This Is Your Song For....August 28th, 2013: Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton (Live in Toronto)

Sometimes, The Internet IS Your Friend!

Well, I see we’re back to Geekcore this morning.

And I have to admit, as much as I look at so much of Geekcore with askance, I rather like Jonathan  Coulton.  I first came across him on Brian Ibbot’s excellent podcast Coverville, which featured an adult contemporary-ized cover he did of ‘Baby Got Back’ as part of his Thing A Week Project.  You may remember that cover, as it became the center of a controversy when the folks at Glee decided to steal its arrangement (down to the use of a duck noise to hide a curseword) for one of their episodes and not give him any credit because, well, they're jerks who care nothing for the artists they're inspired by.  Spurred on by my love of that cover, I investigated his site and liked a lot of what I heard.  When I did my first podcast, Other People’s Toys, I used--with his permission--a different Coulton song to play me in.  I’ve continued to follow his career, and have not been disappointed a bit by what he does.

Coulton may very well be the first musician to use alternative media to get his word out.  He made it clear very early on that his work was considered Creative Commons, meaning anyone an share or remix his work as long as it wasn’t for commercial use.  He did a lot of outreach via the internet--his Thing A Week offered people who visited his site a free MP3 for an entire year, and there’s a number of them still free for the asking.  He was a frequent guest or contributor to a number of podcast.  The end result was that he was already making money off his music before he stepped out from behind his home recording equipment for his first studio album, Artificial Heart.  He’s an internet success story, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other geek musicians like Adam Warrock and John Anealio didn’t get some inspiration from his career arc.

This is a live recording of the end credits song he did for the video game Portal.  I have no idea what the game is about, not being a gamer, but it is indicative of Coulton’s sensibilities--the nerdish subject matter, the phrasing of the lyrics, the asides that effortlessly slide into the main song that are gone before you realize what happend.  And through it all, Coulton’s warm, expressive, very Brooklyn-esque voice is holding your hand and guiding you through even while he’s talking about death, dismemberment and mad science.  I find it kind of appealing that the fans are singing along at certain points, as if Coulton is a major stadium rock star --but then, to the right audience, every musician can be a stadium rock star, right?

Coulton still lives in Brooklyn and still makes music, although he doesn’t seem to make as much as he used to--since the release of Heart, he’s only released a Greatest Hits package and a scant few original songs--being busy with such concerns as the JoCo Cruise Crazy and a comic book featuring the hero of one of his most popular songs, ‘Code Monkey.  But I’m sure when the time comes, new Coulton songs will emerge.

Here’s a video.

40 Songs, 40 Days (2011 Edition), Day Twenty Four: Moon Knight by Adam WarRock featuring Tribe-One

And we return again to a member of the geekcore movement I truly enjoy, Adam WarRock, and another song from the West Coast Avengers mixtape I wrote about a while ago.

And just like with that Iron Man song I wrote about last year, this song works because Adam doesn't rely solely on name dropping. Yes, Adam and his guest star Tribe-One (who starts out the track by doing the equivalent of a station ID, telling us what we're listening to before assuring us he'd give us a cupcake and a hug even though he's a villain) do rap about Marc Spectre, making oblique references to Moon Knight's status as a minor hero, but they also make connections between Spectre's status as a mercenary with the tradition of the regulator...which they then use to compare the present materially-obsessed strain of popular rap with their own personal status.

This song only strengthens my own feelings about how Adam uses his geek tendencies as a departure point. Unlike so many other geekcore acts, Adam is unafraid to admit that he's interested in other things than comic books. And while it may not be among my favorite tracks of his, like the utterly amazing 'Top Wobble' (which summarizes Inception in roughly five minutes) or 'Fantomex (Weapon Plus)' or 'I Never Watched An Episode of Doctor Who' (about the 'all or nothing' snobbishness of geek culture), it's still eminently listenable.

Given how Adam has gone on to release mixtapes inspired by other 90's teams like X-Factor and The New Warriors, I'm looking forward to see what else he has up his sleeve. I hear he's about to drop a mixtape based on, of all things, Firefly. I may be the only geek in the world who can't stand that show, but you better bet I'll be downloading it when it drops.

You can learn more about Adam WarRock here, his blog. He frequently posts free music, so what's not to love?

30 Songs, 30 Days (2010 Edition), Day Eight: Iron Man by Adam WarRock

Okay, another musician from the intrawebs, Adam WarRock is prolly getting the most attention by being lumped into the category of 'Geekcore,' that spin-off of hip hop headed up by people like MC Chris who do rap songs about subjects of interest to geekdom--hell, this song is from WarRock's West Coast Avengers mixtape.

And I'll be the first to admit that the reason I downloaded this mixtape was because of my geek tendencies--especially since I write a fanfiction series about the West Coast Avengers over at Altered Visions. But, just as I thought yesterday's Hugo was inaccurately categorized, I think Adam WarRock is a much different artist from people like MC Chris, or MC Frontalot, or others of their ilk. Listen to this whole mixtape, and you'll see that Adam uses the characters not as subject, but as inspiration. Thus, the song about The Living Lightning becomes a defiant show of solidarity for gay civil rights; the song about USAgent is about the American tradition of standing up for your fellow man; and the song about the Scarlet Witch is actually a sweet love ballad that just happens to have some mutant references in it. Adam's thoughts and concerns are cast a lot wider than other Geekcore artists (and I think he knows it, judging from the way he clearly tells visitors to his blog that his geekcore content is only a third of his output), and it's strong, strong stuff.

This particular song is a classic shout out, the kind of opening track that rappers use on an album to stoke the listener up. It's got a relentless beat, Adam's vocals are fierce and hard...and it's one of a number of great listens on this mixtape. I strongly recommend this artist, this song, and this mixtape. Sure, it's geekcore...but there's so much more to this artist than dropping comic book heroes names.

This is a recording of a medley of Adam's song on the WCA mixtape.  Enjoy.