The Soundtrack of your Geekdom - Part 1

So, why does it seem that most geeks love electronic music? Lots of "cool" folks love electronica, but why do so many of us? Do scores of nerds like to go to clubs undercover of moonlight and bust out sweet dance moves? Probably not (unless we are talking about Comic Con or Anime parties).

What is it about  blippy-bloopy synthesizer-driven music that strikes a chord (punny) with geeks? If you think about it, it's pretty obvious:

1. Synthesizers = science. Loops and beats are just repeated algorithms!
2. Anime, comic books, and science fiction have perpetuated a dystopian future where electronica is the inevitable soundtrack. Are robots/androids/artificial intelligence the norm in your preferred fictional world? What does robotic music sound like?
3. 8-bit video game music were our lullabies. A whole generation of us--well into our 30s and 40s now--grew up playing NES titles (with repetitive theme songs) for hours on end...at least until we passed out on top of our cartridges.
4. It's all part of the techie demographic, stupid. Got a subscription to WIRED? Early adopter? Got a few game consoles at home? Watch Attack of the Show? Wait on line for new Apple products?  You probably like electronic music.
5. Electronic artists are geeks, too. Yeah, they may be rockstars and play clubs and festivals--but they tend to be pastyfaced gamers and nerds just like us.
6. We are all drawn to the dark side.  Much electronic music tends to be played in dark spaces or piped through oversized headphones. It just takes us back to our Goth days.
7. For us, it's one step towards being a little cooler. Maybe, just maybe, our non-geek friends have heard a song that we actually like too? (Well, in a car commercial, but still.)

A few examples:

Nine Inch Nails / Trent Reznor --  The mouth piece for a whole generation of disaffected youth has an Oscar now. Still angry? Still dark? In recent years, Trent's taken to the gym and pumped up, but he's still the master of ambiance. But hey, we'll always have prettyhatemachine.  (See also: Skinny Puppy, Ministry, KMFDM, God Lives Underwater, etc.)

The trailer to David Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo takes on an air of menace and intensity that only Trent Reznor (and Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O -- doing a muscular version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song") can bring. Soundtrack awesomeness is a given. (Also see contributions to soundtracks like The Social Network, Lost Highway, Natural Born Killers, and The Crow--all movies that geeks adore.)

The Faint -- one of my fave bands. They actually have a song called "The Geeks Were Right". 'Nuff said!

Daft Punk -- These dudes never show their faces (um, cosplay much?) and did a whole anime film/concept album  with anime legend Leiji Matsumoto. They also scored Tron: Legacy. Come on! Q.E.D.!

LCD Soundsystem -- They've got a song called "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" -- geeks name dropping geeks! James Murphy is an undeniable badass and a genius. Even celebrities couldn't get tickets to LCD's last shows and yet, Murphy looks like someone you would see in line at your local comic book store. Geeks win! GEEKS WIN.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? -- You probably know them from their song "We Are Rockstars"  which was used in commercials and movie trailers. But the best evidence of geek-ery is their song "Dawn of the Dead" -- the fan made video uses footage from George A Romero's...Dawn of the Dead.

Deadmau5 -- just look at that modded foam mouse head. This guy just knows his DIY tech. He makes millions now and rocks it out nightly, but haters are still gonna hate.

 

Crystal Castles -- probably the best example. The name comes from the old school video game and they absolutely use samples from 8-bit games in their music. Check out  "Xxzxcuzx Me" : 

Lead singer Alice Glass is a pixie-ish, gothpunk, cutie (also see Olivia Wilde in Tron: Legacy, Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux, etc.) as evidenced in the below live performance of "Crimewave"  Some serious vocoder action in this one (pretty geeky, pretty cool, pretty girl):

Alice Glass rocking out. Check out their live performance at Reading 2009 for some fierceness:

And of course, I'm not leaving out one of my all time faves:


Depeche Mode: how many of us read Aldous Huxley or Philip K. Dick while listening to Black Celebration or Music for the Masses? Am I the only one? The synths and the nasally English accents and the black leather and the alabaster pale skin... just a perfect score to our  winters of discontent.  (See also: New Order, OMD, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Yaz, etc.)

For old times sake, here's "Stripped":

(The only reason Dave Gahan went through his long hair, tatts, and heroin 90s phase was because he was tired of being a geek. We're glad to have him back, healthy, and alive. We still need him.)

NOT GOOD! 

MUCH BETTER!

Of course, these are just a few examples. I'm not going to even get into genres and sub-genres (though that would be pretty geeky) but believe me: drum n' bass, trip hop, garage, two-step, ambient, new wave, and beyond--if there is a Korg, a Moog, or an 808 plugged in -- there is someone nerding out and loving it.

Finally, a bit of my own electronic geekery. Check out my songs (featuring some knob-twiddling and serious beats):

"bittersweet connection" and  "epistles..." plus other tunes at my music website abechangrocks.com

Next time: I'll explore the geek connection to heavy metal. *RAAAAWK!!!!*

*images and video sourced from around the Web. Thank you, Internet! Now go buy some music!*