Introduction
Five Songs, 9/20/2022
Five Songs

Five Songs, 9/20/2022

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MC Frontalot, "A Skit About Robots"

Unfortunately for me, I'm exposed to probably an unhealthy amount of what would be described as geek media. That's largely a consequence of being as into tabletop gaming as I am, and staying on top of new releases and things will inevitably lead to reading about adjacent culture stuff. I'm not proud of it. At any rate, at some point, I had read enough about the existence of nerdcore hip-hop that I decided I should probably listen to at least something. The lead nerdcore guy was MC Frontalot, so I picked up what was his latest album at the time.

And, you know, it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be. But there's a problem with stuff like this, which is that a lot of it is trying very hard to be clever, and it gets in the way of things. It just seems forced to me, something engineered to get a specific audience to just say "oooh, I know that!" It doesn't connect to me at all, I need more than just the shock of recognition. If I think the whole thing is just a broad wink at an audience, a way to sort people into Those Who Get It and Those Who Don't Get It bins, it's going to be a major turnoff.

This, however, is just a skit. But the "EEPROM" reference here is a good example. Yes, indeed, I get that reference. I know what that is! I've worked on embedded systems and shit! I'm in the club! Too bad that doesn't make me happy.

Pharcyde, "Feel Freaky"

Man, shuffle is just kind of making me sad today. After two albums (one an acknowledged classic and one I think an underrated record), Fat Lip left the Pharcyde and his absence was definitely felt. None of the post-Fat Lip stuff really hits the mark. This is from Testing the Waters, an EP that preceeded Plain Rap, the return of the remaining band. I suppose I'm probably due for a re-evaluation of this stuff.

Tricky, "Overcome"

The first track on Maxinquaye, one of the holy trinity of trip-hop records (along with Massive Attack's Blue Lines and Portishead's Dummy). While I don't think trip hop is an especially broad genre, damn if the top stuff doesn't absolutely slay.

Pixies, "Lovely Day"

A side effect of the latter-day Pixies records is that it's made me appreciate Trompe Le Monde more.

Ed Hall, "White House Girls"

Just churning and slashing its way through three minutes, all shouting bad temper and grunting instruments. Lovely!

Joshua Buergel
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