by Peter Toledo [Peterocc]

It’s amazing how music influences practically every facet of our world, whether it’s music from our parents generation or the hip hop beats that permeates every commercial on television. It’s the common thread that holds our society together. Take a step outside with me, if you will.

Get in the car and take a short drive down the street. The first thing most people do (besides turning on the A/C) is turn on the radio. Whether you’ve got a car stereo system that can make chocolate milk (ask me about that at PAX), or an iPod, or XM, or Sirius; we all love our tunes. Take a trip to the mall or airport and you’re bound to come across someone wearing a pair of headphones. I recently took a trip to San Francisco, and people in ten of the 18 seats around me all had a pair of ear buds or full headphones and were listening to a music player.

Seattle is best known as the birthplace of Grunge, which began as a mixture of heavy metal, punk, and indie rock. Acts such as Green River, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden paved the way for acts such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Foo Fighters. What most people do not know is that bands such as the Melvins and Alice in Chains are from Seattle as is guitar legend, Jimi Hendrix. Hip Hop is no stranger to this Northwestern city either as acts such as Sir Mix-A-Lot and Thirstin Howl III were born in Seattle as well.

So, you may be asking yourself, what are my musical ramblings doing in The Blue Skittle? Unfortunately, mc chris has dropped out of this year’s experience, but PAX 2008 will be featuring seven musical acts for your enjoyment this year, so you should be covered. This year’s acts include: Anamanaguchi, Jonathan Coulton, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, MC Frontalot, The OneUps, The MiniBosses, and Freezepop!.

Anamanaguchi is a three-member music group that hails from New York. The members, Peter Berkman, Spencer Casey, and Charlie Hankin create songs that run on the original NES. How is that possible you may be asking? Well, according to Peter Berkman, they utilize software called Nerdtracker 2 (or NT2) and alter the sound chip found in the original NES/Famicon. The chips are then put into a cartridge and placed into a NES console and played like a video game. That’s pretty slick if you ask me.

Jonathan Coulton is a former computer programmer turned musician that I know of because of his cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”. Everybody knows this song ,and his cover of it is top notch. Other tracks by this Yale graduate include “Still Alive”, the theme song for the video game hit “Portal”, and “Code Monkey”, the theme song for the animated show by the same name on G4.

The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are from our neighbors up north, namely Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Try saying that sentence five times fast. First formed in 1992, this Canadian Rock Band has performed live with acts including GWAR and They Might Be Giants and can be seen on stage wearing costumes that exhibit their love for H.P. Lovecraft.

MC Frontalot is the self proclaimed “worlds 579th greatest rapper” and inventor of nerdcore Hip Hop. Frontalot has appeared at every PAX event, and his latest track, “Final Boss”, can be heard over the end credits to the 2008 game, Penny Arcade Adventures; On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness – Episode 1. He also stars in Nerdcore Rising which will be shown at PAX.

The OneUps are a fan-based group that currently has 14 members and covers songs from past video games. The OneUps regularly tour the United States and can be seen at video game events such as Video Games Live and vgXpo. Tracks you can expect to hear are the Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog, the theme from Bomberman and What? from Final Fantasy V.


The Minibosses are a progressive rock/metal band from Massachusetts and known for their instrumental rock versions of video game classics. Now based in Phoenix, you can expect to hear their versions of NES only classics Excitebike, Super Mario Bros 2/3, Double Dragon, Contra, and many more.

Anyone that has played Harmonix’s rhythm games Guitar Hero or Rock Band have heard of Freezepop!. This Boston Synthpop group is headed up by Harmonix’s Senior Producer, Kasson Crooker. You can also find Freezepop! in games such as Dance Dance Revolution, FreQuency, Karaoke Revolution, and Amplitude. Be sure to check out PAX’s schedule of events here and make sure you set aside some time to check out some of their stuff.