Bootlegged Stuffs

One of my favorite bands of all time, Dream Theater, has an interesting position on bootlegged materials. My drumming idol, Mr. Mike Portnoy, actively supports the stuff, and even goes so far as to release 'official' bootlegs on his own record label. I never really thought about this before, but it's a Godsend for someone like me who loves extra stuff about anything - and even though I probably once pledged not to upload any DT stuff before because they're right up there in my 'essential artists' list, I can't help but share something that's so 'rare'.

As a battoned down music pirate, I don't really think about the implications of music bootlegging - I'm one of the only people I know who's never really bought a CD in their entire life, yet I have one of the biggest music collections of anyone I know. I try not to think about the ramifications of it. I have one of the weirdest theories on music distribution of anyone I know - and I always hold that if I make it big as a music type person, musician I suppose, or percussionist, if you prefer... I'd offer the band's entire catalogue free for download. Money should be made off touring, in my opinion, though if anyone wanted to buy some CDs, that would be neat too.

I've wanted to buy a fair many CDs in my time, but they're always so obscure, they're impossible to find in any of my local retail outlets. So, if I want to get my hands on a hard copy of anything, I end up having to order it from somewhere in Sweden or something, and by the time it goes through all the currency exchanges and shipping and handling I'm looking at a 35$ purchase, which is a bit steep for one CD - especially with my income being as nominal as it is.

Then again, bootlegging is an entirely different thing. It'd be different if I had the wherewithal to go to shows, and participate in that kind of 'offline internet' thing. Maybe I will some day, following Dream Theater on tour or something... but not for now.

Oh yeah. Sorry to make this a bit of a wild goose-chase, but really, I meant to say - in my acquisition of bootlegs and other type stuff, I also managed to get my hands on a bunch of stuff by Mindless Self Indulgence, another of my essential picks. I don't think recordings of live shows are too bad, especially when the band actively promotes the idea. So many of them are really poor quality, but I have one that looks almost properly produced - a live show video of the song Stupid MF, which is what I'm going to share today.

Hopefully a taste of something a little different isn't a bother. Yes, it is a video, and a live show - but I think it's worth a look, in any case. If you like the band, it's pretty cool, and if you've never heard of them before (what's wrong with you? ^^) it's still good enough to get a taste of their sound. That's another thing... if I'm in a band, I will spend hours tweaking our live sound to get it right. Gosh.


Link is here.
MP3 of the song is here.

You might have to open the video file in Windows Media Player Classic, or just WMP in general, because my Winamp had problems with it.

Notes about the song (and band):

1. The bass player (Lyn-Z) is unbelievably attractive. >>;
2. The band is known for their crazy and over the top live antics and shows.
3. Now that I actually know something about drumming, I'm less than fond of the drummer for this band. I don't even know what she's doing... ugh.

Call this the song of the day if you want.

Chiptunes aren't just 4 kids

Finally, a new upload post. Yes, it has been a while.

As I'm not one to be picky with the music I download (though that's soon to change as I run out of storage on my computer) I'm prone to get weird stuff here and there - and, often, I find myself liking it. In my search for a very hard to find musical artist the other day (of which I turned up nothing, still) I happened upon a very pleasant music community - and in turn, just recently, a phenomenal album which I felt it was appropriate to share. Mostly because it rocks my socks off.

The album in question is entitled FX3 and is by a composer working in solely 8-Bit instrumentation, by the name of Virt. He is part of a presence in an online community entitled 8-Bit Peoples, which I believe there will be a link to somewhere in this post. Oh, look, there it is.

The album in question is not for those willing to stop taking music seriously for a second. Once you get around the idea that it sounds like an old NES game, you can really enjoy it - or maybe even because of that very reason. The album is something of a tour through a fictional video game, and the titles of the tracks, as well as their sounds, truly do a perfect job of evoking the feeling one would get of playing through one of their favorite old adventure or RPG games.

The album is free for download track by track on the 8-Bit Peoples site, along with everything else the community has ever released, but since I'm uploading it for another reason anyway, I am posting a whole link to the album. Note that it's on Senspace and not Megaupload, as i usually do. This is for no particular reason, other than that the latter is starting to get on my nerves. The upload link is here.

Track picks that are personal favorites are Survivors, Bedtime Story, Visitor, and pretty much the whole album too. Those three in particular though.

Hopefully this brings out nostalgia in the best of you. Cheers.