Radio Free Hipster Ep. 79: Philip K. Dick in a Box

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Or so they'd have us believe.

But for those of you who are a little tired of the incessant Christmas music that's been insinuating itself into your tender ear holes over the last couple of weeks, there is an alternative. Allow me to present to you the sounds of the season, Radio Free Hipster-style.

We've got some chiptunes and some nerdcore. Some musical comedy and some mash-ups. And also some sweet sounds from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

And you didn't have to get me anything.

Download Radio Free Hipster Ep. 79: Philip K. Dick in a Box [hosting provided by Antisoc] Size: 47.3 MB Running Time: 51:41

Intro: Baddd Spellah – "Radio Free Hipster Theme (feat. Beefy)"
Baddd Spellah roasting on a open fire, Beefy nipping at your nose.

Track 1: funky49 – "mc christmas with the hoff"
For the record, funky49 wins my "Knowing is Half the Hasselhoff" challenge. Handily.

Z's 1st interlude: "My annual cockeyed tribute to the holiday season."
Yep. It's tradition.

Track 2: Optimus Rhyme – "God Rest Ye Autobeat Allies"
As I mentioned in-show, this one's for my pal Church.

Track 3: Garfunkel and Oates – "Present Face"
I've never played Garfunkel and Oates on the show before, though Kate Micucci (whom I adore!) has appeared once before.

Track 4: MC Lazerous – "Ain't Get Shit for Christmas"
No clue as to the background of this particular track. I simply cribbed it from Shael's extensive collection.

Track 5: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation dialog / John Anealio – "The Millennium Falcon for Christmas"
Consider this my year-end reminder plug for John's Sci-Fi Songs blog. Drop it in your RSS reader of choice. Good stuff.

Track 6: The Lonely Island – "Dick in a Box (feat. Justin Timberlake)"
I played this one back in 2007, but thankfully, with this year's release of the Incredibad LP, I can finally play the studio cut.

Track 7: The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend – "Fairytale of New York"
Venture Bros FTW!

Track 8: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation dialog / Ministry of Magic – "O Holey Night"
Because it's not quite Christmas without some Wizard Rock.

Track 9: H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society – "Have Yourself a Scary Little Solstice"
And this one is for all you Servants of Cthulhu.

Z's 2nd interlude: "Nate Trier and his yuletide ska project Skantily Clad"
Nate's band The Skamatics just released an album. You need to check it out.

Track 10: Futurama – "Elves' Song"
This one's for Talkie Tim.

Track 11: Marc with a C – "Stairway to Rudolph"
I'm presently working on a review for Marc's new 10 year anniversary collection. It's quite good.

Track 12: Mojo Nixon – "Christmas, Christmas"
I love that a considerable portion of this track's lyrical content centers on the fact that Mojo's banging your mom.

Track 13: Doctor Octoroc – "Carol of the Belmonts"
From Doc's 8 Bit Jesus album.

Track 14: Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew – "A Pirate Christmas"
Is it a coincidence that Santa executes a perfect ninja flip? I think not.

Track 15: 227 – "Jingle My Bells"
Check out 2007's An OverClocked Christmas for more holiday madness.

Track 16: Bad Tattoo – "Are You Gonna Stop The White Xmas"
Because you can never have enough Christmas mash-ups.

Z's final interlude: "Each year I try to do a little something extra for the Chosen People."
A very happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish nerds out there!

Track 17: Da Vinci's Notebook – "The Dreidel Song"
Without Da Vinci's Notebook we may never have known the parcel of geeky musical perfection that is Paul & Storm.

The more astute among you have no doubt realized that we are one scant podcast away from year's end. That would prove the perfect opportunity for a yearly musical retrospective to most podcasters, but I ain't most podcasters!

Instead you'll be treated to my regular oh-shit-this-song-is-great-and-I've-put-off-playing-it-'til-the-last-minute show. Not exactly the most elegant of options, but it's the one I choose to take.

But in the meantime, here's wishing the happiest of holidays to you and yours.

Terra Obscura

Have you ever noticed that the same half-dozen videogame soundtracks get covered and remixed over and over again? You know the usual suspects: Super Mario Bros., Mega Man II and those age-old motifs from the Castlevania and Legend of Zelda series.

Well, to quote the late Michael Jackson, you are not alone.

My comrades from The Nerdy Show have not only marked the same trend, but are actively taking steps to remedy it. Specifically, they have recently unveiled a project called the Rare Game Remix Challenge. It's a contest. The kind of contest that offers the requisite fabulous prizes.

The first in this ongoing series of month-long game music remix contests centers on indie rapper Astronautalis and his love of the greatest variation-on-a-theme-puzzler of all time Tetris Attack.

What's the true skinny, you say? Why I've loving copy/pasted it below:

THE CHALLENGE

Create a hip hop instrumental sampling from the score of Tetris Attack… BECAUSE ASTRONAUTALIS IS GOING TO RAP OVER IT! You choose the style, you set pace, just make an exceptional track that makes Astro’s heart swell with puzzle tile explosions and he’ll bless it with his expert wordsmithery. But that’s not all… second and third place winning beats will receive rhymes from two mystery nerdcore rappers. Be creative, if you want to re-orchestrate a track - do it, got nuts. Do what must be done in the name of awesomeness.
DOWNLOAD this month's audio collection and let the fun begin!

THE RULES

All Tetris Attack hip hop instrumentals must sample predominantly from the score to Tetris Attack (called “Panel De Pon” in Japan). Tracks should be no longer than 4 minutes and of a quality of at least 128kbps. In your submission e-mail you must list every Tetris Attack track you sampled from, as well as any additional samples. Nerdy Show will judge your track on its overall quality, concept and execution to decide how it stacks up. Contact contest@nerdyshow.com with any questions.

THE PRIZES

1st Place: Astronautalis raps over your track. You become a legend.

2nd Place: Masurao of Krondor Krew raps over your track. Your girlfriend still loves you.

3rd Place: MC Coolwhip raps over your track. You find your pet dog.

Winning tracks (with and without vocals) as well as noteworthy runners-up will be hosted on nerdyshow.com for listening/ downloading and 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place will be played on a forthcoming episode of Nerdy Show.

RESTRICTIONS

All contest submissions must be original works composed for this contest. Submissions found to have been previously existing will be disqualified.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS

Multiple submissions from a single entrant are allowed, BUT only one of the entrant’s submissions will be chosen. Submitting multiple submissions will not increase your chances of winning, so be sure to only submit your best.

HOW LONG IS THIS CONTEST?

The entire month of December! All entries must be sent in by 11:59pm EST December 31st 2009. Judging will commence immediately thereafter and winners will be announced shortly.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submit your contest entry to contest@nerdyshow.com (again, must be recieved by 11:59pm EST December 31st 2009)

Be sure to put either “remix contest” or “tetris attack contest” in the subject heading so we know what you’re submitting for. In the body of the e-mail tell us your name/ handle and every game and track you sampled from. Be sure that the e-mail address you send from is your primary address as it’s where we’ll contact you.

LEGAL

Nerdy Show claims no ownership of the provided tracks. We celebrate this amazing and seldom-heard music and hope that this contest will raise awareness of its existence as well as the great work of its composers. Please contact info@nerdyshow.com with any legal concerns.

Now that you know the rules, I suggest you download the remix kit and get to poppin'. As a number of my favorite producers/remixers are regular readers of Hipster, please!, I can't help but think that several of y'all are easily up to the task.

Plus, the better the response to this first outing, the more interesting each subsequent Nerdy Show contest will surely be.