MARK DAGO; “Kill Screen” (Earthburn Records)
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Mark Dago (lyrics, words and vocals)
As crazy as it sounds, there occasionally exist things that make even this Prince of Dorks feel insufficiently nerdy. Well, almost.
Take, for example, “Mark Dago Presents: Kill Screen,” a hip-hop/nerdcore mini-album that is touted on its cover as being “For
use with stereophonic technology.”
For those who might be unfamiliar with Dago, he’s a Utah-based musician/rapper who has performed in Rotten Musicians and the Numbs. “>And he’s even free-styled onstage with Chuck D. and Public Enemy. So what I’m saying is he’s legit.
His latest solo work explores his preoccupation with video games (especially the old, “8-bit” versions) and other forms of gaming. And it uses available video game music and sonic re-creations as the musical backing (if you’re a veteran gamer, you’ll recognize at least a few sound bites).
Luckily, it’s not nearly as insufferably “inside” or nearly as cutesy as you’d expect such material to be. Dago’s credible, convincing raps and rhymes make “Kill Screen” more than palatable … they make it very enjoyable. Just try to resist the pulsating “Megamanic.” I dare you.
Although it is largely a solo work, there are contributions from some of Dago’s usual collaborators, such as Rotten Musicians mate Daniel “Fisch” Fischer, who produced “Kill Screen” and contributes vocals to “The Low End of Doom.” (The nine songs were recorded by Salt Lake City music legend Andy Patterson, who’s smart enough to know that Dago’s vocals need to be pushed up in the “mix.”)
By the way, while “hard copies” of the CD are on sale locally, at such stores as Uprok, you can also download “Kill Screen” for free at Mark’s Bandcamp site. But you really should give Dago some monetary love. It’s only right.
Jerk-bot is the robotic nom de plume of Utah-based movie and music reviewer/writer Jeff Michael Vice, who invites you to enjoy his other endeavors, for Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off review program, MSN’s Parallel Universe and MSN Movies, Now IN Salt Lake magazine, X-96′s Radio From Hell, Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show.
Editors note:
You can check out Mark Dago and Fisch performing tracks from Kill Screen on Park City TV below:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3T5Yp865E