Weekend Mixtape (1.27.17)

I realize most of us are tense and nervous right now, but it's the weekend, and everyone needs a little relief from time to time. With that in mind, I'd like to share a short playlist for your Friday commute or lazy Saturday morning. It's warm and sunny, like a perfect California day. So put the top down--literally or metaphorically--and enjoy!


Oh, and thanks to Tia for posting this on my behalf! -G

Nerd Music: Weekend Mixtape, Movie Soundtrack Edition

Summer is here, and with it, summer blockbusters. For this weeks mixtape, I went back through soundtracks to find the six* best songs from nerdy/geeky movies. I only accept songs that first appear on a soundtrack - which means Change (in the House of Flies), by the Deftones gets left off, even though it was on every damn soundtrack in 2000. However there are some great songs here, some from very bad movies (quick disclaimer: my taste skews pretty heavy, so I am sure I left off your favorites. Feel free to drop your contributions in the comments!):




No Shelter, Rage Against the Machine, Godzilla (1998): Remember how awful this movie was? But the soundtrack was... pretty good. It included a terrible remix of Brain Stew, with Godzilla shrieking in it, and a Jimmy Page/Puff Daddy... song(?) that I actually like way more than I should. Strong offerings from Ben Folds Five and Wallflowers as well, but No Shelter is one of the best Rage songs ever.

Metro, System of a Down, Dracula 2000 (2000): My favorite song on this list, and one of the best covers of all time. The rest of the soundtrack is so-so, but put Metro on repeat. Also... was this movie any good? I honestly don't remember.

Historia Calamitatum, Rise Against, Punisher: War Zone (2008): Vastly underrated movie, and doomed to remain there with Daredevil and Punisher being awesome on Netflix. Soild soundtrack, though, if you're in the mood to rock out.

This is Halloween, Marylin Manson, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Probably the best movie, and overall soundtrack, on this list. Maaaaybe this song shouldn't technically be on here, since it is a cover of the song from the movie, but... this song was MADE for Marylin Manson, so I'll take it.

*Take a Look Around, Limp Bizkit/Scum of the Earth, Rob Zombie, Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)  I know, I know, Limp Bizkit. But Still. This whole soundtrack is great - with I Disappear by Metallica, Butthole Surfers, Foo Fighters covering Pink Floyd... It's so 2000, and so great, and don't you dare say otherwise.

Your Soul is Mine, Mushroomhead, Saw VI, (2009): I despise the Saw movies with my entire being, but I love Mushroomhead, so... Here it is. A pleasantly creepy song to close this list out.

NERD MUSIC Weekend Mixtape: Grimes plus Retrowave

This week's mixtape is mostly retrowave/synthwave, but starts with an artist, Grimes, who's decidedly progressive take on electronic music puts her at odds with the retrowave aesthetic. (If you haven't heard Art Angels, then go listen to it now. It's not an easy record by any means, but it's also one of the few pieces of music I've come across in the past few years that really feels forward-thinking. I love me some retro nostalgia, but there's something special about breaking new ground.) The mixtape then moves on to some great synthwave tracks--ranging from the summer-y to the dark and foreboding. Enjoy!

NERD MUSIC Weekend Mixtape: Superhero Themed

Mikey's Superhero Themed Mixtape (4.1.16)

As the comics blogger for the site it seemed appropriate that I would share a Superhero themed mixtape with the crowd.  While not all of these are as overt as "I am Superman" by REM, I feel that they all invoke feelings of super powers.  Whether it is from finding revenge in the belly of a whale or pride in your nerd dungeon, these songs include some of my favorite lines of all-time.

"I break it up like it was horcruxes" - M.C. Chris

"I may look like Clark Kent, but I'm no Superman" - The Impossibles

"Always, will your mother will watch over you as you avenge this wicked deed" - The Decemberists

"She's got to be strong to fight them so she's taking lots of vitamins" - The Flaming Lips

"Who came up with Person Man? Degraded man, Person Man" - They Might Be Giants






Also, if you don't think Neville is a hero, get off my lawn!

POSTED BY MIKE N. aka Victor Domashev -- comic guy, proudly raising nerdy kids, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.   

NERD MUSIC Weekend Mixtape: House and Techno Classics

The G's House and Techno Mix (3.25.16)

Most people think of house and techno as European music, likely because both styles are significantly more popular in Europe than the U.S. But house is actually from Chicago and techno is from Detroit, and though both are thoroughly globalized now, they were originally made by Black artists--reflecting the specific experiences of African Americans in these postindustrial U.S. cities.

I was a bit late to the party, so to speak, only really discovering house and techno in the early/mid 90s. But it blew my mind--here was a music that captured the zeitgeist perfectly: the epochal shift from mass employment to automation, the onset of urban decay, the rise of cybernetics and information networks, the increasing pervasiveness of surveillance and the breakdown of all the old music industry hierarchies and mechanisms for gatekeeping.

So enjoy this "tape" of 12 exquisite house and techno classics, mostly but not exclusively from the 1980s and early 1990s--tracks that I believe capture the pure joy and thrill of that era...

NERD MUSIC: Weekend Mixtape (3.11.16)

Greedo Died by the Hand of Solo

Finding nerdy references or themes in metal isn't hard- for plenty of bands, that is their entire catalogue. Others, it's slightly more subtle. Mushroomhead- one of my favorite bands ever- peppers their music with references, including the one above. Their videos are basically horror movies (and they are all huge horror fans). And, of course, the whole fortythree thing that everyone's* favorite SciFi author uses comes from Mushroomhead.

Fun, nerdy side note: The band is from the same suburb of Cleveland that most of my family is (the oft-referenced 216), so I have seen them several times when I have gone back. After one show, I ended up hanging out with Rick/Stitch (pictured), their DJ, and we were talking about the samples he uses.

"Who do you use when you need some creepy kids voice?"

"I just grab one of the band members kids and ask them what Star Wars action figure they want, and buy it for them if they say something creepy."

I wonder if Kubrick bribed the twins in the shining with nerdy toys.

Your mixtape this weekend has two sides- Side A is the more chill, if your Friday involves hanging out at home, and maybe writing (the romantic life of a writer- home on Friday night!). Side B is for if you have a little more excitement planned. Feel free to use it as an interlude for the whiskey-fueled horror movie marathon that it would pair so well with.

Side A:



Side B:


*Where 'everyone'=like three people

NERD MUSIC: Weekend Mixtape (3.4.16)

Welcome to our new weekly NERD MUSIC series, in which one of the various 'Nerds of a Feather' curates a 6- or 12-song playlist for your weekend. First up is The G…

The G's Synthwave Mixtape, March 4, 2016. 

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably already noticed my obsession with all things synthwave--a relatively new style of electronic dance music using '80s vintage synths (or emulations/samples of them), '80s production cliches (like gated reverb on snare drums) and drawing upon '80s pop culture for thematic inspiration. At the same time, synthwave is no mere retread--rather, it is a fundamentally new form of music, albeit a retrofuturistic one.

This week I've selected 12 of my absolutely favorite synthwave tracks and arranged them like any child of the '80s would--in a proper mixtape flow. Along the way you get to taste several flavors of synthwave, from the deeply nostalgic to the outrun, "teen romance" and "darksynth" subgenres--before circling round to finish with three stellar romantic synthwave tracks.  Enjoy!





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 POSTED BY: The G--purveyor of nerdliness, genre fanatic and Nerds of a Feather founder/administrator, since 2012.