Marian Call

If you tell someone to picture a geek or a nerd, chances are you think of some scrawny guy with big glasses, high waist pants, and terribly hunched posture from sitting at a computer or other gaming station. Women being involved in geek culture has been a fairly new thing, publicly, and has gotten a lot of mixed reactions. Some people look down on the girl gamers and geeks, saying that they only got into comics or gaming because it became popular, that they're riding out the mainstream fad of being nerdy. If this is true or not, I'm more than happy to have women involved in nerdy culture and be proud of who they are. One such proud individual is Marian Call, an iconic musician in the nerd world. She's attended many, many, conventions and events throughout North America to perform. 

One of her songs, I'll Still be A Geek, is also known as the Nerd Anthem and with good reason. She calls out the stereotypes that geeky women fight against, proudly stating all the facets of nerd-dom that she enjoys. In addition to incredibly amusing lyrics, Marian Call has a beautiful voice that she uses to captivate her audiences. 

When not singing overtop of typewriters and listing her favourite nerds throughout history, Marian Call also brings a tender side to her music. Dark, Dark Eyes is one of my personal favourite songs on her album Got to Fly. The guitar and clarinet add to the mood of the song perfectly. Just give it a listen.

Geeks of all genders, orientations, and interests should check out this wonderfully talented women. Beautiful, funny, and relatable music is always a welcome addition to the world, especially in the slightly obsessive world of geekiness.

Toodles!

Benny Greb

A lot of the music I've posted about has either been very mellow or from a video game. This week, I decided to branch out a little and give some exposure to an artist a lot of people probably don't know about *pushes glasses up nose*. As a percussionist and a music educator, I attend conventions that have some of the most amazing and inspiring artists from around the world. One such person is Benny Greb. Considered to be one of the best drummers in the world right now (he was a feature panelist at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, so don't bite my head off for that statement), Benny Greb has absolutely astonishing mastery over the drum set. One of his albums, Grebfruit, is almost exclusively him playing drum set overtop of multi-tracks of himself singing a capella.

Below is the title track for the album. The first few seconds are a little goofy, but then the drumming starts and it gets amazing. Try and focus on the drums while listening, and realize that the drum parts are not multi-tracked in. He's literally playing all of that live.

People ask me why I don't usually like popular music nowadays. After hearing drum parts like this, you try going back to electronically produced drum loops or listening to a rock beat played over and over for five minutes.

In addition to singing and playing drum set, Benny Greb also plays a beautiful piece on piano on this particular album. It's got a simplicity to it that just resonates with me. I tear up a little every time I listen to it, and I have no idea why.

Benny Greb's music is available on iTunes, or you can get the CD's from his official website. and I highly recommend buying his albums. Once again, please don't illegally download music. Musicians pour their body and souls into their music. It won't kill you to pay for their time instead of buying a large coffee tomorrow.

Toodles!

Mackenzie Johnson

There are a lot of musicians who make their beginning on Youtube, doing covers of popular artists (for better or worse). One such musician worth noting is Mackenzie Johnson. She takes music back to it's simplicity, before auto-tune and electronics took such a huge role in popular music. It's just her, her acoustic guitar, and a microphone. With a beautifully melodic voice, and a subtly artistry on the guitar, Mackenzie is the prime example of what I wish popular musicians tried to be nowadays (Others include Ed Sheeran, Jimmy Wong, Steam Powered Girafee, and more). Mackenzie does wonderful acoustic covers, and has also been making her own original music for a while now.

Check out Mackenzie's Youtube channel and see if one of your favourite songs already has been covered. If not, I bet you could message her and see if she'll do it! Help support young musicians, they pour their souls into this kind of life. She also seems to be a wonderful human being, with one of her original songs calling out on intolerant people (Careful when you listen to the link below, it has a few swears in it). It's such an adorable song, give it a listen.

Toodles!

Cage the Elephant

As far as games that I will remember throughout my life, Borderlands is definitely on the list. As someone who loves to play EVERY possible combination in games (Dragon Age was a nightmare for me...), I saw the opening credits to Borderlands many, many times. The title song for the game was Ain't No Rest For the Wicked, by Cage the Elephant. After listening to the song so many times, I was hooked on the band. Their lyrics are clever, and the use of slide guitar adds a unique sound to the group. For those who don't enjoy louder music, or are looking for entirely clean lyrics, maybe give this group a pass. But otherwise, definitely check them out (and actually pay for the music, musicians work hard).

A big thanks to my friend Vil for introducing me to the game, and letting me invade his room constantly to play it. I'll never hear this song without imagining a skag getting run over.

Toodles!

Imagine Dragons

If you watched the League of Legends World Championships last year, you would know that the live show was amazing. For those who didn't see it, a group known as Imagine Dragons performed with their band, a full orchestra, and a collection of taiko drummers (It was in Korea). Imagine Dragons is an incredibly talented group of musicians who turned out to be massive nerds. During an interview, the members admitted to being late to perform for a concert because they were finishing up a game of League. 

I'm going to let their musicianship speak for itself below, so I'll talk about how awesome these guys are as people. They love League so much that when Riot Games asked them to make what was basically the theme song for the World Championships, they agreed wholeheartedly. The song was released to the public FOR FREE (Because Riot loves it's fans, and Imagine Dragons love League). Imagine Dragons is also known for it's more publicly popular song, Radioactive (shown second below).

For a group of guys to be this generous, this nerdy, and this talented, Imagine Dragons is doing music right.

Seriously, listen to these awesome nerds.

Toodles!

Room Eleven

So far so good, I'm aiming for a perfect week of posts. Yet another Wednesday, another post about music! Also, I'm super good at this blogging thing. Just realized a few days ago that no one could comment without being a registered user. So I changed that setting, comments should be open for everyone now.

Anywho, today I'd like to bring your attention to Room Eleven. This group reminds me a lot of Caro Emerald, which I've already talked about. Room Eleven features a lovely female lead, who's voice is very smooth. You can really hear her facial expressions when she sings (that may sound weird to some, but vocal people know what I mean). Room Eleven uses an interesting selection of instruments, ranging from guitar, accordion, piano, kazoo, sultry singing, and of course a drum set. The lyrics also are cleverly written, and I connected a lot with the song below, Come Closer. One line in particular really stuck with me. 

"Electricity, the energy surround me / Thrills run to my spine, now your fingers are mine / Soon, you will follow me / Tomorrow you'll be drinking tea with me / Let's write some poetry"

Seeing as I've gotten back into writing poetry (now that I have a muse), and of course drinking tea, that line always makes me smirk.

Take a listen to Room Eleven, and fall into the expressive tones

Toodles!

Steam Powered Giraffe

In one of my earlier music posts, I mentioned a massive library trade I did with a friend. Caro Emerald remains one of my favourite artists to this day. Another fantastic group that I was exposed to in this exchange is Steam Powered Giraffe. If you think the name is strange, you should see them perform. The group got together as a few people that were really interested in pantomime and music. They created stage personas, put on a ton of makeup to make themselves look like actual robots, and donned their best Victorian steampunk attire (Their website even has fictional histories about each stage character). Thus, the band was born.

Their music is incredibly complex musically, with nods to barbershop quartets, dubstep, electronic, ballads, and a number of other musical styles. They use a variety of instruments to add a robotic flavour to their sound, but the band really shines in its live performances. The robotic motion is retained even while singing, there is a ton of oddball comedy, and they banter with each other between songs.

In addition to being musically amazing, one of the members also does all of the art for the group, with a style that reminds me of Tim Burton. This band member is also interesting to me because they are openly transsexual. With my sibling being a member of a similar community, finding this out about a member of one of my favourite bands gave me a little swell of pride. With new laws being passed in the States that are giving the LGTB*A (I don't know them all off hand, sorry) community more rights, I'm proud of those who have been open about who they are and brave the storm of bigots before acceptance was more widely done.

If you're looking for a musically talented band, exceptional makeup artists, and genuinely funny people and performers, check out Steam Powered Giraffe. Their music is well worth a buy. 

Toodles!

Joshua Radin

It's amazing how music can affect so many aspects of your life. A number of years ago, I was dating a girl and I listened to an artist all the time when she was around. I'd sing along with the songs for her. She'd sing to me too, but was fairly tone deaf. It was hard to listen to as a music student. Regardless, I had built up the association between our relationship and the songs. When we broke up, I couldn't listen to them without thinking of her, so I stopped listening to the artist all together.

Now, a number of years and relationships later, I began listening to the artist again. My past associations with it have decayed, and I can begin creating new connections with Kitten. The artist is question is Joshua Radin.

I was first introduced to Joshua Radin by my sibling, when they sent me his song, "No Envy, No Fear". It's a very mellow piece that talks about seeing the pain in others, particularly family, and helping them through it. Looking back at it all, it's a very appropriate song for the two of us.  

Joshua Radin has a very laid back sound, his vocal register is easily within reach for my own voice (he's a baritone), and his lyrics are beautifully chosen. The accompaniment is light, usually just a guitar or two, some percussion, and a chill drumset. 

The fact that I listen to his music while working in the kitchen is a feat in itself, considering how loud that environment is. But Joshua Radin's music helps me to calm down after a stressful situation, and to make me think of Kitten. That always makes me smile. 

If you're looking for some relaxed music to listen to, and maybe make you tear up a little, give Joshua Radin a listen.

Toodles!

Working with Children

One of the reasons that I love teaching music is that I get to experience the students' success right alongside them. I can't even count how many time I've worked with students as a clinician and physically jumped into the air when they achieve a goal. Moments like that are reminders to me that, while I love to do a lot of things, teaching music is what I want to do as my career.

As I am still working on my education degree, I don't have any students that are "mine". I work with kids for a few hours and then they disappear back to their actual teacher. In that short amount of time, I learn about what makes these kids individuals, what they strive for, what their limits are. I see them struggle and attempt new ideas, some that contradict what they thought was right. And I almost always see them succeed, and in a way that they realize that they made progress.

I get so much joy from seeing students succeed and improve. I can't even imagine what it will be like when I go from having maybe 4 students to 40, from 3 hours to 3 times each week, from short term corrections to long term goals.

If you're not sure if you want to be a teacher, do become one. It is a profession of passion, of sacrifice, and immense effort. But nothing compares to seeing a student realize that they've grown, as a musician, as an adult, as an individual. Teach for that. Everything else is just bonus. 

Toodles!

Caro Emerald

Happy Wednesday, curtesy of the border!

Now that Plantie and I have moved in a little bit (I still have a ton of unpacking to do), it's time for today's post. 

I was introduced to Caro Emerald, an amazing musician, a few years ago by a friend of mine. We decided to swap music libraries with each other (No small feat for two music nerds). Among the masses of music exchanged, one artist I was introduced to was this amazing woman. Caro combines an almost jazz/big band sound with a great grove. She uses really interesting combinations of sounds in her songs, like one that uses record scratching alongside a clarinet and trumpet. Think modernized ska.

Her amazing singing voice, well chosen lyrics, diverse genres of music, and creative instrumentation make Caro Emerald an artist I highly recommend to anyone looking for some great new music to listen to. Just go listen to her. You'll see what I mean.

Toodles!