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Far be it from me to suggest that folks stop dropping kick-ass albums, but Christ-on-a-cracker, people, could you at least slow down?! I mean, 2009 has been positively packed with the new hotness! So much so, in fact, that it's been tough to keep up. I've had trouble finding the time to listen to all of these new releases, much less review 'em!

Instead, I've found myself relegated to giving these goddamn Reader's Digest condensed album reviews just to keep my head above the proverbial water.

But today, rather than rehash this familiar and restrictive format, I have instead elected to use what I like to call the "Amazon recommends" method. You see, in addition to giving you a little rundown of the following titles, I'll also talk up each new album by relating it to other releases of similar awesomtude… I mean awesomosity … I mean…. Fuck it, let's move on.

Absodefilutely
Dale Chase is one of those cats I discovered thanks to Twitter, which, as we all know, is my social network of choice. More specifically, I really got hipped to his stuff after the release of Absodefilutely's debut single "Coder Girl." For those familiar with that joint, the album very much follows suit. Dale's got a tightly metered flow and a genuinely intelligent voice that should speak to nerdcore fanboys and more traditional heads alike. Tracks like "That's So Meta" and "A Walk in the Park" inject a comparable level of smooth soul to the aforementioned "Coder Girl," and "Ganon's Revenge" is a gamer-friendly geek-out that should play well with the typical Hipster, please! reader.

If you're down with the smart, techy hip-hop of Dual Core or the silky-smooth delivery of otaku MC Maja, then you should surely give Dale a listen. The Absodefilutely EP retails for around 5 bones, so it's an easy recommendation based on both price and quality.

Elfonso
My affection for folksy UK game rockers Elfonso is well known. Sadly, as I long ago exhausted the meager song selection of their debut EP Tako wa Chikyi o Suko, I haven't gotten much of a chance to play them on the podcast of late. Thankfully, they've seen fit to remedy this with the release of their new self-titled album. Weighing in at a strong 11 tracks, only one of those being a re-tread from the previous EP, Elfonso is simple, sweet and charming while still managing to achieve a considerable level of unbridled geekitude. Songs like "Retirement from Hyrule" and "The Journey Here Was Long…" manage a palpable level of poignancy while remaining rooted in their respective in-game worlds, and "Parody Us" and "Sixteen Bit" reflect on things equally eloquently from the other side of the controller.

Existing in this odd space somewhere between The Megas and The Pogues, it's tough to compare Elfonso to any singular act. Still, if you're down with the more eclectic side of VGM – the rock opera that is The Protomen or the more classical styling of Select Start – then give Elfonso a try. This new album hasn't yet made international release, but I've been promised that its appearance on iTunes is shortly forthcoming.

Danny's Incredible 8-Bit Voyage
The unbridled originality of Elfonso is the perfect lead-in to this segment's final featured album, Danny's Incredible 8-Bit Voyage. Certainly not your typical work, this piece is an avant-garde musical adventure story wrapped in well-worn videogame tropes. Centered on the exploits of our titular man-child, it follows Danny's journey through a wondrous video game world, with some genuine character development along the way. This trippy, chippy epic is written and performed by songwriter/chip artist/mad genius Jay Tholen and skillfully narrated by Andres Williams, and it boasts alternating moments of traditional exposition and groundbreaking music to power the narrative. I could say more, but it's truly the kind of thing that needs to be experienced to be genuinely appreciated.

Fans of thematic videogame music and original chiptunes will find lots to love about the musical end Danny's Incredible 8-Bit Voyage, but just as inspired is the album's narrative arc. While it's easy to compare Jay's brand of chip music to the best that communities like 8bitcollective have to offer, this album should suit anyone who enjoys a good story and who understands that art can be high concept without being pretentious. Plus, this one's also a freebie, so definitely snag a copy.

Radio Free Hipster Ep. 77: Girls! Gurls! Grrrls!

Perhaps not surprisingly, I have a fairly expansive music collection, and I often wonder if I view it differently than others might. I mean, I organize it via fairly banal methods – by artist and title and album and genre – but I also keep extensive notes, both literal and figurative, of a more… compulsive nature.

Between the songs themselves I sense thin golden strings of interconnection. I relate the tracks to each other in a myriad of strange and wonderful ways with the same ease that I attach them to the responsible artists or scenes.

There is some serious A Beautiful Mind type shit going on over here.

And that, my friends, is how we arrive at an episode centered not on a similar theme or musical style, but rather held together by a related title element.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 77: Girls! Gurls! Grrrls! [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 46.9 MB Running Time: 51:16


Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
They know what girls like.

Track 1: Dale Chase – "Coder Girl (Remix)"
Dale's Absodefilutely costs 5 bucks. You'd be a fool not to buy it!

Z's 1st interlude: "And that element is the word girl… or some derivation."
Yep, each of these songs includes the word girl, in some form or another, in the title.

Track 2: Pixelh8 – "The Girl from the Future"
I've already spoken a bit about And the Revolution, but I feel like I can't say enough nice things about it. It's one of those chip albums that should appeal even to those unfamiliar (or heretofore unimpressed) with the genre.

Track 3: The Breakfast Club dialog / Tullycraft – "Girl about Town"
Did we really need indie pop in this episode? Yes. Yes we did.

Track 4: Warp 11 – "Trekkie Girl"
I'm seriously going to try and use the euphemism "separate my saucer" more often.

Track 5: MC Lars – "Hipster Girl"
"Donnie Darko makes no sense."

Track 6: MC Frontalot – "Goth Girls"
MC Frontalot believes that nerdcore needs more goth girls. I would add that it also needs more cello hooks.

Track 7: The Bloodclan – "LARPer Girl"
Congrats to the Bloodclan's MC Diabeats. She was recently brought into the Scrub Club family!

Track 8: The Breakfast Club dialog / mc chris – "nrrrd grrrl"
If all goes according to plans, I'll be seeing mc and I Fight Dragons in Atlanta this Thursday.

Z's 2nd interlude: "A lot of these songs aren't particularly interrelated."
Many of these tracks would otherwise have found themselves relegated to one of my many love song-centered shows, but the title theme allowed me to pull this episode together in a different way.

Track 9: Dual Core – "My GF Is…"
Surely the quintessential nerd love song.

Track 10: Criss Chords – "Nintendo Girl"
I got into DC-area rapper Criss Chords when Ant posted about him at GM4A. He's got a pair of freebie releases, both of them great!

Track 11: The Ranger – "Online Girls (ft. Random & TyT)"
As if The Ranger, Ran and TyT weren't hot enough, this track also ups the ante with a BDP hook.

Track 12: Ultraklystron – "Webcam Girls"
Karl says gams, not cans. Just figured I needed to clear that up.

Track 13: Pretty in Pink dialog / Jonathan Coulton – "Millionaire Girlfriend"
Recorded live in Second Life.

Z's final interlude: "And because it's monosyllabic."
That, in a nutshell, is why I believe the word girl appears more often in song lyrics than, say, the more accurate woman.

Track 14: Mojo Nixon – "Girlfriend in a Coma"
"Don’t blame me; blame Morrissey!"

Look for a literature and writing-themed edition of Radio Free Hipster in 2 weeks. Hopefully it'll provide a little last-minute inspiration for those of you participating in National Novel Writing Month. The track list is coming together nicely, but I'm still more than happy to work in any bookish song requests.

After that, we'll proceed directly into my annual holiday show in early December, and ride the year out in style with one last catch-all episode.

And what will 2010 hold for RFH? Beats me. I reckon I'll just wing it.