Issue 39 by tastemakers

The Shape of Labels to Come | 25

Cult of Personality | 36

Doom Discography | 46

northeastern students on music

A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H T H E FO U N D E R S O F

page 30

No 39

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E-Board

The Team

President Dinorah Wilson

Staff Writers Terence Cawley Audrey Cooney Clarissa Cooney Tim DiFazio Tom Doherty Amanda Hoover Anika Krause Jason Levy David McDevitt Cara McGrath David Murphy Kelly Subin Marco White

Incoming President Ryan Kehr Editor in Chief Ben Stas Art Director Stephanie Lee Marketing Director YJ Lee

Staff

Get More Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get enough? Check out more original content on tastemakersmag.com Become a fan on facebook at facebook.com/tastemakersmag

Features Editor Nathan Goldman Reviews Editor Mike Doub Interviews Editor Joey Dussault Photo Director Leah Corbett

Art & Design Cara McGrath Abbie Hanright Carisa Tong Ellie Fung Ben Muschol Marissa Rodakis Becky Still Jennifer Heintz Aideen Murphy Marketing Camille Frazier Deirdre Massaro Emily Good Kelsey Eng Kim Mecca Nate Hewes Rami McCarthy Sofia Benitez

The Cover Photo Jackie Keffas (Digital Art)

Meet the Staff

About Nathan Goldman Position Features Editor Major Sociology Graduating Spring 2015 Favorite Venue Kino Bosna Tastemaker Since Fall 2010

Audrey Cooney Position Staff Writer Major Journalism Graduating Spring 2019 Favorite Venue Electric Factory Tastemaker Since Fall 2014

Ryan Kehr Position Incoming President Major English/Business Administration Graduating Spring 2016 Favorite Venue Paradise Tastemaker Since Fall 2011

Tim DiFazio Position Staff Writer Major English Graduating Fall 2017 Favorite Venue Paradise Tastemaker Since Fall 2012

Listening to

Kate Bush Hounds of Love

Quote “Big lawn care is after you”

Bronski Beat “Smalltown Boy” Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band

Kongos Lunatic

“But picture this: hipster parents in NASCAR hats”

Krill A Distant Fist Unclenching Gin Lady Mother’s Ruin

Other Lives "Reconfiguration" Viet Cong Viet Cong

“Abraham Lincoln, early forties, lying in bed waiting for me. No questions asked.”

Lower Dens Twin Hand Movement

Car Seat Headrest

Mayhem

Busdriver

“He looked white in Guitar Hero 3.”

daephne

Photo by Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

Table of Contents Cover Story

Editorial

Reviews

The Listening Party Cara McGrath talks with the Northeastern students behind the new online video series featuring rising local musicians

Local Talent

Tonight I'm Gonna Rock (Opera!) You Tonight

The Shape of Labels to Come: Orchid Tapes and Music Distribution in the Information Age. Investigating the improbable success of Orchid Tapes in a changing market for small labels

The State of Music Journalism How writing about music for a living in 2015 actually works

06 Calendar 11

Local Photos

On the Upswing: The Modern Revival of Jazz Through Hip-Hop The innovative artists who are breathing new life into a stagnating genre

"Emogaze" quartet dĂŚphne chat with Joey Dussault

A brief history of rock's most ambitious format

The best and worse of translating a musical catalog to the stage

dĂŚphne

Features

From Studio to Stage: The Nature of the Jukebox Musical

What You See When You Hear Pondering the mental imagery conjured by sound

Will Artists Freeze Under the Twitter Backlash Chilling Effect? New social media repercussions for controversial artistic choices

Cult of Personality The strange road to fame for two of hip-hop's weirdest personalities

Show Reviews Dr. Dog, Kishi Bashi, KONGO, and Dylan Ewen

Album Reviews Reviews of Sleater-Kinney, Lupe Fiasco, Father John Misty, and John Carpenter's new albums

Etcetera

Doom Discography

Just a Taste of

Investigating the many projects and pseudonyms of hip-hop's masked, mad villain

Amy & The Engine

Calendar March Su

The Dodos Brighton Music Hall

Kaki King Brighton Music Hall

Hozier House of Blues

Trash Talk, Ratking, Lee Bannon The Sinclair

Will Butler Middle East

Lady Lamb the Beekeper The Sinclair

Jukebox the Ghost Paradise Rock Club

Of Montreal, Deerhoof Paradise Rock Club

Enslaved, YOB The Sinclair Pennywise Middle East Torche Great Scott

La Dispute, Title Fight, The Hotelier Paradise Rock Club

Belle and Sebastian House of Blues

Father John Misty Paradise Rock Club

Rockommends

Moon Duo Great Scott

The Church The Sinclair

Krill Great Scott

Cursive The Sinclair

Dropkick Murphys House of Blues

Perfum Genius The Sinclair

Andrew Jackson Jihad Royale

Taking Back Sunday House of Blues

Horse Feathers The Sinclair

Swervedriver The Sinclair

Dropkick Murphys House of Blues

Gang of Four Paradise Rock Club

Shakey Graves Royale

Gang of Four March 6 @ Paradise Rock Club

Andrew Jackson Jihad March 21 @ Royale

Come see Gang of Four, the highly influential post-punk progenitors from Leeds, England, on March 6th at the Paradise. It’s sure to be a night of excitement from a band that blends James Brownesque rhythmic intensity with the brooding punk sensibilities of contemporaries like Joy Division.

With their absurdly dark humor and desperate enthusiasm, Andrew Jackson Jihad were leaders of the folk-punk scene until they pulled a Bob Dylan and went electric on their last few albums, including 2014’s excellent Christmas Island. On March 21, they’re bringing the noise to the Royale for an early show, with the help of some killer openers: Chumped, Jeff Rosenstock of Bomb the Music Industry! fame, and the Smith Street Band.

Marco White (Journalism)

Terence Cawley (Biology)

April Su

Tiger’s Jaw The Sinclair

Matt and Kim House of Blues

Electric Wizard Royale The Decemberists House of Blues Twin Shadow Paradise Rock Club

The Decemberists House of Blues

Damien Rice Orpheum Theatre

Public Service Broadcasting Great Scott

Whirr Middle East Upstairs

At The Gates, Converge, Pallbearer Royale

inter Arma TT the Bear’s

Peach Kelli Pop TT the Bear’s

The Mountain Goats House of Blues

Protomartyr Club Bohemia

15 Weedeater TT the Bear’s Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique Paradise Rock Club John Mellencamp Wang Theatre

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Brighton Music Hall

The Sonics Brighton Music Hall

Polaris Brighton Music Hall

Speedy Ortiz The Sinclair

They Might Be Giants House of Blues

Ex Hex Great Scott Manic Street Preachers The Sinclair Hurray for the Riff Raff Paradise Rock Club

Swervedriver March 28 @ The Sinclair

Peach Kelli Pop April 19 @ TT the Bear’s

Oxford, England’s Swervedriver are among the hidden gems of the early shoegaze scene. They spent just as much money on effects pedals as their contemporaries, but rocked harder and less ethereally. In 2015 they return with their first new record in 17 years, as well as their first run of stateside shows since 2012. Bring earplugs and your most enthusiastic 1990s nostalgia.

Peach Kelli Pop bring their signature brand of garage pop to Boston, courtesy of Illegally Blind. These Burger Records alumnae are sickly sweet, unrefined and impossibly fun – in other words, not to be missed.

Ben Stas ( Journalism/English)

Joey Dussault ( Journalism/English)

Show Reviews Dr. Dog February 31 @ House of Blues

Reviews

Just two weeks after releasing their first live album, Flamingo Hotel, veteran performers Dr. Dog brought their tour to Boston’s House of Blues. In a statement regarding the release, bassist and singer Toby Leaman said, “We’re one thing on a record and a different thing live. Somebody goes to a Dr. Dog show and they come back again and they bring more people with them. Our live show is vital to how we view ourselves as a band.” After seeing Dr. Dog at the House of Blues, it’s hard to criticize Leaman’s statement.. Flashy backdrops, unexpected tracks and the upbeat indie-pop vibes from the band send enthusiastic audiences donning trademark Dr. Dog pom-pom hats into frenzies of dancing and sing-alongs. There’s a sense of community that’s a catchall at each show – whether it be fan-to-fan or band-to-fans, something about Dr. Dog stepping on stage unifies the audience under an infectious umbrella of quirky, bright tunes.

Dr. Dog

Ben Stas (Journalism/English)

Spring 2015

The show opened with “Heart it Races,” an Architecture in Helsinki cover that has become a set list staple. The psychedelic, folky spin Dr. Dog puts on the track makes it an accessible, danceable version that set the tone for a night of easy melodies backed with faultless harmonies and catchy riffs. At any Dr. Dog show, you never know what you’re going to get in the setlist: career defining hits are often skipped for deeper tracks off albums you’re likely to find in the bottom of a bin at your local record store. When guitarist and vocalist Scott McMicken announced they would play a song off their first album and the crowd cheered, he laughed, saying he was surprised that anyone would know it, before leading the group through “Mystery to Me.” Throughout the night, co-fronters Leaman and McMicken consistently shared the spotlight, each bringing their own style to the stage yet still carrying the group as a cohesive unit throughout the arc of the show. This was evident as they traded off vocals with nearly every new song, from Leaman’s screams in “The Beach” to McMicken’s softer voice reaching on “Turning the Century.”

At the beginning of “Lonesome,” the rare combative track featured on the 2012 album Be the Void, Leaman seemed to be lacking the raw aggression he typically brings to the performance. Nearing the end of a 16 song set Leaman might’ve been getting tired, but he made up for the lack of hostility by diving into the audience and taking a ride around the venue before fans dumped him back onstage to finish the song, finally mustering the wild rage to see it through. Returning for a five-song encore, Dr. Dog fit “The Truth” and “Nellie,” two of the hits of their latest studio album B-Room into the set. To finally close the night, they pulled out the feel good “Jackie Wants a Black Eye” from 2010’s Shame, Shame. The song’s chorus, “We’re all in it together now as we all fall apart. We’re swapping little pieces of our broken little hearts,” is the perfect sentiment to sum up any Dr. Dog performance–there are always potent reminders of love and loss through their lyrics, but the community created through their music has the undeniable ability to fill a venue with optimism. Amanda Hoover (Journalism)

Kishi Bashi and his Orchestra

Kishi Bashi

David McDevitt (International Affairs/Economics)

February 17 @ Royale Kishi Bashi began his night at the Royale by walking out on stage, introducing his string quartet, pulling out his baton and conducting a beautiful string arrangement. Bashi’s musical style at its core has always been a bit of a hybrid, combining classical symphonic sounds with electronic looping effects and bizarre improvisational work. His solo endeavors have placed him at a central position to the blooming art rock scene of the past decade, earning his stripes in the touring ensembles of acts such as Of Montreal and Regina Spektor. Now that his solo career is in full swing, Kishi Bashi is focusing on bringing that hybridization to center stage, creating a profoundly purposeful show composed of both sonnets, poems, ballads, violin solos as well as electronic loops with distorting effects, dance beats, and a beatboxed ode to Bashi’s penis called “Just The Tip” (a tribute to how comfortable and excited he was to be on stage).

The level of abnormality put into Bashi’s set is where the charm originates. Half of the songs in his set more closely resembled poems than traditional songs, with subjects ranging from fantasy-based creation myths to turning into a vampire; Bashi’s muse does not seem to be very grounded in reality. His orchestra was equally risk-averse. After a few initial pieces composed and conducted by Kishi Bashi himself, who occasionally joined in on violin , the string quartet introduced a new voice as an electric banjo player walked on stage, beating on the shell of the banjo with a drum mallet. The night was a progression deeper into this sort of eccentricity. What started as a clear recreation of a classical symphonic string ensemble in a more casual concert environment slowly morphed into a caricature of it, with dance beats and screeching overlays sneaking their way into the set as the night went on.

The vibe in the theater was a loving one. Kishi Bashi seemed ecstatic to be on stage, interacting with his backup quartet and the other musicians on stage, with his stage crew and even with the audience with nothing but effusive bliss and joy throughout the night. The show ended with a folk-flavored performance of the overzealously optimistic tune “Bright Lights” as the crowd left their seats to get close with Bashi and his enesmble plucking at their instruments. The unusual nature of the show’s ending was abnormal in the grand scheme of shows, yet ultimately at one with the tone maintained throughout the night: love, warmth, and a smile resonating from Kishi Bashi and his pleasant combination of indie pop and sophisticated classical pieces. David McDevitt (International Affairs/ Economics)

KONGOS February 18 @ House of Blues

Reviews

Performing to a far-from-capacity, but still highly receptive crowd, KONGOS made their way through an eclectic, rhythmic set at the House of Blues that included almost every song from their debut album, Lunatic, a pair of new tunes and some well-picked covers. Delivering these cuts in their signature style, the four brothers from South Africa both stomped their way through fan favorites and were able to make lesser-known songs enjoyable. The night opened with a set from Colony House, who along with Sir Sly are lending support for the entirety of KONGOS’ North American tour. The Tennessee trio’s generic indie-pop sound translated well into live performance, with a significantly higher energy level on stage than in their recorded material. While the uncomplicated guitar work carried over almost exactly from the album, a surprising highlight of the set was the heavy-handed drumming from Will Chapman. L.A.-based group Sir Sly came on next, delivering a quality set that radiated moodiness while maintaining an upbeat vibe. Opening with a spacey rendition of “Ghost”, the first single from You Haunt

Me, they made their way through a majority of Lunatic to a crowd parts of which had attended solely to see this opener. The band’s five members bounced between different instruments, but the shimmering synths and steady drumming, often delivered by multiple band members at once, remained constant. Their gloomy sound received an infusion of intensity for the live performance, and the band closed, predictably, with a compelling rendition of their Summer 2014 hit “Gold.” By the time the headliners arrived on the stage, the crowd was amped. KONGOS first blasted through a rendition of “Hey I Don’t Know,” one of the singles from their only album. The set included all but one song of their only album Lunatic. KONGOS biggest strength lies in their singular sound. Few bands who’ve broken into relatively wide recognition can boast an accordion player, or a style that combines African rhythms with cleanly executed slide guitar. Their wide range of influences were on full display, through the reggae-inspired “I Want to Know” and gentle, acoustic arpeggios of “Escape”. While at this point the band’s sole album is familiar to audiences, they included two new songs in their set, both of

which were met with enthusiasm, along with a cover “Eleanor Rigby” which included a guest appearance by the band’s tour manager. The Beatles song and the two covers with which they finished their set demonstrated their ability to translate other artists’ work into KONGOS own folksy, African-inspired alt-rock. Their single “Come With Me Now,” by far their most widely recognized song and the one that brought them recognition outside of their home country, was placed strangely far from the end of their set. However, the audience hardly noticed, as the performers maintained the same level of vitality through the rest of the set; the crowd was having fun all the way through the last note. At times, the band seemed slightly restrained; while a few song included drawnout jams, for the most part KONGOS played their songs note-for-note. However, the intoxicating energy with which they played imbued the set with a sense of exuberance. The overall effect was one of maturity—the set was somehow both controlled and spirited at the same time.

crowd started moshing just a few bars in to the first song of their high energy set, and continued until the last power chord rang out. The setlist covered their entire repertoire, including their well-liked tracks “Sync” and “Rough Terrain,” which prompted a good portion of the crowd to sing along. Ewen took a no-nonsense approach with his set, hurtling into Teenage Springsteen without introduction and pounding through each tune with an almost manic intensity. No song from the album is longer than two minutes, which made the show seem a bit like a series of quick, unrelenting punches. The lyrics were equally in-your-face, such as those in the song “House Shows Suck,” which included such lines as “I hate house shows, I hate everybody at house shows…..why does everybody suck? I hate everybody so much at these house shows.” The audience at this house show did not seem to share this hostility, receiving each frenetic song with eager enthusiasm.

Through it all Ewen prowled around the tiny stage area like a caged cat, occasionally doubling over and propelling himself headfirst into the first row of the crowd. He addressed the audience only once or twice, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his words were so distorted by the microphone as to be completely incomprehensible. He appeared to refer to the CDs for sale in the back, which were displayed with a cardboard sign reading “For $5 or free take one I don’t care I’m throwing them out anyway.” Apathy seemed to be the evening’s main theme, with Ewen hurtling out his songs without seeming to register if they landed or not. At least the audience had a good time.

Audrey Cooney (Journalism)

Dylan Ewen February 7 @ Ol' Yeller

Spring 2015

Dylan Ewen has never been accused of caring too much. Valuing speed over finesse, he tends to crank out punchy, bare-boned albums with relatively little time in between, releasing six albums in only twenty months. This rapid-fire mentality was evident when he played at the Allston house venue Ol’ Yeller, during which he and his band played through their 2014 album Teengage Springsteen, all of Teenage Springsteen and only Teenage Springsteen. Self-branded pop-punk act The Offseasons opened the show. The crowd didn’t seem to mind the fluctuating efficacy of the vocal microphone, bopping along whether the frontman’s words were distinguishable or not. The band members were equally unfazed, slamming through a short yet energetic set that offered vitality for what it lacked in length. The fervor only increased with the next opener, Born Without Bones. A pocket of the

Clarissa Cooney (International Affairs)

Local Local Photos Photos

A$AP Ferg House of Blues, January 2015

Ben Stas (Journalism/English)

Swans Columbus Theatre, February 2015

Ben Stas (Journalism/English)

Kishi Bashi Royale, February 2015

David McDevitt (International Affairs/Economics)

Vundabar The Sinclair, February 2015

Kit Castagne (Economics)

The Districts The Sinclair, February 2015

Kit Castagne (Economics) Eyehategod Brighton Music Hall, February 2015

Ben Stas (Journalism/English)

Local Talent

Local Talent Spring 2015

What does Fall Out Boy’s heart-on-the-sleeve lyricism have in common with the subtle instrumental flair of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac? Almost nothing. But they’re both present in equal parts on Family Vacation Demo, the 2014 debut from a bunch of Boston “emogazers” known collectively as dæphne. As they tell it, dæphne began with a lot of ‘sure, why not?’s and unexpectedly fruitful jam sessions. After bonding over bands they liked, guitarist Ryan Higgins and vocalist Alexa Johnson formed the songwriting core of the band – “the cake.” Higgins brought bassist Larz Brogan into the mix, providing the rhythmic “frosting.” Late addition and second dæphne drummer Julian Berosh was picked up at a local show six months later. “He was drumming for the opening band and we thought he was really talented,” Johnson says. “We basically stole him away, but it’s cool because he’s ours now and he loves us.” On July 4, 2014, dæphne released their debut EP as a cassette on Funeral Sounds. The have been on the up ever since, having already warmed stages for the likes of Alex G and Young Rapids.

dæphne

all photos by Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

dæphne’s sound, an amalgam of innumerable influences, is not terribly easy to explain to someone who hadn’t heard it. “Slayer trick-or-treating as the Cranberries,” Brogan suggests. On the aptly-titled “Driving Down a Country Highway Blasting Weezer,” Johnson sings, practically exhaling, “You can’t break apart my family / You can’t ruin what’s ahead of me.” That line resonates; between recording their debut LP and touring with Greg McKillop (ex-Speaker for the Dead), dæphne has a lot ahead of them. But the future is never without its challenges. “In my opinion, [Boston’s indie music scene] is having a hard time gaining momentum because DIY indie is something that thrives at house and basement shows,” Johnson says, “and cops won’t let us do our thing. There’s also a lack of cool all-ages venues that are easy to access and book. But tons of people are involved so hopefully these problems will be solved to some extent in the coming years.” “It needs more daf,” Berosh chimes in. Brogan concurs: “Definitely needs more dæphne.” Joey Dussault (Journalism/Music Industry)

members

Ryan Higgins (Guitar) Alexa “Nightingale” Johnson (Vocals) Larz “Bass Mama” Brogan (Bass) Julian “Juju Bean” Berosh (Drums) sounds like

“Slayer trick-or-treating as the Cranberries” r eco m m e n d e d t rac ks

Driving Down a Country Highway Blasting Weezer, Miscalculating Future Experiences albums

Family Vacation Demo c h ec k o u t dæ p h n e

daphne-boston.bandcamp.com

Editorial JASON LEVY (BUSINESS)

The concept of the jukebox musical is simple: a musical production centered on the catalog of a specific artist, album or musical period. Jukebox musicals are one of the most dominant forms of musical theater today. Interestingly though, the jukebox musical is truly unpredictable. It seems as though the popularity of the artist is irrelevant, as plenty of shows based on some of music’s most popular figures have catastrophically bombed. Creating a memorable one is a true art form that relies both on picking the right artist or album to adapt to the stage and on incorporating a well-crafted story into the mix.

Spring 2015

Many recent ones have attempted to capitalize on what is almost guaranteed to turn a profit: nostalgia. The nostalgia dollar will always trump all, and it seems that more and more productions these days are aimed at the older demographic, basing shows on musical acts from the 70’s and earlier, such as A Night with Janis Joplin, Carole King’s Beautiful and Billie Holiday’s Lady Day (I actually went to see the Janis Joplin show, and I’m fairly certain that other than me, my parents were the youngest people in the audience). While all three of these tribute shows were relatively well received, plenty made with nostalgia in mind were not so fortunate. Consider the hits and the flops of the last 20 years of jukebox musicals, as well as some ponderings on what the future may bring.

ABBA’s Mamma Mia! (1999): Arguably the most popular jukebox musical of the last 20 years, Mamma Mia! follows a young girl in her attempt to find her real father from a group of three potential men. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, two original members of ABBA, composed the music. This is a running theme of major jukebox hits: usually the members of the original band/album are involved with the production. In fact, to call Mamma Mia! a major hit is an understatement: it’s the longest-running jukebox musical in Broadway history. Key to its success is an engaging narrative complemented by ABBA’s music, rather than one with unnecessarily crowbarred-in musical numbers. The Four Season’s Jersey Boys (2005): The Four Seasons might not be the first act one might come up with when trying to pitch a jukebox musical, but Jersey Boys turned into one of the most easily recognizable and popular musicals of the last decade. The production chronicles the life of Frankie Valli and his band mates and their time with The Four Seasons. Like Mamma Mia!, the production had help from two of the bands chief songwriters, Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe. And just like Mamma Mia!, it’s able to craft an engaging storyline around the music of the classic band. Green Day’s American Idiot (2010): This one is sort of an odd one out, for two reasons. First of all, it’s one of the few jukebox shows out there that is based on a specific concept album rather than the artist itself. Secondly, it could not have been made to celebrate the legacy of the artist or capitalize on nostalgia because the album was adapted into a stage show only 6 years following its release, and contained no Green Day songs from before 2004. Despite this, Green Day’s opus was able to bring in ticket sales, as well as 2 Tony Awards; and along with a future film adaptation, nobody can deny the success of American Idiot.

The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations (2005): The Beach Boys’ musical had so much going for it: a band with some of the most instantly recognizable classic hits of the 1960’s, involvement with the band’s chief songwriter, Brian Wilson, and an original story. But as mentioned before, the popularity of the chosen subject matter is essentially irrelevant. Maybe it was because it opened in the same year as Jersey Boys, but it was more likely due to the fact that it completely failed to do what made that show such a success. Good Vibrations was the stereotypical jukebox musical, with a contrived story written in order to cram in as many Beach Boys songs as possible, and the general public quickly caught on and lost interest. Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire (2006): This was another idea with so much potential; after all, Johnny Cash is a country music legend, and the show premiered in the wake of the wildly successful biopic film Walk the Line, based on the life and career of Cash. It even had Tony Award winner Jarrod Emick and Grammy Award Winner Lari White at the helm of the cast. But despite the draw of the older demographic, ticket sales just weren’t there. The huge stage didn’t bode well with the intimate nature of the show, and the show’s last performance was a mere month after its first. Tupac Shakur’s Holler If Ya Hear Me (2014): On the surface this one makes sense; one of the biggest hip-hop success stories of all time, 2Pac: his music inspired a generation of rap enthusiasts and would-be MC’s. But when Holler premiered, and promptly closed after an abysmal 38 performances (only one month’s worth), all enthusiasm any theatergoer had for the late MC quickly fizzled out. That being said, it might have had more to do with the fact that the average Broadway musical ticket buyer is about 42 years old and white, which explains why most would be more inclined to see a musical based on the music of ABBA or Janis Joplin, artists of their time.

Of course, the wave of jukebox musicals shows no sign of stopping. When Alanis Morissette announced in late 2013 that she was working on a stage adaptation of her seminal effort Jagged Little Pill, I must admit my heart skipped a little beat. I imagine I’m not alone, as the LP is the 11th bestselling album of all time and defined an entire generation of self-proclaimed “angry white females.” Jagged Little Pill, or as I have affectionately nicknamed it Angst: The Musical!, will contain the LP’s entire track list, other songs from Morissette’s catalog, as well as a few original tunes. With Tom Kitt, one of the main arrangers on Green Day’s American Idiot, heading the orchestration, this one has true potential. What else might the future hold? I’d like to offer a few rapid-fire suggestions for possible jukebox musicals that are sure to be winners. David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust: Honestly how has David Bowie not gotten a musical yet? Trapped in the Closet: An R. Kelly Experience: Admit it, you binge-watched/ played a drinking game to every installment of this “hip hopera” at some point in your life Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral: In case you were looking for an alternative to self-harm, come watch Trent Reznor as he threatens to “fuck you like an animal” Yeezy: A Kanye West Extravaganza: Music, lyrics, production, art direction, choreography, costume design and casting by Kanye West My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade: Like you didn’t wish this existed in middle school Beyoncé: Destiny’s Only Real Child : Self explanatory (side note: did you know that MS Word automatically adds the accent mark to “Beyoncé?” This girl really does run the world) I Wish I Was Special: The Radiohead Story: It’d probably be something like Thom Yorke just standing on stage reciting Kid A lyrics and slam poetry for two hours; think about it. Resistance: The Museical: See what I did there?

Feature

The rock opera, an unusual breed of rock album in which the lyrics to every song combine to tell a single story, is responsible for some of historyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best (and craziest) albums. However, the rock opera has recently fallen out of favor with a prog-hating music press which scorns the formâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretension and self-seriousness and prefers to praise concept albums which share the rock operaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambition and thematic unity but lack the restrictions of character and plot. Despite these criticisms, the rock opera lives on, though it has evolved significantly over the years in order to remain relevant in the modern musical landscape.

Spring Fall 2014 2015

THE 1960s: THE BEGINNINGS The term rock opera was first coined in 1966, although the first actual rock opera wasn’t released until 1967. That album, The Story of Simon Simopath, was recorded by the British band Nirvana. Only 25 minutes long, Simon Simopath is unassuming psychedelica-lite, combined with a confusing and hopelessly fey storyline (with centaurs!), make it a rock opera more in theory than in practice. In 1968, however, The Pretty Things forecasted rock opera’s future with S.F. Sorrow, an extraordinary album whose complex yet memorable songs followed the title protagonist through a life story equal parts tragic and surreal. When The Who came out with their own rock opera, Tommy, the next year, Pete Townshend swore that his deaf-dumb-and-blind-boy-turned-pinball-wizard-turned-cult-leader musical extravaganza had not been inspired by The Pretty Things. Regardless, Tommy is the album which first introduced the rock opera to mainstream listeners and which served as the template for most rock operas to follow.

THE 1970s: THE GOLDEN ERA As the ‘70s most creative bands strove to expand rock music’s parameters, many ambitious artists used rock opera to express themselves on a grander scale. David Bowie’s 1972 masterpiece The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tackled the now-cliché subject of rock stardom itself, albeit with an outerspace twist and brilliant songwriting which split the difference between outrageous raunchiness and tender balladry. Bowie took to the role of the makeup-clad title character with such aplomb that he inadvertently kickstarted the glam rock movement. 1973 saw the release of another Townshend-penned rock opera, Quadrophenia, in which The Who paid homage to Mod youth culture with a harder-rocking sound than Tommy and a story told through the eyes of a beyond-schizophrenic teenager struggling with Holden Caulfield-sized anxiety. Trying to follow a rock opera’s plot has always been difficult, but with 1974’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Genesis achieved unprecedented levels of incomprehensibility. In time-honored rock opera tradition, most fans ignored Peter Gabriel’s warped, symbolic plot (in which a boy named Rael explores a bizarro dream-world underneath New York) and just enjoyed the gorgeously detailed instrumentation. 1978’s Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, meanwhile, simply retold H.G. Wells’ famous sci-fi novel, with spoken-word interludes helpfully keeping the listener on track. Jeff Wayne mixed cheesy synthesizers with even cheesier disco-style beats and orchestration to craft a campy thriller which is still one of the U.K.’s greatest-selling albums. Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall was the last great rock opera of the ‘70s. Roger Waters’ tortured cry of alienation, in which a sulky rock star named Pink gave voice to Waters’ discontent, was harsh, dissonant and heartbreaking. Despite its unrelenting darkness, The Wall had the anthemic riffs and eternally quotable slogans to top the charts and earn permanent rotation on classic rock radio.

Feature

THE ‘80s and ‘90s: GROWING PAINS Rock opera in the early 1980s seemed to belong solely to past-their-prime rock giants. Kiss flopped spectacularly with 1981’s Music from “The Elder,” in which the face paint warriors discovered that storytelling and orchestral collaborations suited them so poorly that they had to cancel the album’s support tour. Styx scored a platinum record with 1983’s Kilroy Was Here, although the album’s success had more to do with the dorky yet timeless single “Mr. Roboto” than the soggy ballads or half-hearted rockers on the rest of the album or the lazy “plot” about evil government efforts to stop THE RAWK. Roger Waters tried to strike operatic gold twice with 1984’s The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, based on a concept which Pink Floyd had turned down in favor of The Wall. Listening to the album, which takes Waters’ dirge-like tendencies to new lows, it's not hard to fathom why. If the rock opera died in the ‘80s, no one bothered to tell hardcore legends Husker Dü. The Dü broke new ground with 1984’s double album Zen Arcade, a punk rock opera which embraced the medium's narrative potential while cutting the pretentious bloat which tripped up so many of their predecessors. Thrilling guitar bursts augmented concise songwriting and a simple yet affecting story about a troubled kid's attempt to leave home, all while raising the bar for what punk bands could get away with.

By the late 1980s and 1990s, a new breed of maniacally ambitious artists, for whom a single album could not contain the yarns they spun, began to shape the future of rock opera. Multi-album rock operas had been attempted before, most notably by The Kinks with 1973-74’s two-part Preservation Act series, a snide commentary on British politics. Still no one committed to rock operas with heavy metal band King Diamond’s fervor, who released their first one in 1987, then released nine (!) more over the next twenty years. Orchestral-prog group Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who wrote a trilogy of popular Christmas albums and a rock opera about Beethoven, and Marilyn Manson, who claims that three of his albums tell a single story in reverse order, are among the larger acts to have followed King Diamond’s example by making almost all of their LPs rock operas. Whether this glut of rock operas allowed for new depths in storytelling or diluted the power of a form best experienced in small doses is up to listeners to decide.

THE MODERN ROCK OPERA: 21st CENTURY BREAKDOWNS While the rock opera never disappeared, it had been many years since once achieved the perfect balance of distinct characters, thematic power and memorable songs necessary to capture public imagination. Leave it to the snot-nosed punks in Green Day to revive the popular rock opera with 2004’s American Idiot. While the plot is somewhat thin, the album definitely had character and catchy tunes, and Billie Joe Armstrong's timely critiques of the Bush administration made American Idiot one of the most political rock operas. People loved this album, which made Green Day megastars and eventually got the Tommy treatment with its own Broadway musical, proving that the rock opera's appeal has only grown over time.

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The last decade has seen many bands putting their own spin on classic rock opera tropes after American Idiot’s success. My Chemical Romance became Goth high princes with 2006’s death-obsessed The Black Parade, cribbing much of their angsty charisma from The Wall. The Decemberists blew their love of storytelling up to widescreen proportions with 2009’s The Hazards of Love, an underrated album whose fantasy world and recurring musical motifs would have fit in with the rock operas of the 1970s. While Green Day’s second rock opera, 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown, was a disappointment, Fucked Up kept the punk rock opera alive with 2011’s David Comes to Life, whose buzzsaw guitars and barking vocals are straight from the Husker Dü school. Meanwhile, Coheed and Cambria made everyone else look lazy by releasing seven albums which, combined with a comic book series, tell the story of The Amory Wars. Rock opera has existed for over 45 years now, and with bands like Jersey punks Titus Andronicus, who recently announced their intent to release a 30-song rock opera, still pushing the envelope in hopes of making their generation’s Tommy or American Idiot, it shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon. • Terence Cawley (Biology)

The ShapE Of LabelS To Come:

Orchid Tapes and Music Distribution in the Information Age.

Music distribution is in an odd spot. Thanks to the Internet, individual artists have access to a wider audience than ever before. However, this also results in people being exposed to a veritable flood of artists to choose from, and a variety of ways to get their music without paying a cent. In this way, it is both easier and harder to make a musical living now than in the past. On the one hand, it is no longer necessary to sign to a major label, and a thirdparty distributor isn’t always necessary either. However, it is significantly more difficult to get people initially interested. Online labels start up, release a few albums, get no attention, and

shut down. Because of this, it’s all the more impressive when we are presented with a label like Orchid Tapes. Orchid Tapes is an independent label founded in 2010 by Foxes in Fiction’s Warren Hildebrand. They have already seen relative success through artists such as Alex G, Coma Cinema, and R.L. Kelly, but, perhaps more importantly, they’ve garnered a fairly solid cult following of people who monitor the label’s activity for new music, keeping track of almost everyone involved. This is increasingly rare in the information age, where people are faced with such a breadth of platforms through

Feature which to discover new artists that label loyalty is simply unnecessary most of the time. So, why is it that Orchid Tapes has been able to develop this kind of following? First of all, it’s important to note that Orchid Tapes, though it seems like a huge collective, is essentially the work of a few core members. Mat Cothran (Coma Cinema, Elvis Depressedly) and Sam Ray (Teen Suicide, Ricky Eat Acid, Julia Brown) were heavily involved early on, but at this point it is mostly kept up by Warren Hildebrand alone. For someone who started an independent label in college that mostly gives away music for free, he’s done extremely well. This is due in no small part to the sense of community that is fostered by the artists of Orchid Tapes. Their music feels inherently bound together thanks to its lo-fi bedroom production, pop sensibilities, and half-sincere but very dark themes such as drug abuse, sexuality and sometimes even Satanism. Their 2014 compilation, Boring Ecstasy, is very much a cohesive album. Add onto this the fact that the individual artists are constantly tweeting about each other and touring together, and you start to develop a label that feels like a package deal. People who get into one artist will probably like the rest, and the people involved do an excellent job of making sure the others get heard. This is extremely important, because the buzz about Orchid Tapes has been almost entirely word of mouth, with little to no major reviews. “I think a lot of the people involved with Orchid Tapes were habitually co-signing each other and giving each other props… You know, for the most part, everybody involved was pretty close friends and most of us still are,” Mat Cothran told Tastemakers. “I think people kind of saw how much we cared about each other’s art as a whole. And that can be comforting, makes you want to be a part of something.” “When I was in high school that was a lot more around, like, ‘I’m big on this label’,” Cothran explained. “There was a record label a while back, like 2002 or 2003 maybe. It was called Oh! Map records and a lot of what I saw them do I’ve applied to a lot of stuff in my life now. They were doing things like giving away music for

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free way back and were kind of influential, and they had that vibe like “I’m gonna check out everything they’ve put out.’” Cothran expressed gratitude that fans were able to join in on the sense of friendship and community that labels like Oh! Map and Orchid Tapes foster. “We’ve always been real open,” he said. “There was the showcases we’d had and they’d be sold out all the time and people would just be smiling. It was real fun. I’m really glad people were able to embrace that and, you know, kinda make it their own and be a part of that.” The formula for Orchid Tapes’ success is neither easy nor guaranteed. Alex G’s sudden exposure in 2014 surely involved quite a bit of luck, and, as Cothran noted, things are simply more difficult now. More and more competition shows up every day, and there is no clear way to hold people’s

attention. And yet, the Orchid Tapes story somehow makes perfect sense. Labels that give the listener clear expectations of their artists have always been able to attract a following, whether it be the hardcore punk of SST or the boundary-pushing indie rock of Matador. Orchid Tapes is uniquely modern, however, in that it expands through the e-mailed demos of strangers. Despite this, they’re more reminiscent of a collective like Elephant 6 than of a larger distributor like Merge. Orchid Tapes consists of people who live all over the country and literally record in their bedrooms, but feels more genuine and personal than many local scenes could ever hope to be. • Tim DiFazio (English)

Alex G Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

Editorial

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S AS IF JAZZ MUSIC HAS RUN OUT OF THINGS TO SAY. Every frontier has been explored, every stone has been turned, the party is over and the musicians are packing up their instruments. This is hyperbole of course, but the modern impulse to glorify and rehash the work of the great figures of jazz seems to completely ignore the disregard for convention and spirit of improvisation that much of jazz is founded on. Spring 2015

Jazz evolved from a New Orleans‑isolated phenomenon into the most complex and varied style of American music in the 20th century, as musical giants like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and Miles Davis imposed their own styles over the jazz of their respective eras. One of the problems with jazz today, according to Grammy‑winning New Orleans musician Nicholas Peyton, is that jazz has, “too many musicians and not enough artists.” Last year’s highly praised film Whiplash, which follows a young conservatory student attempting to become the next great jazz drummer, reinforces the overly nostalgic modern approach to jazz music. Throughout the film Andrew, the protagonist, constantly

invokes the history of Charlie Parker as he attempts to play jazz in what he perceives is the correct way. The problem with this interpretation is that while Charlie Parker was a virtuoso, what made him truly significant as a musician was that he abandoned the conventions of swing to make room for the innovations of bebop. In the real world, jazz has moved out of clubs for the most part and into the concert halls. Players like Wynton Marsalis play expertly orchestrated renditions of jazz that pay tribute to the music’s overwhelming history without adding much. Though many modern musicians, music students and hardcore fans still listen to jazz, much of the general record buying population has still fallen out of love with the genre. Many jazz records have received a level of unquestioning acclaim from music writers and additions to the Library of Congress, yet the sale of jazz records makes up a meager 3 percent of all record sales, according to NPR. In jazz’s heyday its greatest musicians were celebrities; they were glamorous, the epitome of cool. Men like Charles Mingus were outspoken critics of the treatment of African Americans in America. Others like Charlie Parker were famous for their hard-living and heavy drug use. Musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane helped to preserve the respect and aura of cool around the genre even in an era dominated by rockstars. But jazz’s descent from the public eye would happen nonetheless. While many may no longer be buying jazz records, however, certain hip-hop fans have already received a basic education in jazz through the world of sampling. Madlib, the producer behind Quasimoto and half of the hip-hop masterpiece-makers Madvillain, is among the artists responsible for that. In 2003, he recorded the unabashed hip-hop love letter to jazz that was Shades of Blue. On the record, Madlib created genre-defying amalgamations of hip-hop beats and jazz samples taken from the back catalog tapes of Blue Note. Blue Note was one of the most influential jazz labels of the bebop era, and housed such artists as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Madlib stands as one of the most influential modern producers in hip-hop by not only incorporating jazz samples but also a deep appreciation of jazz into his music. Perhaps

even more importantly though, Madlib has shown that hip-hop can strive toward the unmatched cultural and artistic legacy of jazz. On 2000’s The Unseen—recorded under the Quasimoto moniker—Madlib demonstrated that compellingly odd pitch-shifted verses and silky jazz samples could form the basis of hip-hop gold. Madlib also set the precedent for incorporating jazz samples into far-out concept albums with 2004’s Madvillainy, where his jazz-heavy beats provided the perfect backdrop to MF DOOM’s heady comic book super-villain flows. Other artists and producers like Flying Lotus have melded jazz with hip-hop and electronic elements without relying on sampling. His last record, You’re Dead!, employed features by jazz legend Herbie Hancock and fusion giant Thundercat alongside hip-hop mainstays Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg in showing that jazz can still be musically innovative. Elsewhere in jazz exists the band BadBadNotGood, a Canadian trio who combine melodic and harmonic jazz sensibilities with hip-hop rhythms. BBNG employ heavy synths, double bass, hard hitting hip-hop beats, piano and horns to arrive at a sound that is steeped in the musicianship and compositional freedom of jazz yet has the polished production and driving rhythms of hip-hop. Recently BBNG released Sour Soul, their collaboration album with hip-hop institution Ghostface Killah. With the support of high profile rappers like Ghostface, perhaps more musicians will follow BBNG’s example and continue to blur the line between hip-hop and jazz. Though jazz has become considerably less visible in contemporary music, there are still those who appreciate the genre and push it into ever more daring musical territory. However, a question still remains: Can we treat the contemporary hip-hop producers and musicians who use jazz in their music as jazz musicians? Is jazz music refined to the Lincoln Center and conservatories or is it open to the interpretation of anyone with an instrument or a sample pad? Jazz ultimately has too rich a history and too large an influence on American culture to be relegated to over-intellectualized outlets, and it can find a new life by embracing hip-hop’s approach to freely dismantling the sounds of the past to arrive at something new. • Marco Alarid White (Journalism)

Cover Story

A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H T H E FO U N D E R S O F

Three Northeastern students – Jake Farber, Jackie Keffas and Carly Goldberg – are the team behind The Listening Party, an Internet video series exposing artists to new potential fans with intimate and personal video recordings. Farber, head of audio recording and editing, along with Keffas, cinematographer and photographer, started the project in 2014. Soon after, they recruited Goldberg to spearhead social media and events coordination. Farber and Keffas sat down with Tastemakers in early February to give the scoop on what The Listening Party has accomplished so far. Spring Fall 2014 2015

• Cara McGrath (Graphic Design)

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): For those who don’t know, what is The Listening Party? Jake Farber (JF): The Listening Party is a web video series where we go out with a band and film them performing an acoustic song somewhere out in nature or an apartment. It’s like a Take Away Show in the style of The Mahogany Sessions or Watch Listen Tell; there are dozens of them. TMM: So why did you decide to start this project? JF: We were thinking of ways to just do stuff, I guess – Jackie Keffas (JK): And you were looking for apartments, and there was the big backyard. JF: Yeah, so we were moving into a new apartment, me and my roommates, and we knew there was going to be a very large backyard and I just thought it would be really cool if we did outdoor concerts there. And then one day I thought it would be cool if we filmed concerts, but maybe not necessarily there. TMM: So you haven’t actually had one in your backyard? JF: No, actually. We have done some in my bedroom. JK: We’ve done multiple in your bedroom. JF: Yeah, we’ve done two in my bedroom, but they don’t look like it. For Sun Club we made a huge pillow fort, which was terrible for the acoustics but it looked kind of cool.

JK: It was fun. JF: And then we had my roommate sitting in the back blowing bubbles – it seemed like kind of a circus. And the Friendly People [session] was filmed there too. We are saving the backyard for when all else fails and there is no other location to shoot in. TMM: So how is The Listening Party different from other things like this? You mentioned similar series that are out there on the Internet. JK: I think the biggest thing is that we use one camera. I haven’t watched a ton of other ones, but the ones that I have seen do more cuts and stuff. JF: Yeah, there is a sort of naturalness that we try to capture in the ones that we do. From the beginning, day one, we wanted videos that are seamless. You don’t see any of the microphones, you don’t see any of the production equipment – you feel like you are there with [the artist]. And I’ve seen a bunch of different series that do this to varying extents, and some are clearly multi-camera. There are cuts that disrupt you, and then you start asking yourself if they really did this in one take, and you see the microphones and it sort of brings you out of the experience a little bit. Our point is to get you to feel as close to being there with the musician as possible. JK: And without making it just one static shot, because then that’s really boring. TMM: Some other video series that I have seen will do it all in the same location, but you have filmed in different places – is that to make it more personal as well? JK: Yeah, we usually ask the bands if there is somewhere they want to do it. JF: And also a reason for why you want to do it there, too. Like with Greg Marquis – we filmed him and it actually never got released – he chose a little tree. We suggested that he do it by the esplanade and he was like, ‘Oh man, I know this one tree over there where I used to hang out with my girlfriend,’ so that had a little bit of extra meaning. And for Chris Conway’s session, he wanted to do it at the Temple of Love in Larz Anderson Park. JK: [laughs] Is that what it’s called? JF: Yeah, it’s called the Temple of Love! JK: Yeah, it’s a giant stone gazebo on a lake. JF: He seemed to like the rustic environment of it. TMM: I saw that you filmed Skinny Bones in their practice space as opposed to outdoors. JF: Yeah, well that was mostly by necessity, because they’re so elaborate there was almost nowhere else to do it. But it looked good. JK: The lighting on that one was actually the coolest, I think. It was completely unintentional – that was just stuff that they had, and it was too dark in the attic. But we should try to do that intentionally. TMM: You recorded somebody last weekend, too. JK: Yeah, we filmed Adam Kenny last weekend. TMM: How did that go? JK: It went really well. One had a giant American flag in the background. JF: It was a black and white American flag with all of these symbols. JK: I don’t know what statement we were trying to make with that. TMM: Have you guys recorded anyone recently? JF: That was the first one since the show. JK: We have two more at the end of February.

Cover Story Photos by Allie Harris (Business)

TMM: Aside from these recordings, you did the house show in the fall that we have touched on. How do you feel it went? JF: Really well. Everyone had a great time. A lot of people came up to us afterwards and said that they were really impressed with the level of musicianship and the quality of the performances that night. I had a lot of friends who were really skeptical, who were like, ‘Oh, you’re just going to assemble some random people in a house, and have an acoustic show? Like, some crappy singer songwriters you met at an open mic or something?’ But they were all really impressed, everyone who we brought was really on point and talented and good at what they do. I think that’s always been a big part of our mission statement – to find people who really know what they are doing and deserve to be showcased. TMM: I know there were four acts that night, one of which traveled from DC. JF: Yeah that was cool, but it was kind of an accident actually. JK: And then that became the whole reason why we did it. JF: This is Davis, who goes by Chain, Red Shoes, and Stone, which I will never get right. He premiered his album on soundofboston.com, and I had just been browsing through one night and I saw it. I thought that he was a really, really fantastic solo singer-songwriter, but with interesting guitar harmonies going on and nice melodies – the perfect candidate for what we want to do. So I emailed him and asked him if he wanted to film a session with us, and he replied saying, ‘Yeah, sounds great. I live in DC, though. Do you care if I come up?’ And I didn’t want to say yes without being able to promise him something good, because he was going to actually take a whole weekend and fly up. We had to do it in November though, because he was going to fly to England to go to Oxford where he’s a medical student on a full scholarship or something ridiculous like that. So he splits his time between Boston, DC, LA where his girlfriend lives, and Oxford.

Spring Spring2015 2015

TMM: Wow, cool guy. JF: Yeah, really smart and a really good songwriter. So we wanted to make sure something would happen that weekend, and that it

wouldn’t just fall through with a really terrible session for this guy who flew up from DC. So we decided to put on the show. JK: [Laughs] Terrible session… JF: Hey, well we haven’t had one yet, I don’t think. But I’m always afraid of having one forgotten microphone, or one poorly timed location or something like that. We wanted to make sure there would be something good and something worth his while – and it ended up being really awesome. I think he had a great time, too. JK: Yeah, and he was super appreciative afterwards. He sent us a bunch of emails thanking us, and said he wanted to send thank you cards to our friends because we did it at our friend’s apartment. He was super nice about everything. TMM: So you two recorded him as well having him for the show? JK: Yeah. We recorded him that morning, and that was a first of a few that day. And then we had a few hours to set up the house and move all the furniture; I got stressed out real fast. I was fine until after the session, and then I was like, “Wait a second, doors are in like three hours.” JK: I was mostly hungry. I was stressed about fitting in dinner. TMM: Lastly, do you have anything cool planned coming up, or any dreams of where you want to see this go? JF: We definitely want to keep having the house shows. That is something we all talked about afterwards. JK: We haven’t really seriously talked about it yet. JF: It’s a little hard to juggle everything, with school and putting the sessions together. We will have enough material to put out for the rest of the semester based on the videos that we film in February. Then, hopefully, we will just keep doing that – stay involved, meet people, talk to people, get famous, make money. You know, all that stuff.

For more from The Listening Party, check out listeningpartyshows.com.

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU HEAR Two men, shirtless, bareknuckle brawling in the basement of an early 19th century gin joint. That’s it, it’s all I see when hearing Joy Division’s “Disorder.” The men are trading punches, surrounded by a ring of onlookers throwing money. The onlookers are blurry—if a police sketch artist asked me to describe any of them, I wouldn’t be able to recall a single physical trait. The men though, they’ve been cast: Cilllian Murphy, but stockier and with longer hair, fights against what I can only describe as Jude Law with a shaved head and full beard. I have no idea where this image came from. It’s been around since high school, the opening of Unknown Pleasures always bringing me back to this same ephemeral basement. Over the last couple months I’ve thought a lot about visuals evoked from music and have been able to trace the root of the image in every case, this one however still eludes me. Peter Mendelsund, a writer/designer for Penguin Random House, recently released his second book: What You See When You Read. Having designed over 600 book covers, he discusses with some authority how tricky it is to visualize the written word. He writes that when you visualize characters in novels, they’re cast from your life, an amalgamation of people you’ve seen and known for years. He also discusses the “blur” in which you visualize the written landscape, as if looking at a scene through peripheral vision. Mendelsund’s ideas are definitely worth thinking about the next time you pick up a book, but we’re not here to talk about reading. Inspired by What You See When You Read, I wanted to explore a not-so-simple question: what do you see when you listen to music?

Full disclosure: I’m not a scientist. The closest I’ve come to a petri dish in the last five years was looking up how to spell petri for this article (there are two spellings?!). So don’t expect any brain imaging or sample sizes here, I’m just recording observations and analysis for your reading pleasure. Read on to see what some fellow Northeasterners have to say on the topic. Whenever Dan Calecci (Computer Science) hears MGMT’s “Electric Feel” he’s instantly brought back to “a crowded, sweaty throng of teens in central NJ.” The song reminds him of a concert from 6-7 years back—specifically a certain girl he’d met at that concert. When prompted to describe what she looked like, he paused for a minute and said, “I assume she was probably my type, so blonde? Short? Wearing jean shorts and maybe some face paint?” For Emily Cusack (International Affairs), the song “Via Chicago” by Wilco brings her back to the plane seat she sat in while leaving from her childhood home for college—she lived in the suburbs outside Chicago proper. Strangely enough she remembers with excessive detail what the older woman in the seat next to her (whom she didn’t know) was wearing: “a really dirty—just a ton of lint and hair—maroon sweater with a Christmas tree pin on the left side….” Ben Weaver (Biochemistry) spoke passionately about what he sees when he hears “Tweezer” by Phish: “Red lights, a demonic shade of red. They shine down on a stage which sits like an island in the center of Madison Square Garden.” This was all a memory from a concert which he describes as “the most intricately lit show” he’d ever seen. Kristen Sommers (Music Performance) had an interesting take on listening to Animal Collective’s “Summertime Clothes.” Every time she hears the song she sees “A cramped East Village apartment with melting brick walls. And fogged city streets.”

So how were of these images created? It was surprising to hear how large a role memory had to play in visualizing songs. Nearly everyone I asked connected a song to a specific memory, while also mixing in some of his or her own embellishment. There were two categories to these memories: an event that occurred while the song was playing or a connection of an event to the lyrics (or mood) of a song. The few images that weren’t connected (in any obvious way) to a specific memory were the most compelling. Just like my bareknuckle brawlers, a few students described scenes that weren’t in any way related to their memories or the track in question. I’m still at a loss for how these images (which are by far the most abstract) are formed but I’d venture a guess that our brains unconsciously connect the song to stimulus from our environment. While listening to “Disorder,” maybe I had recently seen a period piece with Cillian Murphy (Cold Mountain, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) that my brain twisted together with a few other appropriate memories to suit the mood of the repetitive drum beat and droning bass/guitar lines. However our brain constructs these images, it’s worth thinking about what they add or subtract from the listening experience. Is it frustrating to see an ex-significant other whenever you listen to a song that reminds you of her/him? Or maybe you see one of your favorite childhood memories every time you listen to a song you grew up with. It’s a double-edged sword and not exactly something we can consciously control. If you’re interested some experimenting yourself, shut your eyes for a minute the next time you’re listening—what do you see? The answer just might surprise you... Or it won’t. But hey, at least I tried.

• Ryan Kehr (English/Business) 33

Editorial

Will artists freeze under the Twitter backlash chilling effect? Social media hate can be powerful enough to force artists to apologize and even censor their own art. Jaws dropped as dancer Maddie Ziegler and actor Shia Labeouf wrestled in a cage for pop artist Sia’s “Elastic Heart” video in January. The provocative nearly-nude duet of Ziegler, 12, and Labeouf, 28, resulted in a social media backlash crying “incest” and “pedophilia” that provoked Sia to apologize. "I anticipated some 'pedophilia!!!' cries for this video," she tweeted. "All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring 'Sia' states. I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart. My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.” The negative effects of social media are hardly limited to Sia alone. Rapper Redfoo, half of the electro-rap group LMFAO, recently self-censored by attaching this disclaimer to his “Literally, I Can’t’ video: “The following is a satirical video based on Sororities/

Fraternities and the cliché “Literally I Can’t.” This content is in no way to be interpreted as negative towards any groups of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such.” The rapper, a recurring judge on the Austrailian version of The X Factor, is the subject of a Change.org petition asking Channel 7 to pull him as a judge. “Hey @Channel7 — it should be patently obvious by now that people will no longer sit by while misogynists are given a pass. Sack @RedFoo now,” said Twitter personality @Clementine_Ford. Redfoo, who has now added the disclaimer and deactivated the YouTube “like” and “dislike” options on “Literally, I Can’t,” was spooked into censorship by this Twitter antagonism. Following the incident, he tweeted, “Another example of critics victimizing an artist by purposely misinterpreting his/her work to support a pre-existing agenda. #LiterallyICant.”

 Sia @sia

I anticipated some ‘pedophilia!!!’ Cries for this video. All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring ‘sia’ self states.

 Sia @sia

I a pologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart. My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody.

Spring 2015

 Redfoo @redfoo

Another example of critics victimizing an artist by purposely misinterpreting his/her work to support a pre-existing agenda. #LiterallyICant.

“Oftentimes [artists] tend to disproportionately pay attention to the bad responses. It’s the nasty ones that you tend to focus on,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. Tweets criticizing the perceived Nazism in Nicki Minaj’s lyric video for “Only” pushed the Anti-Defamation League’s director to release a statement on November 10th condemning the video’s red arm-band wearing cartoon army and swastika-esque logos. “Nicki Minaj’s new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop-culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism,” read the statement. The director, Jeffrey Osborne, told Rolling Stone that he would not apologize, but Minaj later stated, “I didn't come up with the concept, but I'm very sorry and take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art.” With the release of controversial material, there will always be a group who cries out over social media with their own interpretations of the art. Whatever motives an artist explicitly argues, some are still forced into censorship and for others, apology won’t diminish misinterpretations. For “Elastic Heart,” Sia described the actors as “two warring ‘Sia’ states”; Labeouf said Ziegler was a symbol for battling and chasing his “lost childhood.” Despite Sia’s motives, her

critics twisted her motives into pedophilia and incest. Minaj said that her video was influenced by the Cartoon Network show Metalocalypse and the graphic novel turned movie Sin City, while the Jewish community have insisted the video be taken down for alluding to Nazi propaganda. Redfoo claimed his video was “satirical,” but the video offended many by its derogation of college-aged females. In terms of whether or not potential offensiveness should stifle creativity and necessitate an apology, it is unlikely that an artist can eliminate the Twitter trolls, and that’s the social media fear that will continue in the music industry. “I think artists are thinking ‘wow I could do this and I’d really like to challenge this, but what are the tweets going to look like in the morning?’” Thompson said. “So that’s the downside, the chilling effect.” • Mackenzie Nichols (Journalism)

 Nicki Minaj @nickiminaj

I didn’t come up w/ the concept, but I’m very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I’d never condone Nazism in my art.

Editorial

CULT OF

PERSONALITY “I’m from California, but I done moved to Texas/ My bad, I’m dyslexic in my four-door mango Lexus.” The author of the above lyric is a rapper with over a million Twitter followers and has worked with artists like Mac Miller, Diplo, and Childish Gambino. “Ho suck my dick cause I took her to the opera/ Bitch suck my nuts cause I wear nice watches/ I’m looking like an ostrich, black like I’m gothic/ Hoes suck my dick cause I laugh when they shopping.” The author of this lyric has released almost 50 mixtapes and eight LPs as a solo artist and likewise has over one million followers on Twitter. How is it possible for lyrics such as these (and the similar quality verses that accompany them) to earn such incredible levels of fame for artists who are relatively distant from the mainstream and – by most standards –not exactly virtuosos? And why do those fans who contribute to the growing list of followers even bother listening in the first place? Is it irony? Is it spite? Or is there a genuine appeal to this music?

Spring 2015

Two of the leading musicians in any discussion of popular music of questionable quality are Riff Raff and Lil B, the authors of the abovequoted lines. Riff Raff, also known as “Jody Highroller,” “The White Wesley Snipes,” “Kodeine Bryant” and “Gucci Mane With A Spray Tan,” among many other likewise absurd nicknames, is a rapper from Texas whose style is comparable to a fever dream trap party at the glow stick factory. His lyrics are full of references to incredible feats of skill like shooting BBs through Cheerios and long lists of everyday products of which Riff Raff has Versace versions, such as Glocks, rafts, and sleeping bags. However, although he raps lines as shiny as a candy gloss sports car, his work is often mocked for a perceived lack of substance with forced rhymes and repetitive cadence. Lil B, formerly of the Bay Area rap group The Pack, is often better recognized by his pseudonym Based God, or perhaps even better known from the expression “Thank You Based God.” Lil B raps in a raw and frequently nonsensical stream of consciousness flow, and has gained notoriety for a feud with basketball star Kevin Durant that culiminated in a self-explanatory song called “Fuck Kevin Durant,” Whatever Lil B may lack in quality, he certainly makes up in quantity. His prolific catalogue even boasts an almost six-hour long, 101 song mixtape released in 2013. As a result of Lil B’s absurd behavior, his fans have become almost legendary in their quasi-ironic adoration. Perhaps people follow these artists for the sheer surrealism of their antics. Much of the success of these two musicians can be attributed to the absurd character they portray, particularly through their social media accounts. Riff Raff’s Twitter feed is a regular carnival full of all-caps exclamations dripping in “neon” this and “Versace” that as well as Vines and photos of outlandish shenanigans and rap star lifestyle showboating, like when he dyed his pet husky (“Jody Husky”)

neon blue. Lil B’s social media presence is mainly comprised of retweets of shoutouts from the 1.1 million people he follows along with self-quoted messages of positivity peppered in (when he wasn’t in the throes of the Kevin Durant feud, at least). The capers of these characters extend well beyond social media and recorded releases. Riff Raff, outlandish enough in his day-to-day jagged braids and cartoon tattoos, joined Katy Perry at last year’s VMAs as they walked the red carpet in all-denim outfits in homage to the notorious Justin Timberlake-Britney Spears 2001 VMAs spectacular. Recently, Lil B has been on a tour of colleges giving inspirational speeches to students, having thus far lectured at NYU and MIT with more colleges in the works. Another possible explanation is that people follow these artists purely ironically. Much in the same way that people will consciously choose to watch a notoriously terrible movie like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, some people tune into the Lil B/Riff Raff frequency just for a sense of musical masochism. Like watching a dancer with no rhythm, forced rhymes and nonsense are strangely engaging, as if we are just waiting to see what kind of ridiculous lyric this artist tries to pull off next. Catchphrases are also easy to come by for fans of Lil B and Riff Raff. Between repeated praises of “TYBG” or ad-lib Versacification of day-to-day objects, these artists are prime sources of sarcastic injokes between fans. This of course poses a potential problem for fans of the train-wreck though, as often by sheer habituation and the effect of constant exposure, those who started off listening as a joke find their sing-alongs growing less cynical and more earnest. So maybe these artists have such fervent followings thanks to the actual appeal of their work. And that’s not really all that crazy. Lil B’s music, while unrefined, is fun and different, though best taken in small doses. And Riff Raff, with production assistance from Diplo, makes top-quality party music with all the trimmings: danceable rhythms, loud bass and wild, carefree extravagance. While it can be argued that these artists do not produce the most

palatable music, it would be entirely remiss to suggest that they have not earned their fame. While sometimes hard to love, their work is not entirely without merit. Most importantly, they have constructed incredibly unique, eccentric and likeable characters and expertly broadcast those personas through the ever quirkhungry social media world. Even if their music fails to last the ages, the world has been forever blessed by Based God and may never be able to wash out Riff Raff’s neon glow.

• David Murphy (Behavioral Neuroscience)

Feature

The State of

Music Journalism by David McDevitt (International Affairs/Economics)

Every Tuesday evening I walk into a room of writers, artists, photographers and other brands of music geeks as we talk about the work we’ve done over the week, building the latest issue of Tastemakers while jumping through the typical hoops of college student life. I can’t say the meetings are the most dramatic or intense things a student can be doing with their time in college—talking about the year in music, bickering about who gets to write about Gerard Way’s new album and giggling at the fact that his career still exists, ignoring the fact that in one form or another most of us had a crush on him in some way at one point. Nevertheless, I think writing about music stands to be one of the heaviest additions to my life in 2014. I walked into my first meeting about a year ago, too scared to really say anything, and now I find myself pestering our editor-in-chief with emails at 3am on a semi-regular basis. I can’t say I got into it for any other reason besides that it was fun. Music has always been a passion for me, and the words to describe it have always been important to me, so it was a pretty easy choice. The inspiration to work as we do comes from those who do this kind of work for a living. Thanks to the media revolution Spring 2015

of the past two decades, independent music magazines are more numerous and more diverse than anyone imagined in 1967 when Rolling Stone was founded. Now we have a network of publications covering everything from experimental shoegaze groups to underground rap revivals, powered by a network of writers, editors and photographers who hold their work as their passion. I wanted

Thanks to the media revolution of the past two decades, independent music magazines are more numerous and more diverse than anyone imagined in 1967 when Rolling Stone was founded. to get to know this group, from those who report on hole-in-the-wall local scenes to those who write national headlines, to find out what their days are like and how they got to be where they are. In order to survive in music journalism, one must be a self-starter from the beginning. The vicious cycle of employment experience

(“I need experience to get a job, I need a job to get experience”) comes into play greatly for music writers. Unlike a traditional job search where young professionals spend a few years at the bottom rung of a company for little to no pay in exchange for having those years of experience on a resume, writing for music magazines forces you out on your own to find that experience, letting you slowly toil away at building an online presence. Although a few internships exist, like the one offered by Stereogum in New York, few take the path, with the majority of writers slowly building themselves up until they have enough opportunities to contribute that it can become their primary source of income. How a writer builds themselves up to the point where they can consider their writing as a primary source of income is unique, as full time employment at a publication or a position as an editor is a tough to achieve yet attainable goal for many writers as they look to stabilize themselves in the industry. At the beginning, a writer’s best friend is not a degree in English, but the people they know, the writing they’ve done on

It might sound silly, but I consider Twitter the sole reason I was able to become a writer. Instead of degrees or internships or anything resembling a resume, I just talked enough about music for free that people started to pay me to do it. personal blogs and, oddly enough, their Twitter handle. “My Twitter presence was becoming increasingly popular. I mostly talked about rap music; it felt like the first place where people took my opinions seriously,” said Meaghan Garvey, a freelance writer who has contributed to Pitchfork, Billboard, and Complex. After a friend on Twitter gave her the opportunity to write a piece for The Village Voice, Garvey began to feel more confident pitching to other publications. “Slowly but surely, I started to get taken more seriously as a legitimate writer and not just a loudmouth on Twitter. It might sound silly, but I consider Twitter the sole reason I was able to become a writer. Instead of degrees or internships or anything resembling a resume, I just talked enough about music for free that people started to pay me to do it.” Every writer emphasized the importance of their social media presence in forming connections, and how those led to initial opportunities. “I stayed in touch with certain people, and met people going through to shows and blogging and Twitter,” said Andy O’Connor, a freelance writer who mainly covers metal for Pitchfork. “SXSW is where I met Brandon Stosuy, who gave me work at Pitchfork. That’s when things really turned around for me.”

Feature Spring 2015

The road to stability as a music journalist does not come without its bumps. Questions of legitimacy as a writer are only worsened when the line between an amateur writer and a professional is very foggy. “To be honest, up until last year, I always feel like a bit of a sham in the writing world—like I’d tricked everyone into taking me seriously, and at any minute, I’d reveal myself as an imposter,” admitted Garvey. “Something clicked this past year, though. I wrote my first Pitchfork review in January of 2014, and it felt overwhelming and daunting. My last review of 2014 for the site (of Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint) was one of my proudest writing moments, and it felt like an affirmation, too— that I finally belonged, and wasn’t just some hack struggling to fit in.” Even after a sense of legitimacy has been established, the sporadic and sometimes inconsistent nature of freelance pay and compensation makes writing a risky means of supporting oneself. Many writers find their involvement in the industry financially unsustainable, particularly early in their career. Writers often need to supplement their income with second jobs or regard music journalism as a side gig. “I wrote throughout my undergrad but never intended on turning it into a career because of perceived instability (and relatively low income) in the profession,” said Jamieson Cox, who works as a mid-level manager for a university in Canada and writes for Pitchfork, Billboard and TIME in the evenings.

Financial troubles don’t simply end once enough publications want you to write for them. Often, writers are forced to push and advocate for their deserved pay. “They should tell you how to harass people to pay you on time in school. That’s all I’ll say on the matter.” said O’Connor when asked about struggling with magazines and blogs for compensation. Garvey had experienced similar disputes. “I have absolutely dealt with financial troubles in this field, much more often than I think is fair. It’s frustrating to have put in days or weeks of work, and not be compensated for it until months later. Often, the burden is on you to remind

The question remains, where does the drive come from to keep yourself in an industry as rocky and unstable as music journalism? publications that they owe you money; I’ve had to teach myself to be a bit more confrontational in this regard, but it still feels uncomfortable for me. I left one regular position last year because of extremely delayed payments; I have no hard feelings towards that publication, and still contribute there less frequently, but I did feel that my hard work was being taken advantage of.” The level of compensation required to support writers tends to only come from large name publications such as Pitchfork, Billboard, Rolling Stone and Stereogum,

It’s a passion so strong that it creates a universal desire among the writers to share what appeals to them with the rest of the world.

while other publications struggle to stay afloat. Sound of Boston is a Cambridgebased music blog that focuses on the colorful local scene across Boston founded by Knar Bedian and her colleague Jonah Ollman. The presence of Sound of Boston has grown beyond its beginnings as a humble Tumblr page, but even today the capital floating around a local music scene has its limits. The founders of Sound of Boston fund the website out of pocket and work with a staff of volunteer writers. “We are working towards stabilizing the costs of running the site, but as you know, it’s a tough thing.” said Bedian, who primarily works as the marketing coordinator of Intrepid Pursuits, a Boston based app-development startup. “The entire world of journalism is struggling to convince readers that they have to pay for quality content.” The question remains, where does the drive come from to keep yourself in an industry as rocky and unstable as music journalism? Freelancing always comes with

When music excites writers to such a level, the challenges, from difficult pay to inconsistent work, become minor obstacles.

some risks regarding stability but a typical freelancer can mitigate those risks with the proper training and long-term projects. But nevertheless, the challenges a typical freelancer faces are multiplied for music journalists. What is the motivation? A similar answer was given by everyone I asked: a devotion to the art and the desire to give what they love the exposure and recognition it ultimately deserves. “Knowing you can play a role in the success of others is pretty big motivation in itself,” says Bedian. “It’s kind of like when you volunteer for the marathon. All you’re doing is standing with your arm outstretched, a flimsy cup in hand, but when you see the relieved looks of the runners and hear how grateful they are, that cup of water becomes a pretty powerful thing. Whether it’s being able to see my writers grow or being able to read about local acts that are gaining national recognition, Sound of Boston allows me to play a role—no matter how minor—in the success of others.” When music excites writers to such a level, the challenges, from difficult pay to inconsistent work, become minor obstacles. “The music I listen to is not widely covered. That’s true when I was in college, and even now, it’s still true,” says O’Connor. “Metal and noise and punk are often too abrasive for most people, and while their anti-commercial stances are part of the appeal for me, I still want to give people the chance to expose themselves to different music.” It’s a passion so strong that it creates a universal desire among the writers to share what appeals to them with the rest of the world. 41

Album Reviews

If you would like to submit a review to be considered for publishing in print or online, e-mail: tmreviews@gmail.com Reviews

Sleater-Kinney No Cities to Love Release date January 20 Label Sub Pop Records Genre Indie Rock Tasty tracks Price Tag, No Anthems, Fade

Spring 2015

How do you come back after saying goodbye? In waking life, this isn’t really an issue; most of the time our farewells aren’t farewells so much as ellipses reversed by a text with plans for next week. In music, a band’s departure carries a much heavier weight (cosmic for their devout) and the weight placed on the return is proportionally high. Recent acts have shouldered this burden with varying degrees of success: The Dismemberment Plan’s 2012 comeback Uncanny Valley resuscitated the band’s nervy energy sans magic, while Swans’ 2010 return My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky was more of a cobwebs-dusting session that paved the way for Michael Gira and company to reach career highs with 2012’s The Seer and 2014’s To Be Kind. Sleater-Kinney face a comparably difficult challenge given the lofty stature many assign to their previous album, 2005’s punk thesis statement The Woods, but wisely don’t attempt to match that album’s grandeur. Instead, the goals of their comeback album No Cities to Love are closer to those of Weiss and Brownstein’s 2011 side-project Wild Flag; like that group’s solitary (and quite good) album, its focus leans more towards mechanized hook delivery and relentless

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forward momentum. Clocking in at just over half an hour, not a minute is wasted in realizing this. “Price Tag” opens the album with purpose, kicking off with a motorik guitar pulse that explodes into a blistering verse and even more searing chorus. Tucker’s vocal delivery here is fiery, as she decries a capitalist system that she also subscribes to, and other songs on No Cities match this intensity in spades. Her vocal assault on “No Anthems” is such a moment, accompanied by drum punishment from Janet Weiss and guitar resembling the sound of dial-up Internet, tamed and harnessed. Similar guitar pyrotechnics dominate the emotionally gooey “Fangless” and “A New Wave,” where Tucker’s declarations of love are framed cleverly enough to justify using the timeworn subject matter. Other lyrics are clunkier. Tucker’s cliché lines in the chorus of the otherwise stellar “Surface Envy” about winning, losing and breaking the rules are pretty much dead on arrival, and even her wake-the-dead yelp on “Gimmie Love” can’t sell the heavyhandedness of “gimmie love, never enough.” These moments are mostly few and far between, though. Stadium-ready chants aside,

the majority of Tucker’s talking points on No Cities are meta-examinations focused on the implications her band’s reunion poses. “No Anthems” speaks to the band members’ pride in their sub-mainstream status, and on “Hey Darling” – which doubles as a confessional on stage fright – Tucker muses that “the only thing that comes from fame is mediocrity.” As it pertains to Sleater-Kinney and No Cities to Love, this is far from true. The group’s return comes at a timely moment where feminism isn’t so much a firebrand ideology as a tacitly acknowledged necessity, and their long-standing place within the movement – as well as releasing their most unifying album, potentially ever, in No Cities to Love - will likely raise Sleater-Kinney’s profile to its highest high. On first single “Bury Our Friends” Tucker sneers that she “has no need for sleep this time around,” and if it’s commentary on the band’s plans to continue then No Cities to Love provides a crucial first step. Like D’Angelo with his funk masterstroke Black Messiah last December, the album rescinds its authors’ retreat from the spotlight at a time when their presence is needed most. Mike Doub (Psychology/Journalism)

Lupe Fiasco Testuo & Youth Release date January 20 Label Atlantic Records Genre Hip-hop Tasty tracks Adoration of The Magi, Chopper, Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)

Listening to Tetsuo & Youth feels like leaving the world you thought you knew behind. You think you know everything, but come to the realization that your thoughts change and you grow to appreciate new experiences, while finding a way to stay true to who you are. Lupe Fiasco offers this experience throughout his fifth studio album. Those who have heard of Fiasco are likely also familiar with his widely contested opinions about social inequality within our political systems, but Fiasco stays true to his metaphorical ingenuity on Tetsuo & Youth by incorporating delicate melodies and catchy beats with lyrics that will make the heart heavy. The unique production of this album makes listeners question and redefine the space that hip-hop music creates for their kind. What initially sets apart Tetsuo & Youth from Fiasco’s past albums is, amongst other things, its structure, which follows the course of the four seasons. Each season is characterized by sounds of nature, healthy children and moody melodies that engage our senses. In the first song, “Summer,” we hear children laughing, playing in the pool and birds chirping against the docile backdrop of violins. In “Fall” a slower tune sets the scene where seemingly younger children are heard jumping in piles of leaves while their older siblings rake up the mess. As “Winter” rolls around, the chilling howls of the wind creep in and finally there’s the first sign of “Spring.” The compositional audacity is matched lyrically. For those unfamiliar with Fiasco’s previous work, he is well-known for his use of breathtaking metaphors, astute parallels and heavy references to real life. In the album’s second song “Mural” Fiasco lays down the law with vibrant spitfire for nine straight minutes, and it only gets better as he touches upon topics that have been integral to his life on other songs. “Dots & Lines” for example speaks to his tumultuous relationship with Atlantic

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Records while “Prisoner 1 &2,” “Little Death” and “Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)” use religious paradigms to point out the problems with racial profiling, mass incarceration, drug abuse and poverty within communities of color. While this “political rap” may be aggressive and intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with Fiasco or the roots of rap music in general, Fiasco pairs his lyrics with earworm beats that fit comfortably in a party setting. First single “Deliver” showcases the R&B styling of hip-hop artist Ty Dolla $ign, with each snap and snare paired with elements of classical music. Sounds of the harp, violin, banjo and saxophone make their ways into the other songs on Tetsuo & Youth as well, sitting comfortably alongside guest artists like Ab-Soul, Nikki Jean and Troi. The unique production quality on the album, along with Lupe’s conscious lyrical content and the contributions of his guests, quashes the notion that “turning up” can’t go hand in hand with social awareness. Timothea Pham (Communication Studies)

Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear Release date January 20 Label Atlantic Records Genre Hip-hop Tasty tracks I Love You, Honeybear, Bored in the U.S.A., I Went to the Store One Day

Reviews Spring 2015

“Seen you around, what’s your name?” Josh Tillman asks in the concluding seconds of I Love You, Honeybear, his second full-length under the Father John Misty moniker. He ends the record at the beginning: meeting his wife-to-be in the parking lot of a general store on an otherwise routine mission for booze, coffee and cigarettes. It’s a chance encounter that blossomed into the adoring relationship that forms the thematic backbone of the record; a coincidence in a pointless and uncaring universe that actually allowed two people to find happiness. The sparse and lovely “I Went to the Store One Day” ends a richly orchestrated and impeccably arranged LP with Tillman quietly, sincerely baffled by his good fortune and envisioning how a life with his beloved Emma will play out before leaving his listener hanging on the words that introduced them, compelled to replay the whole chronicle again posthaste. I Love You, Honeybear is a record of beauty, humor, cynicism, self-doubt and a universe of other contradictions, with Tillman’s faith in his love for another person as the center that keeps it all from spinning away. It might sound like an unexpected turn from Fear Fun, the strange and colorful first Father John Misty LP that cast Tillman as a lothario fueled by all manner of substance abuse for whom true love would never be in the cards, but it ultimately makes perfect sense as a progression. Tillman’s character has grown with him, and Honeybear feels like a proper realization of his talents. The record builds on the strengths of Fear Fun in both songwriting and sound, expanding a sharp debut into a sweeping, stunning follow-up. Honeybear adds psychedelic and soulful touches to Father John’s folk-rock palette, enveloped in lush production that feels grandiose but never overbearing. From the gentle strums of “Chateau Lobby #4” and the

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reverbed “woah-oh-oh-ohs” that open “When You’re Smiling and Astride Me” to the storming whirlwind conclusion of “The Ideal Husband” and even the odd-song-out electronica of “True Affection,” the record handles the twists and turns of Tillman’s whims with ease. It’s bombastic when it needs to be and tenderly understated when it needs to be that too. Tillman uses this spectrum of moods to map his internal and external conflict, along with a lyric sheet that will surely stand as one of 2015’s finest. Fear Fun’s biting sense of humor returns with a vengeance on the caustically funny “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment,” and even the record’s most open love songs can toss in a line like, “I want to take you in the kitchen / lift up your wedding dress someone was probably murdered in,” and make it work. Tillman’s satirical wit sells the litany of modern absurdities that comprise penultimate track “Holy Shit,” and he pens the anthem of a generation as frustrated and annoyed with itself as with the institutions

and ideas that have failed it with “Bored in the U.S.A.” Behind the cynicism and the black comedy, Tillman also maintains a sense of hope for something genuine. When he writes about Emma, or directly to her in certain cases, a true and honest affection shines through. For all the over-the-top aspects of Tillman’s persona as Father John Misty, it’s sincerity like this that makes Honeybear such a relatable, resonant listen. He’s as much full of self-doubt as he is of himself, confused and contradictory in the same ways most of us are, and thankful that he’s found someone with a perspective on the madness of humanity that matches his own. The couple strolls hand-in-hand through the apocalypse on the title track, fine with it because they have each other. “Everything is doomed, and nothing will be spared, but I love you, honeybear,” Tillman sings. It’s a line that could double as an abstract for his weirdly hopeful masterpiece. Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

John Carpenter Lost Themes Release date February 3 Label Sacred Bones Genre Electronic Tasty tracks Vortex, Wraith

The music world’s latest squabble over the meaning of “artistry,” as pertaining to Beck and Beyoncé, has had many people thinking again about whether taking on multiple roles makes an artist’s work purer or more compelling. It’s a debate that comes up often in the creation of any work involving multiple individuals, whether an album, a TV series or a movie. While it’s common for film directors to take a major role in aspects of the production such as writing, editing and cinematography, the director as composer too is a much rarer breed of auteur, including David Lynch, Robert Rodriguez, Clint Eastwood and of course, John Carpenter, maker of movies such as Halloween, Escape from New York and The Thing, who not only defined the visual aesthetics of sci-fi and horror in the late seventies and early eighties, but also their sound with his pulsing and eerie synthesizer scores. And now, for the first time, Carpenter has decided to release a non-soundtrack album, winkingly titled Lost Themes. Each track on the album bears a singleword title, vague yet evocative enough to allow the mind to wander and create its own imagery in lieu of visual accompaniment. Perhaps the most notable difference to nostalgic Carpenter fans is his move from analog synthesizers to software. It’s tempting to call this a misstep, but the newer tools are capable of producing equally compelling results, as Carpenter shows with the propulsive opening track “Vortex,” which could sit alongside his classic credit themes. On the other hand, some songs come out more closely resembling a videogame score than one for film. Whether that’s a problem depends on the listener’s taste and what sort of game Carpenter happens to be evoking. In particular, “Obsidian” goes all over the map in the span of eight minutes, from beautiful but faintly foreboding moments reminiscent of Kenji Yamamoto’s brilliant and restrained Metroid Prime soundtrack to a schlocky organ solo that feels like it was pulled straight from an RPG boss battle.

Carpenter is no stranger to schlock, of course—this is the man who wrote the line “I’m here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.” But coming from a man who has often known when and how to show restraint, Lost Themes can become tiresome, and rarely reaches the ominous and moody tones of his movie scores. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures,” said Carpenter regarding his process. “The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller.” While Lost Themes is a fun curio for fans, perhaps Carpenter’s misstep was to assume that his music wasn’t already as full and complete as it

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needed to be. As fun as Carpenter found it to be freed from the pressures of actors, editors and studios, perhaps the restrictions that they put in place were what enabled him to create his best work in the first place. Nathan Goldman (Sociology)

We publish album reviews online too! tastemakersmag.com

Tasty

Etcetera

MIKE DOUB (PSYCHOLOGY)

Musical ideas born in the underground rarely stay there. More often than not they resurface in the mainstream, recycled and repurposed by the old guard in search of a makeover. This song and dance played out a few times last year, as with Taylor Swift’s 2013 indie music curation 1989 and U2’s Arcade Fire-indebted album app Songs of Innocence, and the appeal of this approach is recognizable if dubiously derived. The lure of what’s new is a more tempting siren song than the diminishing returns resulting from more of the same. Few artists are more underground than Daniel Dumille – aka Zen Love X, MF Doom, DOOM, Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah – and few artists have seen their ideas take flight like Dumille either. His penchant for cartoon mythology came before a time when the Marvel franchise had its film releases mapped out into the next decade, and his rhyme scheme – a cryptic, wordy stew of references and casual asides – has been adapted by upstarts like Odd Future and Pro Era, amongst others. His show antics (Doom was known to send impostors to concerts in his stead) are also a direct precursor to the anti-establishment tantrums of bands like Death Grips, one of the few artists since Doom to channel his intense devotion to operating outside of the system so well.

Spring 2015

These qualities have been consistent companions in his musical output. During his peak years Dumille operated under a vast array of aliases, alternating frequently from one to another over a sevenyear span in the mid-2000s that remains his artistic peak to this day. During those years Doom could seemingly rap about anything over anything, and his endless wealth of vantage points was only matched by his numerous musical compositions (among them

a 10-part instrumental compilation) and a seemingly constant schedule of releases. It wasn’t to last: birth certificate woes forced Dumille into a London exile, and his releases have since have been sparse and divisive. These circumstances have returned Doom to his most underground since his come-up and (if his long-delayed Ghostface collaboration is still on the table as promised) they place him in a unique position to reestablish why he’s oft-imitated by today’s off-kilter rappers, and to reestablish his dominance in a moment where demand for off-kilter rappers is at an all-time premium. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t seize the opportunity though. Just as Dumille, as Zen Love X, vanished in the mid-90s before resurfacing as MF Doom five years later, it’s conceivable that he could just as likely disappear into smoke tomorrow without a moment’s notice. It’s this enigmatic quality that makes Dumille so fascinating, and there’s no shortage of mystery in his immense catalog. As unwieldy as it is rewarding, Dumille’s discography provides unique insight into one of rap’s most talented, singular and villainous voices.

WHERE TO BEGIN

(2004) MADVILLAINY BY MADVILLAIN

(2003) VA U D E V I L L E V I L L A I N BY V I K TO R VA U G H N

Dumille’s collaboration with the jazz enthusiast Madlib is a pairing of sensibilities too perfect for words. Few rappers outside of the California-based Madlib can match Doom’s prolific streak, with dozens of releases under as many monikers, or Doom’s interest in mysterious mantras and cannabis (the two apparently cemented their connection over several joints, resulting in the album’s celebratory “America’s Most Blunted”). The musical sounds of both rapper/producers align equally well, with the combination of Doom’s twisted boom bap and Madlib’s jazz-sampling oddities providing the connective tissue for Doom’s staggering mic skills. Throughout Madvillainy he hops from topic to topic with ease, dropping densely-worded brags (the standout “All Caps”) touching love songs (“Fancy Clown”) and acknowledgments of the duo’s real-world hype (closer “Rhinestone Cowboy”) with coded rhymes that resist dissection. On Madvillainy Doom’s pairing with Madlib resulted in a chorus-less throwback to straight rapping that also sounds like an artifact from some distant future, and the best album either would touch.

If Madvillainy featured sounds of the past executed in heretofore unseen patterns, Vaudeville Villain is straight-up sci-fi. Released under his Viktor Vaughn alias – a reference to the alter ego of comic book villain Doctor Doom – Vaudeville Villain is full of allusions to sci-fi lore (“The Drop”) with futuristic electronics and a nocturnal ambiance to match. It’s also one of the few releases from Dumille not to feature beats exclusively from the metal-faced villain himself, although many of his character tropes are consistent in his lyrics. He womanizes, hilariously (“Let Me Watch) he boasts (“Saliva”) and he raps his ass off (“Open Mic Nigh Part 1”) all while maintaining a collected cool. What distinguishes his rhymes from other albums is also what defines Vaudeville Villain on the whole: as Viktor Vaughn Doom raps at his darkest, his most villainous.

(1999) O P E R AT I O N : D O O M S D A Y BY MF DOOM (2004) MM.. FOOD BY MF DOOM Though MF Doom proved himself a master of traditional rap tactics on Operation: Doomsday, the most viscerally exciting MF Doom albums are the undefinable ones, the ones where Doom throws out the script and travels further down the rabbit hole of his own mind. Mm.. Food is a hard one to pin down: its narrative arc is framed as his supervillain’s comeback after a stinging defeat, but unlike Operation: Doomsday Mm.. Food has no reallife allegory. Released in 2004, Mm.. Food was the conclusion of Doom’s untouchable streak, a period when he dropped classic after classic with seeming ease. Mm.. Food is absolutely one of these. Over instrumentals like the slickly demented piano on “Poo-Putt Platter” and the breathy beat-boxing on “Hoe Cakes,” Doom uses food as a metaphor to explore the obscene, the mundane and his own position within hip hop. As such Mm.. Food represents Doom at his most idiosyncratic and adeptly out of the box - in other words, his Doomiest.

Though not Daniel Dumille’s first album, Operation: Doomsday is where the tale of the metal-faced villain begins in earnest. His first records with KMD, under the alias Zen Love X, were dense, wordy exercises that informed later releases, but exist as somewhat dated relics within the golden age rap continuum. Operation: Doomsday on the other hand oozes calm menace, as Doom defines a villainous persona for the ages over silky smooth production, tossing off cold threats and exuding a fascination with cartoons that informs the album’s structure. At times Dumille lets slip personal details, as on the penultimate track “?” where he mourns his brother’s untimely passing, but the primary focus is Dumille’s revival as a rapper. It’s fitting, then, when the album closes with standout “I Hear Voices,” where both the protagonist/antagonist of Operation: Doomsday and MF Doom himself emerge triumphant after apparent defeat.

WHAT’S NEXT? (2003) TA K E M E T O Y O U R L E A D E R BY KING GEEDORAH

Etcetera

Doom’s fascination with extraterrestrial fantasy continues on Take Me to Your Leader, in which Doom raps as King Geedorah: a three-headed dragon based on an opponent of the legendary space invader Godzilla. Doom flirts with rapping with three different perspectives as per his alias, but Take Me to Your Leader soars as both a production showcase (pillaging once again from his Special Herbs compilation) and a chance for Doom’s slew of recurring collaborators to shine. For those who found Special Herbs overlong and over rap-less, Take Me to Your Leader delivers.

(2005) THE MOUSE AND THE MASK BY DANGERDOOM For those not worn out on producer Danger Mouse’s (born Brian Burton) spaghetti western pastiche in 2015, his 2005 collaboration with Doom is a satisfying meeting of two cartoon-obsessed minds. Released in collaboration with Adult Swim, The Mouse and the Mask channels the network’s trademark goofy pulp and the same sort of odd couple sensibility that inspired Burton’s Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up The Grey Album. Moreover, The Mouse and the Mask is worthwhile if only because it features what will hopefully be a teaser of his Ghostface collaboration DOOMSTARKS in album highlight “The Mask.”

(2009) BORN LIKE THIS BY DOOM

Spring 2015

The first release since Doom’s London sabbatical, Born Like This sees the metal-faced villain noticeably less dexterous on the mic. Rap-wise Doom is a heavier presence on the album, seemingly stumbling rather than gliding over beats, and more often than on previous records relying on one-liners that weren’t funny the first time (“Ballskin” and “Batty Boyz,” which details the sexual relations between Batman and Robin). Still, Doom’s wordplay mostly retains its unpredictable, free associative structure, and Born Like This has its fair share of highlights, as with its Wu-Tang guest spots and production that samples Dilla (the excellent “Gazillion Ear”) and displays Doom’s predilection for vinyl crackle.

DEEP CUTS (1991) MR. HOOD BY KMD

THE MANY

(2000) B L A C K B A S TA R D S B Y K M D

FA C E S O F D O O M

(2006) SPECIAL HERBS: THE BOX SET (VOL. 0-9) BY MF DOOM

MADVILLAIN VIKTOR VAUGHN MF DOOM KING GEEDORAH DANGERDOOM DOOM KMD JJ DOOM NEHRUVIANDOOM

(2012) KEYS TO THE KUFFS BY JJ DOOM

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART (2004) VENOMOUS VILLIAN BY V I K TO R VA U G H N (2010) E X P E K T O R AT I O N L I V E BY MF DOOM (2014) NEHRUVIANDOOM BY NEHRUVIANDOOM

AMY & THE ENGINE

Etcetera

Spring 2015

TASTY RECIPE Green Tea White Chocolate Brownies Instructions

Type of dish Dessert Preparation time 15 minutes Cook time 20–25 minutes Difficulty Easy

1 Preheat oven at 350. 2 Grease and flour an 8x8 baking pan. 3 In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the

Ingredients

butter and white chocolate and heat at thirty second intervals until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

Moldy

Stale

Edible

Fresh

Tasty

1 cup flour

(about 10 minutes)

1/4 cup sweet matcha powder

4 Stir in eggs and matcha powder until combined,

6 oz white chocolate

then add flour, vanilla, and almond extract just

6 tbsp butter

until incorporated. Lastly stir in almonds and white

2 eggs

chocolate chips.

1/2 tsp vanilla

5 Pour into prepared pan and spread into even layer.

1/4 tsp almond extract

Bake about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

6 Let cool in pan on wire rack.

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

7 Cut and enjoy.

ZOOMED Can you tell which six album covers we’ve zoomed in on here?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz, Peter Bjorn and John Living Thing, Basement Jaxx Rooty 2nd Row:

The Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca, Parliament Mothership Connection, Architecture in Helsinki Moment Bends 1st Row:

CRYPTOQUOTE

FIND BIEBER We’ve hidden Justin Bieber somewhere in this issue. Find him and maybe something cool will happen...

“ P Q C

W I V I T

H P C Q S V A R C P G

Q I M V Y

Q I

H P H M T Q

” —Lil B 51