Wednesday Video Spotlight: Nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot releases “Critical Hit” video, plans Oklahoma City show
Critical Hit from 512 Media on Vimeo.
Nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot is currently on tour in support of his fifth studio album, “Solved,” and will be performing Monday night at The Conservatory, 8911 N Western Ave. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the concert starts at 8 p.m.
The rapper released this week the video to his song “Critical Hit,” which is in this Wednesday Video Spotlight.
Frontalot bassist and award-winning solo artist Brandon Patton and OKC-based act The Doppelgangstas, AKA Buck and Clint Vrazel of nationally recognized musical comedy duo Twinprov, will open Monday’s local show.
“Solved” is garnering considerable critical praise. Lev Grossman of Time Magazine has said, “Frontalot’s songs are nothing if not funky and funny, and you can enjoy them on that level, but it’s all a bit of a feint—the more you listen to them, and the further you get into decoding Frontalot’s densely wrought lyrics, the more layers you find.”
When Damian Hess began recording as MC Frontalot in 2000, there was no category into which his unique brand of alternative hip-hop fit, so he coined and self-applied the term “nerdcore.” Since then, a thriving rap subgenre has grown up around him. Falling outside of what the music business considered commercially viable, he pursued marketing and distribution channels then largely unfamiliar to recording artists, embracing the worlds that embraced him, particularly comic books and gaming. Throughout the first decade of his career, Frontalot has found imaginative, visionary ways of creating and putting forth his music.
Since he first released his music on the internet through the online songwriting and recording competition Song Fight!, MC Frontalot has parlayed his early online buzz into an enduring career as a artist. He remains a key member of the communities that initially celebrated him, and performs for thousands of fans at conventions such as Penny Arcade Expo and Blizzcon. In addition to garnering considerable critical acclaim, MC Frontalot is the subject of the feature documentary “Nerdcore Rising: The Movie.”
Frontalot bassist BL4k Lotus AKA Brandon Patton will be opening. His newest album, “How I Allegedly Bit a Man in Gloucestershire,” features 13 mostly comical songs that capture the hilarity of his live shows opening for Frontalot. On the album, he exposes dark family secrets (“Mixed-Up Modern Family”) sings anthems about sex acts (“Munching the Cooch” and “Kethcup and Mayo”) and relates stories about traveling the world and getting into mischief (“Big in Japan” and the title track “How I Allegedly Bit a Man in Gloucestershire”)
Patton also performs with playwright Prince Gomolvilas in the underground theater duo “Jukebox Stories,” called one of the 10 best plays of 2008 by the East Bay Express. He composed the songs for “Love Sucks: the Musical,” a Shakespearean take on the punk rock of the 1970s, which won honorable mention at the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Patton’s 2004 album “Should Confusion” was nominated for Album of the Year by the Independent Music Awards. His music has appeared on the soundtracks of several TV shows, including “Monster Garage,” “That 70’s Show,” and “The Real World.” He also sometimes plays bass for Futureboy and Jonathan Coulton.
Twin brothers Buck and Clint Vrazel of nationally acclaimed improv duo Twinprov will also be opening for Frontalot as their rap alter-egos, The Doppelgangstas, AKA Kid Koopernicus and Uncus The Humongous Homunculus. They will be joined on stage by OKC’s most in-demand improv accompanist, Kyle Gossett, AKA Trouble Clef. The Doppelgangstas will be performing a mix of pre-written and improvised/freestyle songs created in the moment based on suggestions from the audience.
Buck and Clint Vrazel have been performing and teaching improv for 11 years in Oklahoma and around the country including 10 different festivals in 2011 and are a driving force in the regional improv scene. They are co-artistic directors of OKC Improv, the state’s premiere professional improv showcase and learning institution, where they currently teach classes and perform with numerous troupes. This will be The Doppelgangsta’s second time to open for MC Frontalot, having performed at Front’s OKC debut in April 2010.
-BAM
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