My Big, Gigantic Drum Kit

Adam Warrock - “Marvel vs. DC” (This Man… This Emcee)

iTunes tells me that I have 1,282 songs listed as 2011 releases (3 days, 12 hours, 7 minutes, 58 seconds). I’m about 30 songs in, and most of them have been by immensely prolific nerdcore artist Adam Warrock (long-time Internet friend of the blog, whom I finally met in person and saw perform this year).  I believe he was initially uncomfortable with the label “nerdcore” for its potential limitations in subject matter, but he embraces it on the This Man… This Emcee EP (one of a number of 2011 Warrock releases, including a Firefly-inspired concept album), even celebrating it on “Nerd Corps.”  Based on what I’ve heard from others in the genre, though, he might have been wise to initially distance himself.  He’s far less content to thoughtlessly pile on the references and silly jokes than most; the pop culture references are vehicles for everything from racial politics (“Marvel vs. DC”) to familial relations (“Sad Ultron”). 

Also in this batch: individual tracks by A.A. Bondy, Action Bronson, Adele (including the impossible-to-shake-but-why-would-you-want-to “Rolling in the Deep,” naturally), Agnes, Alexis Jordan, Algernon Cadwallader, and Amanda Palmer.  Now at 34, three tracks deep into the new … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. 

Adam WarRock - “I Am Him” (The War For Infinity)

As it happens, the first two Music Marathon albums are by the same artist, the absurdly prolific Adam WarRock.  His two major releases this year (i.e., not the many individual tracks on his site), the more official and “serious”* album The War For Infinity and the West Coast Avengers Mixtape EP (free download here) are heavy on the comic book references, which you may have figured out from the album titles or his Marvel-referencing handle if you’re the kind of person who geeks out at someone rhyming “Pym Particles” with “Pimp Articles.” 

The West Coast Avengers Mixtape is a light set of songs referencing West Coast hip-hop and, member-by-member, the characters from the titular superhero team - with a nice set of thematic layers added for good measure.  The War for Infinity is a concept album reconstruction of a 1991 Marvel good-vs.-evil mini-series called The Infinity Gauntlet (which, honestly, had me running to Wikipedia, since it came out just after the point at which I was seriously reading comics).  It’s lyrically dense, and I’m afraid I’ve just barely made a dent in figuring out the entire conceptual arc at this point (but, hey, I’ve loved Quadrophenia and Zen Arcade for years and damned if I know what’s going on in either case), but it’s a fine, fine listen. 

Full disclosure:  I know Mr. WarRock.  I had no idea what to expect from him as a hip-hop artist and was very pleasantly surprised to find his stuff witty and ambitious (which is nice, since I’d hate to start the marathon with a shitty review or a bullshit one).  Plus, free downloads galore at his site!  Check it out. 

*  Which is not to say “a drag” - it’s just more ambitious.