The best albums & songs of 2014
MZONE
140+ RECORDINGS REVIEWED
AND HEAR THE BEST OF THEM ONLINE GRAMOPHONE.CO.UK
T MOS IN E H T N D MA E T A H IE AUSS OLL K&R ROC
BILL GATES
TT VERE BY E UE TR
THE M ZONE INTERVIEW
EXCLUSIVE
SKRIL EX
PHARREL’S PARTY POP November 3 2014
THE BOY BEHIND THE MONSTER BEATS AND ALIEN VISIONS
FLAPPY BIRD CREATOR SPEAKS
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INDEX
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PHARRELL WILLIAMS
On advanced style moves and that oscar snub: My song will “Be here for 10 years”.
From his beginig to now.
ED SHEERAN
New album “x”. Track by track review.
Which songs on Ed Sheeran’s “x” are the highlights?
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STEVE AOKI
To cake or not to cake. “I know it may not make sense to a lot of people”.
how does he starts?
EMINEM
7 things you never knew about him.
what’s new about him?
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EDITOR’S Greetings and a warm welcome to our very first issue of Mzone!
W
e couldn’t be more excited to have made it to this point. Please take some time to get to know the layout of our magazine. You will notice that there are two to four articles for you to enjoy.
You can look at one article at a time. Just as with a paper magazine, you may want to sit and read the whole thing at once, or come back to this issue several times to digest the articles more slowly. When we set out to create an on-line magazine that would promote healthy and deliberate living, one thing we agreed on right away was to steer-away from the glossy images of the too-perfect, product-driven magazines that we all sometimes read. What you will find in the pages of Sparrow Magazine is a collection of inspired and instructive articles written by real, honest, down-to-earth folks who work hard to live deliberately, but who are not afraid to admit the struggles we sometimes face. We don’t always have hours to exercise every day. Our houses aren’t perfect. We stay informed and eat as healthy as we can, but we are also realistic and flexible. We try to be great examples for our kids, but we sometimes forget to appreciate every moment. We are honored to share the work of so many committed and thoughtful people. Please visit the Our Contributors page to see the wonderful contributors and read their bios. Also, feel free to leave comments on the articles to share your thoughts or ask the author a question on our web side www.mzone.com.v We appreciate your support and are so happy to have you as a reader of Mzone. With warmest thanks, Steven and Andrés, Editors
LETTER Mzone
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Pharrell - here wearing his succes the culmination of “a stady grind of working and making music... it hasn’t stopped being like this. It never will.”
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PHARRELL WILLIAMS
ARTIST
My song will “Be here for 10 years”
Miami, early March: The sun is bright overhead—no winter here—and Pharrell Williams is driving his Rolls-Royce Phantom through South Beach, a pharaoh at the wheel of a spaceship. Today’s buffalo hat is midnight blue. G I R L, his second solo record, is number two in the country, behind Rick Ross’s Mastermind, a situation Pharrell can live with, even be proud of. “I’m cool,” he says. “It’s, like, number one in seventy countries.” Anyway, he says, Rick Ross is a friend. He lives here in Miami too.
“Happy,” the number-one song in the country then and now, and just lost out on an Academy Award to Frozen’s “Let It Go”—more on that in a second. After twenty years of making hits for other people, of being “the guy next to the guy,” he’s finally become the guy himself. The hits come with his name on them now. He is ubiquitous—there he is, gamely parrying Amy Adams’s haunting snake-dance in GIF form, or on the radio, engaged in a breathless Michael Jackson-off with Justin Timberlake. He may well be the most beloved man in the country at the moment. He and I have been talking at various points all winter, in Los Angeles and now here in Miami, where the producer-turned-artist has still more to say: about losing that Oscar, Hillary Clinton’s chances at the presidency, FOX’s Cosmos—”I wanted to be a part of it so bad, but I didn’t know Seth MacFarlane,” he says, ruefully—and beyond. Below are excerpts from those conversations.
I never feel anxious about anything. Why would I? If I felt anxious or put pressure on myself then nothing would be fun.
He makes a right turn, and with no prompt starts discoursing about a gym he’s invested in, over in Coral Gables. It is, or will be, a place for women—a sanctuary where “they can find their inner beauty and find their inner challenging spirit and find their bravery, all by dancing, and then at the same time getting fit.” It is breathtaking to hear Pharrell talk when he’s in visionary mode. He’s describing the dance classes at this gym, setting a scene for I didn’t know what happiness me: “You’re going to stand around, and was. My definition of happiness was you’re going to see loads and loads of based on what my peers quantified women doing, you know, trap dances as happiness: boats—you know, maand squatting low...” His wife Helen, terial stuff. But then I realized I had sitting in the backseat with me, gently a platform; I would meet kids, and points out to Pharrell that he is driving meet girls and women who would on the left side of a two-way street. It Pharrell Williams always point out the inspirational is breathtaking to watch Pharrell drive, stuff. They would always talk about too, in an are we going to live?? kind of way. He swerves back onto the right side of the road, then takes those songs. I’ll never forget: There was this girl that told me an abrupt left in front of an oncoming taxi. People honk ecsta- her brother had died, and he was a huge N.E.R.D. fan, and tically when they see him at the wheel. They’re not even mad. he got in a car crash. When they looked in the car, the song that was playing was “Run to the Sun.” That scarred me—in a Back in January, while wearing a similarly improbable and healing way. Because “Run to the Sun” was huge for me with now-notorious hat, he won four Grammys, including one for my grandmother. You know, you hear the intention in that. Producer of the Year; next he went to the Oscars, to perform Mzone
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ED SHEERAN New album: ‘‘X’’
F
rom the start, Ed Sheeran has demonstrated a skill for shrugging off the conventions of mainstream pop while still managing to enjoy its successes: His breakthrough radio single focused on a crack-addled prostitute. “The A Team,” from Sheeran’s debut album, “+” (pronounced “plus”), cloaked its harrowing subject matter in a sensual melody, a nifty trick that has helped the 23-year-old British singer-songwriter transition from pub-playing troubadour to arena act in roughly three years. The accented yearn of his vocal delivery distinguishes him from other aspiring folkies, but Sheeran’s real gift lies in his writing -- his lyrics’ attention to detail and unorthodox phrasing in particular. As the title implies, “x” (pronounced “multiply”), Sheeran’s highly anticipated follow-up, ups the ante from his debut. He sinks even deeper into feelings of love, jealousy and inebriation while trying to navigate pop superstardom -- a problem this album is sure to only amplify. To that end, “x” looks like a smash. Every song synthesizes the catchiest qualities of “The A Team” and its follow-up hit, “Lego House.” “Bloodstream” flaunts a soulful naiveté over the most delicious guitar lick on the album, while “I’m a Mess” builds into an anthemic ending th at will surely cap off Sheeran’s future live show. As the hooks intensify, Sheeran paradoxically spends much of the album trying to hide -- from the bright lights that make his eyes squint with intoxicated confusion, but also from unnamed women who endlessly frustrate him. There’s a reason Sheeran name-checks two Bon Iver songs on separate tracks; throughout the album, he attempts to spin his heartbreaks into an empathetic cry for shambling twentysomethings.
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ARTIST “Loving can hurt sometimes/But it’s the only thing that I know,” he concludes on “Photograph,” which lets its careful piano keys and acoustic strums simmer until arena-size drums kick in.
swiveling never feels forced, or even unexpected, from Sheeran, who has proven his exacting musicality onstage. There, he uses chopped-up loops, but few ideas get repeated on “x.”
The daring spirit at the heart of Sheeran’s appeal is magnified here, and he outclasses other rising male singers simply by utilizing a deeper bag of tricks. Few artists could pull off as stark a transition as the leap between “Sing,” a swaggering, Justin Timberlake-inspired dance track, and “Don’t,” a blue-eyed-soul hymn built around the line “Don’t fuck with my love.” Elsewhere, Sheeran raps like The Streets’ Mike Skinner on “The Man” and crafts a new-school wedding jam with “Tenerlife Sea.” Such wild
Sheeran seldom lets his songs breathe, packing each second with syllables even when he’s not spitting bars. But that overeagerness will likely be tamped down, as Sheeran continues to polish his impressive craft. “x” finds a hungry artist doing everything possible to elevate to another level, simply by abiding by his instincts. After arriving on the U.S. pop scene with an offbeat folk ballad, Sheeran is expanding his profile on his own terms.
Songs 1. One
7. Tenerlife sea
2. I’m a mess
8. Runaway
3. Sing
9. The man
4. Don’t
10. Thinking out loud
5. Photograph
11. Afire love
6. Bloodstream
12. Take it back
Some reviews Sing
The Pharrell-produced, Justin Timberlake-influenced jam was at one point not considered to be the album’s lead single -- how is that possible? Even those who hated on “The A Team” and “Lego House” have to surrender to this suave pop bullseye.
Don’t
Positioned on “x” right after “Sing,” “Don’t” shows that Sheeran is not afraid to be dangerous, or even explicit, on his sophomore set. There’s some Jason Mraz-y rapping as Sheeran details a relationship that deteriorates due to touring and mistrust, as he seethes, “I never saw him as a threat/Until you disappeared with him to have sex, of course.”
Photograph
“Loving can hurt sometimes/But it’s the only thing that I know,” Sheeran opens on “Photograph,” presenting the lynchpin line of the whole album. Over a few hesitant acoustic strums, Sheeran tiptoes forward with some restrained crooning before the arena drums kick in.
Thinking out loud
The standard track list of “x” ends with a sleek update of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” with Sheeran declaring, “Darling, I will be loving you till we’re 70!” His voice pushes this bold stab at romance past its sappiest moments, and ends the album on a likable note.
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ARTIST
or not to
Cake
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Cake
STEVE AOKI HE’S A REALLY ANXIOUS GUY W
haven’t had a chance to really to speak about all the controversy around my on-stage entertaining: DJing vs. The Cake (which includes the cake, the raft, the champagne, the stage dives… the entertainment part of the show). The haters and the trolls have always used me as an excuse to make fun of something that is out of the ordinary, something that doesn’t necessarily make sense to them. For whatever reason, I have always been a target that people love to attack. From not being American enough as an asian kid growing up in an all-white neighborhood, to not being indie enough for the die-hard hipsters in my 20s and now today, not being a “real DJ” for the electronic music purists. I know it may not make sense to a lot of people. Taken out of context these ideas are honestly bizarre. The thought of bringing a cake into a dance music show is a bizarre one. The idea of rafting on top of people is just as bizarre as well. And I think whenever something bizarre comes into play it immediately becomes an easy target. And for those reasons I know that I have been the target of criticism. No matter what I do, I can’t help but feel that I’m under a microscope. Some of it is completely silly and some of it is meant to be hurtful. For example, a website accumulated all of my music videos
When I perform, I don’t think about the haters, the Internet trolls, or anyone else. I care about giving the person in front of me something they won’t forget. And that’s why I bring the cake and raft out.
to point out perceived Illuminati images. I loved that one. Of course it was all ridiculous but funny. If you stand out in a crowd, famous or not, things like that are bound to happen. Then some of these Internet myths turn into tabloid reality. They become true to the general public. One of the biggest myths that has affected what people thought of me in dance culture, especially those that don’t know me, was from a parody (fictional website) called Wunderground. It was a comedic story on me being a fake DJ…I was an actor, not producing my own music, basically taking a piss on dance culture. When I first read that, I thought it was hilarious. The article even made up false quotes from me to make it seem real. Satire is a protected free speech (which I am a firm believer in) but this site walks a very fine line between satire and misleading the public. Of course there is FINE PRINT somewhere buried in the website stating that everything is fictional but that is difficult to find. Then people repost the story on Facebook and Twitter and people believe it’s true just based on the headline. They don’t stop to actually read it or learn about the site. Even a year later, I had artists from other genres saying, “Oh yeah, I saw that article you wrote.” Even my manager had industry people asking him, “Why did you guys write that? It’s so strange,” as
if it was some sort of marketing ploy. This mythology just turned into a reality for a lot of people, so much so that I eventually had to make a statement. Unfortunately, the truth to a rumor doesn’t spread as virally as the rumor itself. The boring truths (like this article) only get read by the fans and most of them already know that these myths aren’t true anyways. For the record, I’ve never played a mix CD or faked DJing. In fact I started out on turntables and records, then learned Serato, CDJs, Serato video for my visual show and now often will use memory cards plugged into CDJs when I’m playing back to back with friends. Which brings me to another parody video. This recent one popped up of Laidback Luke, Sander van Doorn, and myself DJing at Luke’s WMC party. I’ve done this party every year with Luke and had a great time. We all bring SD cards, freestyling for an hour or so, taking turns from track to track. However the clip that appeared online was a very short snippet, recorded in between mixes. Taken out of context, people think that we’re just playing a mix CD and not DJing at all. Even Art Department, who I’m actually a fan of, jumped on the bandwagon.
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EMINEM
The Road Back From Hell
7 Things You Never Knew About Eminem
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1. As a nine-year-old, Eminem was beaten so badly by a school bully that he spent over a week in a coma. His music has since been credited with helping to bring more than one fan out of similar states, including a twelve-year-old girl who was hit by a car Northumberland.
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2. As a youngster, Marshall harboured ambitions to become a comic book artist rather than a rapper, which explains various animated threads through-out his career, including the Dubya-baiting ‘Mosh’ video and The Slim Shady Show.
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3. The Slim Shady moniker may never have materialised if he’d pursued one of his pre-fame jobs as a cook at a family restaurant in Michigan. Still, you can take the white trash outta the trailer park, but old habits die hard: Em’s a Taco bell man nowadays.
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4. Reckon Marshall’s turbulent marriage/divorce seesaw with on/off wife Kim mirrors the family unit’s decline? That’s nothing: his grandmother Betty Hixson comfortably eclipses those antics with five walks up the aisle. Nearly halfway there, Em’…
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6. Another blond-bonced establishment upsetter, strip club magnate Peter Stringfellow, shares Eminem’s birthday. Also born on october 17th are Fugees rapper Wyclef Jean, Ziggy Marley and the late motorcycle daredevil Evel .
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5. Despite a tearaway image and numerous brushes with the law, Mathers’ didn’t clock his first arrest until aged twenty, appre-hended for shooting at a cop car with a paintball gun. No word on whether the aftermath resembled a scene from Shady’s all-time favourite movie, classic gangster flick ‘Scarface’,
7.sex offender in the ‘Just Lose It’ video. When ol’ Wacko and Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired Famous Music LLC in 2007, the purchase included hits like ‘Without Me’ and ‘The Real Slim Shady’.
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LYRICS.WASTED TIME BETWEEN SOLOS.
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