R. Cade and the Video Victims - Get Victimized

Oh, man, I just noticed I was supposed to get a sick three foot poster with this. Whoever sold this must've kept the poster. I'm honest to God disappointed now. I could've been the coolest kid on the block with that, man, now I just have to tell everyone that the "ASS" guy who has all the high scores at the pizza parlor is me!

Anyway, remember "Pac Man Fever?" This album came about a year after and is also "songs inspired by video games," but surprisingly for a product that's a transparent ripoff, it's actually better, at least most of the time. This might be the result of some theft, though; the chorus on "Ms. Pacman" is exactly the same as Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night," and "Scramble" borrows judiciously from a Kiss riff. I can't identify any other sampling, but I would not be shocked if most of these songs contain bits and pieces from other popular ones. My guess is that no one cared enough about enforcing the copyright on an album that might've been able to (tenuously) claim fair use through parody.

It's also got some basic facts wrong about the games, like referencing Ms. Pac-Man as Pac's sister and not wife/girlfriend, given away after the third level's cutscene. Whoops, incest! In a weird way it makes it more charming as an obvious cash-in.

This is definitely a good album to drop some tracks from to just throw a wrench in any mixtape, though. They're oddly catchy.

Presented in the finest 320 kb/s mp3 vinyl rip.

May Day - All I Have Is Myself

There's a store in the Chicago area called the Frugal Muse that's fantastic, and one of the best parts of it (besides the super cheap prices on everything and the huge range of well-organized books) is the free bin. I'm not sure where they get stuff to put in there because they're pretty picky about what they'll buy, but I've found plenty of quality records in there. And a couple ridiculous demo CD's from local artists, which is where the real gold is. For example:

May Day - All I Have Is Myself

This is best categorized as "depression rap," and it's absolutely fantastic. From that label, you'd probably expect really slow, dirge-like beats with a guy mumbling quietly over them, and instead you get surprisingly competent production and some decent rap. The problem is that May Day is genuinely out of luck in every way; the two best songs, without a doubt, are "I Need A Job," and "Bitches Don't Like Me," which is sort of a refreshing opposite to typical rap bragging. He literally has nothing going for him whatsoever. And I mean, he raps his entire resume in that first one, start to finish. Maybe that song genuinely was his resume. I have no idea. All I know is that bitches don't like him, no matter where he goes.

The weird thing is, this disc actually shows up on Amazon as a staggering twenty-five dollars new, which is pretty costly for a CD. This has incredible novelty value though, improved by the fact that some of the most ridiculous moments are also the most catchy.

Presented in 320 kb/s mp3. The finest in loser, underdog hip hop.

The Groovie Ghoulies - Berry'd Alive

This is a small, fifteen minute EP of covers of lesser known Chuck Berry songs by the now-defunct Sacramento Groovie Ghoulies. It's got sort of a pop-punk vibe to it, but I'll confess I bought it for the fact that I'm a sucker for anything Halloween-themed, particularly records. That said, these covers are pretty faithful to the originals, which is nice but in an odd way also a little disappointing. Still good stuff, though.

Ripped from vinyl, presented in 320 kbs mp3. Honestly mainly a test of how to post this sort of thing.