All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
The magic of music that is classified as "nerdcore" is that there is no pigeon-holing of any one particular sound or theme. Nerdcore is more of a lifestyle & subject matter than it is strict genre of music. There is rock, rap, hip-hop, electronic, chip-tune and so on. The lines are delightfully blurry, which makes for some creative results. Sometimes, you get an artist like Untested Methods (Eric Ernewein) who puts several genres in a large cast iron pot, and makes some nerdcore stew. His latest release is called Alt-F4 My Life and is a perfect serving of nerdcore stew.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like Untested Methods is breaking new ground here with a revolutionary album. It's far from revolutionary, but it is good, and I think that's more important when it comes to music that you can listen to over and over. Replay value is just as important as musical revolution. After listening for a while now, I find that Alt-F4 My Life has plenty of the former.
Taking about a year to self produce (taking some time off to become a father) Untested Methods produced and mastered all the music himself, using Fruity Loops 5. Impressive, since that's four versions behind the current. A mix of instrumental and vocal tracks, this is the first Untested Methods album that is not completely instrumental. Feeling that he needed to stick to his roots, three tracks are fully instrumental with no vocals.
The vocals, a mix of Kenna style with a hint of synth-pop blend with the chip tune & electronica backing. Untested Methods admits that chip tunes was not originally his intent;
"Each album sort of has a lose musical thematic component that I build off of each time. My first album had a very industrial tone, Songs and Voices had a very acoustic/electronic vibe, and this one introduces a lot of chip sounding stuff. I've been a huge fan of chip music since I was listening to it off my Commodore 64 recording the soundtrack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a tape deck.
"For a long time people said my music sort of sounded like a video game and I took that as an insult until the last year or so, I've now embraced it completely. Which is what me going into the nerd music stuff is really about for me, embracing that side of my life completely and not being ashamed of it."
Ashamed he is not, as most of the subject matter of Alt-F4 My Life relies heavily on the experiences of his so-called nerd life. The song "Move Out" is about leaving his parents house, "It Won't be the Same" is about playing video games with friends, and "Hold Your Head Down" and "Nervous" are clear allegories to the struggles of holding a romantic relationship - not with a console system. My favorite track, "(The Internet is) So Dramatic" was composed in direct response to drama on a particular forum that Untested Methods was party to.
Overall, it's a fun album and worth a couple listens. The best part is, it's free. That's right. Since Untested Methods was recently signed to Scrubclub records, it's all free. So what do you have to lose by checking it out? Nothing at all. Whether you end up liking it, or not liking it - it doesn't matter. However, I think given the right chance, this is the kind of laid back creative music that tends to get under your ear drums and hang about.
Go here to download Alt-F4 My Life absolutely free from Scrubclub Records. Then, when you find yourself singing along with the album, let Untested Methods know on Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter @cebsilver and @wiredgeekdad
