Give Dangerously

I have a love/hate relationship with Kickstarter. On the one hand, it's an amazing tool that helps independent artists and creators fund projects with the help of fans, and connecting real fans with innovative and independently-minded acts is something I am all about. On the other, everybody's got one, and it can be a little difficult to hear the call of the truly inspired above all the noise.

Unless you're talking about my boy Marc with a C.

Forgoing the hipster haircuts and impromptu dance numbers that seem all the rage in current Kickstarter information vids, Marc instead went the classic route; he captioned a telenovela.

Fuck yeah, he did!

You got all that, right?

The long and short of it is Marc needs some extra cash to have a painstakingly remastered version of his 2007 opus Normal Bias pressed on vinyl, which any music geek will tell you is the way music was meant to be heard. To that end he is asking for a hand-up, not a hand-out… Wait, no.

Okay, he is asking for a handout, but the payoff is actually pretty sweet. A donation of just 5 bones gets you early access to the digital version of this newly polished album, and bigger spenders can score everything from ultra-rare concert DVDs and personalized CDs to Normal Bias test pressings and his old recording rig. For realsies.

I think you'll agree that it's a more than fair deal. So, if you've got a couple of bucks lying around, why not toss some scratch at your favorite lo-fi popper's favorite lo-fi popper?

Universal Acclaim

Stevie D is many things. He is the son of a preacher-man. He is an Illbot. He is a friend to the elderly and infirmed. He is a loving husband (to Brandy.) He is a devoted father (to Big Perm and Samson.) He is a Words With Friends hustler. He is my country-brother-from-another-mother. But most importantly he is, along with Beefy and Adam WarRock, one of the "Best Damn Fuckin' Rappers in the Universe."

And here is the proof.

The Humble Hip-Hop Bundle

Bad-ass flyer by @rusty_shackles

Apparently February is the hot new month in which to tour. I mean, all the cool kids are doing it!

I've already mentioned that next month my boys Adam WarRock and Kirby Krackle will be travelling the west coast, but it's recently been revealed that my other boys Jesse Dangerously and Mikal kHill will be doing the same on this end of the country. Kicking off in Columbia, SC on the 3rd and concluding on the 11th in Worcester, MA, the Humbled to Dust Tour promises to shake the eastern seaboard to its hip-hop core.

Along the way they're also hitting Orlando, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, so expect to see some amazing local talent (not the least of which is the delightful infernal Schaffer the Darklord) showcased as well.

Oh, and as I'll likely miss the Charlotte show – for reasons I'll go into at a later date – y'all be sure to make some extra noise on my behalf for MC Stealth. She's one of our precious few regional lady-rappers, so treat her nice. Which mostly means make the aforementioned noise!

Information Wants to Be Free

I'm not participating in today's internet blackout because I think anyone with half a brain already understands that what I do here – at a site that promotes acts who sample, remix and, in many cases, pay lyrical tribute to existing songs or properties without permission of the original copyright holders – can't be done in an overly regulated internet. If you dig my blog or podcast, if you love mixtapes or mash-ups or crazy cover songs (AKA: transformative works), then know that legislation like SOPA and PIPA very certainly affects you.

Pirates won't be stopped by content filtering and targeted prosecution, but artists will.

For more insight I'll now turn the floor over to Adam WarRock. When a former lawyer calls something out for "vague legal language, that’s unconstitutional / False pretense of purpose, that’s barely any solution," you know you can't take that shit lightly.

Thesis or the Egg?

I imagine it's hard for most of us in the States, after the three-day MLK weekend, to get back into the swing of the work week on this sullen Tuesday morning. On a personal note, I'm more than willing to admit that it's a dreary winter day in the Deep South, and I am operating on what I conservatively estimate as four hours of sleep. Ergo, not my best.

After a night of fruitlessly staring at the ceiling trying to figure out what, if anything, was keeping me awake into the wee hours, I was less-than hopeful about my potential productivity. Thankfully, salvation was delivered by the force up North known as Backburner.

The video for the title track from last year's epic release Heatwave was (apparently) uploaded in December, but I didn't discover it until yesterday. That gave the joint just enough time to earworm itself back into the front of my brainpan, and the album proper has once again become the soundtrack du jour.

Thus the day is saved!

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 125: Heavy Mental Parking Lot (Illbotz Special Edition)

In addition to covering those ever important new developments – I got that breaking nerd news, son! – these first couple of months of the New Year are very much about old business. Therefore my debut podcast of 2012 is centered on an interview I did with my good buddy Stevie D back in December of last year.

It's not your average Q&A piece, and to say that it was the most I've ever laughed during an interview would be a most egregious understatement.

I've "known" Stevie over the internets for a long time, but it wasn't until I was in the same room with him at Nerdapalooza that I realized the lovable goofball that gave us such lyrical gems as "On my grind like my teeth when I had TMJ / And if you like it put a ring on it, Beyonce" isn't just some stage-face; that's honestly Stevie D. All the time.

The skits that you hear on an Illbotz record are really just him and Perm and Samson and the crew doing what they do – tellin' jokes and havin' fun. They are, like J.Lo before them, real.

This was a revelation that I found… well, refreshing. And I feel fortunate to have been able to participate in such a similarly enjoyable (if unpredictable) exchange.

I hope you dig it too.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 125: Heavy Mental Parking Lot (Illbotz Special Edition) [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 64.9 MB Running Time: 49:07 Subscribe to RFH

Show Notes:

Intro: Baddd Spellah - "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Other titles I considered for this episode included "Cracker's Delight," "Maxi Pad Confessions" and simply "Deliverance."

Track 1: Illbotz - "Illbotz Rock the Spot and Go Crazy"
This epic track from their latest, Pudding Is Delicious, is also the 'Botz's go-to set opener.

Track 2: Tribe One – "Single Player (Original)"
I'm not sure if it exactly qualifies as "slept on," but this was one of the best – if generally unremarked upon – songs of 2011.

Track 3: Illbotz – "Doo Doo Def"
From 2007's phenomenal Ringtones for Rotary Phones, my first proper Illbotz album experience.

Track 4: Illbotz – "My Crown (Feat. Poe Mack)"
This one actually closes out Pudding is Delicious, and I've been waiting for just the right time to unleash it upon the RFH audience.

Track 5: Illbotz – "A Thousand Shades of Awesome"
Yet another fun, silly sex jam from Illbotz, circa 2006.

Track 6: Beefy – "Outlaw"
Beef is both an outlaw and a Vampire Hunter! #multiclass

Track 7: Illbotz – "It's Illbotic (feat. Dred)"
Wait; did I play this one before on a podcast? Maybe in its remixed form? I think so, but Google seems to disagree.

Track 8: Illbotz – "I Miss You Money (Witcha Dead Ass) (feat. Sarah G Of The Wading Girl)"
Is it weird that I followed up Stevie naming Perm his "favorite living Fat Boy" with a song about his untimely death? Yeah, probably.

Track 9: Adam WarRock – "Gundam Wings & Fries (feat. P. Longest)"
Yes, I would gladly do a Diet Coke shot in a giant robot. You'd be surprised how often that question comes up.

Track 10: Illbotz – "Intro: The Finaler Countdown"
Stevie D and Big Perm are my boys and all, but DJ Samson really commands the stage at an Illbotz's show.

Track 11: Illbotz – "There's No Stoppin' Us (Or is There?)"
How do you end an episode peppered with ridiculous dialog from me and Stevie? With a joint that samples that song from Breakin' of course!

In a world where hip-hop has lost its sense of humor, I think Illbotz are the solution, the antidote. I mean, these guys are my friends and all, but, before we ever got to that point of hanging around drinking PBRs and talking shit, I approached them as a true fan impressed by their willingness to be funny even if they knew it might turn off some hardcore heads.

It just so happens that they liked what I was doing as well. Which is nice.

Like Stevie says in this show, it's great to be able to associate with talented performers, but when they are also pleasant, genuine, down-to-earth people it helps so much. It makes you thankful to be a part of a proper artistic community.

Lots of bands sweat things like being labeled a "comedy act" or being attached to a term like nerdcore, as if the words that others pin to their work somehow have more weight than the art itself, but not Illbotz. They do what they do in whatever manner they deem fit, and their sole focus – both in the booth and on the stage – seems to be firmly focused on fun. Theirs and the audience's.

I can't think of any nobler endeavor to undertake.

Epic Crossover Event

Fate is a cold, cruel mistress. How else can you explain today's announcement that Kirby Krackle and Adam WarRock – two of my most favoritist acts of ever – are touring together next month... but only on the fucking opposite side of the country?

So while I drown my sorrows with cheap table wine and a third re-reading of Animal Man #5, peep the following press release:

In the past 3 years of touring comic book conventions all over the the country resulting in four albums and a tour in Australia in 2011, KIRBY KRACKLE has become one of the top nerd-rock bands in the genre creating a grass roots movement of music revolving around their unique brand of songs about the comic characters, video games, and the pop-culture we love. This past summer the band released their new album, Super Powered Love as well as the punkish The Watcher; a song written for and soon to be released by MARVEL COMICS.

Co-headling the tour is ADAM WARROCK, who in just 3 years has become a well-known, musically prolific, and respected name in the genre of nerd-core and indie rap off the success of The Browncoats Mixtape, and having just completed a 3 month tour with MC LARS and MC CHRIS. This trip marks his first headlining tour on the west coast.

(Okay, it doesn't explicitly state that "Booty do Math" will be performed each night, but hope springs eternal. Right?)

Proper dates and a handy-dandy venue list are available for your perusal. And if you happen to be near any of these tour stops, please promise me that you'll do your part to help my boys have a great time in your burg.

You lucky, lucky bastards.