Friday, July 31, 2015

Weekend at Mooster's #3: The Advantage


Welcome to my [sorta] regular column/blog post. I wanted to make a place where I could share bands that have influenced me and Mooster Records in any way. Basically, I wanna share some bad ass bands with you. I don't intend for these posts to be complete in anyway, but more of a jumping off point. It's the weekend, so welcome to WEEKEND AT MOOSTER'S. This weeks band is THE ADVANTAGE!

No! Not this Advantage!



THIS ADVANTAGE!






THE ADVANTAGE is from Sacramento, California and started playing around 1998, the best way to describe them is if KING CRIMSON covered the music from old NES games. The band is considered to be one of the original pioneers of the Nintendocore genre and widely praised for bringing video game music into the spotlight. Named after the Nintendo controller of the same name, the Advantage offers their own style and blend of video game rock. The band consists of Robby Moncrieff (guitar), Ben Milner (guitar), Carson McWhirter (bass) and Spencer Seim (drums). 


The idea for the Advantage began at a talent show in Nevada City, CA.  The Advantage signed to Kill Rock Stars affiliate 5 Rue Christine Records (5RC) in 2004 and released their debut self-titled album, The Advantage



This was the introduction to THE ADVANTAGE for me, I was perusing eMusic one day and happened across their record. I was immediately blow away by how accurate they pulled off the tunes. My fave from the S/t album is absolutely the "Contra: Snowfields" as its been one of my fave NES tunes ever since I was a kid. Check it out!



During the tour of their debut album the band released, Da Advantage EP, in 2004 through their own label and sold it at shows. Two years later in 2006  their second full length record, Elf Titled, was also released on 5RC Records. Again in similar fashion to their first EP, the band released their second EP, Underwear: So Big! EP, through their own label during their 2006 tour and sold it at shows.


After the release of Elf Titled, the band toured for a short while before entering a hiatus. In 2010, a compilation album, B-Sides Anthology, (AKA: B-Sides) was released by Obstructive Vibrations in digital download format. It contains all of the material from Da Advantage EP and all of the material from the Underwear: So Big! EP (except for track 3, Gradius II - Boss) plus a few extra rare tracks. 

If possible the second record shows a progression, the instrumentation is more obsessive, the interludes between tracks are crucial and no track shows it more than "Guardian Legend: Corridor 1" the very unobtrusive track nestled towards the very end of the record sits and awaits you to discover it. "Is this record over? HELL NO!" Heres the best track. Absolutely killer!




Their most recent album, Rock Bottom: Live from Bottom of the Hill, was released by SPM Records in digital download format May 30, 2013. The album consists of songs from a June 24, 2006 live performance at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, CA.

Since then, the band has two releases that have been posted to their Bandcamp page Edits, This is the seventh release by The Advantage. It is a collection of edited tracks from the Self Titled, Elf Titled and B-Sides albums. and Live: From The Great American Music Hall, the eighth and most current release by The Advantage. It is a live performance of the band from February 27, 2004 at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA. 

If somehow, Spencer or the crew happens upon this. WE WANT MORE. WE ALWAYS WANT MORE! I believe we will get more soonish because the infamous mantra of the band just happens to be that they would like "to record every NES tune before each member of the band lay dead"

I guess maybe theyve been a little busy with HELLA or sBAch, who knows?!?! :)

(a lot of info taken from Wikipedia and various webpages from record labels)

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