Miny Moe: MC Lars is cool

Bay-Area based 'nerdcore' king MC Lars dropped his new album, 'This Gigantic Robot Kills' today. For those who don't know who MC Lars is, he is a white dude from Stanford who makes 'post-punk laptop rap' (as he refers to it). His songs generally tend to be funny, usually commenting on some sort of pop culture phenomenon (in the past he's lampooned Emo, the Hyphy movement, Crunk rap, Hot Topic, the difference between the UK and the US, and other areas of interest).

His new album is really the best yet. On this disc, the songs concern Hipsters (YES!!), being 'green', Guitar Hero, Video Games, and Hyphy again. One track, "Hey there Ophelia", is about the Shakespeare play Hamlet, and it includes a random sample of Therapy?'s 'Screamager' song, which is a pretty strange and unexpected sample. The song rocks, as a result, with a killer riff.

MC Lars has been around since 1999, when he made music in his dorm at Stanford. He attained some attention around 2004 when his 'Laptop EP' came out, due to the songs 'iGeneration' and 'Signing Emo', which in particular was hilarious and a poignant rip on the music industry capitalizing on the emo genre. "Download This Song" used an Iggy and the Stooges sample and was a great track that criticized major music labels for their stance on music downloading.

I didn't even know he had a new album coming out until a couple days ago. Listening to it on the way to Eenie Meenie today, it was very impressive. Yes, MC Lars' songs are novelty-ish tunes, but they have an extremely addictive quality to them that helps make them fun and memorable at the same time. I also happen to love music that is filled with pop culture references and that makes fun of stuff that a lot of people like (such as Hot Topic, which Lars roasted in a hilarious fashion) and Hipsters.

If you don't already know about MC Lars, check him out. He's a very talented dude, and seems to be getting better and better with each album. 'This Gigantic Robot Kills' boasts a long list of guest artists, such as Weird Al Yankovic, who plays accordion on 'True Player for Real', alongside the band Wheatus (remember 'Teenage Dirtbag'? haha), the guy from Simple Plan on "It's Not Easy (Being Green)", The main guy from the Aquabats (on "This Gigantic Robot Kills", a great homage to ska bands of the late 1990s). "Hey There Ophelia" also features Brett from the Donnas and Gabe Laporta of Cobra Starship.

All in all, it's an incredibly fun and solid album, and I was impresed. This is easily his best record so far, from what I've heard. After this album was finished, I wanted to hear it again. That's a testament to the quality this time around. He's an artist with a great sense of creativity and a sense of humor, and each song he puts out is funny in at least one way, while also usually being pretty topical and effective in making some sort of statement at the same time. He's a smart guy, and his music is a clever balance of truth, humor, and tongue-in-cheek commentary, all set to 'nerdcore' music.

So yeah, check him out. Here are some MC Lars videos for your enjoyment:

"Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn't Make You Slash"), off of 'This Gigantic Robot Kills'