Dead Milkmen Free For All

[Rodney]

Two nights; two shows, and you’re probably starting to grasp why are CD’s our so schizophrenic

MC Lars/ /MegaRan/ Tribe One & Adam WarRock: Wednesday, Oct. 20th at the FUC

OK, I have to admit that I was little worried about this one. Not so much the MC Lars portion (we’ll get to that later), but the fact that I was facing an evening of Nerdcore forced all of my apprehensions to hold a family picnic Wednesday afternoon. You see, despite being a Dr. Who-watching War Games-playing Sports-avoiding spaztard who unwillingly donated hundreds of dollars worth of Junior High lunch money to various bullies, I’ve always avoided Nerdcore. Maybe it’s from fear of fitting in, or – most likely – a perceived association between Nerdcore and the “music” I hate more than anything else in the entire history of mankind: Twee (I’d rather share a small space with a Bosnian war criminal than a shoe-gazer).

About two bars into Tribe One’s ode to deceased crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, I realized that all of my fretting had been for naught. Who knows; maybe the bulk of the Nerdcore world is made of Jerry Lewis clones rapping about Magic the Gathering over Casio beats, but there was none of that on display Wednesday Night (Granted, MegaRan did rap almost exclusively about video games, but he did so in a very clever and endearing way). What I did get to hear was a shitload of smartass lyrics and highly original beats presented by a bunch of guys you would never otherwise picture behind the microphone. Instead of wallowing in their social awkwardness, these jokers were celebrating it.

Tribe One – Steve Irwin: http://tribeone.bandcamp.com/

MegaRan - Grow Up, Drunken Unicorn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBI9mZQOk94

Now let’s talk about MC Lars. Like ravens (the birds, not football team), which he also raps about, MC Lars is much too smart for his place in the food chain: which is to say that anyone who might be tempted to dismiss him as a Nercore novelty act, should first give a listen to the hilarious, “History’s Greatest Assholes”, the deceptively brilliant “21 Concepts (But a Hit Ain’t One)” or the deconstruction of Hamlet that is “Hey Ophelia.” In much the way that Devo used to show up wearing plastic flower pots on their heads and then perform scathing social commentary like “We’re Through Being Cool” and “Freedom of Choice” , Lars reels people in with the promise of goofy Nerdcore and then sneaks in songs like “23”, which is about the suicide of a friend.

MC Lars - History's Greatest Assholes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJJwbyvnOoI

[Rodney]

Zola Jesus/ Xanopticon/Psychic Teens: Thursday, Oct. 21th at the FUC

No apprehension about this show. My bloodstream was roughly 243% endorphins as I ran downstairs to the basement of the FUC just in time to catch the first noisy notes of the Psychic Teens set. I like ‘em; most people probably wouldn’t. They played a decent set, but the room was deader than …well, some sort of dead thing.

Psychic Teens at Kung Fu Necktie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWGRhxZVVrY

Just when I began to fear that everybody was there for the headliner and that the opening acts would get no love from the crowd, Xanopticon trotted onto the stage and proceeded to wake everybody the fuck up. He was like the 5 Hour Energy version of beat manipulation.

Xanopticon - Beyond Repair (a remix of a Prometheus Burning track): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZdTi_BHa_w

Xanopticon live at Baseck's bday party in L.A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7CbBxLttOo

Now that everyone was nice and awake, it was time for the main event. I’ve been into Zola Jesus since “The Spoils” and I think that Conatus is probably the best CD released in a year filled with great CD’s, so I was really up for a great show. But I didn’t get a great show – I got a perfect show! Zola was backed by a four-piece band (three synths & a drum kit) who remained pretty much in the shadows for the whole set. The thing is, these guys could’ve had spotlights on them, been wearing dayglow outfits and waved glow sticks and everyone’s attention would’ve still been Niko (Zola Jesus is the solo project, Niko is the person…at least I think she’s a person. I’ll get to that later). Pale, dressed all in white and sporting bleach-blond hair, it was as if a ghost had wandered into the church basement. And then there was her voice, which you can only describe as pitch-perfect & unearthly. As if that wasn’t weird enough she’s also so tiny that she’d have to stand on two phone books just to get in Joe’s face (Attn budding entrepreneurs: put that on Pay-Per-View). I know she’s tiny because, at one point (during “Seekir”, I think) she began running through the crowd…OK, it was more like she (I shit thee not) was FLAOTING through the crowd. Happy Halloween, muthafuggas. It was the only time in my life (and I’m pretty old) that I actually jumped out of a pretty girl’s path. Everybody did. It was as if we all were thinking “Don’t let her touch me and turn me into a ghost too.”
None of the show’s weirdness (and it was pretty fuckin’ strange) distracted from the music for one second. It was more like the icing on a Satan’s Food Cake.

Now, go out and buy Contatus.

Zola Jesus - Vessel : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY9WUZZrTpw

Pics from the show: http://thekey.xpn.org/2011/10/photo-recap-zola-jesus-and-psychic-teens-at-first-unitarian-church/

[yumcake]

Hey Rodney,

If you enjoyed the Nerdcore night you might want to hear this guy MC Breath, who doesn't consider himself a so-called Nerdcore rapper (in fact loathes most "Nerdcore") he does tend to rap about nerdy things like old video games.

Anyway, he has been rapping since 1999 but nobody has heard of him because he is very lazy and most likely has a low self-efficacy.

It should be duly noted that he samples The Dead Milkmen TWICE in the song Dance Machine from his last album "Funky Yummy Mummy." Highly recommend you checking it out, if you have not already.

http://mcbreath.bandcamp.com

Your friend,
Not MC Breath

[dandrew]

I LOVE M.C. BREATH! AND I DON'T USE CAPS LOCK THAT OFTEN! AS A MATTER OF FACT, I HAVE HELD THE shift BUTTON DOWN THIS WHOLE TIME, TO PROVE MY DEDICATION!!
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www.blastignite.bandcamp.com

[yumcake]

[Rodney]

Did any of you (or MC Breath, for that matter) purchase Contatus, yet?. Because that should've been the real "take away" from my post.

[mrbigtoughguychris]

I saw some sort of iteration of this tour in SLC a few months ago. Lars took the show for sure, but mostly because MC Chris (who headlined) was too short to see over the crowd.
The show here was MC Chris, MC Lars, Mega Ran and Adam WarRock.

I have to say, I was not nerdy enough to get all the jokes, but I am nerdy enough to have greatly enjoyed the show.

Nerdcore rappers give a shit and that is what makes them better than most "real" rappers, who could care less.
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Porn

[Rodney]

So, I'm takin' it that nobody picked up the Zola Jesus CD? Zola Jesus Christ, what a world!