Press Release: Mega Ran Signs With Brick Records To Deliver “Soul Veggies” Album in 2015

After releasing over 10 projects for over 7 years without label support, teacher turned rapper Random (aka Mega Ran) has inked his first recording contract with Brick Records, to release the experimental project “Soul Veggies” with Storyville in February. Brick’s releases include those from Reks, Statik Selektah, Terminology and several other critically acclaimed Hip-Hop acts since 1996, and it was that standard of quality and longevity that made Brick the choice for Ran. Soul Veggies will get a worldwide CD, digital and vinyl release this February. To celebrate the signing and hitting 500 likes on their Facebook page, The Veggies have dropped a new video, “Mommy What’s a Soul Veggie?”

watch “Mommy, What’s a Soul Veggie” NOW!

The next video for “React” will release when the page reaches 1000 likes. A tour was also announced, that will take the Veggies from coast to coast with special guest, chiptune thrasher Danimal Cannon from Jan 23 to Feb 6, ending at the GRAMMY Awards, sponsored by MAGfest, the Music and Gaming Festival.

all show dates and tickets at megaran.com

As an added bonus, Random aka Mega Ran’s Facebook page was verified by Facebook today, and to celebrate a such meaningless milestone, all music and merch on Ran’s Bandcamp is now 20% off to any consumer that enters the code“verifiedtwice” (no quotes) in the checkout box.

eat your veggies To get a taste of the new Soul Veggies album, download this FREE mix of all of Random and Storyville’s collaborations of the last 10 years, plus a piece of 2 new tracks, via DatPiff.com. Direct Download link http://www.datpiff.com/Mega-Ran-and-Storyville-The-Veggie-Platter-mixtape.679572.html And as always, Turnip Them Beets. Team Mega megaran.com

Ongaku Overdrive II, Music Festival For Gamers & Anime Fans, Announces Lineup & Day After Show

Ongaku Overdrive is a music festival in Winter Park, Florida (somewhere around Orlando it seems) for fans of anime, video games,  sci-fi, and the like.  Saturday May 10th will be their second event at The Haven Lounge.  Doors open up at 2pm and will go till 1am.  The event includes a mix of rock, chiptunes, J-pop, nerdcore, and electronic music that draws inspiration from video games, fantasy, comic books, and other realms of nerddom.

New acts this year include Armcannon who preform rock renditions of classic video game music; otaku rapper Cashamil Anime Boy; chiptunes/electronic artists Professor Shyguy; videogame/vocaloid synth-rock band Final Weapon; chiptunes and guitarists Danimal Cannon; and finally one of the blog’s favorite rappers Mega Ran.

Returning acts are J-Pop artist Rai Kamishiro; famed otaku rapper Richie Branson; nerd rock band Sci-Fried; video game remixer and DJ, Benjamin Briggs; the blog’s other favorite rapper Adam Warrock; and 16-bit wizards MagiTek.

Tickets for the event are $15 online and $20 at the door.  Attendees must be 18 and bring ID.

An after-party called “The Day After Show” will be held on Sunday May 11th at The Geek Easy starting at 4pm and goes till 1am.  It will feature performances by DJ Roborob, Benjamin Briggs, DJ Cylon, Doug Funnie, Shammers and Shinobi the MC, MC Wreckshin, Eye Q, and more.  A donation of $5 for the artists performing is asked of those attending.  There will also be a grab bag raffle.

This event has one of the best line-ups I have seen in a while and with a cheap price.  I would like to see this expand to at least two days though to give the performers more time.  Someone go and send me a review of it, ok.

 

Some Mega Ran News

Some news from one of the top nerdcore acts Mega Ran.

The third, for now last, installment of Mega Ran and producer K-Murdock‘s bonus DLC from their collaborative album as an homage to Nintendo Forever Famicom is out now.  You can get downloads and a physical CD exclusively through bandcamp.

This album uses samples from Batman, Final Fantasy 3, Street Fighter 3, Ninja Gaiden and more.  Special appearances by Mister Wilson and Tribe One.

Weekend Southwest Tour….. With The Band.

January 30th through February 1st Mega Ran will be touring with a live band, the  Lo’ Classics.  The tour stops are in Phoenix, LA, and Las Vegas. At the LA show Radioactive Chicken Heads, The Megas, Wizwars, and 1000 Needles will all be performing as well.  3d6 and Time Crashes will also be performing at the Las Vegas show.

Total Destruction Tour, another tour, will be from February 29th through March 9th in the midwest and south with brentalfloss and Danimal Cannon.  Some dates are already up.

There also plans for another trip to Japan this spring.

He is also looking for sponsorship of any level from Small Business Owners.  You can get advertisement of your services and/or products worldwide.  Contact him via e-mail for questions.  I would if I had some money to give him.

Now Nerdcore News

MC Lars literary rapper, and man who has found use for English degree, is out on tour right now with the Vans Warp Tour.  The tour covers several locations and with dozens of bands of different genres.  You can learn more about the  bands and buy tickets at the website.  Of note is that the tour will sell water bottles and then refill them for free.

Dates and Locations
7/11 Mansfield, MA at the Comcast Center
7/12 Camden, NJ at the Susquehanna Bank Center
7/13 Long Island, NY at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
7/14 Hartford, CT at the Comcast Theatre
7/16 Scranton, PA at the Toyota Pavilion
7/17 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
7/18 Cuyahoga Falls, Oh at the Blossom Music Center
7/19 Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace of Auburn Hills
7/20 Tinley Park, IL at the First Midwest Bank Ampitheature
7/21 Shakopee, MN at the Canterbury Park
7/23 Bonner Springs, KS at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
7/24 Maryland Heights, MO at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/25 Atlanta GA, Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood
7/26 St. Petersburg, FL at Vinoy Park
7/27 West Palm Beach, FL at the Cruzan Amphitheatre
7/28 Orlando, FL at the Central FL Fairgrounds
7/29 Charlotte, NC at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/30 Cincinnati, OH at the Riverbend Music Center
7/31 Milwaukee, WI at the Marcus Amphitheatre
8/2 Dallas, TX at the Gexa Energy Pavilion
8/3 San Antonio, TX at the AT&T Center
8/4 Houston, TX at the Reliant Center Parking Lot

Then after that Vans Warp Tour is over Lars goes on another tour with Wheatus

8/16 NYC at the Gramercy Theater with Wheatus, Such as Life and MC Frontalot
8/17 West Chester, PA at the Note with Math the Band, Late Cambrian, The Danger O’s, and NONA

and then off to the United Kingdom in September

9/16 Holyhead, Gwynedd at the Ucheldre Centre
9/18 Glasgow at King Tut’s with Wheatus
9/19 Carlisle, Cumbria at The Brickyard with Wheatus
9/20 Birmingham at the O2 Academy 2 with Wheatus
9/23 Bridgend at Hobos with Wheatus
9/24 Harlow, Essex at The Square with Wheatus
9/25 St. Albans at The Horn
9/26 Town Centre, Witney at Fat Lil’s
9/27 Margate, Kent at West Coast
9/29 Town Centre, Southend-on-Sea at Chinnery’s with Wheatus
10/03 Nottingham at the Rescue Rooms with Wheatus
10/04 Machester at the Academy 3 with Wheatus
10/07  Wolverhampron, West Midlands at the Slade Rooms
10/08 Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire at the Craufurd Arms
10/09 Gloucester at the Guildhall with Wheatus
10/12 London at the Borderline with Wheatus

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Mega Ran has gotten back from a two week tour in Japan with some of the top Chiptune DJs around.  Part of this tour was to film for a documentor in Blu-ray.  So to help cover costs for the tour (which has already happened), studio costs, and disc manufacturing for CD, Blu-ray, and vinyl release.  So has looked to Kickstarter to help fund the project once again.

The Kickstarter is already funded, but you can still give for rewards.  This will be the third successfully funded Kickstarter project for Random.

Stretch goals up now are at $11,000 a full music/video collaboration between Mega Ran and Castlevania SOTN composer Nichiru Yamane.  At $12,000 a Hiversaires Rap Remix with Aliceffekt featurette and new secret EP release.

Backing the project can get you a Mega Ran album with remixed songs by chiptune artists, Blu-ray of concerts and interview footage, custom cover songs and freestyle shout outs, music albums exclusive to Japan, vinyl release, and more.   All backers who give $20 or more will also receive Ran’s Castlevania album instantly with instrumentals or any other album you are missing.  All backers will also receive exclusive music with Mega Ran and Mister Wilson called Blue Bomber, Mega Ran and Sega.

He also has a tour coming up with Danimal Cannon, chiptune legend.  They will be on the west coast doing shows together.  They will be joining up with some other great acts along the way as well.  Danimal has a new album out

July 12 at Tony V’s, Everett, WA 21+ Tickets at door
July 13 at The Vera Project, (Seattle Center), Seattle, WA w/ Fighter X, The Icarus Kids | GET Tickets
July 14 at Ground Kontrol, Portland, Oregon (21+) w/ Mechlo | GET INFO
July 16 at DNA Lounge, San Francisco, CA (21+) w/Dual Core, Crashfaster | GET TICKETS
July 17 at Cafe Stritch, San Jose, CA  w/ Boboso, DJ Mr Smith | Free
July 19 at CIA, North Hollywood, CA w/The Megas and The Radioactive Chickenheads |TICKETS HERE
July 20 at Merrow (formerly Ruby Room), San Diego, CA (21+) w/Dual Core, Wordburglar | GET TICKETS!
July 21 at Comics Oasis, Las Vegas, NV with Kirby Krackle and H2Awesome | Free
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Adam Warrock’s yearly donation drive has wrapped up nicely and now he has plans for some touring.

Dates and Locations:

8/8 Baltimore, MD – Otakon Matsuri FREE
8/9 – Baltimore, MD – Otakon (exhibiting)
8/10 –  Brooklyn, NY – The Serenity Spectacular (Tix)
8/12 – Pittsburgh, PA – Pittsburgh Comics FREE
8/14 – Somerville, MA – Comicazi (Tix)
8/15 – Northampton, MA – Modern Myths Comics ($5 at door)
8/16 – Providence, RI – TBA w/ Math the Band
8/17 – Manchester, NH – Double Midnight Comics FREE
9/7 – Baltimore, MD – Super Art Fight! at Ottobar (Tix)
10/18-20 – Orlando, FL – Nerdapalooza (Tix)
11/2 – Las Vegas – Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival
11/20 – Austin, TX – TBA
11/21 – Houston, TX – TBA
11/22 – Dallas, TX – TBA

He will also have a new shirt design to pick up while he is out touring.

MAGFest’s Line-Up

MAGFest (Music And Gaming Festival) is the event for fans of video games and video game music.  Starting in 2002 this year will their 11th and they are bigger than ever before.  It is a 24 hour party and festival.  With no corporate sponsors, no crowded show floors, and no behind-closed-doors showings.  It is an open atmosphere that focuses on community and fan creations.

This year’s MAGFest will be at the Gaylord Nation Hotel and Covention Center in National Harbor, Maryland from January 3-6.

Music is very important to MAGFest, with video game cover bands, chiptune artists, and DJs of all different types over the four days.

The Guest of Honor for this year is Yuzo Koshiro a video game composer of over 30 years; debuting in Falcom and working in games such as Ys, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Shenmue, Actraiser, and more. He runs the development studio ANCIENT with his family. He will be Djing on Saturday night bringing his dancey FM tunes to the con.

Things start off on Thursday night with the Mega Man rock band the Megas, nerdcore super star Random, Metroid tribute band Metroid Metal and the OneUps all on the Main Stage.

Friday will have video game metal by Armcannon, Bit Brigade who combines musical performances with live speed runs of classic video games, the Video Game Orchestra and BrentalFloss and the Cartridge Family which is a combining of comedic lyrics of brentalfloss and Descendants of Erdrick.

Saturday sees power rockers Powerglove and Protomen take the stage along with Pokemon synth band Rare Candy and Final Fantasy theatrical rockers Those Who Fight

For Djs they have video game remixers bLiNd and Benjamin Briggs on Friday. Chiptune/video game music pioneer DJ Cutman on Saturday with.

Chiptune acts for the con will be the four piece group Crashfaster, Danimal Cannon, chiptune and rock duo D&D Sluggers, heavy metal chiptuner Inverse Phase on Friday. For Saturday there is Bright Primate, chiptune supergroup Cheap Dinosaurs, composer Jake “virt” Kaufman, and Kris Keyser. Visuals for the shows will be provided by Batsly Adams, No Carrier, Pixelseed, and Invaderbacca.

Second Stage Performers include a variety of different styles and genres. On Friday there is Descendants of Erdrick, Dwelling of Duels Live which is mad up of all-stars of the monthly VG arrangement competition Dwelling of Duels, Lords of Thunder doing metal VGM covers, My Parents Favorite Music, OCRemix house band Over Clocked University, folksy VGM covers by The World is Square, and jazz band Fighting in the Streets. Arc Impulse, thrash metal VGM cover band Knight of the Round, television and video game composers On Being Human, electro rocker Professor Shyguy, acoustic guitar duo Super Guitar Bros, four piece  string quartet Triforce Quartet, and Mega Man X tribute band X-Hunters on Saturday.

In addition to all the schedule music, MAGFest has a Jamspace area every year for anyone to play.  The stage has drums, guitar, bass, and keyboard for anyone to use or bring your own instrument.  Jam with other musicians or sit back and enjoy.

Besides all the great music there will be a demoparty, charity auction for Child’s Play, Games on Film festival, LARP, Super Art Fight, panels, video game improv, table top gaming, and a marketplace to buy at.  Oh and games.  So much gaming.  There is an indie game showcase, all kinds of tournaments, consoles going all the way back to the 70’s, a LAN room, arcade machines and more.  Guest for the con include video game composer Kinuyo Yamashita, creators of a Mega Man fan film, artists, game creators, other composers, internet video creators, writers, voice of Duke Nukem Jon St. John, and so much other craziness

Pre-registration is $45 for all four days until December 23, so do not miss out.

I really wish I was going to this.  Some one go and tell me about it.   Please.