This week was a whirlwind of school loads getting way too much to handle, the CMA Awards taking over Nashville and to top it off my friend had ACL surgery. With all of the busy-ness this week, I wanted to put a few songs together, new and old, that bring me peace and comfort in the hard, negative and stressful times.
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard the news: Taylor Swift has removed all of her music from Spotify. As in, everything. Not just 1989. The only track you can find that even features Swift is “Safe and Sound,” her collaboration with The Civil Wars. Go now and listen while you still can, before we have all been forsaken by the great blond goddess of our musical age.
The most elaborate musical prank of this week is no doubt the Aphex Twin/Taylor Swift mashup album. The cartoonist who put Aphex Swift together put forth an astonishing amount of effort to link two totally different artists. The most shocking thing isn’t the choice of artists, however, since there are already endless examples of absurd mashups floating around the web. No, the shocking thing is that this WTF pairing is so well done.
My initial reaction is that there’s no way Aphex Swift works at all, but on several subsequent spins I have to admit that there’s something going on here. “Starlightlicker” is the song that gets the closest to working in any traditional sense, no doubt because “Windowlicker” is the closest Aphex Twin has come to any sort of pop crossover. It’s surrounded by “T4ouble” and “We Are Never Getting Girl/Boygether”, both of which pace hectic breakbeat productions from Richard D. James Album with two of Swift’s most massive pop smashes. Initially I’m convinced that these two tracks speed up the tempo on “4” and “Girl/Boy Song” because they sound impossibly complex underneath Swift’s one-line-at-a-time delivery, but on further review the tempo is unchanged. The juxtaposition serves as a vivid reminder of just how unique and unhinged each of Aphex Twin’s pseudorandom productions is.
Earlier this week, another one of WRVU’s staff writers talked about Concert Do’s and Don’t’s. One of the suggest modes of concert etiquette was “Don’t experience the concert through the lens of your camera.” I feel like this has become a hot topic among my friends and me throughout the past few years; increasingly so as apps like Snapchat and Instagram have become more and more popular. So I’m here to talk about what I think, what the good people of the Internet think, and what artists think about smartphones at concerts.
California natives Foxygen recently released their third full-length album, “…And Star Power”, and I couldn’t have been more hyped for the release date. Knowing Foxygen, I expected to get a blissful mix of neo-psychedelia and 60’s revival, and what I got was so much more. Their third album marks the first double album from the duo, and with their first double album comes some new elements to their sound. Even before listening to the album, I noticed a bunch of small tracks in between the longer ones, eventually turning out to be mainly segues between the songs. Segues are new to Foxygen’s music, and they manage to pull them off incredibly well.
Now we can’t all be as great as good guy Greg. But there are still a couple things that you can do to be more like him at your next concert.
This week was a good one for Run the Jewels fans in Nashville. This morning, two days after their sold-out show at Exit/In, Run The Jewels 2, the duo’s long awaited follow-up to their self-titled debut, appeared on my news feed. I ate up this fresh musical morsel as soon I could. What I found when I dove into this album was one of the best collection of dope beats, club bangers, and vicious verses I have heard out of the rap scene this year and a continuation of the trademark style that El-P and Killer Mike have developed.
There was a palpable curiosity concerning GIVERS’ new material at the Exit/In this past Tuesday, October 21st . GIVERS have not released anything since their exuberant debut album, In Light, came on the scene in 2011. After years of waiting, concert-goers were finally treated with what GIVERS have been tinkering away on these past few years.
Noah Lennox, who goes by the stage name Panda Bear, has recently released an EP titled Mr. Noah. However, the good news does not stop here. The release of Mr. Noah comes shortly before the anticipated “Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper” album that is due to come out on January 13, 2015. With Panda Bear’s renewed activity in the music industry, I wanted to take time to recount the many accomplishments and upcoming developments of an admirable musician.
November 9th, 2013. Winter was upon us as potential students scurried around campus knocking leafs around the greek row sidewalks with their weathered, leather boots as they toured a campus and a city that might one day become a home to them. Pretending the brisk Nashville temperatures were still fall conditions, I dressed in a thin long sleeve shirt and prepared for the night ahead of me. We had been looking forward to this day for months. American Authors at one of Nashville’s most unique, bursting of character and quite frankly small venues, The End. Thrilled to leave the lonesome cave I’d created of post break-up tears and cheesy rom coms, otherwise known as my room, my friends and I arrived at the venue minutes before the show facing a crowd of no more than 30 people. Lost in chatter and introductions a voice suddenly broke through the noise and stopped me in my tracks. Who was this girl with the powerhouse vocals strong enough to shatter the thoughts of everyone in the room and draw every eye in this small dive club to her luscious hair, small frame and impeccable style? The voice belonged to Mandy Lee, one third of the trio Misterwives hailing from New York City.
On this day nineteen years ago, four of Blind Melon’s five members woke up expecting to play a show that night at Tipitina’s in New Orleans. The fifth, lead vocalist and chief songwriter Shannon Hoon, never awoke. He had died of a cocaine overdose at age 28. Today, to honor Hoon’s memory, I’d like to take a look at Blind Melon, a terribly under-appreciated member of the grunge pantheon.
Despite severe weather warnings, on Monday I and a healthy crowd of Nashvillians head over to Marathon Music Works for The War on Drugs’ exclusive brand of heartland rock. Attendees…
As you may already be aware, homecoming was just this past weekend. All week, our campus has been inundated with alumni of all ages coming back to relive their Vanderbilt experiences. So as we wrap up the weekend, here’s a homecoming soundtrack to put the weekend into perspective. Some of these graduates lived through some really great years of music (and WRVU). So without further ado, I present to you: the hits of homecoming.
Her daddy had enough so she put her back into it. She’s is a powerhouse. She’s an unending geyser of consistency. Merrill Garbus knows how to put on a fantastic show. On Thursday the 9th at Marathon Music Works, music fans got their money’s worth.
Recently, the Travel and Leisure Magazine came out with rankings of America’s favorite cities and lo and behold, Nashville was listed number 1 for concerts, the music scene, and also as the friendliest city around. Even only after a year of living here, I wholeheartedly agree that this is the place for music and entertainment. For those of you who are a bit skeptical, I’ve compiled a list of reasons that this ranking is well-deserved.
The first thing that I noticed walking in to Memorial Gym last night for Commodore Quake was the oppressive heat. The second thing that I noticed once I found a seat was the atrocious, garbled acoustics of our re-purposed basketball court. I wish I didn’t feel like I have to include these sour notes as the very first thing in this recap. I wish I hadn’t noticed these things about Quake at all. But most of all, I sincerely wish that these weren’t the most memorable aspects of my entire night at Quake.
“I feel like our previous music was fall and winter music. I wanted this new album to sound more like summer. I want people to feel like they walked outside on a summer day.”
– Ben Hardesty
I am lyrically challenged. I will be listening to a song and not even hear the lyrics most of the time. If I have listened to the song enough, I might be able to sing along even though I have given exactly zero thought to the meaning or even coherence of what I am singing. I also grew up listening to the mainstream pop punk, nu-metal, and metalcore of the early to mid 2000’s and held an active dislike for rap. These things considered, there is seemingly no reason that I should find myself getting into hip hop and rap at the age of 20. It turns out I just had to find the right stuff to serve as a gateway to the hip hop world. Here, I will list some of the artists that helped make the transition into the wonderful genre of hip hop a little easier.
Exit/In is one of Nashville’s most famous and beloved venues. One look above the bar at the wall of artists who have performed on its stage is enough to send the tingles of history down your spine. Monday night, though, Exit/In’s legendary stage was devoted to three local acts: Joel Levi, James and the Wild Spirit, and Vanderbilt’s own Kid Freud. The trio of bands, though quite different in genre and style, combined to put on one hell of a show.
We recently had WRVU members vote for the best and the worst song currently in the Billboard Top Ten. Here are the results from the 17 WRVU-affiliated responders. Hopefully their comments will shed some light on the current state of pop music.
Aftershock is an open mic & coffee house for students to showcase their talents. Any student is welcome to perform (and anyone is welcome to attend, of course)! If interested…