Some of my most satisfying bouts of laughter came when I heard a bizarre song for the first time. Whether it be an unexpected turn of phrase, an abrupt musical transition, or anything else out of the ordinary, artists don't get enough credit for effectively embedding humor into songs. I think purposeful comedy in music... Continue Reading →
"Must Hear" Tracks: "GUMMO" "CHOCOLATE" In the name of hype, how much are we willing to overlook? For 6ix9ine (Daniel Hernandez), apparently the answer to that question is "quite a bit." The 21 year old Bushwick rapper has a laundry list of reasons to stop listening to him. In 2015, he filmed a 13 year... Continue Reading →
Sometimes I hear a song that makes me want to cry and smile at the same time. Sounds do that to me far, far more often than people do. The tears aren't sad tears; they come from a feeling of connection. Connection to the song, to being alive, to the artist, to anything. The same... Continue Reading →
2017 was a tense year. We saw "fake news" go viral on an unprecedented level. We saw sexual harassment silence breakers become Time Magazine's "Person of the Year." We saw Harvey Weinstein, President Donald Trump, and others accused of sexual misconduct deny their past actions. Those are just two examples; I'm not even going to... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "Little Dark Age" "When You Die" "Hand It Over" MGMT was an accident. At their first show, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser played the Ghostbusters theme for 45 minutes straight. If that doesn't prove they didn't take themselves seriously, I don't know what does. Their most successful songs were music student pranks,... Continue Reading →
Very few artists can effectively do what I call "world building" with their music. King Krule proved with The OOZ that he is one of those rare talents. I define world building as the ability to create a sonic landscape; a little universe that a specific song or album exists within. But the perception of... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "Nothing's Going to Keep Me Down" "Hurt in Love" "A Bag of Dutch" If the color yellow had a sound, what would it be like? How can the center of a daisy or a school bus be translated into music? The average person can hear flower petals rustling in the wind or... Continue Reading →
What follows is a series of journal entries from a trip I took to Italy. I started with two full days in Palermo, Sicily, then I flew to Rome for two days. After that I took a bullet train to Florence to meet up with four friends from my study abroad group. We took a... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "Faded Heart" "Bye-bye Darling" "Tension (Interlude)" BØRNS is back! The trickle of singles he's been releasing since "Faded Heart" on July 28th, 2017 have finally culminated with a full-length album: Blue Madonna. There's quite a bit to like here, but forgettable lyrics keep Garrett Borns from the upper echelon. He is an... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "I'm Just Snacking" "Gum, Toe, and Sole" If you don't like Gus Dapperton, it's because you don't like him. It isn't because his lyrics lack complexity. It isn't because his musical style is underdeveloped. It isn't because his songwriting is amateurish. And it certainly isn't because his music videos are boring. At the... Continue Reading →
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