Melisma Magazine Summer 2019 by Melisma Magazine

melisma

TUFTS JOURNAL OF MUSIC

MELISMA

FROM THE EDITORS

Editors-In-Chief

Dear Earthlings,

Senior Editors

It is us. Regular humans - like you. We made a tiny shiny book. It has words in it. As human books do. Many of these words are about music. It is rumored that humans like music. Like many of you we spent some time at area 51 this summer. Now we have rematerialized here at The Tufts. Just like you. Everything is fine. Do not panic.

Lola Nedic Siddharth Jejurikar Laura Wolfe

Katie Fielding Charlie Billings Katie Sanna Diana Hernandez

Managing Editors

Annmarie Hoch Michael Norton Miranda Feinberg Matthew Harrison

Social Media Directors Dorothea Wotton Evan Zigmond

Editor

Ethan Lam

Layout Director

Maygen Kerner

Staff

Ethan Lam Bayley Koopman Michael Cambron Colin Kronholm Thomas Felt Alex Friedman

The first of these word assortments concerns a being by the name of “Lil Nas X,” who (we are told) is very popular amongst humans like ourselves. One adult man with the title of Ethan Lam does an exploration of this human phenomenon. Next is an article on a tune-maker from Spain (a place on EarthTM), Rosalía. A Laura Wolfe takes a human-studies approach to this person in this section. Finally, we have the Miranda Feinberg making words about recycling exhausted human media into renewable media. We have also invited a batch of fresh-humans to share with us their favorite audio medias from the Earth Mid-Year. This book will show you these audio-media-lists alongside desciptions of the brain chemicals these lists released in the fresh-humans. This is a final product. Make enjoy. Deepest human emotions, Lola Nedic, Laura Wolfe, and Siddharth Jejurikar 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00001101 00001010

Interested in writing, art, or design? Questions, comments, adulation, spam, scams, or hatemail? Email melismamagazine@gmail.com

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 3

MELISMA TABLE OF CONTENTS

04 TRA TRA!

Laura Wolfe

10 FIRST-YEAR PLAYLISTS

14 FALL PREVIEW ON THE COVER

Design by Laura Wolfe

THE MEME MARKETING OF LIL NAS X Ethan Lam

07 FINDING THE WORDS Miranda Feinberg

12 SEMESTER IN PHOTOS

Melisma Magazine is a non-profit student publication of Tufts University. The opinions expressed in articles, features, or photos are solely those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the staff. Tufts University is not responsible for the content of Melisma Magazine. If you would like to submit a letter to Melisma Magazine, please send it to melismamagazine@gmail.com. Please limit your letter to four hundred words or less.

The Meme

Marketing of Lil Nas X BY ETHAN LAM

o artist has ever made a debut quite like Lil Nas X. His first single “Old Town Road” made history over the summer as the longest-running number 1 track in the history of the Billboard Hot 100— breaking the former 16-week record held by “One Sweet Day” and “Despacito”—and managing to hold the spot for 3 more weeks before being dethroned by Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.” Even more impressively, Lil Nas X achieved this as a completely fresh face in an industry that is notoriously challenging to break into. What sets Lil Nas X’s rise to the top apart from his many streaming age contemporaries is the crucial role that memes played in both the track’s rise to prominence and it’s longevity. Lil Nas X’s innate understanding of virality, memes, and internet culture enabled him to expertly self-promote via social media, allowing him to radiate an aura of authenticity that lends him his current appeal as a goofy, downto-earth, and incredibly charming musician. Whether or not he can successfully grow a long-term career is yet to be seen, but regardless, his meteoric rise reflects the increasingly influential role that social media and virality plays in every facet of music

It’s clear that humour rules social media, and as such, several artists have successfully leveraged comedic music, visuals, and marketing in order to go viral.

culture. What this means for the industry’s future is worthy of examination—how will social media and virality change which artists listeners will gravitate to, and how will major labels respond? Memes and TikTok clips dominate our newsfeeds, get spread through group chats, and are laughed at over dinners with friends. It’s clear that humour rules social media, and as such, several artists have successfully leveraged comedic music, visuals, and marketing in order to go viral. Lil Nas X did this with “Old Town Road,” recounting in an Instagram post that he knew the track “needed to be funny.” On the song, he humorously exaggerated country aesthetics because he knew about the genre’s current memeability. Today’s popular country music— which is unfortunately so divorced from its history of black musicianship and is often conflated with the entire country genre itself— has become incredibly easy to parody because of its often kitschy, overdramatically macho, and superficial themes, optics, and sounds. For example, when we think of popular country music, what instantly comes to mind are exaggerated stereotypes such as ten-gallon hats, pickup trucks, and twangy banjos. From the very start, Lil Nas X knew that the ironic campiness of “Old Town Road” and its country trappings could help the song reach meme-status and thus be catapulted into the mainstream, telling Time that he “promoted the song as a meme for months.” This marketing approach paid off when the track reached virality as the soundtrack for the #YeeHawChallenge on TikTok, after which it went on to gain mainstream visibility. Similarly, Rich Brian quickly shot to fame after releasing “Dat $tick” and it’s accompanying video, in which he dons a dorky costume comprised of a pink polo, fanny pack, and knee-length khakis. Brian was formerly a comedy Viner and YouTuber, meaning that he was also intimately familiar with what our increasingly irony-laden, internet-dominated culture

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 5 finds funny. As he recalls in a Pitchfork feature, “I decided I wanted to dress like a dad… It was either gonna hit or be a terrible mistake.” Needless to say, it

they understood how fleeting viral-born relevancy is, and thus quickly took actions to rebrand themselves as more than just memes. was the former. Because of their hilarious online presences and content, Lil Nas X and Rich Brian feel like authentic personalities both inside and outside of the contexts of their music. They understand and participate in the same niche online cultures that we traffic through everyday, and thus, they feel infinitely more accessible than musicians of the past. Their humour conveys relatability, and listeners have always gravitated towards music and musicians that they can relate to. It’s just that the internet and social media have rewritten the ways in which we consume and perceive relatability, and artists like Lil Nas X and Brian are some of the first true new stars who successfully navigated this shifting landscape. What distinguishes these two from other humorous internet musicians out there is that they understood how fleeting viral-born relevancy is, and thus quickly took actions to rebrand themselves as more than just memes, transitioning their fleeting moments of internet-born fame into full-blown musical careers. “Dat $tick” went viral by itself, but Rich Brian’s career really took off after his label 88rising produced a video in which rappers (amongst them 21 Savage, Ghostface Killah, and GoldLink) reacted to Rich Brian’s “Dat $tick”. After getting past his

comical attire, every rapper in the video endorsed Brian’s rapping, shifting the internet’s focus from the video to the music itself. Ghostface Killah even offered to—and eventually did—hop on a remix of the song, lending even more legitimacy to Brian as a rapper. In Lil Nas X’s case, he periodically released new remixes of “Old Town Road”, the most meme-ready of which brought together the impossible combination of Young Thug and viral yodeller Mason Ramsey. He also quickly recorded and released his 7 EP, managing to actually capitalize on his momentum, unlike so many past viral artists. The result was another high-charting track, “Panini,” which indicates that Lil Nas X might be able to evade the dreaded one-hit-wonder curse that looms over many viral artists. Virality often feels completely random, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that this isn’t always the case. In fact, Lil Nas X’s meme-heavy marketing approach was intentionally engineered to maximize the chances of “Old Town Road” going viral. He had tried the types of direct self-promotion typical of young internet musicians trying to draw attention to their work, posting links to “Old Town Road” across numerous subreddits (his post to the r/hiphopheads subreddit is titled My new song mixes trap and country. What do y’all think?) and in response to his own popular tweets. He even made

sneakier attempts in which he posed as somebody curious about the song (his post to the r/namethatsong subreddit reads: What’s the name of the song that goes “take my horse to the old town road”). These traditional approaches proved to be ineffective, since people rarely ever click on self-promotional links. There are too many people trying to promote themselves in that manner, and as such, listeners have become indifferent to such marketing. To get around this, Lil Nas X utilized his knowledge of viral mechanics, knowing that his best chance at making “Old Town Road” a hit was to make it a meme. Lil Nas X was already intimately familiar with meme marketing even before “Old Town Road,” as he allegedly used to run a Twitter meme account— think in the vein of old accounts like @dory, @CommonWhiteGirl, etc— that racked up a 6 figure follower count. He understands what content gains engagement and isn’t afraid to act on it, as evidenced by what he would post on both his previous and current Twitter accounts. For instance, one of his viral tweets was about how nobody attended a birthday party that he threw for his dog, a story which was completely fabricated. It’s indicative of how virality can be manufactured and forced. Ultimately, there isn’t anything wrong or immoral about how Lil Nas X leveraged virality for his marketing. As an independent artist without the marketing might of a major label behind him, the only way he could get his music out to a wider audience was through slightly deceptive— albeit not ultimately harmful— unconventional marketing. But we’ve gotten a promising, adored, and relatable artist out of this whole saga, even if the

we have come to link authenticity and relatability to virality, a cultural connection that can potentially be exploited by major labels. optics of the path that Lil Nas X took to get to this point aren’t entirely flattering. I’d wager that we all want to see Lil Nas X succeed in the coming years, that we’re all rooting for him. However, the success of his meme-magic highlights how we have come to link authenticity and relatability to virality, a cultural connection that can potentially be exploited by major labels to rapidly push musicians onto the charts under a veneer of virally-generated authenticity. In an article for Vulture, Lauren Levy explains how Rojas (who coproduced XXXTentacion’s “LOOK AT ME!”) and Alex Gelbard developed a viral marketing strategy that they pitched to label executives called “The Pump Plan,” which “guarantees transforming a local rapper or minor celebrity into a meme and then a viral sensation using a set of proven marketing tricks… like: socialmedia influencer campaigns, meme-ing the artist… to stoke controversy and online attention.” Clearly, we would do well to be more critical of how we engage with virality. Lil Nas X’s expert navigation and usage of internet culture feels refreshing and authentic in our current cultural landscape, but it’s possible that this marketing approach will completely lose its edge if it is appropriated by major labels. This is an entirely real threat, as evidenced by Capitol Records giving an imprint label to Rojas and Gelbard, partially because of their interest in the viability of “The Pump Plan.” Meme marketing has thus far brought a multitude of exciting and talented newcomers to the forefront of music—think Oliver Tree and Poppy in addition to Lil Nas X and Rich Brian— it would be a pity for it to be rendered stale, predictable, and eventually ineffective at the hands of major labels, as it is currently one of the few ways that young and promising musicians can draw legitimate attention to themselves.

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 7

A LOOK BACK AT OUR FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM SHOWS WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;VE COVERED THIS SUMMER

The Drums | Lola Nedic

Kero Kero Bonito | Ethan Lam

Clairo | Charlie Billings

Sons of an Illustrious Father | Laura Wolfe

Nick Murphy | Erica Levy

TRA TRA! BY LAURE WOLFE

osalía is a Flamenco-Pop diva from Spain who is rapidly gaining influence in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her dramatic and innovative presence, style, and performance are part of a complex persona that deserves thorough analysis. While her debut, Los Ángeles, is a dynamic Flamenco album, it did not gain nearly as much visibility as her second. El Mal Querer gained global recognition and hordes of dedicated fans by shattering the boundary between traditional Flamenco music and modern Pop. The album traces the story of Flamenca, the protagonist of a 13th century Spanish manuscript, through 11 songs that expertly combine contemporary popular culture with classic Spanish themes and iconography. Rhythmic handclaps, or palmas, replace the hi hat drum sounds that appear in many current Pop songs. In “BAGDAD,” Rosalía’s voice contains the urgency and passion unique to Flamenco as she sings a Spanish version of the hook from “Cry Me a River” by Justin Timberlake. In “DI MI NOMBRE,” she references Destiny’s Child in the opening lyrics: “di mi nombre cuando no haya nadie cerca,” which translates to “say my name when no one is around.” One particularly striking image is the penitente, a Spanish church figure, skateboarding in front of a cross in the video for “MALAMENTE.” However, as Rosalía has become more visible as a result of the viral success of El Mal Querer, she has also been the target of more criticism. Many people have accused Rosalía of cultural appropriation for her treatment of Flamenco music from her position as a white woman from Barcelona. Flamenco was born at the intersection of Spain, the Middle East, and North Africa, and has deep roots in Andaluz gitano culture. Rosalía has responded to these criticisms by saying that Flamenco is a mix of multiple cultural influences and few musicians are a part of all of them. She also has studied and worked hard to learn about and respect the genre, but her seemingly careless attitude often reads as a bastardization of the genre and its aesthetics rather than a deep love and respect for it. In addition, Rosalía has built her image and her brand by copying gitano aesthetics like long hair, big earrings, and elaborate

As the lines between genres are blurred, it becomes more difficult to tell when they are being crossed in harmful and offensive ways. nails while gitanos suffer discrimination for wearing the same styles. Earlier this summer, Rosalía collaborated with J Balvin on her first release since El Mal Querer, “Con Altura.” The song is a Reggaeton hit, with over 200 million streams on Spotify, and for good reason. In interviews, she has expressed respect for Reggaeton, but is not as thoughtful about it as she is with Flamenco. This sets up a paradox for Rosalía, as though the amount of respect she shows for each genre detracts from how respectful she seems of the other. As the lines between genres are blurred, it becomes more difficult to tell when they are being crossed in harmful and offensive ways. Rosalía references Flamenco culture throughout “Con Altura.” She invokes Camarón de la Isla, a Flamenco icon from the 1970s and ‘80s who has inspired her. Other references, however, are more insidious. For example, the line “pongo palmas sobre

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 9 la Guantanamera,” which translates to “I put handclaps over the Guantanamera,” is callous when considering Rosalía’s position as a European artist and the violent history of Spaniards in Latin America. Guantanamera is an important Cuban nationalist song based on a poem by José Martí, a famously anti-Spanish writer of the 19th century, and boasting about putting Spanish style over a cornerstone of Cuban culture is thoughtless. In addition, the line “lo hago para mi gente y lo hago a mi manera,” which translates to “I do it for my people and I do it my way,” comes across as harmful from a Spanish artist experimenting with a Latin American genre. “Con Altura” allows Rosalía to be lumped into the category of Latin music, which can detract from the success and visibility of Latinx artists. American media outlets contribute to this harmful misconception. Billboard released a video on Rosalía in their “Growing Up Latino” series in which she discusses the Latin American influences on her music. This episode presents Rosalía as essentially Latina, ignoring the distinction between being Spanish and Latinx. She also was interviewed for a Fader cover story in which she did not outright reject the label of Latin artist, instead saying that she would “prefer for others to decide if [she is] included in that.”

Her latest release, Fucking Money Man, contains two songs that show a return to the more overtly Flamenco sounds that she distanced herself from in “Con Altura” and “Aute Cuture.” The first song, “Milionária,” is sung in Catalán, the language of the region of Spain where Rosalía is from. Singing in Catalán is unexpected—it asserts a piece of her identity that she rarely plays up, and the result is genuine and authentic, which feels refreshing after her other recent singles. The second song, “Dio$ No$ Libre Del Dinero,” is a dark and melodramatic foil to “Milionária,” an emotional critique of the excessive, status-obsessed culture in which she participates. Rosalía’s music is only one part of her multifaceted image. She is a magnetic performer—her live performances maintain the elaborate, maximal aesthetics of her videos with a collaborative twist. She performs with a crew of backup dancers in classic Flamenco outfits who dance in a blended Hip-Hop style, as well as a band, singers, and producer. She also does not shy away from performing her more classical, less accessible Flamenco songs. Rosalía is just as impactful as a Hip-Hop dance powerhouse as she is as a stripped down Flamenco singer shedding tears onstage. But don’t expect her to come to Boston anytime soon; she is still breaking into the North American market, and entirely Spanish music is still pretty niche, especially in New England. Although she may not be playing TD Garden in the near future, Rosalía is expanding outside of music into acting and even fashion design. She starred in Dolor y Gloria, a film by Pedro Almodóvar, and she has released several collections with the Galician fashion brand Pull&Bear. As Rosalía continues on her path to world domination, she must be thoughtful and careful as she becomes more visible and less of a novelty. Rosalía’s rise has raised interesting questions about how closely tied music can be to specific cultures in an increasingly interconnected world. The distinction between drawing inspiration from a traditional form of music and stealing or degrading it has never been more blurry. Updating traditional genres can be compelling and empowering, but can be detrimental when artists are not cautious. Although forcing artists to stay true to the genres where they “belong” can stunt innovation, it is essential to holding them accountable for making culturally conscious music.

FINDING THE WORDS

The Genius of Sampling Dialogue BY MIRANDA FEINBERG

usic as an art form is an ever-expanding medium. There are infinite directions in which an artist can create their music. A few years ago, I found myself struck by Bastille’s third album Wild World. Throughout the 19 song album, the band members worked audio clips from different media into their songs, sourced from a wide array of media like ‘80s movie Weird Science and an American anti-communism video. Though I was blown away by the mix of music and dialogue—a combination that I thought to be amazingly unique and contemporary—this wasn’t anything new. Music sampling (when an artist reuses a portion of a preexisting sound recording in another recording) has existed across genres and generations. Examples of sampling are widespread throughout music history—think Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” reusing the iconic bassline from Queen and Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” Taking something that exists already and repurposing it to fit a new project gives artists opportunities to push their creative boundaries. This technique stands out all the more when that audio clip isn’t music, and begs the question: what pushes an artist to include dialogue in their music? Though a sampling of dialogue will always affect a song at the surface level because, as the form and flow are fundamentally changed when dialogue is added, samples are often used to amplify the deeper message of the song as well. Artists who are trying to convey a theme, political beliefs, or specific and personal feelings can use samples as a way to magnify those messages. A well-known or well-worded sound byte can speak volumes. Additionally, the sudden appearance of such a clip draws more attention to the message. With Bastille’s Wild World, frontman Dan Smith said that the clips the band included in each song were meant to underscore themes of unrest and discomfort. Each sound byte adds depth to the message Bastille sings to, and matches the meaningful lyrics of the songs. In this instance the dialogue works on many levels, interrupting the flow while still highlighting the tone. In the track “Warmth,” Bastille sings about the bleak normality of tragedies covered in the news. The song starts with a clip from “The News and Media’s Coverage of Crime and Victimization,” a video produced by the US Department of Justice. The video speaks to the same problems that the song does: “When the event happens, there is

little time to think of those things that people would like to have remain private / Getting caught up in the circus-like atmosphere, feeling less responsible to conventional ethical practices.” The clips address how hectic the intersection of tragedy and media coverage of tragedies can become, stating point-blank that it is hard to separate the personal details from the sensationalized news. This clip has an overall tone of defeat and helplessness, as it addresses a problem in a matter-of-fact way that leaves no room for improvement. Lyrics from the song itself match this hopeless message: “Never good just the bad and the ugly / laid in front of you… Feeling helpless I look for distraction.” Dan Smith sings about devastating, yet common, everyday problems. The dialogue clip heightens the tone and message of Bastille’s lyrics. Another instance where a dialogue sample amplifies a message comes in The 1975’s self-titled prelude to their upcoming album. The entirety of the almost five minute song features much of teen activist Greta Thunberg’s January 2018 speech at the World Economic Forum, in which she commented on climate change, played over soft backing instrumentals. The track’s protest message, as Thunberg has garnered attention and praise for speaking out about the current environmental crisis: “We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis. And we need to call it what it is. An emergency.” The song is a rallying cry, a universal

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 11 call for everyone to take climate change seriously. The mixing of the dialogue and the instrumentals creates a very cinematic feel, and the track as a whole draws the listener in and magnifies the message being shared. Aesthetically, the choice to use a sample from a movie seems to be an extension of the artist’s creativity. Using dialogue and spoken word in place of the expected singing or rapping is unique and newly creative. Using samples allows artists to incorporate other media into their art. Samples are their own form of instrument, and an artist has the liberty to play that instrument in so many different ways and to so many different affects. The sampled audio in “Bring da Ruckus,” the first track on the Wu Tang Clan’s debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), doesn’t interrupt the song or the flow, but instead acts as an announcement, a banner of commencement. Including sampled dialogue at the beginning of a song can be an effective and surprising introduction. Artists can also use the clips at the end of the song like a sign off. Kendrick Lamar’s song “DNA.” ends with a sound byte of Fox News hosts Geraldo Rivera, Kimberly Guifoyle and Eric Bolling who, in the clip, is criticizing Lamar’s performance at the BET awards in a segment with Fox’s The Five: “Hip Hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years.” Though the sample is unexpected, it’s more subtly so. While a clip at the beginning of a song jumps out at you, a clip at the end of a song comes when the song is winding down, and tends to be less jarring. Additionally, a dialogue clip at the end of a song leaves the listener with more to think about. Adding the Fox News clip at the end of “BLOOD.” gives the listener a deeper understanding of the song; had Lamar finished his song sans-dialogue, the content of the song wouldn’t have as deep of an effect. By blending his own personal lyrics and opinions with statements from the opposition, Lamar enhances the point he is trying to make. Furthermore, he uses criticism to drive his central point home. While sampling is often used to convey a political message, it can also be used to show listeners more about the artist and the story behind their music. Maybe the most iconic instance of sampled dialogue can be heard in the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The album sources from the dubbed dialogue of kung-fu movies, the spoken words chopped and rearranged to fill in the tracks in an inventive style. The first track on the classic album, “Bring da Ruckus,” starts not with a beat or with vocals, but with a solemn voiceover from the 1980’s kung-fu movie Shaolin & WuTang: “Shaolin shadowboxing and the WuTang sword

Samples are their own form of instrument, and an artisT has the liberty to play that instrument in so many different ways style. / If what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang could be dangerous…” The song goes directly from the sober declaration to the loud and angry intro, rapped by Wu-Tang member RZA. The blend of dialogue and rap gives the song depth, as it paints an origin story of the Wu-Tang Clan for listeners. The genius of sampled dialogue is that it can affect the song in multiple ways. While the unexpected nature of the spoken words creates a very contemporary atmosphere of confusion and irony, the message of the clips also adds to the theme of the song—and the album— as a whole. The opening clip from Shaolin & Wu-Tang is a challenge: “Do you think your Wu-Tang sword can defeat me? / En garde, I’ll let you try my Wu-Tang style.” The clip perfectly embodies the defiant tone of the Wu-Tang’s debut album. Their punchy entrance into the world of Hip-Hop is heightened ten-fold by the brazen and daring kung-fu attitude. As artistic mediums become more and more intertwined with current events, it is fascinating not only to look at how dialogue samples have been used but to think on how they can be used in the future. The use of sampled dialogue makes the political and social messages of music more obvious in 2019. Personally, I think the use of dialogue samples is boundlessly compelling. The pop of spoken words makes songs cinematic and hard-hitting, on both a surface and thematic level. Using dialogue creates a deeper story for the music, and the depth and background that dialogue provides gives the song a more extended history, like a movie. Dialogue shakes up songs in ways that sound new and innovative. Additionally, in an age where social and political awareness is trendy and mainstream, it seems endlessly avantgarde to deepen a song’s message by outsourcing to relevant and preexisting clips. Whether as a creative outlet or a provocative message, dialogue samples have been and will continue to be a technique to watch for as artists continue to take them in new directions.

First-Year Playlists

WE ASKED AND THE FIRST-YEARS DELIVERED: HERE ARE THE PLAYLISTS THAT DEFINED THEIR SUMMERS In the cinematic realm, soundtrack often segregates the transitory from the iconic. That immaculate pairing of song and film captures Dustin Hoffman’s disillusioned purgatory in The Graduate, guides the whimsical escapism of Brazil, and contextualizes The Departed’s depiction of mob-infested Boston as a pseudo war zone. “The Sound of Silence,” “Brazil,” and “Gimme Shelter” are each incredibly different songs, supporting an even more disparate variety of films. But they all achieve a common goal in each of their respective settings—they vivify the environment around them, enabling audiences to empathize and often romanticize the fantasies they’re being presented with. In a strange way, playlists represent a collaboration between cinema and music. They dramatize the mundane, enhancing everyday scenarios that allow us to evade simplistic reality. They embody an escape— not from our realities themselves, but from the way that we perceive them. Belle and Sebastian’s lighthearted folk jam, “Get Me Away from Here I’m Dying,” turned the monotonous drudge of early morning school bus rides into an ironic celebration of overstated misery. It did so nearly every day. Assembling the perfect playlist is a matter of defining that intoxicating mood, and sustaining it for an additional 30 minutes, satiating our restless minds caught in the circuitous normalcy of daily life. This playlist was made two days ago in anticipation of the plane ride to Boston. Each song is meant to encapsulate the complex flux of optimism and melancholy present along the path of a major life transition, and each compliments the cinematography of my journey to Tufts.

This playlist is a real hodgepodge—a hodgepodge of sounds, styles, and genres, but perhaps most importantly of emotions. The summer between high school and college is an emotionally confusing, raw time, filled with moments of nostalgia, euphoria, regret, and doubt, and this set of songs is meant to run this emotional gamut. The youthful, punky swagger of “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” rubs up against “Here Comes the Night,” an epic, angular song which longs for a complicated past (“Did these cacophonies please you? / they pleased me, too.”) The 80’s revivalism of “The Whole of the Moon” swoons while the noisy “Tuff Gnarl” snarls and spits. “Something to Believe” and “Searching for a New Day” yearn for hope using Art Pop and 60’s-style Soul, respectively. The melodies of “A Sentence...” and “Only Child” are sweet, but their lyrics are nervous and bitingly cynical. “Near DT, MI” expresses political rage while “Barrytown” finds bliss in ignorance. “Seventeen” is a nostalgic anthem which recalls Springsteen in its grandeur and melodrama, and “GONE, GONE / THANK YOU” achieves similar emotions through schmaltzy neo-soul. “I Let Love In” laments the effects of love as the protagonist of “Damage” is wooed by them. This collage of ideas coalesces on “Since I Left You,” a hazy, beautiful plunder-phonics track which features a sampled vocal repeating “since I left you, I found a world so new,” a mantra which can speak to the emotional crossroads we find ourselves at as we approach college— bittersweet, nervous, excited.

MELISMA | SUMMER 2019 | 13 To me, an ideal summer playlist is one filled with spacey dissonance, energetic bops, and good old sad gurrl nighttime driving songs. The goal of said playlist is to invoke feelings of eternal youth and warm-blooded fervor, while generating frequencies capable of drowning out a blaring AC. My *Summer 2k19* playlist strives to accomplish all of the above.The first track on the list is “Gretel”, released in early June as part of (Sandy) Alex G’s slow unfurling of their new album. I find that “Gretel” best captures the delightfully off-killter sound of (Sandy) Alex G with its haunting melody and desperate lyrics. This song is perfect to listen to alongside the introspection that is inevitable during the warm and sparse summer months! The next songs are more geared towards grooving, like the hypnotic “Roddy” by Djo, the airtight electro-pop jam of “Tieduprightnow” by Parcels, and the relaxed and gentle “Clueless” by The Marías. For more high energy moments, both the explosive guitar riffs in “Ralphie”off of psychedelic rock band Post Animal’s most recent album, “When I Think Of You In A Castle”, as well as Radiator Hospital’s infectious, “Cut Your Bangs” fall in the middle of the tracklist. For tamer rock vibes, Chastity Belt’s “Different Now” and Yves Tumor’s “Licking an Orchid” serve as a lower energy cool down. Mixed into the playlist are also Pinegrove’s, “Aphasia”, as well as Kevin Abstract’s “Empty”, both of which involve intimate lyrics and expressions of loneliness. The last song on the playlist is “Scorpio Rising” by Soccer Mommy. This track evokes a sort of sticky-sweetness with its recollection of a late night teenage romance during a “southern summer”, as well as its slow building of intensity through increased orchestration. I see this song as the quintessential late night summer anthem. Every time I listen to it I can imagine the scene that is painted, and feel surrounded by the malaise of adolescence.

Summer feels like taking a deep breath. Sometimes it’s shaky, but it keeps you going. I find it’s all less lonely and confusing with music nearby. These songs are like old friends hanging out in your head with you, understanding and being there for you. During the summer you can drive without it being a school commute, singing along to “Kodachrome” and “No Matter What” as the green rolls by your window. There’s time for you to find what grounds you, aided by listening to “What is Life” by George Harrison, one of the most self-aware people ever. It brings the opportunity to listen to the guy who owns the record store share his love for the Monkees as he urges their albums into your hand and gets you hooked on “Daydream Believer.” There always lingers the chance to get inspired, whether by watching Buffalo Springfield sing “For What It’s Worth” at the Monterey Pop Festival or by laying in the grass with your dog while “Mother Nature’s Son” turns into a lullaby around you. It’s a reminder that time is there for you. Nothing is really easy, but it’s not just you taking it on, and you’re not just taking it on for yourself. These songs are here and you’re going forward in the name of all the things that these artists sing about. This feels true this summer especially, when everything is set up for you to go out and do something and to make it mean as much as these songs do.

Which obscure music genre are you? Favorite study spot? A. Tisch B. Ginn C. Campus Center D. Eaton

Favorite square? A. Davis B. Harvard C. Ball D. Teele

Favorite breakfast spot? A. Tamper B. Mag Muff C. Dewick D. Sound Bites

Favorite steps? A. Dowling elevator B. Rainbow steps C. Memorial steps D. Stairmaster

Favorite pizza place? A. Espresso B. Jumbo Grill & Pizzeria formerly known as Helen’s C. Nick’s D. Pizza Days

What type of milk do you get in your Rez coffee? A. Skim B. Whole C. Oat D. Breast

Mostly A’s:

Mostly B’s:

Mostly C’s:

Scandipop

Shoegaze

You studied abroad in Copenhagen and it totally changed you. You love minimalist design, ABBA, and cozy sweaters from Goodwill. Scandinavia is just better, am I right? You go into Boston every weekend just to go to Flying Tiger and relive the life changing experience of being abroad.

You’re not like the other (Tufts) girls. You’re a Philosophy major. You like to do work in the reading room on the first week of classes. You carry around an annotated copy of Critique of Pure Reason by Kant. You did IB in high school and often wear a sweater that reads “I think, therefore IB.” It’s probably your favorite sweater ngl.

Vegan Chiptune Straight Edge At one point in your You’re edgy. You’re intimidating. You wear tiny beanies unironically. But under your jagged exterior, you’re really just a softboi who’s too into your houseplants. You love the vegan craisin bars so much that you use a meal swipe just to get one.

Mostly D’s: life, you were the #1 Slenderman player in the world. Times have changed, but you’re still a gamer at heart. On the weekends, you play D&D, and of course, you’re the dungeon master.

Melisma | Summer 2019 | 15

Fall PREVIEW

ARTISTS TO WATCH

COMING SOON

Luna Luna Dallas indie-rock outfit Luna Luna released their debut LP, For Lovers Only in 2018. Lead singer Kavvi sings in both Spanish and English, an homage to the band’s Hispanic heritage. Luna Luna’s most recent single, “Feelings in Me,” maintains their classic smooth, indie sound, while adding a more upbeat, catchy twist.

Charly Bliss With the release of their 2019 record, Young Enough, Pop-Punk outfit Charly Bliss has continued a trend of excellence since their 2017 release, Guppy. By dialing down her bubble-grunge timbre and incorporating 80s-esque, front-woman Eva Hendricks puts forth a more radio-friendly and power-pop oriented final product without losing any of the bands energy or luster. Though the Brooklyn-based band has been around since 2011, their last two releases should put them firmly on your radar.

SASAMI Multi-instrumentalist and former music teacher Sasami Ashworth, known as SASAMI, released her debut solo album earlier this year. Previously, she played synths in Cherry Glazerr. Her first single, “Callous” was awarded “Best New Track” by Pitchfork, and she has since collaborated with artists like Devendra Banhart and Soko. Her emotional music, combined with engaging music videos (even featuring her grandmother!) and engagement with activism make her an artist to watch.

ALBUM DROP RADAR

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