The bands
Matt Sweeney
get into the meat and potatoes of the fest.
Here's the challenge:
1) Which groups that have already played NP (either this year or
previous years) would you like to see come back?
1a) Which artists deserve the "it wouldn't be Nerdapalooza with out..." award?
2) Which artists that haven't played NP would you like to see on the bill?
For me.
1) Scrub Club for sure. They put on a great set that I wouldn't mind
seeing again, though hopefully everyone has voices this time around
*cough*Hatter*cough*
That said though, no disrespect to the rest, but I'd love to see Doc
Awk get his own set. Of everyone who didn't get billing that should
have, I'd put him at the top of the list.
In a similar vein, bring back Beefy! Again, no disrespect to Shael or
GC, but I felt a little cheated only getting two or three tracks from
him. The boy needs a full set to stretch out.
Also, I Fight Dragons, just because I was watching the game room
during their set and heard just enough to kick myself for missing it.
Sorry Hex, but no volunteer time from me next year.
1a) If I have to pick just one artist, I'm going to go with Scheafer,
just because the man worked so damn hard. I don't know if it would be
NP if he wasn't popping up on stage every other set. And given that
he was on stage for both Magnificent 7 and Bruce Campbell I think he
deserves the nod.
If I can pick multiple artists though, I'm going to throw in Dual Core
because Int just brought it to his set and also seemed to be popping
up in strange places (his verse during the parking lot freestyle was
literally out of no where). I'm also going to throw out EPP. I'll
admit, this is a group that I slept on and was really surprised by how
much fun their set was. And given that the fest is in Florida, I see
them as kind of the musical hosts of sorts.
I didn't see anyone at the fest that I wouldn't love to see come back,
but this is the list I'm going to throw out.
2) He wasn't on the bill, so I'll put him here, but I think Maja
proved his merit and his worthiness of getting a real slot (props to
Z1 for letting Maja upstage him :)
I think the buzz surrounding the Supercommuter release is reason
enough for them to get a slot. Unless a certain other group could be
coaxed into playing.
While I applaud Hex's decision to include the WRock kids in the
festivities, I'm not sure that House of Black and Fred Lives (who I do
have love for) are really the artists to choose for this slot.
Basically, may be I missed it, but only a handful of folks seemed to
be paying attention to them. Instead I'd make the following
recommendations:
I don't know their music at all, but mentions of WRap (as it is
getting to be known) tend to evoke mentions of Swish and Flick and
Danny Dementor. Again, I don't know their stuff, but that's what I'm
hearing.
Based on my own experience of seeing them live, my first pick would,
unfortunately, be a group that's about to play their last show at
WRockstock in Nov, The Mudbloods. If Hex could coax them into
reuniting for one more show, even if its just Adam with another
backing band, I think they'd go over REALLY well. I saw them last
summer at Portus, both electric and acoustic and they owned the room
both times. If you've never heard the Mudbloods and aren't sure about
the validity of WRock, I can't recommend them highly enough. Adam,
their song writer, is firmly in the grand tradition of great Texas
songwriters, and approaches WRock more from a thematic point of view
then a literal one. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard
people say that it took a couple of listens or someone pointing it
out, before they realized that they were a WRock group. On top of
that, they truly know how to put on a compelling live show.
My second choice for the WRock group would be The Remus Lupins,
preferably the full band version. More literal in their song writing
then the Mudbloods, Alex, the band's song writer, carries a strong
Beatles influence that results in him really knowing his way around a
strong pop hook. He's another one that is a first rate showman, who
puts on a hell of a rock show, with or without the W. He's also
toured pretty seriously and would likely bring in some of his own
fans. And if his FL fans are anything like his DC fans, they know how
one should behave at a rock show. None of this standing around crap.
Instead expect bouncing and dancing and singing along and general
unbridled merriment.
Now is the point where we slowly move off into uncharted waters.
Musically, I'm not sure how she'd go over, but I would LOVE to have
any chance to finally see Marian Call. For those who've missed her.
She's an Alaskan songwriter who was commissioned by Quatum Mechanix
(http://www.quantummechanix.com) to do an EP of songs inspired by
Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. While that album (Got To Fly) tends
to get the most attention, her first album (Vanilla) is my personal
favorite so far. Quirky and fun, she's the first geeky artist I've
heard to really nail, in a compelling way, the heart on your sleeve
style of song writing. My only hesitation is that what I've
heard/seen of her live shows (mostly through YouTube) has her live
sound trending more towards a coffee house folk style. Though, the
videos I've seen, tend to be in those kind of venues, so I'm not sure
what we'd get at something like NP.
I'm not sure how active they are these days, since I haven't been
paying attention, but there is a DC indiepop group called The Sprites
that plays pretty damn fun geeky music. Song titles include George
Romero, Me and the Sysop, Overclockers of the World Unite, and Modern
Gameplay (a love song to retro gaming). Z's dropped at least two of
their tracks in the Radio Free Hipster podcast in the past. Very fun
stuff, that I think could go a ways to broaden the sonic pallet of the
fest.
In that vein, and to go out on a totally out there note, I'm going to
finish up by throwing out Tullycraft. Another group that would bring
in their own fan base (if for no other reason then they rarely tour
the east coast), Tullycraft are a geeky group, but more of a music
geek thing. Their sense of humor, which is kind of a smart alec
smirk, would be in line with some of the groups playing, but the
references will likely be coming from left field for most folks. To
give you an idea of their personal brand of geek, here's the video for
their track Georgette Plays A Goth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkwRw46x8o The line in that song, "A
waitress uniform in black embroidered “Dear Catastrophe”" is most
likely a reference to the Belle and Sebastian album Dear Catastrophe
Waitress. Why is it in there? Because they could.
OK that's it. Hex now has some thoughts that I think may be
considered, and some others that likely won't be. Who will be the
next person to help Hex and crew put together the line up for next
year?
And to end this message on a good note, I think I may finally be tired
enough to go to bed. Less then 6 hours until I need to be at work,
but oh well.
matt
--
Matt Sweeney
mattws...@gmail.com
http://tsuibhne.com/
Geek Culture Calendar
http://stopstandingstill.net/
MadHatter
own set. He's definitely ready. A few different Scrub Club sets would
be more appropriate, or perhaps just a Doc set and another Scrub Club
group set would kickass. If we're lucky enough to get there again this
year. :D
Seeing a doctor this Friday about my throat! Been sick since two weeks
before Nerdapalooza, never got better... It's... odd.
Hatter
> likely a reference to the Belle and Sebastian album Dear Catastrophe
> Waitress. Why is it in there? Because they could.
>
> OK that's it. Hex now has some thoughts that I think may be
> considered, and some others that likely won't be. Who will be the
> next person to help Hex and crew put together the line up for next
> year?
>
> And to end this message on a good note, I think I may finally be tired
> enough to go to bed. Less then 6 hours until I need to be at work,
> but oh well.
>
> matt
>
> --
> Matt Sweeney
>
> Geek Culture Calendarhttp://stopstandingstill.net/