Today, many of y’all are probably getting piss drunk and sunburned at a barbecue, or are cracked out during the final stretch of DEMF. Either way, dejaded is taking a mini break this week, and will be back next Monday with the usual rantings.
Check the Media Feed for a little Easter Egg from Nerd Revolt!
Meet the Virus Bots! They live on the mini Minimoog and keep Baby Virus company in the studio.
The Good:
Our rig was totally solid! Each of our laptops was loaded with 4G of RAM, and Live ran smoothly without any snags.
We rehearsed the songs enough to be able to go on our improv journeys, so that was awesome and rewarding. We’re really in our element during free form jams, and being able to experience and share our stream of consciousness with everyone was THE SHIT.
Baby Virus is officially a gigging musician now! He was pretty mindblowing on a loud system. The reverb-drenched pads were huge, lead lines really cut through, and gritty textures sounded even thicker live. And who can deny how hot he looks with all those glowing LEDs? Okay, I’ll stop before I start being creepy…
The Bad:
I couldn’t see anything past the stage. AT ALL. The 3-D visuals (which I hear were dope, by the way) were shining right in my eyes, so I was blinded the whole night. Every time I looked out into the crowd, I saw a sea of black shadows. With my vision thrown off, I couldn’t see anyone’s expressions or reactions while I was playing. This tunnel-vision perspective was frustrating at first, since it didn’t give me any crowd vibes to feed off of… but the good thing is that I focused 1000% on the music and got completely lost in it.
Couldn’t hear my vocals at all. We spent a lot of time dialing in levels during sound check, so I’m not sure what happened… it was really disappointing because it was my first time doing vocals live. Plus, I wasn’t using just any mic. It was the one my mom sang with for years while I was growing up, AND she was out in the audience. Sigh.
The Nerdy:
During the breakdown of “Working Title”, I zoned out to the distortions on the Virus. They will fuck yo shit up! We extended this section so we could layer tons of sounds and go crazy with the knob-tweaking.
During the last song (our remix of m.0’s “Lift Us Up”), we went off on all kinds of tangents. After the main breakdown, I laid down the lead arp and m.0 triggered the beats. I took a loop of the vocals (“Give us the strength to comprehend”) and got down with some glitch action. Then m.0 started throwing in some live vocals and glitched them on top of what I was doing.
After a few minutes of tweaking out the vocal sample, I switched over to play a synth melody. On that same exact beat, m.0 came in with chord changes on his arp. This all happened without us even looking at each other! Going immediately from an impromptu glitch duet into a synth duet was an unexpected turn. It made me really appreciate the creative freedom and psychic connection that we share together as Nerd Revolt.
“Miss iLL, there’s an urgent situation that only you can help me with. You must come to Earth.”
“Dee eeeeeell shall not meeeeen-gell weet dee MOOOHR-tahlz. Dare eez no pah-LAZE forr seen-teh-seeez on dee Eart. How daaare you SAHHH-mon dee eeell for dees— ”
“That’s exactly the problem. The nerds are dying off, one by one, and no one’s doing anything to stop it. The Grandfather MIDI Clock is malfunctioning, and the E. Gotism outbreak is taking down the whole scene in its path. Without your help, there may never be a place for synth nerds on Earth again.”
A heavy silence. Her eyes widened sharply.
“No morre… SEEEEN-TEH-SEEEEEEEEEZ??!”
“Exactly. No one cares about making music or being a nerd any more. All the humans are obsessed with how they look, how cool they are, how many promoters they’re friends with. We must put an end to this immediately.”
Rekraktor Overlord knew where they would target their mission. They’d start out with the town dedicated to techno— the town in the country of Nation where the Grandfather MIDI Clock was destroying everyone’s sync and only the most corrupt DJs and promoters were in power. It was a place where everyone in the techno scene had suddenly found themselves…
In Stag, Nation.
Last week, my synth turned a year old. He’s a Virus TI PØLAR and his name is Baby Virus. I know there are other Viruses and PØLARs out there, but he’s the best synth in the universe… I tell him so every night when I press the 2 transpose buttons and put him to sleep.
Music has always been a huge part of my life, but I’ve never bonded with an instrument like this. I, along with 400 billion other Asian kids, took piano lessons from when I was 5 through the end of high school, but it always felt like a chore. Scales and exercises were mind-numbing, and most of my teachers were either terrifying or dull.
In 5th grade, I picked up the trombone and rocked it for almost 10 years. Concert band, jazz band, blah blah blah… as long as I didn’t have to wear a stupid uniform and march out on the football field with a bunch of tightass band nerds. The ones in my school were the obnoxious “I only have a 3.9 GPA and my parents will KILL me if I go to Columbia instead of Harvard” type, so I was definitely not down with that.
In college, I stopped playing both instruments and messed with bass and drums to let out some aggro-ness. After being an indie rock girl since my teens, I was exposed to drum ‘n bass in ‘99 by my ex (heh, I wish I could edit that part out). I kinda sorta learned to spin on his turntables… I know, I know— sorry for being such a horrible cliché.
Once I had my own decks and got into DJing, I stopped playing instruments altogether. I kept saying I’d write music someday, but I got sucked into all the partying and drama. I did impulsively buy studio gear with a store credit card (NOT recommended– 25% interest is el sucko), including a JP-8000 synth. It collected dust until I sold it to buy CDJs, which I then sold to buy… well, you know the gear cycle.
Fast forward to last year. Baby Virus was delivered by the Synth Stork on May 6, and my life changed forever. I started looking forward to every weekend— not to party, but to study the manual and learn every knob and menu. With my synth, I can tap into any musical and personal influence that’s ever crossed my path. Playing Bach and Chopin taught me about harmonies and melodic structure; my teenage angst can be summed up with the equation “Noise + Bit Reducer = GRRRR”; nights of falling asleep to My Bloody Valentine are conjured up by a deadly combo of distortion, noise and reverb— don’t forget the slow attack.
More importantly though, my Virus lets me express the things I can’t say or write. He takes a snapshot of my ideas, thoughts, wishes, fears, hurts, regrets, memories, rage, confusion, feelings I have no adjective for— turning it into a thick collage of sound. I tell him my secrets. I’ve broken down crying to him.
By the time this post goes live, he will have made his stage debut.
Watch out world…
This is only the beginning.
The newly born iLL.F.O. was caught in a beautiful storm of synthesis, suddenly possessed by the mesmerizing sine waves and non-cheesy filter sweeps. With her back turned towards R.O., she escaped to an internal universe where brain circuitry collides with electronic circuitry, creating violent explosions of sound and texture.
It was then that Rekraktor Overlord’s heart skipped a beat (but really, it was just the track mute button).
Blazed high on her left shoulder, the Axis of iLLness symbol reflected in the glow of shimmering LEDs.
She must be the Chosen One.
It was a premonition that the wise Profit 5-R had mentioned to him before his mission. R.O. was told that the Disease was floating around on Earth, but after struggling to plant the seeds of Rekraktor and Abletron with no success, he had lost all hope in the mortals.
He never saw the Disease in this form before. It was not induced by outside means— it was created organically and now wildly mutated before his eyes. She’d gone from being a meek, demure human to a synth-obsessed goblin within a matter of minutes.
R.O. was reluctant to interrupt this metamorphosis, but he needed to let her know about the profi-C right away. Cautiously approaching her, he didn’t make it too far until she swung about in a rage.
“How DARE you eeenterrupt dee eeeeeeLL! I shall curse you doo an eterrrrnal life off bad prrrrrrrreeeeeesets, M. Hottio drrrrrrrivers, and dee highest rrrrrrrrezonanz dat weeeell burrrrrn your eaaaaaaaaaaars!!!!!!!!!”
Rekraktor Overlord wasn’t frightened at all. In fact, he let out a huge sigh and smiled.
He was no longer the only nerd in the universe.
Upload: successful.
Rekraktor Overlord and Miss Jade suddenly found themselves floating through a virtual (analog) reality. Their synths had been teleported too, and hundreds of other blinking toys were suspended in space around them. It was as if Command Central® had moved to a mysterious underwater galaxy, hidden in shadows miles away from anyone’s ears.
No words were exchanged. Just a multitrack conversation between millions of cerebral waveforms.
R.O. jammed out on machines like the Yomahawk Dee X-Heaven (part of Native American Instruments’ classic line), the “Juno What I’m Talkin’ ‘Bout, Willis?” 6, a Big Phatty (the proper way to smoke ‘em), and a Stupider Jupiter. The deluxe version is crazy stupid fresh, boyeee!
Miss Jade rocked out on her Axis of iLLness in an intense fury of inspiration. As R.O. laid down some grooves on his N-Chronic EGPS (make beats around the universe with this all-in-one sampler and GPS!), he caught something in the corner of his eye.
Actually, it was just a bit of cosmic dust. Always stirs up the allergies…
But more importantly, he caught something in the corner of his other eye.
Miss Jade had gone super mental with her iLLness. The blinking logo started shooting out lasers, hyper saws were sharp enough to cut through any frequency, and sonic chemicals not found on the Wave Table of the Elements were spilling from the outputs. All of a sudden, the MindControl software interface synced up her brain and the synth, forming a direct link between thought and sound.
She was no longer Miss Jade.
She was no longer human.
She had become…
The iLL.F.O.
After a year of building an amazing friendship with my doppelgänger-for-life m.0, teaching myself about synthesis and sound design, and busting ass in the studio for 7 months, it’s finally here: Nerd Revolt’s debut show is this Friday.
It’s so much more than just another gig. It’s making me reflect on everything that m.0 and I have been through, both individually and as a team. When we met, m.0 was burned out and ready to give up on performing. I hadn’t gotten my first synth yet, was having trust issues in my relationship, and questioned my production skills. Now, a year later, our confidence and inspiration are taking on new levels. There’s so much badassery going on that I want to step back and take it all in…
I’ve struggled with anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem all my life. It started with my family. I always felt my father was ashamed of who I was and who I wanted to be. Instead of being like his friends’ sheepishly obedient Harvard Med School kids he could brag about, I was constantly searching for what my true calling was. My dad hoped that my dreams of being a musician were just a passing phase, and that I’d someday replace these impossible, impractical goals with more “responsible” ones.
It makes sense that once I discovered the dance music scene, I got totally swept up in it. Coke and E would make me feel confident and extraverted for a night. I could pretend I wasn’t the outcast I was in high school or the sensitive artist freak I was scared to be. Every time I went out, I’d run into familiar faces, we’d pile into the bathroom to do our key bumps, dance to techno, end up at someone’s apartment til the sun came up… then I’d pull the sunglasses over my eyes before crawling onto the subway to work.
I realize now it was all a fantasy world. Those people weren’t my friends. That euphoria was artificially produced. And those dreams of writing stories and producing music faded away with each gut-wrenching comedown.
But here I am— happier, healthier, and more confident than ever. The transformation has been incredible, and I definitely owe it to my time here in Seattle.
I can’t wait for our show— just to look out into the crowd and see so many of those who have been part of this crazy journey. People I’ve jammed with during my first days on the Virus, friends I’ve both partied with and have had Thanksgiving dinner with, the haters who doubted my potential. My ex (who I still share a special connection with) will be there rocking out, and my mom, brother, and his girlfriend are flying out from the East Coast to see us play. Feeling ultra-sentimental, so I should be skipping the mascara for this gig…
Nerd Revolt isn’t just about techno, or even just about music. It’s about expressing yourself and saying fuck you to those who try to hold you back or tell you to be someone else. m.0 and I have spent our whole lives adapting to other people’s needs and expectations, giving up dreams because they were too ambitious, and questioned ourselves due to other people’s mindfucking.
That’s all past tense, bitches.
The revolt begins now.
Yesterday, April 26th, marks a year since m.0 and I first met. We’ve come to realize that some strange and mysterious forces of the universe brought us together, and not a day goes by that we take any of it for granted. We’ve both been through some dark shit— having been miserably depressed and creatively frustrated to the point of giving up, with no one who could understand what we were going through. We’ve been lucky to have people who care about us, but without being able to see ourselves as we really are, how could we let others understand us?
Through recognizing each other’s strengths and talents, we’ve been able to grow individually as artists. In the past four months alone, we’ve thrown ourselves into projects we used to be scared to consider. Before dejaded, I’d never shared my writing with anyone. Now here I am, cranking out these entries every week and finally giving my once-abstract ideas an existence. Back in January, m.0 snagged himself a dope-ass camera and has since gotten addicted to the concept of non-musical geek-out sessions. It’s been amazing to watch his passion for photography explode– and it does give him a reason to leave the cave once in a while.
It’s all happened so fast, and every step of the way has been surreal. After years of having our demons quietly sabotage us, we’ve worked through our self-esteem issues, started to believe in our dreams and discovered new ones, and helped each other become who we’ve always been. When we met, m.0 was burned out on the scene and felt that he’d gone as far as he could creatively. He even told me that he was done with music and that we should all “go on without him” (in his entertainingly melodramatic way). At the time, I hadn’t even gotten my first synth and was extremely insecure about my production skills and potential. After living in NYC, I was still stuck in the “having to prove yourself” mentality, which I realized was a huge reason I got jaded.
Through our BFF bonding exercises, we find validation in who we are and give each other perspective on things. That lets us open up more as artists. Which in turn brings us closer as BFFs. Which then helps us dream up crazier dreams. Which…well, you know where I’m going with this.
Oh, and you know what tripped me out recently? Out of curiosity, I was going through my old emails and found the very first message that m.0 sent me after we met. It was sent on May 8th.
That’s the exact date that we’ll be playing our first show together.
Yes, everyone. Nerd Revolt is a result of pure destiny. Took a while to find each other— but now that we have, we’re ready to take on the fucking world.
Rekraktor Overlord found himself, once again, extremely frustrated.
As his missions to Earth usually went, he started out with high hopes of educating and inspiring the humans. This time it was even more necessary, since the evils of E. Gotism were quickly taking over and killing the dance music scene.
He’d try to clean up the streets, trying to get rid of the Software Piracy Pirates and urging everyone to use licensed software (which is how he became the Overlord in the first place– making sure that all Krakked software would be weeded out and destroyed). On his last mission, he fought off the synth gangster known as the Sleazy 101 (who often went by the name of Cassy, yo) and M. Hottio, the crooked audio interface salesman who ripped off many innocent victims with his ghetto-ass gear.
But it’s not all that surprising. As a human, R.O. never fit in. His synth and production wisdom was apparent to all the mortals, and everything that should have been considered a prized talent in him became a target and commodity for the masses. The humans leeched off his knowledge and sucked his brain dry of everything he had learned, sticking their IV’s into his data stream so they could survive.
For a while, R.O. didn’t mind. After all, it was his contribution to the local community and he wanted to see these little grasshoppers go off into the world and spread this positive energy.
But things didn’t work out that way. Kraks were everywhere and the nerd booty calls persisted. R.O. began to feel dirty, used, and the same way he started out before he was propped up on this Nerd Pedestal:
Alone.
This Earth mission was the bleakest of all. The Disease was nowhere to be found, and it wouldn’t be able to take root in this spoiled, corrupted scene anyhow. It was time to do what he’d never needed to resort to until now.
He needed to upload himself.
Leaving an auto-reply on the feed reader for Yuki, he started his virtual journey. He didn’t know where to and didn’t care. As long as it was somewhere away from this depressing world.
![[Facebook]](http://www.dejaded.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://www.dejaded.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.dejaded.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.dejaded.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
