The purpose of NO FIDELITY is to foster Carleton’s vibrant musical culture via printed media. We are working to make music a larger part of the conversation on campus. We are completely student-run, with participants writing, editing, illustrating, formatting, and designing every step of the way. Submissions from anyone on or off campus will be considered for publishing. NF consists of a variety of reviews, opinion pieces, essays, concert reviews, and anything related to music.
Staff: Cisco Hayward, Ben Wedin, Sam Watson, A. Noah Harrison, Lucas Rossi, Bob Otsuka, and Ian Mercer Contributors: Ayana Lance, Dan Bollinger, Peter Centner, Henry Southwick, David Pickart, Cyrus Deloye, Alex Adamczyk, Suzanna Erlich, Francisco Castro, Josie Naron, Madeline Garcia, Gerrit Postema, and Urmila Kutikkad
The Table of Contents: 2...................................................................”Fuck Fadeouts” by Ian Mercer 3......................................................If You Don’t Like DEVO by Sam Watson 4...........................................................................”Acidstats” by Ian Mercer 6.....................................................................................New Music Reviews 10...................”An Update on Grimes” by Alex Adamczyk & Suzanna Erlich 11......................................”Hip-Hop’s Latest Anomaly” by Francisco Castro 12......................................”An Introduction to St. Vincent” by Josie Naron 13...”Songs About Food & Space” by Madeline Garcia and Alex Adamczyk 14..........................................”In Defence of Yung Lean” by Gerrit Postema 15”Mainstream Beats are Cool Now (AND i LOVE MYSELF)” by Ben Wedin 16.....................”The Best Five Drummers Since 1960” by Henry Southwick 17.....................................”A Treatise on Mouth Silence” by Cisco Hayward 18......................”Menomena as a Metaphor for Love” by A. Noah Harrison 21.................................................”Music in the Movies” by Gisell Calderon 22..............................................”You’re Dead! Track Review” by Ian Mercer 24..........................................”Like Deafheaven, but Better” by Lucas Rossi 27..............................................”H2HTKOL” by David Pickart & Ian Mercer 28..............................”An Interview with Party Mountain” by Dan Bollinger 30........................................................”Hummingbird” by Henry Southwick 32.......................................................................................Upcoming Shows 34......................................................”Top Five Indie Baes” by Ayana Lance 36....................................”The Best-Ever Rick Ross Lines” by Peter Centner 37.................................................................................................Classifieds Welcome to NO FIDELITY Volume 2, We are happy to be back at it, doing what we do best: arguing about music. If you like what you see, shoot an email to any of the staff members listed to the left and get involved! Putting together forty pages of content takes a bit of work, and we are always looking for dope people to help us do dope work. Enjoy, The NF Team
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Ian Mercer’s
Acidstats
The following figures illustrate the distribution of adlibs throughout Chance the Rapper’s album Acidrap. I compiled these numbers myself while on a lunch break this summer.
IGH! Intro 16 Pusha 43 Paranoia 34 Cocoa 2 Juice 17 Lost 5 Everybody 3 Interlude 2 Favorite 36 NaNa 27 Smoke 50 Acid 2 Chain 51 Outro 12 4
Total: 300
Na 42 297 0 26 24 0 14 0 0 57 0 50 0 47
557
Note: Chance’s use of “Na” in some tracks (“Pusha Man,” for instance) barely counts as adlib use, and more as a melodic method. Takes all figures with a grain of salt. Conclusions: 1. “Pusha Man” has, by a wide margin, the highest number of “Na” adlibs on the album, clocking in nearly 120 “Na”s per minute! 2. The central segment of the album utilizes adlibs more infrequently and at a lower rate than its neighboring sections. 3. At least one adlib is featured on every track, with “Interlude” containing the least (only two utterances of IGH! and no “Na”s whatsoever). 4. 10 of the 13 tracks feature the use of an adlib within the first 30 seconds of their duration.
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Music Reviews
By the people, for the people
Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes - Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke frequently positions himself as a sentinel for human-technology interaction. He is consistently blending synthetic and non-synthetic sounds in interesting ways, both in Radiohead and in his solo projects. 2006’s The Eraser was Yorke’s chance to explore it further, embracing laptop glitch and laptop breakbeats to their logical conclusion. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes feels like a spiritual successor to The Eraser, offering a similarly solitary and brooding Yorke. The out-oftune piano in “Pink Section” sounds like it could have been lifted from The Eraser’s title track. This isn’t always good: the first few tracks sound like dated versions of overly Yorke-heavy Radiohead songs, with trademark glitch and gloom. Overall, though, this record is a modern one, with nods to the assemblage of sounds in 2014, incorporating wet and dub-like drums and tonal swells that are reminiscent of Four Tet and Arca. The only critique I would have is that most of the songs are essentially orbiting the same idea. For this reason, some of the songs feel like sketches in Yorke’s computer, not a commercial product. This is not all true, though: “There Is No Ice (For My Drink)” is a 7-minute head-trip, and transitions beautifully into “Pink Section.” If you’re already familiar with Thom Yorke, you probably already know whether or not this album is for you. For those who have never given Radiohead or Thom Yorke a chance and are looking to embrace their inner isolation and megalomania, this brief record is worth checking out. 4/5 Yorke croons. -Ben Wedin
Origins - Eluveitie Ok, so if you haven’t ever heard my shameless plug for this band, here it is: ELUVEITIE ARE SOME OF THE MOST TALENTED AND INTERESTING MUSICIANS COMING OUT OF EUROPE RIGHT NOW! FUCKING LISTEN TO THEM. 9-piece band, folk instruments backed by guitars, base and drums, sick alternations between full and half time, beautiful female backup singer, what more could you ask for out of your music? Now let’s talk their new album. “Origins” is definitely a step up from their underwhelming last endeavor, “Helvetios.” “Helvetios” was supposed to be a rock opera kind of thing talking about how the Helvetii tribe were kicked out of modern day Switzerland and obliterated by the Romans (folk instruments, folk tales, get the picture?). Where as that album was flat and uninteresting musically, this one is diverse and complex. It still has some of those “storytelling elements,” but these are better interspersed amongst excellent straight up rockin’ tunes. Highlights from the album are “The Nameless” (although they miss an obvious opportunity to get listeners bumpin’), “Call of the Mountains,” and “King”. Of these, King is my favorite because of the complex alternation of tin whistle, goat bagpipe, and guitar solos in the closing minute of the song. But overall, each of the songs acts like a flushed-out story in itself. If you are looking for something new in your life, like a little head banging, but are also curious about the cultural history of one of the most complex regions in Europe, this is an excellent album. They will never top their 2007 masterpiece “Slania,” but this is their best effort since. Check it out. -Henry Southwick 6
Syro - Aphex Twin Fresh off the hype of the Caustic Window re-release (or really first ever release), Aphex Twin buys an onion domain name and releases SYRO, his first full length album since Drukqs in 2001. There was mixed critical review of Drukqs, and in Aphex Twin’s own words, the album was rushed. But that didn’t change the fact that for many people, (including my 15 year old self) Drukqs was a thorough and diverse collection of rancorous DnB jams coupled with introspective piano interludes. Despite that, the album couldn’t escape the notion that it was simply Aphex Twin unloading a bunch of songs he had lying around on his hard drive onto some giant double album in order to part ways peacefully with Warp Records. Furthermore, whatever Caustic Window was, it wasn’t a “new” Aphex Twin album. It was made in 1994, and works better as a time capsule than an album. And how different things were back in those days! The complex IDM of the 90s has given way to a more minimal, spacious, and simplistic kind of electronic music. Artists such as XXYYXX, Gold Panda, Daniel Avery, Koreless, and Jon Hopkins (to name a very select few) have re-shifted the focus of electronic music from being cold and calculating to cool and reserved. You don’t need to have fifty intersecting melody lines or snare rolls that are 16th note triplet subdivisions in order to make good electronic music anymore. Even the wackier and more subversive artists like Shlohmo and Arca can’t hold a candle to Venetian Snare’s Songs About My Cats in terms of rhythmic and melodic complexity, and they aren’t trying to. The philosophy of electronic music is different now. Even though the potential for precise and over-complicated sequencing is higher than ever thanks to the Digital Audio Workstation (something not widely available when Aphex Twin was starting out), people just don’t want to do that anymore. That isn’t a bad thing by any means, but it’s worth noting just how much things have changed. Thus, it is surprising that in an era dominated by bass drops and 4-on-the-floor kick drums, the album SYRO contains none of that. Rather than strip down, Aphex Twin has beefed up, created an album that flies in the face of every trend in electronic music right now, and is in many ways stronger for it. This is a new Aphex Twin album for sure, but it is still an Aphex Twin album, and features the trademark complexity that he himself popularized. Almost every song features millions of cascading synth melodies raining down on angular and stabby bass lines driven by drum patterns which transcend the notion of “patterns” because they don’t even repeat themselves in some cases. When patterns aren’t mutating, new instruments and samples are drifting in an out. SYRO is an endless stream of constant change. However, the album is not by any means loud or noisy. Many of the songs are at slower BPMs, and very few feature any kind of harsh noises or distortion. Despite their density, the songs are rather reserved and unobtrusive. In fact, even with a crystal clear mix and layered production, the songs don’t necessarily invite you in, and can sink into the background at times. The album seems more interested in mangling itself than it does in telling you about something. And that’s really what Aphex Twin has created: a nifty little machine that sort of tromps around on its own accord. Aphex Twin has always been an experimentalist rather than a composer. His albums aren’t stories or arguments or dissertations on anything, but rather just nifty sounds. And to be fair, there have been some really fucking nifty sounds, but “absolute music” has been dead since the 1800s. Truly 10/10 music is capable of stepping outside itself and making people think differently about things. In the 90s, Aphex Twin was able to make us think differently about music by using a bouncing ball as the tempo for a song, but with SYRO, he fails to break new ground. He’s just making a bigger hole at this point. To be fair, it’s a pretty fucking huge hole, but it’s the same one he’s been digging since 1992. That said, he deserves to be applauded for this solid new addition to his already expansive discography. Is SYRO the best thing ever? No. Will it re-establish Aphex Twin as a prominent figure in modern electronic music? Maybe. Is it worth checking out? Absolutely. -Cisco Hayward
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Last month saw the release of This Is All Yours, the awaited sophomore effort by the newest band to have been hailed a “new Radiohead”— a title both unwarranted and meaningless. Still, their awesome wave of a debut instantly cemented alt-J as one of the most capable art rock groups of the decade. Simultaneous groovy and glitchy, let’s at least agree: alt-J made some creative choices within Britain’s stale experimental music climate. Through their disconcerting lyrics and cute Yorkshire candor shine thoughtful compositions. It’s Britpop with folkloric whimsy. It’s prog rock with EDM sensibilities. But that was two years ago. What’s happened since? They lost bassist Gwil Sainsbury, but that didn’t stop them from releasing a slew of singles over the last four months in anticipation of An Awesome Wave’s follow-up. This time, we knew what alt-J was capable of, and expectations towered dangerously high. The first single, June’s “Hunger of the Pine,” ft. an uncanny Miley sample is a “k, sounds good” downtempo number but is sadly a high point of the album. July’s label-pleaser, “Left Hand Free,” was the one you undoubtedly mistook for a Black Keys song. Written in 20 minutes, the keyboardist actually predicted, “Someone’s going to walk on stage to it at an
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NRA convention.” It’s that bad. Now August’s “Every Other Freckle,” makes for a truly groovy ride, and it may well be the album’s best. If This Is All Yours is anything, it’s boring. As soon as we heard it, our fears were confirmed: alt-J has nothing to say in 2014 that they didn’t already say back in 2012. Maybe the songs do unfold in a Radiohead-like fashion, but with hollow insides. While Radiohead makes us shudder with shame or grin like a sociopath, today’s alt-J is best suited for a cold night in a steamy hot tub when you just want thoughts to turn to melodies. It reinforces what we saw in their first album: Like the debut’s “Taro” and “Fitzpleasure,” the best cuts here tell a story, despite questionable phrasing choices. So check out “Every Other Freckle.” Check out the “The Gospel of John Hurt.” But for the most part, alt-J has traded its oomph for some feelgood folktronica. It’s not bad. It’s just not great. Given their explosive popularity, one might have expected alt-J’s downfall to come in the form of mainstream songwriting, but not so. In fact, look at the song titles, and you would rightly suspect they’ve gone all conceptual on us again. Ultimately though, This Is All Yours fails because it lacks heart. Perhaps the “This” that is supposedly all ours is alt-J’s guts, balls, and other vitals.
Rating: 3 Brian Enos (and 1 Bruce Springsteen) out of 5
Last Wednesday, as I feigned exertion doing my obligatory biweekly sit-ups on the blue mats in the fitness center, I managed to catch the interview portion of the previous night’s Colbert Report. Colbert’s guest that night was the band Tweedy, namely comprised of Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and his son Spencer, age 18, on the road promoting their new album Sukierae. I know Spencer because we went to high school together in Chicago. He’s a well-spoken guy with a refined yet laidback composure, just like his father. I haven’t gotten to know Spencer all that well, but that didn’t dampen my shock upon seeing his familiar mug on the television sitting opposite Colbert. I suppose in hindsight I shouldn’t have been so surprised, having known Spencer had done the album and that it was nearing release and that these sorts of media rounds are nothing foreign to names in music like Jeff Tweedy. Yet I feel obliged to mention this because as I continue, I must assure you that my casual relationship with Spencer has nothing to do with the following petite-review. And if you give Sukierae a listen yourself, you’ll know why. It’s simply a damn fine (double) album. It’s commonly held that a key component to Wilco’s success comes from its arsenal of hyper-talented musicians that allow Jeff to focus on the singer-songwriter aspects of his role. This is not so much the case on Sukierae, as Jeff writes and records nearly all of the non-drumming parts on the entire album. (Note that he did have some prominent help from the talented women of Lucius on back-up vocals and Scott McCaughey on keys.) His unilateral vision is what gives Sukierae a little more cohesion and consistency than some of Wilco’s arrangements that often feel quite manic and busy. However, that’s
not to say the various timbres Jeff summons on the more ethereal secondary and tertiary guitar tracks are unlike many Wilco textures and layers. In fact, it is those tracks, which harken back to the compositions on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, which I find most engaging. Of course, if you already know Tweedy’s music, then superficially this album should feel quite familiar to you. His distinctive melodic phrasings, his bank of neo-folk-rock chord changes, his alluringly beautiful fingerpicking – they’re all there. Yet something else about it feels cutting-edge. And, without managing to be too cliché by invoking images of fresh ears and youthful perspective, I really think this is where Spencer comes in. The first song that really smacked into my ears was “Diamond Light Pt 1.” Spencer’s drumming is a roiling froth of snare and bass drum hits, giving the song its constant, chugging rhythm. Over top, Jeff’s lyrics conform to an eerie melody that doesn’t struggle to not be too dissonant. In between, the bass notes are played in a high register, adding to the coalescence of many separate yet concordant sounds. Quite a bit of the album is like this, which makes it so stimulating to me because it becomes this sort of challenging indie-folk-rock music, which I hadn’t come to appreciate as much before. As I’m now over my word limit, let me just say: you don’t need a reason to listen to this album. Listen whether you’re glum, angry, mad, ecstatic, diffident, brash, [insert word from thesaurus]. Sukierae is defined by no mood or temperament. There is something here for you, something comfortingly American and familial and relieving for us while we sit here trying to get our homework in on time.
Key Tracks: Diamond Light Pt. 1, World Away, Slow Love, Flowering, Low Key, Summer Noon
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Don’t Go
that she is producer, not a performer. In completely controlling all aspects of her live show, Grimes maintains the same control and self-regulation that remains evident in her online presence. But even with this image maintenance, her conflicting personality comes through. Her “pump up” dancers draw attention away from her performance, as Grimes remains secure behind her Roland samplers and keys. Even in performance, Grimes retains her upfront and honest personality. She never performs encores, claiming that they are expected and insincere. Yet, this inherent honesty has recently started to plague Grimes. Fast forward two years: Grimes is an active model, a voice for feminism, and an online presence. As she works away in both Vancouver and LA, we only peer into her life via her (very) active Twitter and Tumblr presences. So what has changed? She started listening to the online criticism that she had been avoiding. In August, Grimes released her latest single, “Go”, a song she originally produced for Rihanna. It was almost universally hated. Overproduced and featuring trap-influenced beats, it did not fit the “Grimes” image that Last month, Grimes (Claire Boucher) shocked fans by people had come to love. At the same time, Grimes was facabandoning her latest album. Yet, given her history and quick ing criticism for her response to the ALS ice-bucket challenge rise to fame, should we really be shocked? Beneath her pix- (As a vegan, Claire protested the animal testing that remains ie-esque manner, dreamy beats, and quirky online-presence, present in ALS research). Her perfromances at festivals feaGrimes remains one of the most multi-faceted and unpredict- tured more and more new tracks, further leading us to believe able artists today. Here is why this is no surprise: that the next album was ready for release, but then Grimes Before her acclaimed album Visions was released in finally spoke: in September, Grimes simply stated that her 2012, Grimes was a McGill drop-out living with musical friends new record “sucked”. But are these really her views? Or just a (Majical Cloudz and Born Gold in particular) in Montreal. At reflection of what the world wants from Grimes? McGill, Boucher studied Russian and Neuroscience and left What’s next? Although this scrapping could indicate school not knowing how to read, record, or produce music. a return to her Visions style, it probably won’thappen. Grimes However, even from the beginning, the experimentation that has moved past her old, hermit-like creative process as she defines Grimes was present. now prefers to make music in the comfort of L.A., not the While she produced other music before, Claire con- backwoods of British Columbia. She signed with Jay-Z’s mansiders Visions to be her first true album, a coherent work of agement label Roc Nation, a switch which most likely amped art. Grimes recorded Visions in a dark room while high on up the pressures for her next release. The Visions victory laps amphetamines for nine days. Without food. The culmination are officially over: for now, we just have to wait. of this somewhat spiritual journey is highlighted in the simple sampling of Erik Satie, an avant-garde French composer, on the final track “know the way.” While this article is not a review of this (suberb) album, it is important to recognize that the wide range of influences, layers, sounds, and samples within this album generated the Grimes’ obscure aura almost instantly. As 2012 wore on, Claire’s skyrocketing fame brought her out of the bedroom (where she produced Visions) and into the world. However, this rapid climb seemed to conflict with her character. Claire is shy, awkward, and introverted, attributes that are not so apparent in her live show, but very present in interviews. However, as Grimes attracted more and more attention, she repeatedly told both interviewers and the internet that she never read online commentary. By insulating herself from online commentary, Grimes was able to maintain her own creative ideals, something that is increasingly lost from the digitized music world today. But like other “bedroom artists”, Grimes faced a live performance dilemma. How could she reproduce the ethereal layers of 50+ vocal tracks live? Relying on samplers and keys rather than a live band, Grimes’ Art by Madeline Garcia 10 live set up almost seems to reflect her personality and belief
A Short Thesis By
Alex Adamczyk Suzanna Erlich
Hip-Hop’s Latest Anomaly My case for a dude who just has some things to get off of his chest (by Francisco Castro) Can a hip-hop album reach a number one billboard top spot without talking about money, bitches, and drugs? Meet Lecrae, a Houston born 34-year old artist who did just that. Anomaly is the seventh studio album released by Reach Records just a little over a month ago and has gotten much attention since. Featured in Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, Rolling Stone, and top Billboard standings, Lecrae is making a lot of noise not simply in the Christian mainstream music community, but slowly creeping everywhere else including Sway In the Morning referring to him as one of the most unique up-and-coming rappers of the year. (He also killed the notorius five fingers of death freestyle) All the attention still begs the question, is the media just hyping a taboo Christian artist with another “divine message” or is Lecrae really making a statement? Feel how you may towards “gospel” music, Anomaly is actually pretty damn good and not as preachy as you may think. In fact, not preachy at all. In every other interview, Lecrae makes the strong point that he is not a Christian rapper, but rather a rapper that just happens to be a Christian and this shows throughout the entire album. As opposed to much of cocky mainstream hip-hop blasted through radios, Lecrae portrays himself as a vulnerable bystander, shamelessly talking about his insecurities and struggles to fit in as a nonconforming artist in 21st century America. With a Lupe Fiasco type of political awareness and Andre 3000 delivery, Lecrae makes several “public service announcements” throughout the album. It is refreshing to see a hip-hop artist diss the game in such graceful ways. Given Ferguson’s events, Lecrae tweeted: “Dear Hip Hop, we can’t scream ‘murder, misogyny, lawlessness’ in our music & then turn around and ask for equality & justice.” Anomaly questions why mainstream media feels the need to glorify money and glory, referring to them as “gold chains being just pretty shackles, wearing them around your neck cause we still enslaved” Songs like “Nuthin” and “Outsiders” echo this sentiment by directing subtle yet direct disses towards hip hop in general and Lecrae’s frustrations with many of its inconsistencies today.
Another point worth mentioning is Lecrae’s diss of churches themselves. “Dirty Water,” at least through my interpretation, calls out many of the Christians who fly thousands of miles to Africa (or whatever other nation it might be) and build water wells, but won’t turn around and help their neighbor across the street. Lecrae goes so far as to say that “the most segregated time of day is Sunday/ what does that say about the God your worship?” In terms of technicalities, the album is extremely well produced. You can definitely feel subtle Houston influences of old school R&B and some chopped and screwed styles. Admittedly, there are some songs that are definitely turn-up-able (it’s a word, I promise) in the sense that you can bump to them at a party and not even think about the fact that it was made by a Christian. Lecrae can definitely deliver and tell stories from interesting points of view. It feels like he was trying to make a lot of diverse points throughout the album so it did not feel as cohesive as I’d like, but the theme of “anomaly” within the hip hop scene and different areas of life is felt for sure. In general, I think Lecrae is giving hip-hop a breather and a refreshing voice that is often not heard. Trust me, I enjoy hearing Biggie brag about all the dope he sells and Kanye’s empowering ego as much anybody else, but I have to admit that it simply gets old. Christian rapper or rapper that happens to be a Christian, the guy is worth checking out.
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THE ESSENTIAL ST. VINCENT: A Highly Subjective 12-Song Intro by Josie Naron
Like (hopefully) many of you, I’m a huge St. Vincent fan. I’ve liked every album Annie Clark has created, but for the St. Vincent newbie, tackling four albums (not even counting the collab album with David Byrne which should have been much better than it actually is) can be a daunting task. So, here’s an admittedly subjective list of the three best songs off each of Clark’s four albums: Marry Me, Actor, Strange Mercy, and St. Vincent. Marry Me 1. What Me Worry? 2. Landmines 3. All My Stars Aligned
Actor 4. Actor Out Of Work 5. Laughing With A Mouth of Blood 6. Just The Same But Brand New
Strange Mercy 7. Cruel 8. Northern Lights 9. Cheerleader
St. Vincent 10. Rattlesnake 11. Bring Me Your Loves 12. Prince Johnny
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“All My Stars Aligned” was my first introduction to St. Vincent, and out of the songs on Marry Me, it’s the right one to start with. It perfectly encompasses Clark’s sound at the time of her debut album’s release: smooth vocals with a vaguely nostalgic quality coupled with subtle edgy lyrics. To me, Actor is Clark’s weakest album by far. However, “Laughing With A Mouth of Blood” is a hidden gem on an album that often falters when Clark relies on her voice as a crutch and by doing so, loses her signature guitar skills. This song overcomes that by blending Clark’s soft vocals with haunting lyrics that are 10/10 pure St. Vincent wistful morbidity. Strange Mercy is a perfect transitional album to highlight the shifting sound of St. Vincent. Clark’s first two albums lull the listener into a sense of complacency of what to expect, the signature Annie Clark soft vocals with a firm guitar backbone. “Cheerleader” shatters the listener’s expectations, introducing dramatic pauses and jarring chords that emphasize Clark’s growing strength as a musician. St. Vincent is without a doubt the strongest album Annie Clark has created, as any listener can clearly tell that Clark has come into her own, radiating an aura of newfound confidence on every song. “Rattlesnake” perfectly encompasses the new Clark and is the best intro song the album could have chosen. Annie Clark doesn’t politely let you know her sound has changed and your expectations should shift accordingly, she does the musical equivalent of throwing that fact in your face.
Why Yung Lean is Not a Joke and Why By Gerrit Postema You Should Appreciate the S A D B O Y S
This is not an article that will tell you who Yung Lean is or what S A D B O Y S are. Many people like you, dear reader, are/have been confused about what that goofy white boy from Sweden is doing wearing bucket hats and rapping about promethazine, Arizona Iced tea, and Louis Vuitton duffel bags filled with heroin. This article will not give you a background about Jonatan Leandoer Håstad because I’m sure you are entirely capable of googling and finding out for yourself what stay sad 2002 means. This article is instead about what Yung Lean isn’t and what his new album offers. First: Yung Lean is not an internet joke meant to fool people into taking anything labeled as “rap” seriously. It never was. In the beginning, Yung Lean and his friend Yung Gud were just making beats and raps as a hobby, making an odd mixture of vapory beats and outsider art mumbling. As outsider art often is, people discovered it and found the unusual sound interesting, especially coupled with the visuals of a 16-year-old Yung Lean cooking like Lil B in his music videos. Second: Yung Lean is not a one-trick pony who keeps rehashing the same formula and relying on his group of rabid fans to buy the living hell out of it. (Yung Lean is not BLΔNK BΔNSHEE, another artist who was initially popular with roughly the same crowd) Listening to Yung Lean’s first album, Unknown Death 2002, then his single “Kyoto,” then his most recent album, Unknown Memory, released less than a month ago, you can clearly hear the evolution of Yung Lean’s sound from the barely audible verses and Yung Gud’s vapor-wave-esque beats channeling almost equal parts Clams Casino and Macintosh Plus to the newage, extended synth-heavy, cloudy instrumentals that have all the same interest, intrigue, and Ableton choral suite starter pack hooks as Gud’s original work but with the added strength of the new Yung Lean. If there’s anyone who’s grown to love and evolve with Yung Lean’s music it’s Jonatan Leandoer himself. Nobody has grown into the sadboy sound more than Yung Lean, going from his mumbling off-beat but adorable 16-year old self who seems constantly surprised and anxious to find out what his voice sounds like on the other side of a microphone to an 18-year old man who’s embraced his life, rapping with more braggadocio, body, and confidence than ever before. His voice and delivery are far from mainstream and can still be considered an acquired taste, but Yung Lean has grown into his part and even if he was once a joke, he’s not anymore. As he says on “Monster” in one of his most mature tracks to date: “Used to be a hobby now it’s all I think about/that’s what rap does.” Third: Yung Lean is not the 3.8 of Unknown Memory on Pitchfork, who finds issue with his voice and lambasts him for “cheap copies of his actual role models.” I’m not trying to criticize Pitchfork here, Pitchfork is what Pitchfork is, but their opinion is often brought up as a criticism of Yung Lean. Yung Lean is vapor-rap in the purest sense that it takes themes from mainstream rap and churns them through the great machine of internet culture and endows them with futuristic and retro aspects while managing to create something unique. Yung Lean mashes discussions of slinging drugs, sipping lean, fuckin hoes, and Transformers references into one emblematic mix that is uniquely his, nothing close to a “cheap copy.” Gangster rap is music that was raised and created in the hood and in the gang culture while Yung Lean is internet rap in the same sense. Yung Lean is part of the “post-internet” generation and he grew up in an age where the internet was integrated into everyday life. He’s rapping about what he knows, creating a surprisingly relatable mix that manages to create a mélange of internet cultures and influences while being easily recognizable to any other member of the “post-internet” generation while being unrecognizable and strange to those who grew up without the internet. As strange as it seems, Yung Lean is not a joke, just a musical example of the experiences of every teenager on the internet, which might be not a typical background of music but is still a legitimate and untapped lifestyle to make music about.
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Mainstream Beats Are Cool Now
(AND i LOVE MYSELF)
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Kendrick Lamar’s newest single, “i.” I’m not asking you to love the Ives Brothers’ guitar or higher-pitched yet still amazing flow, but the song’s journey. Listen two-thirds of the way into the song: that’s an honestto-god B section. And for the single from one of the most anticipated albums of the year, that’s saying a lot. A Kendrick beat change is not something new: songs from good kid M.A.A.D. city use dramatic beat changes as fulcrum points to confront the message of the prior section of the song (“M.A.A.D. City”, “Swimming Pools”). But the pure catharsis from the scrambling drums in “i” is a second section of the same song, not just a second beat in the same song. It’s not as avant-garde as Flying Lotus/Kendrick team-up “Never Catch Me”, but neither is the rest of mainstream hip-hop (for more about Flying Lotus, be sure to check out Ian Mercer’s review of the new album in this issue).
Fast-forward to the present-day, and all the cool kids are doing it. Kanye West (who produced the pretty straight-forward “Lucifer” on The Black Album) shifts styles several times in Yeezus standout “I’m In It”. Other radio artists like Drake (“Days In the East”) and Big Sean (“I Don’t Fuck With You”) are experimenting with mutating sections of songs from the safety of Soundcloud. Childish Gambino seems to be particularly intent in intra-song changes, in both his album tracks from Because the Internet and his more recent songs like “Candler Road” and “Sober” from mixtape/EP STN MTN/Kauai. Hell, even Eminem, the best-selling hip-hop artist of all time (45 million and counting) used a beat change on MMLP2 opener “Bad Guy” to good effect. As much as mainstream hip-hop in previous decades was a golden age for experimentation in what sounds or textures belonged in hip-hop, we may be entering an age of exploring the limits on a single song’s structure and variation.
So, is rap in the mainstream getting more progressive? I’m not talking about misogyny here (that one’s still probably a hard “no”), but progressive similar to progressive rock, where there is more experimentation in musical form. It’s tough to find anything in the hit albums 10 years ago (Get Rich or Die Tryin’, The Black Album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below) that were doing anything interesting with form. I mean “Hey Ya!” has a breakdown, but that’s about it.
It’s still a stretch to say that mainstream rap is wildly experimental. Many of the more experimental elements of artists are simply ignored on the radio. The James Blake section of Drake’s “0 to 100/The Catch Up” probably doesn’t get played at a party, and it probably shouldn’t. But hopefully a track like “i” will get some time on the radio, and stick inside the ears of both listeners and producers as yet another way to keep hip-hop fresh.
form of this article:
A A A B C A B A D K I D W H E N I M O N D A M I C
-Ben Wedin 15
The Best 5 Drummers since 1960 by Henry Southwick Nobody is going to agree with me on this whatsoever, but please permit me to make a case as to why I believe these five drummers deserve extraordinary accolades for their musical achievements. In no particular order:
John Bonham might be the only drummer in history to be better than Beauford. You knew that already didn’t you?
I don’t know how anyone could possibly be a better drummer than Carter Beauford of Dave Matthews Band. Given a mini drum kit at the age of four, Carter practiced in the mirror with a left hand lead on a right handed kit. By the time he started performing professionally at age nine he had accidentally made himself ambidextrous. As such he has a style that is physically impossible to emulate. Dave Matthews has used Beauford’s talents to create really complex time signatures and without him that band would not be the same.
I give a two way tie to Tre Cool of Green Day and Travis Barker of Blink 182. Like Keith Moon, both of these drummers have the high energy gene where they are always doing something more with drums, even on slower pieces. Also, Tre Cool’s drum solo at the Green Day concert still haunts my dreams, it was so complicated and fast.
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I have a really complicated relationship with Rush (Geddy Lee’s voice skeeves me out), but it is impossible to argue with the talent of Neil Peart on the drums. A man of complicated time signatures and intense drum solos (seriously he even put out a DVD on the subject), Peart plays with his drum sticks in reverse, or butt end out for greater impact. There are a lot of ways in which the drum makes the band, and I think Peart is an example of that.
Keith Moon: Man, I wish this dude hadn’t died. In the golden age of rock, Keith Moon brought an energy to his drumming that surpassed all others in this already energetic profession. It was never good enough for Moon to just drop a simple beat for The Who. Why be simplistic when you can wail musically on the snare drum every half a second. Just listen to “Pin Ball Wizard,” for example. Each verse, everyone else in the band is casually going down a simple scale, and in the background Moon goes ham bone, every bar, with something different.
Why Mouth Silence is the Best Fucking Thing I Have Ever Heard I had never cried to Third Eye Blind before. Third Eye Blind is a shitty band that makes shitty music. “Semi Charmed Kind of Life” is a shitty song written by a shitty band, and in general it tends to be liked by shitty people. Despite this, it’s a song that everyone fucking knows. That’s because it was a song on the radio, and we all heard it while our mom was driving us to soccer practice, while we were at the super market, or at a party hosted by someone we hate. That’s why we all know shitty radio pop songs. They were (and still are, even though its not fucking 1994 anymore) everywhere. That’s probably why we hate them too. We are all familiar with the concept of internet mashups. We all have that one video where some jackass plays two songs over each other and it’s like “okay we get it you have a copy of Ableton, shut the fuck up.” Furthermore, even though we can clearly hear that the two songs aren’t in time, everyone else still fucking likes the post, and now we have to as well; otherwise we’ll be the asshole. So what if I told you that without a doubt, my favorite album of 2014 so far is a free mashup album on the internet, featuring Third Eye Blind, Nine Inch Nails, Katy Perry, and whoever wrote “Love Shack”? Well, that’s what the mastermind behind Harry Potter Puppet Pals, BrodyQuest, and Lemon Demon has created. Neil Cicierga has blessed us with Mouth Silence, a mashup album constructed almost entirely of songs found on Rock Band. With an unmatched technical mastery, he performs sonic surgeries, stitching together pop hits into auditory Frankensteins which amble blindly in direct opposition to good taste. But the joke isn’t even that all the songs sound terrible, the joke is that they sound brilliant. Each track on this album fits perfectly into place, not only musically, but thematically. You can analyze this album. It is a Sistine Chapel of sound, and the joke is that he made it out of overplayed pop songs and dadrock. This album makes me weep, laugh, and vomit profusely. It takes me on a musical journey that no other piece of media has taken me on. This album is an existential experience unmatched by any other album that has come out this year. Neil Cicierga has taken songs that I hate or never cared for or both and metamorphosed them into something I never thought they could become. If you like any of the bands I have mentioned in this article, please listen to this album. As I said before, I had never cried to Third Eye Blind. But when I listen to this album, I cry every fucking time. Mouth Silence is available for download at www.neilcic.org/mouthsilence. It’s free.
By Cisco Hayward
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a n e m o n Me as a r o h p a t Me for e v o L
In October of 2010, Menomena, my first girlfriend, and I were all in Atlanta together. Back then, they were a three-piece, and we were building love in spite of our contradictions. Three years and a few days later, Menomena, my second girlfriend, and I were all in Minnesota. By the time we met up, they had lost one, and we had lost one another. Menomena formed early in the third millennium in Portland, part of the Northwest’s amorphous indie scene. They stand out for their mathy arrangements and eclectic musical structures. Since the first note of the sonically huge debut, I Am the Fun Blame Monster, Menomena have reveled in explorative modes of composition and instrumentation. On top of the complex love affair of guitar and bass, there are the nontraditional vocal hooks, hip-hop pitter-patter percussion of massive dynamic scope, twinkly keyboard lines, and the sporadic ejaculation of baritone sax. My first girlfriend and I met the previous summer on a school trip to Ireland. In a few very long, pastoral days, our relationship rapidly gained dimension — entirely scriptless but with more role-playing than I was used to … and more sparks than I’d ever known. In those first misty months, she gave me the strong urge to express all of my good traits for her behalf and probably my own as well. One such trait was my infallible music taste, and I soon learned we shared eerily compatible sensibilities. Much like my girlfriend, Menomena entered my periphery from an unexpected place — randomized Internet radio. I quickly shared the discovery with my new companion. And so it was decided Menomena would be our first concert together. It was the first time I’d been with a lady, in most senses of the word, and confusion and enticement burst from every orifice in equal parts. A few months prior to the show, Menomena released their fourth studio album, Mines, from the plural possessive word, “mine” and probably also the popular explosive. For Mines, Brent, Danny, and Justin recorded hundreds of instrumental loops and vocal clips and meticulously pieced them together like a jigsaw puzzle. The whole process was a mess. As drummer Danny described, “Just when a song became familiar to one of us, the other two members broke it apart again, breaking each others’ hearts along the way. We rerecorded, rebuilt, and ultimately resented each other. And believe it or not, we’re all proud of the results.” My first girlfriend and I did things in a similar fashion. It was a testament to power of the individual’s contribution — contributions from which we created a beautiful and coherent work from disparate and faraway parts. Through the craggy
Words by A. Noah Harrison
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dissonance, melodies creep into your ears so gently, you want them to lay eggs in your brain. The relationship at times seemed a dysfunctional collaboration, but so often, it all just fit together in idiosyncratic perfection. Our relationship helped me realize that another person simply being themselves in my general vicinity can bring out a lot in me, and vice versa. Just after dusk, before the concert, we lay on a small hill. She’d wanted to make out, but I felt nervous about being in public — an inhibition that today I’ve all but forgotten. After some kissing lite, we walked a block to the Variety Playhouse, one of Atlanta’s most respectable musical establishments. Inside, we each bought a t-shirt from — we realized embarrassingly late in the conversation — the band members themselves. When my girlfriend told keyboardist/everything-else-ist Brent her name, he responded, “I love that name. That’s what I’d name my daughter if I ever had a kid, which I won’t.” On my shirt, he even drew an elephant (Exhibit A), contributing to my present naiveté about how my musicals heroes might actually give a shit about a fan like me. The concert rocked us thoroughly, though I must have been a bit distracted … young love and all. I do remember that their musical chemistry, despite any personal chemistry, knocked off socks. Menomena was captivating with their undulating progressions and addictive grooves.Somehow, our Song became the album’s “Dirty Cartoons,” a rare example of Menomena peeking through the curtain. It was, incidentally, the first song I’d heard by the band. A melancholic ballad of longing and of comfort in routine, “Dirty Cartoons” starkly contrasts the band’s typical brand of cheeky, nihilist abstractions. My girlfriend always loved the line, “My mind’s a graveyard of unpublished poems.” “Go home,” the song ends, “I’d like to / Go home,” again and again. One of their most clichéd and least experimental moments, but delivered with such candor, you can’t help but believe every word of it. I’ve always found it beautiful. Halfway through the Mines tour, Brent left the band to pursue other musical endeavors, but I don’t think we noticed. About their loss, multi-instrumentalist Justin said, “We lost a major creative force in Brent, but thankfully, Brent’s not Kurt Cobain, and we’re not Nirvana. Brent’s more like Peter Gabriel, and we’re more like Genesis. And everyone knows how much better Genesis got after that talentless hack Gabriel quit. Waitaminute…” As a Gabriel-era-obsessed Genesis fanatic, I understood the joke all too well. After the show, I waited around a good while
for the band to emerge so I could say hello. I was in unusually high spirits, given multiple recent disappointments. I think inside, I sought some kind of closure. I had a feeling Menomena and I would not likely cross paths again, and I wanted to get a few words in. I ended up chatting with Danny for a couple minutes, delivering my standard incoherent babble about what the band meant to me. He appreciated it. I had him sign my shirt, and he opted to scrawl his name over Brent’s elephant while making a joke at Brent’s expense. The way he told it, I could tell they were still friends. I had Justin sign the shirt, as well as both touring members for good measure, but I can’t remember any words we exchanged. I left the concert alone; my ex had left partway through the show after a single goodbye kiss. This time, I was one to ask. And she was the one to begrudgingly oblige. My second girlfriend and I never had an official Song, but if we did, it might have been “Plumage,” a simple song within the Menomena canon. Correspondingly, things happened more easily with us than with my first. Every new encounter didn’t contain a riddle, and that was nice. The beauty of our collaboration came from compromise instead of contradiction. A few lines that stand out to me go: “Instead I’m just like everybody else who’s tried / I’ve got to say so long to my ideals / They served me once and served me well / Now they only serve to spin my wheels / I guess I ought to face my fears.” These lines always bothered me. They reminded me that I hadn’t tried, like everyone else had apparently done — that I wasn’t able let go of my obsolete values about love, that I wasn’t able to move on and do something new, at least for a time. Even Menomena was still trying, even if they were no longer navigating the existentialist landscapes of their early days. 19
Maybe Menomena never had much to do with my reason we never reached out full potential. love life, but I can’t resist drawing parallels between Days before we were supposed to see Menomtwo sources of such great emotion. When I listen to ena in Minneapolis, she dumped me. But for reasons Menomena these days, the sounds swell in my head I cannot begin to explain, insisted she come along so massively, there’s little room for reminders of love anyways. At one point on the ride, I questioned her lost. But with the right song and the right state of motivations for attending, almost causing her to jump mind, a bit of nostalgia is inevitable. ship when the bus stopped at the Mall of America. AlA few times ’round the sun, and I found myself most. So for the second time in a row, my Menomena a Carleton sophomore, still discovering subtle and experience was distracted by inescapable feelings of not-so-subtle features of Mines that I’d somehow passion, albeit very different ones than before. missed before. My second girlfriend liked Menomena With my ex-girlfriend in constant periphery, well enough. I never managed to show her my favorite I tried my hardest to lose myself in the music, but Menomena moments, but she did often have “Plum- even this became difficult. Simply put, Justin is not as age,” the opening track of Mines’ follow-up, stuck in likable a voice for Menomena as Brent was in 2010. her head. While Brent charmed us with his unassuming humor, Menomena released Moms in late 2012 as a Justin came off as a bit brash, affirming the feeling tribute to, well, their moms. Danny’s mother died long lurking inside that something had expired. Brashness ago, and Justin had been raised primarily by a single aside, what disappointed me most was not their stage mom. This time, the philosophy was more accessible, presence but their performance. Justin strained to as were the songs. And understandably so. While hit the right notes, and Danny, though an immensely Menomena by no means abandons its churning com- talented beatmaker, could not keep Justin and the plexity, emotional depth often trumps composition two touring members in time. To my dismay, the setlist intrigue. The hooks remain, but they no longer fractal mainly consisted of Moms songs, a possibility that inward quite the way they used to. And having nev- somehow never crossed my mind. So of course they er been especially concerned with the band’s poetic scratched all tracks prominently featuring Brent on expressions, the lyrics at times seem heavy-handed vocals and played not a song from the bold and mystito me. Danny described Moms’ recording sessions as fying I am the Fun Blame Monster. What I saw in 2013 Menomena’s “most peaceful and collaborative.” Like- was a band trying to move on, to establish an identity wise, my new girlfriend and I never struggled much to outside of Brent’s contributions. But it wasn’t abunfit the pieces together. But maybe that’s part of the dantly clear they even wanted to be there.
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Music in the Movies An Overview by Gisell Calderon
Directors have been turning to contemporary musicians for their musical needs, commissioning bands to step out of studios and to fill cinemas with their tunes. Here are my favorite band/director collaborations.
Blue Valentine
(Dir. Derek Cianfrance) - Grizzly Bear
Director Derek Cianfrance always planned on having Grizzly Bear score Blue Valentine, a brutal examination of love and marriage. However, due to a number of production halts and Grizzly Bear’s preparation for their upcoming album, Veckatimest, plans for an original score ultimately fell through. Luckily for the filmmaker, Grizzly Bear’s already cinematic instrumentals were more than enough to boost the emotional power of the film. Drawing from their preexisting work to reinterpret the story of all-Americans Cindy and Dean, Cianfrance creates a world pushed along by the band’s seemingly aimless yet formulaic chamber-pop. Although this falls flat at times, where the image becomes jarred by the music, gritty guitars and dreamy synths discordantly work together to parallel the couple’s attempts to maintain a failing marriage.
Her
Where The Wild Things Are
When discussing their role in scoring Spike Jonze’s hipster flick, Her, Arcade Fire instrumentalist William Butler (otherwise known as Win’s brother) said, “We’re just rock musicians; we don’t really know how to do it.” While this is, like, so rock-and-roll, his statement proved to be sorely contradicted, as the score was an overnight hit. In a partnership seemingly comprised of Canada’s greatest hits, the Montreal-based band teamed up with Ontario-native Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy, bringing together an Oscar-worthy arrangement of guitars, violins, and wailing synths. In addition, Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs co-wrote the skin-bare “Moon Song” along with then-boyfriend Jonze, snagging an Oscar nomination. Working from the director’s intention in avoiding the typical electronica found in most films set in the future (THANK YOU), the musicians create a more human sound to accompany the awkward protagonist’s romantic journey with an operating system who slowly becomes aware of how horny she is.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ frontwoman Karen O probably wasn’t completely out of her realm when writing music for this classic children’s tale. Known for her antics on stage, imaginative fashion, and playful vocals, the frontwoman embraced her inner child to produce an unforgettable, award-winning soundtrack. The Kids’ part of the ensemble includes Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmates Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs, Oscar Michel of Gris Gris, the Bird and the Bees’ Greg Kurstin, and a rowdy children’s choir. The ragtag bunch of musicians, led by O, create a charming world of music, filled with shouting, laughter, and clapping. Interwoven with the playful tunes are more vulnerable tracks, like “Hideaway” and “Worried Shoes,” oftentimes adding more complexity to the film than, well, the film does.
(Dir. Spike Jonze) - Arcade Fire, Owen Pallet, Karen O
(Dir. Spike Jonze) - Karen O & the Kids
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
(Dir. Edgar Wright) - Nigel Godrich, Beck, and many more This is my favorite because I wish that the fictional garage band Sex Bob-omb actually existed. Distorted acoustic guitars coupled with Stephen Stills singing, “I’ll take you for a ride … on my garbage truck” = instant swoon. We have Beck to thank for that because he’s the musical engine behind the Nintendo-inspired rock group. Other musical giants in this marauders list are Broken Social Scene, Metric, Kid Koala (providing sound for the Katayanagi twins), Black Lips, and Dan the Automator. But perhaps the biggest contender here is Nigel Godrich, the unofficial 6th member of Radiohead. Acting as the film’s sountrack producer, Godrich maintains and produces a score that encapsulates Scott’s attempts to balance his hipster, grunge, and nonnerdom all at once.
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Like Deafheaven, but Actually Good A Brief Introduction to Post-Black Metal ~ Written and Compiled by Lucas Rossi ~ Deafheaven has been making waves over the past year or so. For those unacquainted with the artist, Deafheaven is band/project that engages in what has come to be called “post-black metal,” (or “blackgaze” to some), a new take on the extremely harsh genre of black metal, developed in the early 90s in Scandinavia as a rejection of both cultural and sonic norms, now adorned with many new outside influences lending a sort of prettiness to its grim nature. Though reception was positive for Deafheaven’s debut in 2011, they really blew up with last year’s Sunbather, which gained a massive amount of attention on many prominent sites and publications. Pitchfork’s review of Sunbather described it as “one of the most successful examples of a band using black metal as a starting point and ending up somewhere else entirely,” asserting that “black metal won’t be the same now that it’s been released.” They suggested readers “try focusing on how much better Sunbather is than any other black metal album released this year [2013]” and finished by labeling it a “modern classic.” Earlier this year, Stereogum published a retrospective look at the band and examined “Metal in a Post-Deafheaven World,” as if to say that Deafheaven had made such strides in their music that they had changed things forever. Now everything would have to be viewed through a lens tinted with their impact. All of this sounds amazing. We don’t often see such monumental, game-changing works emerge so clearly. So what could anyone take issue with?
Well, it’s all been done before. Post-rock and shoegaze inspired black metal has been around for almost a decade now. In the early-to-mid 2000s, certain artists started to realize that the rough, droning heaviness of black metal’s poorly produced guitars sounded a lot like the immaculately produced guitar tones of certain alt and indie rock styles, above all, shoegaze. They realized the patterns of building ambience and atmosphere functioned very well with the structures and aesthetics of post-rock. These bands and projects then did all the work of fleshing out these commonalities, constantly experimenting, paving new ground, and laying all the fundamental groundwork for bands like Deafheaven to emerge and find sudden success. They jumped on the train at just the right time.
So not only has it been done before, it’s been done better.
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These projects didn’t just do the work, they made it work. They succeeded with all kinds of song lengths. They brought in countless other influences. They didn’t always need pristine production. They composed at the highest level and performed with touching intimacy and raw power unmatched, in my opinion, by the more mainstream darlings of the scene. Deafheaven did bring a few new things to the formula, primarily a screamo and hardcore punk influence, and I honestly can’t even call Deafheaven a “bad” band (I have definitely enjoyed their music in the past); the title of this article is mostly sensationalism. But there is so much that preceded them, and so much amazing work done by artists in this style that deserves to be elevated to a similar level of recognition. In the interest of attaining that elevation, I would like to show you some of the cream of the post-black crop in the form of a highly inflated list that constitutes a modest introduction to the world of post-black metal.
The Essentials! Ameseours – Au Crépuscule de Nos Rêves: Amesoeurs is probably the closest thing we’ll ever get to a post-black metal supergroup. A collaboration between Neige and several other acquainted musicians who are also very important to the scene, Amesoueurs was always a project with a huge amount of potential. Unlike Alcest, Amesoeurs was a band that actively embraced and embodied the idea of post-black metal. Much darker than Alcest, Amesoeurs was an outlet not for personal dreaming and melancholy, but for grittier themes like urban melancholia and modern alienation, and it took up a heavy post-punk influence in addition to some industrial and electronic sounds to complement those ideas. Unfortunately, the band broke up after releasing only one EP (which was an excellent start) and a debut full length, and never truly realized the full potential of the concept. The self-titled LP was a bit all-over-the-place, eclectic but not always effectively so. The “dark pop” songs functioned well but some of the black metal moments often fell flat. The cathartic closer, “Au Crépuscule de Nos Rêves,” however, is not one of those moments. Making powerful use of post-black metal’s oft-used heavy-soft-heavy progression and containing some staggeringly beautiful and crushing melodies, it is the perfect expression of Neige’s compositional and instrumental talents when directed towards a darker yet somehow still affirming end. Alcest – Élévation (2011 Version): It is impossible to even begin to discuss post-black metal (or, even, the more general trend of softer or more “positive” black metal) without bringing up Alcest, largely the one-man project of French musician Neige. Neige, to put it bluntly, effectively created post-black metal with Alcest’s debut EP Le Secret. As far back as that release in 2005, Neige laid out the blueprint for taking the harsh riffs, blast beats, and shrieks of black metal and transfiguring them into something uplifting. What is especially remarkable is that Neige had never really encountered post-rock or shoegaze while before composing, and arrived at certain analogous sounds simply by using black metal conventions to express positive, personal emotions of dreamy nostalgia and spiritual yearning. The EP is comprised of two 10+ minute songs, the first of which is a long-form shoegazey, post-metal piece embracing warm, crunchy, atmospheric riffs propelled by pulsating rhythms with Neige’s airy croons hovering just under the surface. While it appropriated the basic formal techniques of black metal, it was far too soft to even be called black metal. The standout piece is the following track, “Élévation,” perhaps the first true post-black metal song. A pummeling blast beat communicates not aggression but a feeling of constant ascending motion; tremolo-picked riffs jump out in major key and reject the grim and desolate; Neige’s excellent, distinct shrieks clearly communicate euphoria rather than despair. It’s a monumental package. Though the original version of this EP perhaps best represents its importance, it was re-recorded in 2011, and the improved production and added flourishes really flesh out the track’s rapturous mood. If you decide to venture no further into post-black metal, I would implore to at the very least give this track a listen. Lantlos – Neige de Mars: Lantlos is the final project I’ll mention in which Neige has been involved. Post-black metal owes a lot to what I would call a sort of Neige-cluster of bands that the musician influenced in some way , either through active participation or via association. Neige performed vocals on two of Lantlos’ albums, while mastermind Herbst handled all of the other performance and composition. Lantlos also leans to the darker side of the spectrum, and earlier releases dealt with a very personal sense of loss and despair, accentuated by a very full-bodied sound and at times a highly noticeable jazz influence. Neon is the project’s most “typical” foray into postblack metal, and afterwards Herbst went on to push post-black to its furthest extents and beyond on his next two releases (2010’s Agape and 2014’s Melting Sun). Yet this remains the work I would most want to show to someone getting into postblack metal, and exemplifies some of the genre’s best qualities. “Neige de Mars” stands toe-to-toe with stuff like “Élévation,” condensing that longer form into a concise explosion of emotion. Harsh, shoegaze-influenced walls of guitar blend and build into a beautiful, rising soundscape, with Neige’s wails embodying the heartbreaking intersections between pain and joy. It’s a draining experience, but also a worthwhile one.
Agalloch – Falling Snow
The first band to seriously and consciously employ post-rock sounds and structures within black metal was the American band Agalloch, who started off as a heavily folk and neofolk inspired black metal band on their debut, then switched things up to a largely black metal-influenced post-rock on their sophomore release. By their third full-length, Ashes Against the Grain, Agalloch had taken the black metal sounds on one side and the post-rock sounds on the other and organically united them into one crushing post-metal beast, perhaps to the point of journeying outside of black metal all together. John Haughm’s vocals, which alternate between soothing cleans and raspy whispers, are excellent even if you’re normally averse to standard screams. There is no track more quintessential on this record than “Falling Snow.” The song revolves around a few crystalline lead melodies, hauntingly poignant yet remarkably catchy. This is, in my opinion, the fullest realization of Agalloch’s potential and some of the best music to ever come out of black metal. “Falling Snow” represents a very unique post-influenced outgrowth of black metal, and some of the most intelligent and moving metal music ever produced.
Drudkh – Sunwheel
Drudkh is another band generally associated with folk black metal, and they released perhaps their best album, Autumn Aurora, in 2004. As far as I have been able to discern after years of exploring black metal, the fantastic track “Sunwheel” from that record is the first example of a black metal song that could be called “positive,” embracing raw, layered major-chord riffs that blend remarkably well with frontman Roman Saenko’s low-pitched roars. The melodies and rhythms find inspiration in pagan celebration, and the entire track rings with the feeling of a primal, joyous festival conveyed through modern instrumentation. The song reaches a triumphant, affirmative climax as a sweep-filled pseudo-guitar solo bursts out into the shimmering noise before progressing into the slightly more sinister second half more akin to your average Drudkh song. Still, it remains an essential stepping stone in the development of the borderline-paradox of “happy” black metal, and in the end it is just a beautifully atmospheric and heavily rockin’ tune.
Dopamine – III (Melting)
All three of the aforementioned bands were perhaps the most visible and popular post-black metal artists prior to Deafheaven, and as a result inspired a massive host of other artists who attempted their hand at this new-found style. While most of these imitators fell to the predictable reality that none had anything interesting or new to add, China’s Dopamine were the act that rose above the already select few. To this day hardly anyone knows anything about them, and they disbanded after releasing one full-length in 2011, Dying Away in the Deep Fall. From the moment I heard the track “Melting” (usually listed simply as “III” on most album versions), I knew this band was onto something amazing. Putting aside the shoegaze dimension for the most part, Dopamine created some of the most cohesive and intense black metal-post-rock fusion ever. They knew just when to leap from their textured and soft clean guitar melodies into blistering black metal passages, drums exploding in controlled cacophony while the gut-wrenching screams of an anonymous vocalist seared over the instrumentals. Yet these dark passages would always find their way back to a beautiful melody. Call me overly sentimental, but there’s something sad about knowing that some new black metal-inspired bands who were at the right place at the right time are playing packed, mainstream venues, while at the same time it took me several internet searches to find even mediocre-resolution cover art for this band’s sole, superb, and almost unheard-of release. But black metal always has and always will thrive most in the underground, where those willing to seek out fleeting jewels like Dopamine can hold onto these sounds forever.
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Honorable Mentions
Head-to-Head
Round 4
Radiohead:The King of Limbs David Pickart
Ian Mercer
When Radiohead released The King of Limbs a day early in February of 2011, fans and critics alike were delighted with the album’s surprise debut. 37 minutes later, after experiencing the album in its entirety, everyone put down their headphones and collectively shrugged. At the time, the album suffered from inevitable comparisons to the outstanding In Rainbows; 3 years later, it still stands out as one of Radiohead’s weakest releases. Radiohead became alt-rock deities through unconventional songwriting and experimentation, but a large portion of The King of Limbs sounds decidedly formulaic. The unusually small number of musical ideas at play leads me to imagine what Thom Yorke’s notebook entry for a Pretty Cool Song looks like: Overly syncopated rhythm? Check. Digitally manipulated guitar and bass samples? Check. Reverb-laden vocals that move at a lethargic pace? Check. Don’t get me wrong, the combination of these elements is indeed pretty cool, but with such a short running time, the lack of sonic variety on the album is downright disappointing. Aside from its uncharacteristic uniformity, the album fails to deliver the sort of novel, memorable moments that fans expect from a Radiohead album. Moments like intro to “Planet Telex” or the final seconds of “Nude,” moments that make you say, “Huh, this album is badass.” There are no such highlights to be found on TKOL, and even now I have trouble remembering what some tracks sound like. While I’ve been critical of Radiohead’s work in the past, even their worst albums made more of a lasting impression on me than this effort did.
TKOL came out more than 3 years ago and I’m still trying to make up my mind on how I feel about it. I’ll start with the bad news: the album sounds like a Thom Yorke solo project. If you’ve ever heard The Eraser or Amok, you know what I’m talking about. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but one must remember that Radiohead’s best trait is that it has always been about the cohesive collaboration between its five members. Yorke is certainly great, but TKOL lacks the virtuosity of Greenwood’s guitar and the creativity of O’Brien’s pedal effects. Selway’s usual rhythmic brilliance is the closest we get to parsing their full potential, but he’s filtered through such an excess of computer effects that he is rendered ineffective. On the bright side, I like the album’s range of texture and density. The 8 tracks alternate between skittering clatter and sparse serenity, making the 37 minutes pass faster than they otherwise would. If you want to hear what I’m talking about without committing to the full thing, check out the first and last tracks: they illustrate the extremes of the album nicely. On a compactness spectrum, the former represents the depth of TKOL’s clatter, while the latter sails along in a serene, quiet way. (Side note: the highlight of the album is at 1:12 in “Codex.” Thom’s falling voice mingles with the rising synth part, creating one of the best moments in Radiohead’s entire discography.)
My Verdict: The music isn’t bad by any means, and the album only takes about a half an hour to get through. As an EP, The King of Limbs would’ve been great, but it falls far short of the high standard set by Radiohead’s other studio work.
My Verdict: If it were a Thom Yorke solo album, it would be the best thing he ever made. The problem is that it doesn’t utilize the full arsenal of instrumental, studio, and songwriting mastery that Radiohead has honed over the years. As is, TKOL fell short of our ridiculously high expectations, meaning that it is just an excellent album. 27
Party Mountain & Dan Bollinger: A Conversation
In my ongoing mission to expose the life behind the scenes of Carleton’s native music groups, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Emir Murathanoglu of Party Mountain, a quartet that began last spring. I hope this exposé sheds some light on the highs and lows inherent in the rock star lifestyle at Carleton. So Emir, how long has Party Mountain been a thing? It’s been a thing for about three months now — school wise — not counting this summer. We really hit our peak like week six last spring and now we’re trying to just regroup from what we were before. We were really a crowd pleaser at FarmStock. How many gigs have you had so far? One, FarmStock. Oh well how many practices have you had? No more than six or seven tops: once this term, five times last spring. Do you have any plans to play this term? Eeeehh, we had plans but then half of our band decided to leave (laughs). So now we’re looking for some young talent. So in total how many people are in the band currently? Currently, four are like the core group, or creative masterminds of the group. But we probably need someone to play keyboards or guitar or something so we probably need one or two more people in that band. So how many instruments do you have now? We have a bassist, a drummer, Evan on trumpet and ... who plays saxophone? Justin! Justin! Justin the sax and Evan on the trombone, f**k it, the trumpet. Do you have a logo or anything? What’s your marketing scheme like? Our marketing scheme is like in our first FarmStock concert and I think Stu yelled “Party Mountain!” and did this hand move thing where you imitate a mountain with your hands. 28
That looks like an “O.” It’s a mountain. If you like put your elbows out. It’s a mountain of party. So that’s how the name arose. From Stu Loury… Um no. We were like “hey guys we’re Party Mountain,” and Stu was like “PARTY MOUNTAIN” (raises hands in the O shape again) and it was great. Oh, so how did you come up with Party Mountain? We were in the practice room trying to come up with ideas and I think it was Evan said, “Party Mountain.” And Jackson in all his Jackson-ness really liked that idea and we all realized that it was a cool name: we couldn’t come up with anything better so we just decided that we would be Party Mountain. So if you had to describe your type of music in one sentence, what would that be? It’s ... mind-expanding … instrumentals. It’s all about mind-expanding instrumentals. Straining on, pushing your limits of what you think is music and what you think of not music. It’s basically pretty standard funk songs (laughs). It’s more on the funky side, but this term we’re trying to be less classic … I don’t know ... we’re trying to play less normal stuff than we did last spring. We were trying to be a crowd-pleaser last spring. Now we’re trying to hit our musical peak by doing something different. We want to surprise Carleton, you know? We’re going to surprise Carleton with some Mountain Party, Party Mountain. So are you accepting auditions to join Party Mountain? Of course! If people are interested we are a very established band looking for new people. Are you in any need of a below average guitar player with an above average sense of humor? Are you trying to be in the band, Dan? Emir, thank you for being here. Dan, this was a great interview, thank you for making me heard. Party Mountain (raises hand in the O-shape for the final time).
A NO FIDELITY Exclusive
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OCTOBER SHOWS ...fo sho’ 7th Street:
Blockhead with Elaquent and Lost Midas - 10/9 FRANKIE Some Pulp Stereo Confession TEARDROP The Bombshells France Camp
King Tuff with Casie Raome - 10/18
- 10/12
Busdriver with clipping., Milo and Kenny Segal - 10/27
Turf Club:
We Are Scientists and Surfer Blood with Eternal
Summers
-10/9
White Buffalo – 10/24 The Hood Internet – 10/31 with Hologram Kizzie, My Gold Mask, and Fluffy
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Fine Line:
Foxygen with Dub Thompson - 10/18 Dum Dum Girls with Ex Cops – 10/24
First Avenue:
Grieves with Soulcrate, Unknown Prophets, and Sol - 10/10 The Afghan Whigs with Joseph Arthur - 10/11 Bombay Bicycle Club - 10/13 The Gaslight Anthem -10/15 with Against Me! and Cory Branan
The Rural Alberta Advantage with July Talk - 10/17 The Airborne Toxic Event with The Valley Below - 10/19
Flying Lotus - 10/25
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Top 5 Indie Baes Ayana Lance
1. Mac Demarco
If you read the title and didn’t expect to see Mac Demarco’s name then frankly you must be living under a rock. Coming out of Montreal, his tunes (Specifically his latest album Salad Days) are filled with deep croons and romantic ballads. Though he has a girlfriend, late at night with eyes closed it’s easy to pretend that he’s talking about you. Despite having sound dripping with sentimentality, Demarco’s persona is far from sweet and sensitive, leaning more towards Tyler the Creator than Conor Oberst. Known for his zany persona and his crazy stage antic (remember that one time he stuck those drum sticks up his ass) he’s not what anyone expected. Have you seen his collaboration with Tyler the Creator about wanting to fuck grandmothers? Maybe you shouldn’t. Type of Bae: Best Friend’s Older Brother In a committed relationship and acts like a complete fool but still somehow all you want to do is have a chance to hang out with him. You completely understand how your best friend is tired of his crazy antics. But time after time they never fail to amuse you. You sometimes just come over when you know your friend’s not there, to listen to his demos and have him rattle about his ideas on his new LP.
2. King Krule
Once upon a time Archy Marshall was constantly being compared to any ginger imaginable most notably La Roux and Rick Atsley (think Rick Rolled Never Gonna Give You Up). But following a change in recording names (from Zoo Kid to King Krule) and the release of his first full-length album 6 Feet Beneath the Moon he has come into his own as an indie darling. Hey’s praised by music critics and his peers alike (think Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt), almost all established and successful magazines with a music section have done a piece on him (New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Fader to name a few), and he’s the indie rocker wonder boy of 2013. First Date With Bae: First of all the word “date” was never uttered. You simply received a text that day with the word “Chill?” You meet him at a record store that you never knew existed. When you arrive, he’s surrounded by records and he’s digging for more in the bins. Not wanted to be bogged down by all the records he simply leaves them with the cashier without saying a word, as if there was an unspoken agreement. 34
After leaving the record store you guys head to some cheap fast food place order as many burgers and fries as it is possible to carry in two bags. He then takes you to his favorite spot. You have to climb two fences, hop over one water runoff and walk half a mile in what is more garbage than weeds. Despite spilling your drink a few times, the food manages to remain safe if not in pristine condition. He ensures you the effort is worth it. He tells you he used to go to this other place that was is easier to get to but now its just filled with “poseurs.” When you two finally reached your destination, it’s sunset. You two take a seat on a piece of discarded plaster board just big enough for two. You pass a joint, just watching the sun go down.
3.Cullen Omori
Cullen Omori is the lead singer of Smith Westerns. Every Smith Westerns song makes me crave taffeta and slow dances. Their music just oozes 60s prom. Hailing from my hometown of Chicago, I can personally attest that at one time (but probably still true today), the majority of Smith Western’s fan base was just girls who thought he was “so cute.” Winner of the: Most Down To Earth Bae It’s easy to be intimated by indie rock stars, especially those who fall into the “bae” category. I mean, I need to build up courage to ask a simple question to a sales associate. (“So ... where are the Cheetos?”) But one look at Cullen’s twitter and you’ll be put at ease. Filled with pop culture references, inside jokes, and queries to hang out, it doesn’t have the intimidating wit of other indie rockers (i.e. Ezra Koning). Instead it just looks like the twitter of any other 20-something boy who is bored at home.
4. Christopher Owens
Formerly part of the group Girls, he is now a solo artist releasing a new album in the upcoming 2014 called A New Testament. He has signed modeling deals with Saint Laurent Paris as well as H&M. He’s currently the dad of the “baes,” rounding out at a mature 35. Typical Day With the Bae: You meet at the Farmer’s Market. He has a small acoustic guitar attached to his back. He doesn’t like to be without it. While browsing the cheese section he makes up a funny song and asks you “Would his Cinderella want mozzarella?” Waiting for the bus, Christopher takes out his guitar and starts playing. It’s a song you’ve never heard of. A crowd gathers. You clap along to the beat.
5. Zachary Robinson
When typing in “Swim Deep,” Google suggests “Swim Deep Zachary Robinson.” Rarely do drummers hold the position of #1 heartthrob in a band. The title usually goes to the outgoing singer or the cocky lead guitarist. But Zachary with model good looks (Model for Saint Laurent) snagged the title from fellow band mates. Bae’s Superpower: His smile. It’s adorable. It’s a fact. You can’t fight it. In fact a gif of him smiling has over 30,000 notes on Tumblr.
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The Best-Ever Rick Ross Lines Compiled, with Commentary, by Peter Centner
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“I come alive like a moth in the summertime / Japanese wheel blades: all samurai” song: Maybach Music III I really don’t know what this means…
“I’m thinkin’ money, every moment thinkin’ money / I bust a nut, then I’m back to thinkin’ money” song: MC Hammer Rick Ross prioritizes the important things in life.
“Look at Haiti children dying round the clock nigga / I sent 100 grand but that’s a decent watch, nigga” song: Live Fast, Die Young Rick Ross supports the children, but man that could’ve been a sweet watch!
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“My top back: uncircumcised / I pull it back just to go inside” song: MC Hammer Well that answers that question.
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“Fellatios amazing / make grilled cheese for you: the best.” song: Sanctified Rick Ross: rapper, entrepreneur, and sandwich artisan.
“Shoe box, no shoes in ‘em. In the two seater, me and two women” song: 9 Piece My only question is where is the second woman sitting? Is she in the shoe box?
“They wanna push my top back like JFK / So, so I “JFK:” Join forces with the kings and we ate all day” song: Free Mason Rick Ross eats all day, figuratively, and perhaps also literally.
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“I got a letter from the government the other day / I opened it, read it: It said we were hustlers.” song: Southern Gangsta It was nice of the US Government to let Rick Ross know of his official “hustler” status.
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“So many cars, DMV thought it was mail fraud.” song: Devil in a new dress DMV can’t handle Rick Ross’s automobile entourage.
“She thinking Phillipe, I’m thinking Wingstop / Fiendin’ lemon pepper: I got my thing cocked.” song: MC Hammer Believe it or not, Rick Ross really does own a franchise of chicken wing restaurants called Wingstop. And apparently when he visits them he always carries a loaded gun … so that’s good to know.
harder, better, faster, and stronger, it’s...
The CLASSifieds
you write it, we print it
SAM WATSON INVITES YOU INTO HIS CAR!
Intrepid music listener and all around nice person Sam Watson is going to see Busdriver and clipping on 10/27. He formally invites anyone else who considers themselves to also be a nice person to get in his car! Contact samuelpwatson@gmail.com for deets.
SYNTH CLUB!!!
Do you like electronic music? Do you think Carleton has too many acoustic guitars and not enough MicroKorgs? Well then SYNTH CLUB is the place for you! Add yourself to the email list synthclub@lists.carleton.edu for meeting times!
NEEDED: CLASSIFIEDS
Looking for ads for event/activity/services relevant to music lovers (ie only the people who read this zine). Will be printed in future issues with funny caption and title. Send said ads to haywardc@carleton.edu
RADIO SHOWS!
Are you bored? Do you like music? Probably! Here are some radio shows operated by your talented, trustworthy, and like-minded No Fidelity staff members!
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sn’t g here... o
adverti se for
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Arizona Tear Time (Josie/Potato), Thurs 1:30-3:30 am Chillable Red (Alex/Madeline), Tues 6:30-8:00 am Intersteller Overdrive (Ian “Chief Formatting Editor” Mercer) Thurs 11:00 pm- Midnight All day every day, because KRLX IS ALWAYS GOOD!
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IL H AYWA RDC! IM RE
OD AT THIS !!!!!! GO !!!!! Y L !!! AL
