GeekDad HipTrax Logo by Dave Banks

With 2011 now behind us, I can’t help but reflect on all the musical goodness that we enjoyed over the course of that year. Sadly, it saw a pair of my longtime favorite artists say goodbye to their previous projects, but it also introduced listeners like me to many amazing new acts only just beginning their meteoric rise!

It’s the ciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiiiiiiife!

Um… And now on with the show:

“It is Your Turn Now” by Pixelh8

Back in November, famed UK chiptuner Pixelh8 officially retired from the scene. His musical legacy includes a half-dozen phenomenal albums and EPs, not to mention his custom-built music-making software. His parting gift to fans and fellow musicians alike was this inspired (and inspiring) tune.

“Mega Man Forever” by Random

Similarly, hip-hopper Random has announced that, with the release of his Mega Ran 10 album, he is turning in his helmet and arm cannon. It’s a sad day for nerdcore, but let’s not forget that Ran has made equally amazing music about many other video game characters and franchises.

“No Easy Way to Say This” by The Doubleclicks

While some of our favorite established artists are (sadly) moving in new directions, Portland’s nerd folk duo The Doubleclicks are only now starting to garner the attention and respect that they truly deserve. Combining contemporary geek rock with a classic filk lean and a proper helping of cello, they are difficult to resist. So I recommend that you just stop trying.

Want to hear more? Subscribe to the GeekDad podcast in iTunes (see the button on the sidebar), or directly through the RSS feed. You can also download GeekDad HipTrax #80 via this link.

The HipTrax theme song was created by Snake Eyes. His prom date was also a vampire.

Tempo can be defined as how fast or slow a piece of music should be sung or played at. Tempo is what listeners are talking about when they refer to a song as being “upbeat” or “slow.” Musicians measure tempo in B.P.M. or Beats Per Minute. Even though one beat per second sounds like it would be fast, 60 B.P.M. is actually a very slow tempo. Most pop songs fall in the 85 to 125 B.P.M. range. Some genres of music are defined by the tempos that they employ (Speed Metal and Downtempo Electronica being the most obvious examples).

Let’s experiment with the GarageBand app on the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to shed some light on the significance of tempo.

Fire up the app and touch the “Gear” Icon in the upper right hand corner.

Tap the “Song” button and then press “Tempo”.

From here, you have two options:

1. You can press the up and down arrows to manually set the tempo by number.
2. You can tap a steady beat directly on the “Tap to set Tempo” button. It takes at least 4 taps for this to work.

Let’s set our tempo manually to 96 B.P.M.:

Finish by pressing the blue “Done” button in the upper right hand corner.

Let’s pick some drums to play a beat to our tempo.

Press the “down arrow” button in the top left hand corner and the tap the “Instruments” button.

Swipe until you get to the “Smart Drums” Icon and select it.

Put your finger on the “Bass Drum” Icon and slide it into the grid.
Continue by “sliding” the snare drum and high hat icons into the grid.

You now have a cool beat grooving along at 96 B.P.M.!

Want some more fun? Tap the “die” icon. This will randomize the elements of your beat. Each time you press the die, a new beat will be created at 96 B.P.M.

To really see how different tempos can affect the feel of music, tap the “Gear” Icon followed by the “Tempo” button and experiment with faster and slower tempo settings.

And since I cannot, in good conscience, allow these most notable of efforts to go unnoticed, I’ve compiled a handy list of 12 more phenomenal tracks that may have unwittingly passed you by.

The OverClocked Plaid Muffins – ”Ska Buffet (All You Can Eat)”
OverClocked ReMix
Trying to pick a standout track from a musical community as eclectic, prolific and heavily peer-reviewed as OverClocked ReMix is a tough call. Still, even taking into consideration special projects like their epic tribute albums, 2011′s most pleasantly surprising OCR cut was easily the Kirby Super Star-inspired “Ska Buffet.” A labor of love by no fewer than eight community ReMixers, The OverClocked Plaid Muffins represent another in a long, proud line of virtual bands to crank out amazing tunes using the interconnectivity afforded by the digital age. And the best news? Level 99, the group’s conceptual center, hipped me to some early mixes of forthcoming OCPM tracks at this summer’s Nerdapalooza, and they are every bit as tasty as this debut!

The Garthim-Master and DJ Extend – ”Dude, Where’s My AT-AT At? (feat. Wordburglar)”
Bandcamp
There’s something undeniably unique about Canadian hip-hop, and this is especially true of rapper The Garthim-Master. His 2011 full-length Ghosts of Nostalgia — backed up by German producer DJ Extend — skillfully blended the verbally impressionistic with the thematically sentimental, and tracks like humorous Star Wars narrative “Dude, Where’s My AT-AT At?” provided the sometimes intimidating sounds of the hip-hop underground with distinct nerd appeal.

Supercommuter – ”It is Splendid!”
Amazon – Bandcamp
For whatever reason, chiptune music always seems to be a bit of a hard sell to new listeners. (Even more so than, say, a pair of Canadian underground hip-hop staples rhyming about Star Wars.) Yet on their sophomore release Products of Science, Seattle chip-hop trio Supercommuter managed to bridge the gap between experimental lo-fi electronica, nerdcore rap and engaging robot rock. It’s easily one of the year’s best albums, and “It is Splendid” is an early standout.

Swagberg – ”Pony Swag (fear. Maros)”
CosmicDuck
Daniel Dušek-Wilkes has made a name for himself as one of nerdcore hip-hop’s most recognizable voices, not to mention one of its greatest critics. With a bigger-is-better production style and a lyrical slant as heavily focused on sharp diction as its well-honed wordplay, he is both innovator and home-grown detractor. Still, as severe (if generally well-reasoned) as his attacks against nerdcore hangers-on may be, his lyrical tribute to brony life released this summer is as honest and well-meaning as it is tuneful and engaging.

213. Listen to the music on her iPod. It just might help you understand a thing or two about her point of view.

(photo: Gregory Warran)

Jonathan Coulton tops this list of geeky holiday songs. Image: jonathancoulton.com

The winter solstice is a time of joy and merriment. It’s a time to visit family, renew old friendships, and commune in a spirit of love, brotherhood and sisterhood with our fellow Homo sapiens. It’s no wonder, then, that this season has produced some of the most angst-filled music ever heard, and no one knows how to throw down the angst like a geek.

The irony is that, rather than being depressing, these songs can actually cheer you up far more than any saccharine gooey sweetness from Amy Grant or Josh Groban. Listening to these songs I’m thinking, “Hey, at least my life’s not as bad as this guy’s.”

So to help brighten your otherwise tense holidays, I offer these 10 little bittersweet chocolate nuggets.

1. ‘Chiron Beta Prime’ — Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton’s homage to those “let me catch you up on the family” holiday letters ties an unexpected twist when the family in question has been sequestered to an asteroid by our robot overlords. “Chiron Beta Prime” was originally written around Christmastime 2004 as a “Christmas song with a futuristic theme” for a friend to send out on a CD as a holiday card. It was officially released in 2006 as part of Coulton’s famous “Thing a Week” collection, which were all “open source” songs, allowing Mike Spiff Booth to make this nifty video.

2. ‘Post Apocalypse Christmas’ — Gruff Rhys

“Post Apocalypse Christmas” is part of former Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys‘ album “Atheist Xmas EP,” out this week.

3. ‘That Was the Worst Christmas Ever’ — Sufjan Stevens

This is one of the most beautiful and delicate songs on the list. With lyrics that deal with a dysfunctional family Christmas, it’s also possibly the most depressing song on the list. Released on Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas, Vol. III recorded December 2003, it’s part of a multivolume epic Songs for Christmas series by Sufjan Stevens.

4. ‘Christmas Wrapping’ — The Waitresses

This song is the story of a young girl who has been chasing a particular man all year long, only to finally give up and decide to spend Christmas alone. My wife refused to listen to this song for years. Any time it would come on, she would insist that I turn it off, telling me it me it was too depressing. One time I finally made her listen to it, and its eventual happy ending. It’s now her favorite holiday song.

5. ‘Fairy Tale of New York’ — The Pogues

Any song that begins with the line “It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank” has my vote for best angsty holiday song ever! The song is a duet between The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan (worst teeth ever) and Kirsty MacColl, reliving an Irish couple’s coming to New York to fulfill their dreams, both real and imagined.

Jonathan Coulton tops this list of geeky holiday songs. Image: jonathancoulton.com

The winter solstice is a time of joy and merriment. It’s a time to visit family, renew old friendships, and commune in a spirit of love, brotherhood and sisterhood with our fellow Homo sapiens. It’s no wonder, then, that this season has produced some of the most angst-filled music ever heard, and no one knows how to throw down the angst like a geek.

The irony is that, rather than being depressing, these songs can actually cheer you up far more than any saccharine gooey sweetness from Amy Grant or Josh Groban. Listening to these songs I’m thinking, “Hey, at least my life’s not as bad as this guy’s.”

So to help brighten your otherwise tense holidays, I offer these 10 little bittersweet chocolate nuggets.

1. ‘Chiron Beta Prime’ — Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton’s homage to those “let me catch you up on the family” holiday letters ties an unexpected twist when the family in question has been sequestered to an asteroid by our robot overlords. “Chiron Beta Prime” was originally written around Christmastime 2004 as a “Christmas song with a futuristic theme” for a friend to send out on a CD as a holiday card. It was officially released in 2006 as part of Coulton’s famous “Thing a Week” collection, which were all “open source” songs, allowing Mike Spiff Booth to make this nifty video.

2. ‘Post Apocalypse Christmas’ — Gruff Rhys

“Post Apocalypse Christmas” is part of former Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys‘ album “Atheist Xmas EP,” out this week.

3. ‘That Was the Worst Christmas Ever’ — Sufjan Stevens

This is one of the most beautiful and delicate songs on the list. With lyrics that deal with a dysfunctional family Christmas, it’s also possibly the most depressing song on the list. Released on Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas, Vol. III recorded December 2003, it’s part of a multivolume epic Songs for Christmas series by Sufjan Stevens.

4. ‘Christmas Wrapping’ — The Waitresses

This song is the story of a young girl who has been chasing a particular man all year long, only to finally give up and decide to spend Christmas alone. My wife refused to listen to this song for years. Any time it would come on, she would insist that I turn it off, telling me it me it was too depressing. One time I finally made her listen to it, and its eventual happy ending. It’s now her favorite holiday song.

5. ‘Fairy Tale of New York’ — The Pogues

Any song that begins with the line “It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank” has my vote for best angsty holiday song ever! The song is a duet between The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan (worst teeth ever) and Kirsty MacColl, reliving an Irish couple’s coming to New York to fulfill their dreams, both real and imagined.

LED menorah photo by Windell H. Oskay, www.evilmadscientist.com, used under CC attribution license.

While all of the gentiles (or goyim) are celebrating a holiday where all the gifts are opened at once — after being delivered through the chimney by an overweight icon in a red suit — I’ll be lighting a candle and opening one gift a night, starting Tuesday night at sundown. That’s right folks, I celebrate Chanukah. Or Hanukah, Hanuka, Hannukah, Hanukkah, Channukah or just חֲנֻכָּה. Basically, the spelling is up in the air as it’s a transliteration of sounds from a language based on symbols. I like to use Chanukah for some reason, maybe because the CH sound at the beginning forces me to make it sound like a Klingon word.

Now that we’ve established my religious preference (though if my wife would let me I’d convert to Pastafarian in a heartbeat) let’s take a look at eight random ways you can make Chanukah as geeky (or at least as fun) as humanly (or robotically) possible whether you celebrate it or not.

8. Light ‘Em Up!

Jewish or not, you probably know that Chanukah is traditionally called “The Festival of Lights” and includes the tradition of lighting the Menorah, one candle a night. How can lighting candles be geeky? Well, even if you’re not sitting in a giant LEGO menorah the lighting of the candles doesn’t have to be boring. You could build your own flamethrower to light the candles, or my personal favorite – just use your craft torch!

7. Plate Full of Latkes

One of the foods consumed (in great quantities in my house) around this time of year are Latkes. Simply put, they are fried potato pancakes. Imagine chopped up french fries, covered in onion rings and deep fried in hot oil. I like a little beer batter on mine. Latkes make the perfect all-night gaming snack, and go great with a Mountain Dew and an 8-hour session of WoW.

6. Everyone Can Sing

Jews don’t just say prayers, we sing them. Seriously. Over the years I’ve learned something — no-one in my family can sing. When reciting the blessings every night while lighting the candles, I cringe. Thanks to the magic of the iPhone and the genius of T-Pain, we have the I am T-Pain iPhone app, so you can simply record the blessing into your iPhone and auto-tune it! Amazing! Also, it can be used for all the other blessings, as well as Nana’s kvetching about how things were when she was young and poor.

5. Chanukah Viewing Party

Similar to the tradition of viewing A Christmas Story over and over and over on Christmas Eve, in my household we like to view Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights every night after we open gifts. It’s a hilarious animated movie that teaches a great lesson to kids about behavior and charity. Recently my brother suggested we add a new film to the Chanukah viewing rotation, for after the kids are in bed. Adam Goldberg’s The Hebrew Hammer. Probably the strangest and most original holiday film ever made. Though I’ve always preferred The Frisco Kid.

4. Go Read Comics

Stan "The Man" Lee. Image from the Wikimedia Commons and used under Creative Commons license. Excelsior!

It’s well known that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are both Jewish and are responsible for creating a lot of the comic book characters out there. But those guys are real. Here’s a short list of some comic book characters that you may be familiar with that are lighting the Menorah this Chanukah. Except for Magneto, as he was born Jewish but turned his back on religion. Iceman (his mom is Jewish), Marvel Boy (Justice), Microchip (the Punisher’s assistant), Prime and of course, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) who wears her faith around her neck.

3. Chanukah Through Music

While we all are familiar with Adam Sandler’s now infamous Chanukah ballads, delighting in naming all the famous Jews and making pot jokes, fellow GeekDad Z helped me compile a list of some other great Chanukah-related music you may not have heard. From nerdcore to TMBG to Sarah Silverman, there is some good stuff here that you can easily find a place to download from (like iTunes, Amazon, etc.) and make yourself the perfect Chanukah mixtape.

Erran Baron Cohen (brother of Sasha) released an album of traditional Chanukah songs called Songs In The Key Of Hanukkah.

A great mashup from DJ Flack called “Dreidl-Bells.”

Senator Orrin Hatch wrote a Chanukah song. Go figure. It’s called “A Melody Fit for a Maccabee.”

A bit of musical comedy from the group Da Vinci’s Notebook (two of whom went on to become Paul and Storm), with their Alice in Chains-inspired cover of “Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel.” Wicked.

Music group The LeeVees put out an excellent album of modern Chanukah songs, Hanukkah Rocks. Among the songs are the very funny “At the Timeshare” and “Kugel.”

The Barenaked Ladies holiday album, Barenaked for the Holidays contains some Chanukah songs in that distinctive BNL style. Side note: Their song “Hanukkah Blessings” made it onto Rock Band.

They Might Be Giants also released a holiday EP a couple years back, with one Chanukah song on it, called “Feast of Lights.”

In the chiptune category, 8 Bit Weapon has included a Chanukah song on their new holiday album, It’s a Chiptune Holiday.

Let us also not forget the timeless Christmas Jews album released by the hilarious 2 Live Jews comedy music duo. It’s a contradiction of sorts, since it’s Jews ripping apart Christmas music with some Chanukah songs sprinkled in.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure (though not all safe for the geeklets) there is Sarah Silverman’s “Give the Jew Girl Toys” and the less inappropriate though still classic Kyle Broflovski’s “Lonely Jew on Christmas” ballad.

2. Record It All

As geeks, it’s our duty to get in everyone’s face with the new video camera. It’s our obligation to Twitter while opening gifts. It’s also in our best interest to take hundreds of pictures to then upload to Flickr to share with the world. It is then in our best interest to upload the video to YouTube so your family in another state can see your kids singing the Chanukah blessings as though they were wrought with the spirit of T-Pain. Don’t forget to set up the continuous slide-shows on the digital picture frames scattered throughout the house. But you already knew all that, you do it every weekend.

1. If You Build It, Presents Will Come

Whenever possible, a true geek doesn’t buy it. A true geek builds it. That rule holds for the centerpiece of the Chanukah holiday, the Menorah. For you gentiles, that’s the thing that holds the candles. For the kids, might I suggest a D.I.Y. Menorah kit? Just remember, whatever you build the Menorah out of, try not to make it flammable. Personally, I like a good solid metal one or one made out of old computer parts. If you are feeling lazy however, you can head over to ThinkGeek and buy one made from a motherboard with LED lighting. Pretty. Though if you want to get really hardcore geek with your Menorah, go with the Star Trek Pez LED Menorah. If you think making a Menorah is too tough, then go make a Droidel. (Note: “Droidel” link goes to Internet Archive page because the original page is no longer available on starwars.com.)

That’s it! So from all of us here at GeekDad have a fun and geeky Chanukah! Hope you get all eight gifts you asked for and more! I know I’m getting a handful of giftcards. L’Chaim y’all!

[Note: This article was originally published on GeekDad on December 11, 2009.]