Nerdapalooza

I’m a sucker for pop music. It’s my Kryptonite, you could say. Put on a Brittany Spears or Justin Timberlake track around me if you don’t believe. However, give me a GOOD pop track and I’ll be rocking it non-stop. Throw some nerdy allusions in the mix, and it catches my attention. For almost a decade now, Shael Riley has been the one that I’ve had a music crush on, so when a new release of his drops, I readjust my schedule.

Building up to Nerdapalooza, I had heard murmurs of a new music project of his, and since my first run in with him I haven’t heard a project from him that wasn’t something I could totally dig. When I learned that it would involve his pals, Ty Guenly, Ricky Henry, and Zen Albatross, he had the whole of my attention. I remember also staring at the tape deck of the car I was in whilst running errands for the imminent festival. I remember musing how it had recently become a vestigial tail of our digital evolution.

The irony wasn’t lost on me when Shael handed me a purple cassette tape labeled as Shael Riley & the Double Ice Backfire’s Songs From the Pit. It was the after hours soundtrack to that weekend, and has since been a close musical companion. That weekend was the best introduction for that album: tearing the studio tracks on repeat followed by seeing the band perform a handful of them live.

This album is phenomenal! I truly feel Shael and the boys have outdone themselves. Lyrically, it’s some of Shael’s finest work, with clever lines like “It’s not eugenics, it’s just nepotism, man” from Asian Kids Have All the Best Moves, and the heavy allusions to Mortal Kombat in tipmottobfoehttip. Musically, it has some truly innovative utilization of chiptunes with more conventional instruments heard in pop music. I feel that Songs From the Pit is a landmark album for pop music. It has a few tracks that standout more on first listen including the sinister Publishing Rights featuring Schaffer the Darklord, Asian Kids Have All the Best Moves, and the celebrated cover of Chinese Ninja Warrior. Like previous Shael releases, this is an album that grows on you the more you listen to it, with every track becoming a favorite over time.

What made this album cement itself in my catalogue as a true favorite was when fellow web journalist, Z, tweeted how this entire album felt like a metaphor for the current state of our lower middle class clique. Listening to the entire album again with that in mind made me proud to have a limited copy of the cassette.

If you have ever liked Shael’s music, buy this album. If you want to hear an awesome innovation in chiptunes pop, buy this album. If you like nerdy music, buy this album. If you’re reading this, BUY THIS ALBUM! It’s amazing and is fully recommended for all.

You can actually download a few tracks over at their 61 account!