Geeky Music

In which meandthestereo rambles on about the musical loves of geeks and debates his own geeklyhood:

I can’t normally tell other people this (they laugh, undoubtedly), but I can tell you, internet (can’t I?), that I am indelibly in love with geeky music.

I can only speak for myself, but in doing so, I tend to label myself as being ‘geeky’, but that’s only a small fraction of who I am as a whole. Take a look:

Is ‘meandthestereo’ a Geek?

Reasons for:

• Plays video games (RPGs such as Final Fantasy or Platformers like Katamari Damacy and Mister Mosquito)
• Reads comic books (Batman, Spider-Man, Invincible)
• Is an electrical engineer (soldering is fun, look at me solder!)
• Is outstandingly good at the Yo-yo (YES.)

Reasons against:

• Has a wife (It’s true.)
• Plays lots of sports (like tennis, basketball, football)
• Plays an instrument (many, actually, like piano, guitar, bass, harmonica, etc, etc…)
• Has a job (…in engineering)

So, as you can see, it’s like 50/50, which is a good thing! I love knowing that I’m sometimes extremely geeky! But I also embrace my not geeky self, and enjoy being a nice mixture of things.

Anyways, so what do I enjoy about geeky music? Onward!!!

Video Game Soundtracks

A really bad game soundtrack can make a good video game bad, too (anybody else mute the Street Fighter IV music?); however, some games have amazing music that some people, like myself, enjoy listening to even if we’re not playing the game. Video game music composers have become an essential part of the gaming industry, and if a studio wants to give extra life to its video game experience, and some longevity to its product, you’ll notice a great score along with an official soundtrack you can purchase. I suggest you check out these:

• Eternal Sonata: A game that may have been produced SCORE first, I’ve heard good things about the gameplay and the soundtrack is amazing.
• Any Final Fantasy games: Nobuo Uematsu is an amazing composer, so pick up anything he does (though my favs are FF7 & FF8 )
• Katamari Damacy: This remains one of the quirkiest and funnest games around; the soundtrack is equally exciting
• Eternal Darkness: Remember the Gamecube? Pick up this soundtrack and listen in surround sound to be fully freaked out.
• Rez: If you ever want to start your own rave, this soundtrack alone will do.
• Nintendo Symphony: You will probably have to do some searching to find this stuff, but hearing Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. tracks played by a symphony is a lot of fun.

Movie and Series Soundtracks

Movie and series soundtracks are also important to their respective experiences. Imagine Star Wars without its iconic score, or The Breakfast Club without Simple Minds. Let’s take a look at some fun soundtracks I enjoy:

• The Karate Kid: “You’re the best…arooouuunnd!”
• The FLCL OST: FLCL is one of my favorite anime, and using Japanese band, The Pillows’, music for the series was a perfect choice.
• Star Wars: My parents had some vinyl Star Wars soundtracks, and I think it was the first time I really focused on the music for a movie. The scores are done by John Williams, and you don’t want to miss anything he’s done.
• Any films by Wes Anderson: My fave is the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, but the Life Aquatic one is good, too. Mark Mothersbaugh is a constant composer of tracks for Anderson films, and he adds to the unique atmosphere that Wes Anderson creates.
• Any films by Hayao Miyazaki: What you’ll most remember about Miyazaki’s films are the dramatic scenes and the beautiful unfolding story. Listening to the score in places where you can’t watch his films leaves you remembering and longing for those scenes. My favorite is Spirited Away, but pick up anything you can find.
• There Will Be Blood: Jonny Greenwood (from Radiohead!) composed the score for this dark film. Pick it up. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Other Forms of Geeky Music

• Pick up some comic books: Alan Moore likes to use lyrics and poetic form in his writing; see if you recognize the songs in Watchmen or try to sing the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen songs aloud!
• Study up on music: Hmm…let’s see, we have J-pop, Nerdcore, Geek Rock, Math Rock, Mathcore and Space Rock. With Weezer, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd, and MC Hawking all in the mix, you’ll have plenty to geek out to at work!
• Play some music: There are lots of websites with scores for almost any video game track you’d want to play on piano. Or, traverse over to a guitar tab site and find out how to play the Simpsons theme on the guitar.

This is what I enjoy. Of course, the scope of geekiness is so huge, that I’m sure I only know of a very small portion of it. If you’ve got something else that simply MUST be known, add it in the comments and I’ll be sure to check it out!