brentalfloss
| brentalfloss | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Brent Black |
| Born |
April 12, 1984 Irving, Texas, United States |
| Genres | Comedy, chiptune, video game music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, songwriter, lyricist, singer |
| Instruments | piano, vocals |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Website |
www |
Brent Black (born April 12, 1984), also known as brentalfloss, is a musician that adds lyrics to classic video game titles, such as Punch-Out!!, Megaman 2, Super Mario 3D World, and Donkey Kong Country. He also has original songs for his albums and some on YouTube, such as "This is the Album You've Been Waiting For", "The BrentalFloss Comic Song", and his first song ever, "The Dreamer". He wrote this song when he was 12, and his sister named it.
Brent was born in Dallas, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Oklahoma.[1] He went on to earn his master's degree in musical theatre writing at New York University (NYU). In his time at NYU, he co-wrote a musical with composer Rob Broadhurst called "I’ll Be Damned" which had a limited Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre in New York City in 2010.[2]
Career
YouTube career
Black is best known for adding lyrics to video game music.[3] His first "with lyrics" video he made was based on the title theme of Mega Man 3 for the NES. Brent's website indicates that his stage name "brentalfloss" is always intentionally spelled with lower-case letters.[4] Brent also appears as one of the principal actors in the web series My Life as a Video Game in the role of Menu, a supercomputer A.I..[5]
Beyond YouTube
Brent has also released studio albums. His first CD, What If This CD... Had Lyrics? was released in the Spring of 2010.[6] It contains re-recorded and re-masteres versions of every song of his "With Lyrics" series that was released at that time, plus additional CD-exclusive songs. It features fellow video game bands The Megas and The Konami Kode, with tracks peaking in the top 100 on iTunes comedy charts worldwide.[7] He has also released a G-Rated and instrumental version of the album. In early 2011, he released The Super-Secret EP under the pseudonym "DJ Super Secret", which was revealed to members of his mailing list first, and was released to public afterwards. Brent later set up a fundraising page on his site to try to garner funds for a second CD, which reached its goal of $4000. The CD was completed in March 2012, but was unable to be released until June 2012 due to printing errors. He released digital downloads for Bits of Me on June 8, 2012. Brent also appeared in three Nostalgia Critic reviews of Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, Moulin Rouge! and Les Miserables, as well as Paw Dugan's review of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The official soundtrack is available. Brent had a webcomic series as well, running from 2012 to 2013 at 200 comics distributed. In February 2014, Brent released his third studio album, Flossophy. Brent currently co-hosts a podcast on Maximum Fun, titled "Trends Like These", in which he and his former college roommate Travis McElroy discuss topics and issues that are trending on social media websites. He has also done 200 webcomics, and is working on a video game right now called "Use Your Words!"
Discography
Main studio albums are in bold.
- What If This CD... Had Lyrics? (2010)
- The Super-Secret EP (as DJ Super-Secret) (2011)
- Bits of Me (2012)
- Flossophy (2014)
References
- ↑ "Play: Life's not Brent and white". Tulsa World.
- ↑ Brantley, Ben (July 12, 2010). "Help for the Friendless, but at a Price". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Sound's effects". CBC News. September 16, 2010.
- ↑ (July 26, 2011.) "YouTube phenom credits ‘personal ramblings' for success." Archived April 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. From Burlington Times News. Accessed September 2011.
- ↑ url=www.mylifeasavideogame.com My Life as a Video Game Official Site
- ↑ "brentalfloss on itunes". itunes.
- ↑ "Music-Chart.info". Music-Chart.info."What If This CD... DIDN'T Have Lyrics?". bandcamp.com.