b-cs area FSA assists farmers
thebattalion
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has designated 213 counties, including Brazos County, for agricultural assistance due to drought, heat, high winds and wildfires. Farm operators in affected counties have eight months from the date of a secretarial disaster to apply for assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program.
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september 22, 2011
● serving
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● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
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Extended cut Visit thebatt.com to watch Aggies attempt to imitate Dubstep tracks and describe how the music sounds.
thebattalion asks
Q:
What is Dubstep?
Barrett House, Staff Writer
b!
To me it sounds like monster music but it’s fun to dance to.
inside lifestyles | 3 Nirvana Nevermind
Anderson Morrow, sophomore petroleum engineering major
Nirvana’s 20th anniversary edition of the hit album, Nevermind, reissues next week. See inside to read why columist Matt Bizzel feels Nevermind is still culturally relevant today.
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Osa Okundaye— THE BATTALION
Tech Thursday With virtual reality as the next technological advancement, Sony comes one step closer. O’Dell Harmon, blogger for The Battalion, reviews this step as he shares insights on Sony’s new HMZ-TI 3D viewer – the Sony Visor. Read about it at www.thebatt. com.
Origins of Dubstep Check out these Dubstep artists
The genre that crosses cultures
◗ Skrillex
Shelby Shelton
Sonny Moore, formally of “First to Last”, began his Dupstep career as Skrillex in 2007.
◗Foreign Beggars
coming friday Fuller continues legacy A&M star wideout Jeff Fuller is a second generation Aggie athlete. Grab a Battalion on Friday to do your football homework before the A&MOSU game this weekend.
This group was nominated for best European Hip Hop Act at the 2010 Urban Music Awards.
◗ Caspa As the stage name for Gary McCann, Caspa produced his own Dubstep label in 2004.
◗Bassnectar Also known as Lorin Ashton, Bassnectar is an electronic and dubstep DJ based in Santa Cruz, CA.
Special to The Battalion Loud bass, distortive echo, frenzied dancing: in the electronic world of the 21st century, musicians cross genre boundaries, giving listeners new musical flavors. One product of this new musical culture is Dubstep. The true roots of Dubstep trace to 1950s Jamaica. The music scene became popular in low-income areas of Jamaica where local DJs would load up their vehicles with turntables and large speakers for street parties. The term “dub” resulted from the mixing of various music tracks to produce an entire new tack. In the 1960s and 70s, an economic downturn in Jamaica forced many to immigrate to the United Kingdom, bringing their taste for off-beat rhythms and snare emphasis along. With the new resource of British radio stations, Dubstep’s popularity became viral. “You’ll never hear a track and wonder, ‘Hey, is this Dubstep?’ It is very distinctive,” senior computer science major Blake Pavel said. “In fact, I would venture to say that if you had never heard a Dubstep track, but had heard the term, you would instinctively realize what you were listening to.” Today, Dubstep can be heard worldwide with groups such as Bassnectar, Skrillex and Excision.
“Excision is a beast,” Pavel said.“His live sets at the Shambhala music festivals are always as raw as can be.” In addition, musicians such as La Roux, Snoop Dog and Rihanna recently teamed up with Dubstep artists to remix songs for mainstream radio and dance clubs alike. Britney Spears’ track, “Hold it Against Me,” and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” are two of the most popular conversions to date. “Dubstep is perfect because it’s a mashup of all the craziest sounds you can muster that make an off-beat that you can’t help but move to,” Pavel said. Budding artists can also create their own Dubstep tracks at home. Computer programs such as Traktor Pro and Abelton Live give artists a chance to mix favorite tracks while adding their own flair of creativity. For now, the Dubstep scene in B-CS is grim but growing. While locations such as Basil Whippets and Schotzi’s hold “Dubstep nights,” many students said they are still unfamiliar with the intense music genre. “I definitely would not have even heard of Dubstep if my roommate wasn’t a music major,” said junior education major Lauren Newton. “She had to explain to me what this thing was that people had began to talk about on MTV.”
It’s a type of music kind of branching off of techno, I think. It gets more bass and heavy sounds like that. Claire Peorrata, freshman architecture major
Dubstep is a type of music that is played in clubs. Preston Tigwell, freshman industrial engineering major
I know it is music that has a lot of deep bass notes on it and is kind of crazy. It’s like someone taking a bunch of musical notes and drowning a bunch of deep bass lines on it. Taylor Seale, freshman business major
campus
On-campus service to honor sociology professor’s life
Tight budget fails to curtail campus construction
Emily Davis
Natalie Blanchett
The Battalion Students, faculty and friends will remember the life of sociology professor Stuart Hysom in a service at 11 a.m. Sunday at All Faiths Chapel. Hysom died following a car accident in July. Gerianne Alexander, a psychology professor who was a member of the college-wide diversity committee alongside Hysom, said she remembers Hysom as a vibrant, ener-
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getic, funny and passionate human being. “He was always making everyone laugh at meetings, but he was very zealous about his work on the diversity committee,” Alexander said. “He was especially sensitive to other people’s plights. He gave a lot of extra time to the committee because he cared so deeply about it.” Alexander said this concern for equal rights was evident in his involvement with the Faculty Senate, where Hysom
helped pass the “plus one” benefits resolution. The bill supports a policy that allows all professors, Hysom regardless of their sexual orientation, to add their partner to their insurance. Alexander and communications professor Patrick Burkart, who worked with Hysom on the “plus one” bill, said Hysom’s actions helped See Hysom on page 4
The Battalion Despite the recent economic downturn, in which Texas A&M suffered a $39 million decrease in state funding, more than a halfbillion dollars in numerous construction projects have flourished across the campus. Because of the funding decrease, University administration has consolidated staff positions, decreased class offerings and left faculty vacancies unfilled. B.J.
Crain, chief business officer for the A&M System, said that despite these shortcomings the University is able to continue construction because of the separate funding sources for construction and other operating expenses. Currently, there are 18 construction projects in production with an overall budget of $562,566,491 according to a Capital Projects spreadsheet provided by A&M administration. Projects on the list include a $10 million energy consumption
reduction project, $95 million for emerging technologies and the $116 million renovation of the Memorial Student Center. Funding for the projects comes in the form of six designated funding sources: a Permanent University Fund, auxiliary enterprises, designated tuition, state and local funds, tuition revenue bonds and private donations. Crain said the Permanent University Fund was strong See Construction on page 4
9/22/11 12:48 AM