Another Facebook chat session with the one and only Shael of the Rileys.

How’s a little chat tonight for you?

Let’s do it.

Word.

So, how’ve ya been since we last talked. I read that you were sick on your Twitter.

Still having some health problems. I’ve been light headed and fainting, and have a chronic muscle spasm in my neck and shoulders. I’ve had a lot of MRIs and other tests, but still haven’t been diagnosed.

That sucks!

It’s OK, man.

I’m not mad or anything.

So, what are you working on musically?

Anything new?

I’ve been trying to write new songs for the full length Double Ice Backfire release, primarily. Working on a little bit of Grammar Club on the side.

Doing one-hour music writing contests every other week or so.

That’s been fun.

Cool. One-hour music writing?

Never heard of such a thing.

Yeah!

You’d never think of it, right?

It’s cool. What websites do contests like that?

It started, in so far as I know, with the video game music arranging crowd, but I’m sure its roots are older.

ThaSauce.net does the ones I participate in right now.

Everyone gets together in a chat room; we’re all given a theme and an hour to compose, then we all listen to each other’s work and vote on our favorites.

While I’m not much a musician, I’ll have to try sometime.

You should! Everyone’s welcome. #ThaSauce on the Enter The Game IRC network.

It’s a lot of fun. It’s super nerdy, though, because you’re hanging with all your friends in a chatroom while you’re sitting by yourself on a computer.

So, I reviewed Dual Core. They got my name from you. I absolutely loved their album. Have a favorite track of theirs?

“Here to Help” right now.

Rad. Have you ever done a track with them?

Not under the Dual Core name, though C64, the producer of Dual Core, is producing the new Grammar Club album right now.

Int 80 might make a guest appearance.

That’s awesome. As a big fan of you, them, and Beefy, I will have to rock that as soon as it’s ready… which will be…

I don’t know, man.

We’ve had three or four false starts with this album, and a lot of personnel changes. I think everything’s finally rolling now, but at this point I’m just not gonna give a date until it’s done and being processed by CD Baby.

You’re only as fast as the slowest band member when you’re working virtually, over the Internet.

Who exactly is in this incarnation of Grammar Club?

Oh man!

Check this out:

Me on sequencing and vocals;

Beefy on vocals;

Kabuto the Python replacing Glenn Case as our third vocalist;

And C64 doing final production and engineering. He’s also doing a lot of drum loop and synth arrangement stuff, and some awesome turntablism too.

Nice!

Facebook tells me you didn’t get half of that

Kabuto the Python on vocals

Ailsean on guitar

Mustin on bass for half of the album

Adam!, the producer of our first album, on bass for the other half of the album

DJ Snyder doing some table work and some drum loop stuff

So that’s 8 guys.

I think….

Awesome. I did miss like half of that.

Yeah.

8 different artists.

Double Ice Backfire, by contrast, is only three.

Ok, well, most of those cats are new to me. Who are they (minus you and the Beefster)?

Snyder did all the scratching on our first record, and did some production.

C64 is, as I mentioned, the producer of Dual Core. He creates all of the instrumentals that Eighty raps over.

Mustin is the front man of TheOneUps, a jazz fusion video game cover band with a good bit of a following. (www.oneupstudios.com)

I’ll have to check that out, for sure.

Ailsean is an old school overclocked remixer whose guitar work I’ve been a fan of for a very long time. It’s amazing to be on a project with him since I was a big fanboy of his video game music arrangement stuff. Still am, actually.

I’ve heard mad good stuff about Kabuto, but I’ve never heard anything myself.

Kabuto the Python is a really good rapper. I’m stoked about the addition of a second rapper. The new album takes a more hip-hop direction than our last.

You should check out his mix tape Parseltongue.

I will, where can I get it?

Lemme check….

http://www.scrubclubrecords.com/music/parsel.html

SCHWEEEEET!

I’ll be rockin’ that on my new iPod tomorrow.

Did I mention I got a free Touch?

No.

My sis bought a MacBook and already had an iPod Touch. It came free, so I got an early B-day gift.

Sounds good.

I am digging on it. So anyway… I am watching Greek (an ABC Family show that is basically a college sitcom/dramedy) with the wife.

You are married, right?

Where did you get that idea?

I don’t know. I thought it said so on your Facebook.

It’s never that on my Facebook.

Then, I’m crazy. Not sure why I thought so.

No wife, then I guess.

I like these interviews. lol

Haha. Me too.

Any lady friend? or man friend? or…

I’m straight and single.

To the point.

I always find it easier to write music, though, when I’m not in a relationship.

A girlfriend takes a lot of emotional energy. You know what I mean?

And making the relationship work takes a time investment, too.

Agreed. Am I at least right on the fact that you live in NYC?

Kind of. I’m a little ways North of the city right now, dealing with this health issue.

Ahhh. I’m originally from Northern NJ, so I am familiar with NY.

Yeah. So I’ve been really happy with the stuff I’ve been writing recently, since I’ve spent most of my adult life in relationships and haven’t had much of an opportunity to write music while single until now. I think the stuff I’ve just recently written is my best stuff yet.

Interesting.

So, I think I’m gonna bounce. Next week, we’ll have to hit up some controversy, like politics and uhh… stuff.

lol

Oh man.

That’s gonna be great.

You’re gonna be like

“I hear you’re a Libertarian.”

Hmmm…

lol

I’m not.

I’m very Liberal.

I’m just ribbing you, man.

We’ll be ok.

Besides, libertarianism is just anarchy for rich white guys with guns… or so I’m told.

This week’s session will be up tomorrow by like noon, most likely, so check it out.

Anyhoo, I’m out like trout, homie. Keep it real.

Peace out.

…is my new favorite Nerdcore act. Period.

thepaintedman rates this:

Sorry Shael. Sorry Beefy. Sorry Lars. Sorry YT. Sorry Front. Sorry STD. These cats got it going on. Rock beats, catchy hooks, tons of great guests (see above list of apologies, in fact), clever lyrics, and something a bit different than most of the Nerdcore acts that I’ve been digging on, mainstream viability.

Admittedly, part of their allure is that Next Level is the first album loaded on my new iPod Touch… so they have an automatic leg up on everyone else I’ve ever reviewed. However, I have no doubt in my mind that this unfair advantage was unneeded for this great crew. Crew may be a bit of an overstatement, as Dual Core is a duo: Cincinnati, Ohio’s int80 and Manchester, England’s c64.

This duo is brand new to me, despite their 3 previous releases. While I cannot comment on these previous releases, I can state, without any question, that their latest release is nothing less than solid rockroll influenced hip-hop output. Nerds will surely find a lot here that they like and relate to, but the well crafted beats and commercial viability of their sound broadens their prospective audience greatly.

Kicking off with guitar driven rap-rock, the album progresses through 13 tracks of unique and different beats, all the while remaining a album with solid continuity. There aren’t too many tracks that standout to me as being the most impressive, mostly because the album performs so well as a whole.

If I were to choose a favorite track, it would be “Magnificent Seven”, just because it is a Nerdcore All-Star show. I am not sure I could even name everyone on the track… but I’ll give it a go: MC Lars, MC Frontalot, Beefy, Schaffer the Darklord, Mega Ran, and YTCracker… I’ll have to Dual Core how well I did on that one, because my iPod says “(featuring Nerdcore)”. Besides the track featuring everyone and their mothers, it also has a phat beat and makes me bop my head, which is usually a good thing.

Overall, I’m not exactly sure what to say about this album that hasn’t already been said on Beefy’s Amazon review of Next Level. This is my new favorite Nerdcore album and without question one of my new favorite hip-hop albums. If you are a fan of the Nerdcore guys, mainstream nerd rappers like Del tha Funkee Homosapien, or rock inspire hip-hop like Philly’s Roots crew, this is an album, you WILL be down with.

PS. How cool is it that I was able to download an App for my IPod that simulates a light saber when I swing it around?