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:

"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!

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...

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?

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.

"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.

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!!!

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!

Pass The Class Video Behind The Scenes

Making of Pass the Class from Cannibal Troll on Vimeo.