The Sound Abounds: The PDX Broadsides!

Welcome to The Sound Abounds, where I talk about the weird, wonderful world of nerd music! These posts will feature and discuss musical acts that have performed songs that touch on (or squeefully embrace) some aspect of geek culture.

In this installment, after the cut: The PDX Broadsides!

Genre: Filk (a subgenre of folk that focuses on geeky stuff), though they seem to moving into a poppier style.

Who They Are: Hollyanna Smith McCollom, Jessica Hebert and Christian Lipski, a trio from Portland, Oregon. Christian plays guitar, all three sing and write.

What They Do: Catchy nerd-flavored tunes, with a healthy dose of humor. They've released three albums so far, and while the first showed their roots as a pirate shanty group, they hit their stride with their second, Aim To Misbehave, with tributes to Lego, Miyazaki, odd paranormal jobs, and Nathan Fillion removing his pants. Last year's follow-up, Something's Rotten, brought us convention riots, Ophelia speaking truth to power, the Nopetopus, and Nathan Fillion removing his pants.

They've just launched a Kickstarter (which funded as I was writing this!) for their next album, Trust Issues. You can watch a live concert they filmed the night the Kickstarter launched on that page, where they play 8 of the 13 songs from the new album. (Be warned - a certain name gets dropped about six minutes in.) They sound really good, nerdy and a bit more poppy and full of life. (But per the track listing, there's no song about Nathan Fillion removing his pants. I'm shocked. Shocked, I say!)

Where To Start: Judging from the concert, I think that when it's released in September, Trust Issues will be the best place. Until then, I strongly recommend Aim To Misbehave.

For More: Their website, their Twitter feed (@PDXBroadsides), their Facebook page, their Bandcamp page.