Secrets From the Future

This album has been stuck in my head more or less non-stop for a good four months. May not be the greatest album ever written, but it is certainly the best new one I have heard in the past year.

This disc is definitely a mixed bag. The production is still every bit as good as Frontalot's first (and excellent) disc, and on a purely sonic level, the tracks sound really good. But whereas Nerdcore Rising seemed infused with a bouyant sense of fun, a good chunk of this album comes off as very flat to me.

I have a hard time figuring out what my basic objection to the album is. Sometimes it's the lyrical content - Origin of Species cuts so close to being a non-parody that I've got no desire to listen to it (proponents of Intelligent Design would probably be happy about that, but balk at the fact that it IS a parody, so I'm not sure who wins in that case). The remake of Romantic Cheapskate makes Frontalot sound like a jerk (the sentiment was far more amusing when he was rapping about Songfight, not another human being). The Achewood tribute on track 3 is probably amusing to people who are intimately familiar with the webcomic, but for those of us who haven't been reading it for years, it's a pretty impenetrable song.

Other times it's just the composition I'm not fond of. I grew up worshipping Infocom yet I find It Is Pitch Dark to be pretty plodding and uninteresting, the chorus of Forbidden Planet bogs the song down, and while I find the lyrics to Gonna Be Your Man hilarious, I've got no desire to listen to it again just because I don't really like the music it's set to.

Very Poorly Concealed Secret Track straddles the line between both - with no interest in Ping Pong, the lyrics are only interesting in an academic sense, and Optimus Rhyme supplies most of the vocals, which may be great for OR fans, but I could do without. Then, on top of all of that, two of the tracks aren't even songs, but rather short skits which are amusing enough the first time through, but have very limited replay value. In the end, it adds up to a listening experience I just don't care to repeat.

The album does have some highlights - the title track is pretty catchy, and Bizarro Genius Baby and I Hate Your Blog are two of the best tracks Frontalot's put out. It's a real shame that this album's only going to end up in my playlist in a highly abbreviated form. Apparently I'll have to hope that this is just a case of The Dreaded Sophomore Album and Frontalot will get back to doing music that I enjoy for his next album.

So M.C. Frontalot coined the term Nerdcore, delivered dozens of highly entertaining demo tunes, and released a CD (Nerdcore Rising) with new versions of old tunes and some great new ones. But what has he done for us lately?

Well, for starters, he's allowed us the privilege of purchasing and listening to Secrets From the Future, his brand-new LP. Like Nerdcore Rising, it contains phat beats and the intricate, herky-jerky flow we've come to know and love. Unlike Nerdcore Rising, all but two of the tracks are Brand New!

Believe the hype -- from the paranoid loopiness of "You've got Asperger's" to the faux-spiritual "Origin of the Species" to the downright bizarre "Bizarro Genius Baby," Front brings the rhymes with his wit, vocabulary, and geekiness intact. You'll need a couple of listens to process all the lyrics (which are thoughtfully included in the CD booklet), though; the flow is faster and the rhymes more intricate than anything on Nerdcore Rising. I found the first listen-through enjoyable but overwhelming, but on the second spin, I fell in love.

Definitely check this out if you like hip-hop, nerdiness, nerdy hip-hop, and songs about old text adventure games. Nerd Ho!