Friday, March 27, 2015

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"

Monday, March 23, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Fest Presented by Ultracon

This week's jam:
A.K.A. Gang Beasts in music video form.

This week was another 10/4 week for me, so while I had the extra day off, unfortunately, I still had a busy weekend.

BUT FIRST "YO RB WHATCHA GOT?"
ALBUM UPDATE-
Two songs to go! Really, only one song to finish writing and one song to re-record.  Also finishing my Dragons of Tarkir song which leads me to....

DTK Prerelease! Went 3-1, going with a White/Blue flyers deck. Some MVPs:
-Misthoof Kirin: A 3/2 flier with vigilance that you can play as a morph for 3, and then turn up for only 2 mana, which enbables you to also play...
-Palace Familiar: 1/1, Flying, for 1 and a blue, AND when it dies, you draw a card? Definitely worth drafting. Small fliers, cheap blockers and even cheaper draw is WORTH IT!
-Illusory Gains: Control a creature, then control the next creature that comes out? Really took to this one, since there were a few games where my opponent didn't want to cast anything else, in the event that I'll control that too.

KICKSTARTER...?
Right now, the plan is to focus on finishing the album, then worry about the Kickstarter. So, nothing has been set forward with that yet.

UPCOMING CONS?
Good news everyone!
Miami Hurricon is coming up VERY soon, April 4th!
Ultracon has been moved to July, making me 100% FREE to do Omni Expo!
Ultracon and Hero Hype Con are not confirmed yet, but I should be hearing back from them soon.
In the next couple days, I'll be updating the site with times and whatnot. 

OH YEAH, I DID GEEKFEST!
I didn't have a show at GeekFest, but the card was pretty full, and any place with a stage was too crowded. I DID take pictures, and that video will come soon once my workload is a little lighter. Under Ultracon's wing, it took a big step up from where it was in 2013, but still kept it nice and manageable.

I'd be remiss to not to shout out  that I met up with Zach of ZifProd, who recorded my Chibi Pa Concert:



Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Echo Chamber 117 Post Game

PAHK YAH CAH IN HARVAHD YAHD!

-Rick Scott, Voldemort lookalike and Florida Governor, is a vehment Climate Change and Global Warning denier, thinking thart "THE LAWS THAT GOVERN OUR FUCKING UNIVERSE" is the same thing as an invisible sky man. 
And now he's forbidden government offices to use the term, even though it's a real thing, but thiScott doesn't want to upset his industrial backers, so FUCK HIM.

-In response to that, have some lava cake:
http://www.lovethispic.com/uploaded_images/38268-Hot-Fudge-Lava-Cake.jpg


-Freezepop JEM!


-Frank Turner's I Still Believe music video.

Yo, I legit cried at work when I saw this news. Rock Band has been the focal point of so much for the past ALMOST decade, and it's coming back.

-While I have to get an Xbone, and I've got a lot of games in my backlog for 360, I guess it can be my Rock Band AND Magic: Duels Of The Planeswalkers machine.

If I can draft in this new MTG game, I'd be SO HYPED YOU GUYS.

-The downloadable Rock Band thing would only make sense if there's backwards comparability with instruments and DLC. But hopefully this is going to be HUGE in brick and mortar store if its to be successful.

-"You can't hold a grudge against someone who's dead"- Mystakin

-"The internet isn't a country!"- Arcanon
"It's THE BEST COUNTRY! It has porn and lava cake!"-Rhythm Bastard

-NEW MUSE! "Psycho"

Right off the bat, it sounds like a Buckcherry or My Darkest Days or any of the other shit bands my brother listens to. Then Matt Bellamy's vocals come in, and mellows out a bit. Still, it reminds me of Uprising. Yeah, it's the same band, but for someone that's as unique as Muse, it's a little
Still, it fucking rules and should be in Rock Band 4.

-Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes:


-The (concept of the) Magic Circle!


-PAXAMANIA which will probably end up better than Wrestlemania Play Button.

Now I want to do this at the next con I play at.

-YUGIOH PRO is a FREE PROGRAM. Between this and Duel Network, YuGiOh has Magic and Pokemon TCG BEAT when it comes to "free thing I can play and test decks on".

Cockatrice is fine to test decks on, but the fact that Wizards of the Coast has slowly been hovering on the "DETONATE" button regarding that program, makes it way less convenient.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Rides The Bomb To Hell

This week's jam:

Can I get this entire music video tattooed on me?

 So I'm posting this ASAP when I get home from work Monday since I'll be working hard to set everything up for the next couple tracks I'm sending out: Two are for Status Quo Radio and the other is for my Dragons of Tarkir song, which is more or less complete.

Time's short for me this week, so I'll go into a little bit of detail about the songs at what to expect this week:
DRAGONS OF TARKIR- Heavily based off of Metal-Influenced punk acts such as The Offspring and Rise Against, especially since I've been listening to the band above.

I guess since this loosely follows the plot of the block, I guess that means this is a KHAN-cept album?


...I'll see myself out.


BAD DOCTORS- Rerecording this song. I've improved a lot since then, and the main thing I'm working on is both my singing and my meter.


CLASS 9- Codename right now, but I think it rounds out things rather nicely. Since you know the drill by now, you can kinda have a general idea of whatr of who the song is about. But really, as TF2 drifts further and further out of relevance, I've been making it more personal, and the original idea for TF2 concept album is more of a framework than an idea of itself.


But for this song I was planning on having be a little more mellow, like some Talking Heads, but as I started writing it, and really wanting something a little more intense, so it's a lot more classic punky, like The Buzzcocks.


Everything else is a deathmarch right now, as I'm trying to get stuff into Rob as he's getting married in April, and things aren't lost in the shuffle.



RAW was phhbbbt, so here's some good wrestling stuff:




And finally, I'M HEADED TO MIAMI HURRICON!



Friday, March 13, 2015

10 Songs from Returning Bands I Want To See In Rock Band 4

YEAH! I have non-me stuff to post about again! With Rock Band returning as the best way to enjoy music with your friends, let's celebrate with 10 returning bands I'd like to see in the next Rock Band installment. NOTE: I tried to stay away from songs that weren't ALREADY in either Guitar Hero or Rocksmith.

1. THE WHO- Anything Off Quadrophenia

The Who have been on every Rock Band disc release, and the fourth installment should be no different. While there's no denying the greatness of "Who's Next", earlier albums still have a lot to offer. While not THE earliest, their second rock opera Quadrophenia has a few good selections, namely the lead track, "The Real Me", previously featured in Fantasia: Music evolved, one of Harmonix's prior releases. Guitar's a little simple, but bassists and drummers will have a hell of a challenge, while vocalists can belt this one out.

2. MUSE- "Panic Station"

The OTHER obvious band, it's hard to pick just ONE Muse song, because we're losing keys, and I'm trying to be original, so Knights of Cydonia is out. As this is one of their newer songs of the 2nd Law, it's less likely to be claimed any time soon. Slow, simple, but with a lot of force, I say MOAR MUSE.

3. BLACK SABBATH- "Neon Knights"

The people need to know the glory of Dio Sabbath. It's like the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson AC/DC: The band's entire sound changed. The wicked guitar solo and fast riffs are going to be legendarily difficult, with the raw speed of the song keeping the bass and drum sections lively. Hopwever, it's Dio's operatic vocals that elevate this into a MUST LISTEN.

4. ROLLING STONES- "Jumpin' Jack Flash"

"Sympathy for the Devil" ALMOST won out this one, but again, it was in Guitar Hero 5, so the best Not On Rocksmith. Also, we lose a LOT on that song by getting rid of keys. Anything else was already used in another game, but Jumpin' Jack Flash was conspicuously absent. That doesn't mean it's a bad song by any stretch, it's just that it seems Elite Beat Agents was the only rhythm game to give it the level it deserved. The Rolling Stones will always be known by Mick and Keef, but the bass on this song harmonizes well, and certainly won't be dull.

5. HARVEY DANGER- "Flagpole Sitta"
Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

A.K.A. The Harvery Danger Song We Wanted In The First Place. Now imagine this on harmonies and drums.

6. THE FRATELLIS- "Chelsea Dagger" 


 A.K.A. The Fratellis Song We Wanted In The First Place. It'll fill that "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" sized hole that's called "Yeah, I think I heard this in a beer commercial a few times". Technically it was on the Guitar Hero for the DS, but that doesn't count cause that game sucked.


7. SQUEEZE- "Pulling Mussels From a Shell"

We actually got a couple decent Squeeze songs already, "Tempted" as DLC, and "Cool For Cats" In RB2 are both fine selections, but when I would listen to nothing but their Singles album while playing Deadly Premonition, I really got turned on to them. They're a really good band, and there's plenty that would make great DLC, but this is there best known of the songs we haven't done yet. Other reccomendations: "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Goodbye Girl"

8. ELECTRIC SIX- "Formula 409"

Because "Danger! High Voltage!" was too obvious.

9. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE- "House Of Wolves"

Name ONE instrument this wouldn't rule on! I was going to pick "Dead!", but that was in GH2, and "Party Poison" just isn't as intense as this song. Both would be good mind you, but I'm limiting myself to this one song. Though "Vampire Money" off of Danger Days does have a Big Rock Ending... Screw it, I just want some more MCR.


10. BRAD PAISLEY- "Mr Policeman"

Country always gets a bad rap and the Country Packs are always looked down with scorn, but their instrumentation has the potential to WRECK YOUR FUCKING SHIT.  The guitar is relentless, the bass has that southern trait of "constantly fucking moving" and and the drums are always rolling. I don't think this song has one break in it. Yeah, there's a keyboard part at the end, but it's not TOO huge a loss. "Panic Attack"? "Freebird"? "Green Grass and High Tides"? "Through The Fire And Flames" FUCK THOSE ASSHOLES! Brad Paisley demolishes your ass in under 6 and a half minutes.


Monday, March 9, 2015

Stat- ROCK BAND 4 PAX EAST YEAH!!!

This week's Jam:


I got MAYBE 10 hours of sleep in the past 4 days

Yeah, I was at PAX East for one hell of a weekend.

Most of the times when I come back from playing a con, I'm happy, if a little stressed. I hung out, played a gig, everything's good.

When I got back from PAX East, I was inspired. Between all the indie games, bands, Telltale's Keynote, Penny Arcade's Q and A, the cosplays, and the sheer volume of people with their own tastes and meeting people who's lives are tangential to mine, I'm psyched for tomorrow to begin so I can come home an continue work on the album/DTK song/other shit.

So before I get to that- SHIT YEAH!!! ROCK BAND 4!!!!

I've got enough for a pretty sweet con recap video that might be a short film, but here's some quick recaps:

Easier to start with the Bad:
-Only there two days.
-Boston is COLD. 
-GETTING THERE. Arcanon was snowed in his house on Thursday, and we weren't sure if he would be able to make it. Without him, I wouldn't have any tickets. Fortuenately, he was able to get there later on Friday, and I was able to get a ticket beforehand.
 -Missing Markiplier's autograph signing for my brother and Paolo's.
-Not being able to go to the Harmonix Party.

It was the exact opposite of bad, mind you. This is stuff I didn't GET to do, but overall I'm satisfied with what I did.

Now the good:
-Not only did Paolo manage to beat Tennesse in its stupid snowy face, he arrived at the con JUST as me and Jeff were about to go on the Rock Band stage.
-Many selfies
-Seeing Freezepop and Paul and Storm in concert.
-Jeff will be shipping me an autogrpahed copy of Deadly Premontion
-Playing some Magic Drafts, pulling 6 rares in one.
-Getting some AWESOME swag, namely the exclusive MTG and Rock Band 4 pins.
-Confirmation that the new Amplitude game will be dope as fuck.
-Indie game "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes" is a worthwhile experience that can oly be done in this environment and was totally worth it.
-Finally subscribing to an IndieBox.
-Seeing Birdman on the plane ride over
-Epic Speed-runs of Oregon Trail.
-Coming in the Top 4 in a THPS 2 competition.
-Magic The Gathering Panel AND THE RETURN TO ZENDIKAR!
-Handing out business cards
-DC Deck Building Game is worth all the hype. 
-Seeing Podcast homies.

-Being at PAX East in general :D

Rest of that album shit coming soon.


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Echo Chamber Episode 116 Post Game

DOWNLOAD THE S.S. ECHO CHAMBER HERE


Now, I'm on Tumblr, and enjoy playing some TF2. In my travels in getting inspiration for SQR, I run into some of the names for the pairings for characters.

So, then what would be the arrangements for the Echo Crew (not shipping, ew. Have you seen us?)
-RB and Mystakin- The Eric and Erich Show
-RB and Jeff- Skeleton Crew
-RB and Arcanon- ???
-Mystakin and Jeff- ???
-Mystakin and Arcanon- ???
-Jeff and Arcanon- ???
-Without Jeff- ???
-Without RB- ???
-Without Arcanon- ???
-Without Mystakin- ???

-Vsauce video about Yellow:


-THANKS, OLLAMA


-Rosalina Story is True:
"A collector of vintage Nintendo items who goes by both "Daily Dose" and "Mariotehplumber" revealed that he's pre-ordered more than a hundred Rosalina & Luma amiibo -- all because he really, really dislikes the character. "I do not appreciate Rosalina appearing in almost every recent Mario game to date. The fact Nintendo promotes her so much and people praise her is just disgusting," he said.

Daily Dose continued "I hate her fans, too. I know for a fact her amiibo will be among one of the most popular, which is why I took the time to wait and pre-order over 100 of her. I do not want her fans to be happy... It just crushes me Nintendo from the good days went to this shit for character designs.""
These are things a sane person would say. Yup.

-For the record, here's my friend 's GPT Tournament Report.

 -THE BAZ!!! CAN YOU FEEL THE STORM?!?!?!?

Jeff actually has Baz's Beard.

-"You're super muy bueno at Japanese-o"

-Jeff... Jeff... THIS IS THE POTATO CHIP SCENE


-"Lying and violence is how we get the deal"

Monday, March 2, 2015

Status Quo Sick Days

This week's jam:


ALBUM NEWS:
While I wanted to get album work done, my voice was shot and nasally for the past few days, so singing was out of the question. Also, time is limited as I have to pack for PAX East this weekend, but writing is still taking place, and not just for this, but for other songs as well. Dragons of Tarkir spoilers are starting soon....

In essence, I have 5 things left to send over, and they'll all be done at pretty much the same time. Granted, I do plan on meeting with Rob in person to finalize stuff and buy him a beer and congratulate him on his marriage, so while the album won't be 100% done, I'm working hard on trying to get the hard stuff over with.

BRIEF ASIDE:
My producer, DJ Roborob, has an EP coming out soon. You can preview it here:


KICKSTARTER NEWS:
A lot I'm holding off on, because I'm working on the album proper. Granted it's an e-mail to a voice actor here, a Blender tutorial there, but yeah, I would like to check to see if I make a TF2 Workshop item as a backer reward, I can GUARANTEE that I can deliver. T-shirts, stickers, CDs, that stuff I have on lock and all figured out, it's the unique things I'm trying to work on.

PAX EAST STUFF:
Yeah!!!
It just keeps getting better every new thing I find out about it:
-SWERY65 of (lord i miss) Deadly Premonition and D4.
-Goldenye 007 Tournament
-Magic The Gathering, Mega 64 AND GIANT BOMB Panels?!?!?
-Markiplier, Matt and Woolie of Two Best Friends Play and the guy behind that facade video I like so much.
Lots of gaming, lots of Magic, and handing out a shitton of business cards.



So if any of you are planning on going, you'll know where to find me
My copy of Deadly Premonition is going to be signed by soooo many people.

I'll also send out the MP3 of my Fate Reforged song to all the mailing list peeps before I leave.

NEW CANNIBAL TROLL FILM FILM!