~Intro~
With your sinister foe vanquished, the doors of the crypt swing magically open. You sidestep the fetid corpse and lift yourself atop the roughly hewn pedestal that dominates the decrepit room. Gingerly you lift the lid of the oaken chest, wary of traps and foul magics.
Your heart leaps when you finally spy your long-sought treasure. After all this time, all the miles travelled and all the blood spilt you are finally here – it is at long last within your grasp.
But unbeknownst to you this prize bears a mighty curse, the full weight of the collected misfortunes to befall all its previous owners have now interwoven themselves into your own cruel fate. Such is the price one pays to possess the 20-Sided Rhymes.
~Track List~
1 – Videogame Orchestra – "Conan the Barbarian – Riders of Taramis"
www.videogameorchestra.com/
2 – Beefy – "20-Sided Rhymes (feat. Snake Eyes)"
www.beefyness.com/
snake-eyes.ca/
3 – The Four Eyes – "Painting Guys"
Originally available on Rock and Role Playing (2004, Plastic Idol Records, PIR-002)
thefoureyes.com/
4 – My Parents' Favorite Music – "Rambo MacGyver (feat. Snake Eyes)"
myparentsfavoritemusic.com/
snake-eyes.ca/
5 – Spheres of Chaos – "Random Encounter in the Cereal Aisle"
Originally available on A Pterodactyl Squad Compilation (2009, Pterodactyl Squad, PTE020)
www.spheresofchaos.co.uk/
www.ptesquad.com/
6 – Glenn Case – "D&D at the Public Library (feat. Adam!)"
www.glenncase.com/
7 – ZeaLouS1 – "I Get Mana"
A parody of "I Get Money" by 50 Cent
zealous1.com/
8 – Nate Trier – "The Healers Song"
www.triermusic.com/
9 – MC Frontalot – "Hassle the Dorkening (8 Bit Weapon Remix)"
frontalot.com/
www.8bitweapon.com/
www.computeher.net/
10 – Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire – "The Great Marbulu"
shaelriley.com/
11 – The Ranger – "Stat Sheet (Massive DMG remix by Zen Albatross)"
www.myspace.com/downunderdogs
www.zenalbatross.net/
12 – Brian Mazzaferri (of I Fight Dragons) – "Offering"
www.ifightdragons.com/
13 – Sinister Six – "Roll the Dice"
Originally available on Invasion of the Mic Snatchers (2008, Scrub Club Records)
www.myspace.com/sinistersixinvasion
www.scrubclubrecords.com/
14 – Uncle Monsterface – "LOTROMG"
www.unclemonsterface.com/
15 – Epic-1 – "Sun Gem"
Originally available on 1 (2009, EMPulse Records)
www.myspace.com/epic1time
www.empulserecords.com/
16 – Marc with a C – "Don’t Know a Thing about Role Playing"
www.marcwithac.com/
17 – Krondor Krew – "I Play D&D (The HT Remix)"
www.krondorkrew.com/
18 - Superpowerless – "120 Seconds to Save the World"
superpowerless.co.uk/
19 – Elfonso – "Retirement from Hyrule"
Originally available on Elfsonso (2009)
elfonso.co.uk/
20 – Dual Core – "Natural 20s"
dualcoremusic.com/nerdcore/
Originally available on Next Level (2009)
~Dedication~
This album is dedicated to the memory of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, two men who gave nerds the inspiration to create and who taught an entire world to level up.
~Thanks Yous and General Ass-kissery~
I have a great many people to thank for the creation and assembly of this compilation and only so much space to do it, so let me cut to the chase:
Thanks to my wife, son and daughter for bearing with me through the hellish 2 years I've spent pulling this beast together, and for just being awesome.
Thanks to Beefy for letting me crib his title, and for always being down to participate in my silly schemes.
Thanks to Canadian super-producer Snake Eyes for stepping up to provide beats for the beat-less.
Thanks to Dave "the Knave White" (of 741.5 comics) for the amazing cover art, and for motivating me to see this project through. I truly couldn't have done it without you, man.
Thanks to The HT of EMPulse records for mixing and mastering the bulk of the tracks, even as I was still clamoring to pull shit together.
Thanks to Church, Matt, Jason, Hex and Anthony for all their support and inspiration throughout this laborious process.
And thanks especially to all who contributed to this celebration of geeks and gaming.
~Liner Notes~
20-Sided Rhymes was originally conceived in mid-2008 with the help of Game Music 4 All's Anthony and nerdcore superhero Beefy. Though initially slated for a holiday release, a family tragedy derailed these plans in September of that year.
The project lay dormant for months with me doing everything I could to ignore it, and yet submissions kept trickling in. As much as I wanted to remember pain and loss each time I revisited an original contribution or stumbled upon a new one, what I instead felt was warmth, pride and even some measure of peace.
20-Sided Rhymes wanted to be released, and who was I to argue?
I was fortunate enough to add some new allies to my party – Hex Warrior, The HT and my pencil-slinging brother Dave – who not only helped to ease my burden, but who actively reinvigorated the entire creation process. With their help and the continued support of my musical kin, the great sleeper again stirred.
In the 2 years since its inception, 20-Sided Rhymes lost some participants and gained new ones. Similarly it also saw several of the tracks originally slated as exclusives wind up on other albums and compilations, but such is the chance that hardy adventurers take when they set forth on a noble quest.
Likewise, the project also saw a thematic shift. What was once a tribute to table-top role playing morphed into a love letter to not only pen-and-paper RPGs, but also the video games that these inspired and the literature and geeky pop culture from which they drew their own inspiration. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that it wasn't strictly role playing that I wanted to celebrate, but instead the nerdy tendency to lose oneself in a character, be it an original creation or a particularly compelling specimen from an established work.
20-Sided Rhymes is all about being someone else – not because the person that you are in real life is flawed or boring or inadequate, but because of all the things you can learn about your personal motivation and identity when you step outside of your own skin. I consider that the true hero's journey, hard-fought but worth it.
In the wake of this merry band of adventurers lies twenty tracks of musical geekery encompassing everything from stat-maxing to 8-bit adventures, from dice rolling to card tapping, from wizards to vampires. Like any quest, it was constantly trying and often daunting, but we've finally reached the end.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for accompanying us on this musical expedition.
And good luck with that saving throw!
--Z.
www.hipsterplease.com
October 12, 2010