Karl Olson – KarlROlson.com

Posted on May 23rd, 2008

Filed under: — Karl Olson @ 3:51 AM

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, before the dawn of man as we knew him, there was Sir Santa of Claus, an ape-like creature making crude and pointless toys out of…

Ok, that’s not a real bio, but the following wanders about as much as a story from The Cybernetic Ghost Of Christmas Past From The Future…

I’m Karl Olson, a musician, a programmer and animation website moderator/staff writer. Musically, I focus on Nerdcore HipHop, though I used to be a Drum n’ Bass/Minimal Techno/Ambient fiend, and before that I was a little wannabe alt-rock kid (thankfully, I’m not so cruel as to inflict the demo I cut when I was 10 on the world… atleast not yet.) I’m still learning to be a good programmer (I’m aiming for a Comp Sci degree;) however I’ve been playing with web design and programming for over a decade now, and yes, it makes me feel a little old to say that. I ended up at Toon Zone, an animation news and discussion site because I’m an intense anime and manga fan, though I love animation of any sort as long as it has some good to offer (story, jokes, high production values.)

As far as notable achievements are concerned, I did remixes of mc chris and MC Frontalot songs, I’ve collaborated with Nursehella, I did a commentary on the Sealab 2021 Season 3 DVD Boxset, a review of mine is quoted on the back of volume 5 of the single disc release of Spiral, I wrote a review of Half-Life 2 for the English-Language edition of Joong-Ang Daily Newspaper, my early electronica work had been downloaded over 100,000 times before I graduated high school, I’ve been interviewed by a couple Canadian college radio programs, one of my ambient songs was used in a now defunct late-night CBC program named Zed, a national radio program in the Netherlands played some of my electronica when I was about 15 or 16, a French House music label solicited a demo from me around at the same age, I was rated as the 10th best Nerdcore artist on a survey at Hipster, Please, I also did a freestyle on SpikeTV’s GameHead after having rapped at Capcom’s Booth at the San Diego Comic Convention and I ended up shooting some mediocre footage that ended up on the PAX2007 DVD which resulted in a special thanks in the credits of one the segments. Oh, I guess I’ve made some good Nerdcore albums too, and I’m in two different documentaries about the Nerdcore scene. Oh, and that resulted in being referenced in and my music getting used in an episode of PRI’s To The Best Of Our Knowledge.

That’s all not as cool as I make it sound. ^_^

Oh, and I guess here is the lame 3rd person perspective bio I use sometimes for stuff like myspace and compilations. I dislike writing that kind of bio:

Ultraklystron (Karl Olson) first started writing music at age 10, mostly inspired by Alternative music. Around about age 13, he became interested in Electronic music, and while writing under the alter-egos of “The Stereo Logic,” “Fun Confusion” and “CouZ-n Carl”, he even managed to get a little attention for his endeavors in that genre (such as having a song featured on the Netherlands’ Radio 2 program “A New Stage,” and a request to use a song in an adult film, though Karl turned that opportunity down.)

After a near lawsuit from a band with a similar name, Karl traded in “The Stereo Logic” for the name “Ultraklystron,” a word that at that time was completely unique (though a Russian software crack group has since co-opted the name.) Around about age 18, he became interested in Nerdcore Hip-Hop via MC Frontalot and mc chris, a happy coincidence as only about a year or two earlier he had become interested in Japanese Animation, providing him with plenty of material for lyrics.

After a few years of on and off work, he completed his first Nerdcore LP, Revision4920. Though original intending to release OpenSource Lyricist as his second album, a bout of inspiration mixed with a serious crush inspired him to write and release the first Nerdcore love album, Romance Language. He has since followed that up with Opensource Lyricist, The Fourth Estate, Romance Language 2 and Animatic. Currently, he is producing and collaborating with Nerdcore/J-Pop artist Rai, and providing production assistance to Nursehella.

or here is my bio from Google Music:

My name is Ultraklystron (real name: Karl Olson,) and I am your typical self-produced, multi-genre musician who you see everywhere on the internet.

I primarily write Nerdcore HipHop because I am a huge nerd in multiple ways; I am an animation fan of all sorts, I dig British sci-fi shows, I am computer science major and when I’m not indulging all of that I’m probably going to the arcade with my friends. Thus, being honest lyrically means talking about all those fun, geeky things. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s overblown and serious, and sometimes it’s overblown and serious as a way of being funny. Sometimes I’m just making fun of some movie.

Other times, I keep my mouth shut and work with Drum n’ Bass, Ambient, Dubstep, Minimal House/Techno and other genres of Electronic music. It’s been a while since I’ve really done a release focused on that, but what I’ve done I’m quite happy with. It’s a hallmark of a lot of my remix work as well.

All in all, music’s treated me decently. I’m in a couple of documentaries (Nerdcore For Life, Nerdcore Rising,) I’ve traveled all over North America and I’ve made some good friends because of music. It’s also been fun from the collaboration perspective: I’ve produced some music for other artists such as Nursehella and Rai Kamishiro, I’ve remixed artists such as MC Frontalot and Optimus Rhyme, and my next Nerdcore album will have guest appearances from Beefy, Death*Star, Klopfenpop and more.

I also dislike writing bios. If you found this awkward, you can multiply that by a hundred for me. Just listen to my music.

Bleh. That kind of stuff always sounds so egotistical. I assure you all I’m just a guy who is making some songs by himself and with talented friends, writing some code, reviewing some anime and moderating a forum. Also, I’m back in university wrapping up my comp-sci degree. Just like everyone else on the internet.

You know what, maybe these interviews, media mentions and reviews of my CDs can explain me better: