Five Cent Sound Spring 2021

1

2

You would think, as the editorin-chief of a music magazine, that the words would come easily. Maybe not all words, ones.

Right?

The funny thing about that is words and I are mortal enemies of sorts. They swirl in my head, and the right ones never seem to leave the cycle. Plus, this isn't me reviewing whatever indie album is popping at the moment or sitting down with an Emerson band; this is about me.

And in my opinion, I am the hardest thing to write about.

For my last letter to you all as EIC (and for some of you, the only time you may ever listen to anything I have to say), think of this as more of better, a personal analysis of my somewhat fucked up relationship with music and the hold it has on me.

3

When I was in the third grade, some girl made fun of my shirt. Naturally, the best response my 9-year-old brain could come up was along the lines of, “Yeah, well I'm probably gonna necessary to my character development because

We were both wrong; my shirt was fucking cool and I am, at this point in my life,

Not to sound like every man I've ever met at Emerson College, but I do have really good taste in music.

I feel the need to redeem myself a little before we get into this rabbithole of self-exposure.

Immediately after writing that sentence, I remembered I unironically like country music. Disregard the above statement.

When I was 16, I sang in front of a crowd of over 2,000 people for a fundraiser for the case of me having talent necessarily or a lack of people who could be trusted to remember lyrics in front of that many staring eyes.

Regardless, I ate that shit up. A stage and the attention of a crowd felt right to me.

So I did it for two more years. Before I had ever watched the footage from that moment, I would say that I looked super cool and not

4

my phone (and promptly deleting it — again, leaked; I now have acquired a plethora of enemies in my 21 years of existing), I was

however, was my overall lack of movement on

So not aligned with the rockstar fantasy I was living in my head.

I have taken some form of instrument lessons made me play games on her laptop while she cooked in her kitchen. My guitar teacher in high school was a little creepy and more focused on discussing the success of my anything remotely string-instrument related.

These, combined with my overall inability to focus, made learning and sticking to music nearly impossible. I can, however, play a guitar if I set aside the adjacent three hours of hyping myself up.

I was the stereotypical band kid in middle school. Aggressive Harry Potter stan and all.

This probably isn't shocking. I started out by playing the euphonium because of the notso-short lived infatuation I had with doing absolutely unhinged things and seeing what reaction I could generate. This decision to play such an absurdly shaped instrument would quickly come back to haunt me, as I was consistently left behind when we performed: I was too busy struggling with the 40-pound case to notice I was alone in the gym. I quickly became fed up with that stupid, sad instead.

super good at the drums. This is not true.

5

Before I get into the realizations or whatever that will tie this piece closed, I need to include the inevitable “what music means to me” portion. The truth is, I hate this question because the answer becomes hidden However, there are a couple that jump out to me immediately. The cold and loud yet incredibly electrifying memory of being in

at a young age but then him stealing songs from my playlists as I got older. Playing songs in a car full of friends, either eliciting approval or extreme concern. The last concert that I saw before the world fell

can think of to sum or tie these together.

contentment.

So, keeping in mind the abundance of evidence I just gave you supporting the notion that I am ungifted in the realm of making music (and maybe have questionable taste), how did I get here?

Well, the answer is simple enough; those who

feel like I might be onto something here).

Sad attempts at humour aside, Five Cent Sound gave me a place to do what I was passionate about without requiring any of the skills or But now, as it comes to an end, I feel the ocean welling up again. I could so easily justify my passion for music in this way.

So, it now becomes hard to understand how I will now express this ever present aspect of who I need to be as a person. No more Five Cent Sound means a higher possibility of forgetting how to metaphorically swim and metaphorically drowning.

6

some music you should check out

7

Exec Editor-in-Chief // Dani Ducharme

Managing Editor // Joy Freeman Creative Director // Kristen Cawog Assistant CD // Harrison Jenkins

Editorial Madeline Wendricks Bri Guanaga Christopher Williams Molly Goodrich Charlotte Drummond Emma Shacochis Claire Fairtlough Meggy Grosfeld Kyle Bracco Lucian Parisi Molly Goodrich Abby Stanicek Hanna Marchesseault Sam Silveira Hayden Scoplitte Samson Malmoli Claire Fairtlough Kate Cunningham

Creative Alison Madsen Natasha Arnowitz Tayla Dixon Quinn Donnelly Maggie Sheridan Christina Casper Mason Brown Elaine Tantra Julianna Morgan 8

Contents Not A Writer Playlist

by Kristen Cawog // page 10 Become Less Envious of Jazz Professionals

by Kate Cunningham // page 16

by Hayden Scoplitte // page 20 Trap Music: Kawaii

1980s

by Abby Stanicek // page 30

by Samantha Silveira // page 36 Unrequited Love, Dead Dogs and Bernie Sanders: Inside the World of Annie Dirusso

by Hanna Marchesseault // page 42

by Samsom Malmoli // page 54 Teaching in a Pandemic, From the Eyes of a Harpist

by Claire Fairtlough // page 60 From the Stage to the Dorm Room: Dakota Discusses Music Growth Admid Pandemic

by Kyle Braco // page 66 Soundtrack to the Graveyard Shift

by Nick Gemma //page 72 How to Properly Drive Past the Skyline

by Joy Freeman // page 78 The Grim Reality of the Grammys

by Molly Goodrich // page 82

Relationships, and Arrangements

by Lucian Parisi // page 88 Van Buren: Collective Conciousness

Emerson Spotlight: Noelle Rene Not Your Babe

dani & I were obsessed

Noise in Your Head // Bad Luck

year

Scott Street // Phoebe Bridgers

my roommate Stella showed me Phoebe & Lindsey within the college and they’ve been on repeat ever since

Full Control // Snail Mail

Lauren // Men I Trust some songs just scream Emerson, this is one

Whoever She Is // The Maine revisiting songs by my

Slow Down // The Academy Is...

listened to this album everyday Out

for Blood // Heart Attack Man

everyday

Full Screen // Adult Mom

Twinkle Lights // The Sonder

sometimes a

you realize something you didn’t want to admit.

Bombs sometimes you in the longterm.

New Scream // Turnover 11

sophomore Forgiveness year I moved to Allston and regularly would miss the Harvard Circle The Drain Ave stop because I was listening to this song and staring out the window No Lover //

// Paramore

// Soccer Mommy I was always someone who was

Jetty Bones

being single, certain songs

Kingston // Faye Webster

Walk in the Woods // Snarls Spring 2020 I did a directed study with

Boredom // Buzzcocks music, this EP studied

Summerboy // Lady Gaga

Cut Yr Teeth // Kississippi

I’ll never moments when my roommates and I would scream the song together 12

real home

Doctor Whomst // Origami

this album

with not only music but also the community Angel surrounding music when I was getting discouraged

Oom Sha La La // Haley Heynderickx

Waste of Time // Sunsetta I started managing Sunsetta Summer 2020 and I honestly thought I would hate it - but I love it and I love the boys and I have no regrets

Hangout at the Gallows // Father John Misty

photographed was

Fog // The Regrettes

Fall 2020 mag! I never thought I would become a photographer

Young // Grayscale

night because I’ve since then and met

On a Weekend // Haley Blais

Are You In The Mood? // Bay Faction a band I will my college years with

Heir Apparant // American Football

The Sunshine // Manchester Orchestra

Learn to Love the Lie // Four Year Strong a band I used to associate with middle school gets a rebrand in my brain

Willow // The Q-Tip Bandits 13

album that was on repeat during quarantine

Future Nostalgia // Dua Lipa

Number One Fan // MUNA

Bad Idea! // Girl in Red *realized

something*

Photo ID // Remi Wolf

Bonita Applebum // A Tribe Called Quest

Dull // Microwave

rarely get

Keep This Up // The Story So Far

but something about TSSF

Boomer // Bartees Strange

want to be in the bay

On My Own // Shamir literally got

we interviewed Phoebe last I semester 14

Know The End // Phoebe Bridgers

15

I sat down at my desk at 10:00 a.m.

EST, just a few minutes before Krishna Palanivel sat down at his at 9:00 a.m.

CST. I sent him a Zoom link as he texted me, “Good morning! Making a cup I responded with a photo of my own steaming cup.

16

I went to high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with Krishna, and when I think of him as a trumpet player, I have two room, frenzied, annoyed, and ready to rant about something that bothered him in rehearsal. The other is of him talking faster than normal, spewing about

seen Krishna neutral about playing music, or about anything else.

When I saw his face pop up on my screen, I smiled interview, we had to catch up on everything that had happened in the last few years. But before that, I wanted to hear about his relationship with playing trumpet and how that had changed.

He originally got into playing the trumpet because it was the only instrument he could make a sound on at what he called the “instrument petting zoo” that his school held in third grade. Two years later, he started taking lessons with a trumpet player at the North Carolina Symphony and began playing in a youth orchestra. He did this for a few years before applying to the UNC School of the Arts, where he was accepted as a freshman and would attend for all four years of high school. During this time, his love for classical and orchestral music grew; he, “all in all got to really appreciate playing the trumpet in Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where they have an all-undergraduate music program and overall renowned academics.

listening skills; keyboard harmony; music history including Music in the 20th and 21st Century, Music in Western Culture, Music in Eastern Culture, and Music in the Environment; and Brass. He is in the process of taking eight semesters of ensembles, how nice it was to play in a group with so many 17

Now, his curriculum is hybrid — some classes are held in person, and some online. The classes in was curious how this would work, because to play any wind instrument, you have to blow air into it; that air then disperses throughout the room, told me, in a tone weighted with immense sarcasm, not supposed to spray aerosols in our room for more than 30 minutes without taking a 15-minute break — along with masks for both their mouths — minus a lot of waiting and airing out taking place.

These measures have, obviously, dramatically changed how musicians are used to working, performing and practicing. Krishna explained that this has doing, what their goals are, and why. He said, trumpet players,” and that, actually, “trumpet got out how to make a career out of, “this seemingly impossible thing,” but instead just enjoying it for what it is.

Krishna told me how important recording has become for musicians. They are utilizing recordings in rehearsals with more frequency — such is the case for his ensemble, which he said has become just, “recording projects…instead of playing as an ensemble and rehearsing together.” But recording music has also become a way for musicians to build their career and make money, especially with live gigs and orchestra work not happening during the pandemic. He said that recording is hard, though;it requires a lot of equipment and time. He told going up against 14- to 18-year-olds on Soundcloud,” doing this because they are in college and trying to academically create a profession for themselves.

They are doing it because they love it so much; this is what they want to do when they get home.”

18

The focus moving forward needs to be on the individual and, “what an individual can create as people that are in a school right now studying music really need to be considering how they can

that he wanted to get a job elsewhere, start a business, establish a brand, record some music, play the trumpet, and let everything come together

As if talking directly to other musicians, he

19

20

We all know and love the mom jeans-wearing, vinyl record-collecting indie music community spotlight and giving popularity back to the alternative community.

“Indie”, or independent music, has been around for a while but has been wildly popular most notable artists being Clairo, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Two Door Cinema Club, and Tame Impala. This type of music inspired indie and soft aesthetics with bright colors become “not like other girls.” This community led people astray from pop music featured themselves along the way. However, the “indie kid” trope got stereotypical very quickly, style.

from being the “Average Joe” is normal. Funnily enough, the “indie-kid look” has become a staple style with teenagers and young adults, so much so that the people who dress this Sometimes it seems like in every direction you look, especially at a liberal arts college like Emerson, you can spot a hoard of people wearing cardigans and tortoise shell glasses with a silk scarf in their hair. Despite the predictability, music communities allow relate and connect to on a deeper level.

21

else sounds very familiar. It almost directly stems from the alternative, new wave, and punk communities. “Alt culture” is all about pushing as far away from the norm as possible to be completely and unapologetically you.

People involved with these communities often used to hide in the shadows, banging their heads to The Jesus and Mary Chain in the shirts and platform boots were weird to the rest of society, especially when alternative music just started to emerge. So many of the alternative artists were underground and undiscovered for a reason. Social media has made it very evident that the alternative wave is coming back and sinking its teeth into the territory that indie culture was so of choice, TikTok, has opened a space on the and fall back into being mainstream. TikToks have shifted from pretty girls with painted jeans and Beach House songs playing in the

22

Before the world had the internet and social media to boost its popularity, alternative music emerged from the underground scene in

punk and post-punk music around this time, exploding into dozens of subcategories from there, like grunge, Britpop, and indie-pop.

A few of the most popular artists at the time were The Cure, R.E.M, and Joy Division. They caused a breakthrough in the music industry and pushed alternative music to the forefront of mainstream music. Songs from this genre typically consist of lyrics about bigger social concerns — like depression, drug use, and environmentalism — because of the governmental and economic strains occurring in the U.S. and U.K. at that time. Since songs people clung to the community and the values opinions are important, being exactly who you want to be (no matter how weird) is emphasized, and creating a narrative for how music is ever-changing and fundamental.

I have listened to alternative music for recently that I saw people posting some of my their Instagram stories. In terms of music, social media has created an amazing way to has especially helped with this, showcasing popular music in that current moment as well as the types of people that listen to it.

23

Depending on what you like and follow on TikTok, the algorithm of your “For You” page becomes personalized, creating what we like to call “sides” of TikTok. Alt TikTok has become overwhelmingly popular, including people that listen to all facets of alternative music and look all types of ways. It quickly became one of the most accepting categories on the app, welcoming people that feel like just alt people dancing to songs from the and human rights ideals such as Black Lives Matter, legal abortion, and environmental issues all have the room to grow and lead to actual social change. Another big part to this side of TikTok is the inclusion and understanding of the Queer Community. It has become a place where people can freely and safely explore their sexuality and gender identity, no matter what the situation is. It is a community full of like-minded parallels the values of original alternative groups while simultaneously resurrecting the popularity of the music.

It brings me immense amounts of joy to see original alternative rock artists become popular with younger generations. The alt community bringing back incredible music and its connected group of people has pushed out the indie community in the last few years. So to stay in with the trends, switch out Soccer Mommy for Siouxsie and the Banshees, throw on a little extra eyeliner, and walk around town like the misunderstood alternative soul you are.

24

Visuals by Maggie Sheridan

25

26

To those who are unfamiliar, the intersection of trap music and anime may seem laughable, even impossible. And yet, trap artists continually reference anime classics like New generation rappers like JPEGMAFIA and Rico Nasty cite anime as a huge inspiration in their stylistic choices not only for music, but also for cover art and fashion sense.

Trap music is a subgenre of rap music, characterized by being harder and more aggressive than mainstream rap. Heavy bass is a staple in trap music. Historically, lyrics describe the “trap” and the street life that accompanies it, such as selling drugs and gang activity.

Hard pivot and anime, on the other hand, is a style of Japanese animation. The vibrant cartoons feature anything from dystopian worlds, bloody wars, and demons to gender nonconforming high school host club members.

Anime comes in all genres, but it seems that primarily because of the traditionally intense and violent battle sequences included in most action anime.

“I feel like, back in the day, obviously

been watching hella anime and rapping about the shit the same way, but they was watching those crazy-ass karate movies and shit. I

27

Black culture in the U.S. and Japanese culture However, in his book, The Tao of the Wu, the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan RZA said that the anime “Dragon Ball Z” represented “the journey of the Black man in America.” Both “Naruto” and “Dragon Ball Z” carry themes of having a code, teamwork, and brotherhood in ganglike groups, according to RZA.

culture in trap music may indicate a shift away from its historic hyper-masculinity.

This theory aligns with the recent rise rapper, Rico Nasty, has cultivated a “sugar trap” aesthetic that she partially credits to watching anime as a young adult. In a Sidewalk Talk interview, she states that on the way [she] dresses, and especially the shit that [she] watched.” Several of her cover art pieces for albums and songs feature Rico herself as an anime character, like “Time Flies” or Sugar Trap 2.

Trap has progressed rapidly from its start in the early 2000s. Technology today allows anyone to access, create, and share music in an unprecedented way. Similarly, anime has become far more accessible via streaming services like Crunchyroll and has evolved rapidly from a niche interest to a mainstream one. Moreover, anime can now be released with an English sub or dub at the same time no longer relegated to a small corner of Tumblr, but anime fan accounts garner larger followings on apps like TikTok. According television episodes, the anime “Attack on Titan” has three listed among episodes of “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones.”

28

As more voices are being heard in trap music, the culture is diversifying. Cartoon Network had a Toonami programming block in the early 2000s, featuring “Dragon Ball Z,” among other animes. In 2005, the “Boondocks” was released, an anime-style show about a Black family in white suburbs, which further cemented anime as a small part of Black culture. In the 10 years since, references to anime in rap lyrics have spiked.

And so, the new generation of rappers grew up in a time when anime was exploding in the U.S., coming out. In many songs, the reference to

pink matter, cotton candy, Majin Buu.” Frank term for one that teaches you, followed by shaped villain who turns his victims into candy and eats them.

However, some artists pay tribute to anime more extensively.

Xavier Wulf, a 28-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, has Project X is entirely inspired by the racing anime “Initial D”, and even samples quotes from the dubbed version.

but the two countercultures have collided in of our generation touch on anime in at least one of their songs. Both anime and hip-hop began as unconventional cultural phenomena lifting each other into the mainstream.

29

30

Visual by Alison Madsen 31

You walk into a bustling bar that lacks any your way through the crowd to locate the friends spilled beer, and the air is thick with cigarette smoke. The smoke creates an opportunity for the colored lights coming from the stage to linger in the air a little longer than they normally its way into your ears. Next, the guitar solo ends, followed by whistles and cheers. People conversation or are subtly bobbing up and down to the music, paired with some head movements just a strong connection between the band and the 1980s.

There was always a group more than ready to Place in Cambridge, the Rathskeller (also known Allston, and Paradise Rock Club on Commonwealth Avenue. Local bands that performed rock music (or any variation of it) booked performances at these clubs, typically aiming for busy Friday or Saturday nights that could help them catch their big breaks. Boston record labels like Ace of Hearts and Modern Method would often sign artists such as Lyres or The Neighborhoods in these clubs, which helped bands produce albums Newbury Comics. Bands also gained exposure by performing on local radio stations such as WBCN,

Many local bands eventually came upon their big break in the music industry, including Pixies with their enormous hit “Where is My Mind?” and The Cars with “Just What I Needed.”

Bands such as The Del Fuegos, The Neighborhoods and Lyres also became hits within the city and ended up opening for stars like David Bowie and The Ramones when they came to town. Believe it 32

gets larger with bands like Lifeboat, Chainlink who went on to open for bands that were moving their way into the spotlight. No matter what level of success these bands were experiencing, they all had a cohesive focus of entertainment.

time with no intention of stopping. The grunge age did not take center stage until around 1993, but many Boston bands took the grunge route far before it paved the way for the then-developing genre and eventually reached the national spotlight. Guitarist John Englund and my father, drummer Greg Stanicek, of the four-piece Boston band The Corsairs, described the sound of the Boston music scene as “raw.” Englund went on to very loud, very sort of pure rock and roll.”

During a time where rock was moving to a softer tone, Boston musicians challenged that movement by being, “down to earth and gritty,” as Englund put it, when it came to playing rock music.

Boston is also a great area for bands to embark on their musical journeys, wherever they hope it may take them. Since the city is

many apartments catered to students. The vast majority of clubs, bars and venues allowed for and around the city so that they could gain exposure and possibly get them their big, shiny record deal. When Englund and Stanicek traveled to Boston from Rockford, Illinois, with their music scene, they traveled with just a van full of belongings, two cars, their instruments, living arrangements in Boston, planning to just exactly what they did. With resources not many other cities could provide to hopeful musicians, Boston was the perfect place to show up and make your dreams happen.

33

today, due to the convenience of technology within the music industry, is how bands were able to make something out of themselves in the past. In the 1980s, many Boston bands felt that recording music videos would propel them toward their big breaks, as the end goal was to earn a spot on the hugely found its way into the nationwide spotlight when the music video for its 1984 hit “Voices Carry” widely successful career as a solo artist in the 1990s. Nowadays, an artist with any amount of following could go viral from uploading a music video to social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Music production has also made success come easier to artists in recent years because of DIY culture. In the 1980s, studio time at local recording studios like Fort Apache Studios and Newbury Sound was required in order to produce any thing to book. This forced new bands to record their demos in the late hours of the night for cheaper prices. Despite the challenges that can be observed through a lack of technology, a raw sound appeared throughout the scene; only instruments were used to record the songs, contrasting from the programs available today that allow you to play the violin with your computer keyboard.

of boundary pushing and chance taking. Musicians were able to build relationships with people in other bands, and some have been maintained until than others, the scene formed itself into becoming one large support system of musicians attempting music industry. Although many of the clubs these bands would play their hearts out in have now been replaced by apartment complexes and businesses, the memories remain clear within the minds of those who had the chance to play and attend shows there. The past musicians of Boston will continue to hold on to the great opportunities the city had 34

The Corsairs 1987

The Corsairs @ The Channel 1986

Design by Abby Stanicek

35

36

By Samantha Silveira A six-foot-four man in a lace front wig walks the streets and basketball courts of New York. Face beat to perfection, legs for single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” brought drag into mainstream media. What he, and many people, remember best is that music video.

RuPaul mastered the visual element of drag and moved quickly into the music industry, making drag language and culture into catchy lyrics that were palatable for the public.

Creating music is not an essential element of drag, but music is essential to the creation of many drag queens. In equal but separate actions, it shapes both the performance and the performer.

In particular, young drag queens often draw inspiration from music and its icons when crafting their personas. I spoke with young local queens about how their favorite artists and albums shaped their drag.

Emerson student Sam Goodman talked to me on him. His drag name, Joni 66, is an homage to Joni Mitchell and Route 66. “That idea of traveling, and what folk music was about, which is people and stories and the idea

where my persona lives.” Joni 66 draws on

those folk musicians who told stories with their music, and it was less about the music and more about the lyrics and the poetry behind it.”

Micael Donegan, a Boston native whose drag name is Briar Blush, has taken all kinds of inspiration in crafting his persona, from burlesque to Bratz to Britney Spears.

37

He was drawn to the music industry’s bombshells and bad girls, explaining “I guess I was always interested in the eroticism of what you can get away with on stage.” like Erotica by Madonna, Born This Way

by Lady Gaga, and Dirty by Christina Aguilera. “Those are albums that are mainstream artists doing subversive topics for mainstream radio,” he says, admiringly. “Those are the albums that the idea of my drag persona.” And the tribute is clear: Briar Blush is sensual, beautiful, and edgy. She embodies the in music’s most iconic women growing up.

Their unique personas are what make our favorite queens so radiant and entrancing. Joni and Briar have drawn much larger than that. For many queens, their drag persona is an embodiment of the self, paired with whatever the self loves or longs to be. Donegan tells me that he feels mostly the same as Micael or as Briar, but sees the biggest he feels as Briar. That power is often exhibited in performance.

A burlesque performer in particular, performances

have

been

erotic

pop

U” as a turning point in his drag. tone of the idea of what I wanted to exhibit in my drag, which I would say is this very breathy, very airy take on sexual liberation,” he explains.

“Sort of reclaiming oneself.” Britney 38

performances gave him the push to be more adventurous with his drag persona and the way she performed.

Goodman, whose persona lives largely

performance is all about having fun,

and Taylor Dayne are all inspirations

“like big hair, and just a good beat. element of drag is the performance of modeling a look — “making the modeling me posing.” For that, her all-time favorite songs are “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul and “Stronger” by Britney

room.” The adoration and empowerment are written all over her face as he talks to me. She laughs as he attempts

music and then I express all of that through,” she pauses, searching for the words and voguing to illustrate his point, “Madonna.”

That

“weirdness,”

the

unexpected

what drag is all about. Female music icons in particular, no matter how unexpected, have had an irreplaceable impact on drag culture throughout history. Joni Mitchell, Madonna, and Lady Gaga are all weird and all risktakers in their own rights. The music

39

deepest darkest weirdos are the founding inspirations of the drag community.

Divine, the star of John

ever release music, and she is an infamous oddball. The subversive, the sexual, and the sad are all elements of drag and the music that inspires it. As Goodman playing, you can hear my breath and my heels and no one wants to hear that.”

Music makes drag what it is: uncomfortable display of femininity and subculture.

They are inexorably linked; they make each other stronger. Music is in large part what creates drag queens, and how drag queens create themselves.

40

Visual by Natasha Arnowitz 41

unrequited love, dead dogs and bernie sanders:

inside the world of annie dirusso

By Hanna Marchesseault

42

43

I, like a lot of people, have succumbed mindlessly scrolling through your “For You” your 15-page essay worth 80% of your grade; still scrolling. TikTok is powerful, but it has become even more powerful for the creators free way to promote your craft and gain a following without ever having to leave your house. In a world that has been put on hold all the more important. For the 20-year-old Nashville-based artist Annie Dirusso, TikTok came at a time when she needed it most. This Swerve”, ended up on my “For You” page; after that, I was hooked. Strumming an auburncolored electric guitar, eyelids painted with neon green eyeshadow, Dirusso almost commands you to stop your scrolling. blends together elements of alternative, rock and pop; her songwriting paints a picture of one-night stands, childhood bedrooms, unrequited love, confused relationships with religion and, yes, dead dogs. Listening to her released singles felt like she had climbed into my own brain and set up camp. Dirusso is proving that your day-to-day thoughts can be art, and they can be appealing to everyone. I sat down with her over Zoom in early February to talk about her background with music and in a time when live events are temporarily a thing of the past. Behind her, amid a gallery wall of concert posters and art, a framed photo of Bernie Sanders smiled back at me as we talked.

44

performing?

Annie: Growing up in New York, I think I decided I wanted to sing when I was probably

New York, and you start studying voice, you just immediately are singing show tunes. that for a while, and then I got really into I thought, “okay, I need to be writing songs and playing the guitar.” So, I taught myself how to play guitar and started writing songs around that time. Really bad songs, but still songs. From then on I started just playing shows, mostly upstate in the Hudson Valley.

It was me, you know, a 13-year-old girl with an acoustic guitar and a bunch of 60-year-old men playing folk music in upstate New York.

It was funny, but as I got older, I started how it all started.

(besides Taylor Swift) toward your sound?

that

have

led

you

into folk music, so I was listening to Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Except never speak about David Crosby again after the Twitter war he started with Phoebe Bridgers this week. I also have always been a fan of pop music. So I really like Lorde, and then I got into Maggie Rogers. If

hear that I was trying to go for that fullmy lane. I got to college and I brought my electric guitar with me that I bought two years before but never really used, and I started listening to Margaret Glaspy and Lucy 45

Dacus and, you know, Phoebe [Bridgers] and all I think that,

that I relate to in the way that I just am as a person. It just made a ton of sense for me. So my music naturally snowballed into more indie rock. I then just walked into a guitar store because I wanted a distortion pedal, and I played “Masterpiece” by Big Thief. And I was and they sold me a guitar pedal. I started using it, and I still use it to this day. Just a shitty guitar pedal. I started using that and writing with a kind of distorted guitar,

landed on the pop, rock, indie sound.

H: I found you on TikTok back in September, and you’ve found a pretty moderate following on the app. Did you ever think that was going to happen?

happen. When TikTok came out, I just thought it was going to be a bunch of 10-year-olds whatever. And then when quarantine started, I got full-on obsessed with TikTok. What I love about the app is I think that it lets human genius shine. So when I was watching all through quarantine, and learning so much on there, I was just in awe of how people universal and create a universal experience TikTok that showed a whole lot of musicians or on there, but not really any indie musicians at all. And then I went home for the summer, and I came back to Nashville, and I released my song “20.” And this is late August, and it was doing okay, but I wanted it to do better.

46

And my guitarist was like, “come on, just

understand

who

would

be

there

wanting

to

My guitarist came over and he just did his home mic setup for me. So we did it through his computer with professional sound, and we recorded it. The whole time he was like,

my phone away. I open it like an hour later “What the fuck?” I called [my guitarist] and after that, it just went crazy that night. My

and then it actually happened.

career?

TikTok, my monthly listeners were probably the

Swerve” before, and I get a ton of comments

was really helpful in connecting a name to a face, so that people can become an actual fan rather than just a passive listener. me so many opportunities in terms of just opportunities, which has been really cool. possible on any other platform.

47

H: When working in the realm of social media, there is always going to be a downside. What have the challenges been with putting your art out into the world and trying to remain

is for some people, because I really do love

TikTok, which has been so cool for me to see, it also. People will tell me, “I had this

TikTok, basically. It is weird for someone to feel that, and I know the exact feeling with artists I like where I have this intense, know these people. And I want to. I want to

to interact is, because I always want to make sure that people are feeling reciprocated and loved back. I never want people to feel weird for reaching out to me. personal experience possible, but also not spend every waking minute on my phone.

H: Do you ever feel pressured to pump out more content to please your fans?

A: Yeah, another downside is just the attachment to these big numbers, and because I know that make that happen and continue the growth, but

to put that kind of pressure on it. So I

48

been trying to break out of that the last few months and just be a little more chill about it.

H: Something that really drew me to you as an artist was your lyricism. You have this gift of articulating the thoughts and emotions many of us might feel embarrassed to talk about, but make them feel so important and poetic. What is your writing process like, normalities or by the bigger moments in life?

just random little moments of observations of someone, or the way someone said something, or just weird things that people do. If I have a thought that feels a little bit interesting my phone or in an actual notebook. Basically, write it all in one note: I separate them all. will be surrounding something similar, but not exactly the same. So it makes it so I can

but once I get it, because I like melody so most chord progressions. Lyrics are actually the worst for me. I hate it, I hate it so

melody in a crazy way, but I need to make sure

stressful for me, and it takes like a really long time. So I will gather these notes, one usually spend a while kind of sitting on a song, coming back to it and editing it until

49

really funny for me, to look back at notes of out, and then where they ended up.

A: I think I want to make people feel seen. I think for me, sometimes what I struggle with

to feel sad listening to my music, but I also

messages along these lines, where they say,

because I know that exact feeling listening like, “are we all living the same life?” Why does this directly describe the situation, and let me feel it in a way that I needed to?

into my songs.

H: I mean, bringing my personal experience into it, if I had heard a song like “Don’t Swerve” in high school, I would feel so seen.

Just driving around in the car with someone you like, but it also doesn’t feel right and you don’t know what’s going on and you just need someone to give you the answers. I’m mad that I now only have it my junior year of college.

who message me saying how much they needed my music, like, three years ago.

50

H: What’s one of your favorite released singles? Talk about its meaning a little bit.

experimental in terms of production and writing for me, and it feels the most me

lyrically, and that I probably have the most about my dead dog, Bella, my childhood dog.

It was my sophomore year of college, and I was going through a really hard time. It was such

Then my brother called me and dropped it on it all. The next day, I was just walking around, and I found myself looking up at the sky, being like, “Love you, Bella.” And then I stopped, and looked around, and I was like, “What the fuck am I doing right now? Who am I talking to? Would Bella be up there? And how would she hear me?” So, I stopped and I wrote in my Notes app, “I feel insane talking to the sky trying to send love to my dog who died.” I kind of had that lyric, and it was it. Probably my proudest lyric is, “dead dogs which I came up with as a joke while I was lyrics, but I think what makes it so powerful

most proud of that song.

51

H: Are you currently working on an album or EP at the moment?

the very, very early stages. No release date

been really cool.

H: Where do you hope to see your career go in the future?

When I was 14 or 15 years old, I wanted to

own music, I just hope to be able to make a sustainable living, from playing music and being able to tour and just make records. like. Nothing crazy, though. But basically just being able to continue to do music. I really hope I continue to use my platform to talk about issues that I think are really important and probably separate as I get older. Maybe music will become a little less forefront for me, and maybe step more into about. If it allows, obviously.

Follow Annie Dirusso on Instagram and TikTok (@anniedirusso), and listen to her music on Spotify and Apple Music.

52

"when i was 14 or 15

years old, i wanted to

be the biggest pop star in the world. as i've

gotten older, and i've gotten more into my

own music, i just hope to be able to make a

sustainable living, from playing music and being able to tour and just make records."

53

THE GREATEST HITS ALBUM IS DEAD - BUT IT

by Samson Malmoli A

recent

study

showed

that

100%

of

what a greatest hits album is. This is an obviously false statistic that actually resulted from me asking this question (which is not an appropriate sample size

out from the name itself. While my friends no reason for us to know about greatest a major thing anymore. Sure, some niche artists have fan groups that will buy anything they release, but there seems to be no need for them due to the advent of music streaming services. If someone are countless playlists of their music that exist, or at least can be made by the listener, on any streaming site. Many

why not just skip around on a playlist?

54

from older generations, about the rise in streaming services as being tragic.

But I disagree. All forms of art change and are consumed through new mediums as happening here. That sort of negative talk is an abject opinion, since this change is always happening. There is a certain sense of tragedy in lost items distinct to previous generations, which prompts worthwhile discussions that

discussions is about the death of the greatest hits album.

The

album

most

commonly

recognized

Greatest Hits, which consists of eight songs originally released as singles, three B-sides, and one new track. It is important to note that the most popular way to purchase music then was as singles, and this was one of multiple albums that helped usher in the so-called “album era.” Similar song arrangements became common among the greatest hits albums that followed, with mostly singles, some B-sides, and occasionally a new song or two rounding out the record. Eventually, greatest hits albums came to include deeper cuts, rare songs, or just stuck depending on the concept of the album.

Greatest hits albums were all but done anymore. But not everything that should album remains the absolute best way for new listeners to learn the music and for way.

56

“back in my day” tragedies is that nobody who listens to music online can

tragic that streaming prevents people from readily seeing all of the similarly underappreciated art forms that are the back cover of an album, the inside of a gatefold, and the liner notes — but

Please Me, taken in the same location about seven years later. Not only is it a plain-old, awesome idea, but it also shows how much they have changed: the clean-cut youths have transformed into long-haired, bearded adults. This point may seem arbitrary, but art matters.

is important to the canon of an artist.

Canon is essential, and it leads us to the more central reason (not to say that appreciating new album artwork is a red herring of a reason) that greatest hits albums are an introduction to a musician by order of chronology, artistic

57

trends or shifts rather than by order of popularity.

When I say, “rather than by order of popularity,” I am referring automatically plays when someone listens to them on streaming services. This most popular song or provide a song that a new fan might like the most. There the album being chronological versus a album (because we all love The Beatles, It ranges from their 1967 single “Strawberry Fields Forever” to one of the most well-known songs ever, “Hey Shoe,” and ending with “The Long and It Be, in 1970. Although this is simple chronology, a new listener obtains a serious progression and history of the in the given order.

two of their most recently popular songs, “Beetlebum” and “Song 2” before traversing through their discography, jockeying back and forth between fast songs and throw in some more obscure songs. While

they encapsulate the band so well at that point in their career — something that no playlist could convey. In this case, a new listener attains a similarly wide variety of sounds, as well as melodies more purposefully pertaining to certain

58

A common response to all of this may be

argue, but I enjoy dark chocolate even render the other obsolete solely based on their similarities, nor do playlists corrupt the reasoning that greatest hits albums give order and sense to music in a way that playlists cannot.

This argument may not reach the people who have the opportunity to make a all fans of music who are constantly on if we like them or not. We have let the popularity-based model of music streaming tell us how to perceive an artist, and they deserve more of a chance than that.

They get that chance when someone listens to a greatest hits album: you can see the path that these musicians have been on, see the patterns and trends as if reading a novel, and then truly judge and appreciate the music in front of you.

59

Teaching in a Pandemic, From the Eyes of a Harpist

By Claire Fairtlough

Abby Lim-kimberg, known professionally as Leng Bian, is a 22-year-old freelance harpist and teacher in San Francisco. A recent graduate of Berklee College of Music, Leng Bian has been playing the harp since she was 4 years old.

recalls to me. “When I was 3 years old I was with my grandmother in Maine, and we came across this solo harpist at a restaurant. It what she looked like, what type of harp she was playing.”

Leng Bian begged her parents to let her play the harp for a year straight since that someone willing to teach the harp to someone at such a young age, but they managed to ensemble concert. There, she met her teacher and mentor, Diana Stork. She mentioned that Diana is still one of the most important people in her life, proudly stating that her childhood harp teacher also taught the famous harpist Joanna Newsom. “Diana Stork

like an awesome San Francisco family tree learned from Diana verbatim in some of my lessons still to this day.”

60

explores all the possibilities that are open the harp world for so long, she feels as if in teaching. When asserting herself as a “freelance harpist,” she dazzles me with her immense list of talents while simultaneously gonna come out of Berklee being the best harp player ever, but instead have a thorough a versatile, world-wide sense of what makes people”.

For a while, we laughed and geeked out over how much the harp stands out to us. The harp it impossible for her to compare it to any other instrument. Even in this interview, Leng Bian brings out her valuable teaching skills by raving about Mexican and Venezuelan harp impressed by fellow harpists for adventuring in new possibilities. She joked that, at times, she feels like she chose the wrong instrument. The harp can be too beautiful, and she fears it can be one-dimensional.

Inspired by past teachers and peers, Leng Bian has participated in a plethora of projects that defer from what one might expect out of a harpist. When she was 19, she was a part of a noise rock band called Kamikaze Palm Tree, where she experimented with “doing a she discovered in this experimentation was putting a microphone into the soundbox of the harp in order to distort the sound into a piece with so much resonance and overdrive.

She showed me a voice memo example, and I was blown away with how she managed to make the harp sound like a distorted demon in the coolest way possible.

61

62

This creativity lives and breathes through her students. Even as she was learning the harp, she was teaching. In her last year of high school, she taught traditional folk music from Central and South America to a group of beginner harp students at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco. She also has taught at an orchestra school in New York. Currently, Leng Bian teaches mostly beginner to intermediate harpists and teaches composition to adult composers. They often come to her with prewritten pieces of work for the guitar or piano, and she teaches them how to translate that music to the harp.

The pandemic has changed the way Leng Bian and other musicians teach their students. When asked how she felt when her last semester at Berklee went completely online, she remarked, “The pandemic has changed teaching music. As a student, the amount of magic that comes from being in the same room as my harp teacher, sharing the same space and place for feedback is everything. When that shifted from in-person to online, I got really sad because I missed being in the presence of my harp professor so much. But as a teacher, I

in person.”

An example that she brought up to me is the way she draws out how she sees music in her mind on paper for her students. “So much of are in,” she tells me, “so in cases where I

drawing it out is extremely helpful.” Another trick Leng Bian has learned from teaching

now. If they could see through my eyes right 63

students and text it to them in our lesson. doing through the point of view of another

virtually.”

become a better teacher; on the other, she misses being able to physically show her

there are some frustrating moments that you have to get creative with. For example, in one of my composition classes, I was trying the pedal harp. If this was in person, this second. But over the internet, I had to hold my laptop above my head to show where my feet were going while also plucking the strings.

I felt so ridiculous, but it was worth it!!”

After discussing the trickiness in teaching online, Leng Bian reassures me that every person she knows who plays music right now is taking or teaching lessons virtually. And some people really enjoy it. “When you put your mind to it you can teach anyone anything but also a little freaky at the same time.”

of teaching music will go once the pandemic

technically in New York, but can pay remotely in her hometown in San Francisco. She gives me my lessons from her bedroom halfway across anyone else.

64

I asked Leng Bian if she thinks it would be possible for someone to become completely she ruminated on the question for a moment. life online. But, that might just be my own stylistic preference. I know a lot of people who are extremely talented in electronic music or more production oriented music, and

as a learner. As the pandemic has demonstrated for so many people, online learning is not go! It really opened this whole other gate

music [from] being made. The line between good music and professional music wavers so much.

really likes.”

The possibilities on the internet are boundless. While being incredibly exciting, learning as “remote” anymore, and the same people to take lessons from teachers anywhere more adaptable than ever before. As we closed the interview, Leng Bian left me with some of her endless wisdom. She mentioned again that it all has to do with a soul connection.

“If people are making connections with others during these more isolated times, I

gonna preserve relationships that they made remotely, in a remote setting. I think of it sort of like a long distance relationship.

It sounds cheesy, but long distance sucks.

stick with it.”

65

THE STAG

E

66

DISCUSSES

AMID PANDEMIC

by Kyle Braco 67

Trying to gain recognition and release music has become exponentially more

ends, and, regardless of stature, the inability for artists to go out and play shows can feel completely damning.

However, local artist Dakota Cohen views the pause on live shows as a detour that can lead to growth as an artist rather than a detriment to her musical aspirations.

I sat down with Cohen, who attends Berklee College of Music, for an enlightening interview on the matter. She has released notably the songs “All Dressed Up” and 35,000 streams.

We discussed how being

artist in her hometown of Los Angeles, the universal trends the music industry the new social media landscape. And, of course, we talk about the most important thing: her music and where she has found herself changing as an artist during the pandemic.

Kyle: Thank you so much for sitting down how you’ve gotten to where you are today as an artist and what you’re working on for the future.

Cohen: I started singing when I was around nine years old, and I sang in classic rock cover bands from age nine to 18. I began constantly playing the LA club scene on Sunset Boulevard like the Viper Room, Whiskey a Go Go, and the Troubadour. I keys, drums, bass, guitar, ukulele — so I

68

college, played shows like Lollapalooza, and was even on the Conan show. Now, at Berklee, I'm studying production and

more dark pop avenue, inspired by artists would categorize as “bubble gum pop.” I

extroverted, loud person, and I have no

that. I know they came out in high school and the beginning of college, and my thoughts were, “I need to protect myself” other people want to hear.” Now, I want to be unapologetically myself and make what I actually want to make without worrying about rhyme or if it's pleasing to everyone's ear. Fuck that. It's more me now. I have a few hundred songs in my bank, but a few that I really like and am ready to share.

K: Being from LA, I know you have experienced being within the industry bubble. For example, I know you were a contestant on Season 17 of “American Idol” in 2019 and made it all the way to the Top 40. Tell me about those experiences and dealing with the realities of the music industry.

to experience a lot of those industry events. Someone from outside LA wouldn't necessarily get to experience working with at one point, and working with certain have gotten to work with otherwise. I'm very grateful for that. I'm a bit more 69

business savvy than some artists here because I've been fucked over several times, which is good looking back at it. you what the industry is really like and how cutthroat it can be. Being on “American Idol”, especially, really taught me to

and be like Ariana Grande, but I wanted to in Boston has allowed me to focus more on the creative in not having to worry about if someone is only working with me

music-driven, and LA is all about status.

K: I obviously need to address the elephant in the room: COVID. Without live music, I can imagine how tough it is for someone who grew up on stage. How has it been adapting to the COVID-world as an independent artist? How has social media like TikTok helped?

once a week, which was really good. I would be playing a lot of fraternities, weddings, and shows at Berklee, too. I my songwriting and producing skills and forced myself to learn how to produce my especially right now. I'm trying to be a one-stop shop for myself. I haven't recorded in a real studio since last January. It has all been myself, which is scary, but super challenging in a good way.

Everything is much more accessible being an independent artist right now. People are more comfortable with Zoom sessions

70

to collaborate virtually versus having to be in New York, LA, or Nashville to work.

I did my whole third semester in Hawaii and was easily able to do everything I wanted from there. I had never recorded myself until last March, and there was a big learning curve. It was a lot of YouTube and FaceTime with friends, but I'm so glad it happened because I don't further than where I thought I could go as an artist. Now, I can produce myself on my own time, and the quality is the same or even better. Things like TikTok are giving independent artists a little more light as well. I think social media in general is a big thing now more than ever, as everyone is inside on their phones all day. I try to post everyday, and not even always music, but honestly trying to everyone is gonna see your music if you don't post it every single day. My goal is to make one fan a day. The advice I have for an artist trying to get their name think and be yourself. That goes for both social media and the music itself.

The

word

I

would

use

to

describe

been grinding and overcoming setbacks, backstabbings, and a pandemic at every turn in her pursuit of a music career. to perform in LA, which she has done brilliantly given all the cool venues she has played. She has overcome the dark side of the music industry in LA, bouncing back from making it to the Top 40 on her many performances. She is overcoming the pandemic by teaching herself to and I know this ability to overcome will take her far.

71

Soundtrack to the Graveyard Shift

by Nick Gemma

72

While some may consider them morbid merely by their association with death, I in cemeteries. The budding nature, astute

creating a well-kept resting ground for those no longer with us. Beyond their rich and interesting array of sounds that Everything, from the weeping of a family member to the humming of a lawnmower, melds together into a fascinating representation of life — both at its saddest and at its most mundane.

73

For the last four summers, I have worked quite familiar with the myriad of intermixed sounds. Beginning when I was 16 years old, I started working at a Rhode Island cemetery in a that meant I was going to be weed whacking and push-mowing every day; in reality, it meant that I was supposed to do whatever my bosses told me. As I developed a reputation with the cemetery, they entrusted me with larger responsibilities such as digging cremation burials and helping transport corpses from the chapel after funeral services. It was an odd job, but it gave me everything I needed: my and direction, and hours upon hours to listen to music.

overwhelmed with a feeling of nobility. During funeral services for any veteran, which was over half of the people we buried, the deceased three-volley salute. Whenever this happened, fell across the entire grounds. The sadness of delicately explained how while the three piercing an emphatic reminder that in an instant. There were

short life can be, gunshots served as it can all be over also times when we

widow or widower saying their goodbyes, as enough to bring anyone to the brink of tears.

These moments made me associate my job with a deeper meaning and built my relationship with death and its inevitability. I would avoid more aggressive genres like rock in this period, and instead favor songs like

acoustic sounds and abstract comments on the emotionality of death.

74

the cemetery, I realized that the nobility alone was not enough to engage me through the monotony of my 8-4 shifts. Additionally, perfecting every minute detail of each task made the simple ones take eons. I had attempted only left me feeling cruel and guilty. The a way to survive the monotony. I would likely be doing one of three tasks every single day: weed whacking, mowing or digging cremations. I committed these to muscle memory very quickly and could complete jobs without having to pay too much attention to minuscule details. As I became comfortable with the work I began listening to songs with featured basslines and hammering instrumentals, turning my Spotify listen to music every moment of every day, engaging myself with the songs when I found nothing interesting in my work. There were many times when I would get a bit too into it, and far too often I would look up to confused looks and angry stares as I spun my way from one headstone to the next, weed whacker in hand. It must have been an odd sight, a bored teenager spinning his way through a burial love of music and established a taste that for

Despite my ability to control most of the music that I listened to, some of my fondest memories came from songs I had no control over. beat-up radio that never changed from 94 HJY, a mainstream rock radio station. The break room, which was really just a picnic table

of that old machine, the only other music I veteran with long black nails and long black hair who was the lead singer of a heavy metal 75

full speed in our Kubota buggies singing songs about rotten luck and how much life sucks.

To this day I have no idea what songs he improvised and what songs actually existed. do a job together he insisted on playing he considered to be real rock. We would to the jarring sounds of heavy metal and rock, played from an improvised subwoofer out of a speaker and a cremation lining.

what work hard made

As odd as it sounds, I credit my time at the cemetery for my passion for music today.

It was during those laborious hours when I learned that music can distract me from any situation, providing both momentary relief and lasting engagement. It even proved a healer, helping me come to terms with the fear of death I struggled with before those years.

By showcasing the mixed emotions of grief with the mundaneness of a worker returning to their day job or a jogger minding their business, working at the cemetery gave me a new perspective on death. I was a side character,

that the cemetery was typically empty, as most people would only visit a grave twice a year: of their death. For the rest of the year the responsibility of taking care of that plot fell on my coworkers and I, a duty we took very seriously that was rarely rewarded with consistent visitation. Each time the emptiness of the cemetery made me feel hopeless, I would drive past an old man whom I saw every day in a family laughing and reminiscing about their loved ones, and that sadness would be replaced with an overwhelming sense of tranquility. The nature, the people and the sounds, all come together to make cemeteries one of the most serene places on Earth.

76

listen to “The Soundtrack of the Cemetery” here!

“I would listen to music every moment of every day, engaging myself with the songs when I found nothing interesting in my work. There were many times when I would get a bit too into it, and far too often I would look up to confused looks and angry stares as I spun my way from one headstone to the next, weed whacker in hand. It must have been an odd sight, a bored teenager spinning his But those long days of work established a taste that for

design by Tayla Dixon

77

by Joy Freeman

me was how to properly drive past the skyline. We were born on a peninsula, roughly twenty minutes out of reach from Boston, a mere swim from the we learned to master “the rounds” - circling the to pause in the middle of the road to switch from “Crash Into Me”. Crying spots were established, namely Grandview, the road which spans the harbor make a passenger seat a home, curl up beside the waves, and allow for jet engines to drone out any choice words about a recent heartbreak. Grandview is somewhere to stick your hand out the window, reach for the lights of the city as nightfall even be in them. Almost.

78

accurately, escape. A whole grade above me, we spent her last night before college

We left them for the waitress along with Me” by Lifehouse one last time, quietly as if nobody but us could hear. This

recounted her new life. The center of her world had shifted. Still, we made time for a nightly sweep of town, stopping only to admire the lights from across the water and to recite the words to Haim numbers. When it began to rain, we punched up the volume and danced in the road under streetlights. Finally, she had achieved what we both so desperately pined for — a ticket out of identical for a few more months, a bright purple envelope with my name embossed on top, dropped inside of my mailbox. Acceptance to the school of my dreams, in the city always so out of reach, was welcoming me. It was an invitation to touch the skyline. To be in it.

When my friend Tina and I rushed down the steps of our high school, I bounded to her passenger seat. We shouted the words to “Fifteen” by Taylor Swift (“Laughing at the other girls who think out of here as soon as we can”). We honked the horn at those still trapped inside.

I ran towards the light.

illustrations by Julianna Morgan

79

my freshman year, as I sat on my mattresspadded bed and stared into a half-eaten bowl of blindsidingly dumped me. The lump in my throat I

drowned

myself

in

worn-out

headphones

and

worn-out bass instead of in my dorm room. Who was I without a backroad to speed down? Without an ocean to drench myself in? Without a radio to break the dial on?

Reunited that summer, Alicia and I found ourselves hellbent on turning back the clock. the way that “Springsteen” by Eric Church does

where I am even if the roots are coming up as the music fades into the foreground. I can only boil this association down to the knowledge that this was exactly what was beginning to happen.

As our time together dwindled, so did the time we had left as teenagers. As young adults, the end of our coming-of-age movie was upon us. You never realize that your sunsets are numbered smears shades of pinks and purples across a once brilliant blue sky, the city slowly turning on behind the epicenter of the sun, remnants of

the last time before we headed back to college for the fall, Alicia put the car in park in the middle of the road.

80

We had bid farewell to the city three hours prior, driving through as though we were inside world that never truly felt like it was ours. The real world. The one that had always been just out of reach, close enough to see but never to touch, taunting us. “Paris” by The 1975 had played, creating a time warp of electronic scales and speakers.

“What if I come to get you tomorrow morning?

What if we set an alarm, and I come get you, and we go to the water?” she proposed.

Body wrapped tightly in my fuzziest blanket, I hobbled from the steps of my porch at 4:30 in the morning. Alicia waved from outside of the window; her hand was stretched to soak in the breeze. We let the sounds of who we had been

some Bleachers track we danced to in the locker room before gym class, and worn-out Charlie XCX

our guilty pleasure of the summer, “Better Not”

by Louis the Child (acoustic, of course, because it was too early for the radio edit), sharply cut. An ending too soon. We sat on the beach wall, the beach that had raised us, the beach we had resented back when it was all we knew, and we watched the sun come up.

accompanied by a fear of the unknown. A nostalgia

on a little longer. I’m scared too. To watch it all fade into the lights. To play its requiem and to scream the lyrics. beat again.

81

art

82

by

Chr

ist

ina

Cas

per

by Molly Goodrich Grammys, I was 10 years old.

It was 2011, and everything seemed bright and glamorous. I was glued to the screen in a

the reason I became so drawn to music. I loved watching the red carpet beforehand, not yet at the age where celebrities would feel real to me. Instead, it felt as though I was watching real-life royalty dressed up to the nines. It was a day of studying new fashion trends, listening to new music, and waiting to watch who might get to take home a shiny new trophy and the honor of adding “Grammy winner” or “Grammy-nominated” to their repertoire.

Every year since, it was the only award show I insisted on watching live. I would wait eagerly for Grammy nomination day like it was Christmas morning, preparing a list of who I thought would win, trying to guess what The Recording Academy might be thinking.

In recent years, it has dawned on me that these awards are not quite as glamorous or as noble as they seem. In fact, they come with a lot more baggage than expected. The Academy Awards have a racist, sexist and classist past.

83

awards in 1953, only 10 Black artists have ever won Album of the Year. Many times, Black artists are surpassed in the awards by white artists even after they are proven to be more commercially successful than white nominees.

Hip-Hop album, never in the larger, more general categories. It was only in 2020 that

and promoted Harvey Jay Mason Jr., a Black Is it too late for the show to start the redemption process, or has the damage already been done?

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, more famously known under his stage name The Weekend, continuously has songs in the Billboard Top 100 and is one of the most successful Black artists of this

or album category. This year, despite his single “Blinding Lights” becoming a number one hit, he was left out of every single nomination. In an interview with Billboard, The Weekend said, “People told me I was going to get nominated. The world told me. Like, very confused.”

beloved artists. Mac Miller, who tragically passed in September of 2018, was posthumously nominated for Best Rap Album three months family as VIP guests to the show, leaving many to believe he had already won, only for Cardi B to take home the award. Having a woman of color win the Best Rap Album was monumental. But fans of the late artist, including Ariana Grande, were troubled and

84

angered by the disrespectful act of

inviting

on live television. Many felt as though this same disrespect occurred when Kesha was up for Record of the Year for “Praying” and lost

assault and overcoming an abusive situation, while the latter is about meeting a girl in a club. If the Grammys are really about awarding the best lyrical records, they clearly have not met their goal.

In 2018, out of 84 awards given, only 11 went to women. After criticism, especially following a year of the #MeToo movement, the Recording Academy president, who has since been replaced, stated that women needed to “step up” if they wanted to hold bigger spaces in the music community. He was met with backlash after this statement, which could hint to one of the many reasons why Harvey Jay Mason Jr.

Considering the situations of Kesha and Mac Miller, the Grammys are almost infamous for pulling people in just to rip the rug out from or up-and-coming artists to perform at the Grammys Museum, which is supposedly an inside way of being told you are on the Recording point, Zayn Malik tweeted on March 9, 2021, “Fuck the grammys and everyone associated.

Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there are no nomination considerations. Next year

collaboration with the 10-time Grammy-winning Taylor Swift.

85

Malik is not the only former member of 1D to have this issue with the Grammys.

In 2017, Harry Styles had been regarded as the Grammys “golden child” after his debut solo album Harry Styles went platinum. and as a solo artist, Styles was left out go out of their comfort zone creating an album in hopes of getting noticed by an the slightest.

got the Grammys approval for a nomination in 2021.

Up for Record of the Year, this award aforementioned Styles and “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, two songs that are essentially just three-minute-long sexual innuendos.

Most casual fans of the two would agree that Styles and Bieber both have stronger lyrical content, and yet the Grammys chose to acknowledge only the ones that got they insist that chart-topping popularity does not factor into their nomination selection? Just like any other television show or mass media, they want the buzz and to be the next trending topic on Twitter. who takes home awards at the end of the night — they care about how much money they can pocket from the views. In a 2014 interview with NPR, musician Bob Lefsetz claimed that “Their No. 1 mission is to get paid. Their No. 2 mission is to put on a TV show that gets ratings.” By throwing any main category awards but will at least

86

illustration by Natasha Arnowitz

87

88

89

90

91

92

Designed by Mason Brown

93

design by Harrison Jenkins

After listening to their dynamic beats and emotionally raw raps, Van Buren can easily be described as a hiphop collective hailing from Brockton, Massachusetts. However, exploring the origins, evolution, and future of the group exposes its unique and genuine spirit, which reigns supreme over any description. I was fortunate to hop on the phone with members, Meech and Luke Bar$, who walked me through the intricate process of building their collective.

96

Buren come from?

Meech: The group came from a lot of failures... in the beginning, some people left, but the core founders, Moe Shelby, Lord Felix, and Jiles kept an open ear. So, members like me were invited after they discovered our music.

But, one of the most establishing moments was when some of us went to Dreamville Studios.

These sessions with artists like J Cole, J.I.D, and Childish Major inspired us to create our own sort of militia.

I knew Brockton as “The City of Champions,” renowned as the hometown of boxers Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. Besides its stature as an athletic hub, it is also categorized as one of the most dangerous cities in Massachusetts. I posed, what was growing up in Brockton like for you?

Meech: The best way I can explain it for me — is we stayed inside mostly and kept to ourselves. And in doing so, watching TV shows and movies made us very introspective.

While we know and have seen a lot that has traumatized our peers, right now, creatively, Brockton is in a great stage. It seems as if the narrative will slowly shift within the what we do will 110% impact how people view Brockton. We will keep pushing good messages to the youth that you can do this if you have good intentions on how to grow as a person we can shift it. The algorithm will shift on Google.

97

search when googling Brockton: is Brockton

inspiration, I became even more curious about their early experiences with music. I then questioned, were you involved with any music growing up?

our schools besides orchestra. But, Soundlab, a recording studio with a stage, became our kind of afterschool program. I like to describe it as the YMCA. The building might past, but when we went, it was pure. Still, to throw events, so it was just politics about another venue that snitched so they could be in control. It was tragic, but it became a blessing because it forced us [Van Buren] to become more acquainted. We started to kick it at home studios and went to events

98

More curious about their early experiences with music. I then questioned, were you involved with any music growing up?

at our schools besides orchestra. But, Soundlab, a recording studio with a stage, became our kind of afterschool program. I like to describe it as the YMCA. The building in the past, but when we went, it was pure. permits to throw events, so it was just politics about another venue that snitched so they could be in control. It was tragic, but it became a blessing because it forced us [Van Buren] to become more acquainted. We started to kick it at home studios and went growing.

What is your recording process like?

Meech: Life and art are aligned for all of us.

It starts with an album concept pitch with all processed through long conversations. with their producer is very important. All

when we make music together.

Is spirituality important to Van Buren?

Luke Bar$: I cannot speak for all the members,

one of my forms of spirituality — having conversations, for example, is another. In that essence. I try to pull spirituality in every situation. Everything happens for a reason.

99

Van Buren is a collective of artists, so not all members appear on all tracks; each member has a distinct voice, quite literally. But, as expressed earlier, there is an interconnection powerhouse collective. I asked, what do all Van Buren projects share in common?

Meech: We want authenticity and pure emotions, thoughts, visions, everything that is very transparent. We are in a world where nothing is transparent. Instagram and Twitter have led to a lot of people who put out fake examples

VB, everything is expressed in an album. We cut ourselves and bleed out on a project. For us, authenticity is the only real way to explain life. We even sample artists from a pure time.

When distinct artists like The Beatles and Michael Jackson were alive simultaneously, or

one artist until it becomes their thing. They might wait until they get a billboard to tell 100

like that.

Can you tell me more about the importance of expressing yourself through Van Buren?

a world that is against us every day. Trust that. There is oppression against Black people everywhere. Even my father, for example, emigrated from Haiti for a better opportunity. That traces back to France putting Haiti in debt, and now he is getting

the street, people see me as another Black guy. These situations that we go through just mentally on a day to day are exhausting. The only thing I hope is that white people will start being themselves because those are the easiest people to get along with. And for of our members to understand where we came For a group that is pushing back on labels, does the name Van Buren mean to you?

Meech: In the words of Moe [Moses Besong], Boston was very hesitant about allowing outside talent to get into the city. And seen like radicals or outcasts and shared a feeling of the city not respecting Brockton.

After binge-watching a lot of “Seinfeld”, we Van Buren Boys ganged up on Kramer. We are the infrastructure of Brockton. We have to lift up the people of Brockton, the city of champions.

The complete Van Buren roster: artists Luke Bar$, Meech, Jiles, Saint Lyor, artist and graphic designer Lord Felix, artist and producer Andrew Regis, producers Ricky Felix, R Louie and Kiron, designers Moses Besong and Shelby, and creative consultants Homeinvader and E. 101

photos by Elaine Tantra

snug, snow-colored Go-Go boots pound down the path originally paved by Nancy revives the zeitgeist of the 1960s, one of her most notable features being the thick, charcoal double-liner accentuating the beauty in her heterochromatic irises. Her amber-checkered dress and delicate pearls gracing the cover art of her single “Not My Lover” may embody the more traditional sides of this aesthetic but make no mistake the screams of female empowerment from this time period. For Noelle Rene, the multi-octave voices breaking the silence and stigmas against women (and how they looked while doing it) play a pivotal role in the characteristics that shape her solo career.

Noelle Rene enthusiastically. “I can say artists; I know that I am unconsciously soaking it all in, trying to see how it may or may not relate to my own identity as an artist.”

Each bold look, and the meticulous thought process attached to its vision,

that she enhances her persona through inventive ensembles and embellishments.

Growing up, Noelle Rene immersed herself in musical theatre because it was one of the few opportunities available to pursue

received from the people in her community encouraged and expanded her passion for 103

singing. Unfortunately, the script changed once modern vocalization was a stark contrast to the traditional broadway tone her director selective and somewhat unsupportive stance impacted the certainty she approached her craft rings as she explained how this critique made her self-conscious about her place in music.

“I like it when women have deep voices when that about myself, that I have that [a huskier voice]. I used to be insecure about it because I was in such a musical theatre realm, and the ideal in that realm was to be that classic *nanananana.* My teacher used to tell me that I sounded like a pop star in a negative context,

was always drawn to.”

Instead of conforming to a classical mold or abandoning her love for music completely, Noelle Rene embraced her unique, sonic strengths. She shed the shyness that previously held her back from creating her own music after experiencing her freshman year at Emerson College. Being surrounded by peers who were working and achieving similar goals in the industry inspired her to turn a reality that was once out of reach into a tangible one. Boredom from quarantine, mixed with the mounting motivation from a semester cut short, catalyzed her spontaneous decision to release her debut single “Flight 2402” this past August.

the

boarding

number

Noelle

Rene

anxiously

journey from Los Angeles to Boston as a college student. The synthesized beat underlying the song emulates the same components that make pop music so captivating — but its sound is anything 104

but mainstream. The reimagined rhythm, produced

by Berklee student Noah Leon, has a slightly

animated side of her sound, further reinforcing the range of expressive spirit bursting through the three-minute and ten-second track.

an outlet for her to its surface, “Flight romantic (and perhaps ended before it could distance one.

express her emotions. At 2402” rawly addresses a toxic) relationship that be categorized as a long-

Her lucid lyricism, however, directly outlines to her (or even her counterpart) until she began the cathartic songwriting process. Noelle her perspective for the sake of satisfying others. The act of distributing it on streaming platforms not only reunites her with but also repossesses the love she once outpoured to others for herself.

She

explained,

“How

I

view

my

songs

now,

growing into loving myself, which I think I have showing external love to people, and that made me feel valuable to another person.”

of support she received from it erased the as an artist. Noelle Rene channeled her pent-up sentiments from the Fall 2020 semester into the 106

one medium that never failed to slow the racing speculation in her mind. In the seven-week span that was winter break, she wrote and recorded three new singles.

“Not My Lover,” otherwise known as the girlboss anthem of the year, dawned on Noelle Rene during the chaotic string of Zoom classes that new “ELA campus,” but the familiar walls could not cultivate the same level of concentration

distracted her from a moment that was supposed to be spent studying. Giving into the creative frenzy that overpowered a chance of memorizing material or writing anything other than songs, Noelle Rene opened the voice memo app instead of her laptop. Later that month, Noelle Rene entered the studio with Cassie Towns [her best friend and fellow musician], producer August the dominant track.

From the start, both Noelle Rene and Towns envisioned making a song that radiated the identical aura of female empowerment artists like Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, and development, and their mood associated with it,

According to Noelle Rene, comedic relief is the standard coping mechanism for Towns. She appropriate to feature, or if there was even space for, her outlandishly satirical lyricism be taken seriously. Noelle Rene also questioned the validity of her own parts in the song. she

often

found

herself

second-guessing

how

leaned forward as she described how gender and her personal concerns heavily shaped the making of this song.

107

“When writing and producing my songs, I was

afraid that I would be perceived as a bitch for if a man did that, it would just be normal. I

feel. I was taking on that role to kind of become that person.”

Towns and Noelle Rene ultimately decided to follow their instincts — if their songwriting expressed their navigation through and reclamation of femininity, then what would be its purpose? Their collective sound conveys how deep intimacy is ingrained into their songs. From the iconic phrases Ariana Grande centralizes her songs around to the electric punches 100 gecs continually throws at its listeners, the love for and interest in music. Although Towns and Noelle Rene bring two distinct aesthetics to the table, Mez found a way to make their of the song incorporate more synthesization than usual in order to balance the beat, but Mez still managed to keep her section unique: the light yet low drumming and trumpet-like frequencies subtly mirror the complex chords that characterize jazz music, which is another

elevated through the courageous woman exerted onto the track.

energy

each

also a power move. When [Cassie] comes in, it She provides that kick, that uplifting moment;

108

a better place now because of it,” Noelle Rene

that not only comes with confronting her emotions but consequently herself. What sets these singles apart from her earlier releases is their approach to introspection. Instead of echoing empowerment and contemplated composure, Noelle Rene embraces the mess of not knowing how to feel or analyze a certain situation.

resounds through every mood of her music. Her honest angles prove that not every song that incorporates a feminine perspective or is by a female artist has to be one that is organized or put together in order to be considered valid.

How could you not be in awe of a woman who does not let any perception but her own dictate what she exposes in each of her songs, and how she goes about doing that?

Noelle Rene rose from the grid-like chair after what had seemed like a moment, but was actually an hour, since initially sitting down for our interview. The ornate, brass mirrors looming over our heads in the secondary seating her noir-colored boots. Although her feet may not have been protected by the patent-leather shoes that have become so iconic to her stage style, the clicking of her heels replicated the Noelle Rene stands for.

The acoustics of the expansive room still reverberated her presence long after she had

109