There’s a lot of nerdily-themed music out there. Whether it’s songs about steampunk, sci-fi rapping, or a hymn to the joys of board games, if you’ve got a hobby you can bet someone’s made a tune about it.
And sure, a lot of it isn’t great. But have you listened to the radio recently? I’ll take something amateurish but interesting rather than over-produced pop six days out of seven (on that seventh day I’ll be leaping around the house to Take That and Taylor Swift, because even over-produced pop has some great talents).
Neither am I saying that nerdy music is all amateurish. Any genre in any medium has a lot of amateurs and a few skilled or lucky pros. Here, for your weekend listening, are some of my favourites.
The Geeks Will Inherit The Earth by I Fight Dragons – geek rock with computer game bleeps, wonderfully exuberant:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0YPfJ_EoU&w=560&h=315]
Drawings With Words by Wordburglar – the joys of comic collecting as expressed by a Canadian rapper with a talent for unexpected rhymes (contains swears and obscure superhero references):
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JK93xfHZug&w=560&h=315]
Fire Fire by Steam Powered Giraffe – steampunk robots sing about a space disaster:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLNgD5vsZsM&w=560&h=315]
We Do Not Sow by Adam WarRock – the latest in a string of Game of Thrones raps from an incredibly prolific artist (again, it’s hip-hop, do not play this language around young children):
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU6HAc1K4Go&w=560&h=315]