Can we replace AI covers with assigning characters vocal synths? Like, those videos where they edit a bunch of Vocaloids singing Bad Apple together and put images of characters over it? Yeah, that.

i’ve been aching to commentate spirit phone’s commentary for ages. glad i finally got around to it, this was an ejoyable experience. liveblog below the cut

-i'm like half certain i've heard this commentary before. maybe not the whole way through & it was probably actual years ago

-nice hearing stuff like this. in-depth personal view of the album-making process. makes it seem like more of a real thing i could do myself someday

-neil cicierega real person momence

-i could probably go real in depth about neil cicierega/tally hall parallels specifically concerning like. the arc of their musical careers. but i won't, here

-wild how i legitimately don't care much about micheal jackson

-didnt we get a bunch of spirit phone stems from the needlejuice release/his patreon? we could probably hear the funny track he speaks of here in that

-i love hearing musical artists, especially neil cicierega, talking about the meanings of their songs. like, not only has this song been claimed to hell & back by the tumblr gays, but with later ones i just can't see where he gets these ideas from. also, claiming there's any one meaning or plot to a song just seems silly to me

-shoutout to neil reusing a midi from like, 1998, that he made at 12 years old, whose entire melody was reused for the main verses of everybody loves raymond. loved finding that out on my own 2 years ago. now it's common trivia in this fandom. not bad times

-it'd be neat if neil did individual trans tracks here like he did with view monstel, those things are half of why i consider it my favorite album

-it's a lot easier to ignore the creator's intended meaning behind a song when he can't even remember it. thanks neil

-seesaw effect

-and there's my joke all but 1 of my followers wont get. moving on

-what kinds of movie theater lobbies has neil been to where there are arcade machines. i mean im not one to talk but that does sound rather strange

-why do songs' titles even need to be taken from the lyrics. ive never seen that as any sort of requisite. it's like titling any form of prose you can just give it whatever name ya like

-"this part sounds pretty cool right"

-is neil's vocal range only mildly better than mine? with training i could change that

-oh i haven't processed any of the last 25 seconds hold on

-god. a shit ton of vocal modification in this song. it's like neil returned to his roots but with quality this time

-i, as an ace/aro, have never related more to an allohet guy in my life. what is the point of eyes!

-professional humming/whistling takes skill. it's different from the recreational or casual stuff. i'd know

-there's a name for the way sound (especially music) gets distorted when moving past you and i can't remember it but it's probably what neil's referring to here in the way he recorded the intro

(- update: it's the doppler effect no need to tell me cas already did)

-as someone who hasnt seen the rugrats or take me there by blackstreet i'll just say it sounded like a bouncy music box melody. nice to hear a song that messes with the typical scales though. lydian & diatonic.

-that's a rather specific thing to be glad about, but given what he talked about in his last full audio commentary about the jew harp i suppose i'm not surprised

-i know that tmbg song now. listened to it & saw the music video too. yep they're different alright

-where the hell does neil get all these instrumence from anyway

-huh. hadnt heard this part of the commentary before making my oc concerning this song but i like to hear neil's approval concerning part of my interpretation

-i love how ive heard a billion different tellings of this mellified man story from lem dem fans talking about this song and neil's is by far the wildest

-good god that does only make it worse neil

-i love making liveblogs of lemon demon albums. with the fullerenes or tally hall i cant name a specific dude to take out my woes on generally but with lemon demon i can just say neil all the time. i like being on a casual first name basis with this dude ive never interacted with once ever

-is sweet bod the one other than cabinet man with a demo in the bonus tracks? i forget

-holy shit the boston molasses disaster someone call up soapy if it doesnt already know, it'd love this

-two thousand nine. god i miss the fiddle solo. the ver with it is truly the best one

-he pronounces it jeff? i've always read it as gef with a hard g. that's what i get for knowing words that are never spoken aloud

-that's a fun meta interpretation of this ghost story that's over a century old. i like that

-i've noticed neil generally does the same synths across a whole album. it's especially more clear in the earlier ones, and does mean i occasionally mix up songs between clown circus & live from the haunted candle shop

-ah! ancient aliens! my least favorite track on this album. i cant even claim to have the least interest in a popular one i've just generally not liked this one much from the beginning. so im curious to see what neil's got to say, i think ive been in ~new commentary zone for a while now

-anyway. newest update on the loolin not realizing a song's funky time signature front: i think this one's in 6/4. or at least switches a lot between time signatures. granted i dont listen to it very often for the reasons stated above

-see the way neil describes it. eldritch horror upon being visited by the unknown at a time when humanity'd hadn't even yet had a chance to imagine such a thing occurring. should be right up my alley. but the sound itself & many of the lyrics simply turn me away.

-must i specify i don't dislike it? spirit phone is neil's best album it not being my favorite doesn't mean i think it's bad yadda yadda nobody should be surprised by this it's not like anyone in these fandoms reads my liveblogs <3

-granted i think this is. the first bit of spirit phone content i've made on my blog ever. so who knows things can change <3

-the transitions in spirit phone are much less view-monster transition tracks & more extended outros. view-monster's were a bit more intro than outro sure but they also seemed directed upon making a 2-way rather than 1-way bridge between tracks. or something like that

-.............soft fuzzy man is an incredible nickname for a cat. i'd steal that if i werent afraid of introducing my relatives to lemon demon

-jirls

-an underlying metaphor is good enough. the literal side of the lyrics are fun. nothing but agreement here neil my good man

-the transition into as your father i expressly forbid it from soft fuzzy man is the best one in this album

-buddy you ask if a musical idea has been used before odds are the answer is yes in this day & age the question is has it been used in the way you're using it. like sure this soul jazz record from the 60s that was sold out in kansas stores for a week used this bassline that youve found yourself copying. but seeing as youre using it in some angsty garage rock ballad type tune does anybody actually care

-doesn't everybody like to say things in an unhinged manner from time to time

-imagine having a guitar dad, i say, with my dad being a folk accordion/fiddle dad, which is infinitely worse in every way

-i think he was in an actual folk band at some point. idk the 90s were weird

-iron my life?

-m-more intimate? there are a lot of ways i'd describe this song but intimate isn't one of them. granted as your father is negatively intimate so from there i guess you've got nowhere to go but up

-...still glad to see his interpretation kinda supports my oc at least

-the way he says characters in songs shouldn't worry about death really strongly makes me think this is some sort of. thematic continuation of stuck from dinosaurchestra, even if there's no real death in there. interesting. would also mean that the dad from these past 2 songs is named carlos betty (no last name)

-i literally never assumed this was a flute solo. piccolo at best. it's pretty clearly a recorder

-my mom plays the recorder. i wonder if she can play recorder better than neil cicierega

-we can throw a party in honor of the crushing weight of responsibility! i simply won't be the one throwing it because i have enough on my plate already <3

-what the hell does "a sense of intent" mean

-i've never heard rush before however i disagree with neil's understanding of 6/4. 6/4 is meant to have emphasis (onbeat or another term i can't remember) on the 1st & 4th beat of every measure, which is greatly different from a measure of 4/4 then a measure of 2/4. it's why his 5/4 always sounds weird, because while it's recognizable in sequences of 10/4, it's more 2 measures of 4/4 with one of 2/4 tacked on the end. that's also how it's different from 3/4. i don't know much music theory but what i do understand i will fight to the death about

-"canonized" that's. a very interesting term to use when referring to a former president

-from now on i will interpret every love song directed at some unseen "you" to be inviting me to marry them for tax purposes. thanks neil for being an aromantic icon

-ah hell yes hell yes man-made object is my favorite goddam song on this album

-short & sweet & good damn vibes. neil's thoughts on it all are only making it better

-wild how he uses very few vocal effects for a song that he clearly is straining his vocal range for. go off neil

-the qualifier of man-made is a wonderful thing. oldest or biggest thing? oldest or biggest man-made thing? what a incredibly important specification. a world of possibilities lie between the two. oh i love it

-just gets me thinking yknow! what we consider weird/impressive in another species, in our own species- what kind of equivalent to that would there be from an outsider looking in? are there alien versions of the significances we place upon things, that we could never imagine? the limits of the human imagination mean we could never conceive of something else in the world that isn't, in some way great or small, just like us- and are we wrong for thinking that? such a juicy topic i wish there were a name for it because it's kinda hard to explain concisely

-spiral of ants. my second favorite song from this album, in fact. a good one to experience

-the vocals are just another instrument. they really truly are. i wasn't going into this commentary expecting to feel solidarity for neil cicierega in this chili's tonight on more than one occasion but here i am.

-like, his whole stance on interpreting songs is something i agree with almost entirely. you can take it at face value, you can dig to their very depths, you can listen to songs without caring what the lyrics mean whatsoever, and those are all fun. & yeah while any of these people can be annoying as one of the types who enjoys gliding on the surface more than anything i find those who dedicate themselves to figuring out the whole meaning of a song over anything else to be both slightly scary & slightly annoying <3 keep up the good work

-i want to make songs for my siblings the way neil makes songs for his sibling(s)

-spinch

-neil really shouldn't be allowed to be this funny like this whole album youre thinking golly! he's just a normal man this neil cicierega! and then he starts listing the cat hacks jokes & you remember he's had ridiculously consistent viral success with all his humorous endeavors and holy shit it's neil cicierega in action talking about his music. god bless you neil

-you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure. good eveternoon, radio audience!

Taylor Swift’s folklore Isn’t a Return to Her Roots, But Somewhere She’s Never Been

Almost a year ago, Taylor Swift released Lover, a lively course correction intended, in part, to craft a more measured and mature style for the singer, whose previous album, Reputation, had used withering sarcasm and hip-hop production elements to wage war with Swift’s crumbling, goodie-two-shoes image and the enemies poking holes in the narrative. In January’s Netflix documentary Miss Americana, which chronicled the Lover sessions and revisited key career moves in the preceding decade, Swift admitted to being driven, on a certain level, by a hunger for public approval: “My entire moral code is a need to be thought of as good,” she said. 1989’s pop turn was really a quest to be seen as the total package in music, an overcorrection for the embarrassment at the 2009 MTV VMAs. The country era before that had been a bit of an act of folksy people-pleasing, too. Lover, it seemed, was the real deal. But even that was a charm offensive of a sort, heralded by blindingly bright music videos and bustling, busy melodies.

Amid the R&B/soul underpinnings of “False God” and “I Forgot That You Existed,” the droning synths of “The Archer,” the high school melodrama of “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” the maximalist pop radio fare of “Me!” and “You Need to Calm Down,” and the rustic repose of “Soon You’ll Get Better” and the title track, half a dozen possible Taylors emerged from the pyre on which the old Taylor burned. Again, Swift created distance between her past and present by arming herself with different toys. You could argue that the singer’s eighth album folklore, announced and released in a whirlwind 24 hours just before the weekend, is another sweeping recalibration, trading soaring melodies and effervescent production for moody, introspective folk-pop. But it undersells the true utility of this stripped affair to say it’s just a new sandbox for Taylor. What’s striking about this collection of songs is the relative lack of a fussy new sound and an obvious single. Loosed from the responsibility of piquing the audience’s interest with a rollout dotted with attention-grabbing gestures, Swift is left with just her feelings and her stories.

By challenging the very idea of what a pop song needs to bring to the table in order to make a complete statement, folklore proves that Taylor Swift doesn’t need to make as much noise to get through to us as she has in the past ten years of molting stylistic restlessness. The autumnal accompaniments, provided by the National’s Aaron Dessner alongside his brother and bandmate, Bryce, as well as Swift’s longtime production partner Jack Antonoff, are not a rejection of pop music so much as a reduction. In the quiet of a tune like “my tears ricochet,” all vocals and slowly swelling electroacoustic instruments, there’s nothing to hide behind — no loud, obvious, radio-friendly bells and whistles to elevate hit potential. A middling lyricist and melodicist wouldn’t be able to carry it. The album floats because, beneath the dramatic twists, Taylor Swift is a writer’s writer. Her stories here are more purposeful, if a little less personal. She’s obsessed not just with people falling in and out of love, but the long tail of these connections. There is a Faulknerian interest in multiple outside protagonists and in stories that span decades. The “folk” in folklore isn’t so much a statement of purpose with regard to genre as it is a signal that this is her storytelling album. The Dessners’ trademark folk-pop quietude, at least as manifested on the National’s 2019 album I Am Easy to Find, is the perfect canvas for Swift to show her wares and nod to her influences.

From the title to the music, folklore is an album about the wisdom and experience passed down through generations. On the opener “the 1,” Swift muses languidly: “You know, the greatest loves of all time are over now.” It doesn’t stop her from pining for a storybook romance of her own or gesturing to some of the great love songs in recent history in her writing. The track “the last great american dynasty” recounts the tale of the heyday of Rebekah Harkness, the ill-fated oil heiress and philanthropist whose family life was marred by suicide attempts and murder charges. “mad woman” appears to pick the story back up years later, as a nameless woman stews in spite over a life lived under public scrutiny. “epiphany” is a flashback to Swift’s grandfather’s involvement in World War II’s Operation Watchtower, the inaugural land offensive in the war against Japan and its acquisitions across the Pacific, that uses a wounded soldier’s dark night of the soul to spin a timely yarn about courage in spite of illness and the nearness of mortality. folklore uses allegory to illuminate present realities the way great American songwriters and archivists do. Swift is able to address recent troubles with music industry men and tap into the era’s chilling pulse without naming culprits, to point out the universality of American calamity without being bogged down by specifics.

While it does all that, folklore pays respects to its predecessors, left turns in rock and pop history like the Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, a gothic folk opus borne out of death and doused in electronic atmospherics from Nitzer Ebb’s Bon Harris; Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love, the Boss’s synth-laced snapshot of a crumbling marriage and a band on the precipice of an extended hiatus; and Automatic for the People, where R.E.M. made a mint ditching the pop smarts of “Shiny Happy People” and “Stand,” fixating instead on pain and loss in a series of acoustic career highlights. It’s reductive to call Folklore the return to Taylor Swift’s roots some have been waiting for since the EDM excursions on 2012’s Red became the main thrust of 1989. It’s more like a trip to an alternate universe where Rough Trade and 4AD indie rock and dream pop acts like Mazzy Star and the Cocteau Twins played the same field as blockbuster artists of the ‘90s like the Cranberries and Sarah McLachlan. It also fulfills the promise of the Cowboy Junkies fan service in Lover’s title track and confirms the subtle, wide-reaching impact of the electroacoustic warfare at work in the recent Bon Iver albums, which is, itself, a mutant strain of ‘80s and ‘90s Americana.

It’s tempting to say that folklore is a breakup album of sorts, but it’s not necessarily obvious what Taylor Swift is breaking up with here. Is she done with Joe Alwyn, the boyfriend whose secret companionship seemed to inspire the giddier songs on Reputation and Lover? Is she through with trying to please every audience at once, pitching massive singles into the space between pop, hip-hop, and dance music? Or is she, like the rest of us, just missing a life where we could go and behave as we pleased, responding to the jarring shift in the mechanics of friendships, relationships, work life, and nightlife by sliding under her covers and playing sad songs until the outside world fades from view? Maybe she’ll tell us next year.

album review

yes I'm on hiatus, yes I need to talk abt this album in depth bc I'm going fucking insane

Persona: this fucking song ok it pays homage to their old hip hop sound whilst still sounding like the ‘current bts’, namjoon’s flow is amazing and works really well with the beat of the song, which is also just... fun and bouncy.... the song just makes me wanna bounce in my chair. the beat is just rlly fun and good and the chorus is catchy and fun and just honestly one of my favourite songs on the album

Boy With Luv: I'm not gonna lie it’s better than what I expected but still.... manages to be the most Okay song on this album. like its not bad I can’t really pick out anything that I specifically don’t like it’s just that there’s also very little that I can pick out that I really like. but what I will say is... yoongi and namjoon’s raps!!! r so sexy!! the rap breaks up the rhythm of the song nicely and is a little unexpected (esp yoongi’s) also whilst I don't dislike halsey’s part she didn’t bring anything new/interesting to the song and I personally find her ad-libs rlly annoying esp her ‘I want it’ (and esp on the non-mv ver bc they’re on Every Chorus) but I do think her effort is commendable singing in a new language/learning a dance is hard and she did ok. the mv was also just generally cute and the dance seems like a lot of fun! 

Mikrokosmos: i like this song! it’s gets a tad too repetitive for me by the end but the beat is rlly funky esp when u listen w good quality headphones u can hear a lot of nice little quirks of the synth that it’s harder to pick up w normal quality headphones/out loud. it’s the kinda song that needs ur full attention to be able to appreciate it. I like the chorus even tho it’s quite simple it’s effective at getting the feeling of the song across and the melodies r all so prettyalso the vmin (?) harmonies are so pretty!! the raps are nothing special but they fit the vibe of the song rlly well and add the perfect little change. but my favourite bit is at around 2:40 when the beat drops out and there’s this dreamy synth under the vocals..... that’s the SHIT but the build up afterwards is kinda meh... if they’d finished the song there it would’ve rlly been something special the last bit just doesn’t bring anything new to the song. I just like..... idk I rlly want to like this song!! I really really want to like this song a lot but it’s just an amazing first half that fizzles out by the end...... I still like it tho I would definitely recommend listening to this song w nice headphones!!

Make It Right: ok this song fucking sounds like an ed sheeran song I could fucking tell this song was ed was soon as I heard it. personally this is my least favourite song on the album but there’s still a lot of good things about it. I like the synth initially and hoseok’s singing!!!! (maybe the hoseok stan just jumped out) but generally this is probably the most forgettable song..... dare I even say aggressively mediocre...... the synth motif gets rlly old quite fast like by the end I just don't wanna hear it anymore!! it gets old waaay too fast bc it’s so simple n repetitive and nothing new happens in the song after the first chorus...... it’s just the same.... idk again not bad just quite...... boring....... there’s just no development at all. the vocals during the pre-chorus r also just so breathy although it feels like a creative choice..... I just don’t particularly like it (again personal preference) I feel like this song will b popular w the gp bc again it sounds like an ed sheeran song skdjfh (maybe it gave me flashbacks to when I was 11 ok don't @ me)

HOME: oh yes..... as soon as namjoon starts the song u know it’s gonna b sexy. I like jimin’s voice!! in this song!! like they don’t force him to strain and it sounds good!!! however the autotune kinda makes vocal line all sound like jimin which is just a bit...... weird....... but in general jimin’s parts rlly shine in this song!! all of rap line’s verses are really good!!! it’s just groovy!! ngl the part of this song that gets me the most is the lyrics. but I feel like the song ends weirdly.... it finishes w the bridge and so sounds like it should lead to something else..... it feels unfinished and also bc it’s a bridge it doesn’t musically resolve so furthering the kinda unfinished feel (general pet peeve tho pop artists just fucking resolve ur songs its not that hard!! resolve it!! ur not cool for not resolving at the end of ur song!!)

Jamais Vu: ugh jin starting it off...... big sexy...... ngl hoseok’s first verse is sexy as well and the synth piano is nice the way it goes minor all of a sudden big fuckin sexy but then u know whats the real fucker in this song when jungkook fucking KEY CHANGE all of a fucking sudden like I practically had a heart attack when I heard it for the first time i feel like it’s a perfect musical representation of what jamais vu feels like. just this kinda musical experimentation is what I'm fucking here for!! u used to get a lot of crazy key changes in like early 2010′s kpop but recently ppl r being v safe and western but like BAM this I just love it ok ksdjhfksdj it manages to be jarring but also fit perfectly with the rest of the song like I just love it. I LOVE hoseok’s 2nd verse as well the deep synth brass(??) sounds it’s just sexy ok like this song is sad sexy and I'm fucking here for it. ugh and he layering of hoseok’s sing/rap over the vocals at the end just..... so good. it doesn’t feel messy it’s clean and effective and again matching w theme of jamais vu and kinda gives it a conversational feel. jin and jungkook both sound so good and the song actually builds on previous musical ideas and doesn’t just repeat them over and over again blindly, it feels nice and more experimental (they still didn’t resolve the song but this time I feel like it fits w the idea of jamais vu) the more I listen to this song the more I love it, it might actually be my favourite

Dionysus: holy fuck yes this was by far my favourite song in the album on the first listen like it perfectly manages to fuse the old school hiphop sound bts used to have with rock and I fucking LOVE it like it starts off as a hiphop song and the rock elements enter completely flawlessly. it’s one of the few times I really really like the super over auto-tuned voice like it feels purposeful and it fits so well with the song. also just all of hoseok’s high-pitched nasal rap/ad-libs just fits so well!! yoongi’s rap allows the best to quiet down a little and build up again w out having to have a ‘beat drop’ neccesarily. this song gets me so much more hype than a lot of their other ‘hype’ songs!! the high note/scream as well.... just wow!! it feels like there’s a lot happening but it manages to still sound rlly cohesive and just!! how the fuck did they even think of this idea I'm just in AWE. also hoseok wrote this song like I'm so fucking proud ksjdhf

overall: I was rlly surprised by this album! like genuinely rlly surprised! they managed to create an album that spans so many genres from hiphop to pop to edm to rock, some of the songs on here (mainly jamais vu and dionysus) work both conceptually and just as music. there r some songs that I felt like could’ve been executed better (coughmikrokosmoscough) and had the potential to be really amazing. bts has started being a lot more experimental w their music recently in terms of incorporating elements of other genres into their songs but this album especially feels like they’re pushing the boundaries a lot more. it’s interesting and doesn’t always work but it rlly worked here! I think esp as they’re becoming so much more popular they can kinda afford to experiment more w their music and I'm excited for more stuff like this in the future! generally the album is rlly good, some songs I like less but none that I actively dislike and a lot of interesting music!!

Weezer - Death To False Metal Review

Weezer dont need an introduction, most people know who they are in some way or another. This album, Death To False Metal was released in 2010 to mixed reviews, and debuted at number 48 on the billboard 100.

From the get go, I wasnt impressed to be honest. The vocals on turning up the radio were, for want of a better word, awful. they sounded out of tune the entire song and were grating to listen to and made the entire song feel far longer than its 3 minute 37 second run time. the instrumental wasnt great, very simple and nothing to write home about, apart from this weird synth sounding thing that shows up in the second half of the song that was at just the right pitch that it just drilled into my head the whole time it was there. not a good way to open an album at all.

The instrumental on ‘I dont want your loving’ was definitely an improvement, it felt like they had actually put some effort into this one, and was actually pretty fun overall. The vocals too were better, however I would not go as far to say they were good. just tolerable and fairly generic overall. an improvement on the last song for sure.

By ‘Blowin’ My Stack’ i had realised that the drums had literally no variety at all, they could have recorded one drum track and used it for all of the songs ive listened to so far. very bland. As for the rest of the instrumental, i rather liked it honestly. Fun to listen to, and then the key change in the subsequent solo and the solo its were really enjoyable, certainly pricked my ears up. Vocally, once again tolerable and nothing more. Cant say im a fan or Rivers Cuomo’s voice up until now, and considering how samey it has been up till now, i cant see that opinion changing through the course of the album.

Everyone is a weird one. there are some really interesting musical choices in there, the bass being a lot more prominent than in the rest of of the album, they start playing with a bit of dissonance and slightly more agressive vocals, and i found myself quite enjoying it. with the exception of the chorus. such a bland and boring chorus, both lyrically and instrumentally, it feels like its not even from the same song and really pulled me out of the enjoyment of the song every time it came around because it is so confusing to me that it would be there in this specific song.

Immediately following this is I’m a Robot, which is one of the most annoying, upbeat songs i have ever listened to in my life. I can understand what they are trying to go for, with the upbeat happy instrumental and vocal delivery whilst talking about how bland and repetitive the subjects life is, and how samey it is to everyone else in the world, but its so surface level and generic that it doesnt work for me at all. I could maybe get behind it if it went more into depth than ‘i have to go to work’ and ‘I have an ordinary family and life’. It just falls so flat and is a waste of a great idea.

Im not even going to talk about trampoline, odd couple or autopilot with any depth because they are so generic and boring that dedicating anything more than a sentence to them collectively would feel like a mighty waste of time and energy.

Unbreak My Heart is a 4 minute cliche filled croon towards an unnamed someone with no real point or purpose. The most interesting thing that happens in this song is a key change or two. And for something that feels like its being presented as a heartfelt ballad is just laughable. especially the high pitched vocals at the end which are so weak that it actually made me laugh out loud

Overall, this album aint a good one. there are a couple of breif interesting moments surrounded by about 35 minutes of the most generic, boring or just outright bad music, and if im being brutally honest, this album does not need to exist. it is just dull. 3/10

Enter Shikari’s: the Spark (2017, September 22) does it Really Light a Spark or does it leave us in the Dark? By: Christopher Quintero

Enter Shikari’s: the Spark (2017, September 22) does it Really Light a Spark or does it leave us in the Dark? By: Christopher Quintero

At the beginning of their now well established career, there was a little group from St. Albans Hertsfordshire that consisted of: Rou Reynolds (guitarist) Chris Batten (bassist) and Rob Rolfe (drums ;) They played a couple of shows under the alias of Hybryd until Rory Clewlow joined in 2003, and soon after they formed the name Enter Shikari (Enter Hunter.) Clewlow would then take over as their guitarist and Reynolds would don the bands staple instrument the Korg synthesizer. In 2006 under the label Ambush Reality, the debut album Take to the Skies was released and with critical acclaim, which included tracks from previous EPs, such as: “Sorry You’re Not a Winner” and “Okay Time for Plan B.” The album also included the singles “Johnny Sniper” and “Mother Ship.” To this day I still listen to “Johnny Sniper” and the interlude track that comes before it. It opens with a man introducing Johnny Sniper as if through some megaphone and the instruments conducting an assembly line. It continues along a steady path until the drums break away into “Johnny Sniper” along with its dance rhythm from the synths, then the guttural sound from Reynold’s vocals as he kicks it up a notch. This track definitely left a huge impression on me and remains one of my favorite songs from the band today. As time went along, the band released other albums like: Common Dreads, a Flash Flood of Color and the Mindsweep along with many other LPs and singles that included tracks, such as: “We Can Breath in Space” and “Redshift,” under the Ambush Reality label and Hopeless Records for us here in the States. Now towards the end of 2017, comes “the Spark.” This is an album that can have addicting choruses, brooding rhythms and heartfelt messages as well as insightful ones. Enter Shikari has never been one to stick with a certain genre and it is difficult to peg one down with them (go ahead and try), but I did feel some familiarity on this new album, but not enough to diagnose a certain genre.

The introduction to the album begins with the Spark; a dim intro with fleeting chords played on a keyboard that sounds like something that came out of a science-fiction piece. It reminds me of the instrumentals out of the Stranger Things, soundtrack for which I really find interesting. I think they were going for an outer space sound, and I think they nailed it with this intro. I feel as though I am floating in the far reaches of space staring at the endless amounts of stars far out of my reach.

Right after the Spark, comes “the Sights,” is a song about one person’s firsthand experiences as he or she is readying to take off into space in search of something greater. I believe this song like many other tracks on the album tackle the concept of discovery of other planets and areas, but also the sense of self-discovery. The speaker begins to talk as if addressing someone and as he/she is talking, the person sounds fed-up with their situation on Earth and how tired he/she is on the planet. The pilot compares a magpie’s flight over gleaming diamonds as something, “dull” and not as impressive as the one of a star. I love the line where he/she says that they grab their “pen like a bread knife, as I write.” I get this image of a person sitting at a desk the night before writing in some sort of journal in tense anticipation as they glance at the clock for affirmation of the hour. The song has a repeating stuttering pulse of the keys of a keyboard playing throughout as the drums jog in place with it. It is mostly Reynold’s singing throughout, but the rest of the members kick in for its crescendo moment for the chorus and the instruments pick up the pace as well. As the song continues, the pilot, as someone who is about to head off into the exosphere, feels the need to disprove Jacques Rousseau, a great mind who wrote the Disclosure on the Sciences and Arts, which opposes sciences and arts because he believed sciences corrupted the virtue of people. At the same time, he/she claims to be going boldly, off on this journey- boldly as Marcus Cicero, who was bold in his own sense and accomplishments. Even if so this is in the back of that person’s mind, he/she is going to take off for a search of something better. It is a great song and has one of the most catchy choruses in the album and I am glad that you hear the rest of the members on this song joining in on the singing because they seem to be absent in that sense for most of the album. In” Ghandi Mate, Ghandi,” off the “Flash Flood of Colour”, album, there is a moment in the beginning where Reynolds loses his mind and goes overboard with his speech and the rest of the members come running in to calm him down and to stay in character; I love this part because it throws in a bit of their humor along with their purpose as musicians in the music they write- for they enlighten people with important situations and information without being too demanding and dull. In the Spark, you faintly hear them on the album and I always loved when Batten, Rolfe and Clewlow chimed in with some great notes or some snarky remark.

The next song became one of the singles off the Spark and I completely agree with it being one of the more popular tunes off the album. This next one is “Live Outside;” just like most Shikari songs, I usually am taken by surprise by the difference of sound. At first, I did not know what to think about, “Live Outside,” with its choir sound. I thought it was a pretty solid track, but as I kept going back for more, I realized I was under the Shikari spell. The chorus with the group chanting is addicting and the song sounds like this electronic, gloomy, sing-along. I enjoyed how the song kicks off with just the bare ingredients of the vocals and the synth, but then you hear a far off Reynold’s  yell “yeah,” then it rushes into infectious guitar notes with that hazy mist sound the synth brings in (it was the best description I could give) that pair up nicely with the vocal parts. It is a great song, but standing alone I did not feel its pull until you insert it with the rest of the album, I guess when I had it all together it benefitted with the album’s space/future theme well and I always liked their songs as standalones, but I felt this song needed the full scope of the rest of the album to be enjoyed at its full potential.

When I said that Enter Shikari’s music seeks to enlighten- “Take my Country Back,” is the piece of the album that does just that. This is the track that feels most familiar with me because it tackles an important situation that is going on in our world and that is division. I believe this song mostly highlights what is going on in the United Kingdom with Brexit. Brexit is the United Kingdom separating from the European Union. The European Union is the unification with the United Kingdom alongside many other countries. Brexit was a poll in which citizens could participate in the voting process, the majority voted to cede from the Union. Just like this, in North America, we have the United States trying to cutting off immigrants, specifically from South America and Central America with the election of Donald Trump. There are similarities in both situations. With the lines “don’t want to take my country back, I want to take my country forward,” is the band wanting to keep the unification instead of having a country act as if the land was a possession to keep for oneself than to share with others. Just like the artists in the band, people of that nation share the same sentiment. The song definitely has an apocalyptic tone to it, especially when the band chants in low voices the same repeating lines “don’t want to take my country back, I want to take my country forward,” and then in despair Reynold’s goes on to say lines comparing life to an eroding Cliffside. The song is an eye opener to important scenarios occurring today.

“Airfield,” is a song that cannot exist if one did not experience struggle and rises that have coincided with downfalls. The band rarely speak about their personal struggles, but this song breaks away from their most talked about subjects and puts into light one important topic in life and that is to keep holding on when things seem the most dire and when we are at our darkest moments. Reynolds’s voice guides us through the journey with misfortune along the way, but throws in lines like: “Even if there is no purpose to the things that you have gone through an ordeal can reveal an airfield.” This signifies that even though there is misfortune along the way, they have reason and give way to a different path for us to grow and take flight. He does a great job at capturing the hurt of such misfortunes with his voice that is low and sounds like it is breaking. It is one of the many quiet songs on the album, but it is definitely appreciated. I love the climb towards the songs climax. You have a heartbroken vocalist, but hopeful, chanting along with the rest of the mates “you’re down on your luck, you’re down, but that don’t mean you’re out now” with screeching instruments as if they were losing signal. It’s terrific, but even then after the storm, he throws in this verse,” when the wind's against you remember this insight, that's the optimal condition for birds to take flight. Now the wind’s against you don't give up the fight.

The rumbustious song you are going to get ahold of here is, “Rabble Rouser.” It opens up with one of their most foreboding and grim guitar riffs- yet it has a pretty slick groove to it. It connects to Reynolds throwing in lines like some intense slam poet. At times, the tones hiding behind the rest of the sounds come off like some creepy carnival funhouse, and I am definitely not complaining. Along with all of this, there is one of the most difficult lines to deliver! “I’m on stage with a face like a stacka-stacka screwdrivers.” I cannot for the love of god get that part without messing up. Funny story- I was riding my bicycle while listening to this song, and I kept repeating that line to myself. I looked up at a police officer that had a look of concern. I am sure he now thinks I am some maniac. That is how hard I have been practicing to master that line. I think it one of the most fun parts on this song. This is one of the singles on the album and I agree that it deserves a spot as one of the more liked tracks to be heard from this album of 11 tracks. It is one the louder and faster paced compared to the others.

When you thought the album would pick up the pace after the last track, then you get hit with “Shinrin-yoku.” Shinrin-yoku is a Japanese term that means taking in the forest atmosphere. Shinrin-yoku is for healing your mind and spirit in the quiet and gentleness of the forest. For the most part, I got a relaxing vibe from the song especially with the intro with the instrumentation, and you can hear faint sounds of what seems like water and the growing of the forest plants and trees. You really never know what you are going to get when you dive into one of Shikari’s albums and when I heard this track for the first time, I felt diversity compared to some of their older stuff- not because of the inclusion of the trumpet because looking back, the last song from them that included brass instrumentation was “Rat Race,” and that was on a different tempo than this song. They have a catalog of tunes that are fast paced with upset messages about climate change like “Arguing with Thermometers,” or even quiet ones that deal with segregation like “Gap in the Fence,” and I felt that it was a nice change to take a moment and appreciate what beauty the band was defending with those upset messages. In this song, you catch the moment of being in a quiet forest lost in thought and appreciating what calmness nature has to offer and for a moment just breathing is enough to be happy. It also has the idea of how microscopic we are in the scope of the universe and it is apparent with the line, “we are the dust on the stained glass windows trying to comprehend the cathedral,” and maybe our problems are not as bad as we perceive them. Easily one of my favorite numbers they play off the album, but it falls short to the next one.

“Shinrin-yoku,” quietly steps into the following on the album, “Undercover Agents.” I believe that off the entire album, this is the most relatable and probably the easiest to get into for its ridiculously engaging chorus and lyrics that will trigger you like some sleeper agent to sing along to every word spoken. I guess they should have called it sleeper agents instead because when Reynold’s exclaims, “tonight I’m howling with the wolves,” it triggers me with this excitement that had been welling up and just explodes as I follow along to singing every line that follows. The part when the groups in unison howl together is always just so fun to hear and to join in as well and it is one of those moments that I speak of that I cannot help but to do as well. It has that bursting moment of the chorus that some of the other songs on the album included. It has the steady tread through the opening, then boom, I’m out here howling with the wolves too. With the message of the song it is familiar to us as the audience because we too face struggles in our daily lives and build stress throughout our days of work and daily activities and it is awesome when you have that moment to finally relieve yourself of all that pressure and weight; This song is a great remedy to all of that and as a person who suffers from anxiety of different numerous calibers- this song really hits home and I can guarantee that you will be howling with the pack too by the time you finish this one.

“The Revolt of the Atoms,” gives off a grim intro that sounds like a corrupted taped recording and be understood as a warning; It transitions into this melodic tune filled with anxiety and uneasiness. I believe it perhaps gives another shot at Brexit for its division of the people living in the nation and how we as people have been acting towards each other. Just like, “take my country back,” this has an apocalyptic atmosphere to it. It comments on the elimination of human life and our civilizations being erased completely because of the revolt of the atom. Everything is composed of matter and matter is created because of atoms. When he refers to the atom revolting, I believe he us commenting on us people. Now, I may be looking way into all this, but some of the lines seem to bring up news from today. The verse” I found some Intel the atoms had conveyed, convened and connived to the sound of my alarm clock now that was a shock.” I think this is just a remark on the terrorist attacks from recent years and many have been from timed bombs. The line “atoms had conveyed, convened and connived,” maybe refers to the terrorists speaking in private and planning to take out their fellow people with the use of a timed bomb. Reynolds goes on to express himself being shocked by his alarm clock I think relates to this topic. Later on he comments on the element helium and gives it a human characteristic like his alarm clock. He goes on to talk about his conversation with helium; “Helium spoke first It cooled tempers and lifted spirits, but then it made a threat and that made me sweat!” Helium can be used for many different things, like: cooling magnets used for MRI machines, it can be used for leak detection tests for container, which would be exposed to areas of high pressure. It has many other uses, but once we extract helium, it is so light and because it is so light, it can pass through our stratosphere and leave our planet completely. We have no way of regaining helium and yet we use it for balloons that rid us of that precious element. So helium making the “threat,” that made him “sweat,” could be commenting on this. The reason I think that this is also rooted with Brexit is because of the lines “it’s the revolt of the atoms from London town to ancient Athens. Eliminate all traces of human life; they plan to wipe us out,” of course London and Athens are part of the European Union and with Brexit they will we divided and this, aforementioned earlier, was decided by the people who voted for this to happen, not all of course, but the majority. At the closing of the song, Reynolds keeps repeating in a delirious state that, “everything’s crumbling.” I think him doing this continues to further push that we are destroying ourselves.

The finale to, “the Spark” is “an Ode to Jigsaw Pieces.” This is a deeply personal song from front man Rou Reynolds and his experiences in dealing with the separation from of a loved one and the heartache that comes from one. Just like “Airfield,” he strews together lines that are poetic and heartfelt. In “Airfield,” it is an optimistic melody about not giving in and looking at positives that emerge even when in such times desolate of happiness; Although they are similar in that sense, Reynolds really opens up on what really is eating at his insides. He gives us a first-person view into his daily life that maybe some of us have experienced just the same. I love how personal it is and we never really get that view-point from the Enter Shikari songs; they tend to usually ignore these topics and they rather focus their energy on maybe the bigger picture with world news and grander topics- even though love is definitely a huge topic and that is an understatement. This is a beautiful ending to this quiet and tranquil album. Aside from the review, if Rou Reynolds happens to read this, I would like to say thank you for sharing your stories and giving us such great music. You told us even when the winds against us, no to give up. I hope you will always remember those winds will always be there when you look, just grab and take flight with us.

The Spark is nothing what I expected it to be and I am quite glad it turned out that way. I am always surprised by the new direction and sound of the Enter Shikari albums. It was and album filled in with a greater list of slower tracks and seemed a little too quiet at times and some member’s voices were not as present as previous albums. It is a personal EP that wears its heart on its sleeves and is insightful to topics occurring in the world today. 8.5/10

Favorite Aspects:

-Personal topics along

-Informative topics going on today like Brexit

-New sound; they always sound completely different

Least Favorite Aspects:

-Lack of inclusion from the other members in the vocal department

-Album feels a bit short

-Although I loved the tranquility in the album, it feels a bit slow paced

Side note: I do not own any of these tracks posted they belong to Enter Shikari, Ambush Reality and Hopeless Records. Thank you.

Next review: Final Fantasy X

The 25 biggest game-day bangers of the decade, ranked

We asked 27 arena and stadium DJs around the country which songs defined the decade.

When you reflect on your favorite sports moments of the decade, your first thought probably isn’t about what song was playing when they happened. After all, “jock jams” (which are a specific ESPN-branded thing, and thus not a wholly effective universal term) are corny and dated, right?

Obviously the answer to that question is subjective, but there are plenty of DJs working overtime to try to get you pumped AND jacked — whether you’re a fan or an athlete yourself. SB Nation polled 27 of them from universities and clubs around the country to try to get a sense of which tracks released from 2010-19 were making the biggest impact in arenas and stadiums. Not the best songs, mind you, but the ones they played the most often.

Some of them were unimpressed by the options. “We have played all these songs a lot of times in the past, but we rarely play any of these in ATL now (they’re all old),” wrote legendary Hawks organist and DJ Sir Foster. “Now we play ‘Hot’ by Young Thug.” It’s tricky for anyone trying to chronicle the genre to pin down one set of criteria for a jock jam: some are upbeat and danceable, or well suited for kids of all ages (think “Jump Around”), and then some that are aggressive and intense and make you want to run headfirst into a brick wall. Plus, there’s just about everything in between — as hip-hop has gotten more laidback, so have the songs deemed pump-up worthy by players and fans. How can you separate the trends from the songs that will still be played in 20 years?

The DJs gave their takes, and with some editorializing (the list does not exactly reflect the poll results, but overall it tracks and aberrations are noted) SB Nation has narrowed down the field to 25 essentials.

25. “Timber” by Pitbull featuring Ke$ha (2013)

Pitbull singing about do-si-dos is an admittedly odd formula for a pop song, but it worked — and teams latched on to the upbeat pace and promises that lay in “It’s going down” (“it” being, probably, a victory).

24. “Big Rings” by Drake and Future (2015)

What A Time To Be Alive, the messy, bombastic joint mixtape that Drake and Future released in 2015, was essentially designed as a sports soundtrack. It’s not making a dent on any critics’ end-of-decade lists, but the message — “I got a really big team, they need some really big rings” — endures, as does the hard-edged, shimmering beat, perfectly suited for highlight reels of more literal ring-chasers.

23. “Hard In Da Paint” by Waka Flocka Flame (2010)

It might seem overly literal, but just listen to the first 30 seconds of “Hard In Da Paint” and try to do anything but go ... well, hard in the paint. Lex Luger has a doctorate in turning orchestral might into unfriendly, relentless and yet entirely undeniable beats; Flocka balances the impulse to yell over the beat’s perfect chaos with swaggy nonchalance. Who would ever want to hear anything else as they walk on the court?

22. “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” by Silentó (2015)

The viral dance craze was an integral part of arena and stadium soundtracks in the 2010s, and Silentó created something of the viral dance crazy with “Watch Me” — simultaneously, he created fodder for in-game fan participation for years to come. (I am intentionally ignoring Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” in hopes that it goes away.)

21. “Work (Remix)” by A$AP Ferg (2013)

This is the rare tune that is as serviceable as a turn-up anthem as it is a pregame pump-up jam (or fodder for postgame celebration). Its central theme — the titular “work” — is obviously relevant to sports, especially when delivered in Ferg’s trademark growl. But it’s more about getting hyped up in the grand scheme than keeping one’s nose to the grindstone, the perfect reminder to athletes that this is supposed to be fun. Plus they’re playing basketball in the video ...

20. “Can’t Stop The Feeling” by Justin Timberlake (2016)/”Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (2014)

Both of these songs exist in the jock jams twilight zone: they’re upbeat and inoffensive enough to get regular spins inside arenas and stadiums, but don’t exactly convey beatdown-level intensity or walking-out-to-the-hardwood swagger. Also, they are functionally the same (and not particularly memorable as a result).

19. “We Dem Boyz” by Wiz Khalifa (2014)

“I like ‘We Dem Boyz’ as the first single because of the energy,” Khalifa told Billboard in 2014. “It reaches so many audiences other than just a rap audience. It’s kind of like how ‘Black and Yellow’ was — a big sports song to get everybody riled. It’s more of an anthem.” “Black and Yellow,” of course, is the Pittsburgh native’s Steelers-themed hit; with “Dem Boyz,” Khalifa found a team-agnostic expression of the same sentiment. “Hold up, we dem boyz/hold up, we makin’ noise” — if you read “boyz” as not being gender-specific (it is 2019 after all), it’s about as universal a sports fan sentiment as exists.

18. “Jumpman” by Drake and Future (2015)

Essentially a lesser “March Madness” knock-off, the undeniably sporty WATTBA track nevertheless endures in arenas and basketball mixtapes everywhere.

17. “March Madness” by Future (2015)

Built atop one of the single best beats of the decade, “March Madness” doesn’t really feel like a typical jock jam — but that’s what makes it so special. The practically baroque combination of strings and keyboards is propulsive and fresh, and Future drops the requisite sports references to pay off the title (“We’re ballin’ like March Madness”/“Livin’ lavish, like I’m playing for the Mavericks”). “On behalf of the Dallas Mavericks, I would just like to thank Future so much for the mention in ‘March Madness,’” says the Mavericks’ DJ Poison Ivy. “I know not too many things rhyme with Mavericks!”

16. “Let’s Go” by Calvin Harris featuring Ne-Yo (2012)

“Let’s go, make no excuses now” — OK, we get it, this song was built to be played on the treadmill. Amongst the pinnacles of the EDM-fueled pregame pump-up genre, “Let’s Go” is aggressively generic in ways that are pitch-perfect for the purposes of sports and exercising. As such, it still gets played a lot — after all, who among us can resist a good drop?

15. “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton (2011)

Do I want this to be on the list? Not particularly. But the DJs have spoken (12 of them) and so I begrudgingly acknowledge Macklemore’s early-decade pop-rap dominance. People still play this song frequently, and though I understand why in theory, I still can’t in good conscience support it. Are we sure we can’t listen to Waka Flocka instead?

14. “Going Bad” by Meek Mill featuring Drake (2018)

I mean, the album is called Championships — though in Meek’s case, it was more about his long-overdue release from prison than a title (even though the Eagles had chosen his music as their official soundtrack en route to winning the Super Bowl). There’s a bit of recency bias with this one, but the irresistible beat and (again) requisite sports references (shout out to Seattle’s own Jason Terry) make it seem like it will last in arenas even once the sheen wears off. “There was a Lakers game the day or two after Meek Mill released the Championships album, and it was such a moment that I played at least three songs from the album during warmups,” says the Lakers’ DJ Roueche. “‘Going Bad’ is still, and probably always will be, in heavy rotation in my DJ sets.”

13. “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock (2011)

Any song that features someone named GoonRock demands a certain degree of respect, just for its sheer audacity. In this case, Mr. Rock helped produce one of the most enduring artifacts of the EDM era — a song that only those with truly blackened hearts would profess not to find at least a little tiny bit festive. It’s a “Sandstorm” for the next generation, absurd and corny and yet extremely hard to ignore.

12. “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes (2017)

A song about a top-tier — but not ubiquitous — NBA Draft pick that is more than a little rough around the edges might not be the most obvious choice for one of the decade’s top jock jams. But the doomy track has become a cathartic favorite in locker rooms and on fields alike — its mosh-pit vibes make it good for celebratory thrashing. “I’ll never forget the first time I played ‘Mo Bamba’ at a Steelers game,” says DJ Digital Dave, who DJs for the Steelers as well as Pitt football and basketball games. “I approached my producer the week before the 2018 Patriots game and said ‘I know this song will probably sound awful to you but it’s huge right now.’ He gave me the green light, and we played it as our defense walked onto the field to shut down Tom Brady’s final drive of the game. The stadium just erupted.”

11. “HUMBLE.” by Kendrick Lamar (2017)

Being humble is a classic sports cliche — demanding the same of your opponents, not so much. But that’s one of the reasons this variation on a classic theme works, as is its 2K-ready beat. Kendrick doesn’t really do arena-sized as a rule, so it seems like sports DJs tend to grade his music on a curve as far as its in-game usefulness given his massive popularity.

10. “Levels” by Avicii (2011)

When you have one song to get an entire stadium on its feet, it’s hard to to imagine a better pick than “Levels.” Arguably the biggest hits of the EDM era, it’s straightforward and to the point: move your person. Handclaps, synths, an Etta James sample and (obviously) a litany of drops make it perfect for pushing people to the next level (get it!?) of playing or cheering or celebrating or whatever it is they’re doing. “The EDM bubble of the early to mid 2010’s was the closest thing to commercial Jocks Jams in the past 20 years,” says Andrew Rivas, DJ for the San Jose Sharks. “‘Levels’ is this decade’s ‘Get Ready For This.’” RIP Tim Bergling.

9. “All The Way Up” by Fat Joe and Remy Ma featuring French Montana and InfaRed (2016)

The Remy Ma freedom tour was a great moment for popular rap, mostly thanks to this track — the ultimate soundtrack to any dunk. New York is back baby! (Kidding, kidding ...) Centering a slick sax hook and an easily sung hook, the song was more or less money in the bank.

8. “Win” by Jay Rock (2018)

This is the rare jock jam that should get played more than it is: aesthetically, the prepares-you-to-run-through-a-wall quotient is through the roof (pun intended), and thematically it’s centered on winning which is ... fairly central to sports. Whether you’re struggling to get off your couch or getting ready for the game of your life, this song feels pitch-perfect.

7. “Boneless” by Steve Aoki, Chris Lake and Tujamo (2013)

Not the kind of song you’ve probably sought out for casual listening, but perhaps one that makes it onto your gym playlist if you’re very hardcore. It has become an in-game go-to, though, with its pump-it-up ready synth riff and background “hey-hey-heys” well-suited to getting the people going, to paraphrase Blades Of Glory. (Oh, hey, sports again!) It’s also relatively big in gymnastics, apparently:

6. “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott featuring Drake (2018)

Here is where the “rap that people like” and “jock jam” categories truly get blurred: “SICKO MODE” was mostly just a massive song, without many specific characteristics that make it uniquely suited to soundtracking sporting events. BUT it was one of the most popular tracks among our DJs, and is more or less inescapable among athletes — so who’s to say taking half the recommended dose of a prescription medication isn’t motivational? Also there’s the pick and roll line, and the Liz Cambage reference (!)...

5. “Dreams & Nightmares (Intro)” by Meek Mill (2012)

Calling an audible on this one: it was not among the top picks by our DJs (a paltry six votes), but there is no way to listen to this song without feeling ready to hit something or run really fast or just yell. Not since the “Rocky” theme has Philly spawned such a transcendent us-against-the-world anthem — and better yet, the song itself is an underdog. It wasn’t a single, and it doesn’t sound like one. But the number of people — Meek Mill fans and otherwise — who know every word to the emotional, vivid, often tragic song speaks to its impact. “I had to grind like that to shine like this” is the ethos of just about every athlete from high school to the pros (much like “It was time to marry the game and I said, “Yeah, I do”). Then, the beat drops — it’s Meek in all his yelling glory, personally goading you to get on his level.

It’s no wonder that the Eagles adopted it as their own during their Super Bowl run, as have athletes of all stripes. “Meek Mill’s ‘Dreams & Nightmares’ will always remind me of the Mystics’ championship run,” says DJ Heat, who spins for the Mystics and the Wizards. “Natasha Cloud wanted to hear it every game. There were times where she sent one of the ball girls up to me to let me know to play it while the team was warming up — and of course I played it while the team was celebrating their championship win on the court.”

4. “POWER” by Kanye West (2012)

It’s become increasingly easy to forget that there was a point at which Kanye had hits — but he did, obviously, and “POWER” is is one product of what might in retrospect be seen as his zenith (though I’m a Yeezus girl myself — “Black Skinhead,” or at least the beat, is also still in heavy rotation). There’s something about leaving a little space at the beginning of a song that just builds anticipation — who has ever heard more than the first 30 seconds of “Crazy Train” at a sporting event? — and the intro to “POWER” follows this rule to a T. After the first 30 seconds it loses much of its heft, but does that even matter when you start that strong?

3. “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars (2016)

This falls into the “family-friendly dance music” category of in-game songs. Is it getting anyone particularly pumped? Probably not, but it’s also not not getting them pumped. If anything, the endurance of this particular track on in-game playlists (it got the highest number of votes) speaks to its overall impact — you’re as likely to hear it at a wedding, which can’t necessarily be said for most of the songs on this list. Also trophies and rings are often gold, so that is something!

2. “All I Do Is Win” - DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross (2010)

Did you just win? Better yet, is your team undefeated? More trivially, did your team just win a challenge? Boom, DJ Khaled has a song for you. What for some of us might be indelibly linked to tragic college parties has become a stadium staple for obvious reasons: who among us does not want to exclusively win? It’s a holdover from the gaudy, gloriously Autotuned rap of the late aughts and early 2010s, built for sports primarily by T-Pain and his remarkable gift for hooks. There’s prompts for audience participation, Snoop repping the U — basically if Shakira and J.Lo don’t bring the whole crew out for halftime, it will be a serious lost opportunity to rep Florida.

1. “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon (2013)

It’s the pinnacle of pump-up music in the 2010s: EDM and party rap, combined. You just cannot listen to this song without losing your mind — it’s science. The build, the Lil Jon, the drops. So many drops. Mechanized handclaps, distorted hooks, the “ays,” and still more drops. Under “getting hype” in the dictionary (work with me here), there’s a copy of this song. I’m sure that the New York Seahawks bar is one of about five zillion places that played this song after every touchdown, and somehow the impact of all those drops never dulled. Look at how excited these figure skating fans are. “‘Turn Down For What’ is so perfect for arena use that it’s almost too easy,” says Grubes, DJ for the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. “When deployed at the proper moment (typically after a scoring run that puts the game away), it has never failed to get everyone going nuts!”

Editor’s pick:

“Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” by Rich Homie Quan

Flexing is a thing athletes do, this song is great, and as a bonus I heard it once at Seahawks training camp right before I interviewed Christine Michael — it was a very special moment.

Many thanks to all the DJs who participated:

Andrew Rivas (@andrewrivasdj): San Jose Sharks, US Open, Santa Cruz Warriors, San Jose Barracuda

Ben Bruud (@benbruud): Auburn University football and basketball

DJ Cmix (@DJCmix_): LSU

DJ Digital Dave (@djdigitaldave1): Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt Panthers football and basketball

DJ Dior (@_djdior): George Washington University basketball (men’s and women’s)

DJ EJ (@itsDJEJ): Dallas Cowboys, among others

DJ Flipside (djflipside33): Chicago Bulls

DJ Heat (@djheatdc): Washington Mystics and Washington Wizards

DJ Hek Yeh (@DJHekYeh): Wake Forest University football and basketball

DJ Kay Cali (@DJKayCali): Austin Spurs

DJ Mad Mardigan (@DJMadMardigan): Timberwolves, Lynx, Vikings, United, Gophers

DJ Mel (@djmel): University of Texas football and men’s basketball

DJ Poizon Ivy (@poizonivythedj): Dallas Mavericks

DJ Premonition (Djpremonition): Washington Redskins

DJ Questionmark (Djquestionmark1): University of North Texas Athletics

DJ Roueche (DJRoueche): Los Angeles Lakers and AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour

DJ SupaSam (@djsupasam): Seattle Seahawks, UW Huskies football

DJ Triple T (@theDJtripleT): Denver Broncos and Colorado Avalanche

DJ Yoshi (djyoshi): B1G Ten Football

DJ Zimbo (@zimbothedj): Colorado State University, Air Force Academy, University of Wyoming athletics

DJay Jung (@_djayjung_): Brooklyn Nets

DJSC (@DJSCMUSIC): Dallas Cowboys and Pro Football Hall of Fame

DJ Dudley D (@nomusicnoparty): Minnesota Timberwolves, Lynx, Gophers men’s basketball, and United FC

GLOtron (@theglotron): Mississippi State men’s and women’s basketball

Grubes (@tweetgrubes): Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers

PJ Krolak (DJPJ) (@pjkrolak5): Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Walleye, University of Toledo

Sir Foster (@sirfoster): Atlanta Hawks and Georgia Bulldogs

Scraps Interview

Laura Hill

Brisbane “dehydrated disco” producer Laura Hill explains her faded headspace of dazed electro-wave as “bogans in the Queensland sun – so dehydrated cause the water tastes like shit.” The latest Scraps full-length, ‘TTNIK’, draws from a persuasive mood-board of 80’s hairdresser magazines bleaching in the desert and cubist synth-pop. Since her debut LP in 2011, Hill’s synthesis of raw rhythms, sequencer intuition, and echo-soaked storytelling has honed and decayed, heatwaving between low-lidded new wave, woozy acid ballads, and alienated karaoke. The eight songs of ‘TTNIK’ were self-tracked at her home studio allowing her to indulge accident and chance and disregard pressure and polish, resulting in inspired fatalist electronic romantica by and for freed spirits… We talk to the captivating Laura Hill about being in research mode, pulling from fantasy and being out in nature…

TSH: Do you require a creative spark when you form new music?

Laura: The way I work is definitely organic. I never really go out with specific intentions, some artists can do that, but it’s not for me. If I try to move in one specific direction, it will always turn into something completely altered. I like the natural approach, where I can freely experiment and just accept my normal impulses. Also, when I record; I can sometimes put heaps of layers on my music, with ‘TTNIK’, I used many layers of audio and video in there because everything was being done directly to cassette and then edited on computer. Even now, with my upcoming work, I’m incorporating tiny snippets of audio and video aspects into my music.

TSH: What does ‘TTNIK’ signify to you over a year on?

Laura: I guess it originally was a snapshot in time for me, but the music on this release always changes for me. You know, it’s really hard to make an album and be happy with it as a solid version of something in time. When you look back, the context of each song changes over time and the ideas and feelings around each song evolve and fade.

TSH: How did you go about forming ‘Touch Blue’?

Laura: That one was a cranky break-up song. I was pretty pissed off at the time and questioning my relationship. With that particular song I was trying this technique where I have a collection of different picture books that I’d go through. I’d then take out two or three columns of words from each book, and use them to make lyrics. I actually only found out recently that Bowie did this too with a randomising program, but I just jot them down on paper. I was super into the tone of 70’s drum snares at the time; I think you can hear that disco beauty in there a bit.

TSH: What stands out to you most about a track like ‘She Devil’?

Laura: A cool thing happened when I was recording. I was exporting each cassette track of that song - out to the computer separately for mixing. But while using tapes is cheap and fun, I didn’t realise that they have this organic quality for stretching and each track ended up with slightly different timing. I got annoyed but then lazily accepted that it was part of the “letting go” mood for the track. The effect is this kind of pulling, dragging in and out of time thing and the synth part at the end of the song mimics this as it freefalls in its own zone.

TSH: How would you summarise your songwriting stance right now?

Laura: I guess I’m mainly in a research mode. I’m mainly staying at home and watching loads of old videos. People around here know that I collect videos and that I have a video collection, so when nobody wants old tapes anymore, they just dump them on my doorstep. I’m watching all of these videos taped off the TV from the late 90s and early noughties. It’s quite cool to watch stuff in the context of when they were popular. I tend to try to use anything as subject matter really, but what I’m mainly interested in is retro stuff, fashion and nature vibes.

TSH: You also like to pull from fiction and fantasy too…

Laura: Yeah, because life in general is a mixture of both fantasy and real. I feel we are stuck in our bodies at times. We have dreams often and sometimes things do not feel real – I guess we have to make it all real with our own purposes. I don’t know? I just feel it’s really strange being human at times. Maybe this is why I like using songs as a platform to express what happens in the minds of others and my own mind too.

TSH: Does your home studio space allow you to excel?

Laura: Definitely. I think it’s really important to be relaxed and to not put too much pressure on yourself. I feel that if you want to capture something pure in an audio recording, you have to be so relaxed and almost forget that you’re recording, otherwise you can really hear the tension and things being forced. It is great working from home and I like being in control too. I’ve tried being in studios and often people will tell me what to do - it’s kind of a case of ‘Hang on, who’s the artist here? Don’t tell me what to do!’ Ha!

TSH: It’s been mentioned that you have a disaster fascination…

Laura: Oh! I think that’s in regards to early on in my career. Basically I would just break up with people just to have the ability to know how it feels and to write about it. I guess that’s pretty messed up, isn’t it? Maybe I wanted to capture a range of emotions and incorporate that heavy feeling of losing love.

TSH: You also like to play pinball?

Laura: How did you know that? No one’s ever asked me that apart from you, hmmm…Well, in my early days I had pinball on my computer and I would sit in my room smoking j’s and playing pinball, haha! I guess that’s all you can do in Brisbane at times. There isn’t too much to surround yourself with out here.

TSH: Does Brisbane still feel like home for you?

Laura: Yeah, I still like it, even though everyone leaves Brisbane for a bigger or better city. However, it doesn’t really matter what city you live in because you can never really escape yourself, so you have to live with what you’ve got ultimately. Brisbane can be desperate and weird at times but it does have its cool qualities. The underground punk scene is so diverse and everyone sticks together. I guess all the people that leave are losers that get filtered out, ha! Just kidding.

TSH: Are there certain distractions that you look to avoid?

Laura: I don’t really trust words online. You can’t really trust your surroundings because everything nowadays is a trick for advertising. As soon as I see words I almost shut down and stop reading. For example, on buses it’s so overwhelming and annoying reading constant advertisements and bullshit. Even when I go on the internet, it’s like a rabbit hole, plus I have to skip over massive chunks of ads, which is another reason why I’m watching all of these old videos. Even though you may not want to watch an episode of “The Footy Show” from 1996, it’s still cool somehow, besides the ads are so irrelevant because the businesses are out of date – this process of viewing is just way more interesting and makes me feel free. The Australian ads retrospectively are actually really witty and clever. I feel the sense of humour back then really sticks out, the world looks very different.

TSH: What keeps you composed and relaxed?

Laura: I like to mainly have time to myself. I really like it when I don’t do anything in particular. I like to just sit on the carpet for hours and hours and not do anything. It can be quite psychedelic. Being in nature is a really good way of resetting too. I also get into listening to records.

TSH: How do you foresee your preferred forthcoming musical direction?

Laura: I just want to keep on trying. I’ve recently been looking at adding a couple of new pedals to brighten things up and add more layers in a live context. I’ve been performing a bunch of new tracks in my live set over the last few months and now, I’m in the process of trying to catch these tunes onto tape. Like I mentioned earlier it’s hard to capture a true version of a song, so I’m just going to relax and take my time, and keep experimenting with the recordings. Hopefully I can share new music in the very near future.

Scraps- “Touch Blue”

My Time With Prince By Dez Dickerson Pt. 2

Here was part 1!

With Lisa Coleman joining the lineup to replace Gayle Chapman, we’re now into the Dirty Mind Era.

The Trench coat look was inspired by Sting from the movie Quadraphenia.

Prince insisted that the home recorded sessions be the record instead of going into the studio. He won out.

Rehearsals were still long jam sessions and experimentation 

This time, though, the results of the group’s creative output in rehearsal would often find its way onto tape in Prince’s one-man sessions. He would tape our jams in the warehouse on a boombox, and take them home as work reference tapes. As a result, the line between who actually came up with ideas and who got credit became blurred. This issue would come back to haunt in the future.

The title track, “Dirty Mind” actually came from a synth riff Matt came up with in rehearsal. “Uptown” was built on a bass groove that Andre played in rehearsal. The most clear-cut “borrowing”, though, came in the form of the song “Party Up”. That song was originally written by Prince’s friend (ever-present in the summer of ’80 rehearsals) Morris Day.

Morris had written the tune. Prince heard it, and loved it. He cooked up a deal – give me the song, let me rework it as my own, and I’ll get you a record deal.

Dez himself was tapped as the de-facto band leader when Prince was out. P would leave and have the band keep working with Dez in charge. Dez also had greater license to give honest feedback to P than the other members.

On their SNL Appearance

During the song, Prince used the pseudo – vulgarity “frickin” in the lyrics (“…fighting wars, is such a frickin’ bore, Party Up…”). On the set, through the monitors, it sounded to me like he and actually dropped the “F” – bomb on live TV. Afterward, it was a topic of serious discussion – did he, or didn’t he? I was convinced I had heard it.

That night, Charles Rocket made live TV history – thinking that Prince had already uttered the profanity once, Rocket clearly, purposely dropped the bomb. This made our goodbye an even more unique and memorable moment than I EVER expected. I don’t know what the aftermath was at NBC, but Rocket was gone the next week…

On Prince getting the offer to be let out of his contract

Later that night, we hung out in Hollywood. Prince wasn’t with us. Someone told me something that shocked me – the label folks had offered to let Prince out of contract earlier in the day…Sales of “Dirty Mind” were falling short of the labels expectations…This, combined with what some in the company felt was a too – radical change of sound and image, made for some skittishness on the part of the company regarding their investment in this mercurial young star. So, I was told, based on these factors, the label tried to convince him to walk away and sign with someone else that, perhaps, understood his vision a bit better. Prince, once again showing grit and wisdom beyond his years, didn’t bend; knowing that they couldn’t drop him – he had a guaranteed 3 record deal!

Despite the concerns, Dirty Mind was well received critically. They also specifically positioned him as a New Wave artist, having the tour stop at New Wave Venues and circulating the project with rock critics.

On their trip to Europe

In London…

As we were walking, just taking it all in, a young black man on a bicycle did a double take as he was riding by and just about crashed. He turned about, pedaled up and said, “Are you Prince? I’m coming to your show! Are you going to play ‘Sexy Dancer’? If you do, you’d better play it properly!”

We were taken aback, not so much by the rapid-fire questions, as the proper English accent coming out of this brother! As provincial as it seems now, that was a bizarre and surreal experience for these Midwestern kids who had never been outside the United States before.

Trouble with customs…

After their show, Dez had to get back home as he was getting married to his long-time sweetheart. Prince decided to come home early too and traveled with him. On their return to Chicago, they were tagged as suspicious, coming from Europe, seeing they were musicians…and other things…

They took us away, and proceeded to place us in separate holding rooms…I asked them what this was all about. The officer was very frank – he told me we fit a profile they used for identifying those likely to smuggle drugs. When they finally let us go, I found out they had actually gone as far as to strip-search Prince!

On Andre’s exit from the band

If my entering into a management deal was perhaps the very faint beginning of tension between Prince and I, tensions between Andre and Prince had developed into a full-blown meltdown. The issues that arouse surrounding The Time’s album (the publishing, the uncredited recordings and writing, etc.) had all piled up as far as Andre was concerned. Technically, he had quit at the end of the US leg of the “Dirty Mind” tour. He officially split after the European jaunt. I was bummed about it. Andre had been a musical and visual anchor for the band, and we had gotten to be friends.

[Not to be THAT PERSON but there are two chapters about the Rolling Stones incident. There’s no way I can summarize the way it was written here…it really is play by play. Please try to get your hands on this book or check your local library to see it for yourself!]

Trouble with planes…AGAIN

The Time is in the mix now. They were on the Texas Air plane heading to their next tour stop excited and rowdy. A “particularly cranky chief flight attendant” brought Sky Marshals on board to escort them off….well all of them except Monte Moir, the only white member of the band. Dez called the flight attendant and asked “Why did you kick the black guys off, but not the white guy?” She glared at him and walked away.

An Iranian passenger across the aisle from Dez was also upset by the situation. He called flight attendants back as well to voice his displeasure, “even going as far to set his food tray in the aisle in protest at one point.” The “Hair Lady” (head attendant) kept looking at Dez “as though I were part of the other gentleman’s campaign” though Dez never said anything else regarding after the first question.  Other passenger took it too far though when he grabbed the arm of one of the attendants.  Both Dez and the passenger were arrested (though again Dez didn’t do anything but ask the initial question). As Dez was led off the plane, his wife saw him and handcuffs and was upset. Head attendant lady blew a gasket (Dez’s wife was white) and it was just all bad.

They did have the benefit of being on home ground though as people recognized Dez and let him go (though he did have an outstanding warrant for parking tickets on a car that he’d sold).

On Little Red Corvette

The guitar solo is Dez and is ranked #64 on the 100 Top Guitar Solos of all Time by Guitar World Magazine. It was 4 different solos that Prince edited down to 1.

On 777-9311

It was Dez’s phone number. And people called it all the time.

*** Part 3 …the unraveling of the early Revolution…and the beginning of the Purple Rain era of Revolution…

Buy it here for lots more stories! (Again sketch website, but they do send it!) 

“Deep Color Noise” Review

I've got to be honest here. In my opinion being hypersensitive and a fan of ambient/electronic is a unique experience. More specifically, listening to lush or varied sounds as heard within these genres under the condition of chromesthesia (or more formally sound-to-color synesthesia) has the power to invoke an array of feelings within me. While I didn't always have a name to put to my experience, it was always a matter of the connections I could make with my inner thoughts, emotions, and sounds. This is unquestionably an experience that anyone can access because all that is required is an open mind and heart. Music has always had the power to allow us to feel innate happiness, sadness, or clarity down to the imaginative invincibility of oneself or the persistent angst found in the most pessimistic of hearts. In my case those connections are visual, physical and emotional. There are many different channels plugging in at once, connecting with the help of the sometimes unidentifiable wires strung from my senses. It is imperative that I start this review by saying that "Deep Color Noise" is a clear manifestation of what I'm trying to explain. From the self-explanatory title to the visually inspired track listing that includes instrumentals designated "Chromesthesia Storm" and "Pinks&PurplesMakingLove" it's safe to say that the Marcos Garcia vehicle, Anima Lunaris, can sonically attest to this.

The project begins with the semi-title track "Deep Colors". A noisy background ambiance and simple melody greets you immediately. I personally enjoy the rising and falling string-like synth pad more than the out of kilter melody that I presume to be tapped along by piano keys. With the ushering of punchy drums into the mix, the offbeat sample or melody becomes more apparent and hard to ignore. I can't say if it's purposely done to give that glitch hop effect but it can certainly be done more successfully by pacing wisely and only slightly altering the tempo in relation to the beat. Usually it's the other way around by arranging offbeat drums to a set melody but it's the same idea essentially. I love the deep kick and the smooth rhythm is hard not to vibe to especially when the world percussion hops into the driver's seat towards the end of the track.

"Wut U Need" is essentially a rework of a classic throwback courtesy of The Weeknd. I would like more of the atmosphere surrounding this track and less of the out of wack sample. The drums were simple but good. An enticing melody invites me into "Shining" and gives me Bonobo feels to be honest. I can't make out what instrument it is though but I'd imagine it is something close to a xylophone but still not quite. There's an Asian or ethnic influence to it for sure. The impending bongo action only further drives the comparison to the British producer who is known to use elements of African and Asian influence in his music.  The similarities are all in my opinion though of course. There are some switch ups that I feel could've been kept at bay. I liked the bass hits but I would've enjoyed the track more had it been a consistent build up of sounds based around the main melody.

I'm an absolute sucker for atmosphere so you can imagine that "WWWAAAVVVESS" brought the tension for me. It's definitely one of my favorites to listen to and is very easy for me to keep revisiting. It's literally perfect for when I'm getting into to the mood/tone of my current stories I'm writing. In fact the only bad thing about it is the fact that it's the second shortest track on the project after "Color Spirallsssss" by just a mere six seconds. The intro is a pull of low vibrations that make me feel like I'm deep sea diving. The pad is thick and heavy, almost unforgiving. There's just enough reverb on the crash-like snare to keep you anticipating every moment of this suspenseful tempo and the kick is sly per usual. A faint howl comes in at a little before the halfway mark and transforms into an indifferent melody for the duration of the beat.

"Chromesthesia Storm" opens with a sample and bouncing kick before it quickly swarms into a fuzzy low synth I detect as a saw maybe. I love the subtle electro kick and cosmic stutters that give me glitch vibes. Oddly enough it is the calm before the storm for my chromesthesia as the low synth buzzes along unsteadily, creating orange waves and static white pulses. "Color Spirallsssss" is another track featuring a vocal sample from The Weeknd but over a wailing siren. I'm not a fan of the weird erratic "wub wub" sound throughout the instrumental but I do love drums that would go well on a dance inspired track in my opinion. "Angels" is led by a dreamy Clams Casino-esque sample that could use a more clean loop of itself. The drums are offbeat maybe because of this or it could be a stylistic choice but either way a more defined loop is practical as far as production goes. The drowning bass is very effective for the atmosphere but making it a little less prominent in the mix could go a long way. I really like the drums on the second half and the reversed sample is a nice touch.

"The Ride" is the last rework of a Weeknd song we get and it's the weakest beat of the set for me. The high pitched vocals of Abel drowning in an awkward side-chain effect over and over is incredibly migraine inducing. However, the noisy effect used at the end could probably be more effectively used on another track in the future. "Leeeeaaaan Houuuuse" is characterized by a vibrating synth drone and deep lingering atmospheric sounds just under the surface. An instantly recognizable Weeknd sample comes filtering in with so much flanger it seems like he's drowning.While I do like the drums on the second half I have to admit that overall I would enjoy the track more without any drums at all. Honestly without the drums and the vocal sample it's an instrumental I'd more than likely use for a short film.

The final track begins with a pleasant piano arpeggio and a nice atmosphere that really leaves me feeling as if "Pinks&PurplesMakingLove" is truly the track with the most untapped potential on the project. It has very chill drums that set in effortlessly save for a tom drum that is a bit unsettling. Perhaps placing it lower in the mix could remedy the situation. Then there's the matter of needing some EQ. I listen with studio headphones and good quality earphones so the hearing the low noise was inevitable but it is a quick fix. My main issue is that the piano loop seems without direction which in turn makes the track feel the same at times. I would've liked to see some variation in the composition and maybe less of the drums. In reality I think ending this project with just the ambiance surrounding a piano piece could be much more rewarding. Sometimes less is more and there are definitely moments on this project that display that notion.

Anima Lunaris's "Deep Color Noise" is a minimalist daydream aspiring to be more. There are so many interesting textures in their infancy just waiting to be expanded upon and explored. At times I find myself confronted with an atmosphere that gives me such a feeling. A feeling  that instinctively has me reaching out in order to grasp it. I want to know more about these sounds. I want to see the story behind each tone or note. I am ready to take that journey with Anima Lunaris. Sometimes you have to go back to go forward. I would like to see an even more minimal project (even if it's just a little three track surprise) with focus on the things I have mentioned throughout the review. I would like to see a more concrete direction and application of technique. The subtlety and sense of awareness is there which is a great foundation to stand on. A little more fine tuning with sampling and I'm completely sold. The mixing is great and I'm enticed by the use of deep emotive percussion so it's pretty obvious that I'm fully fascinated with the idea of a follow up project. Maybe even a "Deep Color Noise II" to be honest. Or even better, wanna come score my future films?  

By Dij Ri'chard

Check out Anima Lunaris's music here: https://soundcloud.com/animalunaris/sets/deep-color-noise

Hit him up on his Tumblr: https://animalunaris.tumblr.com/

Hit me up if you want me to review you: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/abrighteyedbandit

Email: [email protected]

MARIAH THE SCIENTIST - REMINDERS

[7.89]

Zankee tells us about a potential Nobel winner...

Zankee: There's something mesmerising about a well-produced R&B song with a good synthline, and "Reminders" is no different. Actually, it's much more than mesmerising; it's a four-minute long spiritual experience, if you will. Mariah's murderous narrative is faint enough to be perceived as metaphor, and vague enough to be interpreted as anything between contemplation of murder or the afterthought of a woman that has killed her significant other and lives with it, which gives the song a lot of depth. Mariah The Scientist is one of the brightest new lights in R&B, and this song is just one exciting example of why. [10]

Alfred Soto: As opening lines go, few I've heard this year have surpassed: "Every candlelight dinner, date night liquor, late-night visit/Reminds me of a killer, reminds me I should kill him." The backing track -- saxophone, sequencer, and drum machine -- wouldn't have scared Freddie Jackson in 1985. And Mariah sings as if she wants you to see the scissors in her hand. [9]

Edward Okulicz: Had this come out in 1986, it would have been a genuinely subversive pop hit, using the romance of syn-drums and synth sax presets to smuggle in murder most sexual. In 2019, it's just a great example of all the forms it essays -- rough-smooth R&B and retro-pop -- and makes The Weeknd sound like a damned hack by comparison. Mariah's songwriting is as sharp as a murder weapon -- "every home decor and hardware store/reminds me more of blood on your marble floors" is a novella in a couplet. [9]

Katherine St Asaph: When I compared the antiseptic '80s sound of the Weeknd's "Heartless" to something out of an American Psycho monologue, that didn't mean I wanted someone to come along and literalize it. Every circle of hell is sung and written out of "Reminders," and there's a sumptuous violin solo (R&B's recent embrace of strings continues to be wonderful), but it would all be better without the overwhelming scent of hairspray, Giorgio (perfume, not Moroder, that it could use more of) and shrimp cocktail. [6]

Kylo Nocom: Outrun as a signifier of stylistic cool is totally lame. Outrun as a piece of a self-contained drama, however -- that's where a song like "Reminders" proves the worth of the form. Finding out that this actually flipped an entire synthwave song first disappointed me, then later gave me reason to appreciate it more; I can't complain about someone taking a meandering six-minute track and constructing a better tune half its length. Even then, Le Cassette's cyber-noir funk would be tacky without Mariah's sobering, ultraviolent lyrics: "reminds me I should kill him" distracts at first, something that could be passed off as a metaphor (which it is, albeit one that's thankfully not handled poorly); "blood on your marble floors" and what comes after, though, explores the concept as a richer narrative, one that would impress SZA not just for being a murderous fantasy, but for how it considers self-loathing in the most minute details. Memories are brought into living color by the ghosts of dudebro retro-fetishism -- every synth, sax, and gated drum suggests a piece of her past haunting her, her own voice seemingly the only thing not caught in the haze of nostalgia. The final "bittersweet defeat" concludes "Reminders" with a bit of a haunting aftertaste. Cat Zhang's review of Master suggested the album was a continuous process of Mariah trying to reclaim control over herself. Here, it seems that she's lost. [9]

Isabel Cole: The conceit of taking unwelcome post-breakup nostalgia to a new extreme is a neat one, and there are some nice lines here; I like the use of "home decor and hardware store." But although I know the endless vocal wandering is on purpose, it just grates on me. [4]

Ryo Miyauchi: Mariah the Scientist sings about a haunting that I can't help but be moved by whenever I hear it in breakup songs. The romance-specific rituals are obvious triggers that summon the ghost of an ex, but it's the more mundane fixtures of intimacy that really cut deep. While her manner doesn't fully bring the anguish the song calls for, the screwed-up electro-soul beat makes up for it by injecting a brooding ghastliness to the track. [8]

Ian Mathers: There's a well-used clinical harshness here that renders even "I know you didn't mean it" disparaging, and an even more well-used ambiguity that means "Reminders" works equally well for ruefully looking back and vengefully looking forward. Is it speaking to the healthiest situation or mindset? Well, maybe not. But as long as there are bad men, it feels like a very necessary kind of evil. [9]

Kayla Beardslee: It took me a few listens to warm up to "Reminders," and I'm still lukewarm on the filtered, nasal quality of Mariah's vocals, but I find the depth and skill of the songwriting and visuals fascinating. On their own, the lyrics seem to be about the narrator recovering from the trauma of an abusive relationship ("Reminds me of a killer / Reminds me I should kill him"; the second half sounds like it's referring to the memories). However, the video makes Mariah into the callous, cold-blooded killer instead. I can't stop thinking about the shot at 1:57 where she walks up to her boyfriend, patiently waiting with his hands clasped in front of him, and blocks the camera's view with her hips as she shoots him in the head. What makes this analysis even more fascinating is that the video for "Reminders" was shot in the same mansion as Kesha's "Raising Hell" (comparison shot 1 and 2), a song with a completely reversed villain vs victim dynamic -- the lyrics demonstrate Kesha's troublemaking force of personality, and the video is where she tries to overcome domestic violence by retaliating against her abuser. And both videos intercut the violence with their protagonists being filtered through the idealized medium of TV. There are also shots in the "Reminders" MV where the camera zooms in on Mariah from far away, like a cop on a stakeout collecting evidence, and the way she stares right at the lens implicates the viewer as well. Are we complicit, or are we the ones seeking justice? With the more sympathetic lyrics playing over the visuals, who is the justice even meant for? What does Mariah herself want? [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

Hey @proudnb​ I might have something for you

This 20gayteen I started a new music project with more focused branding and purpose called Morning Sunshine! It’s all about being genderqueer, with some indigenous solidarity and pan-Africanism slipped in for good measure.

I put out the first original recording for it a couple weeks ago, a tune called Curious, because people responded particularly well to that song live. It (and a lot of what I’ve been doing for this act) is about planting yourself in Feeling Good about being an enby and feeling confident that you are attractive to people you think are attractive. Basically I’m trying to do something like the Emily King thing but for being non-binary and/or, more specific to my case, not really having a gender at all. A tall order, I know. But what’s the worst that could happen, yeah?

If you or any of your followers wish there were more enbies doing jazz, soul, r&b, and/or synth pop and wish you didn’t have to rely so much on subtext to just Hope That Your Cis Faves Aren’t Too Awful, maybe come on over and see what you think. I’m also an anthropologist, so all my takes are researched af anyway.

The more listens that soundcloud link racks up the more leverage I have to get better paying gigs like flat fees and profit shares, which means slightly more of a chance this project gets some real traction. Right now I’m booking for January and February and could super use that leverage. If you or anybody you know lives in Richmond, VA, or DC, those cities are where I’m trying to play, if you wanna come through for the live stuff. That would be. Really cool

Links if you need to copy+paste:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/morningsunshinemusic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morningsunshinemusic/

Bandcamp: http://morningsunshine.bandcamp.com/ (if you buy something from here, you get to write a review on the page itself, which is even better for my contract leverage)

UM Interview: Mother Mother

Canadian Indie Rock band Mother Mother have made their imprint in the Canadian music industry. With over a decade in the music industry, the band have carved their own unique niche in the industry, leaving with them a sense of indivdiduality and awe. Last month, the band recently released their latest record ‘No Culture’. Of ‘No Culture’ Singer Ryan Guldemond commented "No Culture is about something that a lot of us wrestle with in isolation - identity". Amandah Opoku sat down with Ryan to go into more depth about ‘No Culture’, upcoming tour dates and more! Check out the interview below!

Amandah Opoku: Hello Mother Mother, thank you for sitting down with us! Before we kick off this interview, what is your favourite song on radio? Ryan Guldemond: Currently I’ve been really enjoying “Hands To Myself” by Selena Gomez.  I love the super dry, loud whisper vocal performance, and the production itself is very crisp and spacious.  I can turn it up loud without things becoming brash. I do appreciate when radio tracks achieve size in sparsity. Oh yeah, and the guitar part is killer - very sweet and melancholic, which is my favourite emotional convergence in music. AO: Of the songs that have been released within the last year, what are your favourite lyrics you’ve heard that you wish you had written? RG: There’s this line in a Zola’s song called Swooner that’s pretty clever: “That incandescent girl of Incan descent”. Maybe too clever, but it made me smile, and ponder.  I like punchlines that are at once both humorous and thought provoking, driven by word play.  

AO: You recently released your album ‘No Culture’ what was the inspiration behind the albums creation? RG: I was inspired by a personal transition I was making at the time from debauchery to clean living. In doing so I uncovered how deeply I identified with the former accompanying persona, so themes of identity and authenticity are strong in No Culture, often centering around loss, grief and nostalgia. The title itself was born from this experience: the shedding of culture, or societal affectation as a means to become a truer version of yourself.   AO: How did the studio and writing process for ‘No Culture’ differ from your last album ‘Very Good Bad Thing’? RG: There was more emphasis on the songwriting. I spent a lot of time with our producers down in LA writing, and fine tuning the architecture of each song before we even began recording. It was important that every motif, beat, lyric, texture was “perfect” in that they supported the core identity of each song, and the album as a whole. Nothing was for the sake of itself. Once the songs were ready, the recording was quick and clear. That was a new methodology for us, coming into the studio with an almost paint by numbers approach. Everything was laid out, we just had to connect the dots. AO: Writing and working on this record, did you ever encounter a period or moment of uncertainty? How did you overcome this? RG: The writing process was riddled with uncertainty. The confidence I lost by changing my lifestyle spilled into the creative process, and I began to judge my output severely, effectively creating a condition of good old fashion writer’s block.  But I just worked through it. Kept churning out ideas until the kernels of gold started to appear. Bad ideas, or mediocrity is crucial in the mining of the good stuff. They clear a path for unfiltered, raw creativity to travel through. That was a big lesson in all of this: discovering, or reaffirming that the cure for stagnancy is simply the act of doing. It could be anything. Beat your head against a wall until it takes on a pleasing rhythm. Then start singing over top of it. Before you know it, you’ll have an album’s worth of material. If it’s a shitty album, don’t record it. Just keep beating your head against that wall and gradually things will improve. AO: Of ‘No Culture’ what are you most proud of? RG: I think of how honest it is, and how uncomfortable it was and still is to be that honest, and how that signifies change and evolution. I can easily look back at old writing and think, I miss that devilish irony and sardonic bent. But to do that again would be disingenuous, and easier. So I guest I’m proud that I took the harder path in creating a new body of work, speaking from a new voice, even though I wasn't entirely used to its timbre. AO: Of the sounds on your latest album ‘No Culture’ were there any particular musicians or artists that influenced the sounds/direction of the album? RG: I don’t know about specific musicians, but we were definitely inspired by certain production aesthetics, like the simple and visceral quality of hip hop beats and the lush and dreamy synth-scapes of the 80s. AO: What was the biggest challenge you encountered working on ‘No Culture’? RG: Digging up the themes and finding its sentimental identity. I really didn’t want to write 10 songs about various things that were unrelated to each other. It was crucial that this body of work meant something, had a purpose, and acted as a whole. Considering the shaky place from where I started, this was a challenging and daunting prospect. But somehow it found its shape and its voice. And there really wasn’t an A-ha! moment or grand epiphany. It happened over time, of its own volition. AO: In essence, what does ‘No Culture’ represent to you? Is it a statement? Almost, an act of rebellion? RG: To me No Culture represents peace in aloneness. Finding the acceptance of yourself without imposed identity. So yes, it’s a statement. We are suggesting that this a good practice, and by doing so we are criticizing the way so many of us cling to our identification tags, be them cultural, societal, professional, religious etc, in order to feel validated, superior, and as though we belong. Culture of course can be a beautiful thing, adding texture to the human condition, but when it becomes the source of divisiveness, war and oppression, then we lose the very thing which it aims to celebrate, and the one thing we all have in common, humanity. AO: Why should somebody stream or pick up ‘No Culture’ off the CD shelf? RG: That’s an interesting question. It begs a solicitous response, which is hard for me. Someone from the label would give a much better answer, but I should try my best here. I’m not sure I think anyone “should” do anything with our record, but I suppose if someone was looking for a type of music with an emphasis on melody, vocal harmony, lyrical depth and big production, than No Culture would be a good contender. I feel like this album is visceral first, then cerebral. You can listen to it and react physically and emotionally without dissection. But should one crave a more intellectual experience, that is also available within the lyricism and thematics. Someone recently described the album as a trojan horse to a deeper experience. I liked that. AO: In this digital age of streaming where music fans can now consume immediately thanks to apps such as Spotify, Pandora and Tidal to name a few. What are your thoughts on streaming? Do you think they’ve been a positive or negative effect to the music industry? RG: I guess both, but to be honest I start to snooze when this topic comes up at the dinner table. For whatever reason I can’t seem to care about how the music industry evolves or devolves. But I guess streaming is something that’s still somewhat anarchic, cuz people aren’t getting paid and whatnot, but I assume that will work itself out. They’ll figure out how to monetize this digital shitstorm of free entertainment and I can see that being a very good thing. Not necessarily for the industry, in a capitalistic sense, but for humanity, and the balance of things. I don’t think anyone should be walking around with squillions of dollars. Not for doing anything, but especially not for making music. I think celebrity and rich-people culture is kind of unhealthy for the human collective consciousness, so anything to topple those pedestals I believe to be a good thing in the grand scheme of it all. AO: You’ve been a band for well over a decade, what’s one thing you learned as a band that you wish you had known when you first began? RG: I wish we were better at branding in the start. Understanding what the Mother Mother experience was, and reinforcing that in every aspect of the band, be it music, art, wardrobe, sentiment, philosophy. I think we could still get better at that, but in thinking about it now, it’s not really something someone tells you and bam, you’re good at it. It takes time for identity and cohesion within a group to form. I’d also tell myself to write more. Just fucking write, write, write little buddy. Don’t divide life from art. Meld the two, and write songs about it. But this the same thing I’m telling myself today, and will be telling myself in 50 years. AO: Going back to your bands roots, when it comes to finding a name for a creative or collection it’s often a process. Mother Mother may have not been the name you arrived to initially and maybe it’s meaning to you has changed over the years. Today in 2017, what does the band name mean to you? RG: Well we were originally just Mother, and I called us that because this guy at college wouldn’t shut up about how great of a band name that would hypothetically be. His fervour became mine I guess. So it didn’t really mean anything in the beginning. Then we had to change our name because there were other bands called Mother. So we un-inventively called ourselves Mother Mother. So that didn't really mean anything either. What does it mean today? I really couldn’t tell ya. I guess it’s just the name of our band. AO: Besides music, what are your hobbies? RG: I like cooking and taking photos, Jasmin loves yoga, Molly likes crafting, Ali is a big soccer buff and Mike, the new guy… hmm.  Tattoos? Could that be a hobby? He’s got a body suit, so he’s running out of room. Gonna have to find a new hobby. AO: In support of ‘No Culture’ you are currently on your Canadian tour followed by some recently announced dates with KONGOS, what can fans expect from you on the tour? RG: Tons of energy, a very tight set which draws upon our entire catalogue, a couple of very masculine covers sung by the girls, inane and existential stage banter, a drum solo. We definitely take pride in making a proper show of it. I feel like there’s an art to crafting the perfect set, with a contour not unlike that of a story book. You can expect to be taken for a ride when you see us live. AO: Thank you for sitting down with us Mother Mother! Before we end this interview, is there anything you’d like to say to your fans, your supporters? RG: Thanks for employing us!

Connect with Mother Mother on the following websites: https://twitter.com/mothermother https://facebook.com/MotherMotherBook https://instagram.com/mothermothermusic https://youtube.com/mothermothermusic