Melisma Summer 2017 by Melisma Magazine

MELISMA EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Ross Bretherton Chelsea Wang

MANAGING EDITORS Charlie Billings Ella Harvey

PRESS DIRECTOR Teddy Obrecht

FOREIGN CORRESPONDANT Kriska Desir

SOCIAL MEDIA

Katie Fielding Diana Hernandez

STAFF

Bennett Brazelton Dana Brooks Iyad Bugaighis Matt Davis Sasha Didkovsky Adaeze Dikko Kelly Kollias Sarah Markos Jason Mejia Aidan Menchaca Orsi Nagy Polina Pittell Heidi Rubenstein Katie Sanna Josh Schuback Paige Spangenthal Ashley Vaughan Noah Zussman

FROM THE EDITORS

or Melisma, these past two summers have brought us first-year curated playlists accompanied by intimate, emotive, and funny narratives that let us peer into that iconically sentimental summer before leaving home. We asked, and we are grateful for these well-crafted playlists that were sent to us by over 30 Jumby babies. It was nearly impossible to pick our top five, so we’re publishing the rest on our website shortly. The summer issue is an abridged one, at about half the length of a normal issue. Don’t let that fool you, though – we’ve packed it to the brim with our musings on radio in Baltimore, an interview with the New Dakotas (formerly known to us as Kriska’s friend’s boyfriend’s band), and an editorial on what happened to the signature sound of early-2000s Popular Rock. We’re always looking for individuals who are passionate about music in any form. Whether you write, take pictures, design, or bring something entirely new to the table, we want you involved in our publication. Come say hi at the activities fair and stay tuned for a GIM announcement in the near future! Love, Ross Bretherton and Chelsea Wang Editors-in-Chief

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

MELISMA | SUMMER 2017 | 3

MELISMA TUFTS’ PREMIER JOURNAL OF MUSIC NEW DAKOTAS

We catch up with a Boston “folk/pop/rock/psych” band featuring Tufts and Harvard alumni Kriska Desir

4 6

THE RARE BEAUTY OF TRIPLE A RADIO

Why independent radio in Baltimore still thrives Teddy Obrecht

FALL PREVIEW

What happened to the great bands of Popular Rock? Katie Fielding

7 8

Who will blow up, what shows to go to, and which albums to look out for

SURVIVAL OF THE POPPIEST

SONGS OF THE SUMMER

We asked incoming first-years for playlists that embody their summer. Here are our faves. Zi Yi Lim, Sofia Wolfson, Colin Carroll, Dani Coates, Brittni Foster

ON THE COVER Monet’s Garden Ashley Vaughan

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.

NEW DAKOTAS

BY KRISKA DESIR

n a word, New Dakotas’ sound is upbeat; their music rests happily somewhere at the intersection of pop and rock. Save for the strong Fleet Foxes influence on “Warming Song,” from the EP the band released this January, New Dakotas’ brand of pop is harmony-driven and easy to sing and move to. Their eponymous EP, released at the beginning of 2017, is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Soundcloud. Check out what Tufts student Charles Winston and Harvard students Alasdair MacKenzie and Chris Haley had to say about their music: Introduce yourselves! We are Chris, Alasdair, and Charles, and together we are New Dakotas. I know that Alasdair and Charles have known each other for quite some time. How long have you two known each other? How did you come to start playing music together? What were your first musical collaborations like? Alasdair: The two of us met at a battle of the bands at the Boston Hard Rock Café in 8th or 9th grade, and we started making music together near the end of 10th grade, in a band put together by a mutual friend. The first song we wrote together was about a violent massacre on Halloween. Our best days are behind us. Then, later in high school, Chris and I first encountered each other on opposing teams in an ultimate frisbee game. Chris was the captain of his team, while I was the LVP (least valuable player) of mine. But we ended up at the same college, and we played in a few different musical projects together before Chris joined New Dakotas. How have you evolved as a collaborative group/project over time? Chris: I’d say we’ve moved toward trying to write songs with strong beats and easily singable melodies. A lot of the music

that we love is relatively beat-less and hook-less, but we want people singing along and dancing at our shows, so we try to make our songs upbeat and catchy. Congratulations on releasing an EP earlier this year! What do you want people to know about this project as they listen to it? Charles: Why, thank you! We’d like people to know about the guest appearances by the three other musicians who played on the EP. Alasdair and Chris’s friend Ryan Song plays cello on “Warming Song,” my friend Sam Atallah plays trumpet on “Roll It Later,” and Tufts guitar god, Trevor LaVecchia (also my suite mate), plays on “I Can’t Spin It” and “Turn My Head Around.” Keep an ear out for them if you’re listening. They make the songs a lot cooler than they’d be otherwise. What’s been the hardest part about working on this project? Alasdair: The hardest part of working on the EP has probably been getting people to listen to it. Making it was a lot of fun and it happened fairly quickly, but now we need the rest of the world to be as excited about our music as we are. So listen and tell your friends! How would you describe your sound? Charles: Our recordings are pretty much always densely layered. It’s easy to record rhythm section instruments (bass and drums), chordal instruments (guitars and keyboards), and lead singing for a song and then feel like you’re all done, but we try to add more to our music than just those sounds. We’ll record harmony singing, percussion instruments like castanets and maracas, and even things that aren’t strictly musical, like breathing or whispering. It’s fun to brainstorm extra things

MELISMA | SUMMER 2017 | 5 to put on a recording, and often the things we come up with end up being our favorite parts of the songs. Chris is into the “ha ha-ha” backup singing in “I Can’t Spin It,” Alasdair loves the rhythmic breath sounds in the verses of “Turn My Head Around,” and I’m a big fan of the talking in “Warming Song,” and those are all things we thought of in the studio after the main instruments and singing had been recorded. Describe your songwriting process. Is there a main songwriter in the group or do you each write the music? Alasdair: Charles and I are the main writers, and we write music and lyrics both together and separately. Every New Dakotas song has writing input from both of us--we won’t record even a song that is mostly mine until Charles has signed off on it, and vice versa--and arrangement input from all three of us. Name an artist that you’ve recently gotten into, an artist that you come back to again and again, and an artist that your friends would be surprised to know you like. Chris: George Harrison, Dawes, N.W.A. Alasdair: Richard and Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris, DJ Lucas Charles: Khalid, Mac Demarco, Shakira Do you have any pre-show rituals? Chris: We dream of one day arriving to a show early enough that we have time for a pre-show ritual. Is it hard to collaborate when you go to different schools? Charles: Not really. We are only two red line stops and a short walk apart, and a lot of our writing collaboration happens digitally. Alasdair and I text each other iPhone voice

“

memo recordings of new ideas and suggested changes to each other’s ideas, so distance is often not a factor in the difficulty of writing together. What has been the weirdest inspiration for a song? Alasdair: “I Can’t Spin It” was written about a broken fidget spinner that Chris bought from a street vendor. He never got a refund and he’s still very sad; it’s best not to bring it up around him. What’s a song you wish you wrote? Chris: “Time Spent In Los Angeles” by Dawes Alasdair: “Thirteen” by Big Star Charles: “Want You Back” by Haim Are there plans for a full album in the works? Chris: We’re working on a bunch of new recordings this summer, but we’ll probably release them as one or several EPs. We want to release music in short enough bursts that even people who are not our parents will consider listening to them all the way through. In your wildest dreams, where would you like to see New Dakotas go as a project? Alasdair: We’d love to have a group of dedicated fans. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge number of fans, just some dedicated ones. Chris: All of the bands we’ve fallen in love with have become a part of our lives and have changed our lives in a lot of ways, and it would be great if we could have that kind of impact on some of our fans down the road.

We’ll record harmony singing, percussion instruments like castanets and maracas, and even things that aren’t strictly musical, like breathing or whispering.

”

SURVIVAL OF THE POPPIEST

MUST POPULAR ROCK CONFORM TO THE SOUND OF CURRENT DAY POP TO SURVIVE? KATIE FIELDING

Within the past year, many beloved rock bands of the late 90s and early 00s have come out with new music. These releases, however, don’t sound like the bands that we used to know. In fact, most of them can’t even be considered rock. At the moment, rock music rarely shares the air waves with the current popular music. Rather than existing on the periphery, many rock artists are trying to hold onto their success of the 2000s by conforming to what’s popular now: hackneyed lyrics over synth-driven compositions. Weezer defined alternative rock in the late 90s from their very first release, a self-titled debut album later dubbed the Blue Album. Frontman Rivers Cuomo used clever lyricism and poignant social commentary to set the stage for an epoch-making rock album that immediately found commercial success and went triple-platinum. Their sophomore album, Pinkerton, built off of the success of the self-titled album and again used powerful–even shocking at times–lyrics. It wasn’t until their fifth album, Make Believe – with undeniably stronger pop influences and simpler lyrics – that the band reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with single “Beverly Hills.” This album, however, received very mixed reviews from critics and fans. Judging from recent releases, namely their latest single, “Feels Like Summer,” Weezer has tried to continue the commercial success they have found with simpler songs while abandoning their trademark rock and roll sound and complex lyrics. Ironically, by trying to maintain their cultural relevancy, the band has discarded the key ingredients to their initial success. Weezer’s transformation is not an anomaly in today’s popular music. On the week that Weezer’s “Beverly Hills” peaked on the charts, Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” was at number 7 and Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” was at number 12. That week, upwards of a dozen rock singles charted on the Hot 100. In the same week in 2016, only Coldplay and X Ambassadors represent the rock genre with “Hymn For The Weekend” and “Unsteady” respectively, although both have heavy pop influences. The previous generation’s rock giants, such as Weezer, Green

Day, and Fall Out Boy, have largely found that their success as rock artists has waned. Green Day’s Revolution Radio was less of a revolution and more of an evolution as they, like Weezer, moved more towards simplicity in sound and lyrics. Instead of the maintaining their inspired punk rock sound, they manufactured formulaic pop punk that lacked passion. After Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock and Roll failed to save rock and roll, they fully embraced the pop sound and largely abandoned their instruments all together. “Young and Menace,” the first single from their forthcoming album Maniac, is perhaps the most apparent display of their transformation, utilising auto tuned vocal effects, a synth-led chorus, and electronic beats. It’s a far cry from the singles they released in the 2000s. This stylistic shift happened quickly due to the rapid technological changes in music consumption. As recently as 10 years ago, audiences listened to music by the album rather than the song, so bands were forced to write music that was fresh and interesting to keep an audience listening for a full 45 minute LP or CD. With the introduction of streaming services, however, artists no longer have to innovate or tell stories because audiences can pick out a song or two to add to a playlist where the distinctions come from the inherent differences in the artists themselves. While in theory, it should be easier for rock artists to get discovered with streaming services providing easier access and recommending new songs, as with Spotify’s Discover Weekly, the allure has dissipated because the consumers have changed. It’s easier to create a playlist when all of the songs have a similar sound, so artists feel the need to release generic pop singles to stay relevant. In an industry that is hard enough to make it in the first place, this could have a large impact on the future of rock and roll. With a style that decreases what little chance rock artists have as it is to “make it big”, these musicians might no longer spend their lives creating the music that they’re passionate about but instead start making music that presents a chance for success, or worse give up entirely. It is up to us as consumers to continue to support musicians who make music that isn’t just written to sell but also written to say something.

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THE RARE BEAUTY OF TRIPLE A RADIO TEDDY OBRECHT

hen people complain about how most radio stations today seem to play the same small selection of songs over and over, they aren’t just being biased against pop music. Commercialized radio stations play, almost exclusively, songs from computer-generated playlists rather than curated sets by DJs. At any given time, the average commercialized station has roughly 50 songs in their library that they rotate through during a day, without any deviation, with each song getting played close to ten times. At what point did this become the norm for popular radio? When Congress passed the Telecom Act in 1996, they unwittingly placed radio straight into the clutches of the corporate machine. By dropping all regulations on the entire radio industry, Congress intended to allow for greater competition, but instead, the bill had the opposite effect. Five years after the bill was passed, Clear Channel (now iHeartRadio) and Viacom owned 42 percent of all radio stations. Today, iHeartRadio owns 850 channels nationwide. Radio is still a very popular medium of communication, but with the abrupt rise of radio conglomerations, where is the room for everyone else? Located in Baltimore, WTMD is a noncommercial station that falls under the umbrella of “Triple A” radio, meaning they air music in the category of “Adult Album Alternative.” While there are three huge commercial pop stations that dominate Baltimore’s airwaves, no other station around is quite like WTMD. When asked to go into detail about what he puts on the air, WTMD mid-day host Sam Gallant described the music he selects from as “everything starting with The Beatles and beyond, but with a focus on more current rock radio.” At the beginning of each week, Sam will prepare his whole week’s playlist, pushing songs “at most, if the band is local and deserves attention, twice a day.” Evening host Galler will spend his morning scouring the web for up-and-coming bands in the alternative scene, giving airtime to whoever catches his eye. WTMD is the only radio station in Baltimore to support not only up and coming local bands, but international bands as well. To put it into perspective, Baltimore’s commercial rock radio counterpart to WTMD, 98 Rock, has consistently kept Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird in their daily rotation. On the first Thursday of every month, WTMD puts on a free live concert in a park in downtown Baltimore. The lineup features artists they have heavily played in the past. In July, Current Swell, a rising roots-rock

outfit from western Canada, made the trip to Baltimore because, as they talked about on stage, they couldn’t thank WTMD enough for playing their music while they were just starting out. The shows have seen enormous success in the past few years, with headliner The Revivalists attracting a crowd of nearly 16,000 in July of 2016. By building up relationships with these bands, WTMD has been able to bring their featured bands back every few years, as not only have the bands grown significantly in popularity, but the shows have as well. WTMD’s slogan is that they provide “music for music people.” When talking about what this means, host Sam Gallant divides his station’s listeners into two camps, the passive and active listener. For the passive listener, WTMD can serve as “their algorithm, their Pandora station.” With a current library of songs that is nearly 10 times as vast as the closest Baltimore station, WTMD is able to keep their content fresh and their listeners happy. Separating themselves from the rest of Baltimore’s radio scene, WTMD is also able to appeal to the active listener, one who not only will get enjoyment from their playlist, but will “hear a song or artist and think ‘wow I want to seek them out,’” Sam describes. Overall, both camps are made up of people who are “not afraid to step out of their comfort zone [musically].” WTMD has been very fortunate in being able to keep their programming consistent, as they receive most of their financial support in the form of subsidies from a local university. To cover the rest of their expenses, they rely on their passionate listener base to donate during their biannual drives. Unfortunately, they don’t always receive all the necessary funding. WTMD survives because of their passionate staff who put overwhelming effort and time into keeping the station running. Today, unfortunately, this is the reality for radio. Only established independent radio stations have been able to survive because of their already existing fan base; it is next to impossible for an independent station to start from the ground up. Nationwide, roughly two dozen stations exist that are similar in format to WTMD, noncommercial Triple A radio. In an effort to “keep the independent music scene alive” in Baltimore, Sam Gallant makes sure to remind his listeners at the end of his show each day to patronize their local music shops, as well as to attend shows at the Ottobar, the only local venue to focus on supporting the “local indie” scene.

SONGS OF SUMMER PLAYLISTS BY THE CLASS OF 2021 MISSING YOU - JOHN WAITE OH, PRETTY WOMAN - ROY ORBISON SAILING - ROD STEWART (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU THE CARPENTERS HOME - CHEN JIEYI STARS FELL ON ALABAMA ELLA FITZGERALD GREATEST LOVE OF ALL WHITNEY HOUSTON THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL - ABBA I JUST CAN’T WAIT TO BE KING THE LION KING MY ISLAND HOME - GONG SHIJIA

ZI YI LIM I

come from an island where I live in summer all year round. In Singapore, we are constantly bathed in sweat and blessed with sunlight no matter the time of year. While there are no seasons, the start of summer vacation always seems to change the way I experience the island. I stop bringing an umbrella everywhere to shade myself from the glaring sun and instead struggle to keep myself from skipping through the streets in its warm glow. The sun is now a large siren announcing that we’re finally allowed to relax. All of a sudden, the palm trees are taller. Beaches stretch longer than they ever have. The songs in this playlist reflect my experience with letting go of home and all its wonders. I found myself revisiting the music that I had come to know through my dad’s constant whistling, or the radio playing during annual car rides to my grandma’s house in Malaysia. I hear the sound of home in National Day celebrations and Disney movies (Aladdin and Lion King in particular) played on repeat. Many of the songs in this playlist are considered oldies, with a few that hold special meaning to Singaporeans. This is a collection of songs that has not only changed the way I’ve explored my home country this summer, but has also forced me to see the beauty in goodbyes.

SOFIA WOLFSON L

ate-night melting ice cream cones, denim overall-clad roller-skating dates, literature classics and retro sunglasses found poolside have always defined my Los Angeles summers. Though I’m known to be perpetually tucked between the pages of a textbook or the keys of my computer, I let loose of my studious ways once mid-June hits to catch up on the sights and sounds of the city I’ve been missing. Though my friends have always had the formality of camps or summer houses in other places, I use the season as a time to escape the confines of a schedule and simply explore. It’s a period in which I test out the polarity of my personality, the difference between my well-marked up planner during the school year and my empty mind and schedule in the Southern California sun. But what I’ve found to be drastically different about this summer is the anticipation of change. Though I’ve always sought new experiences, I’ve known the cycle of returning to a school and routine I have grown to know so well once the seasons begin to change. Now, as the impending move across the country to college grows nearer, I’m faced with a new concept: accepting the idea of not-knowing. I let myself explore and stray so much from my confined ways during the summer because, in the past, I’ve had total control over knowing what I’d be returning to. Summer will always be a time of change and growth for me. Though a bad grade, a passionate paper, or a late-night project might throw me some conflict, routine during the school year gives me a well-defined sense of my own character. It is the summer season that allows me to debrief from my year and assess where I’m at in relation to where I want to be. From June to August, I work hard on projects, whether it’s contributing to publications, interning in a field that fascinates me, or producing my own music, that slowly polish, refine, and reveal the person I’m working towards and striving to be.

GENEVIEVE - LUCIUS REMEMBER, REMEMBER MADISON CUNNINGHAM FOUND IT IN SILENCE - HAIM MOTION SICKNESS - PHOEBE BRIDGERS THE NEW YOU - JENNY LEWIS MEMORY STREET - MARGARET GLASPY I NEED LOVE - SAM PHILLIPS YOUNG IN ALL THE WRONG WAYS SARA WATKINS FRUITS OF MY LABOR - LUCINDA WILLIAMS

MELISMA | SUMMER 2017 | 9

COLIN CARROLL O

n June mornings, I used to ride my bike to Castle Island and watch the planes fly over the rolling waves of the Boston Harbor. Otis Redding would call it “wasting time,” but I noticed that you can’t waste something that seems to be of infinite abundance. This soundtrack scored those infinite hours, providing moments of joy and triggering nostalgia for summers past. During the halcyon days of youth, I would play stickball with my neighbors under the July sun, and manhunt when the moon would illuminate the street. Chance The Rapper sorrowfully rhymes about wearing socks on that hot concrete, and the “jolly rancher kids” who he would lose to gang violence. In my world, those kids have outgrown the neighborhood and gone to college, and those nights were the next to change. Last summer, I ran laps at the track down the street and blasted the mesmerizing ballad “Nights” through my headphones. Frank Ocean confesses feeling disconnected with a lover, tells of his relocation after Katrina, and pays respect to his old Acura (the Legend). The despair of “Summer Friends” and the longing and instability in “Nights” were a subtle reminder of the blessings in my life, making me grateful under the purple night sky. As summer dwindled to a close “Heaven’s In New York” began to resonate with me. Like Wyclef Jean, I attempted to squeeze traditions into what little time was left. My friends and I went to the Ice Cream Smith around the corner, drove Quincy Shore Drive for the last time and sat around a fire andreminisced about “the high school days.” There was still time for valuable lessons. From “Lens,” I learned you “can’t be on time for the free rides.” Spontaneous occurrences characterized the season including late-night drives into Boston, discovering the best pizza in Manhattan, and unplanned run-ins with old friends.

(SITTIN’ ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY OTIS REDDING SUMMER - LUPE FIASCO GROWING PAINS - LUDACRIS & FATE WILSON SUMMER FRIENDS - CHANCE THE RAPPER NIGHTS - FRANK OCEAN HEAVEN’S IN NEW YORK - WYCLEF JEAN THE WEIGHT - THE BAND DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT KING HARVEST LENS - FRANK OCEAN WEST SAVANNAH (FT. SZA) ISAIAH RASHAD SELF CONTROL - FRANK OCEAN

But there were disappointing realizations that new connections made would be fleeting as sendoffs crept on the horizon. As an antidote, Isaiah Rashad suggests to “fall in love while Southernplayalistic bang[s] through the night,” and enjoy the moment. The bittersweet end to euphoric freedom finally arrived, and there was no song better for it than “Self Control.” Frank fights off the end, saying, “could we make it shine, on the last night,” and finishes with the hypnotic chant chronicling the finale for everyone, “I…leave…tonight.”

DANI COATES W FUNKY DUCK - VULFPECK FEELING GOOD (BASSNECTAR RMX) - NINA SIMONE SOLO - FRANK OCEAN THE LUNG - HIATUS KAIYOTE U CAN’T HOLD NO GROOVE (IF YOU GOT NO POCKET) - VICTOR WOOTEN GOON SQUAD - RIPE RUN FOR THE ROSES - JERRY GARCIA SYNCOPATED HEALING - TWIDDLE LET ME GO - CAKE

ith the busy schedule of my summers, it’s imperative that my earbuds constantly buzz with upbeat jams to keep me energized throughout the day. In a condensed, 15-song highlight reel, my summer days go something like this: Good morning! No better way to start your day than with a piping hot cup of funk, and what’s funkier than the heavy bassline and jazzy vocals of Vulfpeck’s Funky Duck and Bassnectar’s remix of Feeling Good? (9.5/10 funk experts agree that nothing is funkier). After that poppin’ wake up call, I keep the soulful vibes rolling throughout my mornings with Victor Wooten, Frank Ocean, and Hiatus Kaiyote to power through those tough, hot early hours of my job, working in a poorly ventilated wire manufacturing plant, breathing in air that may as well have been stagnant and growing stale in the factory since 1952 or earlier. My afternoon, which tends to be oriented more towards traditional office-work for

WHAT YOU WANT - SWIMCLUB SEASON 2 EPISODE 3 - GLASS ANIMALS BULL RIDE - MAGIC CITY HIPPIES WHAT I GOT - SUBLIME MOVIN BACKWARDS - A TRIBE CALLED QUEST SUNDAY CANDY - DONNIE TRUMPET & THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

the wire company, begins with Goon Squad by Ripe, the perfect transitional song between funk and rock. The afternoon stays light with happy jam-rock songs by Twiddle and Jerry Garcia that allow me to keep grooving while still remaining focused on my work. After work ends but before my night begins, I try to fit in a bit of volunteer work, or I spend this time doing the many things necessary to prepare for the start of college. Pop-style alt-rock songs by Swimclub and Cake help me to finish what I need to do and slip smoothly into my evening with friends, where my playlist becomes a juggling act––much like my busy lifestyle.

When DJing for friends, balance is key. It’s important to satisfy all of the different genres my friends want to hear with their varying music tastes, but it can be difficult to do this without sacrificing the flow of the playlist or my own personal music preferences. In my final 5 summer highlight songs, I cover current popular music with Magic City Hippies and Glass Animals, an old-school summer classic with What I Got by Sublime, some Tribe for my fellow rap fans, and Sunday Candy, an overall sweet summer song for everybody to sing along to. It’s vital that my summertime bops satisfy all of my friends, because summer and music are both things that are better when shared.

BRITTNI FOSTER I

knew summer was near when the Hershey’s s’mores commercials came out of hiding along with the same bunch of cringeworthy “summer sales” ad commercials from every other mediocre department store. Maybe there was something in the summer air, but there’s always a renewed sense of conviction and of self brought by the arrival of summer. Like you could singlehandedly destroy a horde of zombies and create the mystery vaccine from a little spit and grit - with the indomitable Nicholas Cage as your sidekick. Now, we all have an idealized image of summer, usually hinting at some feeling of nostalgia that we can’t exactly pinpoint. My image consists of road trips with the afro blowing in the wind down the notorious route 66. Maybe Lana Del Rey and the Beach Boys are playing in the background. Then there are the indie, soul-seeking cross-country adventures that almost always end in individual emancipation and revelation. The music on my playlist definitely reflect a combination of nostalgic feel-good vibes that seem most potent during summer (“Jumpin’ Jumpin’” by Destiny’s Child) to music more typically representative of the excitement that summer could bring (“La gozadera” by Gente de Zona).

OLHA A EXPLOSÃO - MC KEVINHO VIVIR MI VIDA - MARC ANTHONY HABIB GALBI - A-WA GREEK TRAGEDY - THE WOMBATS LA GOZADERA - GENTE DE ZONA JUMPIN’, JUMPIN’ - DESTINY’S CHILD ICARUS - BASTILLE MARIA ANTONIETTA - PRIESTESS VERSACE (FT. DRAKE) - MIGOS AU REVOIR - MARK FORSTER SIDO XXX. FEAT. U2. - KENDRICK LAMAR AMERICA’S SUITEHEARTS - FALL OUT BOY HAKAWA - DJ BLACK SUGAR & ARABIC DJ JESUS OF SUBURBIA - GREEN DAY QUÉ GANO OLVIDÁNDOTE - REIK FT. ZION & LENNOX

Walking with a friend one summer afternoon, I remember hearing “La gozadera” playing from the speakers of a nearby Mexican restaurant and spontaneously bursting out in song and dance as people wined and dined around us. In particular, I remember one passerby distort his facial features in frustration as I momentarily blocked his path on the sidewalk with my stationary flailing. Good times. You don’t have to be a Spanish speaker to understand how this song is an anthem of unity and an unapologetic celebration of Latin culture. These impressions are what initially drew me into the song along with the beats and rhythm that embody the joviality and spice of Latin culture. “Hakawa” is a song gloriously reminiscent of a place whose souqs I still yearn for years after my return. Whenever I think of my summer in Morocco, this song — for a moment — transports me back to the grazing sun, the beautiful mosques, the irritable cab drivers, the mouth-watering tajine, and the chaos of the markets. Characterized by the repetitive “Yallah (Let’s go)” in the chorus, this song is fundamentally carefree and also calls for togetherness as Lmnawar even shares the chorus with others.

Visit our website, melismamagazine.com, for Spotify links to these playlists and more.

MELISMA | SUMMER 2017 | 11

Fall PREVIEW WHO WILL BLOW UP CLAIRO Emerging from the cluttered field of teen singer-songwriters who coexist in their own little Soundcloud world, Clairo stands out with her gorgeous voice and sense of humor. Though she has only been releasing music for two years, she has engineered a trademark lo-fi pop sound full of warm, chintzy keyboards and drum machines and a huge online following. Check out “Pretty Girl” and “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” and also her amazing hip-hop mixes under her alter ego dj baby benz.

SWMRS Oakland-based rock band SWMRS have been making music since the two founding members were only nine years old. After releasing two albums under different names, the now-four-piece found their style and released Drive North in 2016, their debut album as SWMRS. Produced by FIDLAR’s Zac Carper, their blend of garage and indie rock is reminiscent of rock giants of the ‘90s and ‘00s while maintaining so much relevance that Rolling Stone proclaimed them “Punk’s Progressive, PopFriendly Saviors.” SWMRS will shortly begin their final tour run in support of Drive North, and after, will begin work on the album that could launch them into the mainstream.