No Fidelity Spring 2014 Issue 1 by nofidel

NO FIDELITY ISSUE #1 APRIL 18, 2014

CONTRIBUTORS

---------------------------------------------------------EDITOR IN CHIEF: MARY BEGLEY ADMIN TEAM: A NOAH HARRISON, SAM KEYES, CAFFI MEYER, SAM WATSON, BEN WEDIN DESIGN TEAM: MARY BEGLEY, SEBASTIAN BOUKNIGHT, FRIDA COTA, SOPHIE KISSIN, IAN MERCER, HALEY RYAN IMAGE TEAM: JESSIE ARNELL, MARY BEGLEY, SEBASTIAN BOUKNIGHT, SOPHIE KISSIN, IAN MERCER, SAM WATSON CONTRIBUTORS: MARY BEGLEY, SEBASTIAN BOUKNIGHT, FRIDA COTA, DAVID DEMARK, CISCO HAYWARD, SAM KEYES, ALEX KLEIN, STEPH LEE, IAN MERCER, ANDY NELSON, DAVID PICKART, HALEY RYAN, HENRY SOUTHWICK, SAM WATSON, BEN WEDIN

send feedback to begleym or mailbox 95 for letters to the editor email begleym or subscribe to listserv “zine team” to get involved in the next issue

letter from the editor:

Hey you crazy kids. Thanks for picking up this little dude. We have been hard at work on the first issue of NO FIDELITY and we hope you like it. There are currently 49 members of the zine team, 17 contributors to this issue, and many others who helped along the way. NO FIDELITY started as a collaboration between the Cave and KRLX, as a vehicle to promote both of our mission statements. Our contributiors are by no means limited to members of those two organizations, and our content is certainly not limited. We are an independent, student-run organization funded by the CSA. Really, there is no limit to what we can do with this format. We aren’t just another new publication because we planned out this whole issue, down to the tiniest details. This ‘zine is a way for us to sharpen our skills in writing, formatting, design, and creating, but also a way to share our opinions about the things we are most passionate about. We hope you like it. We want to hear your feedback, even if it’s just a little, “Hey dudes good job I want to read more.” We have not yet decided when Issue #2 will hit the stands, and your comments will help us decide that. If you want to get involved, it’s very simple. Just drop me a line and we can talk about how you can fit into the zine team. We are very nice, don’t have too many meetings (although I do send rather a lot of e-mails...sorry team), and we are all devastatingly clever. Here’s some special thanks to the team members I worked with closely in the last few days: Frida, Sophie, Sebastian, and Ian for learning InDesign and meticulously designing their pages. Haley, for her great work on the shows calendar. Sam Watson, for his kickass doodles. Sam Keyes and Caffi Meyer, for their unrelenting positivity and clear head at budget committee. Steph Lee, submitting all the way from Chicago, what a champ. Thanks to Corey in Printing and Mailing Services for working with me on getting this guy printed, and the CSA for funding the printing. Hope you enjoy Issue #1 of NO FIDELITY. ~~riding a cloud all the way to graduation~~

MDB

TABLE OF CONTENTS SOUND OFF QUESTION BY SAM KEYES.......................................2 ODE TO DEATH GRIPS BY CISCO HAYWARD................................4 SAM WATSON LISTENS TO CAPTAIN BEEFHEART........................5 A TOUCHING STORY BY IAN MERCER...........................................6 7 INDIE RELEASES FOR 2014 BY A NOAH HARRISON..................7 NEW MUSIC REVIEW......................................................................9 MDB’S BIG ADVENTURE...............................................................11 THE ICONIC COLUMNS.................................................................17 KISS THE HALL OF FAME BY HENRY SOUTHWICK......................17 TALE OF FELA KUTI BY SEBASTIAN BOUKNIGHT........................18 CHAO’S WORDS WON’T SAY CIAO BY FRIDA COTA...................19 LOUD NOISES BY SAM KEYES......................................................20 HEAD2HEAD WITH IAN MERCER AND DAVID PICKART.............21 THE FUTURE OF TDE BY BEN WEDIN..........................................22 CONCERT REVIEWS......................................................................24 BIG EARS BY A NOAH HARRISON................................................24 ORWELLS/TWIN PEAKS BY SOPHIE KISSIN.................................25 J MASCIS’ DIARY...........................................................................26 A COMIC........................................................................................27 UPCOMING SHOWS......................................................................28 CLASSIFIED....................................................................................29 LISTS...............................................................................................31 COOL SONGS BY SOPHIE KISSIN.................................................31 HILARY DUFF PLAYLIST BY STEPH LEE........................................32

A question from contributor Sam Keyes.

Sam asks: “Where is the coolest location that you’ve ever heard a concert or other live

performance?”

When I was 10 my dad took me to see Cheap Trick at the Riviera Theater in Chicago, which is a few blocks from my house. I sat on a railing and drank Coke. Afterwards we waited in the alley for the band to come out the back door, and I got to meet all of the guys in the band. Rick Nielsen told me I had a really cool name. Cyrus Deloye

The coolest place I’ve ever heard a concert is probably the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It’s a renovated church which means it’s a lot more intimate than bigger venues and the acoustics are fantastic from any seat in the house. I’ve seen Arcade Fire, Earth, Wind and Fire and Pentatonix there and each show completely blew my mind. I’ve never been more inspired. Ellis Johnston I think Caroline Smith at The Chapel in Northfield. It is neat to see such a talented performer in such an intimate setting. Will Sheffer

The summer before I came to Carleton, I saw Medeski, Martin and Wood at an abandoned Ottoman-era shipyard in Istanbul, Turkey. Docked next to the stage were these massive, rusting cargo ships, and there were lights and pictures projected on to the sides. Joe Soonthornsawad

legoland. 2

Jackie Lombard

A train park! There was an old timey train themed concert tour with 6 stops in the Southwest United States. Each stop was at some train related location. The one that I went to was at a train park, so basically a park with some old trains parked in it (it was never a train station). Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeroes, and Old crow medicine show performed and it was awesome! MacKenzie Persen

I must admit that Carleton’s Concert Hall has housed several performances and concerts that will remain in my heart and mind for many years to come. In that cream-colored space, I’ve jumped around to the energy brought to its stage by Josh Ritter, alongside some of my best friends, and I’ve wiped sweaty palms and swallowed shaky voice stepping up to the solo mic--also alongside some of my best friends. I’ve stood perfectly still utterly taken by goosebump-inducing a cappella harmonies, and I’ve felt the swell of emotion that comes with singing every driving note of Handel’s Messiah with the choir. Jayne Pasternak

Coolest place I saw a show was in a weird empty parking lot in the meatpacking district of Chicago. It was an impromptu fest of sorts and the main band was this awesome funky horn-infused west African drumming group. All the lighting was twinkly and it was awesome. Nora Gregor

Write in your answers for our letter to the editors section in Issue #2. begleym or mailbox 95

Why Death Grips is Great and You Should All Like Them Cisco Hayward Before I heard of Death Grips, the only things I thought were “cool” or worth my time were Animal Collective and harsh noise albums. I didn’t really think Hip-hop was capable of the same kind of artistic expression that I was looking for, but Death Grips changed that. Death Grips elucidated me to the idea of flow, beat, and rhythm, reminding me of the common desire that we all have inside of us to “bump That insanity is why I like Death the whip”. And on top of bumping Grips. It sounds like the future is the whip, it sounds like the tunes that cyber-punk future gangsters blast from yelling at me via Charles Mantheir hover-cars while getting up to all son, it sounds like the internal sorts of badass and ethically dubious ramblings of a human being pushed so far to edge that they shenanigans. Some people think that Death just might leap off, it is the primal urge we have within us to Grips isn’t hip hop, and that is an fuck shit up manifest in auditory absolutely ridiculous notion which I form. Some people might be will debunk right now. Death Grips like “oh man I don’t wanna listen expresses all the essential elements of hip-hop. No matter how complicat- to Charles Manson” but you ed they get, the beats always follow a should want to listen to Charles rhythmic groove which is repeated for Manson because he was a real several bars (this is less visible on Exmil-person that actually existed! itary and No Love Deep Web but very Abrasive music is just as valid visible on The Money Store and Gov- for artistic expression because ernment Plates). These grooves tend sometimes people feel like that. to be the central pillars on which the Anger, rage, violence, chaos, song is built. On top of that, MC Ride guilt, and misanthropy are all delivers what are undoubtedly sweet real feelings, and removing ass rhymes. Some people say MC Ride those emotions from art will just doesn’t have flow, and they are wrong. make us feel out of place and MC Ride has a flow by every definition alone when we find ourselves thinking that way. As Humans, of the word. It’s just balls to the walls insane, like everything we do feel that way some times, and Death Grips is Death Grips makes.

giving form to the internal dissonance that exists within all of us sometimes, and feeding it right back to us. It’s beautiful, therapeutic, grimy, insane, and grooves like some real shit you’ve never even heard of. Whether you feel those emotions all the time, some of the time, or just want to see what being in that mindset feels like, you should definitely check out Death Grips. You won’t regret it, and you won’t turn back. If you don’t like harsher sounds, start with The Money Store and Government plates, then work your way to NLDW and Exmilitary.

Some things you should know about Trout Mask Replica (1969) by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band Sam Watson

Sam Watson •It sounds like meaningless, incomprehensible garbage. Like the whole thing was improvised during a collective bad acid trip, without any kind of musical intent or coherence. Closer to sonic vulgarity than art. •Beefheart composed it in a single 8 hour session on the piano, despite the fact that he had no idea how to play the instrument and there are no piano parts in the entire record. •Despite the chaotic sound, the album contains no improvisation. It was painstakingly planed and intentional. The band practiced it for 14+ hours a day, locked inside a shack, for eight months. •During this time, Captain Beefheart exerted complete physical and emotional domination over his Magic Band, to the point where they all basically went insane. They subsisted on 1 (one) cup of soybeans per day, and suffered constant verbal and physical abuse from Beefheart. At one point, the guitarist managed to escape, but later returned due to what he now describes as a “cult-like” mentality. •It is probably one of the most important and influential albums of all time. I am not exaggerating this. •Captain Beefheart is a real life crazy person.

The point is it’s a significant, I was seriously starting to question interesting album, musically and whether I could get through with the historically. I have always wanted to whole thing. But when Moonlight on be a Cool Music Dude who “gets” Vermont came on, something inside Trout Mask Replica. I want to be one me clicked (or maybe broke). This of those guys who can sit down and thing is not just some outlandish listen to Beefheart gurgle about novelty. It’s actually an incredibly the “neon meate dream of a octaf- compelling rock album. As in listenish [sic]” overlaid with a ceaseless, ing to it can be really enjoyable, not squealing trombone and be like “hell just technically interesting. I think yeah this is great.” Trout Mask Replica is an acquired I figured the only way to reckon taste because you have to learn to with an album as truly insane as appreciate it in a different way than Trout Mask Replica was to match that one would any other album. But level of insanity. So on a Tuesday some of those schizophrenic guitar night I proceeded to get profoundly, licks are actually kind of catchy, and dysfunctionally stoned and listen to Beefheart sings the blues in a way the whole thing in one go (one hour that has got to profoundly move twenty minutes, holy hell). you if you have any sort of human I’m not totally sure what I expect- essence. The lyrics themselves are ed to get from the experience, but even absurd enough to be charming: something definitely happened. The “A squid eating dough in a polyethfirst 15 minutes was an intensely un- ylene bag is fast and bulbous! Got comfortable psychedelic nightmare. me?” It’s hard to put Trout Mask Replica In the end, I guess my experiment into words, precisely because it’s so was a success, because I genuinely fundamentally strange. But please love this album now. I’ve listened to try to appreciate, for a moment, it three more times since that first the sort of anxiety five instruments trip. If nothing else, Trout Mask Repliplaying in perfect musical opposition ca is important because there never to each other generates in a person has been, nor can there ever be, who is struggling to maintain his another album like it. No other group grip on reality. At least one thing was can match the technical precision or clear: despite the weirdness of the utter foreignness of the Magic Band. sound, there is no hint of accident In any case, I doubt any human or improvisation. In fact, the album alive would be willing to plunge oozes intent. These people play with themselves into the sort of grotesque the kind of precision and intensity insanity that is apparently necessary that only 8 months in a musical cult to create such a thing. can provide.

Seven Indie Releases to Excite Yourself About in 2014 A. Noah Harrison 7. Battles (TBA)

Yes, everyone’s favorite math rock supergroup is back in the studio, recording its third album. Heck, Wikipedia says Battles said so on Facebook last month, a post that may not technically exist in the real world but rather in hearts. So any day now, RIGHT? Battles are perhaps the closest thing to what you might hear if you gave computers instruments and commanded them to play “human music.” Sometimes thunderous, sometimes delicate, they’re chock full of metronomic tempo shifts and polyrhythms that’ll make Slint sound like you in the shower. In 2012, they released their sophomore effort Gloss Drop, sans founding member Tyondai Braxton, and while not as adventurous as their insane debut—how could it be?—it proved a truly badass record. They even made the controversial decision to include real vocals (instead of hamster noises), featuring notable artists like Gary Numan and Yamashta Eye of Boredoms fame. Now if that doesn’t moisten your loins… Despite a relatively slow output, Battles’ prior work and collective experience can almost guarantee success. As soon as they format the hard drives of their musically adept computer minions, we can no doubt expect a very solid upcoming record.

6. Swans – To Be Kind (May 12)

Easily the most demented band on the list, Swans return with their thirteenth studio album in less than a month. Swans have been playing the musical equivalent of pain since around the time Kurt Cobain first experienced angst and are often touted (by me, right now) as one of the few bands for which heroin improves the listening experience. Whichever way rock seems to be heading, Swans go the opposite—ever since their No Wave days—often with great success. Their last album, The Seer, was hailed by many a-self-loathing critic as one of 2012’s the best. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is monolithic, churning, and at times infectiously groovy. A month ago, they released their new single, “A Little God in My Hands,” which suggests something more palatable for their next album. Let’s call it slime-stump muck-rock. I have to say, it’s damn catchy, even more so than their last effort! It even boasts a few unexpected guests, including—cue Pitchfork boner—St. Vincent. Indie Santa Claus is making his list and checking it twice, so listen to the fucking album if you expect something actually listenable in your stocking this year.

5. Beck (TBA)

Over the course of last summer, Beck quietly self-released three dope singles: “Gimme,” “I Won’t Be Long,” and “Defriended,” a song I once boldly proclaimed best song of 2013 (title pending). Here, Beck, a man of many faces, reveals his more experimental, electronic side, music intended for his upcoming fourteenth album. You know, that mystical album he apparently started in 2008 before he decided to put out an album in, uh, sheet music format? Well all three singles deserve a few listens despite your terrible tastes. It actually makes sense why these songs didn’t end up on Beck’s pensive and flaccid February release, Morning Phase. They rock harder, they’re catchy as hell, and they better showcase his idiosyncratic spirit. Simply put, it’s more conscientious better songwriting. If these singles, each uniquely satisfying, are any indication of the success of his upcoming record, you’d be an idiot not to get excited.

4. Zammuto (TBA)

When I found out Nick Zammuto was coming to Carleton last spring, I jizzed myself more than once. I assume you did the same. And what a great show it was, regardless of what drugs you, our readers, might or might not have been on. Remember that gnarly audiovisual accompaniment? I was only the slightest bit disappointed to find out that he isn’t nearly as exciting in person as he is in his music. But who is? (Me.) I did discover early in the encounter, however, that I was taller than him, so booyah, Mr. Zammuto. Anyway, in case you didn’t know for whatever stupid reason, Zammuto was at least half of the electroacoustic sample-based meditation-funk band, The Books, one of the greatest acts of our time. After four mind-blowing albums, The Books called it quits, but Zammuto was soon back in the game with his self-titled debut proper. 2012’s Zammuto embraced the pop hooks often eschewed by The Books and made music that was actually sort of playable by humans. Last year, Zammuto launched a crowdfunding campaign to support his next LP. And you chumps totally bought it. Way to go! Zammuto has proved himself time and again as one of the most daring contemporary composers, so you better fucking listen to the album you already paid for.

3. Owen Pallett – In Conflict (May 13)

Owen Pallett has been floating around in the full beard of Canada’s indie scene for over a decade now, scoring his way out of paper bags and into Polaris Music Prizes. As Rolling Stone might put it, he sounds like the bastard child of Radiohead and Andrew Bird: lush arrangements, complex instrumentation, and clear pop sensibility. And he hasn’t released an LP since 2010’s achingly beautiful Heartland. He recorded his new album last year but delayed the release because of his tour with Arcade Fire, for some reason. After his last album, he famously said “I have violent desires on the daily….This music is the sound of white knuckles, of indignation, of repression; it is the sound of Masculine Instruments, it is maleness, with all its inferiority; it is the sound of the Canadian mindset.” So you can see Owen is sort of an artist’s artist. He has a lot of artistic urges and I’m sure he’d really appreciate it if you let him splatter you with them next month. We’re looking at a record made for you, his loyal listeners, with love and care. I should also mention it features vocals and keys from demigod Brian Eno. What else do you want? On that note…

2. Brian Eno and Karl Hyde – Someday World (May 5)

Bri-Bri continues his four decade trend of collaborations with respectable electronic musicians. This time around: progressive house rockstar Karl Hyde of Underworld. I shouldn’t have to tell you this one is worth a shot. We don’t know what to expect, but c’mon? Although I will throw out there that lately Eno seems to be gasping to stay relevant in this confusing world of brostep and nu-disco…and not even doing a very good job at it. He might be the most foundational character in electronic and ambient music, but his latest solo albums were nothing particularly groundbreaking. Not to mention some questionable production gigs recently (U2’s last album and Coldplay’s last two). Now he is undeniably one of the greatest musical minds of the last half-century, so I think each of us owes it a good listen.

1. Yeasayer (TBA)

Maybe you liked their last album, maybe you haven’t listened to it enough. But you definitely liked it. Since 2007, Yeasyer have cranked out three impressive albums of pretty progressive post-pop shit. While there may have been a few hiccups along the way, Yeasayer show no sign of ceasing to experiment with production, instrumentation, and thoughtful composition. And we should give them credit for defying many recent trends experimental indie music. Beginning somewhere in the Grizzly Bear camp, their All Hour Cymbals proved one of the most thoughtful and adventurous debuts ever. It’s follow-up, while not as successful, took a turn for flirtations with indie electropop. But were “Ambling Alp” or “Love Me Girl” not some of the most bumpin’ songs of the year? And their last album? That shit’s crazy. So many ideas, so many layers. Like forty different instruments. I didn’t come out here today to recruit any new Yeasayer fans, but that actually seems like a good idea now. Give any and all of their music a shot and bathe in those sensuous melodies. Then you’ll be excited about this album.

Bonus: Lame Indie Release to Not Get Excited About in 2014

Pixies – Indie Cindy (April 28) The Pixies proved themselves as one of the first and most timeless alternative bands ever. But after two decades years apart, they just can’t get back together, trade Kim out for another fucking “Kim,” release one crap EP, and expect everyone to love them again. And what kind of title is that?

“Salad Days” by Mac DeMarco Andy Nelson

Mac DeMarco’s excellent 2012 sophomore album 2 is a collection of hazy, lo-fi psych rock (dude calls it “jizz jazz”) with a weird, jaded edge to it – like drifting through a basement full of weed smoke and suddenly catching a whiff of sour milk. The songs are about suburban ennui, cigarettes, and young love, but there’s a sense through the whole thing that the Canadian singer is playing a character, with a hot spring of desperate, sulfuric frustration bubbling underneath the cucumber-cool exterior. On his follow-up, Salad Days, that front cracks a little bit, and Mac’s lyrics get more personal. The title track laments, between glum nihilisms about the futility of life, “Salad days are gone,” which: 1) prompts a Wikipedia search for the phrase “salad days,” revealing that it’s an actual thing (coined by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra, no less), and 2) makes it seem like Mac is going through something of a quarter-life crisis.

Again and again on this album, DeMarco sings about how he doesn’t want to wind up being an office drone (“Brother”), the stress of maturing and touring (“Passing Out Pieces”) – basically, his fear of becoming an adult. But rather than produce some wackedout, overcompensating Peter Pan extravaganza, Mac approaches this well-tread subject matter in typical Mac fashion: stoned, summery, vaguely cynical guitar ditties. As DeMarco’s lyrics change focus, though, the songs undergo a weird division. The album is groovy as a whole, and there are definitely some strong individual tracks – the upbeat, wistful “Let Her Go,” the stark and honest “Let My Baby Stay,” the woozy stomp of “Passing Out Pieces,” the uncharacteristically slow, keyboard-tinged “Chamber of Reflection” – that strike out on their own in more experimental departures from Mac’s usual sound. But many of the others are pretty indistinguishable; a 34-minute album has no room for filler tracks. There’s a difference between putting out an album of songs that sound lazy, and songs that sound lazily written. If this is Mac maturing, that’s cool, dude. But don’t go turning into a boring old man on us. Rating: 3/5 Viceroys

“La Gargola” by Chevelle Henry Southwick

The brothers are back! Chevelle’s new album “La Gargola” dropped on April 1st and it is my favorite Chevelle album to date. It’s been over two years since the groups last release, “Hat’s off to the Bull,” came out, and even though this is their seventh studio album, Chevelle have made it clear that they are not slowing down. Often, bands at their 15 year mark seem to run into what I like to call the “Greenday” problem, where they try to keep the same sound they got successful on and don’t evolve enough to stay interesting. Chevelle have demonstrated that loyal fands do not have to worry about that from them. “La Gargola” manages to be

distinctly refreshing while maintaining the simplicity that makes Chevelle so great. The album is aggressive and hard hitting for those of us who get turned on by heavy distortion and screaming, but features one particularly beautiful piece in “One Ocean” which may even be my favorite track on the album. The best features of the album are scale jumping bass riffs with catchy drumbeats. The brothers invested heavy in buzz pedals for this album, which help build up subtler distortive properties. These back Pete Loeffler’s haunting vocals perfectly. The joy of listening to La Gargola comes from Chevelle’s ability to strike a perfect balance between heavy and muted, haunting and profound, and screams and whispers. I’m going to see them live this weekend and I expect to be blown away.

Perfect Pussy “Say Yes to Love” mdb

Shortly after Ian Mercer dedicated the Perfect Pussy EP i have lost all desire for feeling to me on KRLX, I saw singer Meredith Graves’ piece in Elle magazine, “On Tour with the Punk Rocker of Perfect Pussy.” What a nimrod I thought she’s a prissy baby not a punk rocker. To be fair, the article contains nothing really offensive. But the sheer existence of the article in a girly, ad-riddle rag like Elle struck me as NOT HARDCORE. Twenty seconds into the opening track “Driver”—I’m rethinking my stance on Graves. The long, tuneless drone intro, a machine clicking or something, suddenly bursts out into fast power chords and dissonant screeches. Graves spits gutturally over driving, simple guitar with a blissful noise drone floating at the top of the sound plane. Perfect Pussy is two parts – a strong hardcore backbone

and noisy outer shell. This Syracuse five-piece kicks it best when they are going hard and fast, sometimes reaching a Dinosaur Jr.-meetsSonic Youth-with-Lydia-Lunch sort of deja-vu. The screechy feedback feels new – a welcome update to arty hardcore. Weird, static-y outro “VII” is a whispery closer that ensures your eardrums do not get a rest after seven blistering tracks. This album is the perfect length: eight tracks and 23 minutes. Any longer and the façade would fall – or the listener’s ears would beg for mercy. This band is getting a lot of buzz, and not without reason. I hope they find a comfortable standing ground; it’s tough to please both the punk consumer and the audience Elle, Rolling Stone and MTV reach. A very excellent full-length debut, out now on Captured Tracks. Best Tracks: “Driver,” “Big Stars” RIYL: No Age, Hole, Slutever, Miley Cyrus

Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks David DeMark

Color. Energy. Excitement. Life. This was not what I was expecting going into this. I don’t think I’ve ever described myself as a fan of Animal Collective with a possible exception for one or two occasions where I’ve felt pressured into looking cool. I enjoyed Meriweather Post Pavilion like everyone else, and I haven’t disliked much that I’ve listened to by them, but for whatever reason (probably a lack of effort on my part) nothing I’ve been exposed to in their discography has pulled me that strongly in any particular direction. Enter the Slasher House, however, may well force me to reconsider this position. Ignoring the purple elephant in the room that is the context of Animal

Collective, Avey Tare’s new project is a bolt of joy and a viscerally pleasing album to listen to. Between the nervously shifting rhythms, the lush, vibrant guitar sounds and the enthusiastically bright synth tones, the album comes off at first as an attempt to bottle a happiness on the verge of exploding. However, as the album goes on, a certain tension creeps out from under the instrumentation and delirium seeps into the songwriting structure and Tare’s voice. It’s this balance between uncertainty and exuberance that ultimately makes Enter the Slasher House so compelling. Tare paints a beautifully grinning picture of the Rome burning while he sits atop his tower and plays his fiddle. There are moments when it falls flat and some songs feel a bit insubstantial, but overall Enter The Slasher House is a highly enjoyable collection of sounds and feelings that whisks the listener away through Avey Tare’s demented looking glass

the big adventure Mary Dahlman Begley

Last summer I went on an adventure. I received the Class of 1962 fellowship and after months of planning and emailing friends of friends, I set out to crisscross America and interview 10 different punk bands. I had plans to use these interviews in my comps, but my research question was a vague notion about learning how punk had changed. My idea of what punk was came from books like Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azzerad, a series of vignettes about bands from Black Flag to Dinsoaur Jr., or the groups featured in Penelope Spheeris’ documentary The Decline of Western Civilization. Sure, I knew that the Sex Pistols “invented” punk, but I didn’t care so much about the roots as I cared about knowing and understanding what was going on around me. I felt connected to punk through the music of my friends and punk bands I liked, not necessarily through the past. Armed with interview audio and concert photographs, I started forming my passion into an academic study. I read real scholarly articles about the meaning of punk subculture in America. I found I was easily able to connect the punk I encountered with the illustrious and ever-changing history of punk subculture. I wrote an essay, and compiled a ‘zine document with my interview transcripts and photographs. I feel strongly that my comps represents an accurate picture of the way punk has changed from its roots, where it currently stands in America, and what that means for American culture at large. With all of this academic rigmarole, I never really found a place to tell about my adventure. Here it is, MDB’s big adventure.

The front cover of my now-completed comps The adventure had a testing phase, of course, in my hometown Omaha. I interviewed my old friends in Places We Slept. Places We Slept play a kind of twee punk, with pop structures, strong melody, and catchy/fuzzy songs. I have seen them too many times to count, and I first started practicing live music photography at their shows. Nathan, JD, and Mark were patient when I fumbled with my recorder, gave thoughtful answers, and suggested interview questions for my next interviews. I had spent a lot of my late teens at the Middle House, Omaha’s premier punk house. Middle House is connected to the West Wing, where the best hardcore shows in Omaha are. Two concert venues in such close quarters might make for hot property, but the condition of the house meant for cheap rent. Places We Slept and the Middle House showed me the first glimpse into the punk house network that I soon learned existed in many forms across the country.

Places We Slept at the Middle House, Omaha

I left Omaha and started out for Iowa City, the hidden wonderland of the Midwest. Iowa City lacks the ennui and stinky air of Des Moines and has a flourishing music scene, thanks in part to the University students and young population. Solid Attitude is a band I knew through my brother, Boogs, and his band in Omaha, called Yuppies. I stayed with my brother’s girlfriend, Iva, at quaintly nicknamed house, “Bitch Mansion.” They showed me some real hospitality, serving up bags of sparkling beads and cold beer. Solid Attitude is a freaky punk band with an enigmatic lead singer, Mickey. Mickey is crazy onstage, writhing around like some kind of maniac. His mystique only increased when he didn’t show up to the interview because, as his other band members told me, he doesn’t like talking to strangers. Those guys were a good first interview, and they didn’t mind answering my dumb questions. I learned that bands consider themselves “real” when they press an LP and heard about other similar Midwestern cities with “surprising” punk scenes, like Lawrence, Kansas and Lincoln, Nebraska. Solid Attitude (Iowa City) at the Sweatshop in Omaha

After happy fun times in the Midwest, I skipped straight to the big times. NYC, here comes the country bumpkin. My friends Soren and Cooper took good care of me, despite my ineptness at riding the subway correctly and propensity to beg for pizza breaks when we were out walking. I got lost, obviously, and developed blisters on the soles of my feet. The first band I interviewed in the city was PC Worship. I forgot to turn on my tape recorder I was so nervous. Justin Frye was the frontman, and he lived in a loft called “Le Wallet” in some neighborhood (it was near 285 Kent, so I think it was Brooklyn). The loft wasn’t that different from punk houses I had been to in the Midwest, but the aggressive hipness of all of its inhabitants intimidated me, as did the rumble of the subway every 4 minutes. After a flustered interview, later to be corrected and edited by a nicer-than-I-first-perceived Frye, I went to 285 Kent to see them play. This place really got me going, with its “DIY aesthetic” (read: shitty toilets and probably no license) and audacity to charge $10 admission on a Monday night. I was surely out of my element, but had my eyes wide open. I saw a lot of the “Brooklyn hipster” trope, and some of the “homeless person” archetype, but didn’t really see much that I liked. The next night in NYC was only to cement my feeling of being a fish out of water. I went to go see the Shivering Brigade at a place called the Trash Bar in Williamsburg. Williamsburg really is the worst. I looked at some overpriced vintage clothes in the day, attempted to read the NYT in a silly coffee shop, and spent a lot of time standing on corners looking at people walk by. For dinner, I was delighted to find what I thought was a comfort food shop, complete with corndogs. Much to my horror, the $8 corndog I ordered turned out to be vegan!! I spat it out and ate poptarts from a corner store for dinner. The Trash Bar felt comfortable enough, with lots of stickers on the walls and a relatively cheap $5 Budweiser. The Shivering Brigade turned out to be a punk cabaret group, which I think means they like the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Misfits a lot. They were an eclectic bunch, complete with a male trombone player in a sequined dress and gym shorts underneath and the powerful lead singer Nicola Nonesuch with white facepaint and a pinstriped suit. Definitely not my kind of music, but they were very friendly and told me about the challenges of being a musician in NYC. I ended the night with a $40 cab ride back to Crown Point with a sick stomach after 4 poptarts, an open bar, and a lot of horrorcore pop-punk music.

The Shivering Brigade at the Trash Bar, NYC

New York was kind of a bust, and I was happy to go back to Minnesota. I went to Minneapolis to interview Merchandise when they played at the Triple Rock. Merchandise is a band I have idolized since I first heard “Become What You Are” in 2011. Carson Cox, the lead singer, drips honey vocals over noisy, anthemic songs. I was so nervous about approaching them with my thin line, “Hi, we spoke over email, I’m here to interview you.” A woman saw me hovering near the side of the stage and started talking to me. She turned out to be Annie Cox, Carson’s older sister and the girlfriend of bassist Pat Brady. Annie introduced me to the band and they swiftly took me backstage and gave me peanut MnM’s. We hung out and chatted through the opener, and then their set. I was floored by Dave Vassalotti’s guitar playing and drummer Elsner Nino’s interpretation of the drum machine tracks from Children of Desire. Their interview was flawless, it was clear that they were well practiced but not yet cocky from the recent press coverage. Merchandise are from Tampa, but they knew many of the other bands I had interviewed. They were connected by their Iowa City label Nite People to Solid Attitude and had played with Mike Donovan of Sic Alps, who I was to interview in San Francisco. Merchandise remains my favorite band out of the 10 I interviewed. I don’t love the music as much as I did when I first heard it, I might have overplayed it, but their interview filled so many gaps in my argument.

Condominium (Minneapolis) at the West Wing, Omaha After the touring band, I went to see two Minneapolis hardcore mainstays. Brain Tumors is fronted by Drew Ailes, an acerbic writer for City Pages and many other, saucier music blogs. Brain Tumors are wild live. I saw them at Memory Lanes – a stage suspended over a bowling alley, sprawling across three lanes. The floor was slick already, but when the crowd started moshing and beer spilled, it was impossible to stay upright. Drew jumped into the crowd and aggravated things by spitting in the face of a tall man with green hair and screaming, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” In interview, the men of Brain Tumors were less scary than their stage counterparts. They viewed the band as an outlet for their unbridled animal instincts to escape from the monotony of their various day jobs. Condominium seemed younger than Brain Tumors initially, with their floppy haircuts and less-jaded attitudes, but turned out to be similar in age. Imagine my shock when I found that most of the characters at their punk house in Southeast Minneapolis were 26 or older. Condominium is an extremely tight hardcore band, practically relentless in sound. In interview, they made a lot of obscure references to hardcore bands that I had never heard of and probably never will hear, due to their music really only being available in limited run 7” pressings that sold out in 1995 in Norway, or something.

I learned from Condominium that the market for hardcore and punk music is deep and full of niches that most people don’t really ever want to open. The tacit knowledge required to participate in most hardcore scenes is daunting for newcomers, as is the financial burden of meticulously collecting and cataloging vinyl records from unknown bands. Next up I headed west, to California. I started in Sacramento, to see the band G.Green. I love their album Crap Culture and was excited to meet my brother’s friends Liz and Andrew. Liz is an intimidatingly beautiful drummer with long black hair, bangs, and big dark eyes. She only wears black, yet she jokingly referred to some of her frenemies as “the dark crew” for their wardrobe choices. Andrew was shy, but had a big, yelping laugh and a passion for making music that was evident within the first minutes of conversation. I stayed with Liz and Andrew and found myself perfectly at home. Sacramento felt strangely like Omaha, maybe because the streets were wide and flat and the beer of the night was Budweiser. The next day, we went to Davis to see G.Green play at a house show. I met the other members of the band, Simi and Mike. Their performance was so on point. Andrew’s yelping vocals and their pop song structures really make for a new sound that is immensely exciting. After the show, I returned to Sacramento to stay with my second cousin Mary. The next day, my bus to San Francisco was leaving in the afternoon. Mary had to leave the house early,

but she said I could borrow her car. I took it out to buy Andrew (G. Green) drinking from a giant solo cup in Davis beer for the road and flowers for Mary, to thank her. Upon returning, I accidentally smashed her car into her garage. So much for trying to do something nice for someone. In San Francisco, I was very disappointed by the fog and cold, but I guess that’s status quo there. I had less than 24 hours in the city, but my Uncle Steve and Aunt Lisa were gracious hosts complete with an off-season birthday cake and some delicious pizza. I went and interviewed Mike Donovan, formerly of Sic Alps. I was very nervous going to his house alone, which in retrospect doesn’t sound like a good idea, but maybe none of this trip was really a good idea in that sense. Mike was welcoming, and spoke at length about the illustrious journey Sic Alps had before they came to an end earlier In Joshua Tree. Photo: Jackson Hudgins in 2013. Mike was at the beginning of his solo project, and had a lot to say about the demise of Sic Alps. It seemed like he had spent a lot of time in Sic Alps frustrated with a lack of enthusiasm and involvement from various bandmates, and finally called it quits to strike out on his own. He seemed sad it was over, and kind of anxious about the next phase. Last I heard from him, he was setting out on a European tour with his new solo album, so I think it’s working out for him. For the final leg of my journey, I took the longest bus ride ever to LA. This is the only bus ride I have ever been on where we stopped at what can only be described as a convenience store amusement park for a quick pit stop. I had a popsicle and a cigarette. In LA, Next, I went back home to Omaha. I began what I met up with research assistant Jackson Hudgins and would become a nearly seventh month onslaught we drove together to Joshua Tree. Milk Music, originally of interview transcription, photo editing, ‘zine from Olympia, had recently moved to the desert. They formatting, cultural research, writing, editing, and bought a house for about 50k and lived there, just the agonizing. Sure, I learned a lot about punk subculfour of them, making music and seeing aliens. After ture in America in history and today. I learned a lot about three hours driving straight into the desert, we about journalism, writing for different audiences, turned onto a dirt road that quickly deteriorated into using a typewriter (a stupid idea overall, but aesjust dirt. Miraculously, we found their little blue house thetically pleasing results), and analyzing cultural with the classic “punk van” out front and several longartifacts. But on the trip, I learned that acting on haired men smoking cigarettes amidst the cacti. The your academia is more important than doing boys of Milk Music had a lot of far-out ideas, a clear academic studies about the world around you. love of Neil Young, and a lot of digressions. I can’t say If I didn’t put my boots on the ground, my ears whether the interview lasted four hours because of the against the speakers, and my pen to the paper, quality of content, or the repeated diatribes about the all of my blather about punk subculture and what meaning of music in space and connecting with the it means would be empty. I had to try it all out to earth on another plane. I was amazed to see their exotic make sure I wasn’t just another talking head with a insect pets outside their house, like black widow spiders denim jacket. The musicians I interviewed put real and scorpions. Milk Music’s album Cruise Your Illusion life behind my thesis, and I tried hard to do their is beautiful for its youthful energy and windows-down stories justice in my project. I called it Wake Up, It’s shredding, and the boys’ lifestyle is quite similar. They Over after a song of the same name by Sic Alps. seemed like they were in an eternal vacation with their Listen to it, and maybe that can explain the parts of bandmates, endlessly entertained by the coyotes. the project missing from this brief retelling.

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henry southwick

How Can You Refuse People this Famous?

----------------------------------------------------------------Ever since the December announcement that Kiss were going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no one, Kiss, fans, or Hall of Fame CEO Joel Peresman have been happy. Everything started out hopeful. On December 16th, Gene Simmons was asked whether the original band (including Ace Frehley and Peter Criss) would be back together to perform at the ceremony on April 10th. He seemed open to the idea, saying “Sure, why not?” Not long after, however, shit hit the fan and has been flying ever since. Simmons and Paul Stanley were infuriated to learn that only original members would be inducted, and not long time drummer Eric Singer or guitarist Tommy Thayer. Relations between the four founders have been tenuous for years, and Simmons adamantly believes that all past members were important parts of the bands history and should consequently have been inducted. But over three months of debate and controversy could not change the mind of Joel Peresman, who attempted to justify the organizations decision, saying: “Thayer and Singer are fine musicians who… basically have the same makeup and are the same characters that Ace and Peter started. It’s not like they created these other char acters with different makeup and playing different songs. They took the persona of characters that were created by Ace and Peter.”

His rigidity on the matter resulted in Kiss refusing to play at the ceremony if all members could not be in attendance. It also meant sniping at each other across the Internet, with Stanley saying that it wasn’t even an honor to be inducted. Kiss kept their word, though each of the original band members gave a few comments in acceptance of their award. My opinion? Peresman is a stiff old codger who is not giving adequate due to immensely talented artists who have been an integral part of Kiss for the last 20 years. The current lineup has found multi-platinum success with Singer and Thayer, and Frehley and Criss were both demonstrated drunk and lazy during their time with the band. They have fundamentally been the best selling band of the people (though now much older people) and it was their loyal fan base that petitioned so hard over the last 10 years to get them nominated. They deserved a show. The fact that it even took this long for the band to be inducted is a musical crime in and of itself. Bad call, Peresman. Bad call.

I GO SHOUT PLENTY: One Very Brief Tale of Fela Anikulapo Kuti by Sebastian Bouknight

You might know not know the name of Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, Afrobeat man original, Mr. Black President - Fela Kuti - but he’s probably made you move before. I’d go as far to say Fela is one of the most prolific, popular, & powerful musicians that has lived, inciting so much political wrath and inspiring so many people to move and groove it boggles the mind. Let me tell you a bit about his life and then go out and soak up his creations forever more. Fela was born in 1938 in colonial Nigeria, north of Lagos, to some good loud-talking loud-doing parents, vehement anticolonialists, teachers, activists. Young Olufela got that gene in full. He got vigor and rhythm and swagger so furious and funky you can still hear it reverberating across Nigeria and wider world. His ma and pa sent him to London to study medicine, but he turned to music instead (praise be) and started his first band, Koola Lobitos. When the time was right he and Lobitos went back to Lagos, then to LA for a spell, where Fela caught wind of the burgeoning Black Power movement. Lagos just could not handle that hurricane of a man when he came back in 1970, full flex with his new Nigeria 70 band, a new middle name (Anikulapo, “he who carries death in his pouch”), a new mentality, and a devastating new sound. Nigeria 70 came onto a booming West African music scene: in Ghana Ebo Taylor & Gyedu Bley Ambolley were taking the highlife music of E.T. Mensah & Victor Olaiya and sharpening its edges on James Brown’s funk, planting the seed of afrobeat. In Nigeria, Sunny Adé and Ebenezer Obey were bringing juju music to life. Into (and out of) this world came Fela,

his 70, and Afrobeat. Fela on sax, keys and vox, Tony Allen driving them on with his drums, they played their fire music every night at Fela’s club, the Afrika Shrine, singing Mr. Big Thief President Olusegun Obasanjo and his army of Zombies to shreds, shaking the legs holding up the hungry government and making it mad mad mad. All the while, Fela and the 70 forged an iron name for themselves to tower over the musical landscape of Africa. Its shadow reached across seas too, drawing Cream’s Ginger Baker to Lagos in pursuit of Fela and his energy, a collaboration that produced Salt, Stradavarious, and BLO. Things got very acrid in 1975 when 1000 of Obasanjo’s zombies raided the Kalakuta Republic, self-declared sovereign nation and home to Fela and a host of friends, family, and bandmembers. They Burned it to the ground, beat Fela hard, destroyed his studio, instruments, tapes, and, in act of vile brutality, threw his mother out the window, killing her. In retaliation he very publicly dumped a coffin on the doorstep of Obasanjo’s home and fired up Nigeria even more with “Unknown Soldier” and “I.T.T.” Oh his trials, tribulations, and triumphs go on and on, maybe that’s a story for later. Suffice to say he ran for president (nomination rejected by the gov’t), was banned from Ghana for his firebrandiness, jailed a number of times, played in Giants Stadium in NJ, and produced an undying legacy of afrobeat. Fela the body died in 1997, but Fela the soul lives on in his son, Seun Kuti, and in the minds, bodies, and instruments of such a great many musicians (Antibalas, Budos Band, Akoya Afrobeat, etc). Keep an ear out, he go shout plenty more.

Chao’s words won’t say ciao by Frida Cota

A mellow,

slightly nasal voice sings “I like cinnamon, I like you. I like fire, I like you.” The list of things he likes continues throughout the catchy reggae song and it somehow does not reach the point of becoming tiresome despite the repetitive structure of the lyrics. Further along the song he sings, “I like the neighbor, I like you. I like her kitchen, I like you” and it all falls into place and serves as one of the most endearing love songs out there. French phrases make their way into the chorus of the spanish song along with snippets of voices from radio shows. “Me Gustas Tu” is a rather typical Manu Chao song, with its multilingual lyrics and numerous musical influences including reggae, salsa, rumba, hip-hop and rock. Typical, however, is definitely not a way to describe Manu Chao. Manu Chao is el hombre del barrio, the man of the neighborhood. He tells a reporter from Barcelona’s EL Periódico that he plays in bars, schools, and jails because he wants to be a musician of proximity. He is a French musician of Spanish descent who sings in arabic, portuguese, english, french, spanish and italian. Chao started his musical career during the eighties when he was really into listening to bands like The Clash while immersed in the Paris punk and alternative rock scenes. In 1991 Chao toured the US with his band Mano Negra as an opening act for Iggy Pop. A tour through Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and villages in the Colombian jungle led to a growth in Chao’s interest in Latin America. After the disbandment of Mano Negra in 1994, Chao’s first solo album, Clandestino, was released. The album was recorded in several of the countries he visited and featured collaborations with musicians he encountered while traveling. In a 2013 interview with El País, Chao says he’s given up trying to solve every global problem. He says he’s realized that much more can be done

at the local level. Vegetable gardens and human coexistence are, according to him, revolutionary. He claims that he strongly prefers to play in small venues, especially bars, because of the magical atmosphere that is created. Chao reckons he’ll write a song about one of the greatest social nuisances he encounters nowadays in bars: cellphones. He says it’s very annoying to see people recording performances with their cellphones. It ruins the mood, ruins the party. They don’t dance or shout out, instead they just stare into their screens. Most of Manu Chao’s songs make you want to take a walk on the moist sand along the seashore, but the easygoing music can be quite misleading. Words of pain, injustice, and longing are found in many of his lyrics including in “Clandestino”, “They call me illegal for not having papers.” Manu Chao is the voice of the many people he’s visited, and even if you don’t always understand what he’s saying when he slips into another language, when you do catch bits of his words you hear accurate portrayals of the reality of immigrants, people in the streets, and people in general. It’s all told through his own whimsical phrases.

Sebastian Bouknight

Loud Noises: Stuff about Electronic Music

This week, KRLX got to sit down with Gordon Voidwell, who opened for Har Mar Superstar at the Cave on April 11th. We asked him all about his current projects, future projects, and his life with funky music. Here are some excerpts from the video interview. Ceck out the rest of the video on krlx.org! On your website, you talk a lot about “memory funk.” How does memory play into what you make? I think that we overlook how much music actually coincides with the way we remember things. Specifically, a lot of people hear my music and think it’s nostalgically retracing some ‘80s arc. I think purposefully, what I’m trying to do is take my formative years of learning about music and all that ‘80s R&B and ‘80s funk shit and refigure it - and make something that is, in theory, obviously referring to that space and to that time and to that music and to that sound, but also is trying to play with how I remember that. I feel like when we think about these artists that are huge artists from that era - Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, whoever - we all think that we share that same understanding of who those people are and what we’re remembering. And if you talk to someone and have a very in-depth conversation, it’s always so fractured. The way that I remember Prince, or the way that I remember Michael Jackson, is so much different from most of my peers. Maybe there’s some threads that run throughout, but I think, for me, that term of memory funk or memory pop is this idea of restructuring and actively trying to engage memory with the way that we listen and the way that we make sounds. How do you remember Prince or Michael Jackson, and how do you think it’s different? It’s constantly shifting, you know? I think that if you had asked me that five years ago - how I remember Michael Jackson - it’s be such a specific answer, and I’d remember that song “Remember the Time” and my childhood when those songs came out in the early ‘90s. But my connection to “Thriller” and “Off the Wall” is totally different. I wasn’t there when that came out. We all do this with music we weren’t actually experiencing but still is prevalent in society - we all create narratives about what that music is, to make it fit into our consciousness. With something so big, you have to impose some meaning onto it to make sense of it. What do you want people to remember about about Gordon Voidwell in this stage of your career? I think the point that I’ve always been trying to make is to complicate things in a way that makes people feel comfortable. And when I say “makes people feel comfortable,” I don’t necessarily mean that it’s pandering to people’s sensibilities per se, but just the idea of making songs that on a surface level encompass some pop sensibility. And you can always strip away, and strip away, and strip away, and understand different functions of the song - or different functions of a lyric - or different functions of a sound or drum program. So I think that my ultimate hope for my own artistic legacy is to be remembered for complicating things. Complicating things - you use a lot of glitch effects and samples in your music. Have you always been interested in glitch music? What’s so compelling about glitching is that they give you an image that feels so complete, and then shifts very quickly - or not very quickly. But they’re playing with this idea of something that can be permanent and static. And they’re changing our sensibilities for time and linearity. Musically, are you on the front end of a new step in your musical career? This mixtape, Bad Etudes, cam out in part because I’ve been working on a record that is kind of edit-based, but is pretty pop-sensibility. I’m working with this producer Chris Zane, who did work with Passion Pit, Friendly Fires, Holy Ghost - a bunch of stuff. ... So I started working on that record in August and just realized around December that, realistically, we weren’t going to finish it before this upcoming summer. So I had all of these holdover songs and fashioned them together to become a complete collection of songs which I called a mixtape. But I think the mixtape sets a good introduction for what the album’s gonna be. It’s a good part R&B and a good part dancey-funk stuff. If you could sit down for coffee with any artist, who would you choose? Nile Rodgers, for sure. I think he’s playing with Chic - and they’re doing the full band. I feel like he’s really sculpted a lot of the music that my music is citing or making a footnote for. So yeah, Nile Rodgers, for sure. Although I’m pretty into MIA, too. She’s one of the headliners. I think that she’s consistently done things to complicate the world and complicate music. I think both those people - it’d be a split.

Sam Keyes

Head-to-Head

In the Court of the Crimson King Two Reviews of King Crimson’s Debut Album From the first track alone, this album quickly establishes its strong points: namely, its dramatic instrumentation and wide dynamic variety. Blaring horns, distorted guitars, and layered ensembles of strings and winds (accomplished in-studio with a single MelIn the Court of the Crimson King will celebrate lotron) all find a place on this album, and the interplay its 45th anniversary this October, and yet, aside from between them is subtle and captivating. Moreover, the hippy vocals, its age is hardly noticeable for a the album avoids the pitfall of over-reliance on special teenager like me who hasn’t lived through the inter- studio effects, allowing a sense of live performance to vening decades. remain amid the intricately produced layers of sound. ItCotKC’s greatness stems from two key sourcThough these textures are impressive, the es: instrumental virtuosity and compositional origialbum only contains five separate tracks, leading to nality. Debut albums with tracks as fully formed as a disappointing shortage in the total amount of sonthese are rare, and the impressiveness of this feat is ic worlds that the group is able to create before the only compounded when one realizes that this was album ends. Although there is some variation within composed by musicians who had only been playing tracks, the use of extended, similar-sounding pasmusic together for a single year. Five young students sages makes the album seem like an odd mix of too recorded it, but it sounds as if it were created by a su- long and too short at the same time. A short running pergroup consisting of Neil Peart, David Gilmour, and time paired with an 8-minute sporadic xylophone, George Entwistle. flute, and percussion jam is never excusable. Also, the The instrumentation for each track is thickly or- album’s lofty songwriting wears out its welcome quite chestrated but never comes off as overwrought. Each quickly- a good majority of the album listens like a colflute releases just the right timbre into a microphone lection of melodramatic numbers from an uninspired fixed at just the right angle in a studio where the stage musical. members must have stayed up all night getting just the right take. My verdict: If you’re the patient type (and have a high Finally, ItCotKC is a temporally notable protolerance for flute solos), this album has a few mogressive album in that the whole thing is only 44 min- ments of brilliance that make it worth a listen. On the utes long and that there are only two extended jam whole, however, it fails to provide the rewarding “full sessions, the first being so virtuosic that its duration is album experience” that one might expect, especially barely noticeable and the second being the album’s for a member of the genre it so profoundly influenced. only weakness.

Ian Mercer

My verdict: it’s a masterful combination of virtuosity and originality that can only be faulted for hokey lyrical content (example: “between the iron gates of fate / the seeds of time were sown”) and a single pacing issue (the outro to “Moonchild”).

David Pickart

The Future of TDE

Isaiah Rashad isn’t the only TDE member who’s appeared to have wisened up and become more creative with backing vocals. ScHoolboy Q’s Oxymoron, which is his first proper retail release and has now sold hundreds of thousands of copies, is a more lush and In a genre where sampling and remixing music of the fleshed out version of his previous records. The album past is so commonplace, hip hop often feels caught follows typical gangster rap themes (A concept Q is between two distinct objectives: harkening back to eager to assert from the first track “Gangsta”), but the the artists and movements of yore, and pushing the themes are tackled in a more honest way. Q parties soundscape through innovative production and rap hard throughout the album, but will occasionally show styles. Part of the appeal of Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 remorse when reminiscing about the past, like when release good kid, m.A.A.d city was in the balance of he recalls being shaken awake by his daughter in the these antagonistic elements: Kendrick and the pro- midst of a prescription drug fueled coma on “Preduction is birthed from Dr. Dre West Coast-era rap scription / Oxymoron.” Schoolboy explores creative that usually should be blasted from a car with the rhythms and hooks, such as in “Hoover Street”, where windows down, yet the final product gives a more Q recalls growing up around criminals as a child. The multi-dimensional view of life in Compton through intentionally skippy and glitched rhythm syncs and relentless self-reflection and dedicated lyricism. Afswells with Q as his voice echoes, “Sunlight, night ter Kendrick’s explosion to fame after the release of fall / Summertime, gotta ball.” Although perhaps the GKMC (not to mention “Control” and his BET cypher catchier moments of the album are also some of the verse) as well as the growth of lyric site Rap Genius, least lyrically interesting, the album’s use of sparser focus on lyrical content has once again entered the and stranger instrumentation on such a major release collective conscience of mainstream hip hop. pays off.

By Ben Wedin

Kendrick’s fame has also brought the label he is signed to, Top Dawg Entertainment, front and center as one of the most active and widely recognized rap collectives. All solor artists signed on the label are set to release albums this year, of which three of six (ScHoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad, and SZA) are already out. These records have all been met with positive reviews, and follow the established pattern of honest lyricism combined with a synergy between singer and beat that feels incredibly organic.

The most recent release by TDE, SZA’s Z, extends the fusion of singer and production to the point where SZA seems to have sublimated into the ether and has become the beat, echoing and resounding throughout the album. SZA brings in others (Isaiah Rashad, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper) to do the actual rapping on the album, and instead floats between R&B and hip hop in the same way that Frank Ocean might do on occasion. Gone are the themes of gangbanging and prescription drugs, although the album is equally self-examining. SZA instead focuses on selfdoubt and loneliness in the abstract and direct. “Fuck reality, do you want to know / Know me?” “Don’t have much to write about / Got a shitload to cry about” “Long live, lonely thoughts on Thursday nights.” SZA presents herself in a confident yet unassuming way where the lyrics really start to be something the listener wants to understand.

The first release from Isaiah Rashad on TDE, Cilvia Demo, is highly introspective and explores themes of substance abuse and fatherhood. From “Ronnie Drake”: “I real life it / I spill vices.” Rashad communicates his shifting emotions not only through lyrical content but also versatility in his flow. He’s laid-back and melancholy during “Tranquility”: “I’ve been on pills since a little one / Start with Advil then we level up”. In “Menthol”, his delivery is aggressive but also All of TDE has the desire to be understood and recdistraught when he hollers, “Baby hold my hand while ognized. The careful attention to voice and the beats I stumble up these fucking stairs.” The album is held that support them has done just that, expanding the together by backing vocals, an exasperated version emotional palette and making the message feel much of Rashad that is crackled and distorted. The effect more direct. As this approach becomes more fleshed sounds like Rashad broadcasting from the frontlines ofout with new releases from Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and his inner psyche, and makes the production feel much Kendrick Lamar later this year, it will be interesting more like a part of his music and aesthetic, instead to see how other crews choose to react and develop of simply him hyping up his own punch lines their own sound. with doubled vocals.

Jessie Arnell

A Weekend at Big Ears

A. Noah Harrison

I spent the last two days of my spring break in Knoxville, Tennessee at Big where the headliners were going to be. Sometimes they had girlfriends, Ears Festival, and goddammit, that was a good idea. Big Ears has only usually not. But with their mighty beards, they all will become musical happened once before, in 2009, an event Bitchfork quietly branded “the Santa Clauses one day. It shouldn’t be controversial to point out that at classiest, most diverse festival in the country.” And it was a fucking riot. least 90% of attendees were white males, which I think says something 2014 marks Big Ears’ second run, and it had a lot to live up to. Situated about the state of experimental music, though I’m not qualified to in charming downtown Knoxville, Big Ears is a sort of anti-festival. I’m no begin that conversation here. festival expert—I’ve been to only the last Bonnaroo and Big Ears—but these Henry and I befriended two Pitchfork junkies in particular: one two babies oppose each other in the best way possible, and they’re both from Atlanta and one from New York, and because we couldn’t rememmultiple orgasms of musical experience. ber their names, they became “Atlanta” and “New York.” ATL and NY were To sum up Big Ears in one word: intimacy. Intimacy between always checking their mobile app (great layout, btw) for the location of fans, artists, locals, and event organizers. Big Ears could not have done a the next venue, so we often tagged along. They were only rows behind better job demonstrating the relevance and availability of some of today’s us when we watched So Percussion (with Greg Koche) open the festival, finest musicians. Performers at this year’s festival included Radiohead’s a regiment of five drummers whose performance reminded me of Jonny Greenwood, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, minimalist mastermind Steve Cro-Magnons discovering how to bang on cave walls for the first time. It Reich (in his many forms), and a host of other groups, old and new, who was truly fantastic. So was soon joined on stage by the up-and-coming brought just about everything to the musical table. indie duo, Buke and Gase (Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez) whose record One of the neatest things about the festival is that all events General Dome quietly dominated the rock world in 2013. This uncanny are held within a few blocks of one another. Downtown Knoxville’s a ensemble hasn’t even laid down any tracks yet, but when they do, this worthwhile walk, and it’s hard to get lost with all the signage. Everymonolithic stuff is going rock the indie world, my friends. After the perthing’s indoors. There are no campgrounds, no peddlers in booths with formance, the So Percussionists and Aron quickly abandoned on stage, cheap bongs and fractal tapestries, no festival-sponsored $10 a-point leaving Arone to sheepishly address the audience with a “Thank you molly pharmacists, no sweaty raver squads drizzled in day-glo, no teenie so much for having us here.” We immediately approached Arone—we boppers getting wet over Foster the People. The totality of the festival was called her Buke—on stage and gushed about the performance. At this the music along with practically every performance space in downtown moment, we felt like her biggest fans. Knoxville: everything from the palatial Knoxville Theatre where John Later that evening, we stood alongside Atlanta and New York Cale—you know, from Velvet Underground—and his colossal new five-pieceas we bathed in the beautiful squawks of bass/alto saxophone wizard could doom out, to the steamy, narrow saloon where saxophone shaman, Colin Stetson. As I watched from ten feet away, I remember thinking Colin Stetson, could melt your face off. Being of a certain stature, I had no “This is Van Halen to me” and really meaning it. Colin is more of a trouble squeezing right to the front of any show. My friend Henry did haverock star in today’s musical landscape than any other I can think of. He a few ladies tap him on the shoulder to say, “Could you, like, stop being uses a method known as circular breathing and screams into his horn, that tall.” producing sounds heavier and more expressive than any face should Henry and I had no problem getting ourselves to the right be physically able to handle. After the show, Henry and I chatted with venue at the right time. As it turns out, it’s pretty easy to spot experimental our new friend Buke, giddily waiting for Colin to emerge. We found it music fans on the street, and they’re usually willing to help two young amusing that we were geeking on an artist who also happened to be go-getters get where they need to go. We identified three main types: geeking on an artist we were geeking on. Eventually, Colin materialized First, the middle-aged, sometimes old guys who were really there, man. and gave Buke the biggest hug I’ve ever seen in indie music. I gave They were at CBGBs, fawning over Patti Smith and clawing for Television’s Buke the face, and she cheekily apologized for not allowing me the guitar picks, circa 1976. These guys are pretty easily identifiable and are photo opportunity I desperately sought. Soon, Henry and I snuck over great for a conversation as long as you don’t ask them about Oneohtrix to the bar where Colin was ordering a pint, and I babbled about what Point Never. Then, there are the true music nerds, who had no uniform a, I mean, like, complete inspiration he was to me. Colin was like a manmanifestation. These same guys appeared, often without much regard to sized elephant: strapping, sincere, mild-mannered, almost effeminate. I appearance, at almost every street corner we passed: the true eccentrics texted my girlfriend I’d totally have threesome with her and Colin if she of the crowd, sometimes looking like metalheads, sometimes like mad wanted to. As we walked away, star-struck, we saw New York sipping a scientists. These are the guys that spend six hours a day scanning Rat- beer in a deck chair beside Colin. Dammit, we realized, we’d taken the eYourMusic.com charts from grandma’s basement. And their work really wrong approach. Oh well, too late. paid off. Finally, we’ve got the Pitchfork junkies, which we found the most New York and Atlanta were only a few rows behind us in the approachable overall. These guys did their homework and always knew exquisite Bijou Theatre as we entered the sonic wasteland of sound-

scape extraordinaire Tim Hecker (“my pal, Tim,” as Colin called him). It was a breathtaking show, and I’m pretty sure Tim knew Henry and I were in the audience because he kept communicating to us telepathically. Anyway, the greatest joy for me, as I have said was the level of intimacy; the kind of intimacy where it isn’t even weird to tell Greg Kotche he rocked as he stands at the adjacent urinal in a concert hall more luxurious than either of you are accustomed to. “Rock on, man,” he replied. “Thanks. Um… enjoy Television!” I hope he did, but for me, Television was a reminder that sometimes it’s better to trap your heroes in amber than to give them a chance at redemption four decades after the fact. Truly, a great part of Big Ears’ success can be attributed to its fringe status. Even the biggest headliners at the festival weren’t exactly big. There was no Skrillex, no Tyler, The Creator, no Mumford and Sons, thank god. For the most part, these were experimental performers doing some pretty experimental things. I have to say, I’ve never been to a show in which a third of the audience walked out because they just couldn’t take it. Hell, Henry and I walked out of more than one show…So is the beauty of a forum that facilitates true experimentation. A lot of the shit proved too weird for the people who came to see weird shit, and that’s okay. I know for certain that anyone who attended this year’s festival left with a broader musical palate and a greater appreciation for today’s rich

for today’s rich and diverse music scene of which we’re all a part. Get pumped for next year’s festival, ’cause it couldn’t possibly disappoint. You might very well see me running around, trying to not to spaz all over my favorite musicians.

Sophie kissin

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Good All Ages Show, But Not for All Ages of Bodies and Minds A Review of Twin Peaks and The Orwells’ Show at the Triple Rock, Minneapolis

Sophie Kissin

These kids’ show started so early-- 7:00 PM? I thought they were foolin’. But they weren’t, so we missed Twin Peaks’ set entirely when we decided to grab some food and wait for an appropriate time to arrive. Bummer! I love Twin Peaks-- such a great group of adorable 19 year-olds with crazy energy and a bright sound, reminiscent of early Strokes jamz, plus the upbeat, lo-fi of Wavves. Thankfully, The Orwells did not disappoint: they played one of the most raucous shows I’ve ever been to. I’m talking INSTANT MOSH PIT and CONSTANT CROWD-SURFING less than 30 seconds into the first song. The group, whose members are even younger than the Twin Peaks youngins, delivered a solid hour and a half of high-powered garage-punk that blasted my eardrums to bits in the best way. I felt like the odd-one out: it seemed that every audience member was not only 16 years of age, but also a super fan, singing every word of every song. At the end of the encore when I was bruised and beaten standing on the edge of the nonstop mosh-mess and it felt like someone had cast the Muffliato curse on my ears, three girls jumped on stage to make out with the lead singer, a dude with long, white-gold locks and a crazed look (dude was weird-- watch their infamous Letterman performance). The show was a great time, but as we walked to the bar next door I said to my friend, succumbed, “I’m getting too old for this.” 25

Brief excerpt found in J Mascis’ diary: Week of November 9, 2003.

Sunday I look down at my prick. I say to myself, “My, what a sweet and lovely thing.” Monday I see it in the mirror and I can’t help but be kind of disappointed. Tuesday I peek in on my prick in the middle of lunch. My colleague notices. He says nothing.

Wednesday It is still there.

Later on Wednesday I have been watching porn. I decide that the pornstars’ pricks are not even that much bigger than mine. Thursday Fuck. What’s the word for the tip of the prick? It’s a funny word, like, flange, or... I can’t remember.

Friday It’s rather pink. Saturday I look down at my prick. I ask myself, “Where did it go?”

Com

upcoming shows

the CAVE

this week: BATTLE OF THE BANDS friday 8p CSPC presents SISTER OUTSIDER saturday 7p

4.24 OPEN MIC NIGHT 4.25 STUDENT BAND SHOWCASE II

5.2 ANGEL OLSEN +

PROMISED LAND SOUnd

5.14 The COUNTERFACTUALS live at the cave---------simulcast on KRLX

5.15 OPEN MIC NIGHT

5.16 STUDENT BAND SHOWCASE III FRANCE CAMP//

5.17 PERFECT PUSSY+ 5.2

ANGEL OLSEN

LOCAL the TAVERN 4.25 Matthew Griswold 4.26 Bernie King & the Guilty Pleasures

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE

THE CAVE

the COW 4.18 Jerry Johnson + Inga Johnson 4.19 Cassandra Crandell, Maddie Hargis, Optimum Trajectory 4.22 Acoustic Jam 4.25 Occasional Jazz, kirk & low 4.26 Johnny Azari, Forest and the Rangers 4.29 Acoustic Jam Compiled by Mary Begley and Sam Watson Layout by Haley Ryan

going to a show? need wheels? want company? submit to next edition’s classifieds!

7TH STREET ENTRY

FIRST AVE MAINROOM

4.20 Awkward Bodies + Party of One + PARAGRAPHS

4.23 WHITE FANG + SKATING POLLY + FRANKIE TEARDROP

4.24 Lydia Loveless + The Sudden Lovelys + Tanbark 5.1 French Horn Rebellion + Hollow & Akimbo 5.2 Trust + Mozart’s Sister 5.10 Chicago Afrobeat Project + Black Market Brass

TWIN CITIES

4.24 Temples + Drowners + Two Harbors 4.26 Ingrid Michaelson + Storyman + The Alternate Routes 5.3 Sonny Knight and the Lakers + the Honeydogs + Southside Desire 5.6 Chromeo + Oliver 5.7 Mastodon + Gojira + Kvelertak

TURF CLUB (21+)

TRIPLE ROCK

4.20 Bad Bad Hats + Turchi + Naptaker 4.21 Bleeding Rainbow + Strange Relations + Bad Carpet 4.27 Black Lips + Natural Child (SOLD OUT)

4.25 WAXAHATCHEE + CARBONLEAK + SLOWDEATH

5.1 CLOUD NOTHINGS + PROMARTYR + THE HAND

5.7 Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra + Total Life

HEXAGON BAR 4.23 Girl with Casual User + Vampirates + Ingulge 4.26 Animal Lover + Linear Downfall + Kitty Rhombus + Strange (FREE!)

4.29 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart + Fear of Men + Ablebody (18+) 5.7 OFF! + Nasa Space Universe + Cerebral Ballzy 5.8 Youngblood Brass Band + Botzy 5.10 Baths + Young Fathers

VARSITY THEATER 4.29 Bombay Bicycle Club + Royal Canoe (18+)

CEDAR CULTURAL CENTER 4.18 Communist Daughter + Dave Pirner + Silverback Colony + Willie Murphy + Taj Raj 4.25 S. Carey + The White Hinterland

S D E I F I S S A

SEEKING GUITARIST

------------------------------At Your Disposal is looking for an electric guitar player. We are flexible about what we play and quite open to any suggestions from the members. But if you indeed want to try something new and go international, we do tend to pick a lot of modern and contemporary rock stuffs from the South Korean music scene. Our rehearsal this term and normally is every Saturday from 7 to 9pm. Please e-mail leeh if you’re interested.

CREATE FOR KRLX

begleym or mailbox #95 to submit your NEEDS and WANTS for posting in our next issue

PLAY AT OLAF

------------------------------May 2 gig at St. Olaf new venue “the Art Barn.” Carleton student bands sought. Contact begleym for details.

GUITAR LESSONS

------------------------------Campus’ premier guitarist seeks protege to continue his legacy after graduation. Student must provide adequate payment, at a rate to be determined between purchaser and tutor. Lessons are private, one hour long, and require 2-4 hours of practicing a week. Contact briggsp. Serious inquiries only.

------------------------------KRLX is making a push to turn their website into the go-to place for a music-obsessed Carleton student to keep up on new music and happenings around campus. Art, GIFs, videos, podcasts, interviews, articles, whatever you want. Contact hudginsj.

PLAY EARTH DAY

WRITE FOR THIS ZINE

STUDENT BAND SHOWCASES

------------------------------Musicians sought to play Earth Day celebration next weekend. arah Goldman is looking for volunteers to play music for an Earth Day celebration next weekend! If you or your band are interested, contact goldmans

-------------------------------------------------------------------DUH YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. April 25 and May 16th at the Cave. begleym or mailbox 95 to get involved. Contact begleym to apply. Content writers, artists, format/design team.

CAVE OPEN MIC NIGHTS

------------------------------April 24, May 15, at the Cave

10 Songs That Just Make You Feel Cool Sophie Kissin

It’s hard to say exactly why, but some music makes you fell real cool when you listen to it. Check out this list of tracks that’ll make you feel like the hottest stuff on campus.

1.Celestica - Crystal Castles

Makes you want to walk super fast, but not make eye contact with anyone.

2.Minotaur - Thee Oh Sees

Deep, drawn out strings (cello??) and a syncopated baseline got you sauntering.

3.Lust - The Raveonettes

Whoa, can’t really explain, but one of my fav songs of all time. Real edgy.

4.Queens Get The Money - All Natural, Spotlight, & Tones B Nimble Ok, I don’t know about the name “Tones B Nimble,” but this is a hot track.

5.Camel - Flying Lotus

One of the sexiest tracks ever created. So smooth, so subtle, so hot.

6.Veni Vidi Vici - The Black Lips

You feel like you came, saw, and conquered.

7.Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground Dark and heavy.

8.Kashmir - Led Zepplin

Sultry strings and that classic, pulsing guitar riff.

9.Army of Me - Björk

This song kinda scares me, but that’s why it’s so cool. You feel like you’re in a 90s sci-fi action film.

10.Send It Up - Kanye West Had to do it.

~~ur com prehens ive hilar weekend y duff playlist~ ~ hduff may be working on a new album, but will it come close to da greatness of her previous works? Plz go dust off ur cd-roms from seventh grade, dig up ur snap bracelets and flare gap jeans for the full experience. Xtra points if u use ur walkmen/ipod (2nd generation) to reminisce.

Special Correspondent In the Field, Steph Lee

santa claus lane//santa claus lane (2002) fly//hilary duff (2004) who’s that girl?//hilary duff (2004) What dreams are made of//lizzie mcguire movie (2003) Why not//lizzie mcguire movie (2003) Stranger//dignity (2007) With love//dignity (2007) So yesterday//metamorphosis (2003) Come clean//metamorphosis (2003)

if you’ve read this far and you don’t regret it you are just the type of individual we are looking for to join the zine team. email begleym if you’ve read this far and you regret it we want to hear your feedback if you really just skimmed and feel ambivalent write in anway letters to the editor - begleym or mailbox 95

No Fidelity Spring 2014 Issue 1

Articles inside

“Dope! Drum! Fills!”..................................Palmer

Ten Good Albums from 2014....................Yanoviak

“Ten More Songs Over Ten Minutes”........Harrison

Campus Band Interview............................Bollinger

Black Metal................................................Rossi

“Head to Head: James Blake”...................Mercer & Pickart

“Terror in Texture”.....................................Mercer

An Interview with Viper.............................Hayward

“1DAF”......................................................McNeely

“Sleater-Kinney Returns”...........................Calderón

“How to Make Electronic Music”...............Hayward

“Why Bandcamp is Hot Shit”....................Rossi