Nerdcore Now

Destination for nerdy music, nerdcore hip-hop, geek culture, music videos and discussions.

[nerdcorenow]

VPC:Neals Feels Challenge

Introducing Neals tells the story of Neals, a hacker that has been "imprisoned by the The Syndicate for raging against the machine in the name of online privacy and net neutrality."  Neals is living in a near future dystopia where our freedoms, as we know them, are spiralling out of control in favor of corporate (monetary) interest. While the album is a work of fiction, the events that take place are somewhat a reflection of the modern world we are currently living in.  Through the eyes and life of Neals, YTCracker lays out the repercussions of sitting back complacent and not using your voice to stand up for what you believe in.  

Not only has Bryce had a huge impact on the technology front, he’s also had a huge impact on Nerdcore.  In an homage for everything that he has done for our communities, we at the VPC deciding that it would be only fitting to carry on his message in the form of a Vocalist Producer Challenge.  We present to you VPC: Neals Feels.

The objective of Neals Feels is to elaborate on the concept of Introducing Neals in your own San Secuestro themed track.  Unlike other Vocalist/Producer challenges, we’re removing all limits from you.  You’re not tied to the hip-hop genre, you’re not tied to rapping.  You can sing a pop song, or submit a blues song, as long as you give your song that Neals Feels.  Your song should clearly sound like it belongs in the San Secuestro universe, whether it’s a song you would hear playing on a jukebox in a punk club in the city, or an old standard being sang by a homeless drunk under the local freeway bridge.  If you can make it feel like it was pulled right out of the San Secuestro, than you should be submitting it for this challenge. As mentioned above, this is a challenge, and with a challenge comes rules.  We’re leaving the rules pretty loose on this one, but any entry submitted must adhere to the below guidelines: VPC:Neals Feels Challenge Criteria: All submissions must be original and composed by the individual/team/band entering the track

Tracks must overall sound like they belong in the San Secuestro universe - the “Neals Feels” are the most important aspect of this challenge

No loops, but sampled sound FX here and there are ok

In addition to the above challenge rules, we also suggest some additional “side quests” for your journey.  None of the below are required criteria, but they are specific aspects, challenges, and power ups that you should consider to make your entry stand out: Vocalist Side Quests: Use of alliteration Use of multisyllabic rhyme scheme Ad-libs Producer Side Quests: Write a bad-ass arpeggio without an arpeggiator Include a live instrument Create your own synth patches

Our judges are looking and scoring on very specific criteria for your tracks.  To give you the advantage in this challenge, we’re going to give a sneak preview of what they want, so you know to be ready and BRING IT IN FULL FORCE: Clear vocals Melodic Interesting harmonies, interplay between instruments, call and response Steady build-up of intensity from beginning to end Each instrument “having fun”, not just being stuck on one pattern Catchy hook/chorus if there is one – you don't have to follow an ABABCB-type pattern Good dynamic range – aim for DR10 or more Dynamic percussion Songs shouldn't overstay their welcome in terms of length

Also unlike any previous VPC challenge, we’re giving you the opportunity to approach one of our judges DURING THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR TRACK!  Amplitude Problem, responsible for the productions of multiple Introducing Neals tracks such as Fortune or Freedom and Barcade Date, is going above and beyond the call of duty to help you guys with your tracks.  Should you choose to do so, you can reach out to Juan at set points during the VPC round time frame for feedback on your works in progress.  Please note, restrictions do apply and will be confirmed on March 7th.   No contact is permitted until the full guidelines for pre-production feedback have been released on this date.  

We also further encourage original artwork to accompany your track for this challenge!  We want to see your Neals artwork.  This can be your own original artwork or artwork that you have commissioned to accompany your track. Show us your Neals! Full Rules and Regulations for the VPC:Neals Feels Challenge can be found at http://nerdcorenow.com/post/112379277531/rules-and-regulations-of-vpc-neals-feels-1 All submissions should be submitted via email by 3/28/2015 11:59 PST to [email protected]  Good luck in your war against the Syndicate!

[nerdcorenow]

Rules and Regulations of VPC:Neals Feels 1.    Team Definition and Roles

A team is comprised of any number of individuals who work together to submit a track. A team must have allocated Vocalist(s) and Producer(s) An individual may fill both roles in the competition for their team. A group/band entering must be comprised of members that working together throughout the entirety of the track, posse tracks are not allowed under the guise of a band/group The team must remain the same members through the entirety of the competition The tracks must only feature members of that team unless crediting a guest. The producer is responsible for track production and final mixing (this includes mixing vocals) The vocalist is responsible for lyrical content and delivery Roles may overlap in some instances, but there must be one person allocated to fill the primary responsibility of each role

2.    Specific Production Guidelines

No loops A small amount of sampled sound FX for effect are permitted No plagiarism*, all compositions must be original The allocated role of producer should do the final mix down including the vox The final mixdown should be as close to a professional master as possible without outsourcing All production must meet requirements of round challenge to be eligible for voting/scoring on that round All production of the track must be initiated after the announcement of that round begins No already released content will be accepted No already completed productions prior to round start will be accepted *PLEASE ENSURE YOU CLICK READ MORE FOR FULL RULES AND REGULATIONS.*

3.    Specific Vocalist Guidelines

All lyrics must be original and written and performed by team vocalist(s) unless otherwise stated in a round challenge All subject matter and round challenge requirements must be met to be eligible for voting/scoring on that round No plagiarism of lyrics will be tolerated Though this is intended to be a full song-submission challenge, each submission must have at least 16 bars (one standard verse) long to be eligible for submission All lyrical content on the track must be created after the announcement of that round begins No already released content will be accepted No already completed productions prior to round start will be accepted

4.    General Track Submission Guidelines

To be eligible for participation all teams must sign up for the competition by 3/7/2015 11:59PM PST Final tracks must be submitted by 3/28/2015 11:59PM PST Tracks should be submitted at a minimum quality of 320 kbps in both .mp3 and .wav format The failure to submit both track formats will result in disqualification from the round and no judging of the track will take place

Submission for each round should include i. Team and/or Member Names ii. Title of Track iii. Lyrics

The failure to include the above will result in your track being disqualified from judging.

Tracks must meet a minimum verse length and can be no shorter than 120 seconds as a total production No track shall be released to the public outside of the VPC approved outlets during the entirety of the competition Sharing content linking back to the VPC postings of it on your own local social media is more than encouraged.

5. General VPC III Structure

This special edition round will have a four week production period. This special edition round will have a two week judging and voting period. This special edition round will be judged by two judges with crowd vote acting as a 3rd judge. All judge scores (including the aggregated fan-vote scores) will be weighted equally and average to achieve the final score for a team on each round. Scoring will be on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) Detailed feedback will be provided by the judges All judge scoring is final

Judges include: Bryce Case (YTCracker) Juan Irming (Amplitude Problem) Fan Vote

This is a test run VPC Round, as such, there is no official “prize” for winning this round, but hold on to your hats, our Czarina and Judges *may* have something up their sleeve for you guys later. No VPC track submissions will be allowed to be hosted on personal team member band pages (bandcamp, soundcloud, etc.) until after the release of this compilation

[nerdcorenow]

Round Five Challenge

Round Five: Guest vocalist/Posse Challenge

Overall Theme:  Showing Off That’s right, your song can be about anything you want.  You can collab as many guest vocalists* as you want.  The only thing we ask is:  MAKE THE COLLABS COUNT.  Make sure your track is still around a unified subject matter, and then GO WILD.  Vocalists, bring your best.  Producers, show off what you are capable of.  Incorporate a non-traditional instrument into your beat.  We want to see Citars, Theremins, Hurdy-Gurdies, Panpipes, Accordions, Recorders…  Anything that’s not traditionally found in hip hop. We expect this track to pull out all the stops. *Guest vocalist can only appear on a maximum of two Round 5 submissions – let’s see some variety! ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY [email protected] BY 11:59 PST ON January 4th 2015 TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROUND.  

If you have any concerns or question please address them to [email protected]

[nerdcorenow]

Round Four Challenge

Round Four: Listeners Choice: Vocalist / Producer Swap Note:  I’m going to kick this challenge off with a quote.  It’s one I find quite suiting to this challenge, and would like to thank Whoremoans for posting it on the VPC wall the other week:

At the bear minimum the producer must appear on either 1 verse or the hook of the song.  We know some producers don’t rap, and some producers don’t sing.  Use your imagination – get creative.  You don’t have to make a 16 bar hook and you’re not limited to the effects you use.  Even the most nervous of producers can throw down a couple of bars for a hook and process the hell out of it to make it sound great.

Your vocalists can help you with lyrics.  They can ghost write for you if you want to go down that route.  We’re not limiting you, and trying to give you all the tools you need to succeed.

Producer (Vocalist Role in this challenge):  Guidelines

The vocalist must decide on the sample(s) or loop(s) to use for the beat and work closely with their producer to lay it out.  We understand that the vocalists do not have the same access to programs and equipment that the producer may.  They can choose a song that they would like you to work into a sample, work with you to create the loops for the beat, or help orchestrate a beat from scratch.  We suggest utilizing Skype, Google Hangouts and other screen sharing utilities.

The “normal” VPC producer still mixes and masters the final track.

As you see can also be considered a vocalist/producer collaboration track, and that's the key here: COLLABORATION. Work together teams.   Examples of where these aspects already exist in Nerdcore aren’t exactly available.  We’re doing the first ever VPC swap here, so you’re flying blind.  The great thing about being the first is that there are no other standards of which to judge you by.

ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY [email protected] BY 11:59 PST ON DECEMBER 7TH, 2014 TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROUND.  

If you have any concerns or question please address them to [email protected]

[nerdcorenow]

VPCIII Round 2 Tie Breaker Challenge!

Superstition!

This is the Tie Breaker for Round 2 of the VPC

What's the Challenge?

Write a song about a, or many, superstitions.  The production will be sample driven featuring Stevie Wonder's Superstition.  The track will be short, sweet, punch hard, and leave the judges wanting to listen to it on repeat.  Go hard or go home on this.  This is the three-way tie breaker.

Producer: Stevie Wonder's Superstition is one of the greatest funk pieces out there.  Long instrumentals, horns, bass, piano, a good drumline.  It is your job to scrape through youtube.com, snag samples of the original, covers, etc, and add your own flavor.  Also, this track can neither be shorter than 60 seconds, or longer than two minutes.  Keep your production tight, just as your vocalist will have to keep their verses moving in this chorus-less challenge.  

Vocalist: A hookless verse of continued bars.  16?  24?  32?  The song's beat and melody should snag the audience just fine.  Time to feature your MC abilities on flow, change ups, and generally keeping a verse interesting with whatever tricks you deem necessary.  The only two requirements:  The track MUST be about a superstition(s) and the track cannot have a hook.  

When putting this together, feel free to rip anything down from youtube you need to recreate it, however, your sample sources must be submitted and you can ONLY sample from the original track, live performances, covers, and instrumentals of Stevie Wonder's Superstition.  No other samples are allowed.   Below are some examples of youtube rip-able joints

Have fun!

Original

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5jtV9fypMw

Drumless Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-OSxQUTSkw

Weird Bass Cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrwrOhb42nU

Acoustic Guitar Cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l56fIQiAYGo

[nerdcorenow]

introducing neals, by ytcracker

24 track album

[nerdcorenow]

Round 2 Results are in!

We had very very INTERESTING results in this round of the VPC. I present to you, our winners of this round, with a three way tie for first place:

Shubzilla & Lex Lingo - 24 Hours Team Krunktaku - Boxes Whoremoans & Navi - Good English

But who takes the "Best of Round" Prize?!?! Well, no one YET. Our teams have agreed to a tie breaker lightning round. We will be announcing a challenge to our three teams on Friday at 5pm PST, and they will then have until Sunday at 11:59PST to provide us with their tiebreaking track.

It's getting exciting up in here. Stay tuned for more details on Friday! Results can be seen at http://goo.gl/RB862k There are two tabs in this spreadsheet. In the first tab, you will see the results of round 2, including judges scores, feedback, public vote scores and placement in this round. On the second sheet you will see overall team placement in the competition so far (combined Round 1&2 scores).

[nerdcorenow]

Round Three Challenge

Round Three: Nerdcore 101

The subject of this track is pretty broad. The big key here is remembering that the challenge is “Teach me how to <action> and NOT Teach me about <noun>.   We’re looking to find out how to make a scrambled egg, how to rationalize a denominator, or even how to conjugate a verb in French.   It’s up to you.  Take something that you know really well, put it to music, and teach us how to do it like you do! Guidelines

Make sure that you’re focusing on teaching the judges how to do something.  We don’t want to hear a list of facts about World War II, as this is not a “teach me about…” track.  We want to hear you actively engage the judges in the teaching process.

Just because you’re teaching is something doesn't mean that the song needs to be one long verse.  Play around with choruses that work/evolve as the song progresses.

  Producer Challenge: 

While the vocalist may be attempting to educate us on things we don’t already know, the producer will show us something we don’t normally expect.  This is going to be a multi-level challenge for the producer that will force any producer out of their comfort zone.

Guidelines

The producer must create a beat outside of 4/4 time signature.  This can be in 3/4 or 6/8 or 5/8 or 7/8 or really anything other than a simple 4/4 time signature.

Changing the instrumentation as the song progresses is key.  Often times producers have the same beat on loop for every 4 to 8 bars with either a sample or instrumentation that follows the same loop.  Sometimes they might switch it up for the chorus, or add layers occasionally, however, none of this will be an option.  Whether it is an added instrument, a change in the drum beat, or a full change of instrumentation, at very least every verse should evolve at LEAST 4 times within the hook and NO chorus can be exactly the same.  Add different pieces, add effects, adjust the drums, etc, but everything must evolve as the song continues.

No Samples.  Synths are fine.  Live instruments are fine, but no sampling existing tracks.

  Example of where these aspects already exists in Nerdcore

http://moreorles.bandcamp.com/track/chili In this song More or Les teaches us how to make chili. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iunSAbA42OY Rhythm Rhyme Results – How do I (work with fractions) teaches us how to handle fractions in math. Again, please note the difference between teaching us how to DO something, and not teaching us ABOUT something.  ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY [email protected] BY 11:59 PST ON NOVEMBER 16, 2014 TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROUND.  

If you have any concerns or question please address them to [email protected]

[nerdcorenow]

VPCIII Round One Top 5!

In the style of VH1, where going to bring you the count down to our number 1 Round One track from VPC Round One:  Fandom at it's finest.  

  Coming in at number four we have Shubzilla & Lex Lingo with their track Flow de Lis (3rd St Mix) focusing on Saint's Row as their fandom!

At number 3, Beefy & Tanner - Dear Valentine (Ender's Game)

The race was such a close one this round, ladies and gentleman.  Our runner-up track, behind by only ONE point is Team Krunktaku, consisting of KadeshFlow and Richie Branson, with their Hunter X Hunter track All Day Mix

And VPC's Round One number one track, as voted by the public and our four judges went to B.A.T. XoMilk, comprised of XoC and Milk Plus, and their track To the Finish, all about the Transformers. 

We hope you enjoyed our round up of the top 5 tracks, and we look forward to what everyone has to bring in Round Two. 

[nerdcorenow]

VPC Round One Winner Announced!

We here at the VPC are VERY HAPPY to announce the winner of Round One - it was a CLOSE race guys - The VPC playlist has had almost 4000 plays this week.

The winning track finished with a whopping 44/50 possible points in this round. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS goes to

B.A.T. XoMilk - To The Finish

Congratulations XoC and Milk Plus!

To see your rankings, as well as judges scoring and notes, please see the Round One Results sheet below. http://goo.gl/a6Q0qE 

[nerdcorenow]

VPCIII Round One Voting

VPCIII Round One voting is now live!

Please visit http://vpc3.tumblr.com to see the 36 tracks that are currently up and available to be voted on!

The voting system uses a scale of 1-5, voters scores will later be rationalized and added in with the judges score to give you your overall score of 1-50.

Voting will remain open until October 13th, 6:00pm EST, and the winner will be announced at 10pm EST on October 13th.

Each track is it's own individual Tumblr post, please feel free to click the bottom left share button (Box with an error) and choose to share on the social media of your choice, or create a perma link.

We have tried to be as thorough as possible in all of our testing - any questions or concerns, please address through the usual channels.

We have also created a downloadable zip of all the songs in this challenge for those that want to listen on their media devices offline, and you can find the dropbox link here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7almmn3losp33x/VPCIII-RoundOne.zip?dl=0

Thank you all for participating, and happy voting!

[nerdcorenow]

Round Two Challenge

Round Two: Nerd Life

The subject of this track is pretty broad.  As long as it is truthful, rooted in who you are as a person, then it is fair game.  This can be broad, like a full telling of your youth growing up as a geek, or specific, like the day you met the love of your life.  The main goal here is to get across the details, emotions, and experience of yourself to the audience. Guidelines

Avoid spinning tall yarns.  This isn’t how you would like your life to be.  This is about how it is.  Come from the heart, come from your history or your present.  Feel free to dig deep into how you felt, what your situation was, and how you evolved, changed, or reacted as a person because of it.

Remember that this is a nerdcore competition.  This doesn’t have to be about a geeky experience but every person has them.  How Batman influenced them as a human being.  Their first convention experience.  If it isn’t about a geeky experience, don’t be shy to use comparisons, metaphors, and imagery to help better define and relay your experience that relate to geek/fan culture.

This song doesn’t HAVE to be about the struggle.  This can be a positive, up beat song.  Everyone has good days, bad days, good years, bad years, good events, bad events.  All of these add up to who you are.

Try to keep your song subject matter on point, however.  Don’t just give us a laundry list about your features as a human being.  We don’t need bullet points, we need a picture painted for us.

Producer Challenge: 

After working with your vocalist on the subject of the song, work with them to create a beat that lines up with that experience.  If you can find a shared experience or time in your lives (not necessarily shared physically) all the better.  Similar to Round 1, you’re looking to craft a beat that compliments and further relays the tale that the vocalist is telling.  This can include samples, vocal drops, sound effects, etc.

Guidelines

Both the mood and tone of the beat must match the vocalist’s subject matter.  We want there to be a reason for your melody choices, BPM, and song structure.  If the song is a journey, think about abandoning a chorus for a song comprised of movements instead.  If it is about 3 specific times of rejection from relationships, thing about returning to a hook that applies to all of them but tweaking each verse to fit the specific scenario.

The beat must be originally created for this competition.  The idea is that you’re working together to create an original piece of music that means something to the both of you and doing your best to convey that to an audience.  Sometimes the perfect beat can be found in your library to express those emotions and experiences, but more often or not it is found.

Focus on using tricks to further imagine the situation and draw the audience in further.  If it was about the first time a vocalist performed in front of an audience, think about adding background party/social noises.  If it is about a bad breakup look for vocal samples of breakup voicemails.  If it is about losing a close friend, family member, or significant other, think about societally associating noises like rain, church bells, etc. 

Discuss with your vocalist on what is working for you and what isn’t.  This is about your own ability to relate to the subject as well.  We all have histories that share similar experiences.  Use that.

Example of where these aspects already exists in Nerdcore

http://beefy.bandcamp.com/track/last-minute-gig

This song details the true experience Beefy has with last minute shows.  This is something a lot of live-booking artists can relate to. 

http://xocishungry.bandcamp.com/track/emergency-room

The heartbeat monitor worked into the beat, the early statement by the doctor, these all enter the track to help with the imagery.  We can’t speak for the authenticity of the track, but the production design integration is very solid. Again, the track doesn’t HAVE to be a sad track.  It doesn’t HAVE to be about your childhood.  It doesn’t HAVE to be about a geeky event.  These are all options; just as doing a track about working at a comic book store, if that is or was your job, or the best Christmas you ever had, are all in play. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY [email protected] BY 11:59 PST ON OCTOBER 26th, 2014 TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROUND.  

If you have any concerns or question please address them to [email protected] Edit: Additional Challenge parameters below: Vocalists: You MUST use multi-rhymes throughout the song.  We will make the chorus of the song exempt from this rule, however multis are expected throughout at least 50% of your verse bars (ending in an at least 3 syllable rhyme.) Rather than just rhyming rat, cat and bat, all of which are one syllable, you would rhyme more words in each bar. For example:If you can't stand the thought of a sucking chest woundYou better get yourself a motherfucking vest soonFour syllables at the end of each bar rhyme. Producers:  You are driving this.  The beat has to be created to help tell the vocalists story. In either case, if the personal story is about a traumatic trip to the dentist it should involve creating a beat using dentist drills for samples OR using samples throughout that tell the story, car sounds and the sounds of traffic in the background leading up to a terrible car crash.  If you want to write a track about how much your mother means to you - you better go and pull some samples of your momma's voice to go into the song. These samples must be executed clearly and predominately displayed throughout the track.

[nerdcorenow]

Navi - Interrobang

https://www.facebook.com/YourLocalNavi

www.twitter.com/YourLocalNavi

[nerdcorenow]

Round One Deadline reminder: October 5th11:59PM PST!

Round one is soon coming to an end! Here's your friendly reminder on what to do when your track is finished.  All tracks must be emailed to [email protected], in mp3 format. Please name your file artist/teamname - songname.mp3  Please further include both the artist / team name and song name in the email to myself. An autoresponder has been setup on the account for October 5th for you to receive confirmation of receipt of your track.  All tracks MUST be in no later than 11:59PST on October 5th, 2014 to be entered in Round One.  If you have any questions/concerns/thoughts or feedback, please feel free to email [email protected], message the Nerdcore VPC facebook page, contact myself directly via facebook (http://www.facebook.com/tyefighter) or of course, post in the forums.  Goodluck, and we look forward to hearing your best!

[nerdcorenow]

2d6 & Bunderthird - Sex Person (The Grammar Club cover)

2d6music.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/Bunderthird

[nerdcorenow]

Orlando Nerdfest 2014 Mixtape by DJ RoboRob - Scrub Club

Did you miss DJ RoboRob's magical, unstoppable dance party at Orlando Nerd Fest? Well, never fear - You know Rob's got the hookup for you!

facebook.com/djroborob

soundcloud.com/dj-roborob

[nerdcorenow]

Crisis On Intimate Earths, by Tribe One

6 track album

http://tribeonewon.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TribeOneWon