Bible Belt Bitfest 2! The second bi-annual festival celebrating chiptune, 8-bit, and video-game inspired music.
This is the only event like this in North Texas (Austin can suck it).
In addition to great live music, we will have multiple retro game systems set up through out the venue for your entertainment pleasure.
If you can’t be there in person, you can watch it from the comfort of your home!
Bookmark this link and watch the live stream of the show, 7pm central on July 31st. http://ustream.tv/channel/biblebeltbitfest
Hey kids! Today I’m reviewing this fairly new album in a way that doesn’t slob all over it like some publications are doing! Lets take a look at the most objective and scientific view of Ariel Pink’s New Record, shall we?
For some bands, stepping out of the comfortable lo-fi world is a difficult transition. In this world, mistakes are masked by charming amounts of distortion and cassette-tape compression. When the band in question releases their hi-fi debut (almost always by a bigger label than the one they had initially been with), old fans realize that they have been listening to a trained pop group this whole time, and in their mind, the music starts to suck.Just ask the members of Ween or Guided By Voices about it. Luckily forAriel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, it is a smooth transition; and I do mean smooth.
Hey! A new edition of In My Awesome Opinion where I kiss the ass of a new prog-rock album. I love prog. There may be a time where prog “dies,” but for now, I’m just riding a wave of awesome. Maybe sometime, I’ll write a timely review of a new album of a band in a genre that I don’t favor (most of bands and genres fall into this categorization), but for now…
You should definitely watch “Flight 666″, the Iron Maiden documentary. Maiden is still the most popular metal band in the world. There is a moment in the movie where a man is crying because he caught the almighty flying drumstick. That guy had been waiting his whole life to see his favorite band, waited days in line, and caught the stick. I empathized with him completely, as I have been where that man has been – completely unhinged emotionally, completely rocked to the core, recovering from the most amazing musical moment of our lives. Did you feel that at any SXSW show this year? Probably not. I’m not saying that every band has to make you gasp for air and tear-up, but if you have never experienced these feelings in some way or another, then sorry… you’re doing it wrong.
It was truly uplifting to see how positively their music has affected the lives of others, and how their fans across the globe unabashedly love their music.
You can’t say that for any band that’s rolled through Hailey’s lately.
Two years ago, I put together a chiptune show in Fort Worth TX. It was a mild success… people came, they sweated it out to 8 bit music… now we’re going to do it again… this time it’s going to be bigger and badder. Going to be more than just music, this time, kids.
email me at aaaaaalex at gmail dot com - put “BBB2″ in the subject line.
Like I said in my previous post, 2009 mostly sucked… but there are 2 really amazing albums I totally forgot came out in ’09. I’ll give you a brief run down of them, in a non-IMAO formatted post.
Zombi – Spirit Animal
If you want to experience a cosmic progressive-rock odyssey, then look no further into Pittsburgh’s Zombi‘s Spirit Animal. The first song alone could be its own E.P., clocking in at an epic 14 minutes. Every song is lush with analog synthesis; it will make any synth-fetishist salivate. If you are into instrumental music, italian-horror soundtracks or prog in general, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Spirit Animal.
Cheap Dinosaurs - Self-Titled
The fact that I could forget about my favorite composer releasing his first solo album makes me a complete fucking moron. Dino Lionetti is the brains behind the Cheap Dinosaurs operation, an ex-member of the oft-mentioned (by me) Chromelodeon. His debut solo release is a doozy. Combining masterful Game-Boy compositions with masterful syth-shredding, this album towers above anything “8-bit” or “chiptune,”. It goes beyond amateur LSDJ composers posting “omg first try w/ game boy” tracks on a chiptune message board. It goes beyond sounding like video game music. It goes beyond modern composers in general. I have said this before, and I’ll say it again… Dino Lionetti is a modern day Beethoven. There is not one modern composer I can think of that can match his pure song-writing genius.
Stand out tracks for me are 1, 4 and 6. I don’t know what they’re called. Dino sent me the album with out a track listing. CDs come in individual hand-made covers (made by his wifey Lauren). Hit him up on myspace or go see him play to pick up a copy for yourself and experience this wonderful album.
In My Awesome Opinionis a new segment for Hotdogstorm, as a way to get me to write more. What is IMAO? Just reviews on music, movies, books, tv, whatever I feel like reviewing. Now, I’m not going to take time out to review everything that is out there – bUT, if you want to submit something to me to review, just shoot me an email at aaaaaalex@gmail.com with “IMAO” somewhere in the subject line. There are many review-blogs and music blogs out there that can write words gooder than I can, but I’ll give it my best shot. I may even try to get guest reviews at some point… but seeing as I rarely update this site, we’ll see how it goes. Without further bullshit, here’s my review of “Yakuza Heart Attack II” by Yakuza Heart Attack.
I submitted an exclusive track, “RUFFTRADE,” to A Chip Off The Shizz Block Vol 1. I recommend that everyone purchase a copy of it (or the digital version). There is a lot of talent packed onto one disc… including veteran game-music composer Neil Baldwin.
Today, I would like to inform all 1.67 of you that a great horror/soundtrack mix has been posted over at Darklord Disco. Its all kinds of awesome. Ryan Todd put this bad boy together. I got to see him and his crew about a year ago when I was on a visit to Philly. Ryan now has a gig called Robotique at Kung Fu Necktie, so check them out next time you’re in the city of Bro Love.
There is also a similar mix from last year posted on his site -both are crucial listening for this time of year. I recommend sticking it on at your drunken Halloween party later this month.
Sorry about not getting Night Shift to you folks last week, but shit got busy. This week’s show is all music from my cassette collection. I wont lie – its not very good. It is, however, the best sounding episode, mix wise. No guest host – I talk to myself!!! yeaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
playlist: 1. Kurtis Blow – Party Time
2. Temp Sound Solutions – jig
3. Christian Death – Elektra Descending
4. Zurich – Crazy This Year
5. Aswad – Not Guilty (live)
6. MC Lucious – Boom! I Got Your Man *
7. Depeche Mode – Dangerous
8. They Might Be Giants – I Palindrome I
9. The Magnolias – Shirly’s Lookin’ Down
10. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Sowing Seeds
11. Presidents of the United States of America – We’re not going to Make it
12. Siouxsie & The Banshees – Drifter
13. Husker Du – Books About UFO’s
14. Meat Loaf – You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth
