Austin self-branded ‘nerdcore’ rapper Terp2It may need to find a new label for himself, because his most recent effort, ‘My Weiner Touches the Ceiling‘, is hardly nerdcore.

I’m not really sure what genre Terp’s music fits into, but after giving the album several listens, I feel almost like comedy-core could be an accurate term. Chris Trew’s background is in improv and comedy in Austin, and I feel that the music he makes is in jest, but I’m not entirely in on the joke.

It’s clear that Trew has fun with the music he makes - just take at his music videos. I can respect him for that, because isn’t that what we all want to do? At the same time, I miss the days of old when rap was still music and you couldn’t get away with just talking rhymes in front of a generic beat.

I don’t want people to think I’m a snob, but I think the addition of the label nerdcore just chaffes me the wrong way. To say that Terp is nerdcore is a stretch, because nothing about his rap is really nerdy - he may be a geek himself, but it’s hardly reflected in his music aside from occasional reference to his iPod or carrying a fannypack. Sorry, there isn’t a genre called ‘awkward-core’.

His songs themselves consist of pretty generic beats, which should never been musically discounted. But his lyrics and energy aren’t well-meshed to the music, and the songs didn’t leave me wanting more. Some songs, like the track “O”, had catchy ideas behind them, but didn’t quite make it from concept to catchy rhythm.

I should be watching Terp at a live show in Austin soon, so I’m definitely willing to give him a second chance. I hope that his on-stage persona brings something new to his rhymes.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm and is filed under music, nerdcore, review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.