the psy-fi report

hooray, i got featured in a podcast.

2006-08-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

So Beefy finally got around to explaining himself, and I really had no problem with his objections. He could have saved himself a lot of grief if he had given this explanation months ago. He did invite all the people he didn't like to post their rebuttal, but...I'm still banned from posting comments.

So, here is my response, since you can't read it over there:

"first, i would like to apologize for everyone who actually wanted to hear my lyrics but couldn't because of my crappy recording. my current setup has NO gain on it at all, so it's either low mumbly voice, or loud distorted voice. i am currently working to change this.

"now that i know your objections, i have no problem with them. before you came off as just some sort of elitist snob, so i apologize.

"and i use different language when i type on a message board then when i talk. i actually do use "street lingo," but in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. but for some reason, my english is a little more eloquent when i type.

"and yeah, my rapping's pretty lame. i actually did used to have a hamstar-like character of a rapping gangsta teddy bear who magically came to life one day, and had just dropped that persona prior to the compilation, so the pitch alter was gone, but the "character" wasn't. work in progress, i suppose.

"so in a way, i'm starting fresh, so you can not like me all over again. ^_-

"one final note: when i talked about "switching lanes," i really meant the actual act of switching lanes as it pertains to driving. "

So, there you have it. I'm working on the production quality, and I'm just being myself on the next album. That's not to say I still won't poke fun at mainstream hip-hop, but I won't use my "gangsta" voice as much, so make your decisions then.

Until then, you'll have to go on what I have. Which admittedly, isn't much. Now if I could please have everyone stop bickering and taking nerdcore so personally. You don't own the genre, so faquittle. I'd much rather help everyone than argue with them about insignificant details. Eventually, the fans will decide what they like, so for the artists to argue about it is a moot point. Let's just keep doing what we're doing and let the audience decide what they think is or isn't nerdcore.

Because let's face it, if the mainstream media ever gets ahold of it, any hip-hop that's comedy oriented will be labeled nerdcore, because nobody really takes nerds seriously.

And that's the tooth.

chicks dig scars.

2006-07-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

You've more than likely heard this story, but I managed to set my hands on fire at work on Thursday.

It was the strangest of freak accidents. I was wiping off the side of the unit I was building with lacquer thinner, wearing the standard-issue cut resistant gloves. My lighter was digging into my leg, so I decided to take it out of my pocket, something I've done hundreds of times without incident. That's when things went horribly wrong.

The spark wheel of the lighter got caught on the inside of my pocket, sending a spark which ignited the lacquer thinner-soaked glove on my right hand. The flames made a "whoosh" sound, and my hands immediately were engulfed in chemically-fueled flames.

Fortuantely, I managed to remove my gloves before my hands were too badly burned, but I still suffered second degree burns to my right thumb and palm, and first degree burns to the space between my thumb and index finger on my left hand.

My right hand will have a nice scar. I'm really hoping that the scar tissue won't impede the use of my thumb, I'll really have to play a bunch of video games to make sure I retain movement.

I guess the moral of the story is: "play with chemicals, and you're gonna get burned." At least they gave me some nice painkillers to pass the time with. I'll get some pictures up soon to gross everyone out. ^_^

finally, a simple solution.

2006-07-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Some guy in Florida has apparently discovered a way to move the molecules in water around to create a flammable gas. At the moment, this gas is being used for welding, but the "killer app" for this technology is transportation.

Even if this never got past its current hybrid application, it could still be used to make a petroleum-free car if combined with technologies like ethanol, biodiesel, and vegetable-based lubricants. This technology would be expensive at first, but I would expect it to become commonplace in about 15 years. The ideal thing for me to be would be my grandkids coming over and seeing something about "oil" on the TV, and asking, "Grandpa, what's oil?"

I of course, would just smile, and remember a crazier time when cars were powered by the liquefied remains of prehistoric plants and animals, and not rational substances like water and corn.

Hopefully they'll regulate weed by then...

But seriously, this technology has potential, because it can be added to an existing car. Hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars are great, but they require a brand new engine. Aquygen can be added to the fuel already being used. Once Ethanol becomes cheaper and easier to produce, you could probably retrofit your car to run on Ethanol/Aquygen for less than three tanks of gas (because gas will probably be like $10 a gallon by then...)

Oh, I predict $5 a gallon gasoline by next summer. If you thought it was going to go back down, well, welcome back to earth.

And I sold my first shirt. And so on.

pointless post.

2006-07-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

So...I'm buying a laptop once income tax time rolls around again. I was looking at a Dell, since they're the cheapest, but the Dell I'm sitting next to now is louder than the tower fan next to it. Since it's for audio production, I would have to say no.

I also kind of wanted an HP because of the available LightScribe drive, but I finally decided on a Lenovo N100. I've always liked ThinkPads, they've always had the most tactile layouts (except for that damn "pointing nub" they used to have), they're built solidly, and most importantly, they're whisper quiet. Plus, they come with this neat fingerprint scanner, which admittedly I'll never use, but it looks cool.

buy my stuff!

2006-07-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

OK, so I opened a store on the internet for merchandise. While I need to get some better designed shirts, I think some of the ones I have are cool. Maybe not. I'd at least buy the deluxe hoodie. Mostly because it combines three of my favorite things:

Stuff I made up.
Glow in the dark ink.
Boomboxes.

I'll have to get on GIMP and make some more swag. At the very least, I can now make all those shirts that J!nx didn't accept. I have a feeling most people will probably gravitate toward this T-shirt, if they buy anything at all.

I still need to find some place to make a custom baseball jersey, though...I want a Home Row Records jersey with my name on the back. Then I'd be stylin' all pimp-like.

Eh, just send me a dollar.

^_^

beep beep beep beep doot doot beep....

2006-07-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Slashdot review of Rhyme Torrents is up...and we didn't get flamed. By the reviewer anyway. There was the requisite progressive rock fan that thinks rap isn't music, but fuck that guy.

One step closer to blowing up. ^_^

also, a flamewar is brewing between mc chris and ytcracker over on chris' myspace page. What will happen? Will mc battle back? My 8-ball says:

"I fucking doubt it...maybe when Beefy writes a diss song about Benjamin Bear."

define your goals

2006-07-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

It used to be the dream of every musician to "make it," to get popular enough to land that big record deal and make millions of dollars so they could live the rock n' roll lifestyle.

I won't lie to you, at some point in time I would like to make a living as a musician. I'm not saying I'm shooting for mega-popularity so I can drive Lamborghinis and gold-plate my nutsack, but being able to support my family would be nice.

People are shifting from the MTV and radio-generated hit culture. During the 80s and 90s it reached its peak, creating hundreds of shooting stars that made and lost fortunes in a season. People didn't know what else was out there, so they went out and bought whatever album was at the top of the charts that week.

Then, along came the internet and P2P sharing. The RIAA will tell you that CD sales went into decline because people just downloaded the CDs they would have been buying, but I have another theory: they encountered choice. They realized that there was more music out there than whatever boy band, metal group, or blingy rap star was being hyped that day, and found music that appealed to them on a more emotional level.

This doesn't mean that it's impossible to make money as a musician. In fact, in the 20s and 30s, there were quite a few jazz musicians making a decent living doing what musicians have been doing for years: perfoming live. With the internet, it's now possible to reach a large fanbase and continue what was traditionally the bread-and-butter of musicians until "the music industry" appeared.

The internet also makes the great American tradition of merchandising easier. People may not buy CDs, but they'll certainly buy a shirt, a keychain, or anything emblazoned with the name of their favorite band. Shoppers of Hot Topic know that wearing such a thing, especially when the band you like isn't at the top of the charts, makes you instantly cool and a total individual. Plus, they're in the mall, so it's totally convenient.

So I'm shooting for the middle class. I may not ever be able to buy a $400,000 car as a wedding present, but at least I'll be working for myself, doing what I love to do.

That's the American Dream right there.

post monday, pre-wednesday

2006-07-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

Things are going pretty well for me this week. First off, I probably won't be a temp at the magical world of York Refrigeration for too much longer, as they gave me an official application, meaning that very soon, I'll be getting a paycheck that is actually worth something. Yay!

Musically, I got back in contact with Doctor Popular about that beat for the new album I questioned him about last month. He was wondering what sound he should shoot for, so I wrote him a long, pretentious letter explaining that he should just have fun creating whatever music he was going to. In retrospect, it might not have been the best way to go about it, but I hate trying to come up with a sound for people, as I always break down into, "Yeah! It's gonna be some old-school electro-funk, mixed with some tribal house and a little downbeat two-step...with a little jazz influence thrown in just to spice things up."

I don't know, maybe I'm just not good at explaining things...

I also got shouted at by Scarybug, who writes the most awesome nerdcore comic I've ever read. To be fair, I haven't really read a lot of nerdcore comics, but I love the writing. Go visit him and buy a shirt or something. It'll totally match the hand modified yo-yo you bought from Doc Pop. (You did buy a yo-yo right? yeah, I thought so.)

And, in other, less exciting news, I got mentioned (again) in Beefy's latest podcast. Amy was a lot better this time, she didn't pop off with any racial slurs or remain monosyllabic, and contributed witty banter to the show. The best part was when Beefy and Jones go away and let the women talk, as I've never been able to concentrate on more than two radio hosts at a time. Call it an attention span flaw. But yeah, my name gets thrown out there randomly, right there at the end. Maybe it's subliminal advertising. Most likely they're poking fun at me, but go listen to it anyway. Hell, buy a shirt or a CD, I don't care. http://www.beefyness.com/.

Um....let's see, what else do I have...

Oh, I made this awesome soup last night. I've been down with allrecipies.com for a long while now, and I still wish my wife would get rid of all these cookbooks we have laying around the kitchen, as the website is so much more convenient (considering the PC is in the kitcken). I was a little leery about mixing chicken broth with beef broth, but it turned out delicious. Yeah, I love to cook. My specialty is chili, but I haven't been able to make it with the kick I want for a while. Seems pregnancy killed my wife's ability to consume spicy foods.

Plus, I go a little insane with the spicy anyway. Tabasco? That's for pussies. I'd like to see someone drink a whole tub of Dave's Temporary Insanity Sauce, athough that doesn't really fit into a song.

when the fuck did we get ice cream?

2006-07-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that the Wired article will probably be exactly like I thought, showcasing a few people in order to compress it down to about a half a page.

Now, I would have liked a cover story that included everyone, but let's be honest...the production values kill nerdcore for mainstream audiences.

Don't get me wrong, I totally dig the scene. However, most people are trained to expect good production, the kind where you can hear the words, and the music is crisp and clean, without a bunch of distortion and mud distracting from the sound.

The problem is that most non-musicians can't distinguish between what's supposed to be there and what's not supposed to be there. So, you could potentially write the best song ever, and it wouldn't become a hit without good production.

So yeah, I'm not too worried about missing out on the Wired article. Am I jealous of the people who did get included? Yes. I'm still not sure on what criteria they're using to select artists, though. I would say popularity, based on Beefy's inclusion, but funky49 was also included, and I really never heard of him before the compilation. Also, 1337 G33k B3at is also omitted, which makes me wonder if they're merely shooting for artists with quantity, not quality.

[Note: I'm not implying that the artists who got included lack quality, I'm just saying they may have more songs than everyone else.]

Or maybe they're just going for people with their own web domains, I don't know. I also don't know what happened to the Slashdot review that was supposed to happen, maybe that got cancelled.

At any rate, I can't spend too much time wondering why I was nixed from one review (short answer: production quality, most likely), or where another review went. My time is better spent learning my new production tools (just got a bunch of Waves mastering plugins, and they're superb), writing music, and hanging out with my wife and daughter. Eventually I'll have a product that will have that "radio clarity" necessary for acceptance, and then I won't be able to stand behind excuses.

Stay tuned...

ok, i got something now.

2006-07-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

The new Benjamin Bear album is coming along nicely. I've got some truly awesome beats in creation, and soon I'll get to the process of writing lyrics and sending out tracks for collaborators.

I do wonder if Beefy has poisoned some of the nerdcore community against me. It might be just the schizophrenia, but I can see him trying to influence his clique to not work with me.

More than likely, it's all in my head, and I'm not too worried about it. I really don't have much to go on with the current direction I'm heading in, the closest examples of what the new album may sound like is "the Last Fantasy" and that diss I did on Big Tizzle, and neither of those really pass the fidelity test.

So, all people have to go on is my word that "oh yeah, this will be awesome." I mean, I won't release it unless I think it is awesome, and if it never gets to that point, it will never get released.

At the moment though, Benjamin Bear is not ready. I don't have enough material for a whole show, I don't have the production quality I desire, and I don't have the backing of the scene.

The next thing I release will change all that, though.

Be prepared...for the death of the king.

i got nothing.

2006-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, I watched the Wizard yesterday. I'm getting to be a sap for emotional scenes in movies. While it was messed up that everyone is apparently really into video games in the great state of Utah, the touching scene at the end where Jimmy puts the memories of his dead sister into those dinosaurs from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure kinda got to me. Not as bad as the end of the Notebook, but a small tear rose up from my soul.

Shut it, I can cry at movies if I want to. I've been doing it since Littlefoot's mother died in the Land Before Time, and I don't intend to stop now.

In kind of the same vein of movies, I also watched Grandma's Boy yesterday, and realized I needed a bunch of pot for this movie. Seriously, this flick has the most smoking of dope I've seen since How High. It was pretty funny without weed, and I totally dug the "video game company" story line. I could have sworn that the guy who played J.P. was Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame, but no, it was Joel Moore, the guy who played Owen in Dodgeball.

This same guy is co-writing and directing the upcoming Spiral, which is apparently not funny. I mean, it's not trying to be funny. So either we have yet another comedic actor trying to legitimize himself with a drama, or it may actually be a good movie. We'll see.

Tomorrow marks my five-year anniversary, so the missus and I are going out for a night on the town. Unfortunately, we're kind of broke, so a "night on the town" may end up becoming "stay home and watch Flight of the Navigator."

Fo'shilla.

talent pool

2006-06-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

ever since high-c brought the scene together with rhyme torrents, nerdcore has stepped up its game.

for one, the songs are getting better. with all the media attention, we've gone from "just fucking around on a mic" to producing some serious entertainment.

ytcracker has been kicking out jams left and right, super dragon x gets my vote for rookie of the year (though he sounds like he's been rapping for years), and mc wreckshin comes out of left field with a lounge cover of mc chris' "i want candy."

so what am i looking forward to in the nerdcore scene? well, i'm glad i asked:

mc chris - dungeon master of ceremonies

i got to preview some of the tracks when his message board was still up, and i can't say i liked everything i heard, but what i did like was very promising. chris seems to be going for a more dance pop sound, but it's actually working in most cases. his flow seems to be on point, and he's apparently gotten laid recently, so maybe he'll be a little more relaxed. ^_^

legion of doom - ????

rhyme torrents was the first i heard of shonuff, one half of legion of doom (along with "asian sensation" catdaddy). the album will feature guest spots by zerobitrate ("arkanoid," "legendary rhymes"), super dragon x, and others, so it seems like it'll be a winner.

beefy - ????

now some of you may be wondering, "why are you looking forward to this cd? don't you two hate each other?"

well, mostly i want to see what he's going to bring. "tub of tabasco" was an alright song, but he's going to lose ground if he doesn't step up his game, especially with so much great talent coming out of the woodwork.

he also needs to reclaim his podcasts from the two girls he let on the show. paige is ok, but amy makes my eardrums bleed. her laugh is like nails on a chalkboard, and she has a serious case of the hams going on when she gets near a mic. and seriously, living in oakland is not an excuse to drop racial slurs on the air. if this were an actual radio show, she would have gotten the ax. put your foot down...just because you're banging them, doesn't mean you need to give in to their every wish.

so, what i'd like to see from beefy:

a.) songs that aren't all about yourself.
b.) sober podcasts without amy and paige.

(to which beefy says, "fuck you dude, you suck.")

optimus rhyme - school the indie rockers

"obey the moderator" and "just forget it" are awesome, and optimus sounds polished on these tracks. i'll reserve judgement for the full copy, but it's shaping up nicely.

nursehella - ????

after receiving as much hype as one can get in nerdcore, nursehella finally dropped "nursehellamentary" on rhyme torrents and silenced the critics, even making beefy change his stripes. hella and spellah are a dynamic duo, and i have a feeling this album will raise the bar for nerdcore.

benjamin bear - netiquette

yeah, i know, i'm tooting my own horn here. but i've gotten some seriously talented people (super dragon x, ytcracker, doctor popular, funky49, emergency pizza party, oddioblender, myf, high-c, and zerobitrate) expressing interest in contributing.

in addition to the namedropping, i'm also doing a quasi-tribute to early hip-hop and using some classic samples in my beats, in addition to the nes and old-school synth sounds that i normally use. if all goes as planned, it should come out pretty sweet. we'll find out next april, i guess.

oddioblender - ????

i don't know anything about this album yet, but oddioblender is one talented guy, and he's also walking the collaboration line. i expect glitchy nerdcore hip-hop here, and that ain't not bad.

in addition to the albums that have been confirmed, i'm also waiting for album announcements from the following artists:

1337 g33k b34t
eggskin white (or brainthirst)
ytcracker (or spamtec)
super dragon x (or sultans of syntax)

and in other news, i've branched off the hip-hop side of psychedelic fidelity into "home row records." so psy-fi records will be the ambient/trip-pop side of things, and home row records will be the nerdcore side. not that it would confuse anyone, i just like to make up record labels.
they're all subsidiaries of "the item shop," because that's the business name i have registered with the irs.

birth of a genre

2006-06-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

oh, this is the shit right here. now that we're all more or less centralized (though some of us still can't get along), there's been an influx of new artists to the scene.

i must give massive props to new york's super dragon x, who has the best rap song about ancient egypt ever. and while it may be the only rap song about ancient egypt, it is still awesome.

but musical artists aren't the only ones appearing. we're now getting graphic artists, bloggers, and newscasters.

i love this scene. maybe it's because i'm part of the artistic side, but it's also because of the people, the culture, and the music. or maybe i've never been this far underground into an actual scene to see it grow into fruition.

it'll be interesting to see how nerdcore eventually ends up, what parts of it become commercialized, and how popular it actually gets.

we'll see.

egotrippin

2006-06-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

the nerdcore scene needs some valium or something. everyone is so damn sensitive about their own music.

i'll admit, i'm guilty of it myself. but i realize, these are people just like me, sitting in front of their computers, putting out music that previously only their friends heard. well, the reality is...

we're not that good.

don't get me wrong, i totally enjoy the music coming out, and the people involved are really cool, for the most part. but compared to professional releases, we're totally lame. we need to pull together if we want the tiny scene we've created to survive.

on the other hand, it is entertaining. ^_^

a shitstorm draws near...

2006-06-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

So, the Rhyme Torrents compilation got released, and I'm sorely disappointed. Not so much in the music, as it was pretty impressive for a bunch of geeks at their PCs, but more in the bashing the artists gave each other.

A lot of it was for production value and rhyme skill, but some of it was for some seriously ridiculous shit. I got blasted for being too mainstream. There were people crying about supposed non-nerds doing nerdcore. People who had released a few songs before thought the people who released their first song on this album shouldn't have the same spotlight as they did.

The whole thing is fast degenerating into a pissing contest. I was hoping the collection would get us all some exposure and perhaps some networking connections for future collaborations (which it has), but I suppose not everyone can remain friends when egos are at stake.

I was a little miffed at the bad review at first, but I realized I was more offended at being singled out of 40 or so artists and being accused of "hurting nerdcore" than I was that my music was ill received. I really don't think I'm single-handedly bringing down the genre.

I also don't think this collection is going to bring nerdcore into the mainstream. There are a few stellar tracks in there, and a lot of personal favorites, but the lo-fi production will turn a lot of less forgiving people off to it.

"Nerdcore is lame," they'll say. "It's just a bunch of dorks sitting at their computers rapping about it."

Ironically enough, they would be correct. I thought that maybe by unifying and collaborating we could push the genre forward, but I suppose arguing trivial subjects is the core of being a nerd.

Geez, we suck sometimes.

my official super smash bros. wish list

2006-05-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, Nintendo shocked the world by whipping out Solid Snake for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That got me thinking: what other characters could be in the game? That brings us to this highly improbable and fantastical list, separated by trademark owners.

Nintendo

Little Mac
King Hippo
The Guy from Excitebike
Toad
Boo
Shy Guy (maybe also Bullet Shy Guy)

Capcom

Mega Man
Zero
Ken
Ryu
Jill Valentine
M. Bison

Konami

Ninja Turtles
Pyramid Head

Sega

Sonic
Tails
Knuckles
Dr. Robotnik
Shinobi
Alex Kidd

Square Enix

Cid
Cloud
Sephiroth
Fighter
Roto
Rare, Ltd.

Joanna Dark
Zitz
Rash
Pimple
Conker

Technos

Billy
Jimmy
Alex
Ryan
Abobo

Yep, that about sums it up. I could probably think of more, but the list is mind-bogglingly long already.

So fsck it.

people kicking it better than me

2006-05-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Well, here's some props to some other people I thought were doing some cool shit (no particular order):

the 100th Monkey
Optimus Rhyme
MC Frontalot
optimiss (mc chris remixes)
Baddd Spellah
Futuristic Sex Robotz
Ultraklystron

and that's about it...

2006-05-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Well, since I finished my work for the nerdcore comp, it seems like all online communication has stopped. No more e-mails, no retarded posts on the mc chris forum, no random IMs, pretty much nothing. It's a virtual standstill, if you excuse the pun.

I keep hoping that someone will download this comp and I'll become somewhat famous, at least by independent standards...that way, more than just the people I meet personally and some random passerby on a forum for another independent rappper will know who I am. I mean, more people know who Beefy is, for christ's sake. Mention Benjamin Bear, and they're all like, WTF? Isn't he some Canadian cartoon?

I did a Google search for Jake Woods and came up with a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. Apparently, he was traded to the Angels. Or he was an Angel...I don't know. If he played for the Cubs, it'd give me a reason to buy a jersey. The closest on that team is Kerry Wood, and that's one consonant short of a purchase...

Yeah, this is my whiny musician rant. In reality, I'm just lonely and detached from the world. I need fanmail. I need friends. I need someone to talk to for more than a quick, "OMG, that was so funny," or "You're such a douche!" I need more in my inbox than the regular pitches for unsecured MasterCards and souless work from home ads. I suppose I need genuine, human contact...and not the small talk I get at my crappy job building cooling towers. Something more than, "Did you see such and such movie? It was pretty funny! You should watch it!" and "You gettin' drunk this weekend?"

Yeah, I could write those conversations. I look at other blogs of nerdcore rappers, and they're filled with interesting things about how they did this with someone else, or how they dressed up as anime characters and wandered around Seattle.

I suppose I could write a song about it...but my inspiration has dried up for now. I guess I'll just watch some porn, drink this beer, and then go watch wrestling and feel bitter that some chick I went to school with is now on national television.

mucus at work

2006-05-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finally got "Joystickin" redone, which is a big thing for me. I found a really awesome site for free VST instruments, Tweakbench, so I was able to incorporate real NES-style sounds in the track, which sounds great now, IMO. I can still hear a little of the head cold (allergies, maybe?) that's been going on lately, but I don't think anyone else will notice or care.

So, now I can turn all of my efforts into packing up all of my shit and moving a few blocks away, which will be good...less area to clean.

totally meh

2006-05-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today is kinda boring. In fact it's so boring, I would smoke a bong if I had some weed, and weren't being tested for narcotics soon. So, I'm sitting around drinking cold beer and listening to Tool's 10,000 Days.

I need to rerecord "Joystickin" for the compilation, but I don't want to make the beat for it. I was hoping someone else would do that for me, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. Or maybe I just need to have more patience. If I was more of a rockstar, I'd hold a contest. Sadly, I ain't that good yet.

So, the big achievement for today will be mowing the lawn. Yep, kickin' the real rockstar lifestyle here. I really need to be packing my shit up so I can get out of my current dump, but it's late...at least for me.

Meh.

strange events unfold

2006-05-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

After a lengthy e-mail exchange with High-C concerning the compilation, I fell under the impression that this project could go more places than I previously thought. For one, the project is getting into Wired magazine. No, not the website, the magazine. Possibly as a feature story. Which means I'll actually have to buy a copy of Wired magazine. Damn.

The collection is also getting reviewed on Slashdot, so it's probably going to blow up amongst the computer-savvy crowd. Hopefully what I've submitted will stand out enough to get noticed. Next stop is getting mentions in High Times and on G4TV. High-C is seriously hyping the shit out of this. I have a feeling he'll make us all semi-famous.

Plus, he's promoting us so that if any nerdcore artists are in the vicinity, any other nerdcore artists are automatically on the bill. So say if someone like MC Frontalot or MC Hawking comes through Northern Illinois, Benjamin Bear is on the bill as well.

Life rocks sometimes.

on mixing and producing

2006-04-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

I'm still new to this whole remixing thing. I finished mixing and mastering "Hit the Lights," a track with MC Bits and Eggskin White, and the whole thing just took way longer than I would have liked. Hopefully other people will like it, but frankly, the song has just become a big pain in my ass. You can hear it at the mc chris forum collaboration repository.

But, it's finally done, and I can move onto other things. I got the vocal recorded and sent off to High-C for the super-long posse track for the nerdcore comp, so we'll see how that turns out. It feels good to send vocals to someone else to fuck with instead of having people send them to me.

My wife, God bless her, is having an awesome birthday week. She got her birthday off, still got paid, won $500 playing the lottery, and we might get to finally move. She bought two bearded dragons, Bonnie and Clyde, so I just sit in there and stare at them. They're cool to watch.

See, aren't blogs boring as fuck?

Strange Anomalies

2006-04-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

I was checking the page statistics for Benjamin Bear on Soundclick, and "Game Over," the instrumental of the remix I did for mc chris' Hijack, has consistenly had like 14 listens a day. Why? It's not the first track and I'm not promoting it. It's just sitting there, being the most popular song on the page. Yesterday in fact, someone downloaded almost every song on there, save for three instrumentals.

The popularity of Benjamin Bear confuses me. I'm not complaining though.

Kicking it old school

2006-04-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

The first ever nerdcore compilation is heating up with bigger and bigger names. First, "legendary" nerdcore producer Baddd Spellah is climbing aboard with an all-new remix of MC Frontalot's "Nerdcore Hip-hop." Rumour has it that Front himself may be dropping his own fresh steaming pile of hot shit, but that hasn't been verified, and won't be unless his name appears on the compilation's homepage.

As for the other artists appearing on the comp, nothing tickled my funny bone harder this week (so far) than Futuristic Sex Robotz' "Snakes on a Plane." Like the movie it's based on, it gives you exactly what you want. Snakes. On a Plane. With Samuel L. Jackson. Kinda reminds me a little of Snoop Dogg's "Snoop's Upside Your Head."

Of course, it's really given me exposure to people I've never heard before, like mvf, who raps to an awesome rendition of the theme to Paperboy.

Hopefully the CD does well enough/has enough big names attached to it that it increases interest in the nerdcore genre, which is good for everyone. After all, it only take one person to get successful and get on MTV to start a trend and open the floodgates. Then most of the people calling themselves nerdcore (or the ones who get pigeonholed into being nerdcore) will all get record deals, just like when gangster rap broke open.

Yes, we're taking it back for the white man, because all the black men are getting rich off of it. Power to the people.

reintroduction

2006-04-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the newly renovated Psy-fi Report! We promise to be less political this time.

April has been a busy month for our Item Shop Productions label, with Benjamin Bear appearing not only on the world's first semi-official nerdcore compilation, but also producing tracks for MC Bits and Zero D, among others.

Our Nekora studio has gotten a sonic lift thanks to the addition of some new software and mastering plugins. We're still working out the subtleties, but should have all the kinks worked out by the time we make the switch to a 24-bit Macintosh system.

No albums are in the works right now, just a few collaborations from Benjamin Bear. The next Red Cat album is waiting for the new studio. Most of the songs are already written, but Red may just decide to scrap them all and start fresh.

In other news, Indicashadow is finally online, and has been well received so far. Keep checking with us to find the latest news and releases.