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).

Artists Scheduled to perform:

Naxat (Fort Worth, TX)
http://hotdogstorm.com/naxat

Sievert (Houston, TX)

Albino Ghost Monkey (Madison, WI)
http://www.facebook.com/AlbinoGhostMonkey

MicroD (Arlington, TX)
http://microd.michaeldufault.com/
http://www.facebook.com/MicroDmusic

Reteris (Dallas, TX)

PixyJunket (Plano, TX)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PixyJunket/171606343349
http://pixyjunket.bandcamp.com/

Visuals by Party Time! Hexcellent! (Austin, TX)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Party-Time-Hexcellent/95415745963

you can hear samples from all the bands at http://biblebeltbitfest.bandcamp.com

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

View the flyer here:
http://www.hotdogstorm.com/bbb2/flyer.jpg

Event is being held at:
1919 Hemphill St. Fort Worth TX
http://1919hemphill.org/

$6 donation

Doors open around 6, Music to start at 7:45pm sharp.
Please do not bring alcohol.

this saturday!

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 for Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, it is a smooth transition; and I do mean smooth.

Before Today is more than a mere hi-fi-record-by-a-previously-lo-fi-artist, it is a record that is tighter and more cohesive than Pink’s previous efforts. The veil is lifted to reveal an artist who really knows what he’s doing and his vision is clear. Though, now recording with a full band, the compositional results do not appear to differ much from his previous albums. Just as Worn Copy or The Doldrums had, high-energy white boy Motown jams sit along side with his meandering, spacious tracks.

The opening track, Hot Body Rub, fades-in to the middle of the one-riff jam, this is not really the best way to open a pop record. Though the song is somewhat interesting, it would definitely sound better in the middle of the album. The next track, Bright Lit Blue Skies, really gets the album going, and this is where the listener feels like the album really starts. Its’ everything a pop song should be – energetic, catchy, and fun; without a doubt, it is the strongest song presented on Before Today. As party continues with L’Estat, which takes a similar forgotten AM soul approach, the song takes strange detours to get to the hooks and back. Songs like these could be considered to be Pink’s signature style. Round and Round, Beverly Kills are like-minded in this fashion; they flow well together and are an absolute pleasure to hear.

Butt House Blondies is the only major clunker on the album. The opening fuzz-laden lazy metal riff just doesn’t fit in with the blah Floydian verses. When the starter riff comes back, is most unwelcome. After multiple listens through the album, this is one I always skip. Another song I mostly like, but could do without, is the next track, Little Wig. Little Wig’s introduction is a problem. The chord progression used in the intro returns as a turnaround between the verses and the choruses; it does work in this context. In the beginning, it creates an unsettling tone to start the tune on, which is likely the intention of the artist. Otherwise the song is fine, but due to the awkward beginning, I generally tend to skip it, so I can get to the proceeding track – the fantastic Can’t Hear My Eyes. As a listener, I can’t help but wish there were more songs like this on the rest of the album. Tinges of Doobie Brothers-style R & B or Electric Light Orchestra’s softer moments float through what is probably the smoothest song in the last decade (or more).

With the track Reminiscences, the band gives us a solid library-music jam that might have appeared on a grocery store’s training reel in the 1970’s. Pink keeps the groove on a plateau with Menopause Man. The final number is a weird one, even for the group in question. Revolution’s A Lie, an obvious nod to Joy Division, Suicide, Bauhaus and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure, doesn’t seem too out of place, though it is skip able. A single steady bass line bobs through out the near four-minute song, with layers of noise and Ariel’s signature monotone weaving in and out of it. Sequentially, it is an interesting choice for a closing number, but an end of an album is where most bands put their weirder material.

An obvious point of discussion regarding this album is of course, the high fidelity, and how it differs from other Ariel Pink albums. The quality of the recording isn’t over-blown like most modern pop records. The kicks and snares weren’t compressed to death; the vocals do not invade all the sonic space. The tone is dark, and saturated but flatters both the upbeat and the drearier, dreamer songs. As far as production goes, Before Today is flawless. Even keeping the production aspects in mind, I would say the main departure this album takes from Pink’s past work, is the newfound sense of brevity. Worn Copy begins with a ten minute slog-fest called Trepanated Earth, and the album clocks in at an hour and fifteen minutes (a total of seventeen tracks), whereas Before Today comes in at a modest twelve tracks, and around forty-five minutes. Somewhere before this album came out, Pink and Co. figured out how to cut through the bullshit and keep the album moving (mostly).

With the power of fidelity on their side, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti might be only an album away from an absolute pop masterpiece. Any fans disenfranchised by the movement away from lo-fi should give this album an honest listen. There is a lot to like, nothing to hate, and it is a worthwhile listen over all if nothing from a production stand point. In the end, the music is what matters – I can’t say that I’ll be jamming this out in my car everyday, but It might find its way back to the stereo if I’m in the mood.

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…

I’m very glad to say that Progressive Rock is not dead. Some may think that The Mars Volta rejuvenated it for the Hot-Topic generation, but all I can say is … nah, dude. TMV had one good album and kept getting full of them selves, trying to one up each other any chance they get. Dream Theater has done this for years. Thankfully, there are composers and bands out that that keeps the flame burning how it should be: unabashedly nerdy, skillfully played and make the listener stop whatever they are doing, so that they can make the “oh shit this is epic”-claw hand. Eraser’s Fantasy by Giant Claw keeps the spirit alive.

Sometime last month, my friends over at Pause released the digital version of Giant Claw’s “Eraser’s Fantasy.” Before I heard this album, I knew that this is the work of a one Keith Rankin who is one of the two synth players in Yakuza Heart Attack, one of my favorite new bands. I have been listening to this album for the past few weeks, trying to digest and absorb it as best I can, so I can make an informed decision and speak at length about it using more words than “killer, man.” After careful consideration, I can safely say that this album is fucking amazing.

The first thing I noticed while putting on Eraser’s Fantasy was that it was ear-shattering loud. For those of you unfamiliar with the world of audio engineering, this album uses a technique known as brick-wall mastering. Basically, this album sounds like its about to destroy your speakers at any moment. I know for a fact that this aspect of the album is a turn off for some people. While I’m not against the mastering, I would not have chosen it had it been my album, and gives it a claustrophobic feel sometimes. Just like Yakuza Heart Attack II, the production  is the only negative aspect of this album I can think of. Once you get past the distortion and the lack of headroom, you get sucked into a maddening world of gorgeous chaos.

More than a few people have compared this album to Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus album, and while I see the connection, I think it goes light years beyond that (better album art too). Eraser’s Fantasy takes that connection, sonically sharpens it into a stick, murders Greg Lake, breaks off a bloody bit, and gives to Keith Emerson to put into a crack pipe. The melodies are scatter-shot and momentary, giving you only a brief time to appreciate them, but when they’re there, they are strong. At times, brooding and thoughtful, others regal and triumphant and the rest of the time completely fucked up in the most beautiful way. Everything blends together into a seamless aural quest. Personally, I think it kicks the shit out of any ELP record.

There is not a bad or boring song on this album. It is an obvious thing to compare this to Rankin’s other band.  If you listen to both bands, the similarities are obvious, but YHA keeps the melodies reined in and more linear, more “poppy” if you will. Giant Claw songs are not reined in, they are melodies that are hard to remember, but it works out in favor for the album, as every listening of this album is almost like listening to it for the first time, and every listen has a new surprise ready for you around each sonic corner. Squeamish listeners need not apply – if you have to have a catchy or hooky melody every couple of measures, you will not enjoy this album. Coincidentally, fans of bands like Don Caballero and Bozart might find stuff to like, despite the absence of guitars. If you ever wanted to hear prog-rock at its most pissed off, most noisy, most ugly venom-spitting mood, then your album has arrived.

It is my hope that Rankin and his crew continue to honor the masters of the past while besting them every step of the way.

You can download the whole album for free here.

You can buy it in cassette form here.

Yakuza Heart Attack is playing in Fort Worth on July 31^st at Bible Belt Bitfest 2. Be there.

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.

LETS DO THIS

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 Opinion is 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.

If I am doing my research correctly (and by research, I mean, I glanced at their myspace page), Dayton Ohio’s Yakuza Heart Attack released Yakuza Heart Attack II on November 02,  2009, for free. At first, I thought this might not be a timely review, but now I think it might be.  The link has been taken down, since the album is slated to be released digitally in February. I suggest that everyone go purchase a copy. I know I will be doing so. Hopefully people will read this review and pick up the album. My word isn’t much, but to those who know me personally… you know that I am picky as hell. I don’t like a lot of new music. The last amazing album that was released was 2007′s “Final Recordings” by Chromelodeon. Its been a long time since I have heard an album as good as this.

2009 was mostly a shitty year for new music. Japandroids released a boring garage rock album, everybody was slobbering over the boring Animal Collective and Grizzly bear, shitty new U2 album, another overblown Green Day disaster, JUlian Casablancas’ horrific solo effort, super groups like Dead Weather and Them Crappy Vultures, another Flaming Lips snooze fest… I could go on and on. YHAII is a breath of fresh air rushing from the peaks of Mt. Fuji blowing away the stench from the valley of rotten musical shit that was 2009.

From the moment YHAII‘s opening track, Beast Attack begins, I knew something special was about to happen. The song progresses from a slower head bobbing jam into a frantic full-on synthesizer assault. This early in the 38 minute album, you can already perceive the compositional genius that this group possesses. By The time the second track Tears of the Judge ended (another brilliant synth-prog anthem), I was telling everybody I knew about this album. The mood takes a sharp left turn on Good Bye Rainbow Road and Power Surge which both have the happpiest, sugariest melodies I have heard in a long time. The latter reminds me of a take on the theme song from The Young Ones for some reason or another. I compared the two back to back just after writing that last statement, and it really doesn’t make anysense aside that they both share a train-whistle sound in both of them, and have a similar beat… I make weird connections like that sometimes.

The clear “winner” of this album for me is Scarlet Moon. The first movement of the song consists of a modal and hyper active melody set against tastefully paniced drumming. The 2nd movement breaks down the speed a couple of notches and reminds me of the song that plays when you beat a boss in Super Mario Brothers 3. When I first heard this song, I had to listen to it several times in a row to fully comprehend everything that was going on. The next track, Mist Monster is a slower, more introspective piece that has some of the most beautiful and simple melodies I have heard in a long long time. Yakuza Heart Attack wears their Yellow Magic Orchestra influence on their sleeve on the track Hello Dance, which is obviously very dance-driven with a clearly Asian melody. The album concludes with the prog-monster known as Heart Pounding Prison (great title). This song is at the same time majestic, triumphant and completely insane.

The focus of this album is the composition. The melodies are brilliantly infectous and memorable across the board; the synthesizers take the reins on the whole thing. Drums and bass guitar (no six stringers, sorry!) take a back seat, and seeing as how they were probably the only instruments that got mic’d during the production of this album, they sound a bit airy like on a Deerhoof album, which is fine, I love the production on their albums. On this album though, the drums and bass are pulled down a little in the mix, as its being dominated by the synthesizer ensemble. It sucks a little bit of power from the album, but not enough to bring it down. The only weak track, I felt on this album was the song “Speed II” which felt like a filler drum and bass track, and in my opinion, not completely necessary. Those two little complaints are the only negative things I have to say about this album.

YHAII is without a doubt, the best music that came out in 2009. I have listened to it several times already, and I keep finding new things about it that I like.  I wait feverishly for tour date announcements and new material. In a world of plain-vanilla no-fi garage rock and My Bloody Valentine rip-offs, Yakuza Heart Attack stands tall on the trash-heap of our popular and underground music cultures.

Get this album when it comes available in February

Download Scarlet Moon

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!

download here

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