Mixtape: Nerding It Up
Boy am I late in posting this up. I was originally going to do it last night but was too tired by the time I got home around 1:30am. Handy tip for bloggers: if you’re going to go to the pub and be out until the wee hours, write your posts before you go as you sure as hell won’t want to by the time you get back. Anyways, then I decided to leave it until this morning, when I got sidetracked after learning that the awesome £3.99 sale in Virgin has now become a £1.99 sale. This meant I had to go and buy another 11 discs from it. I’m finally here now though, and I have a new mixtape type thing for your enjoyment.
Now I’m rather nerdy myself, and I’d hazard a guess that quite a few of you reading are too. I think everyone is nerdy is their own way actually, whether it’s about music, film, politics, sport or whatever, and this is certainly no bad thing. At least I hope that it isn’t given the number of things I know far too much about. As such, today we have a little mix dedicated to appreciating the dorky, nerdy, geeky or whatever you want to call it. If you’re wondering, the title ‘Nerding It Up’ doesn’t really mean anything, it was just something I used to describe a very, very geeky conversation in a pub once, and I kind of liked the phrase.
MP3 Weezer – In The Garage (expired)
What else could I open a nerdy mixtape with other than this? Probably one of the first great celebration of geekdom songs there was, and it’s certainly awesome. Covering the geek staples of Dungeons & Dragons, comic books and rock bands, it’s a wonderful ode to having a space where one can entirely be themselves no matter what anyone else thinks. Of course seeing as it’s Weezer, Rivers has to get in a little negativity about himself and his abilities (“I play my stupid songs / I write these stupid words”). Which is all very ironic given their recent material, but let’s not go there.
MP3 Something Corporate – Babies Of The 80s (expired)
I’ve mentioned my liking of Something Corporate despite their distinct lack of “indie cool” in the past, so you’re just going to have to deal with them being a part of this. Songs don’t really get much more dorky than this, and it’s all the more great by the fact it’s a nostalgic trip through everything of the 80s. Star Wars, MTV, Nick At Night, Toys R Us and a bunch of other stuff is all in here, and it sounds good. I really don’t get what people have against Something Corporate actually, they make some awesome pop songs.
MP3 Mixel Pixel – At The Arcade (expired)
Couldn’t really leave off a song called ‘At The Arcade’ now, could I? Thankfully it’s a good, fun song too. Essentially the tale of a boy meeting a girl at the arcade (she’s playing Pacman) and the awkwardness that follows. Until they get it together and just get stoned together.
MP3 The Rakes – iProblem (expired)
The ultimate in songs that name check other artists. Not only do The Rakes reference Bloc Party, Babyshambles, The Go! Team, The Futureheads and Kasabian, they also manage to mimic some of them a little. All of this while lead singer Alan is talking to Apple tech support about getting his iPod fixed. If you’ve ever spent time on a customer service helpline, this will be so very true (“I’ve been on the line about fifteen minutes now / And I’m starting to get a little bit annoyed / No, I know it’s not your fault / Are you really in India?”). It’s hardly a musical masterpiece, but it rarely fails to put a smile on my face.
MP3 MC Lars – Space Game (expired)
I know I said I wouldn’t post any MC Lars for a while, but the guy has an entire discography that could fit in with this theme. Narrowing it down to one was pretty hard, but it had to be ‘Space Game’ in the end, merely for the fact it references more scifi films, tv shows and comics than I can count. I won’t even begin to cover the references here, but when a song includes lines like “Hey Fry, look, we can still be friends / I won’t ask Leela out again”, I think it’s safe to say that it doesn’t get any geekier than that. Throw in an awesome guest appearance by ‘DJ HAL’ (yes, that HAL), and you’ve got the most gleefully geeky song I’ve ever heard.
MP3 Ozma – Game Over (expired)
This could almost be a sequel to the Mixel Pixel song earlier on. ‘Game Over’ charts the end of a relationship as the end of a video game (“I bet you don’t know how to find / Our extra lives times ninety nine / I know you tried but we still died”). Ozma are another band where there are a whole bunch of songs that fit the theme, so let’s all be happy that they are back together again after a three year hiatus. I also love the video game type music that seems to be in the background through most of the song too, and any song that refers to the other half in a relationship as “2P” is going to win me over.
MP3 Hartley Goldstein – The Mystery Of George Harrison’s Beard (expired)
Is there a bigger geek currently recording music? On the basis of Hartley’s five song EP, “Songs In The Key Of Zoloft”, I think not. In other songs he sings all about his hero, music producer Brad Wood, and sings a love song to the good Woody Allen films of the 70s. This one is all about growing up as a lonely nerd and never really getting past that even in adulthood (“But now I’m old and those days are gone / And everything I used to like now is no fun / I’m 23 and I wish I was a third grade”). Apparently there will be some new Hartley material coming later on this year, which is more exciting to me than just about every other upcoming release.
Bonus MP3 Ozma – Korobeinki (expired)
Honestly, if after listening to this one, you have no idea why I included it, you’ve probably been readng the wrong post.
I don’t know what it is about SoCo that just doesn’t “get” me, but I’ve never been interested. And this isn’t because I’m an indie snob, I listen to my fair share of “Warped Tour Rock.” To be honest, I think their music just bores me. Yeah, they make good pop songs, I can see why people like them, but they just don’t do anything for me…
I’m planning to try out this song, though.
10,000 excellent points to you, sir.
aw these are great tunes, but The Rakes link is bad!
“aw these are great tunes, but The Rakes link is bad!”
Well, it isn’t really, but it might present a problem in some players. .m4a is designed for itunes. I think the newest Winamp supports them too, but no clue beyond that. I don’t use them very often, only when I have to, so sorry if you can’t get it working.
something corporate? If you think that song is dorky, listen to “I Kissed A Drunk Girl.” Everytime I listen to that song I practically squirm with embarrassment, not for myself, but for McMahon. Dorky dorky dorky.
And yet I still like them :/