Issue 41

Summer Music Festivals | 36

YOU'RE MY

Unknown Mortal Orchestra | 30

GUITAR HERO Celebrating 10 Years of Virtual Rock Stardom

Loudness Wars | 21

northeastern students on music

Summer Music Festivals 36 Unknown Mortal Orchestra 30 Loudness Wars 21

No 41

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Staff Writers Kelly Subin David McDevitt Jason Levy Clarissa Cooney Audrey Cooney Anika Krause Anu Gulati Sarah Kotowski Taylor Piepenbrink Jonathan Vayness Raquel Massoud Emily Arntsen Mallika Malkan Peter Giunta

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Tastemakers Music Magazine 232 Curry Student Center 360 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115 tastemakersmag@gmail.com © 2014 tastemakers music magazine all rights reserved

Photo Director Ben Stas

Art & Design Allison Bako Jennifer Heinz Marissa Rodakis Rebecca Still Carisa Tong Sara Trosky Marketing Camille Frazier Deirdre Massaro Emily Good Kelsey Eng Kim Mecca Nate Hewes Rami McCarthy Sofia Benitez

Meet the Staff

About

Listening to

Quote

Tim DiFazio Position Reviews Editor Major English Graduating Fall 2017 Favorite Venue Brighton Music Hall Tastemaker Since Fall 2013

Young Thug Barter 6

“This is what I get for going to class”

World’s End Girlfriend Seven Idiots Joanna Newsom Divers

Anika Krause Position Staff Writer Major English/Secondary Education Graduating 2017 Favorite venue The Sinclair Tastemaker Since Fall 2014

Mother Mother Ghosting Kixxie Siete Clear Weather

“The world needs more crazy comparative timelines”

Beach House Thank Your Lucky Stars

Joey Dussault Position Interviews Editor Major Journalism/Music Industry Graduating Fall 2016 Favorite Venue The Sinclair Tastemaker Since Fall 2012

Snail Feral that dog Totally Crushed Out

“Good journalism always breaks a few laws”

Lovely Bad Things “Hear or Anywhere”

Ben Stas Position Editor in Chief Major Journalism/English Graduating ???

Favorite venue Great Scott Tastemaker Since Fall 2012

Hum You’d Prefer an Astronaut Luna Pup Tent Drake If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

“Were you saying something before I interrupted you to talk about Oasis?”

Horse Jumper of Love

Photo by Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

Table of Contents Cover Story

Editorial

26

24

You’re My Guitar Hero An in-depth look at the vicarious rock ‘n’ roll gaming franchise

Reviews

08 42

Show Reviews The Jesus and Mary Chain, Tobias Jesso Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., The Growlers

Album Reviews Reviews of Ought, The World is a Beautiful Place and I No Longer Want to Die, Julia Holter and Deerhunter’s new albums

32 34

Horse Jumper of Love Ryan Kehr chats with up-andcomers Horse Jumper of Love

Surveying the web’s finest musical obscurities

Ladies is Punks Too Why the music scene needs to support women

36 39

Summer Music Festivals A recap of musical gatherings near and far

In Defense of Culture Club’s This Time

Interviews

30 40

12

Local Photos

Can a reunion tour function as a 401k?

21

Birthed from the Womb: The ER

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Terence Cawley sits down with UMO’s Ruban Nielson

06 Calendar

18

A Retirement Plan for the Aging Rocker

Loudness Wars How modern audio engineering is wreaking havoc on quality sound

Inside one of Boston’s newest house venues

Local Talent

16

Bandcamp Jams

Features

Palehound Ellen Kempner talks scenes and songwriting with Tastemakers’ Joey Dussault

Etcetera

46

The Godfather of Industrial Music A “Closer” look at Trent Reznor

Calendar November Su

1

Sa

2

3

4

5

Deafheaven Royale YOB Brighton Music Hall The Districts The Sinclair

Marina and the Diamonds House of Blues

Jethro Tull Wang Theatre

10

6

7 Beirut House of Blues

Boston Hassle Fest Cambridge Elks Lodge

Brighton Music Hall

11

12

13

14

Natalie Prass The Sinclair

Minus the Bear Paradise Rock Club

Wand Middle East Upstairs

Odesza House of Blues

Django Django Royale

The Lone Below House of Blues

Small Black Brighton Music Hall

The King Khan & BBQ Show Middle East Downstairs

18

19

8

9

15

16

17

EL VY The Sinclair

Fuzz The Sinclair

Shamir The Sinclair

Hudson Mohawke Paradise Rock Club

!!!

Middle East Downstairs

The English Beat Brighton Music Hall

22

23

24

25

Travis Scott

The Wombats

House of Blues

House of Blues

Okkervil River Royale King Diamond Orpheum Theatre HEALTH Brighton Music Hall

The Flamin Groovies Brighton Music Hall

29

30

Nobunny Middle East Upstairs

20

21

Andrew McMahon and The Wilderness House of Blues

My Morning Jacket

Grimes Paradise Rock Club

26

27

Orpheum Theater Together Pangea Middle East Upstairsl

28

The Front Bottoms Royale

Rockommends

Diarrhea Planet November 13-15 @ Great Scott The Quality of Band’s Name: Quality of Band’s Music ratio has never been more skewed than with these dudes, who will be playing a 3-night run of shows at Allston’s Great Scott (Sunday’s show is 18+, while the other two nights will unfortunately be 21+). I personally promise that you will not leave without hearing four guitarists shred the heck out of some ridiculously fun rock ‘n’ roll jams, and you’d better believe everyone in the room’s going to lose it when they bust out “Ghost With a Boner.”

Forget your homework and come to the party.

Terence Cawley (Biology)

Jethro Tull - The Rock Opera Performed by Ian Anderson November 5 @ City Wang Theatre In perhaps the most daring retrospective on an English agricultural savant, Ian Anderson pays tribute to his guardian angel Jethro Tull at the City Wang Theater. From the man who brought you “Bungle in the Jungle” comes brilliantly composed flute trills set to the churn of a horse-drawn seed drill.

Peter Giunta (Biology)

December Su

Sa

1

2

4

5

The 1975 House of Blues

Parquet Courts Middle East Downstairs

Corrosion of Conformity Brighton Music Hall

10

11

12

6

7

8

Vince Staples Middle East Downstairs

Vanessa Carlton Brighton Music Hall

Rocket from the Tombs Brighton Music Hall

Between the Buried and Me House of Blues

The Get up Kids Paradise Rock Club

The Arcs Orpheum Theatre

Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Pets House of Blues

13

14

Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear Brighton Music Hall

15

16

Good Old War Brighton Music Hall

Bayside Brighton Music Hall

17

18

19

24

25

26

Perfect Pussy Middle East Upstairs

The Academy Is...

House of Blues

20

9

3

21

22

23

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones House of Blues

27

28

29

30

31

Vince Staples December 6 @ The Middle East Downstairs

The Academy Is...

December 13 @ the House of Blues

Vince Staples burst onto the scene in 2015 with the release of his first album, Summertime ‘06, a gritty lifestyle portrait of Staples’ Northside Long Beach upbringing. Touching on poignant social issues and inflicting hard hitting blows to the psyche with his lyrics and delivery, Vince Staples will rock the Middle East Downstairs. Come catch some vibes early December.

Chicago-based pop rock band The Academy Is... have finally reunited after their break up in 2011 to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their debut album Almost Here. Come out to see them headline at the House of Blues and perform it in full this December—your 2005 self will thank you.

Matt Sherman (Marketing)

Taylor Piepenbrink (Music Industry)

Show Reviews

The Jesus and Mary Chain September 29 @ House of Blues

Reviews Fall 2015

8

In 1985, Scottish gloom-meisters The Jesus and Mary Chain released their debut album Psychocandy, which smeared ludicrously distorted guitars over pop melodies in a manner so enthralling that there are still whole subgenres of underground music dedicated to ripping it off. Now the Reid brothers and friends (which currently includes Fountains of Wayne drummer Brian Young and Lush bassist Phil King) are commemorating the 30th anniversary of Psychocandy by playing the whole album live on a tour that came to the House of Blues on Sept. 29.

Opening band The Black Ryder played a set dominated by blurry, Mazzy Star-esque shoegaze. All of the genre’s trademarks- airy harmonies, slide flourishes, layered guitar drones- were present and accounted for, and the results made for pleasant zone-out music. The Black Ryder switched this formula up often enough to keep things interesting, playing bolder riffs in some songs and stripping down to a single twanging guitar and Aimee Nash and Scott Von Ryper’s vocals on the ominous folk ballad “Sweet Come Down” to haunting effect. What The Black Ryder lacked in innovation they made up for with a craftsman’s dedication to nailing their sound which made their set a success.

Rather than dive straight into the album, The Jesus and Mary Chain elected to play a seven-song set from their post-Psychocandy career. Many of those numbers, like the dynamic opening run of “April Skies” and “Head On,” demonstrated how guitarist William Reid’s later work largely abandoned the walls of noise he had commanded on Psychocandy in favor of a more streamlined, riff-driven style which brought to the fore the hooks the band had previously buried.

By “Reverence,” however, Reid was coaxing shrill feedback from his amplifiers as singer Jim Reid moaned about wanting to die like Jesus Christ. It is a testament to the power of The Jesus and Mary Chain that they are able to take the adolescent gothic nihilism of their lyrics and make it sound downright seductive when sung live.

After tearing through “Upside Down,” The Jesus and Mary Chain returned to play Psychocandy, starting with possibly their greatest song, the tender “Just Like Honey.”

While Jim’s voice has gotten lower with age, it still sounds great, and the extra depth in his baritone evokes the (Lou) reedy disaffection for which he has always strove. The fact that one could even hear Jim’s vocals through the overdriven din of his brother’s guitar playing is miraculous, as William played the entire Psychocandy set at a volume louder than even the harshest modern rock bands would dare attempt. When the feedback went into highpitched industrial squeals, the noise became physically painful, but the midrange tones immersed listeners in a more pleasurable sonic chaos. Although Jim was slightly more extroverted, he and his bandmates generally upheld The Jesus and Mary Chain tradition of moving as little as possible, lest they betray any emotions or look uncool. Realizing that a bunch of old men standing around isn’t an incredibly exciting sight, the band went above and beyond on lighting, with multicolored spotlights scanning and flashing and a different light show to complement each song.

Album concerts typically lack spontaneity, and The Jesus and Mary Chain stuck pretty faithfully to Psychocandy’s arrangements, with the exception of the final song, “It’s So Hard.” The band turned that one into an extended noise-guitar workout, with William wrenching thrillingly brutal noise out of his instrument until he could rest assured that every eardrum in the audience had been thoroughly punctured. Hearing an album as classic as Psychocandy live is a can’t-miss experience, but earplugs are a necessity.

Terence Cawley (Biology)

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Kaylan Tran (Graphic Design)

Tobias Jesso Jr. October 10 @ The Sinclair When I arrived to the Sinclair in Cambridge 15 minutes after the 9 p.m. show time, the band Wet, comprised of Joe Valle, Marty Sulkow and Kelly Zutrau, was playing to an already packed house. Formed in Brooklyn, yet with ties to Massachusetts, Wet’s sound is minimalist pop with an R&B feel, grounded by digital percussion (Valle) and reverberant guitar (Sulkow). Zutrau is the singer/songwriter at the middle of the tripod and her voice, simply put, is mystical.

With vocals careening around the room punctuated with every snap and boom from the digital drum kit, Wet treated a packed house to a lesson in empathetic passion. After closing out their set with their hit, “Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl,” accompanied by Jesso’s backup band, Duk, Wet retired and the stream of Jesso fans staked their claim in the brimming crowd

After 15 minutes of house intermission music and roadie activity, an escalating rattle was heard from the back left corner of the mezzanine. Duk, a six-piece revue with drums and horns led by a tambourine, assembled on the stairs leading to the ground floor, Von

Trapp family-style. After playing polkainspired build-up music, the band snaked its way to the stage where it settled and treated the crowd to the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” theme song. Then, to much applause, Tobias Jesso Jr. emerged from the back donning a leather flight jacket with a woolen collar.

Jesso kicked things off with “Crocodile Tears,” a jaunty jam with bouncing Elton John-esque piano. After getting acclimated, Jesso addressed the crowd like he would throughout the show, with an air of humor and flippant self-awareness. This of course is his first major tour with a full band.

Earlier in March I caught Jesso’s show at the upstairs of the Middle East fresh off the release of his debut LP Goon. He played to a capacity crowd, solo, behind the Yamaha electric piano that he wrote the majority of his work on. At times he was bitingly funny and self-conscious, pointing out during songs where he would have his imaginary band kick in. Well, this go-round he had his band in the form of Duk, and some of the self-consciousness had disappeared. Jesso wrapped up his soft love song, “Bad Words,” and stopped to introduce the band, wishing the drummer a happy birthday. He then

motioned towards the trumpet player: “JJ! How much does JJ look like The Weeknd?” The band then broke into “I Can’t Feel My Face,” one of the covers they spontaneously performed.

Others included Ray Charles’ “Georgia on my Mind,” D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does it Feel?),” the “Cops” theme song and “Never Gonna Give you Up.”

Most of Jesso’s songs are slow, thoughtful love songs, so one would expect a melancholy, hopeless romantic on stage. However, Jesso is a constant comedian, never truly dwelling on song material and livening up his piano ballads with the help of Duk. “Hollywood,” his tale of the Los Angeles failure which led to his return home to Canada and musical inspiration, closed out his regular set list. Forgoing the traditional encore, he told the crowd he was just going to stay and play the encore all the way through. He sent Duk away and ambled into “True Love” and “How Could You Babe,” two songs that define his style of timeless, beautiful songwriting and melodies that feel recognizable even if you’ve never heard them before. He then brought out Duk, left us with “Never Gonna Give You Up” and rose to his full 6-foot-7-inch height to bid adieu.

Matt Sherman (Marketing) 9

Reviews The Growlers

Emily Artnsen (English)

Albert Hammond Jr. September 20 @ The Sinclair

Fall 2015

As Strokes fans hang on every Stereogum article promising the rapid return of these indie rock giants, the band’s members have spread out into new projects and new sounds, bringing their dedicated fans along with them. Albert Hammond Jr.’s solo career has spanned nearly as long as The Strokes’ career itself, drawing in fans with his technical, lyrical guitar, which has been hailed as the backbone of the Strokes. On tour with his new album Momentary Masters, Hammond Jr. took the stage at the Sinclair on Sept. 20 with newfound confidence, well-crafted lyrics and all of the aggressively artful outpouring of sound fans have come to know and love.

Local band When Particles Collide started the evening with aggression, slamming out a half-hour set packed with the duo’s slow but jarring collection of classic rock-influenced tunes. Comprised of singer and guitarist Sasha Alcott and drummer Chris Viner, this band-turned-marriage had all the chemistry their name implies, laying out a grin-and-grit splattered set that got the crowd going. Their almost overpowering sound was fitting for Strokes fans longing for the Is This It era’s devil-may-care attitude. This was easily audible in When Particles Collide’s new single “This Town,” a blown-out address to self-destruction.

Next, Prinze George took the stage in complete contrast to their predecessors.

Each member of this dream pop four-piece was dressed in white from head to toe, from singer Naomi Almquist’s gleaming ivory Les Paul to drummer Isabelle De Leon’s glittery set, creating a unified image that instantly caught the crowd’s attention. “White” and “glittery” are fitting descriptions for more than the band’s dress, however. Each song was a firework of energy draped in synth and Almquist’s nearly-eerie vocals. As the band transitioned through their set, from blossoming hit “Upswing” to a haunting cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” these New York natives struggled to hide their smiles, working through the set with all of the excitement and energy only an emerging band on their first tour can bring.

Finally, Albert Hammond Jr. took the stage with palpable confidence. He began with the no frills tune “Rude Customer” off his 2013 AHJ EP, bathed in dim red light, then burst into “Cooker Ship” and fan-favorite “101.” This fast-paced start had the crowd on its toes. It’s hard to describe Hammond’s guitar as anything but athletic. He races deftly from melody to melody and layers harmonies with his bandmates with perfectly sculpted precision. This was the leather jacket, white

tee, 40 oz. and tongue-in-cheek humor music that fans have come to crave from Hammond.

Always joking, Hammond bent the show between a concert and an interactive comedy routine. He’d toss snide “I knows” back to “I Love Yous!” and checked his fly mid-show, making sure to let the room know. He was deeply concerned as to whether or not the crowd had heard him getting hyped to “Ice Ice Baby” backstage. And, as Hammond ended the encore on his powerful “Rocket,” he left the listeners with the knowledge that “this song is about [his] penis.”

But despite a delightfully sophomoric sense of humor, this was truly a showcase of Hammond’s maturity as a performer. The set ebbed seamlessly from calm to chaotic, balancing nearly ten years of varied sound.

Tunes from the new album like “High Rise Living” and “Losing Touch” easily melted into older favorites like “GfC.” He even showcased a three-guitar rendition of the ethereal “Spooky Couch” before stepping off stage pre-encore, leaving the crowd in a stunned but hungry silence. Hammond may describe himself as a “Momentary Master,” but his mastery of the stage is anything but momentary, enthralling from the first note to the buzzing end of an encore.

Anika Krause (English/Education)

10

The Growlers October 7 @ Sinclair It was unseasonably warm in Cambridge on Oct. 7, and the line that stretched around Church Street was noticeably energetic.

Maybe it was the high of 70 degrees that day, but more likely it was the return of The Growlers to the Boston area. The Dana Point, California natives are midway through their fall 2015 tour promoting their fifth and most recent full-length release, Chinese Fountain, and selling out shows across America.

Tonight’s appearance at the Sinclair was no different, having sold out weeks in advance.

The first opener was The Babe Rainbow, hailing from Byron Bay, New South Wales and featuring the three blondest men I had ever laid eyes on. The Australian trio picked up their instruments unsteadily, almost like it was their first time holding them, but within minutes they were doling out one funky guitar hook after the next. The Babe Rainbow surprised the crowd with a dreamy, psychedelic yet completely dance-able sound.

They looked and sounded a lot like Hanson, had Hanson done a ton of acid and listened to Tame Impala, but I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.

DJ Johnny Basil served as the second opener, or more appropriately the funky halftime show. The turntable aficionado shocked the largely under-21 audience by being a real DJ, with like, you know, real records. The Iggy Pop doppelganger spun select 45s rocking sunglasses, no shirt and the tightest pants I’ve ever seen on an adult man. His set list consisted of his favorite groovy 70s hits and danceable R&B, and Basil’s hypnotizing dance moves proved he was having the best time of anyone there.

The Growlers have an unmistakable sound, no doubt, self-described as “Beach Goth.” The moment you hear them play, you understand Beach Goth. The Growlers sound like Halloween on a California beach, like ghoulish garage rock or spooky surf music. When the boys took the stage and began to play, it was clear that their original sound translates almost identically from album to life.

Lead vocalist Brooks Nielsen’s signature gravelly, somber voice sounded particularly hoarse that night, but it only made their songs sound better. “I sound like a wise old man,” Brooks commented accurately. The age and scratchiness in his voice gave him the sound of years of life experience, despite being a 31-year-old newlywed.

Musically, the Southern California boys sounded impeccable, like a louder, stronger, more intense version of their records. But there was also something slightly off about the Growlers that night. It was hard to pinpoint whether it was tension between bandmates, serious hangovers or actual sickness (it is flu season, after all). Brooks alluded to their somewhat apathetic playing by mumbling, albeit gleefully, “As you can see, we’re fucked,” and even went as far as to say, “If you guys weren’t here, this would be terrible,” after the crowd gave its all singing along to their most well-known track “One Million Lovers.” Terrible seems a bit strong, though, as the older ode to lovesickness still sounded somber and beautiful. Brooks and lead guitarist Matt Taylor are the key songwriters for the group and have been known to vibe off each other during performances. But none of the band members

really interacted with each other at all during the show, aside from a quick discussion of the set list.

The Growlers played only three songs from their newest release, the more polished, disco-punk-infused Chinese Fountain. For a band whose first album was only released in 2009, their relatively lengthy discography gave them a lot to choose from, and their set list brimmed with older crowd favorites.

Ladies swooned as the band jumped into “Someday,” and Brooks crooned in his raspy, low register “I wish you could depend on me/I want to have your mouth to feed.” As I watched, hypnotized, I decided at that moment that the rough, dirty love song would be my wedding song.

The Growlers cut their show slightly early after only an hour of playing and failed to appear for an encore despite continued applause and rowdy “One more song!” chants.

The crowd seemed disappointed, but cheered up greatly when Brooks jumped onto the floor only a moment after the show ended to take pictures and sign autographs.

Kelly Subin (Interactive Media and Marketing)

11

Local Photos

Destroyer

Ben Stas (Journalism /English)

The Menzingers

McKenna Shuster (Graphic Design)

Yuna Paradise Rock Club, October 2014

Josh Spiro (Information Science/Business) SBTRKT (bottom) Royale, October 2014

Leah Corbett (Digital Art) Korn

Catherine Patchell (Computer Science)

MS MR

Peri MacRae (Political Science)

Local Talent

HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE Local Talent members

Dimitri Giannopoulos: Guitar & Vocals John Margaris: Bass & Vocals Jamie Vadala-Doran: Drums & Vocals sounds like

Duster The Antlers Silver Jews recommended tracks

Orange Peeler Recoveries Sun Poisoning upcoming shows

November 16th - O’Brien’s Pub November 20th - Red Room, Cafe 939, Berkeley check out horse j u mper of love

horsejumperoflove.bandcamp.com Spring 2015

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All photos by Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

Born and raised in the Boston suburbs, John Margaris, Dimitri Giannopoulos, and Jamie Vadala aren’t strangers to the local scene. Under the banner of Horse Jumper of Love (a clever nod to Ovid’s “His Asset as a Lover”), the trio has spent the last two years taking on house and club shows alike, playing everywhere from the Great Scott and the Middle East to TMM’s own Tastemakers Presents on campus. The trio has also been busy touring, supporting like-minded acts such as Soft Fangs and Strange Mangers in locales up and down the East Coast. With a slew of new shows planned for the winter and a debut record slated for early next year, expect big things from HJoL in the coming months.

Horse Jumper of Love formed around the tail-end of 2013, when Dimitri and Jamie—who had been playing together on and off for a handful of years—reached out to a talented bassist by the name of John Margaris. Sharing similar influences in the vein of groups like Silver Jews and My Bloody Valentine, the trio quickly clicked and began performing original material. Dimitri Giannopoulos makes up the songwriting core of Horse Jumper, crafting crooning vocal lines that sit just above a surprisingly dense wall of sound marked by reverb and light distortion. The end result is tricky to pin down—a healthy dose of experimental indie rock and droning shoegaze capable of mesmerizing even the most stubborn crowd.

The group’s Bandcamp tells an altogether different story, stripping tracks down to lo-fi acoustic demos and ambient electronic drones. While wholly unlike Horse Jumper’s live material, these tracks are gems of their own right, ripe with thick multi-tracked vocals and crunchy guitar lines. At the cost of energy and refinement, the demos supply an unexpected intimacy, working well to flesh out the band’s diverse range of material.

For listeners looking to enjoy the full range of Horse Jumper of Love in the comfort of their own home, an as-of-yet unnamed debut is in the works and set for an early 2016 release. Recorded with the help of the talented Brad Krieger (bradfordkrieger.com) at the Hanging Horse Studio over in Norwood, the album features tracks Horse Jumper of Love has been playing for years, recorded in high fidelity for the first time. Keep an eye on their Facebook page in the coming months for more details.

But you don’t have to wait for their new release to see what HJoL is all about. Swing by one of their many upcoming shows in the Boston area—you won’t be disappointed.

Ryan Kehr (English/Business Administration)

17

1.0 Feature 0.5

Loudness Wars Take a listen to Ariana Grande’s “Break Free” from 2014. The grandiose synth-pop, dizzying laser sounds and Grande’s skyscraping voice combine for a powerhouse of a track thanks to production by Zedd and Max Martin–both of whom are known for crafting sugary pop hits like “Clarity” and Jessie J’s “Domino.”

The silence once the song ends feels quite dramatic: “Break Free” demands your full attention with its blaring sound and you can’t focus on anything else until it’s over.

It’s not just synth-pop or house music that leave this effect–listen to Kanye West’s “All of the Lights,” an over-the-top, horndriven, bombastic track. The drums sound muffled as if they’re underwater and the triumphant horns battle Rihanna’s vocals for the spotlight. These tracks are mesmerizing and flashy, and it’s no doubt we also love these songs for their general loudness.

Pushing the volume a little higher to erase all thoughts is the picturesque definition of music as an escape from reality, but the increasing presence of loudness in music is starting to negatively affect the songs themselves and how we as listeners respond to them. It’s starting to tire us out.

As part of a phenomenon known as The Loudness Wars, albums from the early 90s on have been mastered to sound audibly Fall 2015

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0.0

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louder–not just massive, but deafening. It doesn’t have to do with whether your volume knob is turned to 11, but how the record was engineered. Dynamic range is the difference between the quietest and loudest parts of a song and loudness refers to the amplitude, or height, of the signal. In noisy environments like a bar or car, high dynamic range music would sound too quiet at the softest parts and too loud at the highest if you increase the volume to compensate for the outside noise. Bringing everything on the same level, therefore compressing the music, solves this problem.

A common victim of the Loudness Wars is the remastered album, where producers try to reinvigorate an old recording with a newer, fresher feel. When the waveforms of the original and remastered albums are compared, there’s a difference that adversely tampers with the music’s sound. Figure 1 shows the original versus the remastered versions of the song “Supersonic” from Definitely, Maybe by Oasis. The dynamics are sacrificed for overall volume, and the lack of variation in the waveform makes the song sound tedious. When you increase loudness with compression, dynamic range gets squashed and the music feels cluttered and taxing.

Figure one: Two waveform graphs comparing Oasis’ “Supersonic” in the original and re-matered versions

It’s not just remastered albums that have suffered from this trend, but albums that were released at a time when louder meant better.

Take Metallica’s Death Magnetic, released in 2008, which critics called disorganized and overlong. The sound of Death Magnetic is just constant clipping, which refers to a type of waveform distortion where the sound produced is higher than its maximum capability–think of a normal wave, but the tops of it are flat and chopped off. When we analyze the album’s waveform, we see exactly that: The sound has been extremely compressed and amplified to clip at every note (see: Figure 2). This is caused by abuse of a brickwall limiter, a processor that controls clipping and distortion but also induces extra perceived volume. Brickwall limiting is the final editing stage a song undergoes, so audio engineers increase the song’s volume through limiting but consequently kill any previous dynamic range, thus making the sound unpleasant. Death Magnetic might not be bad overall, but its production causes the album’s thrash metal to lack Metallica’s iconic energy. This brickwall production causes listening fatigue, a common side effect of The Loudness Wars.

Other albums like Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Californication and The Mars Volta’s Bedlam in Goliath are also guilty of partaking in The

Original version Remastered version

Loudness Wars. Californication’s lo-fi garage sound, contrasted with the distracting radio-made production on top of vocals that are mixed way too loud, take away from the album’s emotional context of guitarist John Frusciante rejoining the band. Bedlam in Goliath is a loud album delivered by a prog-rock band who usually aren’t afraid to be loud, but its overwrought production that mixes every instrument at the same volume constructs a dynamically bankrupt mess with none of the genuine emotion or memorable interplay of the band’s pre- Amputechture releases. The Loudness Wars caused these albums to be unlistenable despite their underlying musical merits.

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-1.0 Figure two: Metallica’s Death Magnetic, whose sound had been really amplified and compressed, clipping every note.

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Feature

Music has become stripped of its emotional range and much focus has been placed on making the sound of an album or a song grab a listener’s attention. It doesn’t help the matter that these manufactured songs are still at the top of the Billboard charts; Max Martin, who produced Grande’s booming “Break Free,” has also produced recent hits such as The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” and Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse.”

Despite the waveform evidence, The Loudness Wars are still something of a conspiracy. There’s no official answer from audio engineers or producers as to why music’s average volume has been steadily increasing, but by evaluating music’s rising presence in bars, clubs and other closed atmospheres over the past decade, it’s easy

to tell: a conspiratorial part of it has to do with competitive record producers edging out old school gear heads, because nobody was buying those setups anyway.

It’s difficult to measure loudness because music has only increased by an average of about five decibels since the 1970s, an amount too small to notice. When measuring overall reduction of loudness range since the 1990s, there hasn’t been much of a change either, which makes engineers seem reasonable in their severe limiting. On closer evaluation though, it seems that music prior to mixing has been getting increasingly louder as limiting and compressing has gotten more dramatic. Key changes were used to differentiate between song sections in an older generation of music, where manipulating waveforms and using

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Figure three: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californiacation, also falls prey to the loudness wars.

level variation for the structure of a song is characteristic of now. Imagine that all images printed for a newspaper or magazine started appearing brighter and flashier as the years went on. That’s what’s happening to new music.

Blaming The Loudness Wars for tainting dynamic music is easy to do, and coming up with a solution is tough. Competition on a specific technological platform as well as constraints and requirements of ambient environment produced The Loudness Wars.

Its effects have appeared in music that spans genres, and it’s like our ears and brains are slowly accepting the change.

There’s nothing wrong with distortion or harsh dynamics, but the two styles shouldn’t be appearing on every record.

It’s important to know what you’re listening to–why a certain record makes you listless or why it sounds like the drums and guitar are

tastelessly competing for your attention–and there are certain software programs that reduce an album’s limiting or loudness range to the listener’s desired level.

After listening to and analyzing the brutality of an album like Death Magnetic, I’ve become more inclined to notice why I love the records that I do. The open sympathies of Joni Mitchell’s quiet Blue or the peaceful understanding conveyed through Elliot Smith’s whispers in Either/Or are unmatched and retain my attention better than any forcefully loud album ever could. Forfeiting dynamics for a chaotic mix of sounds can be interesting, but sacrificing emotional and sonic depth for tawdriness is sinful.

• Anu Gulati (Computer Science/Math)

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Feature

Youth is a commodity, and Guns n’ Roses don’t have it. Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the devolution of Axl Rose’s hair from flaxen to crop-circled outlines just how far from Appetite for Destruction we really are. The sprawling geopolitics of Chinese Democracy were lost on America’s less cultured youth, and the album became little more than a failed Dr. Pepper ad campaign. In fact, six weeks after its release Chinese Democracy had sold only 502,000 units in the U.S., which for Axl translates to a gently used Volkswagen Golf. The flop was particularly jarring considering the 15-year epicmythology surrounding the record. After having been outsold by AC/ DC’s Black Ice that same year, it appeared Axl would return to his riad and live out his days among the Bedouins.

And yet now it appears GnR has done the unthinkable. With talks of a reunion tour reaching a pinnacle, Slash has indicated that he and Axl have been able to “dispel some of that negative stuff” in the band’s history. Presumably that “negative stuff” refers to the band being dead to one another since 1996, but that would be paraphrasing. Rose’s courteous abstention from the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2012 indicated that he had no appetite for “revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion.”

It is unclear what material (if any) GnR would be touring in a reunion capacity, but the inclusion of old members hints at the very Appetite and Illusion lineups that Axl has railed against. Though he hasn’t been as vocal as in his Calvin Klein-punching years, the apparent change of heart warrants a line of questioning: what would cause GnR to relive their fourteen years of crying and pain?

One possible answer is an omnipresent one for aging musicians.

Money makes the mid-life crises go round, and a V6 engine doesn’t quite put the wind in your hair. With festival headliners making a crisp seven figures, the prospect of playing Lollapalooza is enough to shorten the memory of even the bitterest of epilogues.

This “reunion effect” has certainly been well characterized to date. Large acts bury and re-bury the hatchet to take one last extended encore, often through gritted teeth and with punches pulled.

Van Halen’s reunion attempt in 2004 was a massive success despite a sizeable feud over who would play bass during the tour. Stevie Nicks once said there was “more of a chance of an asteroid hitting the earth” than a full reunion tour from Fleetwood Mac. Yet here we are in 2015 with the old band selling out the TD Garden. In 1980 Glenn Frey and

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Don Felder nearly managed to end the Eagles forever via fisticuffs.

Sure enough, in 1994 they released the cheekily named live album When Hell Freezes Over, to signal a reunion that would ravage the pockets of forty-somethings in the following years.

OutKast is the most prominent recent example of a group capturing this windfall of popularity. Though the duo are much younger, last year’s tour marked their first performances in eight years, just enough time for fans to truly miss them. Andre and Big Boi cleared 60 million dollars in just 40 shows, demonstrating just how much festivals are influencing the financial climate for older musicians.

Andre has since spoken out about how he “felt like a sellout” during the OutKast reunion, which became painfully clear from jerky performances at Coachella and follow-up shows. He cited his 17-year-old son as the impetus for taking the gig, though there isn’t a for-profit university in the world that could dry up his $46 million net worth. Andre makes a pretty penny as the Gillette spokesperson, so why bother putting on a fake smile to tour music that you haven’t been emotionally connected to in decades?

The jumpsuits that Andre premiered for the tour offer some insight into this strange discrepancy in the economics of the industry.

One features a price tag that says “SOLD,” indicating that Andre might be one of the first musicians to be in on the joke. No matter how well-respected and well-off an artist is, and no matter how many times they almost punched their bandmate, there is a good chance they will reunite approximately 15 years later.

In other words, it may be more lucrative for a band to mythologize their hiatus than to continue producing new music. In place of a 401k, bands can plan an elaborate and messy breakup around age 40. They can even swear up and down that they would rather watch Gigli than produce another album with that bell-end of a rhythm guitarist. Fast forward 10-15 years, have an abrupt and unprecedented change of heart, and then ride the reunion tour money into the sunset.

It seems strange to have a financial system predicated on drama between artists, but that culture will continue to exist for as long as there are fans that peaked in high school. People will shell out hundreds for a back-row seat at Fenway Park to see Guns N’ Roses play “Paradise City” one last time. Though the comeback hasn’t been confirmed yet, history tells us there is no feud too bitter to stop the market forces of reunion tours.

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Bandcamp Jams Editorial Editorial

BRAXTON THE PORCUPINE genre: bedroom rock sounds like: Teen Suicide, Have a Nice Life, Wavves, The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die recommended tracks: Chasms, What’s Choking on Gilbert Grape, Pelican Sweater Whether you’re looking for fuzzy lo-fi pop jams, spacey post-rock instrumentals, or dark and unsettling noise collages, Braxton the Porcupine’s Bandcamp page is a perfect stop. His lone overdubbed performance on guitar and drums manages to be both dynamic and atmospheric, and his vocals, though tinny, are drenched in emotion.

Though his two EP’s are certainly interesting, his most fully realized work is his 2014 album Too Many Pineapples. Every track

offers a new glimpse into his eccentric musical persona, whether it’s the distorted existential angst of “What’s Choking on Gilbert Grape” or the calm, accepting piano chords and drawn out spoken word sample of “DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED”. Braxton is the epitome of an overlooked Internet artist, so hop online and give him some love. • Tim DiFazio (English)

AUTHOR genre: alternative sounds like: Anberlin, Further Seems Forever, Balance and Composure recommended tracks: Separation, Salt, Forget

The lo-fi production and unconventional songwriting employed by most relatively unknown artists on Bandcamp makes their obscurity understandable. It’s a little harder to fathom how Minneapolis alternative rock band Author has yet to achieve greater success. Both their 2012 EP People Are Alike All Over and this year’s debut full-length Of Brighter Days sound pristine, filled with subtle piano flourishes, dynamic guitar surges and gorgeous harmonies. Lead vocalist Trevor Bartlett is particularly gifted, capable of singing in a strong, clear FallFall 2012 2015

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falsetto one moment and pushing his band’s emotional choruses skyward with a cathartic scream the next.

Author writes songs full of grand dramatic gestures and selfexamining lyrics, and when everything clicks, like on Of Brighter Days’s “Forget” and pretty much all of People Are Alike All Over, they can be incredibly moving. This music deserves an opportunity to be heard in the larger venues for which it sounds tailor-made. Check them out at weareauthor.bandcamp.com. • Terence Cawley (Biology)

PEYOTECOYOTE genre: experimental hip hop beats sounds like: J Dilla, 9th Wonder, Nujabes recommended tracks: all inna day, unfinished music, I have abandoned all responsibility and turned to whip-its

SoundCloud producer Peyotecoyote is just like you. He stays up all night screwing around on his laptop, then posts half-finished projects the next day. He expresses anxiety over what he’ll do when he graduates. He posts Photoshopped images of Donald Trump to his Instagram. And with creatively named tracks like “tiger club mountian style” and “fuck rabbits”, it’s hard not to conjure up mental images of a chain blunt-smoking college student, remixing beats and surfing Internet memes in his free time. But where he stands out from your average SoundCloud dormcore – and bear with me here – is that he’s actually good.

Peyotecoyote’s tracks would feel right at home on an Adult Swim bump. His production is lush, dreamy, and downright irresistible.

Sampling a variety of sources from Mort Garson’s 1976 Plantasia to street sounds in La Paz, Bolivia, he creates a world where it’s very easy to imagine oneself lying by the beach, smoking a spliff, and drifting into the void. If you’re curious about that world, don’t hesitate - light one up, and enjoy some beats from a young talent in Richmond, VA. • Allison Bako (Animation)

GERRY READ genre: leftfield techno sounds like: Happa, Tessela, Sophie recommended tracks: Nosaj Thing – “Light #3 (Gerry Read Remix),” “U Got No God Damn Groove,” Chairlift–“I Belong in Your Arms (Gerry Read Remix)” (entitled “rejected chairlift remix from january 2012” on Read’s Soundcloud) Gerry Read’s music sounds like someone took apart songs from various genres, threw away most of the pieces, smashed the rest together and added a 4/4 beat. It is at once pleasantly danceable and jarringly discordant. In this regard, Read evokes the surprising success of PC Music’s “twisted pop,” minus most of the success.

Read’s finest contributions are as a remixer, although he seems to be more inspired by the original tracks than building upon them.

By far his most-played track is his remix of Nosaj Thing’s “Light #3” with almost 100,000 plays on Soundcloud. Read takes the ethereal, synth-heavy outro and makes it almost completely unrecognizable.

He takes only fraction-of-a-second bursts of synth from the original and adds his characteristically wonky drum samples and deep bass.

He also dismantled Taylor Swift’s “22” and kept little of it. All that is left is a heavily distorted mash-up of various lines and Read’s chaotic production. My personal favorite Read track is his remix of Chairlift’s “I Belong in Your Arms.” It conserves more of the original than usual, albeit slowed down almost to the point of oblivion. Read turns the overly bubbly original into a washed-out but solid tune.

• Jonas Polin (Undeclared)

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Cover Story

You're My Guitar Hero: Celebrating 10 Years of Virtual Rock Stardom

On Oct. 20, the video game publisher Activision released Guitar Hero Live, the first new title in the world-famous Guitar Hero franchise since 2010.

The iconic plastic guitar controller has been revamped to allow for more complex chords and now looks like a real guitar instead of a Fisher-Price toy, while Call of Duty apparently influenced the use of live-action video and first-person perspective shots to create a more “immersive” gaming experience. Bass guitar and drums are no longer playable instruments, and the soundtrack combines fan favorites from previous Guitar Hero games with songs from artists like Skrillex, Carrie Underwood and Ed Sheeran who stray far from the franchise’s traditional rock sound. There’s also some online multiplayer thing called Guitar Hero TV which appears difficult to grasp without actually having played the game.

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Much has changed in the 10 years since Guitar Hero came out. That first game was controller company RedOctane and Bostonbased development company Harmonix’s attempt to replicate the success of Guitar Freaks, a Japanese franchise which used a guitar-shaped controller back in 1998.

Guitar Hero was a sensation, and in 2006 Activision paid $100 million for the franchise and replaced Harmonix with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater developers Neversoft. Harmonix responded by founding the Rock Band franchise in 2007, which added drums and vocals to the Guitar Hero template (in what is surely a complete coincidence, Rock Band has also just awoken from dormancy, releasing Rock Band 4 two weeks before Guitar Hero Live). That same year, Guitar Hero reached its commercial peak with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, a mammoth blockbuster which moved over 8 million units in its first year alone. Still threatened by Rock Band’s success, Activision added drum kits and microphone controllers while, for the first time in franchise history, using only master recordings instead of sound-alike covers on 2008’s Guitar Hero World Tour. Having at this point produced four critical and commercial smashes in as many years, Guitar Hero seemed infallible. Activision would promptly disprove this assumption.

Guitar Hero oversaturation began with 2007’s contractual-obligation rush job Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Next came the band-centric spinoffs, starting with Aerosmith

in 2008 and followed by Metallica and Van Halen in 2009. 2008 also yielded the first of three Guitar Hero: On Tour games, which used a wrist cramp-inducing guitar grip to turn the Nintendo DS into a guitar controller.

The release schedule for 2009 alone featured seven games, including one with a poppier, family-friendly soundtrack (Band Hero), one which just repackaged songs from previous games (Guitar Hero Smash Hits) and one which required an expensive turntable controller (DJ Hero, naturally followed by DJ Hero 2 the next year). And that’s not counting the Guitar Hero games made for non-smartphones, arcades and carabinersseriously, there’s a Guitar Hero Carabiner.

With so many games competing for attention, it’s no surprise that Guitar Hero 5 sold less than half as much as World Tour despite its improved gameplay and soundtrack.

Neversoft’s overreaching strategy had backfired, and 2010’s Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was a desperate attempt to save the dying series, with a soundtrack more focused on shredding and a story-driven, Gene Simmons-narrated Quest Mode. It bombed, and by early 2011 development on all future games was halted.

Given the series’ unglamorous demise, Activision’s scraping the old model and starting fresh with Guitar Hero Live is understandable. Still, the cultural impact Guitar Hero had during its initial run remains impressive. That influence extends beyond

video games (where only Mario and Madden have achieved comparable popularity) into rock itself, with many classic rock groups seeing a spike in interest from younger fans when Guitar Hero used their songs. This boost applied to modern bands, too- who would know DragonForce if everyone hadn’t spent 2007 failing “Through the Fire and Flames” on Expert? And, contrary to Jimmy Page and Prince’s derision, that plastic guitar controller got a lot of kids to pick up real guitars and care about rock ‘n’ roll just when it seemed in danger of becoming a historical artifact.

I know the dudes in the garage rock band I got kicked out of in high school were inspired

by Guitar Hero, and they can’t have been the only ones.

Of course, Guitar Hero became a cultural institution and a formative part of my generation’s childhood because it was fun, and a lot of that came from the games’ excellent soundtracks. I first heard a lot of songs through Guitar Hero, and I owe the series for introducing me to two of my favorite artists Elliott Smith and Brand New.

Naturally, some games had better soundtracks than others. What follows is a ranking of every Guitar Hero soundtrack, from worst to best.

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Guitar Hero: On Tour The first Guitar Hero game for the DS has a puny 26-song soundtrack mostly consisting of boring pop-rock. Daughtry and Maroon 5 are bad enough, but the inclusion of “All Star” seals On Tour’s fate.

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Cover Story

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s It makes sense for a 1980s-focused Guitar Hero game to feature some hair metal. It doesn’t make sense for that game to feature almost exclusively hair metal. And most of the songs are still covers! Also, censoring the lyrics to X’s “Los Angeles” and Dead Kennedys’ “Police Truck” isn’t very punk.

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Guitar Hero: Van Halen The Van Halen songs themselves are solid- ignoring Van Hagar and Van That Guy from Extreme was probably the right call. But then bassist/nepotism beneficiary Wolfgang Van Halen padded the soundtrack with pop-punk bands and other acts unrelated to Van Halen. Penalized severely for the inclusion of “Stacey’s Mom.” Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades It’s an On Tour game, so the soundtrack’s still tiny and relatively MOR, but the five-songs-per-decade conceit guarantees a little more diversity.

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Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits Guitar Hero soundtracks tend to lean retro, so focusing on the last decade in rock is a nice change. It has the same problems as the other two On Tour games, but to a lesser degree.

Guitar Hero: Metallica Great for metalheads, but for the rest of us, the unrelenting headbanging gets old. Prepare to be reminded just how hard Metallica fell off after The Black Album.

Band Hero Where Guitar Hero goes pop, something at which they’re surprisingly good. Classic hits abound, and the sheer irreverence of forcing Marvin Gaye and Roy Orbison to rub shoulders with the Spice Girls is awe-inspiring. Three Taylor Swift songs and the likes of Jesse McCartney still make this a tough sell for the rockers.

Guitar Hero Live The new game tries too hard to satisfy everyone. While the sheer number and variety of songs means there’s lots to like, there’s also guitarlight pop, EDM and acoustic selections which don’t make sense. There’s tons of overlap with previous games, too. Also an upsetting amount of metal-core.

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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith The Smith’s deep groove still kills, but it’s the excellent selection of artists that toured with or influenced Aerosmith (New York Dolls!

The Kinks!) that elevates this game above Metallica’s and Van Halen’s. Plus it includes the Clash song which gave this article (and possibly Guitar Hero) a name.

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Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock The sixth entry in the main series went for a huge, 93-song selection and scored with classics (Neil Young, Queen) and inspired left field choices (The Cure, Bad Brains). There are far too many songs to maintain those highs, however, and quite a few mediocre cuts slip through the cracks.

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Guitar Hero A classic rock crash course with just enough contemporary acts to date it- remember The Exies? Short, but almost every track’s a heavyweight. Would rank higher if not for weak bonus cuts and covers on the main soundtrack.

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Guitar Hero II Like the first Guitar Hero but with better bonus tracks, a bigger main soundtrack and some nifty curveballs- props to whoever threw Spinal Tap and Butthole Surfers into the gumbo. Once again, not having master recordings hurts.

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Guitar Hero Smash Hits Just songs from the first five Guitar Hero games with full-band arrangements and master recordings. Yet they picked a good sampling and, like most greatest-hits packages, it sounds pretty good despite its redundancy.

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Guitar Hero World Tour Classic rock smashes, alternative favorites, an inexplicable preponderance of Tool- World Tour’s got all bases covered. The non-English songs are a nice touch. Plus they finally got Jimi Hendrix, the archetypal guitar hero.

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Guitar III: Legends of Rock Legends of Rock owes much of its world-beating success to its absolutely stacked soundtrack. The canon’s well represented here, and from Muse to Queens of the Stone Age, the modern contributions sound like the future classics they will become on the strength of this game’s influence. Such an embarrassment of riches that The Stone Roses ended up in the bonus section.

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Guitar Hero 5 Here, Guitar Hero finally achieves the perfect balance of accessibility and adventurousness in song choice it had been building towards.

Every rock subgenre gets its due without Guitar Hero Live’s pandering, and even the country and rap songs don’t feel misplaced, probably because legends like Johnny Cash and Public Enemy are performing them. Far and away the best of the bunch.

• Terence Cawley (Biology)

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Interview

RN: I like to play with people that are good enough and inspired enough to… interpret or improvise different parts. At a certain skill level, you want to be able to play something different every night. So I try to make sure that’s a big part of what we do and that everybody feels like they can express themselves.

This fall’s Tastemakers Presents concert was headlined by Unknown Mortal Orchestra, a Portland-based indie rock band whose lead singer/ guitarist/songwriter Ruban Nielson originally hails from New Zealand.

But the band’s music knows no region: UMO’s early lo-fi sound is discarded on the band’s new album Multi-Love in favor of an audacious mashup of psychedelic, R&B and funk influences. Nielson’s killer live band (featuring drummer Riley Geare, bassist Jake Portrait and keyboardist Quincy Mcrary) takes Nielson’s songs to giddily far-out places with their chaotic, yet virtuosic improvisations.

Before the show, Nielson talked to Tastemakers about keeping the live experience interesting, wanting to push UMO into the pop dimension, and the dystopian future-world of 2015 .

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): I imagine that part of the fun of being in a band is getting to see all of these different places.

Ruban Nielson (RN): Yeah, you see a limited but kind of unique side of every city. Like, I’ve been to Paris 15 times but I’ve never seen the Eiffel Tower. I’ve done lots of really crazy stuff, but I never get the chance to go to Big Ben or the Empire State Building.

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TMM: When you’re writing songs for UMO, do you think about how the other members of the band are going to interpret the parts you write live?

TMM: It certainly seems like you’re doing a lot more improvisational stuff in the middle of songs, and taking the old songs and playing them in the new style.

RN: Yeah, I think improvisation is really important. The jam-band thing is really popular, but it’s really uncool. It’s a real dirty word, you know, “jamming.” Improvisation is such an important part of the music. I’m so influenced by jazz, through my dad. I think it seems ridiculous not to have improvisation in modern music.

I think it’s kind of what’s missing from a lot of music now, because everything is kind of run off of Ableton and off a laptop now and hardly anybody’s really playing anything. Everybody’s going to, in quotes, “see their favorite band,” but mostly the person is just making an appearance. The improvisation thing makes our shows different, whereas I think most bands are basically playing a backing track from beginning to end. It’s not like we want to say that’s bad or anything, but...

TMM: But you’re able to offer something a little different live than what’s on the album. It’s a different experience.

RN: Right, and I think it’s so easy to just play your album in the background and play over top of it. And people seem kind of okay with that. But a lot of people come see us again and again because it’s never the same.

TMM: You’ve been doing some writing with the likes of Frank Ocean and Chet Faker recently. Have you learned anything from those collaborations that you might apply to UMO? RN: Yeah, I think I want to be more collaborative on the next album.

TMM: Because you’ve been writing all of the material yourself for UMO, until now.

RN: Yeah. I mean, my brother helped quite a bit with Multi-Love.

I’m starting to collaborate a little bit more with Jake. I even did some writing with my dad, who played some horns on the record. On the next one, I like the idea of trying to work with a producer or a few different producers and learning new stuff. I’m starting to get contacted by people that pique my interest. You know, like a producer that has hits

on the radio. And if it doesn’t work, I can always just go back to my basement and do another record, you know. It’s just kind of exciting, the idea of travelling around and talking to people, learning new stuff…

TMM: Get some interesting perspectives.

RN: Yeah. Working with people that are on another level from me that still make good music is kind of making me realize... becoming more pop seems more exciting than becoming more weird. I’ve made weird records before I was in UMO. So it seems kind of exciting, because it’s like the last frontier. I’ve been edging towards pop music, in a weird way, for a long time.

TMM: You’ve released three music videos so far from Multi-Love. Now I’m not sure how much creative input you have with the videos, but has there been sort of a conscious effort to have the videos reflect the themes of the album?

RN: With videos, I want to just choose the right person and let them go crazy on it. We usually end up choosing the people that give us the strangest treatments. I don’t want to micromanage what the director is doing. It’s just a treat to show up and be like everybody else, in that you’ve just seen it for the first time. I’m quite proud of the videos that we’ve got… there’s a lot of really strange stuff going on in those videos.

TMM: Yeah, it’s never just a video of the band playing.

RN: Yeah, I don’t like being in the videos at all. I’ve only even appeared in one of the videos, because we got a grant from the New Zealand government and there was some kind of clause in that particular agreement that meant I had to be in the video. So I appear for like, half a second or something.

TMM: Like a Hitchcock cameo, kind of.

RN: Yeah, it was a technicality. But apart from that, the idea of making a video and spending a day or two on that grind just doesn’t sound fun to me at all.

TMM: More fun to have someone else do the work for you and then just watch it.

RN: Yeah, I would either have to be there or I’d have to get super involved in it. I had this idea that I might want to do a Bollywood video one day, like group dancing. Go from being anonymous to suddenly acting like a pop star or something. But like, my version of it.

TMM: If you go in the pop direction with your next album, it would kind of fit in.

RN: If I was a fan of this band I think that would be more interesting.

And I could work on other, more obscure stuff at the same time. But

right now I feel like I want to write the perfect song.

TMM: You’ve spoken at length elsewhere about the polyamorous relationship at the center of Multi-Love. Have you found that writing and performing these songs has helped you process the emotions from this experience? Has it been a positive or negative experience?

RN: It’s definitely positive. I was making the record during that experience, so I’ve been performing it in the aftermath. It’s nice to be able to digest life, so the things that happen to me can become swallowed up by my work. I relive the things and it’s almost like meditation. My life is really, really tied up in my music to the point where sometimes I think that my life’s an just adventure that I use so I have something to write about. Sometimes it’s kind of weird, because you have a relationship with someone that keeps changing and you keep singing the same song about them. But the song keeps changing.

Sometimes it bums you out and sometimes it makes you feel happy, so it’s kind of an adventure in that sense. It’s cool to feel alive and be reminded of really intense experiences and stuff like that.

TMM: I’ve noticed a more explicitly political angle in the lyrics to some of the songs on Multi-Love; were those inspired by any specific current events?

RN: When I was mixing the record and finishing the vocals, it was during the first Ferguson protests. So just being in America at that time, it just reminded me a lot of... I like Sly and the Family Stone a lot, and sometimes I would listen to those records and think, wow, it was such a turbulent time and that must have been really inspiring in a way. Even though there was a darkness, it must have been inspiring to write music at a time when there’s so much to write about. And I suddenly found that we were living in that exact kind of time. Suddenly all of those issues are at the forefront of culture again.

But there’s a lot of stuff that I was thinking about. At first, I was just thinking about the fact that we’re living in a period of time that, when I was growing up, would be considered futuristic. You know, like 2015 is futuristic-sounding year to me, but it’s now so that’s kind of strange. The way that technology is, and how dystopian politics are now, and how crazy culture is now and stuff. It’s all quite inspiring to me because it’s like I get to write about futuristic things, but really I’m just talking about things that are happening now.

Terence Cawley (Biology)

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Feature

LADIES IS PUNKS, TOO.

why the music world needs to support women

In the opening lines of their song “Button Up,” Philadelphia punk outfit Sheer Mag poses a troubling dilemma to the listener:

“

When you see something that makes you sick Do you button up or do you bleed?

Well I don’t claim to know what’s right But I can see there is a growing need At what point is enough enough And do I walk away?

Here, singer Cristina Halladay is both poignant and succinct in her analysis of a long-standing and pervasive issue in music –the ridicule, violent threats, and discrimination women face - onstage or in the crowd - in a scene historically saturated with men.

From the Pacific Northwest to DC to the UK, the riot grrrl movement, initially spawned by Bikini Kill band mates Tobi Vail and Kathleen Hanna, fostered the notion that women could be just as ugly and gritty and defiant as men, just as capable of howling onstage or thrashing in the pit, just as adept at not giving a fuck.

While riot grrrl primarily structured itself on cultural subversion by way of encouraging women to play their own music and make their own art, Hanna, in particular, took it upon herself to broach the weighty topic of sexual harassment, paving the way for other women to discuss their own experiences with male aggression. Just as women had every right to play shows, under the riot grrrl constitution, they also had Fall 2015

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the right to enjoy live music without their physical autonomy being compromised.

Now, more than 20 years removed from the prime of the riot grrrl movement, the treatment of women in music has only marginally improved. In preparation for her keynote speech at Melbourne’s BigSound music convention, Pitchfork critic and senior editor Jessica Hopper asked the women who follow her on Twitter in all strata of the music world to recount the first time that they felt the music industry, media, or scene did not value their work. The result was both overwhelming in its magnitude and harrowing in its sentiment; thousands of tweets offered painfully similar anecdotes of being mistaken for girlfriends or groupies while attending shows (“As a teen, my male pals at shows would joke about me being a groupie. I couldn’t just like the music, I had to have other motives”), sexually propositioned by the men they interviewed as music reporters (“A man I was interviewing said to me, ‘I hope your writing is as good as your tits’”), or presumed incompetent with the

instruments or equipment that they had mastered (“While setting up mics for a live band, got asked if I was ‘helping out the sound guy.’ Had to tell them I was the sound guy”).

If this deluge of tweets accomplished one thing, it was to shine a glaring light on the worldwide, systemic indecencies endured by women in music. As Hopper noted in her BigSound keynote, men continue to perceive women as incapable of fully immersing themselves in music. As fans, they are only drawn by the physical attraction of male artists (“It was as if I couldn’t be adoring without being horny”). As musicians, they lack a certain boldness deemed necessary to make it in music (“A booking agent once told me my girlish personality meant I wouldn’t succeed”). As journalists, they are operating under the ulterior motive of getting close to the male artists that they adore (“A man I was interviewing said, ‘Oh, you actually have questions?’ – as if I was just there for a date”).

Often times, men in the scene think that women just don’t “get it.”

These dismissive perceptions of women serve to make a complex issue even more problematic. As Hopper discussed, depriving women within the music world of value can have disturbing consequences. On one hand, it makes it easy for men to view women in a proprietary manner. Many of the tweets Hopper received told stories of groping and shoving in crowded venues (“Not being able to mosh/crowd surf/have too much fun, due to the overwhelming fear of being assaulted by strangers around me”). Even more disconcerting was Hopper’s own tale of witnessing a woman being sexually assaulted by a rap group after they played a sold out show, their reward for a “job well done.”

Instances such as these, combined with a whole host of other tribulations faced by women, cause some to drop out of the scene

entirely. Fed up with mistreatment, women put down their instruments, stop working the soundboard, quit writing about the bands they love, or refrain from going to shows.

This disbandment of women from the music world raises the issue of representation. If there is no precedent for encouraging women to play music and acknowledging their value, can it be expected that young girls will want to pick up an instrument and make their own noise, as the riot grrrl movement once proposed?

If aspiring female writers are bombarded by work written only by men, will they be inspired to write themselves? If women are consistently told that they have no substantial knowledge of music and see that they cannot go to venues and feel safe, will they continue to do so? The answer seems unlikely.

The question then becomes one of how to make the music world more inclusive to women. In her BigSound keynote, Hopper proposed dismantling the system that profits predominately from art created by men. In order to do so, Hopper noted, men need to stand by the sides of women who have been boundlessly discouraged by their experiences.

A conversation must be started in which women can offer their perspectives without fear of being written off, and in which men listen and learn to advocate for them.

“Acknowledgement from our male peers that this shit is messed up and then calling others out is a good start,” Hopper said.

On a larger scale, spaces must be created in which women can participate in live music and feel safe from harassment and physical abuse. This can happen, as Hopper said, by establishing zero tolerance policies at venues enforced by staff trained to recognize and combat harassment. Bands can also take a page from Speedy Ortiz’s playbook and set up hotlines for show goers to text or call if they feel unsafe. The possibilities for improving inclusivity are not limited, but in order to be successful, they must be collaborative.

After the viral spread of her initial tweet, Jessica Hopper then asked women to share their proudest accomplishments on Twitter. Once more, a wave of replies flooded in, most from women who had unsettling responses to the first query. The result in this case was palpably different – even in the face of troubling conditions, women continue to persevere in the music world, often garnering great success. Perhaps this is a new generation’s brand of riot grrrl, a wide reaching assurance that women are still, despite it all, gritty and defiant and overwhelmingly capable. And, just as Cristina Halladay proffered a concerned analysis on the state of the scene, she provides an empowering answer:

“

You don’t know who you’re tanglin’ with I’m a bad bitch if I please I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again I brought many a man to his knees I’ll look you in the eyes And tell you what I gotta say.”

Sarah Kotowski (Economics)

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BIRTHED FROM THE WOMB: Feature

BEGINS ITS VENTURE AS ONE OF BOSTONS UNDERGROUND CONCERT VENUES

Instantly your night sounds mysterious.

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You weren’t at the hospital. Instead, you were actually at a concert in someone’s basement, moshing recklessly between a crowd and a washing machine. They call this place The ER, you explain. Your story is almost as unexpected as a tale of unforeseen injury, which is exactly what the new owners of one of Boston’s elusive house concert venues (formally known as The Womb) want – piqued interest in their new Allston home, which is much more than a residence.

The house is one of the many low-key, self-run, nonprofit concert venues in Boston. At its core it’s just a seven-bedroom house with a granite basement, but on show nights, it transforms into something much more: a concert venue, a noise complaint, a celebration of music. The basement becomes a DIY stage, bulging at the seams with college students and local music supporters. Half the appeal is the music and the socializing while the other half is its sense of spontaneity, questionable legality and secretiveness (so, shhhh).

Fresh out of The Womb, the previous owners of the house-turnedunderground-concert-venue passed on their address to a new set of musicians and music enthusiasts, taking the name with them but leaving the reputation behind.

“They felt very personally attached to the name. They felt as if they were The Womb, opposed to just the house being The Womb,” according to new tenant Luke Osenberg.

Thinly connected to the previous owners through Boston University’s music club, Osenberg explained, “I asked [a previous owner] about the house because I heard a BU frat was trying to rent it, and he was like, ‘Yeah, get it as soon as possible. Don’t let the frats take it,’ and a couple weeks later we were signing the lease.”

At the beginning of September, seven Boston University students moved into The ER and started renovating it. Painting over all but one of the murals that covered the interior of the house, Osenberg said, “The plan is a clean start.” Although “clean” isn’t the first word anyone would use to describe the house – it’s in the process of being revamped and evolving its identity. For example, residents of The ER plan to exhibit friends’ artwork on the walls like a personal museum.

Unlike The Womb, not everyone who lives in the ER is in the same band. Osenberg (drummer) and Liam Donohue (vocals, keyboard) recently formed the band Able Days, and Kailen Santos plays bass for the band Mark Buffalo. The other four inhabitants dabble in making music, but they’re mostly just fans.

Already booked through November, the ER has a busy fall schedule. Highlights include Burglary Year, Foreign Tongues, Boompa and Deer Leap.

“I’m most excited for Playboy Manbaby in October,” Osenberg said. “Bands come to us. [A previous owner] has been really nice and sends us any inquiries he gets.”

In previous years, The Womb was affiliated with and promoted

by Boston Hassle, a blog dedicated to local art and music, but The ER has decided to cut ties with the publication and remain independent.

The ER also wants to expand its audience beyond the narrow breadth of what once was The Womb’s following. Previously, the house catered to an exclusive group of pierced, thrifty, chain-smoking, could-be-in-art-school 20-somethings with a music preference as obscure as their outward appearance.

“Part of our goal is to make it more objectively accessible,” Osenberg said. “We want it to be a more normal decision to come here. Yes, the music is still grungy and the spectators still look like art students, but as for the overall atmosphere, they’re trying to be more accepting and garner a more diverse crowd.

The ER hosted its first show in the beginning of October. About 150 people crowded the basement, and whether or not the crowd was more diverse, it was certainly larger than most of The Womb’s audiences. It was also, organizers said, a chance for new artists to become comfortable performing in the local scene.

“As musicians, we know how difficult it is to become comfortable with performing music and putting yourself out there because the scene is intimidating at times,” Santos said. “So, in addition to booking bands and artists that are pretty well known, we’re also here to promote up-and-coming acts to give artists that first push, to make them feel welcomed and embraced in a very appreciative environment.”

But what’s in it for the residents of the ER? Why, on a weekly basis, do they subject their home to potential theft and damage?

“We not only have the opportunity to just take a few hours out of each week and bond with total strangers over something as powerful as music, but we also provide that to other people which is amazing,” Donohue explained. “Most other places you could go on a Friday night are packed with judgment. Want to go to a frat house? Not if you’re ‘ugly.’ Want to go to a club? Not if you’re poor. Want come to The ER? Come to The ER. If you respect the house and respect what we’re doing, you’re welcome with us. The ER is a sanctuary. Heal yourself.”

• Emily Arntsen (English)

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Editorial

Summer Music Festivals Summertime as a music fan means festival season, and naturally we Tastemakers took in a range of such gatherings this year. From the wilds of Canada to the city parks of Chicago and our own backyard here in Boston, these are our stories.

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Chicago, IL review and photo by Ben Stas (Journalism/English)

Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary this July in typically eclectic and dazzling style. Situated in the cozy confines of Union Park, the festival’s three-stage layout allows for a constant stream of music, but not an overwhelming one rife with conflicts. You could’ve caught a good chunk of each of the weekend’s 40+ sets if you really wanted to. And if you needed some downtime, a poster fair, a truly awe-inspiring tent of vinyl vendors and a wealth of locally-sourced food options provided plenty of alternatives.

Pitchfork’s infrastructure and execution should serve as a model to all midsize fests, but what really elevates it beyond the competition is its consistently stellar lineups. With curation that feels like the product of actual music fans conspiring to put on a great event, rather than a team of

suits appealing to the tank top and flower crown set, Pitchfork boasts year after year of killer bookings, and 2015 was no exception.

Chicago vets Wilco headlined the opening night with a bang, playing their surprisereleased Star Wars straight through for the first time alongside some well-chosen fanfavorites. Sleater-Kinney sounded positively ferocious in Saturday night’s top slot, while another hometown hero in Chance the Rapper shut down Sunday with an elaborately choreographed and energetic show.

Elsewhere on the bill were strong showings from artists spanning every genre from hushed folk to experimental electronica and good old fashioned punk rock. Run the Jewels delighted in their sub-headliner billing with a star-studded set that brought Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Gangsta Boo and more to the stage. Courtney

Barnett busted out louder, grungier renditions of her witty and exceptionally catchy songs.

Danish malcontents Iceage ripped through an incendiary set of tracks from their adventurous new LP. Jamie xx and his giant mirror ball offered up a moment of the purest summer bliss when “Good Times” dropped.

A brief park evacuation due to an intense and thunderous downpour which threatened to derail Saturday afternoon was the weekend’s lone speedbump, but even Pitchfork can’t stop an act of God. Festival organizers handled potential disaster with aplomb, and still managed to get a few songs apiece out of delayed sets by Kurt Vile and Ariel Pink. All told It was an incredible weekend to celebrate 10 years; here’s to 10 more.

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Editorial

Boston, MA Raquel Massoud (Music Industry) photo by Seb Heberforth (Engineering)

From September 25-27 music fans flooded City Hall Plaza for the sixth biannual Boston Calling festival. Apart from sound production issues on the Red Stage throughout Saturday, the festival ran quite smoothly. All three days experienced moderate weather and ran on schedule.

Friday opened a bit slowly with a lineup of folk, but the energy rose as the night progressed, with a strong conclusion by The Avett Brothers. Alt-pop was primarily

dominant on Saturday, featuring Walk The Moon, Chromeo, and Chvrches. Alt-J closed out the night with an epic light show. The final, and arguably best, day of the festival showcased a variety of genres from ambient indie to garage rock. Sunday’s highlights included FIDLAR, Daughter, Misterwives, and Hozier. The cherry on top of the festival’s tri-layer cake was a soulful performance by Alabama Shakes under a blood moon.

While the festival’s lineup featured many big acts, there was a noticeable lack of up-

and-coming bands. The small handful of new talent was primarily limited to Gregory Alan Isakov, Skylar Spence, Bully, Grey Season, and Dirty Bangs. While this edition of Boston Calling was a success, it would be enjoyable to see the festival embrace more rising acts, especially those that call Boston home.

St Vincent played, with her signature choreographed robotic movements, perfectly symmetrical stage set up, and a set list that was surprisingly diverse for a festival.

A mid-day highlight was Nas, who had no problem playing what the people wanted to hear – Illmatic. After the nostalgia trip that was hearing Weezer play “My Name is Jonas,” Kendrick came on. There had been buzz all day, and while waiting for him to appear the audience broke out into chants of “We gon’ be alright!” As soon as he came out there was a surge of excitement - he had us all in the palm of his hand. The surprise, and highlight of the entire festival for me, was when Kendrick brought Mos Def, aka Yasiin Bey, on stage.

During “King Kunta” Bey just danced around (which honestly would have been enough

for me), but then during “Alright,” Kendrick passed over the mic, at which point he started free styling the lines “We ALREADY alright, we done BEEN alright!” and everyone in the audience went absolutely crazy for it.

On day three, Father John Misty, in his energetic, sarcastic, swagger played one of the better sets of the festival. Later on were back to back Alt-J/Black Keys closing sets.

Neither disappointed, but the Black Keys in particular brought an unreal energy that carried with us all for the next few hours.

Of course, festival food is always important, and this being a festival in Canada, the poutine with smoked meat was maybe just as important as any of the shows.

Montreal, Quebec Jonathan Vayness (Psychology)

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Osheaga takes place every summer in Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau. This year’s three-day line up was full of folk, hard hitting rap, and a few surprises.

On day one, Run the Jewels put on the hardest-hitting show I had ever seen (until I saw Kendrick Lamar the next night). Killer Mike and El-P walk out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” Killer Mike shouts “LET’S BURN IT THE FUCK DOWN EL!” and then the duo proceed to blast you with energetic beats and rap for an hour. Later that day the Avett Brothers played, and while I’m not the biggest fan, they put on a great show, complete with the most energetic cellist in the game right now.

Day two was the most crowded, no doubt due to Kendrick’s headlining.

The 1980s – I was not alive during them. However, from what I’ve been able to gather, it was a time of bizarre popular culture—the likes of which we have not seen since. The fashion was colorful, the movies were romantic and teenage-angsty, and the pop music – oh, the pop music – was divine. Take your average self-proclaimed music aficionado, and ask them about their favorite bands from the 80s. You will have just signed yourself up for a lecture on why The Smiths are the greatest band ever, Fugazi defined punk, and Joy Division spoke to all of our lost souls. And while all of this is true to some extent, what you most likely won’t hear is how the mainstream synth pop artists of the era were also pioneers.

Artists like Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, A-ha and Flock of Seagulls (to name a few) wrote the classic pop songs that became the backing tracks for our favorite movies and a staple of the 80s aesthetic. While many people might admit to liking this music as a guilty pleasure, 80s pop (cheesy though it may be) should not be stuck with this stigma.

One album that embodies this 80s spirit is Culture Club’s This Time, a compilation album released in 1987 after the band broke up.

As a collection of singles from other works released across the decade, This Time serves as a perfect sampler of what mainstream 80s pop was. Let’s start with the cover, graced by the androgynous Boy George with a face full of make-up, pearl earrings, and a giant clock face in the foreground. It was an example of the vibrant style newly exhibited by adventurous pop stars, crossing gender lines and making a bold stride for the LGBTQ community.

And then you hear the music. Track one of This Time is the 80s classic “Karma Chameleon.” The song is obviously constructed to be a pop hit, but that doesn’t make it bad by default. “Karma Chameleon” has the synthetic, yet funky drum and bass sound that was unique to 80s pop, and a catchy chorus brought to you by Boy George’s silky smooth voice.

It’s a feel good, infectiously happy pop song. Later on the album is “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” a song that shows how 80s pop music could

address topics of vulnerability and heartache. On top of the lyrics being of actual substance, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” has a bass/synth breakdown that, while short, is ahead of its time, bringing to mind the sounds of Radiohead’s Kid A – indie heads rejoice!

One of the principle functions of any pop music is to be danceable, and Culture Club does not disappoint in this department. The best example of this would be “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya.” Set against one of the funkier slap bass lines I have ever heard on a pop song, the track builds with claps, horns, and marimba, ultimately coming to a contagiously dance-y chorus that even the most jaded listener would snap along to.

While many people might at least know of these bigger hits, the deeper cuts on the compilation shouldn’t be ignored. The song “Love is Love” is a slow dance ballad, that would fit perfectly at the climax of any rom-com. Backed by a tight drum-bass combo, fleeting harmonies and a surprisingly touching melody, “Love is Love” is a definitive example of the kind of well-constructed song present on This Time, and in the genre as a whole. “Time (Clock of The Heart),” has a similar sound. Heavy, synthetic bass opens the track, which then transitions into a memorable melody, backed by harmonies and diverse instrumentation, including Princeesque guitars, marimba, and saxophone.

This Time is not a masterpiece by any means, but it’s emblematic of a larger genre to which music fans sometimes turn their nose up. The songs on the album all have the same characteristics of solid songwriting, instrumentation, and lyrics. And more than anything, they’re fun. So if you are one to look down on 80s pop, the next time you’re not busy brooding over The Smiths, shed your ego and give This Time an unbiased listen.

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Interview

Every Dog Has its Day A Q&A with Ellen Kempner of Palehound At age 19, Ellen Kempner dropped out.

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She thought Sarah Lawrence College would be a sanctuary for queer-identifying folk like herself, but its “cliquey” social climate left her feeling isolated. After relocating to the Boston area, Kempner discovered another facet of her identity—and she called it Palehound.

Just two years later, Palehound is the apple of Allston’s eye—an indie rock export on par with Speedy Ortiz and Krill. Kempner’s frank, disaffected lyricism and off-kilter melodic sensibilities have earned critical praise—from DIY-minded magazines like Impose, to mainstream behemoths like Rolling Stone. This November, Palehound will embark on a full US tour with Mitski and PWR BTTM.

At our fall showcase, the power of Kempner’s songwriting—and her personality—is palpable. Between deeply personal accounts of break-ups and drop-outs, she jokes about her upcoming queer dating advice column, which will appear in Allston Pudding—between Page and Degeneres, “Ask Ellen” would never work as a title. Tastemakers Magazine caught up with Kempner to discuss shred guitar, Buzzfeed fads, Allston’s DIY music scene and the gender politics of indie music.

• Joey Dussault (Journalism)

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): How did

you approach the writing of Dry Food? I may be wrong, but it seems to me like it comes from a different place than Bent Nail and your earlier work.

Ellen Kempner (EK): I guess I was more… all on the table for Dry Food. With Bent Nail, I was super nervous. I was recording with people from the band Ava Luna, and they’re my idols. I didn’t really know them that well as friends at the time, so going into the process of recording and even writing the album was really nerve-wracking. I hadn’t done anything besides play teen centers in high school. I was writing Dry Food after everything was kind of happening already. I had gotten plenty of exposure and practice, and I was able to take the time to learn what I want to communicate.

with who I worked with, with what I put into it, and with the songs I chose.

TMM: When people describe your music,

“’90s alt nostalgia” comes up a lot. Do you think that’s fair?

EK: I mean, yeah, it’s totally fair—like, I have influences who are from the ’90s. The Breeders, Elliot Smith, stuff like that. But I think it’s a bit of a cop-out at this point. It’s in every article about almost every band, you know? Even beyond music, you see these fucking Buzzfeed articles like, “30 Toys You’ll Only Remember if You’re a ‘90s whatever.” I think the whole thing has become such a fad that it’s lost all meaning as a comparison. Isn’t all music kind of reminiscent of things that came before it?

woman. I think that women are just making the best music—or, once again, non-cis dudes.

The other night I went to the Waxahatchee concert. So we’re all hanging out in the dressing room, and it was all girls. And that’s awesome. So I feel like things are really changing. But at the same time, while the change is good, there are people tokenizing it.

And all the festival lineups are still headlined by guys, even though all the best records this year were released by women.

TMM: When you say “tokenized,” do you

mean being classified as a “girl band?”

EK: Yeah, I hate that. Not hate, because I’m proud of it—I feel like if I were to truly hate it, it would come from a place of shame—but I just hate the tokenization that comes along with it.

TMM: I ask because historically, it was

photo by Ben Stas (English/Journalism)

TMM: Are any of these songs especially

representative of who you are at this moment in time?

EK: I’d say the song “Dry Food,” which is why I named the whole album after it. Lyrically, I feel like I didn’t even try to cover anything up.

It wasn’t cryptic at all, just very honest. Bare.

TMM: Is there something you would have

done differently on this record?

EK: No, not really. I had all this anxiety while I was recording it. Like, “Oh my god, I’m sure a couple months from now I’ll look back and have so many regrets… about including a song, or not including a song.” But I’m pretty content with it.

TMM: I feel like that’s rare.

EK: Yeah. I’ve lived with it so long that it’s so pointless to regret anything. I’m really happy

considered uncool to be a technical guitarist in the ’90s. And of course you’re not shredding, but there’s definitely a lot of complex guitar work on Dry Food.

“Cinnamon” comes to mind.

EK: I’m glad you made that distinction. I feel like “shredding” has this… connotation. It’s funny, I was kind of embarrassed about the shredding at first. Like, does it actually mean anything? I thought it did, but I wanted to make sure it didn’t come off in a certain way.

But the truth is, it has actually set me apart in a really nice way. Not just from other artists, but from that stereotype of “girl-who-can’tplay-guitar.” And that has helped a lot with me feeling confident getting onstage in a room full of white men. Not that I really care about impressing you, but I don’t really want to deal with you snickering and thinking that I’m perpetuating some non-existent stereotype about girls not being good at guitar. As a kid I worked really hard to be good, because that sexism in music hits as soon as you pick up an instrument. Being put in bands with other kids at the place I took lessons from, people would immediately put me on rhythm guitar.

Not on lead, because they wouldn’t even consider that. But that’s just how it was. It wasn’t that the people running the program were assholes, it’s just that it was imprinted on everyone in rock music.

TMM: People must ask you this all the time,

but can you speak to your experience as a queer woman in the indie music “boy’s club?”

EK: Since moving to Boston, I’ve really made an effort to involve myself with more female acts—or just non-cis dude acts. Every new album that I heard and liked this year was a

TMM: You’ve got Speedy [Ortiz]. You’ve got

Krill. And now you’re touring with Mitski and you have a review in Rolling Stone. Is there anybody in the “Boston via Allston” scene you’d like to see get that kind of recognition?

EK: My favorite Boston band is Ursula.

They’re just the best people. But I don’t know if they want that recognition [laughs].

But if they did want it, then hell yeah. They just put out an album and… the world isn’t ready for Ursula.

TMM: Do you think there’s something about

Allston, or is it just a time-and-place thing?

EK: Having moved from New York, it’s such a community in Boston. Maybe “community” is a stretch, but you see the same people at shows. When there’s a show, it’s the show.

Like Grandma’s House—they have the coolest shit going on there. They have cool shows, they’re good people, and they’ve been successful in making that house a staple. And that house especially is a platform for queer, non cis-dude bands—that’s really important.

TMM: As an artist, would you describe

yourself as goal-oriented? If so, what are your goals? Where do you see this project going?

EK: Yeah, I’m the kind of person that needs to set goals to get my shit together [laughs]. But they’re all fun goals. And a lot of them—more than I thought—happened with the album.

I’m the kind of person who will get into deep ruts about music… and about how good I am, I guess. I have a lot of self-confidence problems with stuff like that. So the goals help remind me that things are going. And if things aren’t happening in certain areas, I know to focus on them.

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Album Reviews Ought Sun Coming Down Release date September 18 Label Constellation Records Genre Post-Punk Tasty Tracks “Beautiful Blue Sky”, “Sun’s Coming Down”, “The Combo”

Reviews Fall 2015

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On their debut album More Than Any Other Day, Montreal post-punk quartet Ought offered the listener eight tense, tightly woven jams built upon the intersection of concentrated collective hope and the mundane qualities of everyday life. Forming around both the student protests against tuition hikes in Quebec and the DIY art punk scene in Montreal, Ought formulated their own brand of wry optimism, characterized by rejection of complacency and a desire to foster positive change through connection with those whom they were surrounded by. More Than Any Other Day, above all else, centered itself upon the notion that we are all unsure of where to go in life, yet we can form a sense of community predicated on that uncertainty.

While Sun Coming Down does not make any strident leaps from its predecessor, Ought’s sophomore effort serves as a logical thematic sequel. On “Men for Miles,” front man and lead guitarist Tim Darcy continues to emphasize the dread that can become manifest in routine situations. However, unlike the track “Today More Than Any Other Day,” in which Darcy is able to experience this dread without wanting to flee his environment entirely, “Men for Miles” takes a more nihilistic approach (“Excuse me, would you say there’s a chance of bringing this whole fucker down?”).

This nihilism follows Darcy onto “Beautiful Blue Sky,” which serves, in part, as a critique of modern living, turning the lens on the banalities of the post-collegiate workplace. Here, Darcy holds everyday phrases (“How’s the family?

How’s your health been? Beautiful weather today!”) up to the light, revealing them as shackles to the exuberant passion he once felt.

By acknowledging that this is “all that we have, just that and the big, beautiful blue sky,” Darcy shows himself to the only door to freedom.

Throughout Sun Coming Down, bassist Ben Stidworthy and drummer Tim Keen form a smooth and cohesive rhythm section, allowing Darcy and keyboardist Matt May to build up the band’s signature jittery anxiety to levels

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that would otherwise be too far out of hand.

The quartet shifts tempo so seamlessly that the listener can potentially miss the moment it happens, which gives Sun Coming Down a more richly detailed and layered feel. At the heart of it all, Darcy acts as Ought’s lynchpin, proffering a singing style that is both commanding and conversational. Even as the songs build up to explosive levels, it is Darcy’s confidence as a front man that allows Ought to walk away from the damage unscathed.

As its name suggests, Sun Coming Down is an album meant for the turning of the day.

If More Than Any Other Day was Ought’s personal carpe diem, a call to action and interpersonal engagement, then this is the tired and disaffected answer to that call, a reflection on what happens when we remove ourselves from whatever hopeful environments we have fostered. The sun comes down, and “just like that it changes the night.”

Sarah Kotowski (Economics)

We publish album reviews online too! tastemakersmag.com

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The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die Harmlessness Release date September 25 Label Epitaph, Broken World Media Genre Emo, indie rock Tasty Tracks “January 10th, 2014”, “Haircuts for Everybody”, “I Can Be Afraid of Anything”

Harmlessness is massive. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die are known for their effortless genre-mixing, combining the atmospheric emo of Sunny Day Real Estate with the post-rock instrumentation of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in their debut LP Whenever, If Ever. Their debut set the bar immeasurably high in the recent emo revival, but to describe Harmlessness as the best emo album of 2015 is inaccurate. TWIABP didn’t just revive the rough-but-catchy sound of the genre’s 90s roots or take us back to when emo was more hardcore punk than pop-friendly rock- they went beyond the scope of genre expectations.

Their nine-piece collective focused more on the feelsy-obliqueness and twinkles that emo was about, and conveyed it through a mixture of indie rock, post-rock and pop-punk that somehow made sense. Harmlessness shatters all “sophomore slump” preconceptions and comes across as so wholly realized and uncompromising that its questionable genre combinations feel justified.

Harmlessness is ambitious. “You Can’t Live There Forever” begins with vocalist Derrick Shanholtzer-Dvorak almost whispering amongst sparkly violins and string arrangements in a pretty opener until pre-album single “January 10th, 2014” bursts open the door. The song details the legend of Diana Juarez, Mexican vigilante who hunted down and killed bus drivers that raped women. It has a bass line that rumbles and weaves through vocalists David Bello and Katie Shanholtzer-Dvorak’s lyrics like “Are you Diana, the hunter?/ Are you afraid of me now?/Well yeah, shouldn’t I be?” before crashing into a breakdown that never loses momentum. The duo vocals shine in “Haircuts for Everybody,” a life-affirming anthem that has the album’s best climax where Katie and David scream “Please change your life” over each other.

The drums on this record are mixed to sound louder than the band’s three guitarists playing at the same time, and it makes this modest, silly band from Connecticut sound extremely powerful. “I Can Be Afraid of Anything” is a three-part escape from depression, with an

ending that’s reminiscent of Blink-182 if they were good. Their grandiosity ends on a high note with “Mount Hum,” which cycles through postrock flourishes and pummeling punk rock before falling into beautiful dual harmonies that convey finality in a surprisingly peaceful way.

Harmlessness is growth. Their lyrics are a huge improvement from Whenever, If Ever, ranging from thematic storytelling in “January 10th, 2014” to social justice eating disorder awareness in pop song “The Word Lisa.” The songs pull different inspiration from bands like Los Campesinos! and Modest Mouse in songs like “Wendover” to give a variety of reasons for all music fans to love this album dearly.

Each song flows into the next one, making Harmlessness a seamless album of one-two punches that detail honest, human emotion. It’s an album that gives you a place to fit in for 54 minutes while also providing you a way out of your anxiety and worthlessness. Harmlessness is simply a masterpiece.

Anu Gulati (Computer Science/Math) 43

Album Reviews Julia Holter Have You In My Wilderness Release date September 25 Label Domino Records Genre Indie/Electronic Tasty Tracks “Feel You”, “Sea Calls Me Home”, “Betsy on the Roof”

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When capturing a feeling, Julia Holter deals in exactitudes. On Loud City Song, Holter put to words the sheer creepiness of a city as seen through the window wall of a high-rise apartment. She pinpointed that unspoken terror of walking into an apartment that wants to spit you out through the foyer.

There is something inherently unnerving about having your life described to you by a complete stranger through headphones. And yet when a song like “World” describes the state of people watching so perfectly, all we can do is wait for her to tell us what to feel and when to feel it. Perhaps that’s why Have You In My Wilderness feels like such a payoff for fans.

In the way that Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca rewarded people who stuck with them through Black Flag concept albums, this one feels like Holter’s most mature and relatable work to date.

On a first pass the album doesn’t feel quite conceptual, mainly because each track starts and ends. There is no “Maxim I” and “Maxim II” to make the album feel like one long interlude from a greater evil. In fact, Holter makes her foray into choruses, most notably in the harpsichorddrenched “Sea Calls Me Home.” Though the album has some semblance of “single power,” the tracks slowly reveal a sharp duality to unify them in the silhouette of a budding relationship.

It is an emotion that is realized within and across each song, chronicling the exact moment at which one lover gets lost in another.

Through Holter’s eyes we realize that the instant is at once terrifying and euphoric.

On the opener “Feel You,” she asks, “Are you mythological?” calling in the distance and only half-expecting a response. She then cycles through images of rain and light and perfume in rapid succession, making listeners as unsure of themselves as the narrator is. Holter’s melody choices are tremendously inviting, and blinding with the possibility of beauty.

On “How Long?” Holter riffs on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, recounting a moment in which Sally tries to convince someone to spend the night with her. However, the eerie refrain indicates that whoever she tries to love “runs from the horizon.” The whole thing screams Loud City Song by drawing from source material pre1960. The effect is similar, creating a hint of despair like the grain of a classic horror movie.

It also leaves you wondering whether the strings connecting “Silhouette” to “How Long?” comprise a requiem or a drone.

In fact, nearly all the instrumentation on the record fosters this latent uneasiness.

The upright bass on “Everytime Boots” exacts

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the playful dizziness of driving around in a motorcycle about 20 times. But as the backdrop of the harpsichord on tracks like “Feel You,” it becomes part of the most mature arrangements Holter has devised to date.

Though she may be a self-proclaimed dilettante, Holter’s cast of characters (Sally, Lucette, Betsy, Vasquez) speak volumes on her behalf. The album’s ambition is realized in a strange historical scope, with each vignette pushing and pulling listeners like the calling sea.

It appears that her source material knows no depth, and all we can do is stand on the ground, arms stretched out, looking up.

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Deerhunter Fading Frontier Release date August 16 Label 4AD Genre Indie rock Tasty Tracks “All the Same”, “Breakers”, “Take Care”

Right out of the gate: “My friend’s dad got bored / Changed his sex and had no more / No more wife / No more kids / Nothing left to live with / To exist.” Thanks Bradford Cox, at least we know what we are getting into: a life-changing sex change that results in the dissolution of a family and a loss of purpose.

Those lines needed a moment to sink in, with such weight put behind the sheer concept of the words alone. Cox does not give you that moment.

The melody immediately moves on to something new, throwing you forward as you look back trying to process what just flew by. “All the Same,” the first track off of Deerhunter’s seventh LP, Fading Frontier, from which the jarring verse is taken, does an excellent job at introducing one of the primary motifs of the album: a sense of aged comfortability. At this point in his life, nothing seems to surprise Cox anymore, not even the events presented in those lines. They fly by in a second, sung like any other line with the guitar and drums grooving underneath it.

Not even a moment to glance at it as it passes, leaving listeners with a rather unfazed Cox. The frontiers, in an odd literary sense, are fading.

Moving ahead, the concept of settling in continues. Deerhunter has never presented itself as an overtly dramatic group, but this appears

to be them at their most calm. “Living My Life” is very plainly put, with the title of the song itself repeated gradually throughout the song.

“Breakers” is based around the idea of giving up on fighting the inevitable. If Monomania, the group’s previous LP, represented some form of break and rebellion, then Fading Frontier represents a return to Earth.

Comfortability always comes hand in hand with a threat of the mundane. As somebody gets older, the number of days where they simply want to sit on a couch and eat a pizza while watching TV increases. For many successful artists, that comes with a bit of a risk.

Inactivity frequently fails to provide the proper inspiration for their music, and lack of proper inspiration frequently leads to an absence of authenticity. Instead of letting comfortability lead to inauthenticity, Deerhunter dodge this trend completely. Even with the normalized environment, the inner nuances of Cox’s mind are communicated as potently as they have always been, resulting in a record that is far from uninspired.

Musically, the “do more with less” style that highlighted the group during the days of their critically acclaimed LP Halcyon Digest is still present. We do not get the effervescent float of Digest; what we do get is simply unbelievably catchy. “Snakeskin,” arguably the poppiest track on the album, is driven by an earworm of an opening guitar progression, only based around flipping back and forth between major and minor chords like an on-off switch.

The entire album presents itself very clearly, with the level of musical precision to be expected from Deerhunter and the authenticity of Bradford Cox’s presentation making Fading Frontier a strong addition to the band’s catalogue. There is still room to move forward for the group. The album’s closer, “Carrion,” hints to us the group is far from settling into a routine, and that there are still some frontiers to master before they’re done.

David McDevitt (International Affairs/Economics)

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If you would like to submit a review to be considered for publishing in print or online, e-mail: tmreviews@gmail.com 45

Etcetera

PRETTY HATE MACHINE

1989

Ever wondered where all the anger came from? Probably the easiest Nine Inch Nails LP to pin down, Pretty Hate Machine is also one of Trent’s funkiest and most danceable, hence single “Down In It” and “The Only Time.” But musically, even the most carefree Reznor still has something to scream about, albeit more adolescent issues. While definitely not essential to a casual listener, more invested fans will definitely find some true insight as to where all that rage came from. Also, while Pretty Hate Machine got Reznor’s name out there, its his follow-up EP Broken, that really put him on the map, earning him two Grammy awards for “Wish” and “Happiness In Slavery”.

Essential Tracks “Head Like a Hole,” “Terrible Lie,” “Sin”

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

1994

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The tragic story of a slowly self-destructing man, some of the most viscerally loud beats of the 90’s, an unnerving sense of urgency, and of course, that line. You know which one I’m talking about: that line that makes you feel dirty for listening to it, that makes you slightly lower the volume when listening to it with headphones in case somebody can hear you, the line that made Trent Reznor a household name. “I wanna fuck you like an animal” he snarls over one of the funkiest beats of his career.

The line’s parent song, “Closer,” a musing on self-loathing by way of sexually charged lyrics, isn’t the only reason to listen to NIN’s most popular album. Like all of Trent LP’s, The Downward Spiral is meticulously thought out, and increasingly angry. The livid tracks like “Hersey,” “March of the Pigs,” and “Big Man With a Gun” are dispersed with some of Trent’s quietest moments, like the downright creepy “Piggy” and the truly heartbreaking “Hurt.” This one is definitely a must-listen, even if it’s just to see what all the fuss was about.

Essential Tracks “Heresy,” “March of the Pigs,” “Closer.” “The Becoming,”

“Hurt”

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Trying to condense the entire body of work by Trent Reznor into four short pages is like trying to stuff all of Morrisey’s self-loathing into a shoebox, it just is not possible. Aside from his chief moniker of Nine Inch Nails, through which he released eight LPs, Reznor has scored three films and a video game, released an album with a new band with his wife, executively produced albums for the likes of Marilyn Manson (whom he discovered) and Saul Williams, written songs for film soundtracks, and written, remixed, and recorded backup vocals for everyone under the sun. Commonly credited with bringing industrial music to the mainstream (interestingly enough he refuses to refer to his music using the label), Trent Reznor was, and still is one of the most creative and sought after forces in music, so much so he was

even on Time’s “Most Influential People” list in 1997. Trent Reznor really is the human embodiment of teenage angst, amplified and made much more sophisticated (well most of the time, but we’ll get to that later) for a mature audience. Now I know immediate thoughts are usually that there is no way that the man who wrote “Closer” would know about maturity even if it decked him in the face, but that is the voice of a very casual listener who hasn’t absorbed the true message, the message of true introspection. Trent isn’t afraid to be afraid, ironically, even if the tone of his music suggests otherwise; he channeled fear into grit, terror into anger, and let it all loose in some of the most aggressive, heartbreaking, yet sensible and even catchy, ways.

Jason Levy (Business)

THE FRAGILE

1999

After the monster success of The Downward Spiral, eager fans of the new face of industrial music had

to wait five whole years for any follow-up. Probably Nine Inch Nail’s most dramatic release, The Fragile is also one of Trent’s longest, deepest, and most tragic. While this LP as a whole doesn’t seem quite as angry as The Downward Spiral, it is definitely the more heartbreaking of the two because this time it’s more personal. The Fragile deals with some of Trent’s most deeply private demons, such as the passing of his grandmother, addiction, and his shattered heart. The Fragile, unlike its predecessor, focuses more on harmony, melody, and ambient soundscape in order to create the full picture. The album is also home to a few NIN superlatives: “The Fragile” is by far Trent’s most heartbreakingly personal track, “The Wretched” his most vocally emotive, “Into the Void” his most danceable, and “Somewhat Damaged” his most uncomfortably angry (which is saying a lot). While it has a few filler tracks like any double album, The Fragile is indispensable Nine Inch Nail material, but other than “Slipping Away,” don’t bother with Things Falling Apart, its remix album.

Essential Tracks All mentioned + “No, You Don’t,” “The Great Below,” “Where is

Everybody”

YEAR ZERO

2007

Finally Trent is back in form. While 2005’s White Teeth is by no means a bad album, it lacked the wit, variety, and energy that made his previous works so exceptional. Year Zero is all about political frustration, yet it is ironically his most accessible and low-tempo album to date. Trent takes a much more tactical approach to criticism here, attacking the American political landscape of the time by setting Year Zero i in the not so distant, but horribly apocalyptic future of 2022. So while the subject matter inherently makes Year Zero Trent’s least personal album, he more than makes up for it by adding some of the most varied and unique aural textures he’s ever made. Every song is very expertly layered, but still gives the illusion of sonic simplicity. As previously mentioned, the album has a significantly slower tempo overall, but nonetheless carries just as much weight in terms of substance and grit. “The Good Soldier,” “Me, I’m Not,” and “God Given” are all slower tunes with a building political anger, while the much heavier “Survivalism” and “Capital G” are as blunt as it gets (spoiler alert: the G stands for George Bush). Fans of The Fragile had to wait 8 years, but a worthy follow up finally made its way to the public ear.

“

Essential Tracks “Survivalism,” “Capital G,” “God Given,” “Meet Your Master,”

In This Twilight”

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HESITATION MARKS

2013

After a five-year hiatus, Trent came back into the public eye with 2013’s Hesitation Marks. While Year Zero was low in tempo, the better half of Hesitation Marks is straight up mellow. In fact, on this album more than any other, one could make the case that Trent’s anger has finally dried up a little. That’s not to say the grit and introspection is gone though. Tracks like “Find My Way” and “Satellite” turn both the volume and the texture down more than anything before, but stay just as layered, complex, and raspy as ever. The only thing that seems to have taken a real backseat here is rage; Trent for once seems at peace with himself, singing not from infuriated passion and depression but rather from true triumph, selfreflection, and even happiness at times, even if his lyrics are quite brash. Of course the LP is not without an aggressive track here or there, as evident by the almost springy “All Time Low” and lead single “In Two.” The album is also home to a few drastic style changes: “Everything” is without a doubt the brightest and most unabashedly rock song Trent’s ever penned, and “While I’m Still Here” is probably one of his most accessible tunes, complete with a trumpet outro of all things. It isn’t essential to the everyday listener, but is definitely enjoyable to a wider audience than Nine Inch Nails is used to.

Essential Tracks “All Time Low,” “Everything,” “Satellite,” “While I’m Still Here”

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HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS, SOUNDTRACK SCORES, AND MISCELLANEOUS: While Trent Reznor is most known for Nine Inch Nails, his fingerprints are all over so much more.

Recently, Reznor released an album with new band How To Destroy Angels (featuring his wife on lead vocals). While far from a must-hear, Welcome Oblivion is definitely worth a listen for the atmospheric and cosmic style change and for interesting tracks like the title track, “Too Late, All Gone,” and the trance-inducing “The Loop Closes.” Otherwise though, it’s a little dull at times, a little forgettable at others, and a lot self-indulgent all the way through. Additionally, if you’re the type to enjoy NIN’s instrumental project Ghosts I-IV, then make sure to listen to Trent and Atticus Ross’ three David Fincher film soundtracks, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl, all of which are ambient, dark, Golden Globe nominated. Reznor also did quite a few one-off songs for soundtracks, the best of which is the cover of Joy Division’s “Dead Souls” for The Crow. Reznor has collaborated with or remixed for everyone from Tori Amos to Puff Daddy, and most notably, Trent recorded the oh-so industrial jam “I’m Afraid of Americans” with pop/rock icon David Bowie, proving he can really work with anyone.

THE NOT SO ESSENTIAL WHITE TEETH

2005

To reiterate, White Teeth is by no stretch of the word bad. It was actually one of Trent’s most commercially successful albums and spawned a few modern rock hits like the slow jam “Every Day Is Exactly the Same.” It’s most definitely worth a listen for tracks like “Only,” one of Trent’s bounciest, and the brooding title track. White Teeth was unfortunately just in the uncomfortable position of necessarily being compared to Nine Inch Nail’s last release, The Fragile, to which it pales in comparison.

GHOST I-IV

2008

This one is only non-essential because it’s more of a score than an album. Almost entirely instrumental and ranging from soft piano to harsh guitar, this 36-track album was largely recorded by improvisation and experimentation, and with very little forethought, all very out of character for Reznor. That being said, it may be long but it is definitely interesting and a good listen if you’re into that sort of thing.

THE SLIP

2008

Probably Nine Inch Nail’s most disappointing release, The Slip was praised for its unconventional release strategy but not much else. All of the tunes seem to blend together into one long, homogenous track, and the lyrics are so uncharacteristically lazy for Reznor that the entire album (aside from the viscerally energetic “Letting You”) comes across almost as an afterthought.

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X Ambassadors

Katie Nelson

TASTY RECIPE Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake Type of dish Dessert Preparation time 30 minutes Cook time 40 minutes Difficulty Medium

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Ingredients

Instructions

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,

1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees

softened

2 In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.

½ cup white sugar

3 Beat until smooth.

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

4 Blend in eggs one at a time.

2 eggs

5 Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

½ cup pumpkin puree

6 Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

batter and stir gently until well blended.

1 pinch ground cloves

7 Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

1 pinch ground nutmeg

8 Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

½ cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

10 Cover with whipped topping before serving. Let cool, then cut into squares

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

Badlands Halsey, Caribou Our Love, Kasket Club They Don’t Mind 2nd Row:

Susanne Sundfør 10 Love Songs, Leo Kalyan Fingertips, Neighbors Failure 1st Row:

CRYPTOQUOTE

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

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—Nicki Minaj

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