Hex has finally posted more concrete details about this year’s Nerdapalooza. There’s good news and bad.

The good news is that Nerdapalooza is returning to a two-stage format, setting up in the newly-remodeled Orlando Airport Marriott, which is hoped to reduce the downtime between performances and the resulting, notorious schedule drift that was such a problem at last year’s event. Be sure to check out the event rates for rooms at the hotel in this post.

The bad news is that this required rescheduling the entire event, so that it is now on Saturday, July 17 and Sunday, July 18. The reason that’s unfortunate is that it meant Dual Core was forced to withdraw from the bill due to scheduling conflict. Dual Core’s most recent album, Next Level, was one of our picks for 2009′s Essential Listening, so naturally I’m bummed about the news.

You can find the always up-to-date list of performers on Nerdapalooza.org. Personal favorites among them are MC Frontalot, Schaffer the Darklord, Captain Dan & The Scurvey Crew, and Random.

A few of the names I’m hoping to see appear on the list soon are The Protomen (their current tour dates only extend through May), Scrub Club (especially Kabuto the Python and Dr. Awkward), and Metroid Metal. To be honest, I’m on the fence about flying across the country for it this year (I was nearly local, last) without the addition of a few more of the performers I’m interested in seeing.

There’s an unfortunate lack of organized information on the official site, but you can find concise venue info on the Facebook event page, and info about the artists on this page of the official site. For anything else, you’ll have comb their blog, and failing that, contact the organizers directly.

I can’t say I understand the obsession with Mega Man in nerdy music.  I was just like most NES gamers back in the day and consumed huge quantities of games that were little more than copycats of each other.  In my memory, many of them are indistinguishable from each other, and Mega Man is one of those games.  A platformer where the player has a cannon for a hand?  Excellent, I loved that game when it was called Metroid.  Anyway, the music…

Random has a great, laid-back quality to his delivery that is hard to resist.  Calm, rhythmic, and smooth, he’s easy to follow and immediately engaging.  Paired with some mild, fun beats laid over what I assume are loops from the game, the whole package is unchallenging in the best way, easy to approach and appreciate.

There are a few smudges on the album that I’d feel dishonest leaving unsaid.  The vocal samples, from Mega Man cartoons I have to guess, are often jarring and feel forced.  Track 5, My Love (Go Shop), features Rufus Pipes and completely disrupts the good vibe of the album.  I realize I’m biased against any sort of ballad, but regardless, the discordant vocals just stick out like a sore thumb and challenge me not to hit the skip button.

There are some ups and downs, but if you liked Mega Ran, you’ll probably like Mega Ran 9.  I did.

Random – Splash Woman
Random – My Love (Go Shop) (Feat. Rufus Pipes)
Random – Endless (Feat. Storyville)

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