On Friday, some friends and I drank some beers and went to The Annex to hear MC Chris sing some rap songs. This is the second time I've seen him live and it's a little bit different than the last time.
The first time I saw him live was at The High Noon Saloon in Madison on April 27, 2009. And that was actually the first time I ever heard of his music, too. I had only known him from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021, and didn't realize that he had such a body of work outside of Adult Swim.
I find his music to be somewhat inconsistent. It seems to bounce back and forth between actual Hip Hop and Nerdcore. I'm sure that's fine for people who like Hip Hop, but I'm not a fan. Nerdcore is hilarious because I can actually identify with the Lyrics, but once he starts rapping about fuckin' people up and ass-jammin', I start to tune him out.
In a nerdy town like Madison, his performance was loaded with hilarious references to movies, games, and food. He definitely won me over that night in April. With the CDs I purchased at the show, I listened to them over and over, and eventually got all his previous CDs online and became a fan. ^_^
Last Night, his performance followed that same pattern. Here's most of the set list that I can recall...
1. ???
2. ???
3. Pizza Butt
4. Japanese Maid
5. Neville
6. ???
7. ??? (Robot Dog?)
8. ???
9. Robotussin
10. Wiid
11. Hoodie Ninja
12. Geek
13. Nrrrd Girl
14. MC Chris is Dead
15. IG-88
16. Fett's Vette
He also told his story about a previous show at The Annex, where someone walked in on him taking a shit, which is probably why he performed at The High Noon Saloon earlier this year. He also complained about the Killer Croc fight in Batman Arkham Asylum, which isn't that hard. Though, after the show I mentioned that he might want to try flipping around using the Grappling Hook, rather than walking on the wooden planks.
Around that time, he was kind enough to sign my CDs and be photographed with me. Here I am smiling like a douchebag after 2 pitchers and 4 additional beers...
Accompanying MC Chris for his Fall tour was Whole Wheat Bread, who were also with him back in April. They're a pretty amazing group. Throughout their set (and even songs at times) they'll switch genres back and forth between Rock, Punk, Ska, and Hip Hop and they do it seemlessly.
Definitely check this out: myspace.com/wholewheatbread.
But before Whole Wheat Bread opened for MC Chris, a new group of youngsters went on before them. I Fight Dragons is a group from Chicago who mainly before pop songs infused with Chiptunes.
For those who don't know, Chiptunes is sub-genre of Electronic music whose sounds are generated using primitive sound devices, namely Nintendos and Gameboys. The genre attaches itself to my generation rather easily because those sets of sounds were the soundtrack to our youth. The genre boasts many technical artists who try to get the most out of the primitive sound set, and others who try to make nifty sounding songs. There's a fair amount of nostalgia listening to Chiptunes, but it still within the realm of electronica.
That isn't true with I Fight Dragons, who sing about Poppy nonsense from inspirations such as Weezer. I think their songs stand on their own without the Chiptunes at all. I guess they were trying to figure out someway of combining their love for Weezer and their childhood? "Just sprinkle a little Nintendo on the top and we'll be so nerdy!" Though, I'm sure some of those dudes are pretty nerdy.
It's one thing to cover old NES songs like Minibosses and many others, or to bring instruments into Chiptunes like Anamaguchi, but bringing Chiptunes into another genre with no context, cheapens the quality of your music.
Anyways, I bought their CD before the show and have listened to it a few times. On a positive note, they are pretty decent for a Pop group. If you visit IFightDragons.Com/GimmeFreeMusicBitch, you can download some of their songs. If you sign up for their mailing list, they'll send you a link for 7 more songs.