thepaintedman rates this:

A few weeks ago I came home to a small package in the mail, the type of package that is quite frequent for me… one consisting of a small press kit and a CD. I opened it and found a copy of Manafest’s latest CD. I’d never listened to Manafest before being sent his CD to review, but I’d heard his name. I knew he was a rapper, but little else. I began to recall a band from my high school days called Mannafest (note 2 n’s to this rapper’s 1), who hit is pretty big in the Christian market after changing their name to Edison Glass. So, I daydreamed about some old shows I ran for a bit, including a great all day festival where Mannafest (2 n’s) shared the stage with Element 101, Beanbag, Ivan and the Reds, Reconstructing Heather, Reign Storm, and my boys in Giving Way. My daydreams were cut short by a baby who needed to go potty and a meal that needed to be cooked.

The next day, after trying to throw any preconceived notions about Christian rappers and/or the current state of Christian music out, I popped Manafest’s The Chase into my car stereo on the way to work. Right away, the opening track hit my ears with all that I loved about Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory years ago. Soon, I was singing along. POD, PAX217, and John Reuben all came to mind as I continued to listen… but once it was all said and done, I realized that Manafest had carved his own little niche in the Christian music world with a unique rap/rock hybrid that is all his own.

What makes this CD different that other rapcore and hip hop influenced rock that littered the radios a few years back? A lot, to be completely honest. Pop and punk influences on “Fire in the Kitchen” bring to mind some of my favorite moments of John Reuben’s The Boy vs. the Cynic. “Supernatural” reminds me that not all music that can be categorized as “Nu-Metal” has to suck. “Bring the Ruckus” sounds like POD at their best.

But… wait! I said that Manafest was different and all I’m doing is talking about other bands. True, I have been doing this, but you’ll notice that I referenced a wide variety of music in only a few short sentences. That is because Manafest’s influences are obviously diverse. The older and more mature I become, the more I appreciate musical diversity, especially when an artist can be diverse and yet still has a very unique and defing sound to what they are doing. Manafest does this. Whether it be a danceable synthrock rap tune like “The Chase” (think Family Force 5’s Dance or Die album meets Linkin Parks’s “Bleed It Out”), the beautiful ballad “Every Time You Run”, or the PAX217-meets-Gym Class Heroes sound of “Breaking Down the Walls”, each track still has a vibe that can only be described as Manafest.

In short: This CD harkens back to all the best parts of the rap rock heyday, but finds a way to not conform to the pitfalls of the beleaguered genre. In fact, if Beanbag were still around, these guys could definitely share a stage and rock all of our faces off until we had “Whiplash”. Pun intended

At the forefront of the Nerdcore scene are Frontalot, mc chris, MC Lars, and YTCracker. Front is the godfather of the scene, coining the term and embracing all that is nerdy, dorky, dweeby, or geeky; you all know him and love him… and if you don’t, you should. mc chris doesn’t like to call himself Nerdcore, but due is a nerd rapper extraordinaire; you know him as MC Pee Pants and Hesh, or perhaps the dude who did that funny track about Boba Fett driving a Corvette. MC Lars is fun and enjoyable; he’s likely you’re friend on Facebook already, having nearly as many friends as Tom has on MySpace. YTC is a cracker and hacker turned emcee; Nerdrap Entertainment System still stands as a unique and groundbreaking work.

Beyond the big four, this illustrious site has covered the likes of Beefy, Shael Riley, Dual Core, and The ThoughtCriminals/Mikal kHill, as well as nerdy acts that don’t identify specifically with the subgenre like Pigeon John. However, today presents a great time to give the readers a brief primer of some other things the world of Nerdcore has to offer. Here are 10 more nerds that you need to know:

(more…)

thepaintedman rates this:

Canadian MC, Abdominal, has quickly risen from “some rapper I’ve never heard of” to “a guy who has one song I really like” to “staple in my musical diet”. To the best of my knowledge Escape from the Pigeon Hole is his only solo project, but when an album is this solid who needs another?

Toronto native, Andy Bernstein, entered the rap game in 1998, but truly hit his groove in 2003 when he teamed up with DJ Format… I can’t lie… I basically learned anything I know about Abdominal from wikipedia, so I’ll just leave my introduction at that. However, what I don’t know about Abdominal, I can make up in praise for his music.

Escape from the Pigeon Hole was first introduced to me when I mistakenly wiped out my entire music library of 6,000 or so tracks on my old PC. A friend happened to be visiting the next day and decided to get me started with repopulating my computer, he’d log into his FTP and let me grab whatever I want. I didn’t know who Abdominal was, but he said to me, “Oh, trust me, you’ll dig him,” and highlight his album as one I’d be copying. Since that time I have purchased a copy as I learned from “Walk Left/Stand Right” that telling him you download a bootleg of his CD is one of his pet peeves… I digress. After a few months, I had been digging on “Radio Friendly” and put it on a few mixes for driving and such… I figured it was time to give Abs a full shot and put the album on my hand-me-down iPod Shuffle before I headed out to the gym. A nice workout later, I was hooked.

So, what does Abs sound like? Good question… the music is very funky. Produced by the team of DJ Format, Cut Chemist, and Young Einstein, the beats are hot throughout. Vocally, his delivery is unique… powerful, fast-paced, slick, and incredibly smooth. I can’t describe exactly what I love about his flow, but I can say that I certainly do love it. The lyrics are witty, entertaining, and (at-times) well-informed. I’d have put money on the fact that he was black before I saw a picture of him, not sure why but he just sounds black. (DISCLAIMER: “Sounding Black” is not a good or bad thing, just something that seems to occur solely in Hip Hop and other “urban” genres. While my favorite MC’s range in ethnicity from black (Mos Def) to Hispanic (CookBook) to mixed (Pigeon John), vocals often present a picture of what the MC looks like… and when I close my eyes, Abs is a black dude!)

Now that I’ve taken a few paragraphs to tell you very little about anything worthwhile, let me highlight my favorite tracks in 10 in 10 fashion, along with a 1 to 5 rating of how much I dig the track. It’s hard to decide which tracks to leave out, but I hate to bore you by going on and on for 15 tracks…

“Escape”
thepaintedman rates this:
Spoken word track in tradition of the beatniks. Snap Snap!

“Breathe Later”
thepaintedman rates this:
Funky bass line thumps while Abdominal display his lung capacity.

“T Ode – Abdominal & Notes To Self”
thepaintedman rates this:
Ode to Abdominal’s hometown, Toronto, complete with mayoral endorsement.

“Radio Friendly”
thepaintedman rates this:
Misleading title, but “I don’t give a fuck.”

“Pedal Pusher”
thepaintedman rates this:
Abs waxes contemplative over another funk-laden beat.

“Walk Left/Stand Right”
thepaintedman rates this:
Abs expresses pet peeves over toe-tapping guitar driven backtrack.

Overall, the album can be summed up in noting the cleverness of Abdominal as an MC and the fantastic production and beats lent to Abs from Cut Chemist, Format, and Einstein. I can’t imagine too many Hip Hop fans that wouldn’t dig this LP. Check it out, I doubt you’ll be sorry.

Sorry for another delay on the Skylife review (which WILL finally be up tomorrow), but to hold you over, here’s a great interview with Michael of the band Culted.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me here at TPM. I am admittedly not an expert on almost anything in the metal world, though I enjoy some bands in virtually all sub genres. And while this is true, I take a great interest in reading up on and researching metal, because your scenes seem to have some of the most intriguing stories. Let’s start out with your story. Who is Culted?

Culted is Daniel Jansson (voice, words, ambience) who resides in Gothenburg, Sweden, Matthew Friesen and Michael Klassen (guitars, bass, noise, percussion) live in Winnipeg Canada and Kevin Stevenson (drums) lives in rural Manitoba just outside Winnipeg. I (Michael) asked Daniel to contribute some sounds for an Of Human Bondage release a few years back. He agreed and we continued discussing music and personal interests over the next few months. Daniel suggested we record some slow doomy metal and see what came out of the sessions. We exchanged words via email and sounds via wave files and built on each others ideas as they went back and forth. We’ve never met, nor spoken to one another. Communication has been entirely digital. Although, this may very well change for the next release, Daniel is planning on recording the vocals in our studio. We’re looking forward to this next stage of Culted.

And where did you get your name? What exactly does it mean?

Many names were suggested and dismissed as quickly. Culted was the first name that seemed to encompass our intent and sound. Culted may or may not be defined as a social group or individual that operates within the larger culture and practices different norms, behaviours, beliefs, heritage. These groups or individuals may have irrational belief systems, which they have been conditioned to regard as not only possible, but as the truth, the only truth. These beliefs often dismiss critical thinking and the results blind our curiosity. That being said, most of the populace is culted to some degree even if we are aware of our oppressors. To participate in society suggests that one has been culted by its rules and expectations. Many levels of subjugation and submission can be found in our every day rituals.

I have been re-reading the book, Lords of Chaos, about the rise of Black Metal in Europe, notably Scandanavia. It seems like the Norwegian Black Metal scene was/is the most notorious and extreme. What are your impressions of the Black Metal scene that emerged in the Black Circle days as a member of the metal community?

The Scandinavian Black Metal scene had a huge impact on me and I believe Daniel as well. Burzum, Darkthrone, Ulver, Mayhem and Emperor recorded some timeless albums during the early nineties, their influence continues to come across in our sound and countless other bands.

Culted is more of a Doom Metal band from my estimation? Would you agree? And, as a metal novice, could you enlighten me a bit about what Doom Metal is? I think I recall reading that Doom’s roots are with bands like Black Sabbath.

Doom would be a fair somewhat accurate description of our sound, although many purist would disagree. Doom metal seems to have its roots in Black Sabbath, slow tempos and loud amps, and we too owe much of our sound to the records of Black Sabbath, slow tempos and loud amps.

So, who are your musical influences and what do you like to listen to?

Musical influences would be early nineties Black and Death metal, Swans, Godflesh, Eyehategod, The Melvins, Neurosis etc. Outside of metal I listen to Swans, Killing Joke, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Gnaw Their Tongues, Sunno))), Radiohead, and various soundtracks and Industrial/Noise artists.

While TPM is not a religious website by any means, I am a Christian and I often wonder about the beliefs of those I work with. Would you be willing to share with my readers a little bit about your beliefs?

Well, depending whose definition we’re using I might be classified as an atheist or even a Satanist by certain fundamentalists, but the reality is I am an individual who believes in nothing absolutely and remains excited by all that is unknown. I am a student of esoteric disciplines, critical thinking, logic, reasoning and the will to power. Religiosity seems like a primitive explanation of creation and morality, one that self-respecting individuals will dismiss after reasonable consideration.

Thanks, I always find it interesting to find out about the beliefs behind music and other art. How do you think your beliefs impact the music you write?

It’s possible that we are the conduit of these alien sounds we hear. Our muse, or Daemon as Socrates described it, began with a communication and was deciphered and interpreted as sound, and the result is our cd Below The Thunders Of The Upper Deep.

As I noted before, I am no metal expert. Can you give me any tips for my forray into your new album?

Loud, slow, down tuned, psychedelic, blackened metal. Some might even say experimental.

Good stuff. I’ll make you to let you know once my review of the album is up. I believe it’s due out in late July. Besides it’s release date, what else should the readers know about it?

Sunno))) say it best, maximum volume yields maximum results.

Well, I believe I’ve taken up enough of your time. One last question… are you a beer drinker? I am somewhat of a beer snob so deciding on a favorite is tough. I guess I’d have to choose Newcastle, as I always find a way back to it smooth taste. Do you have a favorite beer?

We all enjoy alcohol, Newcastle is tasty, I prefer lager, but a stout or an ale like Kilkenny are all good. Personally, I’m a chronic wine drinker who self-medicates by habitually using Cannabis.

Thanks for giving me the chance to dive into different musical realms. Thank you for all your time and sharing with my readers. Any departing words for those checking out this interview?

Cheers