Sample Fall 2016

KWUR 90.3 FM

SAMPLE FALL 2016 1

TABLE OF C 2.

5.

6.

12.

Table of Contents

14.

16.

18.

20.

21.

22.

24.

28.

Internalized

32.

36.

38.

A Humble Band Recommendation: Thornapple

2

Contributors Fall 2016 Schedule Twin Peaks: A Band Old-Timers Can Appreciate and Still Cool Enough for the Kids

Abbreviation Bands to Look out For in 2017 KWUR Antenna So What We A Song by Thom Ellison Back in the Booth: The Revival of KWUR Sports Somewhere, A Play-Dough Snake is Scrawling an Elegy

Queer Artists You Should Listen To Subject #13196 (Silverdale Limestone Quarry, Silverdale, Kansas 7/6/2006)

CONTENTS 40.

42.

Momentary Volcanism

54.

56.

58.

61.

62.

65.

74.

78.

1,5,9...

An Interview With the Minds And Muscle Behind the KWUR Sucks Concert Series: Production Coordinators Jordan Weinstock and Jack Elliott-Higgens

Because You Asked About My Question Mark Best UK Grime Releases of 2016 The Inscape of Ontology (For David Pearce) DJs to Look Out for in 2017 From the Crypts of Memory Fracture In It Together, Music Forever: ACLU & Trans Lifeline Benefit

3

Vanna Vu

4

contributors: Elijah Armstrong Hannah Richter Jeffrey Blackman Landon Bennett Tanner Boyle Gabe Clark Tyler Brandt CJ Hopkins Alexander Flammond Nick Machak James Drueckhammer Madeline Underwood Sofie Attie Vanna Vu Kaitlyn Sharplin Isabella Levethan Jacob Studwell Morgan Anker Thom Ellison Anne Kramer Daniela Krausz Jerik Leung Alison Setili Dylan Kiefer Ethan Jaynes Sienna Ruiz Dana Citrin Jake Wasserman Jack Elliott-Higgens Jordan Weinstock Cristal Thomas Sofia Goodman Jordan Weinstock Grace Lu

SJ Han

5

fall 2016 sunday

9am-10am Yeasty Listening 10am-11am The Grassy Knoll 11am-12pm diurnal urinal 12pm-1pm Noah the LITtino 1pm-2pm https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ex o3RGg_j0I 2pm-3pm The Garden of Earthly Delights 3pm-4pm Spaghetti and Meepos 4pm-5pm Alternative to the Alternative 5pm-6pm Mystik spiral 6pm-7pm identity crisis 7pm-8pm The Cowboy Who Angered God 8pm-9pm What’s Left of the Dial?

9pm-10pm LeBron James & the Giant Peach 10pm-11pm Fourth Chamber 11pm-12am i jus been eatin peaches

Monday 12am-1am 7am-8am 9am-10pm 11am-12pm 12pm-1pm 2pm-3pm 3pm-4pm 4pm-5pm 5pm-6pm 6pm-7pm 7pm-8pm 8pm-10pm 10pm-12pm 6

Stop the Breaks hawkward Bird Bath Punk for Power Lampost Accord Rare, Kannin Fodder Brush 4.0 Melatonin untitled (grapenut) Moc Pivo, prosim Ceaseless Amplitude The Department of Homeland Obscurity

schedule

Sienna Ruiz

7

Thom Ellison

8

tuesday 12am-1am 9am-10am 10am-11am 11am-12pm 12pm-1pm 1pm-2pm 2pm-3pm 3pm-4pm 4pm-5pm 5pm-6pm 6pm-7pm 7pm-8pm 8pm-10pm 10pm-12am

[indistinct chatter] to be determined… High Tide Milo Minderbender 1105 Long-Distance trigger warnings convoy Perfectly Reasonable Soup Kennedy & The Chowder Boys Haiboiz Gateway Groove Stuff I Like to Listen To :) Caffeinated Comatose

WEDNESDAY

12am-1am Full House 7am-8am The New Classics 9am-10am HYPnotize 11am-12pm The Record Canteen 12pm-1pm Good Evening Vietnam 2pm-3pm Bootleg Hour 3pm-4pm point of contact 4pm-5pm Motorola RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana Unlocked Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD-Interntional Version with No Warranty (Gold) 5pm-6pm In Progress 6pm-7pm what.

7pm-8pm Whiskey on the Docks 8pm-10pm Radio Gnome Invisible 10pm-12am Musica Universalis 9

thursday 12am-1am 1am-2am 9am-10am 10am-11am 11am-12pm 12pm-1pm 1pm-2pm 2pm-3pm 3pm-4pm 4pm-5pm 5pm-6pm 6pm-7pm 7pm-8pm 8pm-10pm 10pm-12pm

Sin Pantalones Wine Wednesday Dear, That’s the point Getting the Ball Rolling Gaia’s Grooves Churro Banter nothing rly mattress Boopeedeedoo wax punk robbery & fraud Toast n Tunes The Fake Audiobook King of the Air Underground Air

friday 12am-1am 1am-2am 2am-3am 7am-8am 10am-11am 11am-12pm 12pm-1pm 1pm-2pm 2pm-3pm 3pm-4pm 4pm-5pm 5pm-6pm 6pm-7pm 7pm-8pm 8pm-10pm 1010pm-13pm

Yay Area Radio Killed the Video Star The Weekly Bat Flip Overnight Oatmeal Party of One Horchata Hour righteous anger Fragical Mystery Tour the rogue cheerios Turn off the Night Lights Beyond Good and Eva The Triple A Battery SUB PAR Modern Football: The Revival Big Beat Manifesto Shy Guyz Show

Ethan Jaynes

saturday 12am-1am 8am-9am 10am-1pm 1pm-2pm 2pm-3pm 3pm-4pm 4pm-5pm 5pm-6pm 6pm-7pm 7pm-8pm 8pm-9pm 9pm-10pm 10pm-11pm

The Pink Room The Best of Times Musica esoterica Nice Tunes for Deflated Balloons The Late Morning Show Cool Swag 420 Lonely Kimchi Panini shenramen PaJAMa Party Fade Out the Fox Throwback Hour Garbage Day Garbage day 11

Dylan Kiefer

Twin Peaks: A Band Old-Timers Can Appr

By Nick

I

’ve been meaning to write

to be more prevalent to me

about my experience seeing

initially. While listening to Twin

Twin Peaks live at LouFest this

Peaks, I couldn’t help but to

year for a while now. There

picture myself dancing very

was so much to say about the

modestly, set in some sort of

perfor mance and my overall

1960’s jukebox restaurant/bar.

impressions, but I’d like to

I noticed this even more while

bring particular attention to a

listening to Twin Peaks’ newest

shift in Twin Peaks’ appeal to

LP Down in Heaven. This album

me after that perfomance.

definitely seemed to have more of a 1960’s pop appeal for

Twin Peaks has been described

me than some of their earlier

as a band that draws elements

works. By this point, I couldn’t

from 1960’s and 2010’s garage

shake the stereotypical “dad

rock, which I don’t think is

rock” image of Twin Peaks from

an inaccurate depiction;

my mind. I had no problem with

however, I definitely felt the

this type of appeal. It reminded

1960’s garage rock elements

me of a lot of the rock music

12

reciate and Still Cool Enough for the Kids Machak

that my own dad raised me on,

like a slobbering dog. Clay

and I was happy to see another

Frankel (vocals, guitar) played

band do it so well.

sitting down, laying down, and also put his mouth to his

This singular view I had of

guitar at one point. Basically,

Twin Peaks was shaken a

there were a lot of moments

little bit when I saw them at

throughout this perfor mance

LouFest. The perfor mance

where I envisioned old-

aspect and the way that Twin

timers saying “Wow, look at

Peaks commanded the crowd

these punks.” All in all, the

was where I started to see

perfor mance made me realize

these dudes stray from the

that Twin Peaks is a band that

stereotypical “dad rock”

the old-timers can appreciate

aesthetic. For instance, Cadien

and yet still cool enough for

Lake James (vocals, guitar)

the kids to get down to. A band

convulsively shook his head

that truly has intergenerational

back and forth throughout the

appeal. So kudos to Twin Peaks.

set with his tongue stuck-out

Keep doing what you’re doing.

13

Internalized

by CJ Hopkins

Blank lines feel drafty Tur nt up phrase Objective impertinence, transitive apocalyptic plagiarism Egoist of selection, bury 90 percent Struggle with rainbows in headlights Shatter gemstones and share from 50,000 feet Trouble from nothing in particular Slip between ghosts of positions, hearing footsteps of other selves Run the optimization for mula Align evoke integrate Existence is a virtue Cut down at God’s doorstep Psychic psychoticisms fertilize true fruits, glimmering shared acknowledgements Embalmed in indebted progress, attention on answers and dashes Frenzied racial drag on stacks of post-it notes Silently disordering letters Tripping over limits by chain-link fences What would be novel falls asunder Remember, hubris can be a great thing Pray mistakes aren’t heavy enough to do much but bruise false egos Smell the stress hor mone which complicates matters inessentially, because my crushed community is not me, though the dry inputs get to me.

14

Madeline Underwood

15

Abbreviation

by Hannah Richter

I sleep on the left side of the bed

And you sleep on the right But it always ends up like [me] [you] I cross right from this margin [here]

all the way

[here]

there could be anything within those one and a half inches of p for all you know, I traversed roiling seas and deserts, brushed the yawning of great canyons, sampled wine on Calyp chartered flying ships among flocks of albatross, island hopped between galaxies.

I’ve made it, I whisper into your sleeping frame But I take one look at your face and know You’re not dreaming about me

16

Cristal Thomas

paper

pso’s shores,

17

Bands to Look Out For In 2017

By Landon Bennett

W

hile 2016 has been a shitty year for most across the board, there seems that new music has been the only redeeming quality of the past 12 months.

W ith blockbuster releases like Lemonade, the life of Pablo, and the long overdue Blond, big time artists have put together prime time stuff to remedy 2016 blues. Even smaller artists had breakthrough albums, l i k e K AY T R A N A D A’ S 9 9 . 9 % t h a t w o n j u s t a b o u t e v e r y Canadian music award possible, or Chance finally h i t t i n g i t b i g w i t h C o l o r i n g B o o k . H e r e ’s a l i s t o f b a n d s I think will carry this musical momentum into 2017:

1. RUN THE JEWELS If you haven’t already, listen to RTJ and RTJ2, the groups first albums. Everything killer mike puts together is a masterpiece, and RTJ3, set to come out January, is going to blow the roof off.

They’ve got a huge tour that comes through to KC in February, look out for that too.

2. HIPPO CAMPUS Hippo campus has yet to release a full length album, but have released a few singles as of late with similar artwork…

I predict a debut album to drop soon. They’ve got a really upbeat indie rock sound that’ll jump out at you, and their live performances are stellar.

3. ELECTRIC GUEST To be honest, I thought these guys disbanded after their debut album, Mondo that featured the indie-kinda-hit “This Head I

18

Hold”. It seems like just when I thought they were gone, they released a new single this fall and there are reports of a new album in 2017. Look out for them, they’re a breath of fresh air in the current indie-pop scene.

4. VINCE STAPLES His Primadonna EP was fire. It may be a lot to ask for, but Vince is about to hit it big and drop a huge album next year to really make a name for himself.

5. LORDE Ok, I know what you’re saying. Lorde is a pure pop princess and has no place on this list. Just hear me out though: from her twitter, she’s assured everyone that her time off has allowed her to mature her music and reach a sound she’s much prouder of. Pure heroine was an amazing album that just got ruined by a couple singles, I bet Lorde finally releases a complete album that can’t be ruined by top 40 radio.

Morgan Anker

19

Jerik Leung

Behold! The true KWUR 90.3 FM. We graciously thank you for granting us a wattage of 10 so that we may bestow upon the surrounding one mile radius the message of the underground.

Through this wattage of 10, we convey our obscure music, our witty humor, and our collective angst. Without you, O rusty rod, we would cease to be KWUR 90.3 FM and simply remain KWUR. Who would want that?

20

So What We - Thurlow Weed Recorded by Jordan Weinstock and Jack Elliott-Higgens 21

A Song by Thom Ellison I’m surrounded by my friends But I can’t let any of them know I’ve got something inside of me That never could be shown I’ve kept it hidden for so long It’s almost like an art I never want anyone to know How much I have to fart

22

Sofie Attie

23

B ac k i n t h e B o o t h KW U R S

B y Ty l e r

L

ike many other young

this case, lack thereof.

children, I grew up

All the way back in

thinking I would be a

elementary school, my

baseball player. Thinking

teacher assigned my class

that, if I just worked hard

a paper in which we had to

enough, I could make it to

write about what we wanted

the Major Leagues. I ended

to do when we grow up. I fed

that dream earlier than most.

her the same lie that I fed

When I was batting 9th on

everyone else. I wanted to

my Little League teams, I

be a baseball player, get to

knew my baseball career

the plate with game 7 on the

wasn’t going far. I still said

line in the World Series, and

I wanted to play, of course.

a whole bunch of other stuff

When people asked me what

that I once believed could

I wanted to do I had no other

happen. I don’t remember

answer, so I just kept telling

anything specific about the

them what was once true

paper or how well (or poorly)

but became a lie. It wasn’t

written it was. All I remember

that I didn’t want to play, it

was that somewhere in my

was just that I knew it wasn’t

teacher’s comments on the

going to happen. I still

paper I had written was

loved just about every part

this: Keep in mind that you

of the game, but I needed

don’t have to be a player.

a different answer, one that

There are many ways to

was actually applicable to a

stay

person with my skills or, in

coaching, broadcasting, etc.

24

involved with sports:

h : T h e R e v i va l o f S p o rt s

r Brandt Broadcasting. I have no idea why Mrs. O’Neill thought of it at the time. Maybe she saw many students write the same thing and wanted to give other suggestions.

Maybe it had something to do with all of the questions

least I thought, I could use

she a sked her 4th grader

in a broadcast. While many

(me) about the New York

students preferred to play

Yankees, and my responses.

on their phones at night

I don’t know what made

when they were supposed

her write that, but I am

to be sleeping, I would

grateful she did, because as

have my r adio on its lowest

I stared at that word in her

possible volume, tuned

comments, it just seemed

in to John Sterling and

like everything fell into

Suzyn Waldman calling the

place. I didn’t like to talk

Yankees’ game. Suddenly,

much (still don’t), but the

my new favorite thing to tell

one subject that could get

people was that I wanted to

my mouth moving was sports

be broadcasting baseball,

(still does). Even at a young

instead of playing it.

age, I would spend most of

Fast forward to my last

my free time researching

years of high school. It’s

statis tics, which gave me a

the college application

lot of infor mation that, at

process that everyone hates,

25

and I really only have one

didn’t lie to me, she just

question for the schools

didn’t mention that nobody

that I am looking at: can

in KWUR had done it for a

I broadcast sports game

few years and that I would

there? I had done three

have to start the entire

years of football games

program back up again.

and one season of men’s basketball games for my

The story of how I did that

high school radio station,

is not all that exciting. It

and I wanted to continue. As

involved many meetings

I am finding out now, most

and emails, enlisting Jeff

people really had no idea.

They just said that I would be able to because, well, it seemed like a reasonable thing to be able to do at a college radio station.

There was also the whole “if we don’t have a club you can make a club” spiel

“There are many ways to stay involved with sports: coaching, broadcasting, etc.”

that every school wanted to give, so it was hard to say

Allen’s help with equipment

no to my question. During

and somehow heeding his

the activities fair last year, I

valuable advice when I don’t

headed straight to KWUR’s

speak audio equipment

table and asked them the

jargon, and some KWUR

same question: “Can I

volunteers (thank you Aaron

broadcast WashU sports

Brezel and Aubrey King!).

games here?” Technically,

The end result is that for

the p erson who answered

every home WashU football

“yeah, you can do that,”

and basketball lgame this

26

season, KWUR has been

many others, in the year that

back in the broadcast booth

athletic department opens

for the first time since the

their new Sumers Recreation

2011-12 school year. (And

Center, there is also a new

we will be doing baseball

beginning for KWUR Sports,

too!) Some kind people have

because when the lights go

said that they’re glad we are

on at Francis Field, we’ll be

doing this again. I usually

back in the booth.

respond by telling them that I just hope we ca n keep it going this time. I say that because this is what I have wanted to do for such a long time. Since I read the word “broadcast” in Mrs. O’Neill’s comments, since I started asking ev ery school if I could broadcast their games, and since I walked up to KWUR’s table at the activi ty fair, I have wanted to broadcast sports games. I went to every home football game last year, and I would look behind me at the white structure towards the back of the bleachers, where I knew that, someday, I would be covering the f ootball games. So with the help of the K WUR kommunity and

27

(I think this might be my first screenplay, and I was inspired by fellow Nemmy, Andie Berry, whose dramatic reading I attended this weekend, although her play may or may not be slightly more eloquent.)

By Hannah Richter

Somewhere, A Play-Dough Snake Is Scrawling an Elegy [A family of four sits around a dinner table, eating in silence, chewing their food slowly like the words they want to say but won’t.

The DAUGHTER mostly just pushes around the food on her plate, idly building mashed potato fortresses with her fork. The clinking of silverware on ceramic dishes is the only music to decorate the evening. A DOG sits judiciously waiting for scraps, unaware of the palpable tension in the room, unaware of most things in fact, including the complete spectrum of visible colors and climate change, and a whole score of other matters that don’t smell like sautéed chicken.]

MOTHER: [putting down her silverware and wiping her palms on a napkin, deciding to break the silence before it congealed into something much more difficult to rinse off] How can I help you understand that we always have your best interests in mind?

DAUGHTER: [coldly] Pass the salad.

MOTHER: I know you’re upset. Can we just talk about this, please?

FATHER: Your mother’s right. This is just as tense as when past, present and future walked into a bar.

DAUGHTER: [fixing MOTHER with a counterfeit smile] There’s nothing to talk about, except for the fact that the salad is underdressed.

FATHER: Lettuce all move on then, I don’t want to romaine this upset with each other forever.

BROTHER: I learned how to make play-dough boa constrictors in

28

school today. Wanna see? [eagerly pulls out vaguely serpentine lumps from an unknown source on his person] DAUGHTER: Those are literally just worms, at best. They kind of look like you actually.

BROTHER: [sticks his tongue out insolently] MOTHER: I’m… I’m sorry, okay? I thought I was doing what was necessary at the time. You never let us in, darling, how else was I supposed to find out what was going on with you? I just assumed…

DAUGHTER: [fuming like nitric acid with a mean hangover] Assumed what? That I was the head of an illegal drug ring that spanned multiple countries? That I was going to stage an elaborate coup and go all Julius Caesar on my student council president? That I was thinking of joining the church of scientology?! What other reason could you have possibly considered that would justify going through my personal journals?

MOTHER: I thought you might be having problems at school.

FATHER: You know, the only way to get straight A’s is by using a ruler.

DAUGHTER: Problems at school?! So because of one bad chemistry grade you suddenly go all Spanish Inquisition on me? You’re crazy.

BROTHER: [is feeding his snakes tiny cutlets of chicken and dabbing their mouths with petite shreds of napkin] Pass the mashed potatoes plebeians!

MOTHER: I did what I did out of love. You have to try and meet me halfway here.

DAUGHTER: The only place I’ll be meeting you is in Hell.

MOTHER: [gasps audibly and purses her lips] Grounded. You are grounded.

FATHER: [nodding in agreement] Like coffee. [pauses to reevaluate,

29

nods again] Like beef.

DOG: [vaguely understands the word beef—despite an underdeveloped cerebral cortex, a lacking English vocabulary, and the fact that he is considered rather “dim-witted and unintelligent” even by members of his own species—begins to salivate] BROTHER: [smirking at his sister’s misfortune] Guess you can’t go to that huge “Kegs and Eggs rager” on Saturday.

DAUGHTER: [furiously] You read my journal too?! I’m so done with all of you. [snatches one of the snakes and mercilessly cuts it in half with her dinner knife] By the way, I think your snake is hurt. [throwing the remains unceremoniously across the table, even though SNAKE #1 would have preferred to be cremated and to have had his ashes sprinkled in the tender breezes of the Sargasso Sea] SNAKE #2: [mourns] BROTHER: [mocking] And by the way you think Johnny at school is [devilish pause] “excruciatingly sexy.”

DAUGHTER: [turning red] DOG: [doesn’t understand the color red—barks anyways] MOTHER: [exasperated, menopausal sigh] Can you please put the dog out?

FATHER: I didn’t realize he was on fire. [Gets up from the table to let the poor, naïve creature out into the fenceless night of its ancestors, but in the tragicomedy of a canine’s domesticated life, he isn’t sure whether to howl valiantly at the moon, or simply urinate on a fire hydrant and call it a night well spent. Outside, there is a sky full of stars, and the cosmos shimmer indifferently] FIN.

30

Dana Citrin

31

A humble band recommendation Thornapple

By SJ Han

I

f you’ve ever stumbled upon that one show that’s on Saturday 4-5pm, you might have sat there for a moment mildly confused, crumpled your eyebrows, and reached for Ctrl W a few minutes later. See, the dude that runs that show is me, and for better or worse, my shtick as a DJ is that I play relatively obscure songs from the Korean indie scene (it’s kinda because my knowledge of music elsewhere is pretty shallow).

So when I was struggling to decide what sort of random shit I should submit for Sample, fellow KWURian Tom/Thom Ellison shrugged and suggested I go with what I usually do and recommend some sort of Korean band. Hey, that’s what you’re reading!

And here it is, peoples: if I were to recommend any single Korean band, I’d direct you to Thornapple, whose songs I’ve played on KWUR a lot of times. This is apparently what last.fm says about them: “Their music is characterized by a dreamlike elegant shoegaze sound and evocative lyrics.” Huh. Here’s my attempt at describing their music (which I am bad at): their vocals are from a dude with a bizarrely delicate and floaty, almost androgynous tone; their guitar work features a lot of echo-y, sometimes psychedelic qualities; their bass lines are sufficiently groovy without being overpowering, and their drums are pretty

32

n: Jacob Studwell

decent too because they suite the rest of the band well.

See, I think one of their biggest strengths is that the sum of those parts is something unique: I can’t really articulate it well, but it’s something equal parts atmospheric, artsy, and self-consciously/ purposely pretentious. I honestly can’t really think of any western RIYL bands that could serve as a good reference point, because they have strong “Asian” sensibilities.

Also, by being lovably pretentious, this band sort of averts the problem of a language barrier, which is one of the main downsides to listening to any band from a faraway country. Of course, their lyrics are completely in Korean, but because their lyrics usually consist of them stringing together various intelligent-sounding but abstract, cryptic phrases, I am equally lost as to what the hell they’re really talking about.

So hey, check them out if you take my word for it! Or don’t. That’s cool too.

Song recommendations: “Plankton” (THIS IS THEIR BEST IMO), “Seoul”, “Difficult Moon”, “Strange Tropics”, “The Cicada that Cries through the Rain”, “Idiot” (Their songs are all available on Youtube; they’re also on Spotify but the song titles are un-translated and they’re buried under some sort of local church band).

33

34

Jeffrey Blackman

35

QUEER ARTISTS YOU

By Sofia Goodman

Adult Mom— Some of th their first full length album

Julia Weldon— she kind o

Your Friend— This midwe and Kurt Vile. Listen if you

Aye Nako — Brooklyn pu as “sad punk songs about

Kevin Abstract— Listen if and a penchant for raw au

Rue— catchy, confessiona themselves “arts and craft bandcamp page.

SHIRA— SHIRA obliterate pulled into her pleasantly

Lora Mathis— Really cool punk.

Joey Nebulous— shoega heterosexism” and norma

THEESatisfaction— Seatt sci-fi epics with the warmt that evoke equal parts Ela

Perfume Genius— Raw an vulnerability with sparkling

36

Isabella Levethan

SHOULD LISTEN TO:

he most compelling and catchy bedroom pop around. I’ve been playing m Momentary Lapse of Happily on repeat for the past few months.

of reminds me of Cat Power and Neko Case

estern band has been touring the US with bands like Porches, Alex G, u like lots of swirly, atmospheric guitar sounds.

unk trio composed of three badass queer folks. They describe their sound t being queer, trans, and black.”

f you like genre-bending hip-hop songs with socio-political commentary utobiographical narratives.

al, solid-as-hell bandcamp rock group from Pittsburg. They describe ts punk/twee punk” and they sell bright pink cassettes on their

es gender and genre boundaries with ease. You’ll find yourself getting mysterious, haunting electro-soul world with every chord.

l, explicitly political, and extremely vulnerable mix of poetry and DIY

azy indie-pop group from Chicago that explicitly aims to “undermine alize the experience of queer kids.

tle-based duo who describe their sound as “funk-psychedelic feminista th and depth of Black Jazz and Sunday morning soul, frosted with icy raps aine Brown, Ursula Rucker and Q-Tip.”

nd gorgeous songs that careen from self-assuredness to striking g synths and strong vocals.

37

Subject #13196 (Silverdale Limestone Quarry, Silverdale, Kansas 7/6/2006)

By Tanner Boyle Q. “It’s an endless quandary. He’s a sensitive boy and he jumps through flaming hula hoops to give Talulah her due or what he assumes is such, but he can’t feel very much alive striving to please her as he does and I can’t understand her lingo but it still stings me though, it must sting him more brutally than any kamikaze nanobot killer bee machine.”

Q. “What is this that I now envision? Behold! The city state born of instant flakes! Talulah and her foolhardy compadre stroll it endlessly. Parliaments are formed to grant them the prerogative to make love on formica floorboards and other redundant icons.”

Q. “In this quarry I enquire you, o nameless enquirer: what is this seminal fluid classic that makes the elastic walls jiggle?

And why does she inhale those pills like they grow on daffodils? And why does she scare children shitless sitting and crying in the makeup aisle in total denial of a better day? A modern midas touch of grey at her disposal, I doubt a rose’ll make her smile.”

38

Morgan Anker

39

Momentary Volcanism

By Hannah Richter

You take my hand as the conversation evaporates along the shoreline.

Nothing profound, no final glorious syllables to reflect upon, to tell the kids thirty years later, no momentary obliteration of self and world and time.

Only, “Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.”

Here is where I’m better than you.

I call upon the universe for a solar flare, a tsunami, a horde of carnivorous dragonflies, a slew of asteroids, anything to salvage this unremarkable moment.

And you smile weakly at me reveling in your mediocrity and I think I hate you for it. So I put the whole goddamn city underwater, let the tide come in, let the barnacles start kingdoms.

I form a business where the wealthy can book scuba tours downtown. They smile and point at the highways veiled in kelp forests, the algae covered restaurants.

Sooner or later it all goes; the shorelines, the ocean-side motels,

40

the abandoned beach chairs, I watch them all succumb to the tide.

Otherwise, you’re still holding my hand, amidst the silence of conversational collapse. Smiling like you don’t know that I’d throw anyone into a volcano if it meant a good poem.

Jack Elliott-Higgens

41

An Interview with the Minds and Mus Series: Production Coordinators Jorda

Interviewed by Gabe Clark. Inte Q: How did you get involved in the DIY scene?

A: [Jordan] I got involved in DIY culture because I read a review of the first Frankie Cosmos album in Pitchfork. It was an interview with her. It was called a rising article, or whatever they called it back then.

It led me to the world of Double Double Whammy, a record label from Brooklyn, which kind of made me realize that the things that I had heard about the 80s and the 90s DIY culture still existed to this day, just in a slightly different form because of the Internet and such. But, I kind of became obsessed with the idea of Double Double Whammy and this family run label, where it’s bunch of best friends making music and hanging out. And I didn’t have that at all growing up. I knew one person who liked music in high school and it was my friend [indecipherable] and his favorite band was Phish and he liked the Mountain Goats, which is why I would say he likes music. (Phish just came out with a new song? Right? He actually sent me a new Phish song yesterday.

‘You gotta check it out. Check it

42

out and start it at a minute and 24 seconds’ was his exact quote.)

And being from New York—I was in Long Island so I was far from where it was all happening but I wasn’t close enough to be able to easily become involved with it. So, I started imagining what it would be like to be involved and write songs on my guitar in my room and liking every band I could on Facebook and following the details and dreaming what it would be like to go to the shows.

And then, my senior year in high school my mom was finally comfortable with me taking the train alone into Brooklyn. So, I started going and I didn’t really meet but a couple people but I saw people who I had very much looked up to at that point, just hanging out at these places like nothing was unusual about it and that was the moment for me that was ‘Wow, anyone can do this.’ I, then, at the time quickly realized I had no ability to make music at that time and was very impatient.

I was like, “I want to get involved and I want to get involved now.”

So, I reached out to Double Double Whammy and people I

scle Behind the KWUR Sucks Concert an Weinstock and Jack Elliott-Higgins

erview transcribed by Ji Ye Song. looked up to and was like ‘How do I start a record label?’ That’s where I finally started to actually meet people and become friends with people in scenes and realize it was more than Brooklyn. It’s the whole world of people hanging out in basements and doing what makes them feel good.

[Jack] I had a pretty widely different experience. I have been playing guitar since I was five and music has always been a very personal thing for me. I was playing by myself and was probably writing songs when I was 12. I recorded a lot when I was in my early teens and I would record every track. I learned other instruments when I would record every track. That was mostly because I didn’t know many people who played that kind of music at the time. [As a] Freshman in high school I convinced one of my good friends to learn drums because he was really good at Rock Band drumming. I told him, “You could definitely do it. It’s basically the same thing.” And it turned out that it was basically the same thing and he is a very

talented drummer because he was really good at Rock Band. So, we played. We played, mostly, covers because we didn’t really have time to write. We wrote a couple songs and played a couple shows every now and then but there wasn’t really a venue for it, living in suburban Boston. The Boston scene is really good but it’s really insular and hard to get involved unless you are going to school with these people and hanging out with these people. I didn’t really know much about it. I didn’t really spend that much time hanging out in Boston. A lot of it was 21+ too, which is its own barrier. Boston, especially, has strict liquor laws.

Even playing in bands throughout high school has always been a very personal thing, and I always wrote my own songs and was constantly recording. I got this massive library of half-finished projects. Up until sometime last year, [when] I got to St. Louis. The St. Louis scene is the first one I got involved in at the DIY level. And I can credit Jordan a lot for that. So it’s since then that I’ve been playing in bands with him and seeing all that it takes to get involved, and meeting people.

43

People are very supportive and they want you to be part of the scene. They are always looking for new faces. And music has become a lot less of a personal thing for me now, which is a good thing.

It gets me out of my head and it makes it a community based thing.

I’ve never really experienced that musical community before. I’ve known that it was out there but never had it for myself. So, that’s where I am with DIY music right now. I’m very into the community aspect of it. That’s been a big part for me.

Q: What do you think are the hallmarks of DIY culture? What does DIY mean to you?

[Jordan] I think defining DIY is problematic in a way. Because the whole point of DIY is that it’s whatever you want it to be. It exists in this weird space where it’s essentially just a community of people who haven’t really had a community before and finding one with each other, as cliché as that sounds. It’s cliché because it’s true.

I think coming here and being part of KWUR and part of various bands.

When I was first in, ‘Okay, DIY is people making independent rock music – that’s all it is.” And then I came here, and I was doing some of that and I became disillusioned with it a little bit and saw DIY as people doing what they want to do.

It’s space where you are encouraged and given the support system you

44

need to express yourself in whatever way you think is the right way to do that.

[Jack] Yeah, the support system, I think, is a big part of it. DIY culture depends on the complete lack of competition and just being supportive. One of the cool things that I’ve seen since starting to learn more about this, is that people don’t tour to make money but that people tour for fun. You make enough money to keep touring. You generally have to raise money to go on tour and the only way people can tour is because every city that they go to they know somebody can find them a show that will make them enough money to keep going.

You have this gigantic national and sometimes international community that will help you out just because they like music and they like you. That support system is really cool.

Q: Along those lines, what do you see as being KWUR’s role in facilitating DIY culture at the local, but also broader national level?

In other words, how does KWUR contribute to and support the DIY scene?

[Jordan] We are lucky enough to be part of KWUR at a really special time in its transition, I talk about that all the time, but it’s so true.

It’s the third golden age. College radio, historically, has been a place for people to discover music they

couldn’t find elsewhere. It’s no longer that because of internet and a lot of other things. I think KWUR is at this weird point where we are a radio station but we are no longer, at least in my mind, that’s probably the least important thing that we do – be a radio station. I think KWUR has the ability to, at the St. Louis level, connect Wash U kids to an

“The whole point of DIY is that it’s whatever you want it to be.” experience that they cannot get anywhere and wouldn’t necessarily know that they can’t get it anywhere else because they don’t know that it exists. I have seen a lot in the 6, 7, or 9 shows that we have done, I have seen people and talked to people that said, “Wow. I didn’t know I could stand so close to a band before.”

[Jack] People would start coming because they know us and we pressure them. We invite them to everything and they keep coming because they actually really like it and didn’t know this kind of thing existed. I think that’s KWUR’s role specifically. Our vision for KWUR as a DIY staple in St. Louis is that it’s in between. St. Louis is an incredible basement house scene. Midwest cities have that.

There are so many basements where you will see shows and stuff. People love having shows in their house and it’s awesome. But Wash U kids don’t have exposure to that because they don’t know all these people and it’s all based on Facebook invites and who you know. It’s just the way it is.

People invite their friends to these things. KWUR is a stepping stone.

Stepping stone is diminutive. It’s a way to connect to a scene that you didn’t know existed in an accessible way with your friends and to feel supported and then to meet people. Safety is huge.

Don’t really want to go down that road right now with the music scenes and issues. But, yes KWUR is incredibly safe and there’s a lot of ways to get into this local scene and it’s national. We are bringing in some bands that are staples in their local scene. So that’s a way to start. Especially, a lot of people are from the city that the bands are from and they can say, “Hey, I go home and I can see you too. I can meet the other bands and get involved in that scene.” It provides the opportunity for people to get involved.

[Jordan] Talking in a broader sense, I think KWUR shows are important because St. Louis has had a weird history as of late with music scenes in that it is somehow left out of the music history for some reason. There are a lot of good bands and a lot of good

45

people doing a lot of great things here and no one seems to care outside of St. Louis or Kansas City.

I don’t want to demean hard work that Matt Stuttler, Sean Ballard, all those kids at [indecipherable] do, but I think the fact that KWUR as an established legitimate entity that has some sort of respect, not that those people don’t have respect, [but] there is a certain level of turnout I think we have been lucky enough to attract and I don’t know how much of it us or how much of that is KWUR. [Jack] Or how much of that is that we have no shame.

[Jordan] Yeah, we don’t care and we will ask. But, I think KWUR has been, at least in my mind or just me hoping that we do, but I think KWUR has been important the last year bringing more attention to St. Louis within DIY scene and making people realize that, “Maybe I should go to St. Louis instead of Bloomington, Indiana” for some reason. We are not just a fly over city. We are a place with real culture and have things that are worth sharing.

Q: To what degree do the values of KWUR and the Co-op overlap or differ, and how do you think that affects the shows that take place in the Co-op space?

[Jack] We have very similar values and different goals.

46

[Jordan] Yeah, I never realize that more than I did in today’s meeting.

By my own fault I have to admit that Co-op to me is not a space where people live.

[Jack] It’s just not our experience of the Co-op.

[Jordan] I forget that very often. It’s a place where I can put on things that I want to do.

[Jack] They have been very very

“St. Louis is an incredible basement house scene. Midwest cities have that. “ kind to us. And put up with, not like nonsense, but they are very willing to make whatever we want to work work and I feel we have a similar outlook. In terms of we are very willing to make things work for people. But they are offering us their living space and whether or not we personally treat it as such, everyone we invite there, we are responsible for on some level. And we are working on making our goals align with their values more.

To be more responsible.

[Jordan] For me, this year’s more aligned with— I want to get kids out. I want these bands to be seen and feel that it was worth their time and I want people to enjoy themselves. They [the Co-op] are

hosting it because it’s art and they see it as valuable. I see the same thing but I am looking at it from a more practical side.

[Jack] For us, where we draw the line in terms of who is there and how they are treating the space and how they are treating the event. It’s different for people who see it as a party versus as an appreciation for art. It doesn’t always have to be versus but some people definitely in the versus terms. We are trying to be better at saying, “Hey, maybe you should go somewhere else tonight.” That’s just something we have to do and be responsible about because once the Co-op lends us the space, we have to be responsible for it.

Q: Maybe it’s something that you’ve never thought about before, but consider the Co-op as a physical space. Do you think that shapes the shows in any way? In other words, how would shows be different if they weren’t hosted at the Co-op, or in reverse how do you have to modify the shows to fit the Co-op space?

[Jordan] We had shows in a couple places now and they have very different feels. Very different.

I think there’s a difference between the physical space of the Co-op and how that influences the shows and the concept and the idea of the Co-op.

[Jack] And also the connotation of the Co-op with who’s coming.

Because the Co-op does have quite good parties. It’s like, “It’s a Co-op party. I’ll come to that.”

So, if people are hearing about something at the Co-op, it’s a lot of people’s assumption.

[Jordan] Co-op is shaped in this way it’s a weird in between a basement and a regular place to be, which gives the shows a different atmosphere than most shows and like house shows because you go to the Nest or something like that, another popular house venue in St. Louis, and you very much feel that you are in a dank, dark[Jack] Let’s use Duggan House as an example. The Nest is too nice.

[Jordan] The Nest is really nice.

But you go into Duggan and you are like wow, this place is shoddily put together, at best— [Jack] Sorry Erin, whoever actually lives there.

[Jordan] You feel like you are in a basement. You feel like your classic punk and you go to the Co-op and it’s pretty well-lit. It’s not that deep in the ground and there’s a kitchen right there. I go to the Co-op, I feel at home and energized as opposed to like going there and feeling angry. It’s very open and has like a nook so

47

that the bands aren’t removed from the audience at all but at the same time you feel comfortable in a way I realize now I have a hard time describing.

[Jack] It’s one of my favourite places to play music because the audience is close and yet it’s not like going to a basement punk show where there’s literally no separation. I have been pushed into a drum set at a basement show. That means I went through whoever was in front of the drum set as well. So, there is no barrier.

Here, there is a nice barrier but it’s not insurmountable in any level which makes it a very cool physical space. It’s also very wide which is important because a lot of basements are narrow and that channels everyone towards the band.

[Jordan] It’s a place where you can do things to your own comfort level whatever that comfort level is. If you want to hang back, sit on a couch and sit back and drink beer and enjoy yourself or whatever, you can more than happily do that and have a good time and enjoy yourself. Or, if you want to up there on the front rocking out so hard that your body hurts the next day, you very easily can as well and you are not going to be infringing on anyone’s happiness or ability to enjoy themselves by doing so.

[Jack] Kind of tangential, it’s not even tangential it’s very relevant.

48

It’s very versatile. One of the very cool things we did recently turn it into a basically a coffee house type show, except it was packed for the Alyssa Kai and Foster Carrots show. There were 55-60 people there sitting down with blankets and wine and there were lights everywhere. This is not the same space. It’s very versatile and it can mold itself to whatever environment you want it to and not a lot of spaces are like that.

Q: You both kind of touched on it, but as musicians yourselves what do you see as the relationship between the audience and fans and performers in the DIY music scene, maybe particularly in the venue of the Co-op, but also generally. How do you feel that it is different from the fan and performer relationship in the commercial scene?

[Jordan] I have always been a strong believer that as a band I don’t want fans I want friends.

[Jack] Friends are food.

[Jordan] Friends are food.

[Jack] Bring food.

[Jordan] I think one of the great things, and the thing that inspires me the most is that there is no difference between fan and performer. It’s just which night you go to a show.

[Jack] You can be both in one night.

[Jordan] Yeah, you can be both in one night. You could have been a fan your whole life and the next day you could be no longer. Back in the day, when I saw Muse at Madison Square Garden and 400 rows above them.

[Jack] Green Day, for me.

[Jordan] It’s disillusioning.

[Jack] You can’t even see their faces.

[Jordan] You are so removed from the experience of the music itself.

[Jack] I would rather sit at home and listen to it on my iPod. [Jordan] I would rather watch a music video.

[Jack] It’s almost true.

[Jordan] It’s close to true.

[Jack] For me, it has a lot to do with the actual physical space between you. And that… [Jack loses his train of thought] [Jordan] There are levels of DIY that are like “Oh, there’s no stage there.”

[Jack] Stage! That’s what I was going to say. Stage is huge. If you have elevation, it makes such a big

difference. I don’t like it. I mean, I like it because it’s like “Ooh, we are up on the stage.” We played at the Firebird a couple of weeks ago and it was cool because we are up on the stage but we spent the entire time trying to interact with people below us. We gave out pizza, we hung out and we have made some friends. But, you have to make an effort to interact.

[Jordan] It’s different. And if you at the same level as people and if you are right in their face and you are making eye contact and you are singing to them not over them, that’s huge on both sides – as a performer and as a fan. It just makes such a big difference.

[Jack] I prefer to be on the ground because I’m young and naïve but being able to look at someone directly and feel their energy come to me and given back and then run through them and actually hit them, not violently, but touch them. Hit them in a friendly way.

And feel them. It makes me love performing so much more. It becomes a thing where it’s no longer you playing music for other people but creating a moment together with all these people around and celebrating what it is to be doing what you do.

It’s community.

[Jordan] Yeah, it all goes back to community.

[Jack] One of my favourite parts of

49

any song that Jordan has written is when it goes “this is the part of the song where all my fucking friends pretend to sing along.”

Because it’s kind of sarcastic but I view it in a different way. It’s pretending to sing along because you have never heard the song because this might be the first time this band has played this song. You are there and you want to be a part of it and you pretend to sing along.

Q: How do you feel that genre shapes the culture of shows?

[Jack] Punk and anything harder than punk have had some issues since their inception with making their audiences safe. It propagates this culture of this large white man being the only member of the audience who feels safe

“It’s no longer you playing music for other people but creating a moment together with all these people around and celebrating what it is to be doing what you do.” and then they are the only ones going to the shows and it’s a very exclusionary scene. There’s been a lot of efforts from a lot of people, especially in the last 15

50

years it seems, in making punk shows and anything harder more inclusive. But, it still scares some people away and it makes a much more large and male audience for that kind of show, which makes a difference for everybody-– performers too. It’s not even rock.

It’s really just punk. It’s the dancing that people do. I’ve seen that at some St. Louis shows. I went to a show at the Sinkhole. It was awesome. It was Lumpy and the Dumpers. It was cool. But there was this guy— [Jordan] Lynn’s reaction at Pile— [Jack] Pile was crazy. Everyone was aggressive.

[Jordan] Glasses were broken, and bottles.

[Jack] This guy, 6’6” probably, had a huge studded leather jacket on and he was slam dancing in front of everybody and people just cleared out. People didn’t want to be a part of it and that’s a bummer.

The style of music influences how the audience reacts in a huge way and makes the show more or less successful to different people and that can be a huge problem.

[Jordan] I think it has a lot to do with expectation. Calling something a punk show or a twee show, or an electronic show, or whatever. I think people have all these expectations for what they

should be and work hard reinforce that expectation regardless of what is actually happening. I also think it is inherent in the people who are attracted to these things.

I have only ever been to one rap show in my but it will certainly be a very different experience in every indie-rap show I have ever been to just because there is a culture built around it that you can’t deny. There are a lot of people who want things to be a certain way so they make them that way.

You go to a punk show and there are going to be people who are going to be moshing or whatever and it is hard to deny them this experience because this is a punk show and that’s what happens and that is problematic.

[Jack] I think it ends up being on the artist. It’s maybe not ideal that it ends up being on the performer who can see the entire audience to stop people from ending up in dangerous situations because it can happen. People can get seriously hurt when there are unwilling participants to moshing.

I have seen it happen a few times while being at shows and heard about [artists who] walked off stage because they asked the audience to stop moshing multiple times and people gave them a really hard time. “You can’t tell people how to enjoy your music.”

At the end of the day, yes you can.

You can tell people when they are enjoying your music in a harmful

way to other people’s experiences.

I saw at Firebird during our last song people started moshing and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. There were some pretty small people at the front who were kind of getting crushed but they seemed to be okay with it, so at the end I stopped telling people to stop. That was the first time for me having to crowd control. I didn’t know what to do. So I just yelled.

Q: What is the process of looking at show like? Is St. Louis a primary tour destination or intermediate stop?

[Laughter] [Jack] If it’s a stop at all.

[Jordan] Booking is easy. Do it yourself.

[Jack] It was so much easier than I thought it was but it’s still pretty hard.

[Jordan] Booking is kind of like “I’ve got this space. Someone use it please.” In the end of the day, it kind of breaks down to whether you are willing to put in the effort to do it. Because bands will play anywhere, anytime as long as it is convenient for them. At least at this level of artists. We have experience where the band Nana Grizol, I reached out to them because I heard they were looking

51

for college stops and said, “We have this great place for you to play,” and they said, “Great, give us a 1000 dollars,” and I said no.

Basically bands want to play music for the people who want to hear the music and if you are confident that you can give them that, then they are confident in you to pull it off.

[Jack] To be fair to Nana Grizol, a lot of colleges will pay $1000 just because they have the money lying around. I mean, I would love to pay every artist that comes here $1000 instead of taking in donations but that’s not realistic.

[Jordan] What I didn’t realize about touring is how—I had this expectation that people played music and people toured because they wanted to get some sort of money or whatever. When I booked my first show, the Soft Fangs show, for KWUR week last year I was like, “What if nobody shows up? They get no money—that’s what they came here for. They’re never going to come back.” We ended up giving them a good deal of money but I think regardless they didn’t care because that’s not what they were looking for. They were looking for—not validation—they wanted to share an experience that they had with someone else who would also enjoy this. They could have played to one person that night and if that one person had been

52

really into it, I think they would have been happy. Booking, at the end of the day, is less about practicality and more about feeling. It’s art in itself. Are you able to connect with these people and give them— [Jack] Give them dinner.

[Jordan] Yeah. Actually. Can you provide for these people in any way?

[Jack] You go on tour because you feel like your music is worth sharing to more than your family and friends and the local neighborhood. You are not doing it for money. I also thought, “Oh, you don’t make any money because your music is all free on the Internet. So you must be making money on tour,” and you find out that no, you just don’t make any money on your music.

You make money on your day job. You save up so you can go on tour for three weeks and you can afford the van and if you break even you are real happy. If you can buy back whatever you pawned to go on the tour, you are real happy. I hesitate to think of the DIY music level scene as an industry of any sort because it’s not making any money. It’s not what it’s about. You’ve got Double Double Whammy—no, Exploding In Sound, who are saying, “once we start making any money, we will hire this intern we’ve had for 15 years.” Not 15. But, you don’t

make money. It’s not a thing. And honestly, removing money from the equation beyond just enough to sustain yourself is kind of nice.

[Jordan] It definitely eases the pressure in some way.

[Jack] As long as you have enough to get gas and eat that night, touring is a success.

[Jordan] You booked a good show if the band sleeps happy that night.

[Jack] They got to sleep somewhere comfortable, having made some money.

[Jordan] If they are not in their car and they have smiled at least twice, once before and after the show has ended. Three times. You want to smile during the show as well.

[Jack] You also find out touring bands are really good sports about everything.

[Jordan] Oh, yeah. They are just happy that you did it.

ears are ringing or not.

[Jordan] Which I disagree with.

[Jack] If it’s a loud show—it’s not true ever. Usually, I am happy that my ears are ringing after but there are so many shows that I am happy after where my ears are not ringing after. It’s just not a good method.

[Jordan] What about, like, that one guy playing the same Metallica riff really loud, over and over again.

[Jack] That sounds incredible.

[Jordan] I’m glad he’s doing it.

He’s doing what he wants. He’s expressing himself. I just don’t want to hear him express himself.

He should express himself somewhere else.

[Jack] Not in my town.

[Jordan] Not in my friends’ basement.

Jake Wasserman

Q: You already answered my next question to some degree: how do you judge the success of a show?

[Jack] It’s all about the smiles.

[Jordan] All about the smiles.

[Jack] I judge it by whether my

53

1, 5, 9…

Oh, to where has my sanity gone my friend?

Yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Don’t know how to get free. I was caught; left to look in.

Today’s just tomorrow’s yesterday.

Not me but all others left for the year. Left alone, things twisted.

How far we’ve fallen.

Have you heard the voices below?

Have you just turned left, instead of right?

And has that not made a difference?

Has their absence changed you way?

Can I fall lower?

To live with your thoughts aimed like guns at my brain.

Even dreams betray you, if seduced by their love.

One. Two. Three has gone away, And turned my own mind to a cage.

54

No spite will change how we have broken apart.

May we endure and find some peace, For the lack of another enemy ensures it.

Though waiting leads me stay inside my mind prison, Light still remains at the tunnel’s end.

A candle keeps my fire to burn Ahead I see mazes of paths.

What right have I may question wonders to unfold?

Poem and artwork by Alexander Flammond 55

Because You Asked About My Question Mark

By Hannah Richter

As my wrist was opened in the rosé light of the tattoo parlor and blood carnations bloomed along the freshly plowed ink again I hear your words

He’s brushed away t and my body is itself an unanswered rustle as all poems invariab so I look you in the e ask

Never ask questions in your poems Well How many suns are really out there?

Is death a departure or a homecoming?

How are souls divvyed up— And who do I talk to about the refund and/or exchange policy?

Is there a decent breeze on the moon?

The chicken or the egg?

Beasts that slumber now stir woken by the buzzing of needle conversing with flesh I have just remembered all rooms are unopened boxes What house of study can teach me the language of dreams?

Where do praying mantises prefer to sleep?

When does the ice melt?

How do monarchs know when the migration approaches?

And Van Gogh’s ear?

56

What lives at the bo Would you not have if you were Lot’s wife What’s in a miracle?

Are we made of atom

the extra ink f e in the expanse bly are eyes and

ottom of the sea? e looked back e?

ms or tiny mysteries?

Daniela Krausz

57

Best UK Grime R

By James Dr

Skepta, Konnichiwa

P Money, Live and Direct

Culminating in his Mercury P Money made his name with Prize win (for the UK’s best the famed OGz crew. On album of the year) and a Live and Direct, he furthers sold out show at London’s the claim that he’s a star in Alexandra Palace (“Ally his own right. “Panasonic” is Pally” for those in the a perfect tribute to Grime’s know), 2016 has been a “Nokia Phone” beats of old. banner year for Skepta.

Lead single “10/10” provides This year, Konnichiwa P Money his first crossover pushed the scene forward hit. Guest stars Wiley, JME, by giving a platform to and Stormzy help make P upcoming artists like Money’s first solo album one Novelist while paying to remember. homage to the sound created by the godfather of grime, Wiley, sampled on “That’s Not Me” and featured on “Corn on the Curb.”

58

Kano, Made Mano

Kano was arguably star missing from G renaissance. But M most famous resid took his time in orde an introspective m He’s been in the s the beginning and everything from su N.A.S.T.Y. crew to f But it’s not all som Rustie-produced “H Tempa T’s “Next H served as the hear anthem of Grime’s Fellow legends Wile join for the unde Wheel-Up

Isabella Levethan

Releases of 2016

rueckhammer

e in the or

Bonkaz, Mixtape of the Year

y the biggest No artist floats between Grime’s recent Grime and UK Hip-Hop Manor Road’s as effortlessly as Bonkaz. dent simply Although he frequently er to creative switches between styles, masterpiece. his charisma, energy, and scene from lyricism tie the project d reflects on together. “Paid in Full 2” uccess with showcases a classic rapping family feuds. style that would make mber. The Rakim proud. “Run out Hail” samples the Ends” and “And Dat Hype,” which (Ft. Stormzy)” ensure that, rt-pounding whatever detours he takes, new school. Bonkaz can still please dieey and Giggs hard fans of Grime. eniable “3 ps.”

AJ Tracey, Lil Tracey This EP caps off a year in which AJ Tracey announced himself to the wider world, no longer confined to his West London neighborhood.

He shot a music video in Paris for “Thiago Silva,” which has been getting airplay on both sides of the Atlantic. He performed his first U.S. show at Trans Picos in Queens, N.Y. He’s Grime’s next international star. This EP serves as a victory lap and an introduction for those who are just getting familiar. “Buster Cannon” serves as an example for new fans of Grime at its infectious best. “Hating on Gang” brings along Remy Banks, of Queensbased World’s Fair, and only increases his international appeal.

59

60

Jeffrey Blackman

Anne Kramer

The Inscape of Ontology (for David Pearce)

By Elijah Armstrong

I síng a strange joy, the joy of many thoughts, And it reflected, it reflected as a half-sense, Through, first, the first, not thread-run-through, not layered, (How in the telling they change!) the congealed cost Of economy; then the smoother, the first three, whose Thrée-féeling rules it, a néxus-córe, little and little: Then the first Universal, disassociated, beautiful as five; Then add a core, away its loveliness, solve puzzles, asks, (Are they but words!), stratified, taut-haughty, woman-cold, Beautiful as is thrée, cold-none, but rounder, wider; Next: beauty, like the first of the Universals; but divided, As conical sections, as color, with shards, joined, threaded-down-to as A splít tángerine (can add the center, the core, who knows?)

Then also the clóuds, the above: and its variant, Shards there are, but grey save when they reflect…

And áll béauties in the thóught, the shéer thóught, alone.

(March 2014?)

61

DJs to look out for in 2017

By Grace Lu

Below are a few female artists that you should keep an eye out for next year!

Lena Willikens

Born in: Dusseldorf, Germany Style: experimental dance music where she’s worked with every type of beat there is Notable releases: Phantom Delia, Sandale Des Amateurs Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lenawillikens Paula Temple Born in: Lancashire, England Alias: Jaguar Woman Style: heavy noise techno Notable releases: Gegen, Deathvox, Colonized Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paulatemple Nina Kraviz Born in: Irkutsk, Russia Style: techno & house Notable Releases: fabric 91, Mr Jones, Nina Kraviz Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nina-kraviz The Black Madonna Born in: Kentucky, U.S. Style: acid house/disco/techno Notable Releases: Stay Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theblackmadonna 62

Jacob Studwell

tINI Born in: Munich, Germany Style: techno & house Notable releases: 4th Street, That’s right Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tinicouldbeworse Artist to honor for her contribution to electronic music Pauline Oliveros May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016 Formulated the concepts of “Deep Listening” and “Sonic Awareness” One of the founders of the San Francisco Tape Music Center Notable works: Sonic Meditations, Crone Music, Sound Patterns

63

Madeline Underwood

64

From the Crypts of Memory

By Elijah Armstrong

While combing my computer for old stories to submit to Sample, I found these stories in a Word file (fromthecryptsofmemory.doc) apparently last modified early in the year (some of the stories have dates attached). I had no memories of writing the stories –– and upon seeing them, the strong sense that I had read them elsewhere first. But a few internet searches suggested that the material was indeed original, and therefore I feel I may claim it as my own work.

E. L. A. Aestheticism It is not difficult to change aesthetic responses. I had become bored with these worlds, with this abundance of disorienting influences. I had explored to my exhaustion and familiarity those few physical laws that can be derived from the necessary basics. I had learnt sorcery in each one, or else had learnt to become one of the greatest of men. Nevertheless I found these dull. Therefore I entered into my interpretations, my degree of intellect, my acuity, cleverness, mood and most especially my aesthetic feelings and desires. These I tinkered with until the world was new.––Now I stay in the world of my home, and save for this tinkering with my own mind, I use no sorcery. I am content with these changes, the changes of my own mind.

Auraria Close together, why are they? They are not about above the cliff which is 3k. 54 not 24, a string of clouded static greys, whose against crows are painted but alive and ugly hey, who and the poles phone in this large house where all is suffocate. Come in. High up, dictation, across a distorted and ugly translation. There they are, the all mutations of three paintings, next to those by the harmless girl in the gallery, I walk and weak through. High the memory, high the notebook. Farts are socialist farts, they must be fragrant like persimmon. Dry and the spice disk whose flowers are wilted whose papers are inked green as algae in to tank. Why are whose interweaving, wise warp and weft of text, inked. Along are I am now, rising out, into soft mutedness, into calm.

-Longer but it is not, it is not sufficient. A mute. Be fascinating but shift as a quilt, each word shifting, or sentence rather, burrow, down into soft pink flesh, pudding of parasites. Sen-

65

tences that each have a new impetus. Avove with the dash, ivolve, andover. Bronte in a notebooks of a ancient kingdoms and a mantelpiece with a standing man kind. King. King high in the fleshly aura.

P i n k .

-You see, my dear N–– H––. Those whpo, this hpis, those stain but bettering, hvöllønd gerund, as a cloud over the battleground, and a victim of sound. (Shatter to the shadows.)

-Will we keep?

Will we?

Must we?

Lay us lie doon ore puckages.

–Nine, nine, nine.

-See our light shining on the land smash the wall up down make anything make you feel so bad you can make everything what you want with your head you are here and they are where everywhere within mind sometimes in my life is too hard to write too many sliding songs reaching out for the sounds for any anything you and your mind divine paperhouse lay back for the sound you just can’t give back no more you just can’t give back no more you just can’t give back no more you just can’t give back no more you just can’t give back no more humming down fake anything make you feel so bad you can make everything what you want with your head humming down fake anything make you feel so bad you can make anything what you want with your head flying paperhouse the land starts all askew oh the paperhouse the paperhouse that I once knew you can make it happen in the paperhouse the land starts all askew coming back the paperhouse the paperhouse that I once knew

-There is the rub, the only ape that knobbly swing the force through that good night. Whor guinneses met their struckx. Come in.

-Pink. Heil dauphins of spoom, streamlike are nostalgia ante all was wrecked, all became madness, come in.

-Pink. Longer but still it is not, not, is. They are still dongs of wongs, still aesthetic, still a rotting angel, still a changeling. Still a mad artist. Still wrenched apart but frictionful, still (awkward) too…

-O on an anomaly! I have not to particimapate with the limit of 3333 no longer, as I wish, as I amy do what I wish. That I removed, what I removed. Breathe in a body smile and cast. All in a triplet layer of Paperhouses and Cripples, and, now, O that she is gone! the grield and weir of ages, there a recovery,––let me sing! Alifib, Alifib!

Sing in the ways. A haven-heaven, let me sing. I am free, I am whole.

The Book We have some initiation ritual, different for all of us yet present in each, that has introduced us to the sense called sublimity. For most this was a book; and a book that we have memories of in detail, one that is not frag-

66

mented; and one whose clouds we can clear and shake from our vision.

For me it was a book, yes, but its residue is not clear, not sharp. Instead when I cast my mind back to that initiation, a time when I was no older than four, I remember images and traps. Goat-headed demons on an island, goblins, mazes of bright stone. And above them all preside green islands, marble mazes, slimy touches in darkness, and years of travel and horror that are described in a few hollow words, in caverns and a sunless sea. To this day it whispers in my ear. I can feel it move. It mocks me. I do not know its name, I cannot remember its name. I cannot remember where I abandoned it, I cannot remember the feel of the covers, the smell of the pages. I remember only paintings and words. It frustrates me. It is lodged deep in me, it dominates my sight; and its hissing breath in my ear, no doubt, is the reason that the usual landscapes of fantasy ring false to me, and only the softest and the most horrific fill me with wonder.

The Brazen Bull The festival. Out came the parade again. There was no cheering and no vendors. It was solemn and there were not many people out near our hotel. Up ahead was a hideous smell, a blurry cloud. The sunlight went right into our eyes and into the camera lenses. Out to the crowd, we set up the cameras, out to the crowd. Some old wheeled bronze statues into the center of the plaza, yes, I knew, they were of bulls and hollow and large enough to fit a man. There were eight of them. The oldest of those robed men talked. He was hoarsevoiced and rasped before his crowd. This is how St Barlaan died he said. He died at the hands of a tyrant. He would not recant God and so they forced him into the bull.

It was brilliantly built, he said. The man must have been one of the only literates there. When they took the kindling beneath the bull and lit it the bull would glow hot and the man inside would fry and scream. His face was swollen, eyes seemed sewn shut by the bulbous cheeks, body and face alike rattling and jarring with the sermon. But the bull had tubes in its throat and the scream would be muffled and altered so it sounded like a bull’s moan. Do you know what? Before the words had been trailed by spittle but now they were clean-edged and cold. St Barlaan didn’t scream. He died in that bull but he didn’t give the tyrant what he wanted. And I hope our volunteers today have just a bit of that courage, can hold back from screaming. The volunteers filed out. Each into his own bull, some trembling and others looking disgusted and others’ eyes filled. The young man we spoke to among them. He did not meet our eyes and I do not think he noticed us. When all the panels were locked men from the crowd came out and lit the stacks of firewood below

67

them. And yes the screams were made into moans of a bull in a ghastly crescendo. And crying I looked to the brazen bull in which the man I knew burned but I could not discern his noises from those of the rest.

Deliquescence It was at first a joy to perform my duties. I was beside an ancient beauty, a marvel, in a sepulchre from my solitary fantasies. The faint preservation of joy and glory I ever beheld; and I knelt beneath the balanced octahedra of limestone that the cold waters carved, and rose once in a while to feel the cold iron that barred my way out. Yet the stench has grown, the preservation has worn off, and I must turn my face from it; but it hypnotizes me; it is hideous, it is foul, I cannot. Will I wait forever beside the silent mirror? – And fish for bitter minnows amongst the weeds and slimy water? – I must turn away, I must be lifted away.

Disgust Disgust accompanies me, it is cloudlike over my vision. Green filth and rolling nausea and shame. I have always wanted it out of me. Throatburning smoke and great sticks into my throat and stomach. When I came into my inheritance I spent it steeply, I sold each and every fine painting and artwork, so I could buy remedy after remedy. I spent it on the whore, I spent it on the rarest berries. Still it has always been over me. It is raw, it is subtle, it is philosophical, it whispers, it is alchemical, it is a sheer sight, it is thin and filtered, it is fat, it is thought, it is everywhere, it is God. I would not buy the physician. No, no, I would not buy the physician, nor would I drive the disgust away with the whore. Instead sorcery, instead I would find a sorcerer, but no alchemist nor country crone. I left my shrinking estate with the servants. I got out of the city and the country. There was a birdshit lake and a stone compound out of the foul shore. There were torn clumps of verdure around and I stepped over these soft things to the arched doorway. I grasped the knocker and knocked and a man was there at once. I know disgust in its many forms but never as severe as when I saw the old man. I paid him a mark when I was inside. His fingers were long and he licked them from nail to knuckle. I know something that will drive away your disgust he said. What? You are simply sick of this damned kingdom. So would I be. Let me cure your boredom, let me send you somewhere more exotic. We went down some stairs and came to a moist and ancient and unfurnished hall of stone. Mirrors were on each side. Look in that one. I looked and retched. Then he was beside me. I stood at once and he pushed me idly into the mirror. Now for many years I have been

68

going from world to world and they are all bizarre, I am not bored, never.

But I cannot die and my disgust never goes. No I am as disgusted among these exotic things and shapes as I was in London. It will be here forever.

Drawing (IV) Toes distorted. Yellow nails. Crossing, weaving. No hair. Riven ankle.

Dozens weave. Congealed slime. Legs merge. Thing continues. Curved legs. Bent back. Legs merge. Toes distorted. Crossing, weaving. No hair. Riven ankle. Dozens weave. Congealed slime. Legs merge. Toes distorted. Yellow nails. Crossing, weaving. Bone bubbles. No hair. Riven ankle. Dozens weave. Congealed slime. Legs merge. Single arm.

At angle. Solid slime. Red flesh. Patches irritated. Colorless scales. Six fingers. At angles. Two broken. In agony. Grasps desperately. No face.

Four Isomorphisms I knew a mystic who said that Platonic forms could be seen; and that their perception was isomorphic to the experiences of eroticism, as smell and taste are intimately bound. He said to his disciples, that the more intense was sexual arousal, and the purer was erotic love, the closer to the Good was the corresponding form. In all the stages of eroticism were there twin experiences to the sights of Platonic forms: but the Good could be seen only during an orgasm shared with an object of genuine love; and only then was there true identity between the experience of the idea and the experience of sexuality.

I knew a mathematician who told me that he experienced numbers in all sensory modalities: as swathes of color and shape, as notes played by strange instruments upon strange scales, sometimes as pain or as temperatures, sometimes as touches either active or passive, sometimes as smells or tastes (umami the central taste amongst these, that of the primes, with the composites contaminated by the other four tastes): and that when a theorem or law emerged from this landscape, all these senses were united beautifully, forming the loveliest of sights, the most beautiful and coherent of symphonies, and tastes that no food could rival. But when he tried his hand at applied mathematics, though these senses united themselves, it was into sheer horror: brilliant blinding light, vile taste and smell, and dissonant screaming music.

I knew a man who claimed in desperation that he saw different spacetimes for all his senses, for the locations of sights and of sounds and

69

of smells. These he could unify only with concentration, such that he must strive to map one sensory direction onto the other: when he heard a sound to his left, he knew the direction in which to look only when he concentrated for a second. This overwhelmed him, though it had been lifelong his lot; and he did not go from bed.

I knew a little girl who said to me that she hated everything; and she was not exaggerating as children do. No, hatred, in its modulations and flavors, hatred was the keystone to all her experiences: and each experience bore unto her its own sort of hatred. Cold or burning, visceral or intellectual, causal or consuming: and bound as are smell and taste.

12/14/13, revised later France I went to France. France is a nice place. I do not like the sky at home because it is very heavy and it makes me tired. There is a big sun in the sky. I like it when it is dark. It is very dark in France. People are thin and they like the light air. France is always dark and there are clouds that are very dark too and not heavy. There are different colors in the sky and it is not blue. People walk around. They are all like me except for the boy.

I told the king more about the other place where I lived where they yell at me and they do not let me do what I want and cut things open. The king of France said he liked me very much and I had brought him many new friends. I dreamed a lot. When I was in France I dreamed I was home instead. When I was home I dreamed I was in France and I was really there when I opened my eyes. One of the clouds was a boy who was not like me but looked like me, and I saw him in the cloud and I looked down and I saw him in the street. He was just a face and he was nothing really. He looked at me and he hated me. I saw how he tried to get out. He likes to pretend he is me. He wants to be me. That is what the king says. But I am him. He always follows me around and looks through the bars at me.

I can hurt him whenever I want. I do not like normal summer vacations so I was glad I went to France even if my parents do not know about France.

Ligottiesque When I was a boy I spent months of the year staying in inns with my family: small filthy rooms two to a bed, generally near one or another piece of scenery, where my father would drive the family up gritty slopes, leaving us drained in general, but myself in particular doubled over. – Now it is

70

evident what these inns were, what they meant, what they taught me. As I lay awake in scratchy bedding and ugly heat, I felt the hell of staying in a room with four others, four persons who called themselves my mother and father and brother and sister: it was hell because I stayed with them so long that my mind fermented in theirs, and theirs in mine; and I understood their real and essential evil, and they mine. In those small inns, where all the world was a grey nightmare, I realized the greatest of all sufferings: understanding of the essential dullness that composes all things; and what becomes of us when our thin patina of delusion fades…

The Inner Mounting Flame And read and fold your mind In imitation of The manifold of stories, The manifold aesthetic, The qualitative shouts, The inner shifting gears.

Should you, should you not Join our swelling science, Join our group of men Who try to see within The universal laws: The nakedness of pain, The sober raw computer, The green and static scum, The weeds and slimy water, The subcircuits of brains, The dark or dappled mushrooms, The hookéd writhing worm, The thresher’s paste-ground bugs, The burst eyeballs of fish (Increasing certainty) –– Or join us in the search For the impossible, The impossible not shewn By strange minds to be false, Not patch of red or green, Nor vale of synaesthesia, Nor sadomasochism, Nor rock-climbing or peppers, Beyond the universe of

71

Individual difference.

And read and fold your mind Of those before presented, Considering the dangers, Into skull-bounded sea, Into its arcane joys, And possibly its horror.

What can we but our duty.

12/8/13 Reprise O on an anomaly! I have not to particimapate with the limit of 3333 no longer, as I wish, as I amy do what I wish. That I removed, what I removed. Breathe in a body smile and cast. All in a triplet layer of Paperhouses and Cripples, and, now, O that she is gone! the grield and weir of ages, there a recovery,––let me sing! Alifib, Alifib!

Sing in the ways. A haven-heaven, let me sing. I am free, I am whole.

(December 2012 –– March 2015)

72

Alison Setili

73

Fracture

By Hannah Richter Every morning, I drew open the shades As you unrolled dawn Across the sky, Designing our tomorrow I asked once if you Were bothered by afternoons, Endlessly deconstructing Your tinctured murals; Sunlight scattered as You shook your head and Taught me that There is an art In breaking I learned that skies Break achingly All winter long; Floating down In sheer, white veils Like sheets after The folding of a dream Skies do not shatter, Do not fragment like Memories—jagged slivers Of conversation and caresses Strewn across a Sea of midnights, Impossible to place 74

I do not think Promises break either; Rather they unravel; Like our fingers as you roused To spread out the dawn, Like the threads in our sheets, Like conversation I still part the shades Every winter and Watch the skies fall, Eclipsing the Earth With their quietus Perhaps the true art Lies in things already broken, Necessary demolition Used to fashion Seasons and People and Time

Sienna Ruiz

75

Kaitlyn Sharplin

76

77

In It Together, Music Forever: ACLU & Trans Lifeline Benefit

78

Organized by Jack Elliott-Higgens and Jordan Weinstock Cover art by Madeline Underwood

This edition of Sample was made for KWUR 90.3 FM at Washington University in St. Louis.

It is set in Avenir. The pages were designed by Isabella Levethan. The content was provided by members of KWUR.

79

80