For Your Confustication, Tom Smith

Tom Smith is a bit of hero of the filk and comedy music communities.  He has appeared on both NPR’s Sound and Spirit and The Dr. Demento Show.  He wrote the official chantey for Talk Like A Pirate Day.  He appears at sci-fi/fantasy cons all over the place.  He has won fourteen Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filk and a spot in the Filk Hall of Fame.  He has two dozen albums so far.  He writes songs on any subject he feels like; sci-fi, fantasy, pop culture, politics, religion, comedy, tragedy.

His latest album is “For Your Confustication”

 

This album is a collection of songs he has recorded over the past two years, just now all collected in one place.  Most were from his Patreon page, a few are commission songs, some were written years ago and just now seeing light, some were written the day before, some are parodies, some are originals, and one is a straight cover of Woody Guthrie’s classic “This Land is Your Land”, which is weird to listen to cause you keep expecting him to make a reference to Cthulhu or something.  He covers sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, folk legends, online life, Hugo awards, SCA, food, the apocalypse, and other topics giving a range for everyone.

My favorite songs are “Be A Dragon” a song to a child encouraging them to be the best thing in life; a dragon, Time Lord, The Batman.  I want to believe I will play this song for my kids.   “Cosmic Babies” a parody of the Muppet Babies theme song about MCU.  I so want a video of this.  I feel there is no bad songs on the album, just some whose topics are out of my knowledge.

If you want some laid back nerdy songs to listen to, you could do worse than this or any album from Tom Smith.  Pick-up twenty-three tracks for $10 at Bandcamp.

Tom will also release a more political album later this month at The Continuum.

Press Release: Six years of Geeky Music in One Origin Story Collection

 

A journey through the first six years of Meri’s music. The first half being new songs (the Mega EP), the second half being selected songs released since she began creating and releasing music (the Origin Mix).

Twelve new tracks (the Mega EP) and twelve selected tracks (the Origin Mix) by Meri that were released throughout the six years since she began creating and releasing music.

The first half, the Mega EP, features five completely new tracks that are fully produced versions of songs that are amongst the most popular of Meri’s songs when she performs live. The seven remaining tracks being remastered singles that had been previously released exclusively through Meri’s website throughout the last three years.

The second half, the Origin Mix, being her first ever song release as well as some of the most popular tracks from the original collections: Wandering Mini-P, Super EP, Pop Goes The TARDIS and Retro Sherbet. One track (Apple Tree) and three track versions (the radio edits of My Superman, Friday Viral and Nothing’s In Your Way) having only been exclusively released through Meri’s website before.

This is Meri’s biggest body of work yet and a full sonic biography of the start of her musical career!

LINKS

My Website

The latest single – Beat The Game

The first single – Pizza And Ice Cream

The playlist that will have all the album songs on the 19th of July (for sharing)

Pictures

 

Hero in Me

Professional cosplayer Santana has released an album featuring nerdy music, Hero In Me, and now I am going to review it.

The whole thing is about empowering yourself and following your own loves.  The album mixes country, pop, and a bit of rock into a unique sound.  Though only three songs on the album are really nerd related.

Cosplaying Just for Me, which has its own video shot by Flashbang Cosplay Capture, is about cosplaying and empowering yourself.  Bit a nice rock vibe to it.  Personally I have a hard time believing someone who sells prints of herself and has a Patreon page for people to give her feed back on what to cosplay next is really “cosplaying just for me.”  Though the song is more than just about cosplaying and is a fun listen.

Gamer Boy, is a love song .  Though I am not sure if she is singing to a boy who play games or an actual Nintendo Game Boy.  I like it either way.

Hero in Me is about another empowering song drawing some geeky related imagery and lyrics.

Three of the other songs on this album are from a previous non nerdy album, nice songs to listen to just not why I am here for.  The other song is Winder Soldier, which as much as I want to believe is most likely not about Bucky Barnes.  Again nice romantic song, just not what I am looking for.

The music and singing are both top-notch though.  Something even non nerds can enjoy.  I recommend it for anyone wanting something a little different from most.

You can get the album as a CD or digital download from Santana’s store, CDBaby, iTunes, or Amazon.

I would love to see more work from Santana in the music genre especially some more nerdy songs add to her repertoire.

Getting Bardcore with the Library Bards

The Library Bards, a comedy duo out of LA, have their first album out, Bardcore , and I felt like reviewing it.  It is a comedy parody album that covers many fandoms so everyone should find something to listen to.

Overall it is a fun album, music is bouncy and light, lyrics are humorous, and you can tell they are enjoying themselves.  Something to play for nerdy friends to party to.  The problem is some of the lyrics seem to feel a little forced and clunky.  Like they are trying to hard to rhyme like the original song instead of having the song make sense.  Now they are a newer act and will get better with time and experience, but right now this album just does not have the full polish of some other comedy musicians.  It is still a fun album to sing a long with, especially if you like the original songs they parody.

Enough with my nitpicking, the best songs on the album to me are: Pokéball (Pokémon p0arody of “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus) a sweet love song using Pokémon imagery and Black and Red (parody of “Zombie” by The Cranberries) which is about Deadpool and Harley Quinn cosplayers, it is both harsh on them and loving, which comes in two versions on the album.

You can buy the album from their site for $14.99.  Plus they have t-shirts for $20.  You can get their song Regeneration (a Doctor Who parody of “My Generation” by The Who) for free on The FuMP right if you hurry.

You can also check out their YouTube channel for music videos  and live performances.

The Library Bards are a nerd parody band consisting of Bonnie Gordon (ABC’s The Quest, R. Mika in Street Fighter V) and Xander Jeanneret (TBS’ King of the Nerds). They take Top 40 hits and transform them into the nerdy versions they should have been in the first place! With their catchy tunes and nerdy lyrics, the Library Bards will be bringing you into the Bard Life in no time!

Esoteric Songs by Kyle Okaly

Kyle Okaly is a film composer in Los Angeles.  He has decided to get into the nerdy music scene recently and so has written and produce his first album Esoteric Songs with  a folk rock style about video games and other geek culture topics.  Song topics include Star Craft, Portal, Pokémon, Star Wars, Chrono Trigger, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and more.

Most of the songs on the album are love songs of some sort of another.  Several from the perspective someone from the various games that inspired him and one, My Child, that is from father to child, that child being a webpage.  It also has a cover of Jonathan Coulton song, Gurl.  They all have a melodious quality, the kind that is great for dancing too or just raising your spirits with.  Overall a good a set of good songs to listen too, maybe even use some for a romantic evening.

There are two animated song teasers (basically music videos that are not the full song) as well.  One for Box 12 (Pokémon love song), animated by Dan Sexton (Crunchlins) and the other Naboolie Portmanteau (a commentary on the intelligence characters in Phantom Menace)  animated by Stephen Leotti.  More are to released in the future, so keep an eye out for those.

The album is available on bandcamp at Name Your Price.  This could be $0, but how about giving the guy a few bucks for his work.

 

Retro Sherbet: 90s Themed Album by Geek Pop Artist

Meri Amber is an Australian geek pop singer songwriter with a new album of 90s inspired songs called Retro Sherbet.  The songs are less directly about video games or TV shows, but instead is more thematically inspired by them for something differently we get on here.

She wrote, recorded and produced all the songs. Plus she wrote, sketched, inked and colored an accompanying comic called Arcade Horrors.  After reading it I look forward to more of Meri’s music.

She will be touring around Australia (and New Zealand) promoting the album at conventions the next few months.
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Retro Sherbet is a 90s inspired album by geek pop songstress Meri Amber. The majority of the content was originally written as part of the FAWM (February Album Writing Month) challenge and then refined for over a year. The songs cover not only themes from the decade but themes from Meri’s personal experience of the decade, namely, childhood.

If you listen to the album from the beginning to the end then you’ll see there is an over-arching plotline that’s being run. You can almost follow the protagonist through their ups and downs as if they’re living out their lives in the 90s era. The musical arrangements and style are inspired by many famous 90s songs and the overall feel of the decade. The general sound of the album could be described as fun, bright and retro pop.

But, as you’d expect from Meri, there’s no lack of geeky or pop culture references. Songs are written inspired by everything from games like Tamagotchi, Minesweeper and Block Breaker, to TV shows like Pokemon, Dragonball Z and Xena, to cultural references like Walkie Talkies, Rom-Com films, Bubble Tape, filmstrip cameras and Tazos.

Whatever your experience of the 90s was and whatever your experience of childhood was, there are stories and songs in Retro Sherbet that are bound to make you reminisce, giggle and crazy-dance in the street.

Some Nerdy Music Videos

I have some recent music videos from nerdy artists to share with everyone.  Check the out and enjoy.

 

She’s Blue (‘I’m Blue’ by Eiffel 65 Parody) Music Video by Meri Amber  from her album “Pop goes The TARDIS.”  While clothed in self-made TARDIS dresses she sings about the emotions of the TARDIS.  Fun scenes include looking lovely at pictures of different Doctors and dancing with random people on the street holding TARDIS protest signs.

She also has a video for her song I XOX U, a love song written in emojis and txt talk.

 

The Hammer Birds, a French/Chinese band of a classical trained pianist and a multi-instrumental electro DJ, have a video out of them doing a cover of the Daft Punk song Aerodynamic using piano, bass, launchpad, and other random objects to create music.  Video is just clips of them playing.  Aerodynamic is one of my favorite Daft Punk songs and this holds up against the original in my opinion.

The also have a cover of Skrillex’s song Bangarang done acoustically.  Shot in the same style as their other video.

 

ILL SEER is a rapper/pastor with a PhD and his first full-length video is Fabricated Spaceman.  A deep song with a good flow shot in a laundry mat interspersed with clips from animation and old films.  Produced by Axwax of Delegates of Culture, directed and edited by Danny Alexander.  Not sure what it is about, but fun to listen to.

 

And then there is Mega Ran’s latest video, Laughin At Ya a track off of his album RNDM.  It is an autobiographical song about his music, video games, and life, while looking like the Joker.  Directed by Jaron Ikner.  If you need a song about doing what you love, this is a good one for you.

Press Release: Pop Goes The TARDIS- An Album Of Doctor Who Songs

From acapella to dance beats to epic cries for extermination! ‘Pop Goes The TARDIS’ is an album of Doctor Who inspired songs with enough Easter eggs and silliness to keep any Whovian satisfied. The album is being released by geek pop singer-songwriter Meri Amber on the 22nd of July.

Pop Goes The TARDIS & Meri Amber Photos

Pop Goes The TARDIS is an album of Doctor Who inspired songs by Australian, geek pop singer-songwriter Meri Amber. It is being released on the 22nd of July through her website. From the a capella introduction to the “nerdcore rap” finish, there is enough to keep any Whovian satisfied.

Of course, as any time lord rocker (or popper as the case may be) would desire, there are plenty of Easter eggs hidden within each song to be discovered over time. The tracks include everything from vocal overlays to chipsounds and retro synths, from original numbers to parodies and even a mash-up of a number of songs that make a guest appearance on the show.

Whilst the album begins a capella it quickly delves into a more typical geek pop range of numbers. For ‘Exterminate’ a more grand arrangement ensues (as is expected for a song about Daleks), ‘Two Hearts’ takes a delve into a more bluesy region, ‘New Companion’ gets a Latin flavour and ‘Doctor Stylin’ spins a dance beat on.

Topics covered in the songs for you to trock out to include everything from Doctor Who catchphrases, monsters, companions, themes and outfits. There’s a little bit of the old and a little bit of the new to cater for any sort of fan.

The songs were not only written by Meri Amber but recorded, performed (all instruments), produced and mastered by her. The photography for the album art was shot by Patrick Catanzariti and the album art design was a collaboration between Meri Amber and Patrick Catanzariti.

Big Awesome Music Festival During SDCC

The Big Awesome Music Festival (BAMF) is on off-site event during San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) featuring nerdy artists, geeky comedians and podcasters at Ruocco Park behind the convention center on Friday July 10th through Sunday July 12th.  They will have performances from nerdy music artists, geeky comedians, live podcasts, dance party, fandom burlesque, and more.  It will be open from 10am to 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday and 10am to 5pm from Sunday.  Music starts Friday and Saturday at 5pm.

The line up for Friday consists of rock band Ki, nerd rockers Kirby Krackle, geek musician Eben Brooks, comedy duo Paul and Storm, nerdy love song writer Allie Goertz, geek mixer DJ Galactic Ray, nerd parody group The Library Bards, and geek rockers Random Gibberish.

Saturday’s line up is nerdcore rapper Mega Ran, sister duo the Doubleclicks, singer-songwriter Molly Lewis, geek punk Nerf Herder, 8-bit mixer DJ DN3, and more by Kirby Krackle and DJ Galactic Ray.

For Sunday they have stand-up comedian Jen Seaman, geek flavored comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, writer Ed Galvez, podcasters Baker Street Babes who will record a live episode, Tim Mattonen, and Josh Chambers.

There will be a bounce house, beers from local breweries, food trucks, and gaming on site each day from 10m to 5pm.  They will have their own artist alley, quidditch matches hosted by U.S. Quidditch on Sunday, a burlesque by the Pixie Stixx Burlesque, and a cosplay contest.

They are using Indiegogo as their ticket system.  Get passes, t-shirt, autographed merch, and more there.

A great place for some music and comedy outside of SDCC in between events.

Spring in the Northwest, Livestreaming Show, Pi Day!

Alaskan song-writer Marian Call has announced her touring and live streaming schedule for this month.  Here is where she will be, all times are PDT.

• Tsawwassen, BC // 03.12.15 // House concert, email rsvp@mariancall.com
• Victoria, BC (North Saanich) // 03.13.15 // St. John’s United Church 8pm
• Vancouver, BC //  03.14.15 // PI DAY! at Langara College 3pm
• Vancouver, BC // 03.15.15 // Afternoon House Concert, email mariancallshow@chicazul.com
• Seattle, WA (Duwamish) // 03.19.15 // Potluck Concert, 6000 17th Ave. SW, RSVP here
• Portland, OR (St. John’s) // 03.20.15 // House Concert, email taylor.fisher@gmail.com
• Portland, OR // 03.21.15 // Wolf + Rabbit Emporium, 5300 SE Foster Rd., 7pm
• Tualatin, OR // 03.22.15 // Tualatin Public Library, 2pm
• Seattle, WA (Shoreline) // 03.25.15 // North City Bistro, 1520 NE 177th St., 7:30pm
• Redmond, WA // 03.26.15 // *livestreaming!* SoulFood Coffeehouse, 15748 Redmond Way, 7:30pm with Scott Barkan
• Seattle, WA // 03.27.15 // Music and Nerds! At the Showbox with Paul and Storm, Patrick Rothfuss, Joel Hodgson, & Molly Lewis
• Seattle, WA // 03.27-29.15 // Emerald City Comicon, booth 106 with Alaska Robotics and Molly Lewis

Last year Marian produced four albums.  She has more plans for this year.  Classics Vol. II with more cover songs and a new major studio albums with a band, her first since 2011.

Here’s some of what else is in store for her this year:

• Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau – Alaska Folk Fest and late spring and fall. Want a show somewhere in Alaska? Email marian@mariancall.com
• Austin, Dallas, Houston – concerts with a band and lots of album recording in June.
• Indianapolis – she will be a special guest at  InConJunction July 3-5!
• San Diego Comic-Con –  as usual, ninja gigs and booth games and music and a 5k and fun!
• Bay Area California – autumn tour all over the place! Dates TBA. Have an event or gig in mind? Email marian@mariancall.com.
• Road Trip in October – U.S.  East Coast and one other location TBA.
• Everywhere – livestreaming shows throughout the year!

Here is her work from last year, if you have not heard them yet: