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.

The Front’s latest endeavor is high quality awesome, so let’s just eliminate any ambiguity about that right now.

To be frank, I’ve had a hard time embracing MC Frontalot’s music prior to Zero Day, despite appreciating his stage presence at Nerdapalooza and PAX, and thinking he was a pretty cool guy based on repeated viewings of the Nerdcore Rising documentary and a short conversation at Nerdapalooza last summer. His peculiar delivery is often, let’s be honest, challenging and the non-lyrical elements weren’t all that compelling on their own, but there’s unquestionably a lot of cleverness and humor throughout every Frontalot album.

But Zero Day succeeds on all fronts (yes, I did that.)  All of the characteristic terse lyricism is still there but it seems like Frontalot has found a way to employ it without staggering through a murderously jagged syllabic rhythm that shakes off any but the most tenacious listener. The instrumentation has likewise been raised to a new level, with fun, interesting music backing every track.

Finally, the collaborators lacing this album all had fantastic contributions and I think Zero Day is so excellent as much due to their efforts as to the Front and his perennial cohort. The album would have been an altogether different creature absent their additions.

Though I have many expressions of wonderment I could continue to offer in service of Zero Day’s edification, every album has its warts, and I would not be me if I did not strive to make them evident alongside the features deserving of adulation. But my grousing may be easily confined to two topics here. I like John Hodgman and all, but his skit was sadly a clunker. Just not funny.

The other thing is …The Painstakingly Concealed Secret Track. Which only annoys me because it isn’t easy enough to just access the track if you’re not interested in playing a game to get it. Hell, it’s a miracle I managed to throw enough time together to make this post, I don’t really have the time or attention to play mini-games to access stuff I paid to hear.

Anyway, check out a couple of my favorites from the album and go buy it. Frontalot actually sells FLAC copies of his albums. Support that my friends, for it is far too rare a thing.

MC Frontalot – Zero Day
MC Frontalot – The Council Of Loathing

MC Frontalot’s official site

Shaffer The Darklord - Mark of the Beast

It’s only fitting to feature Mark Schäffer, aka Shäffer the Darklord, aka STD, in the very first post on NerdLust.net as the name of this site is taken (with utmost gratitude and respect) from a song title on his 2007 album, Mark of the Beast.

I had the pleasure of watching, awestruck, as Schäffer performed at this year’s Nerdapalooza and I’ll never miss an opportunity to see him perform after that experience.

Mark of the Beast features Schäffer’s signature humor; self-aware, wicked, and sometimes too clever to catch on the first few listens.  You also can’t miss his characteristic punchy, precise delivery, which is something to behold in person.

Shäffer the Darklord – Nerd Lust
Shäffer the Darklord – Night of the Living Christ
Shäffer the Darklord – The Tin Man

Official Site, MySpace, Buy on Amazon