Where the streets have no name: Wordspit
Like a lot of rappers out there, Brooklyn-born Wordspit didn’t grow up behind a white picket fence. With a drug-addled mother and a hustler/musician father, his childhood was anything but idyllic. Writing became comfort, then the basis for a career. But if your first introduction to Wordspit was “Joystick Madness,” you’d have no inkling that there were any skeletons in his closet. Eight-bit bleeps provide the back beat of the song, which is basically an homage to the arcade delivered at warp speed. It’s often hard to catch exactly what Wordspit is saying; his delivery is that fast. But when you do, you’ll be impressed by his knack for clever metaphors. As he wages battle with the joystick, his video opponents “see stars like Hollywood Boulevard” and “lose energy like Enron.” Come on, that’s pretty funny.
It isn’t until “Chop Suey,” a remix of the System of a Down hit, that Wordspit’s demons emerge. “These are more than just words,” he raps tremulously. “This is my pain, my fight.” For all the fast talk about video games and school day nostalgia, Wordspit doesn’t try to hide his depth. And for that he gets the high score.
We’re all familiar with Rock Band—you know, that awesome game that allows you to vicariously live through legendary rock stars no matter how tone deaf you may be. Until now, the Rock Band catalog has been limited to pretty well known songs, and predominantly marketed towards music fans, not musicians. Enter Rock Band Network, the groundbreaking new idea from Harmonix Systems and MTV Games that “gives musicians and record labels the ability to author their own original recordings into gameplay files and sell their music as playable Rock Band tracks through the newly-created Rock Band Network Music Store.” That’s right. Any solo musician or band, at any point in their career, who has a master recording can insert the track into the enormously popular video game, which is available to millions of users nationwide.
Face it, music is essential in gaming. And it goes without saying that this game is centered around music, music that could belong to you! Yes, there are a few flaming tech hoops to jump through, and publishers must pay a required fee of $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a year to become a member of Microsoft’s XNA Creators club. But, the marketing potential makes the maze-like navigation well worth the pains. Artists even control their own pricing, and can set their track anywhere between 50 cents and 3 dollars receiving 30% of sales. The beta platform is scheduled to launch in late August and offer detailed instructions on how bands can convert their master tracks into gameplay files. Study up here for some explanation and here for a tutorial video before it goes live!
Hey! You! Put that video game controller down and get over here! I’ve got something that might interest you…
Today, in the Boston Globe, OurStage band Vivian Darkbloom was featured for an unusual choice of musical equipment. Guitarist Rob Morris has fashioned a Wii Remote (the controller for the popular Nintendo Wii game console) to his guitar as a means for controlling his effect usage. He uses the remote’s motion-sensing capabilities to allow the tilting of his guitar, as fed through computer software, to control how his guitar sounds.
Read the full article here and check out Vivian Darkblooms fanclub, and see if you can make your own Wii-powered guitar!
