OCTOBER by Knight Style

october knight style magazine

Director................................................................................................... Matte Velvet writer 001....................................................................................................adam raza writer 002..................................................................................................... gio visbal Photographer........................................................................................kayla enright

ÂŠ volz media 2015

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Welcome to OCTOBER and if you’re new to the revolution, welcome to Knight Style. We are a collective of creative rebels standing up for what we believe. We think differently and want to create without boundaries. But more importantly, we are really passionate about what we do. Don’t label us. Don’t put us in a box. Just respect our hustle. Knight Style is a multi-media group dedicated to showcasing the works of some of the most talented individuals in the world. This magazine you’re holding (or viewing online) is a high quality, art-driven, cultural experience that gives you more than any mainstream magazine will. My vision for Knight Style Magazine is to become the mainstream magazine that doesn’t reside in a stream at all. No, more like a big ass lake somewhere in Colorado. A lake full of super dope, super talented creators. We do what we do because it’s our passion. This is our pulse, so keep us alive. Join the revolution. This issue is very special to me because I LOVE October. It’s the month I was born, the month of fall, cinnamon brooms, pumpkin spice, and of course, my favorite holiday, Halloween. The “September” issue is the big fall issue for most fashion magazines, but this isn’t most magazines and it’s not just a fashion magazine. Welcome to OCTOBER. October’s Very Own,

Matte Velvet

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top 9 a l b u m s by 001

Björk-

adam Vulnicura

Throughout her long and illustrious career, Björk has explored many subject matters and different soundscapes. For her latest LP Vulnicura, Björk pulls back and peers inwards to deliver a beautifully personal and intimate record. Lyrically, the record is written very similar to her previous record, Biophilia. Both records

raza

seem to revolve around the same romantic relationship. However, Biophilia is about the creation and thriving nature of the relationship. Vulnicura follows Björk through the end of a relationship and the recovery period afterwards. The lyric sheet of the record provides readers with a timeline of relationship to the breakup. This forces the listener to lock in a perspective and mindset for the record. We begin at “9 months before” with the track Stonemilker. This is one of two tracks produced by Björk alone, the rest were co-produced by Arca. In its opening track, this record sets a stylistic tone for much of the re-

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cord with its dark, heavy instrumentals driven by heart wrenching strings. The track foreshadows the demise of the relationship and captures one of the main themes of honoring emotion. The track, Black Lake signifies a rock bottom. The track follows the singer songwriter as she spirals down the path to a deep depression. The track was written 2 months after the break up. Towards the middle of the track, a shift occurs and the listener is taken to

a place of anger. Bjorks vocals power through heavy strings masked with IDM electronic glitches to produce a stunningly beautiful track. Heartbreak in middle age can seem like a grim and hopeless ending,and the end of Vulnicura abandons this theme for a track about her sick mother. Although the track deals with the pains of her illness, Bjork manages to find comfort in descriptions of a motherly relationship.

002 Father John MistyI Love You, Honeybear Singer Songwriter, Josh Tillman released his second LP under his project, “Father John Misty.” The record follows Tillman on his quest for finding love and the ups and downs of his relationship, and along the way, discusses his relationship with life in America, religion and his own past. Tillman’s character remains the crazed, schizophrenic

man we saw in his first record, “Fear Fun.” The album’s strongest feature is its writing, which is self deprecatingly humorous, extremely personal, and brutally honest. Stylistically, the record feels like a classic Americana album with very organic sounding acoustic instrumentation, aside for one track ‘True Affection”, a pop song that offers a comment on modern technologies and how they’ve skewed true communication. The record is a strong follow-up to Tillman’s first record, which felt like a drug-fueled, spiraling out of control. This record feels like Tillman was pulled out of that bender, and yes there are a few episodes of his old evils revisiting him like in the track “The Ideal Husband,” which shows how old bad habits have haunted Tillman. Immediately after that thunderous track comes “Bored in the USA” which feels like a hangover track and the self loathing that comes after a wild night. The track is filled with regret and discusses Tillman’s discontent with life in America. The album ends very strong with the track “I Went to the Store One Day”, a track which peacefully and beautifully discusses his newfound love. The brutal honesty and personality in Tillman’s writing makes this record feel like a self-portrait, and tells the story of a troubled man which is more than worth listening to.

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004 Death Grips- The Powers That B

003 To

Kendrick Pimp a

LamarButterfly

I am going to make my best attempt at the impossible, which is try to discuss this album in less than 300 words. Kendrick Lamar’s, “To Pimp a Butterfly” is one of the most grandiose and ambitious records to be released in hip-hop this decade. The album unapologetically captures black America- its goods, bads and uglies. This includes the struggles that come with being African-American in America today. The album is woven together with a beautiful poem, which dives into Kendrick’s own narrative, the civil unrest, leaving and returning to Compton, and his struggle with depression. One can feel Kendrick’s hopelessness and struggle with leaving Compton in his drunken, sobbing verse on the second half of “u,” his struggle with the police force in “Alright,” and his anger over violence in the African-American community in “Blacker the Berry.” This huge range of subject matters serves to create a truly awe-inspiring release, with a beauty formed by Kendrick’s personal narrative, making profound statements on aspects of life in Compton. The ending of the album reveals that the poem, which has driven the album, was being told to 2pac. It also reveals the poem and metaphor behind the title of the record. This portion of the album cemented it as a west coast hip-hop legend of a release. Kendrick Lamar abandons traditional hip-hop structures and delivers an album that beautifully borrows from funk, free-jazz, and traditional west coast hiphop. Kendrick enlists an amazing lineup to help him create this goliath, Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, and Sufjan Stevens are just some of the names who assisted in creating the soundscapes of this album.

JENNYDEATHWHEN. Being a Death Grips fan is an extremely frustrating, yet rewarding experience. The group’s elusive nature, compulsive lying, mixed signals, and ambiguous project announcements keep the listener in a constant state of confusion only to be broken by the actual release of an album which no one was sure what to expect of. In March of this year, Death Grips released the second part of their double album, “The Powers That B.” The first part of the record, titled “NIGGAS ON THE MOON,” was released without warning in 2013. With Bjork samples, and traditional noisy glitches blended with hip-hop and noise elements, Death Grips recorded a stunning record. The record follows Ride’s character as he falls deeper into his own craze. Through their elusive nature, extremely innovative and ambitious music, the members of the group have become masters of creating havoc, panic, and hype within their cult-like following. They have become masters of creating events out of releases as well. “Jenny Death,” the second part of this record is a great example of this. “JENNYDEATHWHEN,” became an all too common phrase on underground music forums all over the internet. The album delivered. Death Grips managed to produce a record that is an explosion transmitted into sound. If this is the end of Death Grips (like the band says it is), it’d be…okay. In “The Powers That B,” the band captures all the energy they carried in their previous releases, and bring them together in one huge double-record.

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005 Young Thug- Barter 6 Young Thug is one of the most mysterious artists in pop culture. This mystique had granted him a sort of outsider status in mainstream hip-hop. However, with hit after hit, that all vanished. Although Thugger was accepted into the mainstream, the mystique never fell and many of his actions remain inexplicable. Days before releasing “Barter 6,” an album which. With its title, ends Lil Wayne’s famed album series, Thug was praising Wayne as an idol. However “Barter 6” isn’t about burying Wayne. “Barter 6” is Young Thug translating his amazing talent with sewing pieces of music into tracks into an album format. “Barter 6” is an extremely rewarding listen. Every bar, every empty space with atmospheric bass, every amazing ad-lib feels as if it were meticulously placed

there. There is an amazing technical proficiency in Thugger’s production. This is highlighted in the record’s choruses; take “Constantly Hating” for example, where Thugger seamlessly blends verses by him and Birdman, with a minimal bass driven beat. Thugger’s Shakespearean-esque wordsmith abilities add a flare to this record that makes it one of the most exciting releases this year. His ad-libs are so much fun that they seem vital to track, and are a further testament to his amazing attention to detail. They serve a similar purpose to the verse itself. Thugger uses his voice as an instrument, allowing him to focus on the sonically pleasing aspects of his music. “Barter 6” has cemented Thug’s reputation as one of the most creative waves out of the Atlanta hip-hop scene.

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Shamir-

Ratchet

Through an array of electrifying dance beats that don’t let you sit still, Shamir has written an album that comprises his coming of age story. As a teenage boy who also lives near a crazy city, (Vegas in Shamir’s case, Miami in mine), some of the situations presented in the record feel awfully similar. The album is honest and standoffishly badass about the idea of living life on one’s own terms and not fitting in a crazy city like Vegas. This attitude is translated over classic dancehall pop beats with a contemporary house feel and style. The combination makes for some extremely fun dance music. However, the record does sometimes stray away from the ferocious pop beats and falls back on Shamir’s vocals. When he was 16, Shamir Bailey would gargle whiskey and smoke cigarettes to add a coarse quality to his voice. Thankfully he failed because Shamir’s angelic, smooth vocals carry tracks like “Demons and Darker.“ One of the strongest qualities about this record is how through the whole album, all troubles are met with an attitude that oozes a confidence which seems unbreakable. The listener can’t help but feel a tremendous amount of joy at this, Shamir’s attitude marches through these tracks and the millennial nature can be felt in standoffish lines such as “Don’t try me, I’m not a free sample”.

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007

Jamie

XX-

Colour

The cover of Jamie XX’s latest LP perfectly captures the record’s spirit. The array of colors represents a feeling of euphoria and hope Jamie managed to capture in his music. With “In Colour,” Jamie XX has produced a beautifully minimalistic house record, which provides listeners with only a few layer of sound at a time, yet still manages to invoke intense feelings of happiness. This can be felt in the albums opening track, “Gosh.” The first half of the track, just an obscure vocal sample loop and house drums, but by adding bass and a simple sound, XX completely transforms the track which bursts open into its own beautiful soundscape. The album is anthemic for the culture around

house music, and this can best be seen in the track, “Loud Places,” featuring vocals from XX’s band mate Romy. The track beautifully sums up the quest for, and the nature behind finding love. There are moments this album leaves its house sound, like the track, “I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times.” The song is driven by vocals from Young Thug and Popcaan, and a vocal sample from the soulful band, The Persuasions. The track is one of the most fun tracks to be released this year and is a party essential, spreading a simple, obvious and beautiful message of hope and fun. This was the essential summer record of 2015, it managed to capture the wistfully free and joyful nature and feel that accompanies the season itself.

008 Kacey MusgravesPageant Material In an age where country music is plagued with clichés, Musgraves is viewed as a rebel. She has become a polarizing figure in country music because of this. However, in her second LP, Musgraves isn’t being rebellious against southern culture. She’s being satirically honest, poking fun at quirks of southern life, while embracing them with classic country bal-

lads and figures of speech right out of Billie Ray Cyrus’s vernacular. One of the main themes Musgraves tackles in the record is the importance of individuality. Musgraves uses her own struggle with southern stereotypes anecdotally to spread this message. This is covered best in the album’s title track, “Pageant Material” which humorously discusses Musgraves’ troubles with trying to keep up the role of a modern day Southern Belle. Musgraves’ honest discussion of small town culture is set to classic country melodies. The album is beautifully composed with an emphasis on

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country style, with stringed instrumentation, beautifully coupled with gentle, yet powerful vocals. Towards the end of the record is the track, “Good Ol’ Boys Club”, in which Musgraves parallels the music industry to an old gang of southern businessmen. In the track,

Musgraves proclaims that she doesn’t want in on that club, suggesting Musgraves refusal to abandon her country music roots and her small town charm, which she carries oh so well.

009 Titus Andronicus- The Most Lamentable Tragedy New Jersey based punk rock band, Titus Andronicus has never lacked ambition in their releases. This reputation stems from 2010’s, “The Monitor,” a project that captured the spirit of the American Civil War and metaphorically tied back to front man, Patrick Stickles’ life. However, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, is their biggest, most grandiose, and most ambitious project to date. It’s a 29-track, 93-minute, Go-

liath of a punk album. Structured like a rock opera, the story of the album is divided into 5 parts with an intermission; it follows a character who we assume is Stickles on his journey through the trials of every day life and his neurosis. The album is unapologetically punk, with electrifying guitars that power along with Stickles’ nasally, angry, sometimes anthemic vocals. The album borrows sounds from traditional operas with organ-like synths, especially on the 9 minute track which ends the first half of the album “A More Perfect Union,” a story about Stickles’ father and his father’s brother. The track is also an ode to their earlier project “The Monitor.” The album has many other tracks that reference previous releases by the band, making the album feel as though the band is treating this release as a magnum opus.

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Sophisticated ignorance by Gio visbal

Welcome to the Lucid temple…. Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come at literally any time of the day. For most, it’s during the wee hours of the night, during an exceptionally painful drinking session, or in the shower, where our million dollar ideas go to die. For me, it came during one of my many moments of procrastination. As I was studying for what, at the time, seemed like a pivotal Macro test in my college career, the thought hit me to create a clothing brand. Now, nine times out of ten, I would have chalked up this idea to one of the many get rich quick schemes that hit me daily, but this idea was powerful. So powerful in fact, that I gave up on studying and went to my room to later spend 6 hours writing a marketing plan to get this idea into motion. See, when you’re passionate about something, it tends to just consume you. Since that day nearly a year ago, all I’ve been able to think about night and day has been t-shirt designs and how to improve them. I called my best friend in New York and after a couple of minutes of discussing the idea, not only had I found a business partner, but we both came up with the name, “Lucid Temple Clothing.” Like most of you, I tend to leave ideas half-baked and usually I would forget about an idea like this, but it’s still marinating in my mind, yearning to be released into the world. Although I wouldn’t say I worked night and day each week to complete this goal, I never let the idea die. And I think that’s

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worth a lot in and of itself, just to have the perseverance to continue when it all seemed so far out. After making over 100 designs and extending my deadlines for 8 months, I had the luck of meeting one of the most creative and driven people at UCF, Matte Velvet. After hearing from mutual friends how creative and driven each of us were, we decided to have a brainstorming meeting for a couple of hours at a Starbucks and what had been planned to be a 2 hour meeting turned to an 8 hour melting pot of creativity in the blink of an eye. We created some of our best work that was showcased in the last issue of this very magazine. He also pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and my designs have just gotten better and I’ve gotten a great response so far. The creative chemistry we’ve developed has been pushing each of our ventures to new heights and that’s our vision for all the creatives at UCF, and everywhere really, to come together and use their resources to build a community of creatives to make an impact in the world of fashion, music and art. What is Lucid Temple you ask? Its not the next Polo, its not the next Gucci, it’s my outlet. It represents a high quality street wear with more thought behind it than the current trending topic or song lyric. So, I invite you to take a glimpse inside my world and see for yourself the future I have created for your minds as well as your closets. Follow us at : @LucidTemple Stay

(Twitter),

LucidTemple

(Instagram) Lucid.

featuring Haunted apparitions top 9 albums sophisticated ignorance

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