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(04/11/13 5:52pm)
The smell of spring in the air not only means that the plants will start to bloom and I will get allergies — it also that there are more albums to look forward to. If you have not already, you should check out the recently released Wakin on a Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile, Overgrown by James Blake or Shaking the Habitual by The Knife. Though we already have these albums to enjoy, here are some more albums we can look forward to in the coming months:
(03/28/13 11:06pm)
Disclosure is a electronic music duo from the United Kingdom consisting of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence. The siblings grew up in Surrey, a county just southwest of London. They released their first single, “Offline Dexterity,” back in 2010, when Guy was 18 and Howard was only 15 years old. Considering that most of their immediate family had done music professionally at some point of their lives, it makes sense that the siblings started young. The single was followed up by an EP, Carnival, which was released in July 2011. Their next single, “Tenderly/Flow,” was released in January 2012 and picked up the bulk of their national radio support. In June, Disclosure released their second EP, The Face, to critical acclaim. Their remix of Jessie Ware’s “Running” was very popular during the summer of 2012 and was even included on the annual edition on Annie Mac Presents, an electronic music show on BBC.
(03/07/13 4:34pm)
The genesis of the lo-fi psychedelic rock group Unknown Mortal Orchestra stemmed from organic interest. Ruban Nielson, the main songwriter of the band, was originally in the New Zealand power pop group The Mint Chicks. They were active from 2001 to 2010, and after the break-up, Nielson decided to move his family to America and not do music anymore. However, in the spring of 2010, he released a track titled “Ffunny Ffrends” on his bandcamp profile, with no information on who created it. It became incredibly popular over the music blogosphere and was reblogged incessantly, in attempts to find who created it. Due to the amount of interest, Nielson finally claimed the track to as by his new project, Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
(02/21/13 7:53pm)
Electronic dance music (EDM) is one the most popular trends in music right now, especially the live performances. Tickets to festivals like Ultra, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo and the countless others similar to them are a hot commodity to come by. There is even somewhat of a dress code for these events, consisting mainly of neon clothes and glowing bands, spandex, bandanas, sunglasses and pinnies. In addition, there is a massive sub-culture involving the use of amphetamines, especially MDMA (a.k.a. molly) or ecstasy, in order to heighten the euphoria exemplified by the music. However, despite all the happiness and fun involved, some questions have been raised due to the higher ticket and performer prices. What are these electronic “musicians”/”DJ’s” actually doing live? Are they performing and mixing everything live or is it all preprogrammed? Is that worth the money to see?
(02/07/13 8:34pm)
The day was November 4th, 1991 when the Irish alternative rock band, My Bloody Valentine, released their album Loveless. Recorded pretty much entirely by Kevin Shields, the main songwriter of the band, it took two years to record and nearly bankrupted their label, Creation Records. Their first album, Isn’t Anything, which was released in 1988, received much positive critical acclaim. It was one of the first albums that stood as a major influence on “shoegazing,” a genre of music that used extensive guitar effects mixed in with indecipherable vocals to create a noisy, yet at times mellow, sonic landscape.
(12/06/12 9:14pm)
With the year almost at a close, it is about that time when most periodicals post those “best of the year” lists for music. Instead of just listing out songs and albums, I’m going to look at some of the best major label debuts of this year. Here it goes:
(11/16/12 2:36am)
The Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala aren’t newcomers to the game. Their debut LP, Innerspeaker, which was released in 2010, garnered general and critical acclaim. While it did have a very nostalgic feel with the 60’s psychedelic rock influences, it still had a new and unique sound with the addition of a modern-day perspective. It put the spotlight on a young talented songwriter by the name of Kevin Parker. While live, Tame Impala perform as a band, in the studio, Parker records and plays every instrument.
(11/02/12 4:40am)
For the past 30 years or so, musical sampling has attained a significant role in the music industry. What is sampling exactly? According to Wikipedia, music sampling is taking a portion of one recording and using it as an instrument in a different recording. Through samples, one can create an entirely different song from the origin of said samples. An example of this is Endtroducing… by DJ Shadow. Released in 1996, it has been cited by the Guinness Book of Records as the first album ever to be created entirely with samples. If you were to listen to the original material the samples come from, you would see how they do not sound anything like the instrumental hip hop and trip hop feel that DJ Shadow falls under.
(10/19/12 12:42am)
On Oct. 2, Dave Grohl, the founder of the Foo Fighters, announced via their website that the band would be going on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time. Obviously, after winning 5 Grammy’s with their album Wasting Light, going on a massive world tour and just being one of the most popular rock bands around, this is terrible news for a fan to hear. Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters were the saviors of music; they are that one rock band that is as, if not more, popular than the big names within the current electronic dance (EDM) trend in music. But upon further analysis, are the Foo Fighters really the saviors of music? Are they actually bringing anything new to the table?
(10/12/12 1:26am)
When I last wrote about the experimental rap/punk/rave group Death Grips for The News-Letter, they had just released their critically acclaimed debut album The Money Store. So after mentioning them before, why would I be doing another “check these guys out”/review article of their music? Well, just last week, Death Grips leaked their second album, NO LOVE DEEP WEB: a major label LP.
(09/20/12 10:04pm)
This summer has been great for music with releases like Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, the Dirty Projectors’ Swing Lo Magellan, Jessie Ware’s Devotion, Passion Pit’s Gossamer, and Purity Rings’ Shrines. But now, with summer at an end, the fall is here with even more releases. Just these past two weeks, The xx and Animal Collective have released their new albums Coexist and Centipede Hz, respectively. What else does the fall have in store?
(05/03/12 6:41pm)
Imagine you merged the abnormal and crass parts of the Internet together with the high-level intellect that it also has to offer. With that in mind, you get Death Grips, a new experimental/industrial rap group from Sacramento, California, combining elements of punk, noise, hip-hop and rave. It consists of vocalist Stefan Burnett (a.k.a. MC Ride) and the production team of Zach Hill and Andy Morin. Their latest album, The Money Store, was released on April 24 through the major label, Epic. This followed their critically acclaimed debut mix tape Exmilitary, which was released for free on the band’s web site exactly a year earlier. Their next album, No Love, is set to be released this fall.
(04/21/12 5:00am)
Rather Ripped (2006) &
(04/05/12 5:00am)
Goo (1990) / Dirty (1992) / Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994) / Washing Machine (1995)
(03/14/12 5:00am)
October 14, 2011: a day that will live in infamy in Sonic Youth history. Lead-songwriter and guitarist, Thurston Moore, and bassist, Kim Gordon, decided to separate after 27 years of being together. Despite the rumors that persisted that new material would be recorded after, the future of Sonic Youth seems uncertain. In addition to the separation, Thurston is on tour after the release of his latest album, Demolished Thoughts; the other guitarist, Lee Ranaldo, is about to release his own solo album, Between the Tides and Times; the drummer, Steve Shelley, has joined, finished an album, and is now on tour with the krautrock influenced alternative rock band Disappears; lastly, Kim Gordon has developed a new fashion collection for the French brand, Surface to Air. While Lee has said in interviews that he remains optimistic about the future of Sonic Youth despite the "hiatus", there are rumors circulating that their last show may be this August at Lollapalooza, which takes place in Grant Park, Chicago. Through their thirty years of existence, Sonic Youth has had a tremendous impact on music. Their DIY ethic, their use of prepared and alternate tunings of instruments and their unique manipulation of consonant and dissonant guitar tones set them apart from most bands of their time. Their music was one of the main influences for the rise of the alternative rock movement of the 1990's. In addition, through their own manipulation of sound, they perfected the "anti-solo", in which the musician focuses more on the noise, distortion and dissonance they create rather than what notes or melody they play. As a fan, my tribute to them is to share their music; I'm going to write about each album within their extensive, yet consistently solid, discography and recommend the best tracks to listen to. Within their large music collection, there is bound to be something that most could appreciate and I hope to achieve that with this "eulogy."
(02/29/12 5:00am)
Two months ago, Skrillex posted a YouTube link on his facebook page with one of his favorite songs — a song by Aphex Twin called "Flim" (I highly recommend listening to it). What's so important about this? The comments his fans left all seemed confused. They were wondering why one of Skrillex's favorite songs had no "drop?" They consider him to be a dubstep producer, yet this wasn't actually "dubstep." What is so important about these comments? It brings up some questions: How would you define Skrillex's music if this were an influence of his? Is Skrillex a dubstep producer? Who is Aphex Twin? Finally, what exactly is dubstep?