Sunday, September 09, 2007

PAX: Nerdcore Rising, Mega Man Falling

You may not know that nerdcore music rocks harder live. Before PAX, what I had listened to of Optimus Rhyme had only convinced me that, "Yeah, it's pretty neat." Now, I'm a believer. Part of this is the usual hit-or-miss problems that crop up when small independent groups enter the studio. The group goes in, records a good set, and then some damn fool says to themselves, "Hey, all of that RAWK is getting in the way of Count Lyle's mellifluous voice! I'd better fix that."

Meanwhile,
M.C. Frontalot's studio works possess a superior studio mix, but I preferred his live backup to the rotating cast of starts he grabbed for his album. That said, I'm still happy to own both CD's, and not just because he gave me a free rubber band with my last purchase.

Meanwhile,
Beefy Live is just as good as Beefy Not Live. This is probably because his backup band is an iPod.

On the other hand, I can pretty much take or leave people covering videogame music. There are still some standouts that grab my attention, but for the most part, I only find myself liking the songs I already know from playing the games they're attached to. My current theories as to why this might be the case:

1- As a child, I only played games with good music.
2- Most covers of videogame music drain the midi-styled charm that made them so catchy, while failing to inject their own flavor into it.
3- No, really, Final Fantasy music sucks.

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