For the Headz: Songz of the Day
The Advantage "SOLAR JETMAN - Braveheart Level" and "AIR FORTRESS - not fat iced caramel hazlenut soy latte with extra whipped cream" from Elf-Titled (5RC)
So... Which one is which?
Nostalgic video game revivalism seems so rampant these days, it's almost tired. There are serious problems when I can say I've gone three straight halloweens where I saw a Mario, or even worse run into a bro wearing a 1up mushroom t-shirt. Yup, you can find that right next to the jokey pot shirts in any Hot Topic. Where is the decency in our social construct? These relics are meant to be sacred, to be upheld with the sense of great pride. And what have the youth and young adult population of America done? They've taken a Double Dragon bandana and wiped their collective asses with it.
Okay fine, let's take it down a notch. Perhaps the reason I feel violated by this oversaturation of vintage gaming is because I don't know jack shit. It turns out I wasn't the only dude who made an all girl team on Baseball Stars (named Hooters Aurtles, "Hooters" because I was an avid watcher of Married... With Children back in the day, and Aurtles because we essed up the default name of Turtles and didn't feel like fixing it). Like everything I love, I believed I was the only person in the world playing Nintendo and I wanted to keep it a secret. Wake up shitbrick, almost every kid had a grey box in their living room (some luck ones had black flat boxes, SEGAHEADZ). Yeah, I played Duck Hunt like I was blind, but there seriously were blind kids playing Duck Hunt. I saw it on the internet, I think.
So, as I establish the fact that nearly everyone is a Nintendo lover, why isn't Sacramento's top-tier Nintendo cover act, The Advantage the most popular band in the world? Because I was right all along folks. This stuff is for real nerds, real headz. Videogameheadz. Sure people can bop their head to The Legend of Zelda and even some of the levels of Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link, but Solar Jetman? Air Fortress? Frank, you are blowing my mind.
Admittedly, I had never heard of these games either. Shit, when asked to identify certain songs on previous releases, three-quarters of my guesses are "Uh... Mega Man 2?". And I totally get a little tingle in my dingle when I hear Super Mario 2's jazzy pop stylings. Perhaps my highly self-touted memory is not good in the "obscure games from your childhood" category. But the way I see it is, just because a looney vet doesn't actually remember what happened in 'Nam, it doesn't mean he wasn't in the shit.
But how could I not remember? These songs are the catchiest songs ever. Both "Air Fortress" and "Solar Jetman" feature guitar harmonies that put Thin Lizzy to shame and melodic complexity that rival the top songwriters in pop music history. Dorky Japanese dudes on midi players were real rock gods, wizards of Oz, humble men in stature behind a great force to be reckoned with. The Advantage stays true to that idea. Live, they're nothing interesting, underwhelming at best, yet the sound they emit is truly awesome. The two hand tapping must have been cultured under simultaneous B-A tapping. Seriously, from the surface, these dudes are the most dexterous creatures in the world, naturally skilled in executing complicated guitar licks, defeating difficult stage bosses and rubbing quick ones out. However, the beauty of The Advantage lies in the fact that their mixing of jazzy math rock and interesting epic guitar riffage doesn't subtract from their ability to mimic the general feeling of a certain, sometimes recognizable song. Ultimately, they'll always be just another cover band, but they've successfully made each one of these songs their own.
Each successive Advantage album will be met with tempered excitement. I will never love or hate The Advantage, and eventually that should help curb my disdain for video game posuers. After all, it's been revealed, I'm not even that big of a Head. Expert or not, I still hold a fond place for vintage gaming and the nerve to point out that "DUCKTAILS - Moon" is actually spelled "Ducktales". As my esteemed colleague and serious Nintendohead, Landis "Bionic Commando" Knorr would say, "C'mon, guys."
The Advantage: http://www.theadvantageband.com/
So... Which one is which?
Nostalgic video game revivalism seems so rampant these days, it's almost tired. There are serious problems when I can say I've gone three straight halloweens where I saw a Mario, or even worse run into a bro wearing a 1up mushroom t-shirt. Yup, you can find that right next to the jokey pot shirts in any Hot Topic. Where is the decency in our social construct? These relics are meant to be sacred, to be upheld with the sense of great pride. And what have the youth and young adult population of America done? They've taken a Double Dragon bandana and wiped their collective asses with it.
Okay fine, let's take it down a notch. Perhaps the reason I feel violated by this oversaturation of vintage gaming is because I don't know jack shit. It turns out I wasn't the only dude who made an all girl team on Baseball Stars (named Hooters Aurtles, "Hooters" because I was an avid watcher of Married... With Children back in the day, and Aurtles because we essed up the default name of Turtles and didn't feel like fixing it). Like everything I love, I believed I was the only person in the world playing Nintendo and I wanted to keep it a secret. Wake up shitbrick, almost every kid had a grey box in their living room (some luck ones had black flat boxes, SEGAHEADZ). Yeah, I played Duck Hunt like I was blind, but there seriously were blind kids playing Duck Hunt. I saw it on the internet, I think.
So, as I establish the fact that nearly everyone is a Nintendo lover, why isn't Sacramento's top-tier Nintendo cover act, The Advantage the most popular band in the world? Because I was right all along folks. This stuff is for real nerds, real headz. Videogameheadz. Sure people can bop their head to The Legend of Zelda and even some of the levels of Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link, but Solar Jetman? Air Fortress? Frank, you are blowing my mind.
Admittedly, I had never heard of these games either. Shit, when asked to identify certain songs on previous releases, three-quarters of my guesses are "Uh... Mega Man 2?". And I totally get a little tingle in my dingle when I hear Super Mario 2's jazzy pop stylings. Perhaps my highly self-touted memory is not good in the "obscure games from your childhood" category. But the way I see it is, just because a looney vet doesn't actually remember what happened in 'Nam, it doesn't mean he wasn't in the shit.
But how could I not remember? These songs are the catchiest songs ever. Both "Air Fortress" and "Solar Jetman" feature guitar harmonies that put Thin Lizzy to shame and melodic complexity that rival the top songwriters in pop music history. Dorky Japanese dudes on midi players were real rock gods, wizards of Oz, humble men in stature behind a great force to be reckoned with. The Advantage stays true to that idea. Live, they're nothing interesting, underwhelming at best, yet the sound they emit is truly awesome. The two hand tapping must have been cultured under simultaneous B-A tapping. Seriously, from the surface, these dudes are the most dexterous creatures in the world, naturally skilled in executing complicated guitar licks, defeating difficult stage bosses and rubbing quick ones out. However, the beauty of The Advantage lies in the fact that their mixing of jazzy math rock and interesting epic guitar riffage doesn't subtract from their ability to mimic the general feeling of a certain, sometimes recognizable song. Ultimately, they'll always be just another cover band, but they've successfully made each one of these songs their own.
Each successive Advantage album will be met with tempered excitement. I will never love or hate The Advantage, and eventually that should help curb my disdain for video game posuers. After all, it's been revealed, I'm not even that big of a Head. Expert or not, I still hold a fond place for vintage gaming and the nerve to point out that "DUCKTAILS - Moon" is actually spelled "Ducktales". As my esteemed colleague and serious Nintendohead, Landis "Bionic Commando" Knorr would say, "C'mon, guys."
The Advantage: http://www.theadvantageband.com/
1 Comments:
Kondo-sensei wa watashi no hiirou desu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koji_Kondo
Post a Comment
<< Home