Zero One
Dual Core
Dual Core Recordings

They were the winner of the Notacon 3 Talent Show and the hit of that weekend last year. This year, Nerdcore electro-rap outfit Dual Core -- specifically maestro int eighty -- returns to the computer hacker conference Notacon 4 with a debut release called Zero One under their collective belt. The group, which features an mc, int eighty, and producer c64 (digging those computer jargons?) really throws down the Nerdcore gauntlet -- jamming in a fusion of broad hip hop influences, paired up with sharp and supremely funny "geeksta rap" rhyming.

Nerdcore is certainly a niche genre, identified by a DIY work ethic and often computerized sounds to the self-published production. The songs reach back into the genre's history, offering up witticisms that recall everyone from Frontalot and 2 Skinny J's to MC 900 Ft. Jesus (whatever happened to that guy?) while covering subjects such as Star Wars ("A New Hope"), MySpace pages (the wacky "Try Space"), video games Mega Man and Counter-Strike, Matthew Broderick's film "WarGames," Lord of the Rings ("Rule Them All") and computer hacking.

And yes, nearly every other topic you'd expect your average Sci-Fi and G4 channel-watching 80s kids to rap about. Sound like a riot? It is. Zero One features 17 such tracks, filled with massive breakbeats and computerized thumps, bumps and samples. The first single, "Hostage Down" is an upbeat cut about the popular computer game, Counter-Strike and is already making it's way to college and online radio stations and being spread virally. Stick around to the end of the disc and you get a remix of the song that clearly ups the ante.

My personal favorite of the disc is "The Children's Machine (OLPC)" (or "One Laptop Per Child") which offers a tip of the cockeyed baseball cap and baggy pants to laptop.org -- a relatively new non-profit dedicated to the R&D of a $100 laptop, which could revolutionize education in this country. I mean, c'mon, who could pull off that kind of nerdcore genius? The answer is Dual Core, but don't take my word for it, visit their MySpace page (http://www.MySpace.com/dualcoremusic) and listen for yourself.

Check out Dual Core's int eighty at this year's Notacon 4 Fri 4/27 at 9:30PM and absorb the geeksta vibes. For this reviewer, any act that names itself after a computer microprocessor is OK in my book... and since MC 900 Ft. Jesus is learning how to fly (literally) I don't see a better act in line to take his quirky place.

Learn more about Notacon at http://www.notacon.org and see our CC feature on the gang behind in this issue.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com
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