The Doubleclicks with instruments in wood

Nerd music (or geek music) is the overall category of music collecting the musical genres that grew from

nerd culture A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tech ...

; different styles that share the same common ground.

Origins

The earliest example was

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...

, from the 1950s onwards, played by fans at science fiction conventions. Towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, other styles of music developed. Factors that made this possible were the increasing affordability of equipment, the growth of the internet and the increase in the nerd-geek demographic.

Nerd folk

Nicole Dieker performing as Hello the Future

Nerd-folk (also nerd folk, geek-folk, or dork-folk) is a musical genre derived from filking that features humorous original songs involving geeky topics performed in a folk style. Laser Malena-Webber and Aubrey Turner of

The Doubleclicks The Doubleclicks are a nerd-folk musical duo based in Portland, Oregon, consisting of siblings Laser Malena-Webber (on guitar, ukulele, or cat keyboard) and Aubrey Turner. They first became known for performing nerd-friendly comedy music, inclu ...

credit

Marian Call Marian Call (born February 24, 1982 in Gig Harbor, Washington) is an American singer-songwriter based in Juneau, Alaska. Call has released three studio albums: ''Vanilla'' (2007), ''Got to Fly'' (2008), and ''Something Fierce'' (2011). In ear ...

and others with creating the genre. The genre is related to filking and other nerd music genres such as

nerdcore Nerdcore is a genre of hip hop music characterized by subject matter considered of interest to nerds and geeks. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot has the earliest known recorded use of the term (to describe this genre) in the 2000 ...

hip-hop and

geek rock Geek rock (also known as nerd rock or dork rock) is a musical subgenre derived from pop rock and alternative rock within the nerd music group. It is a sister genre to the chiptune-influenced rock subgenre Nintendocore and related to other branches ...

(alternative rock).

List of nerd folk artists

Brobdingnagian Bards The Brobdingnagian Bards are a Celtic music group from Austin, Texas, United States. History Marc Gunn, formerly of Austin Texas' alternative rock bands Skander and Breastfed, released a solo album (''Geography'') featuring himself on autoharp a ...

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...

* Debs and Errol *

Garfunkel and Oates Garfunkel and Oates is an American comedy folk duo consisting of actresses Riki Lindhome, who performs as Garfunkel, and Kate Micucci, who performs as Oates. Their fast-paced songs typically combine raunchy observational comedy with sweet-sou ...

Hank Green William Henry Green II (born May 5, 1980) is an American vlogger, science communicator, entrepreneur, author, internet producer, and musician. He is known for producing the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his older brother, author John Green ...

Hello, The Future! Hello, The Future! is a nerd-folk band whose only permanent member is Nicole Dieker. She has been performing as Hello, The Future! since May 2010,

Marc Gunn Marc Andrew Gunn (born March 17, 1972) is an American musician and podcaster. Gunn rose to prominence as the autoharp-playing half of the Brobdingnagian Bards. He and partner Andrew McKee developed a following with weekly performances on the ...

* Misbehavin' Maidens *

Molly Lewis Molly Lewis (aka Sweetafton23) is an American musician who is known for her ukulele playing and who rose to prominence on the Internet. She plays both covers and original songs. Her original music consists of comedic songs that deal with relevan ...

* The PDX Broadsides *

The Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", ...

* SJ Stephens

Events and festivals

The music festival

Nerdapalooza Nerdapalooza was an annual nerd music and arts festival in Orlando, Florida, United States, the first of its kind to invite all genres of the nerd music movement under one roof, including geek rock, nerdcore, chiptune, and video game music. The ...

(2007–13) described itself as "the first of its kind to invite all genres of the nerd music movement under one roof, including nerd rock, nerdcore hip hop, chiptunes, and video game music." Other conventions and events have since hosted nerd music acts of a range of styles.

References

External links

Geek Bands Wiki
{{Folk music 2000s in music 2010s in music 2020s in music