In honor of Adam WarRock’s annual Donation Drive (running June 24 to July 3, 2013; yes, I’m a little late due to being on vacation), I thought this would be a good time to explore his music. Sure, I’ve mentioned him several times before, but since he’s so prolific, I figured he deserved a column to himself. At the end, I’ll also mention all of the cool stuff you can get if you donate to the drive. (I should note that some of the songs mentioned are NSFW).
Let’s start with a couple of WarRock’s pop culture EPs. One of the more recent ones is the follow up to 2011’s awesome Browncoats Mixtape, The Slytherin House Mixtape. Like the former, the latter also features Mikal kHill. There are a few guests as well, including Ceschi, Dr. Awkward, Sulfur, and Tribe One. The EP contains songs from the perspective of the Slytherins, including the Blacks (“House of Black”), Bellatrix Lestrange (“Unforgivable (Bellatrix’s Theme)”), and of course the Malfoys (“Malfoys”). I consider myself a Ravenclaw, but it’s still cool to hear a different take on the Potterverse than what we get in the actual books. In a similar vein is The Bride EP. It’s based on Tarantino’s Kill Bill and uses beats from RZA. It’s short (just five tracks), but well worth the download.
There are also a couple of EPs that I haven’t checked out, simply because I don’t know the shows they’re based on, but given their popularity I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention them. The Parks and Recreation EP got tons of press when it came out, as did the Game of Thrones EP. I can’t comment on either one since I haven’t listened to them, but I have little doubt that they’re really good. Unlike those two shows, however, I have seen Gravity Falls, for which WarRock has written two different tracks. In fact, it was because of his description of the show, and the fact that Kristen Schaal does one of the voices, that I decided to check it out. I’m glad I did; now I have a new favorite show as well as a couple of great tunes to listen to. I should also mention that Eugene (that’s Adam WarRock’s actual name in case you didn’t know) and Chris Haley do a podcast called Gravity Falls Gossiper Podcast which is also worth checking out if you’re a GF fan.
Actually, it wasn’t just Gravity Falls that I discovered through Adam WarRock’s music, it was also the video game Bastion, via The Kid EP. In fact, I’ve kind of become obsessed with the game, having beaten it several times (and now I’m working on the last few achievements on Steam). The soundtrack is already amazing, so adding in WarRock’s vocals on the EP makes it really great.
WarRock is constantly making songs available for free, mostly just stuff he throws together based on whatever he’s watching or reading or whatever. Actually, that’s a large reason for the Donation Drive; it allows us fans to give back for all the great tracks we’ve downloaded during the year. Some of my favorites include “The Frasier” (yes, about the TV show Frasier), “Thrawn” (about the character from Heir to the Empire), “Arrested Development S4 Rap Up” (pretty obvious what that one’s about…), “Downton” (yup, Downton Abbey), “Paperman” (about the amazing Disney short of the same name), “At Greendale” and “Dan Harmon” (both about Community; the latter about Harmon not returning for season four, which I suppose is somewhat negated by his return for season five, but whatever). Actually, just check out the list of songs on the music page and if you like the subject, you’re likely going to enjoy the song, too.
Now, when WarRock puts out his free music, he tends to use other people’s beats, and he doesn’t always spend much time on them. But when he puts out music for people to purchase, you can be darn certain it’s his best work. I think probably his best album to date would have to be last year’s You Dare Call That Thing Human?!?. I’ve written about it before, so I won’t go into detail here, but if you haven’t yet checked it out, you really should. I also really enjoy the more personal, somewhat less geeky City Beautiful. It’s cool to see a different side of one of my favorite rappers. There’s also the Akira-based Neo-Tokyo EP. Akira has to be my favorite anime, so an EP of music about it is right up my alley. (Here’s a last minute addition: all music at Adam WarRock’s Bandcamp page is currently Name Your Price, which includes free, so if you need to fill up on his music, now’s the time to do so!).
I have barely scraped the surface of the tons of music that Adam WarRock has produced. And he’s adding even more during the Donation Drive. First, there’s an EP of new music, Speech Recognition (having listened to it already, I can say it’s well worth donating for that alone!). Next is a live video of a house concert with Tribe One (one song of which is featured above). You’ll even get digital comics from various small presses. There will also be two new music videos (one of which is above) and more new music for all, too. Awesome! So if you’ve ever downloaded and enjoyed any of Adam WarRock’s music, or even if this article encouraged you to check him out, go give him some money so he can keep making more cool stuff for the next year!
