Forsgren: Rock Into The New Year With These Nerdy Bands

It’s a new year, and it’s time for renewal and refreshment. That includes your playlists. If you’re looking for new sounds, you may want to check out the nerdier side of the musical spectrum. I have a few suggestions for nerdy acts you can start off your nerd rock playlist with. Check them out and see what you think!

Kirby Krackle

The brainchild of front-man Kyle Stevens, Kirby Krackle writes catchy, melodic rock songs about all kinds of nerdy subjects. From comics characters like Green Lantern to all the stuff a lottery-winning nerd would blow all his cash on, KK covers all angles of nerd culture. As they’ve matured, they’ve expanded their scope to include less-nerdy material, but Kirby Krackle is still at their best when they’re kicking out the nerdy jams.

Here’s Kirby Krackle’s geeky hit “Up Up Down Down”:

And here’s their recent track “We Had a Good Run”:

Powerwolf

I doubt pretty seriously that these German metal merchants consider themselves “nerd rock,” but their music taps into tales of lycanthropy (werewolves) and religious themes. The combination of blistering metal music with lyrical monster movie imagery and religious references makes for music that nerds can really dig into.

Here’s Powerwolf rocking out with “Dead Until Dark”:

The Doubleclicks

This sister-sister duo from Portland specialize in writing folky, poppy songs that get easily stuck in your head and cause you to sing along. They get super nerdy on songs about the plight of apostrophes or the lame guy yells “FREEBIRD” at concerts. It’s simple, tuneful, wonderful stuff.

Here’s The Doubleclicks performing “Clever Girl”: a self-esteem anthem for dinosaurs:

I Fight Dragons

Combining hooky guitar pop with sounds right out of old Nintendo video games, Chicago’s I Fight Dragons craft a punchy, rousing tunes that infect your brain like an auditory virus, which is fitting, considering the video of one of their best songs is basically a spoof of old zombie movies.

Here’s the most excellently nerdy video for “Save World Get Girl”

Adam WarRock

If hip hop is more your thing, you may want to check out Adam WarRock. The one-time lawyer spins jams about comic book retcons (if you don’t know what a “retcon” is, Google it) and all kinds of other elements of science fiction, comics and nerd culture. He even did a whole collection of tunes about the doomed sci-fi TV series “Firefly”.

Here’s Adam WarRock’s tribute to Thor’s hammer, “Mjolnir”:

Lords of the Trident

Billing themselves as “the most metal band on Earth”, these guys write some pretty smoking tunes that connect to that place in your brain that makes your head bang. The nerdiness comes from the fact that said tunes sound like they were influenced by hours upon hours that band members spent locked in a basement playing “Dungeons & Dragons”. Also, they play shows dressed up like Medieval warriors. It’s like if a bunch of cosplayers formed an awesome metal band.

Here’s the video for their EPIC riff-rager “Knights of Dragon’s Deep”:

Allie Goertz

Let’s finish up with something a little more mellow. Allie Goertz writes and sings “nerdy love songs”, acoustic guitar-driven tunes brought to life by her airy vocal delivery. She put out an album under the moniker “Cossbysweater” then released another group of songs inspired by the cartoon “Rick and Morty” under her own name. If you long to be lulled to sleep by beautiful tunes about role playing games and “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”, Allie Goertz is the artist for you.

Here’s Goertz’s love letter to “Dungeons & Dragons”, “Tonight”: