MAGFest fallout

This blog comes off the heels of the Alexandria, VA-based convention, MAGFest. Covering music in the gaming world, this con has seen its ninth iteration. Much musical goodness was to be had, whether your taste be in heavy metal or hard electro. Actually, between the two of those there was not much else, but I don't see anyone else complaining. There was also plenty of other fun, but this post will focus solely on the music.


I know Chris will strangle me for this, but I ended up skipping most of the metal acts. The exception to this, of course, would be when one of them plays a Chrono Trigger cover. I'm always a sucker for those.
Here's one by Rare Candy.

Protomen, a rock opera act, seems to have been super popular. I missed out on it, but I can always see a video.

....Nah, still not impressed.

Truth be told, the only concert that I wanted to watch was the OneUps. If anyone hasn't heard their auditory gold yet, DO IT NOW. They're a VG jazz/funk band based in Arkansas, and boast some of the best soloists out there. And in the case of Mustin, some of the best personalities. Get a copy of their latest album from their website. It's mostly funk this time around. No epic CT covers, but they did a Toe Jam and Earl track that rocked the house.

A_Rival, the 8-bit MC, made a very late-scheduled appearance. They let him play because he's effin' A_Rival, man. In addition to covering his hits with his new GF/DJ (sad to say the cut-master that is his brother did not show up), he debuted a program to facilitate some freestyle rhymes. It was in beta mode, so it had plenty of kinks, but he nonetheless worked pretty well off of it. Looking forward to his next appearance when the program would be polished.
No vids of this year, but here's one from last year. Can you see why I miss this DJ?

Here's a household name that was not a headliner but nonetheless performed: Brentalfloss! He had a concert, graphics and all, in the Jamspace Friday afternoon, and it was a full house. No videos yet, unfortunately, but he did play his "Tetris is for girls" song, his Zelda 2 song, and his Final Fantasy song. That last one was, and still remains, epic.

Now, on to the DJ acts. There were only two on the schedule, while the rest held "secret unauthorized" raves late at night. The headliners on Thursday night were DJ Awesome, a vinyl-only happy hardcore DJ, and DJ Cutman, who plays a varied mix of Dubstep, Electro House, and DnB. As every DJ knows, the opening act should never start "hot". Awesome made that mistake, and in the end he didn't live up to that name. The pounding HHC in a nearly-empty room said it all.
Then came time for Cutman to spin (in costume, no less!), and in a matter of just two songs he was not only able to salvage the room, but also bring down the house. Listen to Cutman and get his latest album off his website.
Here he is at the vendors' booth.

The late-nite secret raves were where the action was to be found. I can't remember most of the DJs' names off the top of my head (I remember JackalOTD and DJ Aggression), but I know some of the bigger-name ones (Cutman and A_Rival's DJ) did one during my shift on the other side of the hotel. X_X There was even one in the middle of the vendor area! As usual, VG-themed Electro and Dubstep dominated the scene. If the room was not too crowded, it was not uncommon to see a b-boy cypher. DAMN can those nerds move. Local act DJ Cosmo Kunkel brought in his gear to play an underground EDM set (with Adam Geiger), but that wasn't too well attended, unfortunately.

I was also able to procure some CDs by independent labels. Nophi Records based in Atlanta was releasing a CD exclusively for MAGFest 9, Eightest Bits. I also got a disc by Nophi's main man R_Garcia, Nerd Parade. Both are electronic with some nice deep house influences (always a plus), so I heartily recommend them.

There was a chiptunes concert, but I had to miss that one out. Not a big fan of those things anyway, but still here's a video.

As for me? I was allowed to play a set during my time in the console room. Knowing that Electro was simply too overplayed, I decided to fill the room with some Tech House (itself overplayed in clubs) courtesy of Saeed Younan and AVB. I was getting some good feedback and good dancers, too. However, it wasn't long until another DJ decided to butt in doing Top 40/Hip-hop. I decided to play along, and after some internet meme related tracks (Roxbury anyone? I love you YTMND Soundtrack.), the two of us were tag-teaming, pumping up the sparse late-nite crowd, and getting lulz from the fratboys. It was an experience I'd like to repeat. Maybe I'll do it at Katsucon. Maybe I'll even do it next year as a headliner, who knows? Fingers crossed.

I also briefly jammed along with some blues in the Jamspace with my sax, but that's another story. Would've loved to jam with the cosplayers who came as Aeris and Malon (tocando la flauta), but I guess that'll have to wait until next year.

See you at MAGFest 10! No Colossus roars, PLEASE for the love of God.