Dual Core…

…is my new favorite Nerdcore act. Period.

[rating:8/10]

Sorry Shael. Sorry Beefy. Sorry Lars. Sorry YT. Sorry Front. Sorry STD. These cats got it going on. Rock beats, catchy hooks, tons of great guests (see above list of apologies, in fact), clever lyrics, and something a bit different than most of the Nerdcore acts that I’ve been digging on, mainstream viability.

Admittedly, part of their allure is that Next Level is the first album loaded on my new iPod Touch… so they have an automatic leg up on everyone else I’ve ever reviewed. However, I have no doubt in my mind that this unfair advantage was unneeded for this great crew. Crew may be a bit of an overstatement, as Dual Core is a duo: Cincinnati, Ohio’s int80 and Manchester, England’s c64.

This duo is brand new to me, despite their 3 previous releases. While I cannot comment on these previous releases, I can state, without any question, that their latest release is nothing less than solid rockroll influenced hip-hop output. Nerds will surely find a lot here that they like and relate to, but the well crafted beats and commercial viability of their sound broadens their prospective audience greatly.

Kicking off with guitar driven rap-rock, the album progresses through 13 tracks of unique and different beats, all the while remaining a album with solid continuity. There aren’t too many tracks that standout to me as being the most impressive, mostly because the album performs so well as a whole.

If I were to choose a favorite track, it would be “Magnificent Seven”, just because it is a Nerdcore All-Star show. I am not sure I could even name everyone on the track… but I’ll give it a go: MC Lars, MC Frontalot, Beefy, Schaffer the Darklord, Mega Ran, and YTCracker… I’ll have to Dual Core how well I did on that one, because my iPod says “(featuring Nerdcore)”. Besides the track featuring everyone and their mothers, it also has a phat beat and makes me bop my head, which is usually a good thing.

Overall, I’m not exactly sure what to say about this album that hasn’t already been said on Beefy’s Amazon review of Next Level. This is my new favorite Nerdcore album and without question one of my new favorite hip-hop albums. If you are a fan of the Nerdcore guys, mainstream nerd rappers like Del tha Funkee Homosapien, or rock inspire hip-hop like Philly’s Roots crew, this is an album, you WILL be down with.

PS. How cool is it that I was able to download an App for my IPod that simulates a light saber when I swing it around?

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~ by thepaintedman on August 31, 2009.