
Musical un-intergrity is a specific music industry term for when a band totally sells out and becomes super gay to listen to like all that faggy Justin Bieber shit. Like, when they do something all retarded and shit, and now they're all fuckin' lame and gay and retarded.


Also I'm 14 and just got into Metallica after listening to "One" in Guitar Hero 3 and hearing all the grown ups talk about it, so now I only listen to real music.


See also: Having your band in Angry Birds as pigs.


-One "BIG CHANGE" in music, at least relevant to me: The Aquabats and the lack of horns in their last two albums.
This video sums it up rather well:

I can see where they're coming from: They wanted to keep things lean, and while wanting bigger cuts might equate to selling out, Charge! and Hi Five Soup! are awesome and it's just a different sound, trading one inspiration (fellow ska bands), to another (New wave, ala Devo)

-Due to a conversation I recently had with Owen of Ozone Ent, who edits and hosts the podcast, I am now aware that a Buckner and Garcia song exists for a certain game I recently mentioned.

-The Walking Dead Episode 1 was really good. Like, Deadly Premonition but without those retarded wall crawling baddies.

-So's this:


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Echo Chamber Podcast Post Game Episode 5 and 6

Pop music uses auto-tune, ergo I can kill two birds with one stone. I'm not lazy.

HERE'S THE EPISODE!

The only real standout here is that GUYS WE FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT ZIMOS FROM SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD!!


I want that cane RIGHT NOW, but all I got is this headset.


So, Saints Row: The Third, eh? Great game, got the base 1000 GS, but toward the end it got really easy, and therefore really boring. When you can be borderline invincible, and have infinite ammo, the risk is gone. Like, "I COULD use this rocket launcher, but I might need it for this next mission" or, "Boy, glad I made it out of THAT scrape!"

A game where you can smack people with dildos getting tiresome.

Don't get me wrong, there were still plenty of fun parts. The story continued to be surprisingly well done, with lots of twists and turns and good characters. Killbane made me think that gold chains and a luchadore mask are the best accessories ever. As it went it on, SRTT came down with a case of the Try-Hards.

Lastly, nobody show Owen/Ozone this video:


OK, cool. He gets kind of face-clawy when Katy Perry and Glee come together.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

WarRock/Math/Lars Show August 10th

Long story short, I got a lot of awesome music for not a lot of money. DIY FTW.

Also, I learned that Lemon Drop shots are for suckers (no pun intended). It's like, "Well, that was a waste, I'm not drunk!" and then you suck on the sugary lemon wedge and it's like "All is forgiven!"

But you're still sober.

I missed WarRock, but managed to come halfway through Math The Band's set. They said, with their music, "Welcome! HERE'S A WALL OF SOUND!!" and it was good. The energy from that set was unmatched.

MC Lars played all the hits, and guested with everybody. No, I'm serious, if at any point they worked with Lars, they came onstage. WarRock rapped on "Generic Crunk Rap", MC Frontalot came on for "O.G. Original Gamer", Schaffer The Darklord did "Do The Bruce Campbell", Justine from Math The Band was on Ahab, and some guy from the band that did "Teenage Dirtbag" played bass for the whole set. Atone point he freestyled using random items the audience had, and he hit that shit 100%.

I picked up the Edgar Allen Poe EP from Lars, Math The Band's EP, and Adam WarRock's new album "You Dare Call Thing Human?".

I will we talking about ALL of this on the podcast this week!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Axe Cop Soundtrack Pitch Video



SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU CAN!! I'd like to thank David and Jesse of Cannibal Troll for helping me out with this.







 I got a job offer today for an engineering job which I've grown to detest for the past few months but hey at least it has medical and pension, because it's ok, I can still be one of those fat guys who "jam" with their other old guy friends covering folk music shit like mrs. robinson or me and julio down by the school yard or whatever other shit the classic rock radio format is trying to shove down my throat at the bar once every month and while we think we're getting somewhere we really aren't, and that will be good enough because it's what I'm supposed to do, even though I'm borderline suicidal for the past month or so and this is just another instance of me shrugging my shoulders and going "I guess" yet again, because I've always felt the pressure to "keep it safe" and "do the SMART thing" even though I'm 24, which I'm told is time to start settling down yet is super young and I still have all my life ahead of me, but fuck all of that, I guess I'm retiring from this music shit for a 42500 a year job, and I'm filled with regret because I never gave this thing a proper shot, and seriously, I feel like I'm trapped and dying and nothing I do is going to change it because fuckers like Mitt Romney run the world and I'm told to be thankful I have a job, and I can't talk to any of my friends about because they have either drank the kool-aid and jizzing their pants over HVAC plans and are content with what they do or are unemployed spending time what I want to do, which I guess means I finally get those people who yell "Get A Job" at the Occupy Wall Street protesters because misery loves company, I guess, so anyway, please give a shit about my music, but nobody has for the past 4 years of this blog, so why should anyone start now,

Monday, July 30, 2012

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 4

This week on The Echo Chamber: "I listen to pretty much everything except rap and country"!

And now I do the post-game thingy where I share links and thoughts that didn't make it in, like how "Playin' Invisiball", the song for the theme, is pretty country.

-So the main takeaway from this episode is basically "Don't Listen To The Radio".

I live in New York City where the only rock station is Q104.3, the "classic rock station" that plays Green Day and Pearl Jam. Everything else is either "Lite Music", "Hip Hop" or "Top 40" which is essentially the bastard child of the two. When everything is watered down for the sake of a crossover hit, you can't really get a "feel" for the genre, since it's not what you want, it's what the market wants.

-Also, maybe it's just me, but rap and country, for all their brutal honesty, can be pretty depressing to listen to. With rap, you have a lot of outward frustration with a system that has all but ignored you, and the music is broadcasting to the world in the hopes that someone will listen. With country, it's more of a contemplative, inward focus, by playing whatever you'd have on you. The "country" is very sparse, very lonely, but at the same time, a little empowering.

-That Nickelback story and the "Mexican Sandwich" story are my favorite ones to tell.

-Cowpunk rules. Thanks, Jeff. 

-Also, Facebook has You Don't Know Jack. THANKS A LOT JEFF.

-That Guy With The Glasses has a Rap Critic. Haven't seen much from him, but he knows what he's talking about.

-Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, in all its glory:


-The Dave Chapelle Sketch that no one heard of :(


And yes, THOSE WERE REAL TWEETS:

Sunday, July 29, 2012

"Hell Yeah" RBN Liveblogging Part 3



6:30 PM- I figured the melody out on a piano while on the set for a movie the Cannibal Troll guys are doing. So I booted up REAPER, and tried it out, it just finished Auditioning... So good to have a free couple of hours to try things out!

6:39 PM- A couple of errors here and there, but I think I got this thing figured out. This is the part where singing lessons might come in handy... :(

6:54 PM- Using the chords I played during the song, This melody is almost licked. The good thing about authoring vocal melodies is that I get behind the real nuts and bolts of the song. I guess that's why I'm the Rhythm Bastard and not the Lead Bastard.

However, anytime I ask my Dad to do anything a "manager" would, I call him Lead Bastard :)

6:58 PM- "Who wants to put on some blindfolds and get in my car?" Oh Gravity Falls, you so silly.

7:19 PM- So, three tries later, I've got the first verse 100% accurate. Woohoo.  

8:00 PM- Back from dinner, this shit's working, and I'm halfway through Gravity Falls. Grunkle is the creepiest way to say "uncle" ever.

8:35 PM- Now on to the bridge, where hopefully I've got it.

Also this weekend I discovered the Walking Dead.

8:55 PM- Finished vocals! All I need to do is add overdrive and practice and this baby will be available for Rock Band... Playtesters!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 3

This week was covers!

As usual, I give a brief overview of what we talked about, and 

-This should give you a basic guide for our discussion:





















The comic is by Winston Rowntree, who does the wordy, but still well done comic "Subnormailty" This is from his Cracked.com sidegig, "Abnormality" which has a lot less words, and a LOT easier on the ol' bandwidth.

-We discussed how The Misfits and Bob Dylan get covered a lot, therefore if I were to be in charge of the List Of Standards, it would be all The Static Age and Blood On The Tracks.

-I was pretty silent during Garage Inc. discussion since I'm not big into metal, but holy shit this is life changing:


-So two bands that I love the shit out of (as you might be able to tell from reading this blog), Green Day and The Aquabats, have both covered "Knowledge" by Operation Ivy. It's a really easy song, and I've covered it live before. I think this was the answer to the question: Has any cover benefitted from slowing it down?
The Aquabats, Campfirin' it up:


Green Day, proving how simple this song is:


-Yes Mystakin, I WAS upset and I AM a Ramones fan >:(
Musically they're not the most interesting thing, but I gotta represent Queens.

-There exists a bootleg of me covering "Party Rock Anthem" at I-Con 31. It WILL surface eventually...

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 2

This week on the Echo Chamber we talked about the Tony Hawk Soundtracks!

- I already talked about the Hawkman before, so peep this, homies.

- The song I embarrased myself to, separated by 8 years: "Imaginary Places" by Busdriver


The track is sampled from Bach's "Minuet and Badinerie Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor"

- The trivia question at the end about the song about washing yourself is "If You Must" by Del The Funky Homosapien


-Taskmaster would be a WAY better Marvel character to put in THPSHD. You know, photographic reflexes and all. Though Spiderman, according to the most recent movie, was actually a pretty good fit. Also in "Wait, what?" category of bonus characters: Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Eddie (Iron Maiden's mascot) and Gene Simmons.

-Since this thing got out so late, I actually got a chance to download and play THPSHD. It's still a lot of fun, but kinda feels off to me. Regardless, plenty to get OCD about, especially on old THPS 1 levels. Also, the lack of  splitscreen multiplayer is a big minus. Hopefully patches will fix that?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch 2012 Poll

VOTE NOW!

It's that time of year again; the Audio Deathmatch for NewGrounds Audio Portal supremacy! In order to audition, I need to submit my BEST song to audition. What do you think I should put down?

I was thinking either "Hell Yeah", "Cliffhanger" or "Wanderin Johnny". "Status Quo Radio" isn't up on NewGrounds yet, so I don't know. I tried "Axe Cop" last year and I didn't make it in.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

"Pass The Class" Music Video

Ladies and gentlemen, MY FIRST MUSIC VIDEO!
Hell Yeah! This took 4 days on 4 different weekends, but at long last, it all came together! Me and the Cannibal Troll guys are definitely doing more work together! I was reading over an article Adam Warrock did, 10 Things I Learned While Shooting, Directing & Editing My First Music Video, and a lot of it rang really true, especially the bit about lip-synching and letting the camera run.

With that, I'd like to propose my own list of stuff I learned:
1. Sing it, don't lip-synch it.- If you sing it, you get all that emotion and it comes through in the video and singing helped me a lot with how I looked on camera.

2. Have a plan, or don't- 90% of the shots in this video were made up on the spot, and we had nothing but a general guideline to go off of, and minus the beginning, sometimes the weirdness adds to the video.  

3. REALLY FUCKING SELL IT- Especially since you can't see my eyes or eyebrows, it's kind of hard to emote. I lost my eyes in a groupie accident with my old band, The Bastards, in 1968, so I need to wear the goggles to see. As long as I look like I'm into it, then you'll be into it to!


4. At the end of the day, I'd rather be weird- David Ginn, the director basically doesn't give a fuck, and there's a very human element to that, even if with my square jaw and beefy fram,If this music video ends up not working, at least it won't be ignored. As long as it makes the viewer feel something or think something, then I've done my job.

Making Of Video:

NewGrounds Audio Deathmatch

It's that time of year again, the Audio Deathmatch for NG Audio Portal supremacy! In order to audition, I need to submit my BEST song to audition. What do you think I should put down?
I was thinking either "Hell Yeah", "Cliffhanger" or "Wanderin Johnny"
I tried "Axe Cop" last year and I didn't make it in.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Echo Chamber Episode 1 Post Game- Summer Jams

So recently I was on the pilot for a new podcast called "The Echo Chamber" with Jeff Webster of Single White Infidel, Arcanon of Chart Toppers Authoring and The Anime Cow of... Anime?

Our pilot episode discussed Summer Jams, spurned by the NPR list of summer jams throughout the ages.

Some things we kinda covered that I'd like to talk about anyway:
-HOLY SHIT WE FORGOT "TUBTHUMPING" BY CHUMBAWUMBA

-Ska is the ultimate summer jam music, and I SAW A BUNCH OF THEM ON JUNE 27th! Quick hits: Suburban Legends: I only caught the last few songs of their set, but I regretted every second I was stuck in suckjob. OR SHOULD I SAY DAY JOB? Bought an album from them, which has been a really good road trip soundtrack. Plenty of good Rock Band fodder in there ;)

Big D and the Kids Table I recognized the least, but they put on a good set.

Joe Manganiello introduced Goldfinger, and these guys make Green Day look lethargic. I learned how to fist (lead with the index) and saw a fan eat a Twinkie on stage. The only two I recognized were "Superman" and "99 Red Balloons" which made for an enthralling encore.

Reel Big Fish played all the biggies, and MORE! During the encore they played "Take On Me" and for some reason a bunch of idiots vacated the theater, so I was like third row from the back for the latter half of the show. A lot of fun, and one of the rare shows that was reasonably priced and someplace reasonable to get to after work.

-Is it me, or have arcade games gotten harder? Especially racing and fighting games, so you have to by a save card to play it over and over again so you can upgrade your character and car, so you have to throw more money at it. BULL. SHIT.

-Working (maybe) on a new song "Doing Some Crack and Cheating On My Girl" 

Anyway, we WILL be doing it again. YOU CAN'T STOP US!!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

July 4th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

VIDEO I SHOULD BE POSTING ON THIS DAY: "Washington" by The Professor Brothers


Celebrating our greatest founding father, George Washington, who kicked all the redcoats apart, and then banged England's Queen which is why we have Irish people now.

In 1777, George Washington saw a small British child drowning and didn't give a fuck. That's because that child died and later reincarnated as Adolf Hitler, who Washington would later shoot in the face in 1945.

VIDEO I WANTED TO POST REGARDLESS: "Princes Of The Universe" by Queen


We talked about this in the "Pass The Class" behind the scenes. God damn is Freddie Mercury an amazing frontman.

Confession: I've never seen Highlander. It's like Eps 5 and 6 of Star Wars, where I've seen bits and pieces, but never the whole thing continuously. 

What other movies am I an idiot for missing? Post in the comments below!

Monday, June 25, 2012

First Music Video!

Yesterday was Day 2 of shooting the music video for "Pass The Class".



It felt so good to reunite with the Cannibal Troll crew again! It sucks they're an hour away, but that makes the trip all the more worth it. What I always need are people who I can bounce ideas off of.

A lot of the scenes we did were planned no more than an hour in advance, and I'm pretty sure planning would have ruined it. It's my first music video, so I'm a little nervous, and the second one I have planned out a bit more.

Like I've mentioned before, this blog is akin to a workout log for me, so I can check my progress and see where I'm at and get feedback. I love the feeling of "when it all comes together" and music provides a fun space where I can do all that, and my first music video is a big milestone, because I found people who care about this thing and it feels great. The feeling's mutual, because I wouldn't have worked on Dino Hunter MD if I didn't think it would be fun.

I'll be seeing Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger and Suburban Legends this Wednesday, so no Video Of The Week.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

"Hell Yeah" RBN Liveblogging Part 2



8:19 PM- Warming up my vocals, trying to get the "Obsessive Compulsive" Achievement. Got the wifi to work on this laptop, so I don't have to go back and forth.

8:37 PM- 100% on "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver"

9:04 PM- DOWN TO BUSINESS. First transfer. Sound levels: could be better. Drums, in all of my initial tests, were coming in low, here it sounds acceptable. However later in the song, there's a guitar solo, and it comes in really soft, while the BG comes in louder. So I'm probably going to have to do some Audacity Work.

9:40 PM- Did a couple runthroughs of the song, focusing right now on the timing of the vocals before I work on leveling. One thing I need by me whenever I do vocals is like a mini keyboard so I don't have to guess at the melody. Hmm...

9:54 PM- Found guitar, using that. BOOSH!

10:04 PM- Watching "Todd In The Shadows" while the latest version uploads to the Xbox.

10:12 PM- Back to the guitar to figure this damn thing out. So far, it's coming along. FUCK YOU AUTOMATIC VOCAL DETECTION IN REAPER.

10:41 PM- Got the melodies as best I can for now. Fortunately Matt, the backup singer did a pretty good job on this, and was pretty accurate.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

June 20th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Boom (Smash Stuff)" by Akira The Don at XFM

Sampling the song "Connection" by Elastica, here comes "Boom!" EXPLODING OUT OF YOUR SPEAKERS.

GET IT?

No, but seriously, you ever have a jam session and everyone is just so into it and on point that's it's the greatest fucking thing ever? Akira the Don, Why Lout and friends perform "Boom" live on XFM radio, and they're feelin' it, man.

The song, or at least the remix is on ATD's mixtape "Third Hand Wire Riffs". It has a lot of good songs set to 90's alt-rock beats, and I think it's the first ATD thing I ever downloaded.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Levels" by Avicii

In the same day I was shown "Legs" by ZZ Top, I was shown this video for my master class on "What The Hell Is This: Music Videos 101".

I am now convinced that dance videos are possibly the new forefront of  the art of music video. No words to give context, only pure raw id, since the "hey we're at a club" scenario is played out, so the only thing left to publish is insanity set to infectious dance beats in beat to the mix.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

"Hell Yeah" RBN Liveblogging Part 1



1:04 PM EST- First build of the day, not so many errors, but knowing Magma, the second I fix this, there'll be 100 other errors left.
N.B. Updates will be kinda sparse as it is Father's Day and I do have some cleaning to do before tomorrow when I let my shit get out of whack because fuck this day job.

1:19 PM EST- Ran into an error with "Quantize" as now all my drum gems are the inappropriate length, so I'm resorting them all by hand. It's not too terrible, since it looks like some gems are only off for one part of the song and fine the rest, a problem due to dragging everything down for the animations.

1:55 PM EST- Doing this shit by hand is really boring, so I'm listening to this retrospective of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air 

2:05 PM EST- For the record, this song will be considered "Arena Rock". Also, Glee's cover of "Smooth Criminal" is playing in the other room. It only reminds me of AV Undercover's "Institutionalized" cover.

2:38 PM EST- Workin' on Pro Keys and these ranges are off a little bit. I'm going to have to move some of these notes if I want this damn thing to work.

3:33 PM EST- GODDAMN THESE PRO KEYS!!! WHY? HOW CAN ALL THESE NOTES BE TOO LOW FOR THIS RANGE? GRAH!!

7:43 PM EST- Our first build ladies and gentlemen! I don't even want to hear h6ow poor the mix is right now, I just finished it. The error I was having with Pro Keys was because I forgot to name RH and LH Key Animation tracks. A little problem with how Magma compiles the project.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

June 13th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Everyone Says Hi" by David Bowie on Live With Regis and Kelly

On the heels of my last post, I put up the first song I've ever associated with Bowie in its proper form. It's a nice, sweet little song about longing, and missing. However, I think I like the Metro Mix from Amplitude better. The Metro Mix sounds "emptier" and it places the image in my mind that the singer is really on his own, calling out to this big, empty void. Or maybe I got the Amplitude stuck in my head. Xenu, I can't wait for Rock Band Blitz!

It's amazing how much his voice sounds like Dylan. It was never powerful or aggressive, and going into his back catalog, I can see this sort of wanting tone to everything he sings.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "The Bad Touch" by The Bloodhound Gang

MONKEYS! SEX! SCREW YOU MOM AND DAD!
Yeah, dipping back into the "song I saw on MTV as a kid and loved, but prayed to God Mom and Dad wouldn't catch me watching it on TRL" well on this one.
One reason rap isn't very popular is because I'd like to believe most people are listening to it "wrong". You can't listen to it like a standard pop song where there's a distinct melody or "tune". When a rapper gets into a good flow, the voice becomes another instrument in itself, like a one note guitar solo.

But this song has monkeys and sex in it and to 11 year old me, it's like I discovered GOLD.   







Monday, June 11, 2012

JUST READ: David Bowie: Starman

So for the past couple of weeks I've been reading Paul Trynka's biography on David Bowie and I enjoyed it immensely.

The book itself is very front loaded, with a lot of information on his earlier life, especially detailing his failures with his first few bands, the long forgotten "Dream" album, "Space Oddity" and it's fallout, etc. However, once it hits the 80's (completely skipping over the movie "Labyrinth"), the pace quickens up significantly, which in a way makes sense, since as the years went by, he started producing less and less. Still, the past two decades made for interesting reading, as he still managed to keep up with the times doing electronic music, starting up an internet provider, and predicting streaming music. Anything it missed is something relatively minor in the search for a complete summary of the man itself.

Interesting enough though, is that a few people regarded him as kind of a dick. A talented one, but not above a couple petty moments.

Overall, I think what I loved most about the book was the general message Bowie doted on all of us: It's OK to be weird. There's all these little tricks Bowie used to encouraged creativity amongst himself and his bandmates like a "cut-up" technique to form lyrics and assigning each of his bandmates a character like "You're on the third moon on Jupiter and you're the house band" that I don't think you hear often enough. As much as I was thinking of Lady Gaga through some of the book, I couldn't help but think that the weirdness that affected Bowie doesn't run as deep with Gaga.

Still, the man is an inspiration, and I'd recommend it to any curious parties.

Fun fact: The first Bowie song I ever heard? "Everyone Says Hi" from Amplitude. Wednesday will bring the "real" version, but for now, here's the best video I could find on YouTube.


'Nother fun fact: Lego Rock Band makes sense now. Starman details his friendship with Iggy Pop and his work with Freddie Mercury of Queen and how bands such as Blur were influenced by Bowie. I had my little "OOOOOH!" moment last night booting up RB3.

Big news tomorrow!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

NEW SONG: "Lazy Swamp Blues"



Or old, if you've heard the latest RagNerdRok.

Originally this was supposed to be a little piece of instrumental for Dino Hunter MD, but got scrapped due to time constraints and whatnot. However, this just so happened to fit the description of what the RNR people wanted, so I reworked it a bit, and BAM! Here it is.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

What Happened To The Bunker?

So, to all 2 1/2 of you wondering what happened to my radio show on Ozone Radio, and why I've been slacking off, here's the deal:

It's not that I'm no longer interested in doing it, it's just I was sick of going in without some kind of plan, so I never really psyched myself up for it.

But then podcasts happened.

This means two things:
1. I want to do more "stuff" to give the show some kind of structure, and some kind of incentive to listen to it, like interviews, radio drama that I played maybe once, weekly Rock Band Battles, and something I call "The Yahtzee Crowshaw Game", etc. 
2. Downloadablitiy. Being available 168 hours a week is more than just the one. Since I play licensed music I'll either have to cut it out of the "released" version or host it on a place that doesn't care. At least if you miss the show, everything else you'll still be able to catch.

What do you all think? Drop a comment or e-mail me at rhythmbastard@gmail.com

It will most likely return next Thursday at 9 PM. 

HEY FUCKFACE!

Yeah?

GIVE US MORE MUSIC!

Oh, OK. Yeah, I'm working on a song for Rock Band Network, but I do have some stuff in the can, and will get to mixing. So, you know, calm your nipples.

OK.

Cool.

WANNA HANG OUT?

Maybe, I'm just finishing up this-

FINE, BE A PRICK!

...

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

May 30th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

This week:  "Fuck sense! And live music too!"

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #1: "Legs" by ZZ Top

As explained by friend David: "You see, back when they were making videos in the 80's, they didn't really worry about things like 'making sense'. So people would just like teleport and move shit around and do all these crazy things and it was awesome!"

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK #2" "IMDABES" by gmcfosho

This video is so deep, and every shot is so dense, it would take me an hour just to explain it to you plebs, but it's about a man paying tribute to his religious beliefs and how it can guarantee you success.

In the beginning we see a sun wearing shades signing, signifying that the artist pays tribute to a higher power, such as God, as the sun begins the song.

With "God" on his side, he is assured that he's "Da Bes" He removed the T, because the artist himself is not the best, but God is. He took of the T to show humility.

The two men sword-fighting represent simple "Good vs. evil" mythology. The kid in the Superman (a traditional "godlike" and "moral" figure)  is on the same side as the sun and has the upper hand for most of the fight. He is facing off against an opponent in a black hat, which has often been used to signify evil.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

RagNerdRok Episode 22

Rag-Nerd-Rok (sorta) had my music on their podcast again.

Ed, who works on the audio drama "Dead Of Winter" on RagNerdRok, asked me to write some background music for one of the scenes. He wanted something silly, like wh6atever goes in th6e background wh6enever Bulk and Skull (from Power Rangers) are on screen. Fortunately, I had something I was working on before, and it fits in pretty well.

Some podcasts, like WTFPod, and Nerdist, offer compelling interviews with interesting people. Recent highlights for me include WTF's Danny McBride and Craig Ferguson, and Nerdist's John Lithgow.

Some podcasts, like the Mega64 Podcast and Giant Bombcast, are by people who I can listen to bullshit endlessly.

RagNerdRok I like because I can listen to any episode and not feel like I missed out.

In order to get some background on DoW, I listened to the two older podcasts th6at were over a year old. It'-s a minor pet peeve to hear something that's a little dated, like talking about performances that have passed, or talking about games that were just released, but I didn't get that with RagNerdRok. It's subject centric, meaning that the episode is "about" something with little interludes thrown in between.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

May 23th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Tom Sawyer" by Lil Rush

For their 2008 tour, this was the intro video used for Tom Sawyer.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Bye Bye Bye" bye N'Sync

Because FUCK YOU TRL.
Back when I was a kid, this was in regular rotation, back when MTV played music. TRL, in order to fit all 10 videos in the allotted time, some had to be cut short. This and "The Call" by The Backstreet Boys had these big, fancy videos with the same story: girl wants revenge. Again, they were cut short, so I never got to see the end. Like with the song itself, I stand disappointed after 12 years.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Dino Hunter MD Night

A concert and a showing? BOOYAH!

Punk rock filmmaking meets punk rock music at The Vault in Queens Village when Cannibal Troll and the Rhythm Bastard bring you a show you'll never forget!

Like B-movies? Come see the action-dino-robot-explosion-packed Internet series Dino Hunter MD, about rogue anesthesiologist, Derek Maslo, and his quest to defeat the evil King Dino! All 6 episodes!

Also, alternative laptop punk rocker, the Rhythm Bastard will be playing the music from the show in it's entirety!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

May 16th, 2012 Videos Of The Week: MCA Edition

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Fight For Your Right To Party" by... Coldplay?

Very touching, but odd considering that The Beastie Boys feel like they're "beyond" this song.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys

Question: When does the real video come out?

Monday, May 14, 2012

Kickstart My Heart

SO, I've been in a "Support The Little Guy" Mindset since I-Con, so recently I've been hitting up Kickstarter for these projects: "Break Down", a film my friends from Dino Hunter MD are working on and "Punchclock Hero: Holiday Special" from Joe Hunter, who also does Changeling, song coming tomorrow.

I'm usually pretty stingy, but some of these things can be pretty cool.


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Not A Post About The Avengers

And how fun it was, and how all my fears about them not pulling it off were totally assuaged.

North Carolina smells and is retarded:














This man has a Batstache:

















We all good? All right, after finishing my Changeling song, I've decided to start another webcomicky song. More on that tomorrow, this is just a filler post

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Master Debating

All right, so,
1. It's been a while since my last post, and 2. For someone makes nerd friendly music, I don't really talk about "nerd stuff" much. I guess I don't have much time to post anyways, so that kind of falls by the wayside.

-Now kids, once upon a currently, there was a show called "Young Justice". My brother liked it, and I haven't seen an animated superhero show since Batman Beyond. We were looking for something to do in the lead up to Christmas, and this filled that void. It's good, and if you're familiar with DC Lore, I'd recommend it. Even for a neophyte such as myself, I get a lot out of it.

So I forget when, but in I think the 5th or 6th episode, there was a character called "Sportsmaster", a mercenary wearing a hockey mask resembling that of a skull. It was interesting, because the name sounded a lot like Taskmaster, a skull faced mercenary. I rock Tasky's logo on my guitar (it helps with covers), so the similarity was enough to check out Sporty's (new nickname) "deal". Now, despite the name similarities, the two are quite different.

You see, Sportsmaster is a skull masked mercenary with "photographic reflexes", the ability to replicate someone else's movements, who's under DC, and Taskmaster is skull masked mercenary with "photographic reflexes", the ability to replicate someone else's movements, who's under Marvel. BIG DIFFERENCE.

-Speaking of which, TM was on this past Sunday's "Ultimate Spiderman", and HOLY CRAP IS THAT SHOW OBNOXIOUS. I get it's not for me, but my God, it's like a Disney show on fast forward. The cutaways can really break the flow, and at a point it doesn't become a cohesive presentation, it's just things.

Though Coulson and Stan Lee cameos were pretty badass.


But I'm not watching that show again.

-Trials Evolution. Get it. It's only $15.

-Changeling, a comic by friend of the Bastard, Koltreg, is really starting to hit its stride. I also have a song in the works for it, so you might be able to hear that.

-AXE COP IS GETTING IT'S OWN TV SHOW!!

That's it for nerdy stuff! See you next time when I'll most up music videos or crushingly depressing news.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Re-Cord Store Day?

What are these things called Vinill Re-cords?

So, my local shop turns out, only sells used vinyls, but I managed to score Cheap Trick at Budokan, A Night At The Opera and Cool For Cats for 2bux apiece, along with Oasis's "What's The Story Morning Glory?" on CD.

I was thinking, at I-Con, I was selling/giving away CDs with this cover:












It came with 6 songs, "Status Quo Radio", "Wanderin' Johnny" "XZ71" "Force Of Nature" "Radio Days Pt. 1" and "Stack O Lee" (not in that order)

My question to you all is this:
Would you be interested in a CD with 4/5 songs of your choosing, AND a copy of the album in 11x17 poster format?

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

April 18th, 2012 Videos Of The Week

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Pinball Wizard (and a fair bit of Tommy)" by The Who performed by Tenacouis D at GuitarCenter's Drum-Off 2011

Tenacious D paying tribute to a band they obviously love. Jack Black and Kyle Gass are better singers and guitarists than they get credit for.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "I Was A Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me!

Like with last week's "Apartment", I love a good mystery in my video, and it drives the point home: "What did that kid do?" Apparently something so horrible, that cops (who are always in the right of course) chase him down and beat him, while the crowd, save for one person, look on.

The video is supposedly all in one take, and I'll buy that. There's no points where you can make a quick cut like OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass". For a song about teenage naivete and maturing into a larger scope of the world, the long take works, as I think it encompasses the aftermath of the protagonist in his one glorious moment after discovering a thing called "anarchy".

Seriously, though? Those cops and that crowd suck.

BONUS VIDEO: "This Gigantic Robot Kills" performed by Natural Failure

This. This is what I love about doing what I do. What really sealed the deal was the guitarist in the Aquabats rashguard. This wasn't a random song, this shit was INTENTIONAL.

Natural Failure, thank you.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Bastard vs. The Top 40, 2.5 Years Later

In my travels, I saw an old article I wrote in response to a blog post hailing the Top 40.

Two questions came out at me:
1. How come I don't write long ass blogposts like that anymore?
2. Has my attitude changed since then?

Then the answers:
1. Because suckjob I hate lots.
2. While it hasn't changed, it has softened a little. I regularly repost Todd In The Shadows, kick some DJ Earworm, and since I'm no longer required to put up with it in a gym-type setting, some of these songs can actually catch on for me. Yes, the very nature of the format means plenty of shit gets overplayed, but I'm in control. "Rolling In The Deep", "Party Rock Anthem", and "Pumped Up Kicks" are just a couple of the songs I've grown to love that happened to be played on Z100 (a NY Top 40 station)

However, the point of my rebuttal remains: just because it's on the Top 40 doesn't mean it's the best. Good stuff gets ignored all of the time, one-hit wonders are as frequent as ever, and there's still shit out there, so Top 40 doesn't quite have the success rate the author of the original blog post implies.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

April 11th, 2012 Videos Of The Week (I-Con 31)

HEY! HEY!! I've got a reason to plug myself again!!

LIVE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Axe Punk/Axe Cop: The Song" by Rhythm Bastard at I-Con 31

I ROCK OUT TOO HARD!!! This is the other live video I have from I-Con and Xenu damn it this was fun to play with just my friends there.

But some asshole calls me "Eric", which is certainly not my real name.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK: "Apartment" by Young The Giant

Hey, remember these guys? Young The Giant?
I saw this music video the other day on MTVU, and my first thought was, "Oh! I'm watching a channel called MTV and there's music on it!"

Then I thought, "Oh! This is the band that covered 'Ignition (Remix)'!"

It's not really my thing, but it was nice video. At first the whole "Wacky Hipsters Having Crazy Spontaneous Fun! (TM)" was going to get me to close the browser, but occasionally it cut to the lead singer lying in the middle of nowhere, and that little mystery was enough to keep me watching.

I'm still on the fence about giving them money, since it might be some good chill music.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

I-Con 31 Recap: People I Want To Plug

Yesterday was for Dino Hunter MD, today it's everyone else.

#1- Herobes
Herobes are what the name implies: Superhero and geekery themed robes. Their set up was a nice little picnic table with some Dunkin' Donuts Muchkins and coffee. I sat down, put on the Batman robe they had, and oh shit was this comfortable. Alex, the salesman present, was pitching to me the whole time, but the robes were worth it. The $60 price tag is a little much for me, but if I got paid before I-Con I would defintely consider it.

MAYBE A SPONSOR ON THE BUNKER?

#2- GeekBoyPress
This guy was right across the table from us, and had a lot of prints on sale. I picked up a Psych one for the family back at home (they got me into that show). Hes a cool guy.

#3- Marc Gunn
Picked up his latest album, "Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits". I made an effort to only pick up stuff from indepentent artists and vendors, and this he seemed like a "big deal", I figured I'd pick up one of his album. Played a song or two on The Bunker, and I gotta say, I'm digging it.

#4- Rag-Nerd-Rok Podcast
My job sucks, and leaves me with long periods where I'm staring at the clock, slowly pecking away at the keyboard. Usually I'll have the Mega64 or WTFPod to listen to, and these guys have officially joined the rotation. There's a couple different segments on the show, discussion, mad libs, etc. that keep it interesting.