Hmm, that’s three sentences. I wonder if my prof appreciates the explicitly meta writing style that I’m employing, or whether he finds cliche and overdone.

Anyway, I wrote some music, and yes, it is about the same stuff I’ve been blogging about for the last week. (I bet that is even more annoying to the professor.)

Ultraklystron vs. Juno – Focus (Remix-Cover)

Ultraklystron – Katawa Shoujo

What does this “influx” of activity mean? As I’ve said previously, 3 (or 4) albums I am involved with in varying degrees are nearing completion. However, what’s become obvious to me now is just how close all of these releases might be. My own album, Animatic, is almost done as there are only a few outstanding collaborative elements to be sent to me, and even the bonus/remix disc is fairly well appointed and effectively complete. Neither Rai’s nor Nursehella’s albums will be as lengthy as mine, so while they each have more work do on them, I don’t doubt that they’ll be wrapped up sooner rather than later. Once the vocals are recorded, it should be an manageable, almost mechanical process. Therefore, it’s a safe bet to say this Spring should bring a unplanned deluge of music from myself and my associates.

Of course, with university soaking up the majority of my time, I won’t be touring. Gigging regularly in Seattle? Sure, as often as Death*Star, Klopfenpop and other artists in the Emerald Empire crew and overall Seattle Area will have me. I’d do shows up here in Vancouver if the opportunity could be seized (actually much easier said than done since I need some Seattlites to drive up to fill the bill.) However, I wouldn’t rule out some touring for Rai and Nursehella, albeit separately and in radically different venues probably. Still, both have pitched some very interesting plans. Should said plans come together, I hope my (largely overlapping) fanbase gets out to support them because it does directly support me.

Or to summarize, let’s put it in the words of rapper T.I.:

“Big things poppin’ [...] failure’s not an option.”

I’m not particularly sure how many of my instrumentals will underpin her album. That fact hinges a lot on her tastes, and how many other producers we can wrangle into working with us. She made a lot of good connections in the past year though, and perhaps it’s time to see how just how good they are.

In regards to my own album, I’m essentially just waiting on material from some of my collaborators now. Everything else has been locked down though perhaps once I have the collaborative elements in, I might tweak my vocals in a few spots. I could also draw the album out to 22 original tracks, plus 9 or more remixes. However, I think I’ll wait to see how long the collaborative tracks run. The final version of those songs could eat up the spare space.

Lastly, readers should expect more updates like this as I am obligated to blog an average of twice a week for a writing class. Not every update will be this extensive, but I figure that I ought to be forward about why I’m using my blog heavily.

Watch and skip around my mixtape. Or just download it from one of these places:
Bandcamp
Multiupload
Google Music

After all, Hipster Please! liked it, and that blog is the Pitchfork of Nerdcore (or so I’ll claim.)

The Mixtape:
Ultraklystron – Storyboard [The Animatic Mixtape]

Also on Bandcamp and coming soon to Google Music.

Enjoy.

Meanwhile, I should be more of a narcissist and google myself regularly, so I find sick fan videos when they come up:

Ladies and gentlemen, ZOIDBAHTON.

Also, I now have a tumblr that will have all the content from this blog on it. Like the LJ I still auto-crosspost to, I expect it’s relevance to be fleeting at best.

News in the video.

But here is the leak anyway. Might still need some vocal work.

That little afternoon remix out of the way, I am playing yet another show, and this time I’m not even opening for Death*Star! Instead I am playing as a part of a day-long festival, the proceeds from which go to suicide prevention. It’s a good cause, so if you can make it out, awesome.

Also, the free best of is done. Push it everywhere. I am considering getting that QR code on some stickers even.

Lastly, I will be at PAX, and I will sit in on the “Making Art from Art” Panel at the Raven Theater. I am not so much officially on it, as friends with a number of the MCs on the panel. Still, I’ll probably have something to say about post-invention-of-the-word-Nerdcore Nerdcore. Come out and throw video game swag shirts at me.

The other is July 30th, where I will open for Nerdcore rising star Klopfenpop and the now seasoned Death*Star. I would call it par for the course when it comes to my Seattle shows, except that this time we are performing in Everett at the AFK Tavern, a nerd bar and grill. If my antics don’t amuse you, play a tabletop game instead.

All of the details for both shows are listed on the shows page. If anyone else wants me to play somewhere, contact me

That said, the rehearsals (in my car, on the way to and from school) have me itching to do a new record, and the material is largely done – I have had enough lyrics and beats for a while now. I even have a lot of vocals in the can (it’s good exercise.) When and how I’ll get it done and released is beyond me right now; school is a big commitment, and costs me more than I’ve made off music, so it’s job one, and various other commitments are a close second. The “if” is gone though. I will eventually do my sixth HipHop album. It will be an unexpected record.

01. ultraklystron – [romance language 2 #02] shutter
02. ultraklystron – [romance language 2 #15] sweetest
03. ultraklystron – [romance language 2 #11] on your six
04. ultraklystron – [the fourth estate #03] gothic lolitas
05. ultraklystron – [the fourth estate #04] absolution
06. ultraklystron – [the fourth estate #01] death won’t stop this
07. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #03] so long kids
08. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #01] opensource lyricist
09. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #19] it’s the beat
10. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #13] hit reply
11. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #08] mahou shonen theme
12. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #14] hikikomori
13. ultraklystron – [opensource lyricist #04] eighty three
14. ultraklystron – [romance language #02] girls with glasses
15. ultraklystron – [romance language #06] well that’s moe
16. ultraklystron – [romance language #04] shoujo n’ shonen
17. ultraklystron – [revision4920 #07] pilot remix
18. ultraklystron – [revision4920 #05] otaku soundsystem

Anything critical missing? If there is, can you get at least 2 people to agree with you on that?

If you can, I’ll stick that on too.

That said, the production is so different between each album there isn’t really a good way of making this into a best of without remastering everything. Considering the idea is to give a taste of what I’ve done away for free everywhere I can stick it (not just bandcamp, but datpiff, filesharing services, etc,) I think it’d be fake to clean up the old work. I mean, I might as remake everything but the most recent material with fresh vocals if I’m covering blemishes, and that seems like something other than a best of.

Aki Con 2010 artist panel part 1
Aki Con 2010 artist panel part 2
Aki Con 2010 artist panel part 3

Still doesn’t make up for how awkward that weekend was otherwise (con organization is a oxymoron sometimes, and opportunities usually arise at inopportune times.) However, it wasn’t absolutely without fun, and hopefully, the videos generated have something of interest to my dozen fans.

*=only one Power Ranger, but he’s also Vash the Stampede.

In more recent news, I saw Donald Glover live last night. It was fantastic, and a reminder that since I have some spare time, I should get on remixing some more of his acapellas. In general, I think a little “Ultraklystron remixTAPE” might be due during my semester break. If any of you have any suggestion of artists with acapellas I should ruin, comment, tweet, email or whatever. Hit me on Diaspora if you’re on the cutting edge like that.

(for reference: http://ultraklystron.bandcamp.com/track/duplicate )

I think I’ll rotate what I put up every week or two for a bit. I know people have wanted some Ultraklystron stems for a while, so I intend to deliver now. That said, I might also collect some instrumentals and post those to bandcamp, if there is any interest.

Ultraklystron – In Need Of Revision: The Nerdcore Demos

Let it make clear to aspiring MCs and producers, that yes, you don’t start out good. You bust your hump for a long time, and you eventually get good. That said, unless you’re a completist, there is nothing really good to listen to hear. It’s not like the demo CD included with the Velvet Underground boxset where you hear talented musicians who just happen to be in the middle of their composition process. Everything here is horrendously rough, and there are a lot of bad ideas and bad takes on this. However, you start with nothing and build up.

Anyways, I need all my fan(s) to be aware that I have an upcoming song for the first ever Nerdcore Now compilation. If that’s not incentive enough, Beefy, Death*Star and Supercommuter will also be representing with many other good (read: there is quality control on this compilation) artists. It’s a pretty good track, and it’s indicative of what will be on the next Ultraklystron album/mixtape/8-track, whenever that happens. Oddly enough, I don’t think I make even one anime reference during the whole track.

Like I said, change.

Similarly, while I very much doubt I’ll get an Ultraklystron-only album done anytime soon, helping Nursehella drop her debut and Rai Kamishiro on her sophomore album may only be the tip of the iceburg for recording-assistance/co-produced/production projects in 2011 as those should both ship in the first third of the year. If I’ve learned one thing from the past year, while I may not have the time to set aside for doing my own vocal work, I can still be decently productive with production and composition (it’s a great break between subjects.) I intend to ride that I think.

That said, once Nursehella’s voice recovers from the ATR show we saw, it’s down to brass tacks on her record. Granted, I’m just playing studio engineer and maybe doing some remixes (because everything needs a dubstep and/or drum n’ bass version by yours truly,) but I’m absolutely ecstatic to be helping her out with this. I think it’s going to be a really impressive release (though I am very, very, very biased.) 2011 or bust!

Also, I had some friends up here this weekend, and I have to say, for all the complaining I did early on about Vancouver, I do enjoy all the fun stuff I can do up here. When I finally wrap school a year or so from now, I’m going to really miss all the neat restaurants and stores and malls that are up here.

I just won’t miss the traffic and the freeway system.