Today I set myself an apparently Herculean task: find the female Jonathan Coulton. Promote her on the blog. I thought it seemed easy enough. There are tons of musicians on YouTube; it would simply be a matter of the right search terms.
I found plenty of folksy female singers, filkers who write novels, Wiccans, non-geek comedy singers, and was reminded of Team Unicorn, the group responsible for the “Geek and Gamer Girls” parody version of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.” I’m not spotlighting Team Unicorn because, while I definitely think you can be both traditionally “sexy” and a geek (something our culture is constantly telling women they can’t be), I don’t appreciate the way they sexify themselves. That and, really, the female Jonathan Coulton wouldn’t be sexifing herself, she’d just be herself, and if she happened to be sexy, well, she wouldn’t lie naked in a pile of comics/games/etc. (I get that they’re parodying Katy Perry, but still).
Well, my search made me so desperate I tried Googling “female Jonathan Coulton.” Surprisingly, this sort of worked. I found a Geek Mom post called “Ukulele Nerdettes!” that led me to a sister duo called The Doubleclicks.
The Doubleclicks look like nerds. I mean this in the best way possible. They remind me a lot of people involved with wizard rock, but without the Slytherin ties. Sometimes the references in their songs seem a little forced, which makes sense after reading in a Geek Mom interview that “I [Angela] don’t know if games or movies directly inspire our songwriting–mostly our songs are inspired by feelings or morals (or jerky ex-boyfriends), and I add in the details from games and culture because that’s the stuff I relate to, the metaphors that come to mind.”
Whether the references are forced or not, the Doubleclicks are definitely worth a listen (or two). If you’re a fan of the cello and/or the ukelele, musically you’ll be in heaven. If you like stripped-down, down-to-earth music, you’ll be ecstatic. If you like smart people making music, you’ll be overjoyed. And if you’ve ever fell in love with someone in your D&D party, you’ll be able to relate.
My surprise favorite is actually “Be My Stalker,” a song that’s funny, though not necessarily geeky. (I say surprise favorite because initially, when I read the title, I was like, Stalking isn’t funny! Big ole frowny face! But then I listened to the song.)
Another of my favorites is “Sent From My iPhone,” a song that expresses the kinds of frustrations everyone has with people who only say typeface, never font. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a YouTube video I can embed, so head over to their website and have a listen.
A great thing about the Doubleclicks is that they have a song for everyone!
For anyone with an Uncle Geek, and for those of us, like myself, who wish they had one:
For those of us who’ve ever fallen in love with a D&D companion:
For those of us who love grammar:
For those of us who think EVE Online is dumb:
And, lastly, for anyone who’s ever found themselves crushin’ on Mr. Darcy:
While I’m not entirely convinced the Doubleclicks are the female Jonathan Coulton, they’re damn good anyway. The Doubleclicks are themselves, female nerds, who write songs about stuff they’re interested in. They don’t need to get glammed up to sing good songs, and they’re funny. The Doubleclicks are the kind of duo that I always like to discover, but maybe that’s just me pining for my high school wrock days.
-Joanna
P.S. If anyone could suggest to me any other contenders for the title of the female Jonathan Coulton, please leave a comment!
geekalitarian 