M83's Saturdays=Youth

The brain behind M83, 26-year-old Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez, sings softly over sweeping synth and guitar, sounding crisp and hopeful, yet poignantly nostalgic. The cover art for Saturdays=Youth, just released this April 15, looks just how the music sounds – a golden, summer landscape replete with beautiful young people who look like they could star in a Sofia Coppola film. Technically, the harmonies remain tonally bright and airy, rarely budging from major keys throughout the album. The effect is that of summer daybreak, but the lyrics suggest that the album may be entirely set at dusk or late at night. Contrasts like this make this album dynamic enough to live on after the hype period and relevant in a variety of contexts.

Producer Ken Thomas, who has also worked with the Cocteau Twins and Sigur Ros worked with Gonzalez on this album. These influences are more than evident in the harmonically lush, progressive quality (indicative of Sigur Ros’s work), as well as the definite 1980’s sway reminiscent of ethereal dream-poppers, The Cocteau Twins. The overall effect is that of organized melody liquefied and smoothed over like a watercolor painting. For use as background music, this M83 album works gorgeously. For fans of My Bloody Valentine, this brand of shoegaze offers some of the thickness but none of the distortion. For fans of the M83 of Before the Dawn Heals Us, expect the layering, but imagine the building instrumentation gathering and then being completely blended together in an entrancing mist.

Scattered through the lyrics are themes of shadowed longing and obsessions with dying young, making the optimistic sonic qualities resoundingly haunting. Even in the highly energetic second track, “Kim and Jessie,” which depicts a young couple “crazy about romance and illusion,” there are repeated shadows and mysteries. In the second single (and perhaps most Sofia Coppola-esque track), “Graveyard Girl,” a fifteen-year-old, gothic girl who feels that it’s too late to live “spits on summers and smiles to the night. / She collects crowns made of black roses / but her heart is made of bubble gum.” Despite the gloomy content, the heart of the song is hopeful (literally made out of bubble gum, perhaps in the fashion of a darker Lolita), if not just for the sheer beauty of the shimmering synthesized melody.

Although songs like the first single, “Couleurs,” can take more than six minutes to become interesting, the album in its entirety is ideal for both solitary headphone nights and picnics with lemonade close at hand.

M83 - "Kim & Jessie" mp3
M83 - "Couleurs" mp3

This music video for "Graveyard Girl" is very well tailored to the musical and lyrical content:

Fashion or Famine: Is 2ks Fashion Actually Diminishing the Importance of Innovation?

My sixth-grade teacher once told my class that our children would be wearing spacesuits everywhere they went. It was probably one of those spontaneous, thoughtless comments, but it has stuck with me throughout my life. The concept of people walking around in aluminum foil suits with bubble heads has been seeming less and less likely, discrediting pretty much any science fiction movie ever produced about the future.

We are living in an age of imitation. Usually, this would infer the most sincere form of flattery, but can you really flatter the 80’s? Walking around Oberlin College campus, it’s almost impossible to not bump into someone wearing Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie attire, and it’s even more likely to see a Siouxsie Souix or Cindy Lauper clone dancing in the ‘Sco on a weeknight. The age of ironic apparel is neigh, confusing anyone over 40 the world over.

Batman sweaters and unicorn knee-high socks might have been your favorite articles of clothing in fifth grade, and thank God you didn’t throw them away. You are just as skinny as you were in elementary school, so you can fit the same clothes. But they now fit you in a much different way. You are ironic, and you don’t care what other people think of you. But you actually do, and don’t want people to know that you do, so you keep wearing that Snoopy backpack and the hair scrunchies your mom gave you for your ballet recital twelve years ago.

Summer in Oberlin lets every fashionista and fashionisto burst free of their winter coats and black skinny jeans, showing their true colors and making statements with their leggings and Technicolor garb left and right. Just a few years ago, the “hip” were wearing black, right? Well, we’re hipper than that now. Societal discontent and a delayed appreciation for the UK ecstasy raver trend have brought colors to a social denomination defined by apathy, artistic prowess, and pretension. These are neon board-shorted, sparkly-eye shadowed, skin-tight skinny jeaned apathetics.

After emulating the 60’s a couple years ago, the 70’s soon afterwards, and now the 80’s, where else is there to go? It is too soon to ironically bring back the 90’s, so where do we go from here?

I would suggest that the only place to go would be the 20’s and 30’s. No one wants to bring back the prudish and plasticized 40’s and 50’s, but the heavily drinking flappers and Dapper Dans of the prohibition era will probably make a resurgence sooner or later. The pencil skirts and leg-bearing dresses, as well as the skinny-legged suits cater to the starving-but-fierce trend in beauty.

Then what? Will we be dressing like Scarlett O’Hara? Marie Antoinette? George Washington? Innovation in fashion can only go so far, it seems. A creative dresser is now someone who can combine various generations to make a “modern” and “edgy” look. Are we in the midst of the time machine malfunction decade? Or are we just trying to look as silly as possible?

At this point, it is important to stress that not every twenty-something is donning the leather jackets, puffy sneakers, and waist-belts. Although some of these fashions are becoming more mainstream, slowly losing their irony, being sold at Forever 21, and popping up in the pages of Vogue, the average Joe and Jane of this millennia has been experimenting with bold, solid colors and various styles of jeans and skirts. After the body-bearing trends of the 90’s, this focus on attention via color and shape is refreshing and accepting of various body types.

Worn by the hipster elite and apathetic dressers alike, American Apparel basics and other such monotone clothing have been dominating the public eye in the past few years. The act of layering basic colors shows a subconscious recharged attention to design. Being confronted by a wall of identically cut tee shirts in 40 colors is like starting a painting with a blank canvas and many watercolors to choose from. You can buy yellow leggings to pair with an off-the-shoulders, oversized, floppy sweater, or you can buy black leggings to go with a classic cocktail dress.

There is one thing that the popular, youthful stores of today have in common. Chic vintage clothing shops let you browse through time itself until you find something you can wear proudly, ironically, or both. Multi-colored basics are all about freedom of choice and artistic layering. Even highly commercial chains like Urban Outfitters and the hundreds of such stores around the world offer differing looks for different social demographics. Maybe the trend for the 2K’s is not to look absurd, but to have the freedom to look however you please.

That being said, I will not be surprised if I see a spacesuit or two next time winter in Oberlin rolls around.

The Teenagers pop up in almost every fashion and party pics blog I look at. It seems rather unnatural to not include a Teenagers track (or better yet, a remix):
The Teenagers - "Love No (Dolorean Remix)" mp3

Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours

Dance rock is old news, right? Franz Ferdinand and their clones are basically fighting to stay afloat in the constantly churning sea of party rockers hoping to reach Top 40 status. Signed to Modular (also the home of New Young Pony Club and The Presets), the Australian band, Cut Copy isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but they have done something revolutionary in its own sense: they have evolved naturally.

The March 22 release of In Ghost Colours was extremely hyped, partially due to the success of its predecessor, 2004’s Bright Like Neon Love, but also because of a string of popular remixes. Unlike many sophomore efforts, In Ghost Colours makes no attempts to rock more, be more progressive, or go more electronic. The music is simply organic and heartfelt, and despite being more accessible than any of their previous releases and having “Lights and Music” as a free track on iTunes, this album is no sell-out.

This album is at once intellectually stimulating and danceable. On the track “Far Away,” for example, Billy Idol and David Bowie influences surround synthesized, open-toned interludes typical of Discovery-era Daft Punk. On “Hearts On Fire,” Cut Copy’s rock sensibilities take a forefront until the highly arpeggiated, anthem-like chorus brings electronic instrumentation and an infectious melody to the forefront. Despite trite and sometimes melodramatic lyrics, the intricately wound instrumental construction is entertaining in itself throughout the album, constantly evolving in both smooth and shocking ways.

An interesting shift occurs in the album during the track, “Strangers in the Wind,” which opens with bluesy guitar twangs slowly being overshadowed with glockenspiel and synthesized chords. Then, all of a sudden, the contextually confusing guitar riff is gone and it is a Cut Copy song once again, ending with a synth solo. Although this track strikes me as the weakest on the album, it stands as an example of how an experimental blues-rock-electro track can sound like it was produced by Italians Do It Better and yet still belong on a Cut Copy album.

I would recommend tracks such as “Nobody Lost, Nobody Found” (despite a rather blatant rip-off of Vitalic) and “Out There On the Ice” as showcases of Cut Copy’s evolved and more comfortably positive sound. Tracks like these, with prominent bass and a slightly more disco-influenced sound, display Cut Copy’s strengths to their full potential. However, the rather lethargic interludes do speak for the diversity of this album, as well as a more theatrical and strikingly visual feel (think of an Of Montrealian Satanic Panic in the Attic-era brand of visual appeal).

It is difficult for me to discern where this album will eventually be pigeonholed. It is a pop gem as well as a quality dance album, but it plays to so many aesthetics that is has a distinctly malleable quality. Regardless of its place within the growingly pretentious indie rock and electronic crowds, this album has a charm in its sincerity, brightness, and lack of pretense. Play this album all summer; play it loud.

Cut Copy - "Out There On the Ice" mp3
Cut Copy - "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" mp3

Klosterman actually convinced me to download a couple Mötley Crüe songs.

If you step out of the realm of what is considered legitimate in the pop culture journalism circuit, you might just be accused of writing something controversial in order to be different or creative. That is something that Chuck Klosterman admits to being worried about with the breakthrough memoir/record review compilation entitled Fargo Rock City. This book is not about Fargo necessarily. It is not about cities and their relation to heavy 80’s rock. In fact, “rock n’ roll” is not a term used kindly in this book. Give Klosterman heavy metal, or give him death.

Fargo Rock City is for metalheads who had their heyday in the 80’s. Because this reviewer has had a much different experience with the glam rock golden years, not yet being alive at the time, embarking on this “heavy metal odyssey in rural Nörth Daköta” has an effect much different from the effect Klosterman expects, and wants, to have. The key word here is nostalgia. Heavy metal, or “hair metal,” as it is often referred to, is seen as musically inferior and overly fixated on sex, drugs, alcohol, more sex, vanity, and the occasionally fight. This characterization has been hyped up over the past twenty years as former metalheads have grown up and trashed the leather pants, becoming arts critics and writing scorning reviewing of the new metal revival acts while praising grunge and the new wave of dance rock. Klosterman may be publishing articles adjacent to these other writers in magazines such as Spin or GQ, but his perspective and line of thought is anything but parallel.

Klosterman grew up surrounded by, well, nothing. So a stray cassette would receive strenuous playtime, leading to a complete and total immersion into the world of 80’s heavy metal. Due to the overpowering popularity of such music during this time of easily impressionability, MANY such children have grown up into adults continuously regretting their love of Tommy Lee or Axl Rose. This person is not Chuck Klosterman. In fact, he is an advocator of flipping this negative outlook around. Using nostalgia and a kitsch appeal, Klosterman uses anecdotes from his past in order to tell people like him why they should not be ashamed anymore. The whole book is not a play-by-play acceptance and praise of metal, though overwhelmingly positive it may be. Cheesy songs and music videos are pointed out, as well as comic observations concerning the undeniable ridiculous nature of the bands’ social practices and taste in women. Fargo Rock City is surprisingly and refreshingly subjective, considering Klosterman’s personal history as a lifelong metal fan. As a credible and prolific music critic, his opinions and observations on this style of music are definitely tinged with the expectation that audiences will be suspicious.

I, for one, have never listened to hair metal. It has slipped in, due to radio play and MTV, but I had never tried to obtain music by Ratt, Cinderella, or Guns N’ Roses before reading this book. Because of the age gap and this obvious wall between the author’s intent and my level of experience, I really should not have enjoyed this book as much as I did. My level of suspicion was high, along with my ignorance in this highly specialized sphere. Klosterman’s writing style and impeccable use of conversational tone convinced me that not only would I like metal; I might actually love it. Klosterman refuses to let you become bored. The tone is not only conversational but also carries with it a sense of urgency, as though this story has needed to be told for an unspoken demographic for years.

The effective methods used in this novel all boil down to organization. Each chapter begins with a heading, citing a special or important date in hard rock history. Klosterman then embarks on an entertaining anecdote about Ozzy Osbourne’s faux-Satanism or Nikki Sixx’s sense of style. While explaining a situation at the age of 16 when he accidentally embezzled money from an ATM, Klosterman manages to fit in an album review, speaking about the emotions and aesthetics of the moment and the lyrics’ places along with the various life events. Aside from a strenuous and rather long-winded chapter mostly dedicated to Klosterman’s list of albums you’d have to pay him to never listen to again and their reviews, there seems o be a perfect balance of music lingo for the in-crowd of music and pop culture trivia and coming of age stories anyone over 18 can truly appreciate.

Klosterman’s charm stems from the idea that we have all known him at one point of another. In elementary school, he was the weird kid with the bad haircut, but he knew all about Mötley Crüe, so he couldn’t be that bad. In junior high, he was the dark and gloomy one, but he managed to always know what was going on with pop culture in a town so small they could miss a whole social movement if they forgot their radios for a couple days. In high school, he was the cool kid without he cool aesthetic or posse. In college, he was the public alcoholic and controversial columnist for the school paper, showing up to hockey games drunk and recording peoples’ reactions, not to the game, but to him.

His willingness to share revealing life stories and admitting to certain destructive behaviors showed this witty writer as a real man. This man is not a stuck-up music snob from New York City, staring down at the masses and telling them what was good enough to buy. This is just a guy. He likes music as much as you or I, but he gets paid to listen to it and he still thinks that that is pretty cool. Fargo Rock City might not be about your favorite genre of music. You might not even have been alive in the 80’s or early 90’s when this genre was in its height of commercial success. But as a capsule of a very important movement in musical history, this novel captures a personal affection for something unique. You might just end up finishing this and walking to your nearest CD store to buy Shout at the Devil, a strut in your step and a beer in your hand.

Among those interested in perhaps reviving certain elements of hairmetal is Mylo, who did this live cover of one of Guns n' Roses most popular songs:

Mylo - "Sweet Child of Mine (Live Guns n' Roses Cover)" mp3

The Cool Kids with J-Live @ the 'Sco: A Success for Hip Hop 101

Considering the neon attire, The Cool Kids might not visually stand out from the other musical acts frequenting the ‘Sco lately. However, last Friday’s Cool Kids and J-Live show, sponsored by Hip Hop 101, was no Dan Deacon or Boys Noize. Oberlin’s thirst for fresh hip-hop, something not produced too often from visiting artists here, has finally been quenched. As 101 member Nana Efua Embii reflected: “We focus on artists who have positive messages, as well as those who have a great stage presence. Eventually, we decided that The Cool Kids and J-Live would be the best match up. J-Live has had just a long, successful career and The Cool Kids are just starting to break out.” This combination guaranteed an oh so bumpin’ night at the ‘Sco.

J-Live (AKA Justice Allah, Jean-Jacques Cadet, and founder of Triple Threat Productions) has mastered the gamut of the music industry in New York, producing, MCing, and DJing. Beginning his rap career in 1995, J-Live has come out with four full-length albums and two EPs, also having made guest appearances on numerous projects including Handsome Boy Modeling School’s The Truth and Asheru & Blue Black of Unspoken Heard’s Trackrunners. As he himself explains on the song “Braggin’ Writes,” he is “Metaphorically murderin’ MC's when they battle me / you can't rattle me. / I'm not your average snake slitherin’ through the grass; / I surpass the serpent as I head to class. / You consider me crass as I wax that ass; style's no joke, / but you best believe I gets the last laugh.”

Did I mention he was also a middle school English teacher in Brooklyn? I bet those kids could bust some sick rhymes.

DJing and simultaneously spitting out lyrics filled with references to chess, lumber, knives, school, and replete with much-deserved cockiness, J-Live mastered the crowd. Energy was inexplicably higher during his older music, which was full of sampled material taken from soul, R&B, and disco-era instrumentals. Perhaps the audience response to the older songs was induced by familiarity, as some of the new tracks were never-before-heard. I would argue, however, that the newer beats strayed a little too far out of his creative zone. They were rather lethargic, although bass-intensive, and the kind of groove they suggested was less than adequately evocative of the ‘Sco’s preferred dance technique of the bump n’ grind.

Although the “put yo hands in the air!” is a staple of pretty much any hip hop show, J-Live brought it to new heights (literally, I suppose) by starting out with a slow beat, yelling out for the audience to “try to keep up.” As the beat accelerated, the vigor with which the sea of hands pulsed to the beat amplified. Even though J-Live lost some of his command of the stage due to the lack of his usual DJ, he managed to maintain an impressive hold on the audience. Along with his clever lyrics and tasteful inclusion of funky samples, the thudding bass proved to be almost magnetic.

Having an extremely hyped-up hip-hop powerhouse perform at the ‘Sco brought in a whole new demographic of Cleveland hip-hop enthusiasts and former students. The Hip Hop 101 group here on campus worked diligently to organize this show, as elaborated upon by Embii: “There's a lot of little details that go into a great show. We work very closely with Tina Zwegat, who is a great mentor. She goes over everything and makes sure that we are on schedule. This year we had a great group of individuals that really sacrificed a lot for this show.” Another Hip Hop 101 member, Udoka Chima, added: “The show was a huge success; it sold out. There were over 400 people packed in the Sco. It was exciting to see so many new faces. There was a lot of perspective students there, some people from the town, and others from the Cleveland area and nearby colleges. The organizing process ran smoothly because the majority of Hip Hop 101 members are seniors and have been planning Hip Hop 101 events since 2004. I would say that the most difficult part of the whole process was choosing and bookings acts. Before we make a decision on who we bring, it’s important that we are all excited about the artist as well as consider if they will draw a crowd on campus. When we are assembling our show we like to involve student performers as much as possible. This year we were proud to showcase three Oberlin dance crews: And What!?, S.P.A.R.K., and a special performance choreographed by Sherece Donalds featuring Michi Osato, Carina Brown, Jessica Judson, and Veronica Alexander.” The level of enthusiasm for these dancers was intense, to put it mildly. I had to literally grasp on to my tall and accommodating friend and jump awkwardly in order to see anything through the throngs of entranced, yet pushy onlookers.

The Cool Kids (consisting of Antoine “Mikey Rocks” Reed from Chicago and Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll from Detroit) call themselves “the new black version of the Beastie Boys,” combining 80’s throwback (complete with Billy Idol lyrics quoted in the song ‘“88”) with bass-heavy beats. The music caters to this campus’s love for danceable and multi-faceted music. Students accustomed to the electro scene would feel completely at home at a Cool Kids show, as some songs like “Black Mags” or “Gold and a Pager” almost sound like some of Spank Rock’s Fabriclive mixes. In fact, they have worked alongside with Spank Rock producer, XXXChange, in order to remix the track “Stranger” by Sunny Day Sets Fire. Solidifying their indie cred, the song “Pump Up the Volume” has been remixed by Flosstradamus (who left many Oberlin students, author included, sad and confused after an almost-but-not-quite appearance on last month’s concert line-up). The Cool Kids also cite James Brown, The Ohio Players, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin as influences, alongside more expected figures like N.E.R.D. and Timbaland.

With most of their recorded material available online, many onlookers could rap along to their favorite songs. This show was particularly exciting, however, because many of the songs were new, coming from their forthcoming album, The Bake Sale (C.A.K.E. Recordings/Chocolate Industries) coming out on May 20th of this year. With the world of indie hip-hop being somewhat dominated by acts such as Atmosphere, Blackalicious, and Binary Star, The Cool Kids definitely stand out. Not only do they only sample more minimally, they also take inspiration from more European trends in electronic music and 80’s pop than they do from many genres of American hip-hop. Adding a distinctively urban edge to this unique base, The Cool Kids rocked the ‘Sco with bass-heavy syncopation and catchy loops.

A highlight of the show was a performance of the ever-popular song “Black Mags,” a confusing song if you pay attention to lyrics and don’t know much BMX terminology (the word “wheelie” was the only one that didn’t fly directly over my head), but is an excellent track musically, and even better live. A short version of the 1992 hit “Jump Around” by House of Pain peaked the interest of approximately 98% of the onlookers, who seemed genuinely thrilled to hear it and jumped…a lot. Some fly girls and guys also got to show off their best moves on stage, perhaps motivated by And What!? and S.P.A.R.K. Despite being my favorite Cool Kids song, “Gold and a Pager” fell a little flat live due to the lack of effects available during a tour versus in a recording studio. There is something so grimy but awesome about the impossibly low voice chanting, “With a little bit of gold and a paaaaager” that just didn’t quite hit the spot live. Otherwise, the show was hugely successful, with extraordinarily high levels of audience fervor.

After a long and fulfilling set, The Cool Kids left Oberlin wanting more, so many students stayed to dance until the ‘Sco closed. Nana Embii added as a closing thought that, “Over the past 4 years, it's really been a great experience. I really hope that we get some more first and second years to step up and join the organization. I'm graduating and I would love to see the tradition carry on well after I'm gone.”

If you missed out on the show, I have one thing to say: these kids were cool; probably cooler than you, unless you can breakdance.

J-Live - "Traveling Music" mp3
The Cool Kids - "Gold and a Pager" mp3
The Cool Kids - "88" mp3

Some Blogs You Should Know About...And Some that You Shouldn't

Useful Blogs

Music Blogs:

Do you have lots of free time and an external hard drive? Then get blogging. Congratulations, for you have clearly made this step by stumbling upon The Oberlin Tritone.

There are hundreds if not thousands of good music blogs out there (some started by your very own peers!). Once you have found one that suits your listenng pleasure, similar pages are typically linked for you. DJs love to release digital-only tracks and remixes, so as a result, blogs are simply overflowing with downloads and sometimes-useful criticism and commentary on electronic music. Sites like RCRD LBL and, to an extent, Hypemachine, double as online record labels, legally supplying free downloads from indie artists from nearly all genres. Some sites have the occasional interview along with highly bloggable music videos. This is a basic list of sites to know and love, especially if you like electronic music.

Fuck You On Friday
Brooklyn Vegan
Panda Toes
Missing Toof
Electro Rash
Fluokids
Mochi & Beats

The WOBLOG:

This is 91.5 WOBC, Oberlin Community and College Radio’s very own blog! That’s right! You can now hear, see, and with permission from WOBC DJ’s, touch, smell, and taste the essence of WOBC. Each genre has its own division on the blog, or you can view by chronological post. Music downloads, cool videos, WOBC news, and various other splendors are just the tip of the iceberg on the WOBLOG.

Nightlilfe Photography:

Isn’t it a little weird when that person you hardly know snaps pictures of you at parties and then tags you on Facebook? “Party Pixxx” blogs take that creepy aesthetic to a whole new level, because now you can spend hours looking at people you probably don’t know, taken by someone who doesn’t know them either. The new wave of commercial photography is neigh, bringing strangers with cameras to parties around the world. If the routine of the same Oberlin house parties every weekend starts getting to you, check out one of these sites to see what’s been going down in San Francisco, Brooklyn, London, etc. The charm comes from the level of enthusiasm these partiers have for being photographed, sometimes in very strange circumstances (often in bathrooms). Maybe we should start an Oberlin chapter?

The Cobrasnake
Glam Canyon
As Cool as it Gets
We Made Out Once


Hipster Runoff:

Claiming to “blog about pretty much anything,” Hipster Runoff both parodies and defines this social demographic, so don’t let the title scare you away. If you’re still shaky on what exactly a hipster is, HRO is a good place to start. If you are a hipster and want to post comments about how the Ed Banger trend is so passé, this blog is for you. And if you hate all this stuff, the satire spilling from blogger Carles’s vowel-dropped words and pathetically self-conscious narrative might just make your day. HRO makes available the occasional free music download (usually remixes of Cut Copy or anything by The Teenagers) as well as copious amounts of linkage to both useful and useless blogs. Topics covered in the past include women with back tattoos and their antics, anti-emo gang violence in Mexico, DJ Mom Jeans, fellow blogger Perez Hilton, and the baby with two faces and its pseudo-hip parents. Below is a highly estimated breakdown of Hipster Runoff's appeal to various sub-demographics, made by Carles himself.

Relatively Useless, but Highly Entertaining Blogs

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks: Do misused quotation marks “irk” you, or do they blow “your” mind? Either way, check out this blog. It combines tongue-in-cheek commentary with photographs sent in from observers of this needless quotation mark phenomenon.

Passive Aggressive Notes: Submitted from those who have been on the receiving end of over-the-top passive aggressives in action. Includes letters to corporations, rainbow-colored notes from disapproving roommates, and angry arts and crafts.

Boing Boing: Everything you would ever need concerning media, art, or pop culture in order to waste your time most effectively. Read this all day and you can impress anyone with your knowledge of chocolate Jesus performance art and backpack TV transmitters from 1951. Boing Boing TV makes available interesting videos such as this one, entitled "Tokyology," which explores various subcultures and popular social hubs within Tokyo.

LOL Porn: Do you love LOLing at porn? So do they! Includes weight room threesomes, dudes with tanlines, interesting piercings, and other material sent in by fans of the blog.

The Pen is Mightier: You can thank Oberlin senior Nick Mayor for this outstandingly delightful blog about various neon “Power Penz.” I never had any cool pens as a ten-year-old, and reading this makes me seriously question the resultant fun I had in my youth without them. Pens featured include the Air Attack, Jet Flyer, FM Radio Rocker, and the Glamour Girl Kit, among others.

The Cigarette Smoking Blog: “Conservatism, Catholicism, Yale, film and music, one cigarette at a time.” The concept is that every time writer Helen Rittelmeyer has a cigarette, she writes something ridiculous, confusing, or cigarette-related.

23/6: A highly entertaining site claiming to be “Some of the News, Most of the Time,” with contributions from alumni David Bernstein and Drew Grant.

Zac Efron Please Stop Tanning: Dedicated solely to preventing this Disney Channel icon from hitting the tanning beds. A truly noble effort.

“Dreams People Have Had About Hillary and/or Barack and/or McCain”: This project really is exactly what the title suggests; many people have sent in dreams they have had concerning the various presidential candidates. To make it even simpler, you can designate exactly which one you would like to read dreams about on the sidebar. Dreams range from the absurd to the politically poignant. One of my favorites is this stirring tour-de-force sent in from one Sheila Heti:

“There was a shootout in my home. It was like the wild west, with the women all upstairs hiding and all the men downstairs shooting. I don't know who was fighting whom, or why. Barack Obama was there. He sat next to me on the couch but sat on my glasses so I could not see.”

Crystal Castles and HEALTH: The Show to End All Shows

Like an exponentially growing percentage of the Oberlin campus, you may be in love with Crystal Casltes (or at least Alice Glass). This could be for various reasons, including but not limited to: 1) Alice Glass is a hottie, 2) she looks like Karen O back when Karen O was a little hotter than she is now, 3) they make mind-blowing experimental thrash-electro music, or 5) Ethan (born Claudio) Kath used to be in a bad hardcore band in which his name was Ethan Deth. Ok, so it probably has nothing to do with the last reason, and that’s a good thing. Needless to say, after someone hears the CC remix of “Crimewave” by fellow touring band HEALTH, which reached #9 on the UK indie singles chart, there’s no going back. You are a lover, or I don’t know who you are.

By touring with the band that put you on the map, both HEALTH and CC had amazing foresight. We at Oberlin were witness to the first portion of a widely talked-about tour, which, I was not at all shocked to find out, lived up to all my wildest expectations.

Oberlin electronic duo Lionface (Ex-FX Unicorn) consisting of Alex Christie and Michael Rosen were on first, combining cute blips and beeps with house beats and pulsating bass. Despite less-than-impressive levels of audience dance-age until right before HEALTH performed, Lionface had a vigorous set. I know I am not alone in my sentiment when saying that I am now reassured that the name change has not at all affected the electro-pop appeal of FX Lionfaceicorn.

Los Angeles noise rock band HEALTH stormed the stage with what looked like a couple tons of equipment. This includes your “standard” rock n’ roll instruments along with synths, a super cool electronically distorted drum-head-thing (ask any TIMARA major for an intelligent and accurate description), and a Zoothorn, which is essentially a permutation of guitar and microphone, creating severe, distorted sonic mayhem.

John Famiglietti, multiple instrumentalist and occasional shrieker, kicked off the set with what looked like convulsions paired with the apocalyptic beating of the aforementioned super cool electronic drum thing. Listening to their self-titled 2007 Lovepump United release, it would seem illogical for HEALTH to pull off a good live show due to the seemingly unsystematic pairings of silence and raging waves of noise, but they proved me wrong. The almost-telepathic rhythmic communication between the band members was extraordinary, tightly winding their parts together with minimal metrical inaccuracy.

HEALTH has their moments of yelling and screeching, but their tendencies toward mellow chanting and smooth vocal soundscapes set them apart from other experimental, noise rock groups. On their recordings, the vocal parts are highlighted and provide a shimmering drone amongst the otherwise rhythmically centered clamor. A venue like the ‘Sco has a naturally hard time providing an acoustically viable landscape for this kind of sound, so the disappointing lack of vocal luster was the only tangible complaint I left with.

Some, however, thought that the show was too loud. One audience member came up to Farniglietti after their set in order to tell him: “Hey. Great show, but I was wondering if you could just play quieter next time.” “You mean, when you’re not there?” “Yeah.” Farniglietti gave a weak chuckle as if to express his unwillingness to take bullshit from not-yet-deaf fans while we walked into the Decafé to discuss his experiences at Oberlin as well as HEALTH’s history and evolution as a band.

The Oberlin Tritone: Hi John. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today. So, what did you think of your set? How did it compare to your last visit to Oberlin?
JF: Well, last time was awesome; the school is retarded hip. We were supposed to open for Dan Deacon, but we ended up headlining because he couldn’t make it. We played with Crime Novels and Video Hippos, which made it a really high-energy show automatically. The vibe was awesome. This time was pretty different.

OT: Yeah- not as many people were moving around or dancing as I thought.
JF: I think that’s just the nature of this show. I mean it was a Dan Deacon show technically last time, so the kids came to dance.

OT: What was the original vision for HEALTH?
JF: It wasn’t to play crazy ass music. It was mostly traditional rock music and post punk at first. Honestly, we weren’t too happy with it; we thought it sucked but we didn’t know how to do what we wanted to do. We just kept getting weirder and weirder. For the first four months we were together, we played the straightforward stuff live, but then people responded more to the weirder stuff so we ditched the old stuff.

OT: Are there any bands that inspired this shift in particular?
JF: There were a lot of rock bands that indirectly influenced us, like early Animal Collective. A band that directly influences us is Ex-Models, the New York band.

OT: You have received a lot of acclaim based on the remixes bands like Crystal Castles have done with your work. Are there any dream collaborations you foresee in the future?
J: Well, we’d like to do more actual collaborations. A dream would be Italians Do It Better’s Johnny Jewel. We’ve talked a little bit, but it’s still thoroughly out there. As far as remixes, Crystal Castles is really the best there is. A datA remix would be awesome, but they wanted money, and we don’t really want to do that. I’d love to be remixed by Mirage next, but he's (Jewel) been swamped lately. Emperor Machine would be cool too. I don’t know if this would fit with our sound, but it would be cool to work with Ratatat on a remix. Again, Italians Do It Better acts like Chromatics would be amazing.

OT: So what bands have you personally been listening to lately?
JF: I never get tired of Crystal Castles, obviously. I listen to Glass Candy and Chromatics every single day. I like a lot of Video Hippos and I love Dan Deacon too.

OT: How did you guys and Crystal Castles become acquainted?
JF: We have been internet friends for years. “Crimewave” is actually two years old, but it was just recently released. The split was supposed to be done over a year ago. It is really exciting to be with them on their first ever headlining tour. They’re getting so fucking huge in the UK. I mean, it’s apples to oranges, but they’re fucking gigantic.

OT: Yeah, it’s crazy. I remember when I first heard “Crimewave” and it was so fresh and under the radar. Speaking of the tour, if you had to pick one band to tour with in an ideal world, who would it be?
JF: I’m not even lying; Crystal Castles is number one on the list of bands, for sure.

OT: Well we’re so lucky to have this tour come through. Thanks for the intense set, and I hope you come back soon.
JF: Yeah, for sure. Get ready for an amazing live show. Crystal Castles is always sick.

Sick indeed. Not many bands are as mysterious as Crystal Castles. Unwilling to be interviewed after a catastrophic misquoting experience in which a journalist painted a portrait of CC as a “mistake band,” Glass and Kath have flown way under the radar. Which, of course, makes them irresistible and, ironically enough, even more widely adored. Through the sweaty excitement resulting from HEALTH’s high-power set and the blaring hormonal need for Oberlin to dance to thrash-electro during midterms week, Ethan Kath could be discerned setting up various MicroKorgs and keyboards. He reportedly found the first keyboard used in CC in a Toronto dumpster, and outfitted it with Atari 5200 chips and TurboGrafx sound effects. My common sense would lead me to believe that with their recent raging success amongst neon and vintage-clad twenty-somethings worldwide, Kath has probably been able to afford something a little nicer than garbage for his mysterious, shadowy set-up. Throughout the show, Kath remained in the corner, hooded sweatshirt obscuring his face almost entirely.

All lights were dimmed as Alice Glass mystically appeared on stage, wearing ultra-hip, ripped red tights with matching eye makeup and a simple, black skirt and tee shirt combo. Strobe lights flashing, warped video game beats pounding, Glass trounced around stage, sometimes crawling and dragging the microphone on the stage, breathing into it with a combination of raw sexual verve and ghostly anguish. Oberlin students congested the front row, desperately dancing and reaching out to touch Glass. Holding the strobe light in one hand and the microphone in the other, she peaked the audience’s attention, energy streaming from every corner of the ‘Sco.

It would be all too easy to neglect the existence of the drummer, since he is not officially a member of CC, nor were his beats significant in the context of the show. The high-hat and bass were used, but not to excess in order to showcase Kath’s signature twisted, synthesized glitches. I would say that the drummer’s proudest moment was probably when Glass climbed atop the drum set, howling and spitting out lyrics for one of the songs that first made them a famous internet musical act, “Alice Practice.”

Despite a relatively short set (CC is famous for only playing for about 25 minutes and then mysteriously disappearing), everyone seemed incredibly satisfied. Hits like “Crimewave” and “Untrust Us” were played to perfection, sounding raw and exuberant while maintaining their recognizable structure and tone. The first few blips and high-pitched chromaticisms of “Crimewave” sent the ‘Sco into a frenzy, jumping up and down and mouthing the hardly-discernable lyrics of “Eyes lit, I pawn short breaths; a fawn's dark eye lids…dadadadadadie…” The highlights of the show were not the Myspace favorites, but were actually the brutally dissonant songs like “Love and Caring” and “Xxzxcuzx Me” in which the frenetic walls of sound ushered the audience to thrash their limbs every which-way as Glass flopped around on stage, possessed by the unrefined demon of electro-goddessdom.

It is no wonder why this eccentric act from Canada is so utterly “in.” Their full-length, self-titled debut was released on March 18th of this year, conveying a coarse brand of brilliance only expressed through musical risk and experimentation. This performance validated that Crystal Castles possesses the uncanny ability to spontaneously recreate and generate an even edgier and more danceable sound live.

Plus, anyone who was in the first row with me can attest to the fact that touching the shoulder of Alice Glass is in fact like touching Aphrodite on speed.

HEALTH - "Perfect Skin" mp3
Crystal Castles - "Courtship Dating" mp3
Crystal Castles - "Untrust Us" mp3

If you missed out on the show, this live compilation video of the song "Xxzxcuzx Me" is an accurate depiction of the Crystal Castles live experience.

Believe the Hype: Boys Noize Show Reviewed, Plus an Interview with Alex Ridha Himself!

80 tickets were pre-sold for the Wednesday night Boys Noize show, which means that at least 80 people were planning on failing their Thursday morning midterms. Personally, I counted the hours of shakin’ it to vigorous electronica as a prime studying opportunity for my German exam the next morning. I mean, that’s what they DO in Germany, right? Ja. That, and buy ridiculously hip, multicolored neon hats like the one Boys Noize DJ Alex Ridha was wearing all evening. Anyway, it looks like at least 80 of you have your priorities straight.

DJ Trees (AKA Oberlin senior Ted Rees) started off the show with increasingly energetic, intelligent techno beats. Trees took 2k8’s electronic sensibilities and added some 90s flare, smoothly mixing beats and melodic content to match the mood in the room. About 45 minutes before Boys Noize took the stage, people started to take notice of the high-octane dance music and began to flood the floor. Despite the punchy thuds of the bass and the growing audience of techno-appreciators, impatience for Boys Noize to take the stage was running rampant. I heard drunken screams of “Boys Noize!!!” floating through the ‘Sco and soon enough, Ridha arrived on stage.

Rotating sparkling silver skulls like the ones seen in sticker format all around campus for weeks before the show enshrouded Ridha with light as disembodied robot voices were manipulated by the turning of knobs, the pressing of buttons, and the changing of levels. Simultaneously, everyone in the now-crowded ‘Sco forgot that they had any midterms at all as Ridha pumped out jams from his new full-length album, “Oi Oi Oi,” as well as a couple of his ever-popular remixes. Some of the album tracks used at this show were made better, extended, and improvised upon. An example that sticks out to me as being particularly awesome was the live version of “The Battery,” in which a middle section was added with a thudding bass line that made many students around me sound as though they were either having an orgasm or had just realized the meaning of life.

The pulsating, feel-it-in-your-chest-cavity bass was a theme throughout the show. On songs like “Vergiftet” and “Lava Lava,” this was balanced out with screeching high points and siren-like pulses and echoes, driving people to pump their fists in the air and generally just throw themselves all over the place. These two songs were both extended mixes of recognizable grooves from the album. They were separated by a message machine recording we might all recognize from our own lives, in which a mother desperately inquires as to where you are and what you’re doing. It was comically distorted and robotified as only Boys Noize can do it, and prepared the audience for a second wave of sweaty dancing.

In practically every Boys Noize song, there is a “holy fuck” moment in which the beat drops, the bass comes in, or something unexpected and profoundly badass happens. I considered “& Down” to be the highlight of the show, as it is made up of a couple “holy fuck” moments on the record, but is continuously this way live. When Boys Noize tells you to “dance dance dance now” or “get down,” you do it. The track was masterfully mixed and improvised upon without interrupting the dense, grinding pulse.

If you came to the show only knowing one Boys Noize song, it was most likely the remix of Feist’s “My Moon My Man,” which has been played at practically every (decent) house party I have ever been to at Oberlin. Ridha teased the audience with snippets of this remix throughout his set, but when the actual remix was played all the way through, it was a little bit of a letdown in contrast to the other songs. Simply because of the nature of the remix, there are extended sections in which Feist croons, “Take it slow, take it easy on me…” which is exactly what Ridha did. It is testament to the rest of the Boys Noize library that the original mixes would be the best live, and that one of his most popular and energetic remixes would be comparatively sub-par.

During the whole set, Ridha maintained an understated bob-of-the-head, tap-of-the-toes, plus occasional grin at the audience contentment. This being said, Ridha looked just as upset as the rest of us when he realized it was almost 1:45 AM and it was time to get going. Although I was, as most of the other students, totally unpresentable and danced-out, I managed to talk to the charming German DJ (with the equally charming unibrow) after the show to discuss the set, his favorite projects, and his own record label.

The Oberlin Tritone: Hey! Great show; I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet!
AR: Thanks, yes. Me neither. There was so much I wanted to play but I ran out of time. It was a lot of fun though.

OT: What do you think of Oberlin? Do you like it here?
AR: Well, I really didn’t know what to except. It is a curious place. Even the name didn’t say anything to me, but then I found out that the city is into a lot of music and that the school is very famous. I thought, “Oh that’s great! The kids are into music!” So then I thought more something about the school, and I like it. I think it is good that so many people play music well, and then they are more likely to be into listening to good music.

OT: That’s definitely true. Speaking of that connection between listening and performance, how did you get into electronic music?
AR: I don’t remember any specific bands or DJs, but my brother was the one who got me into electronic music. He is ten years older than me. He listened to a lot of house music around 1986, and I got in touch with electronic music without even knowing that that was necessarily what it was.

OT: Do you want to talk a little about your record label?
AR: Oh, yes sure. I started the label in 2005 and since then, there have been 20 releases; 12 on vinyl only, but they are all digitalized by now as well. The plan was to only release my own music, but I liked the idea of using the label as a platform for fresh stuff that I like. I have been producing for ten years now, so it was the next step. I then released my own full-length album with my own label.

OT: That full length includes one of the most recognizable remixes of this year: your remix of Feist’s “My Moon My Man,” which is just one of many remixes you have done. Do you have a personal favorite?
AR: Yes, I really love the Kaiser Chiefs remix I did. It was released in June 2005, and then on CD in September 2005. Originally, the song was totally different. It was super fast. So I made it into new music. I also really have a passion for Depeche Mode, so I like that remix I did. With the Cut Copy remix, I didn’t like the original, and I don’t remix songs that I don’t like. But the verses were great, even though the chorus was horrible. So I made a complete new music, and I finished it in two days.

OT: Wow. Are you working on any collaborations right now?
AR: Yes. I have already done one remix of Gonzales, but now I am doing another one. I also just saw The Faint yesterday, and we are collaborating on a track called “Wet Floor,” which you can expect to be out in maybe September.

OT: That’s so exciting! Well, thank you so much for coming here and for the awesome show.
AR: Yes! Nice to be here!

Alex Ridha then departed in his swanky limo, leaving us electroheads and midterm slackers with a successful night. As Xavier of Justice puts it, “Boys Noize makes the words 'German,' 'techno,' and 'DJ' sound cool again.”

For those of you who didn't attend the show, this is why you should have:

Feist - "My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)" mp3
Boys Noize - "& Down" mp3

Busting WOBC Myths Easier than You Think

When I was a prospie, my host told me to stay away from the college radio station, WOBC. According to her, it was impossible to attain a show, and once you accomplished this feat, you were destined to confine yourself to a world of pretension, beyond-skinny jeans, ‘80s-style windbreakers, and a computer bogged down with a couple hundred gigabytes of music no one has heard of. Needless to say, I was not about to let one strikingly superficial evaluation of WOBC to abolish the dreams I had had of hosting a college radio show since listening to decades of college radio in my hometown. Admittedly, the irresistible combination of curiosity and competition drove me to attend the first all-station meeting in September.

I confess that I was intimidated, but for different reasons than I had anticipated. By talking to some of the DJs around me, I realized that these were not image-obsessed elitists with holier-than-thou tastes in music, despite certain aesthetic patterns. Each station member had a different talent or set of interests to benefit WOBC. Some had special training in contemporary classical music, some had DJ-ed at clubs or at parties, some had graphic arts experience to help with WOBC promotions, some had engineering experience…I could go on for hours. I knew then that I was sitting amongst some of the most dedicated and talented students at Oberlin, all cooperating to maintain the second largest student-run organization on campus.

I could tell it was a competitive environment, but I could respect and understand the source. Who can spin the coolest retro album or the hottest new track first? Who can land the prime time spots? Will you even get your show idea approved? These are prime subjects for contention, if you ask me. The constant struggle to have the best show possible is what makes a radio station tick.

The caliber of quality programming is almost impossible to contest. True: sometimes I turn on the radio and promptly regret the decision based on my own personal tastes (especially during Wednesday afternoons with Bluegrass Irwin). However, the concept behind the station is that of a freeform radio. This means that programming spans literally every genre. Thanks to the easy-to-navigate website, you can find show descriptions for all the shows matching your genre preferences.

It is true that most of the music played on WOBC is rather atypical of what is on your typical college radio station. A lot of it is independently released, local, in acquired taste, or simply obscure. For this reason, some students avoid listening to WOBC altogether. However, popular music is not completely ignored on WOBC; it is just approached in a different way. Instead of repeating what the media continuously nails into our eardrums, DJs are conscious to educate the listeners about new bands or albums that may correlate to their respective taste. In addition, this spring features a diverse conglomeration of talk and public affairs shows, spanning from sports news to sex advice to political discourse.

There is always the issue of social perspective. WOBC has become, to many, synonymous with raucous dance parties complete with 40 oz bottles of beer, live bands and DJs, and marathon-type dancing (who knew you could get your groove on for hours while wearing such tight pants?). Sure – I would be remiss to not discuss the hipster stereotype. The fashionable nihilism combined with ersatz retrospective, pseudo-ridiculously ironic clothing turns off a substantial percentage of campus. This in and of itself prevents some from listening.

Despite the fact that my show is from four to six in the morning on Fridays this semester, I feel by no means disconnected from the station. In fact, I feel an immense sense of accomplishment being a part of this establishment. Walking to and from the station in the middle of the night is extremely surreal. I always look forward to my hours spinning albums in the on-air studio, knowing that there are at least a few people appreciating it. There is a pristine comfort triggered by the Oberlin campus late at night. Although I have hopes of a better time slot next year, I am sure that I will look back fondly on this "right of passage" first-year show.

Needless to say, there are a lot of myths surrounding WOBC. Most are unfair, some are ridiculous, and although a few of the social stereotypes are indeed perpetuated, the station is a warm and welcoming place for people who love music. And what is Oberlin if not that?

For a joyous sonic voyage, listen to the webcast.

Oberlin Student Helps Refugees in Belgium for Winter Term Project

European adventures could bring about images of exotic food, beautiful architecture, and a nightlife to die for, but some Oberlin students have managed to explore this side of the “Eurotrip” while simultaneously helping those in need. I sat down with Oberlin student Kelly Roberts for a one-on-one about her trip abroad for winter term studies.

The Oberlin Tritone: What exactly did you do for your winter term project?
KR: I went to Belgium with another five Oberlin students to volunteer at a refugee center called Fedasil.

OT: Why did you decide to do this?
KR: I thought it would be a good world experience for me. I wanted to learn about others’ stories and struggles. Some of the other students wanted to do it to improve their French or because Belgium had the foreign appeal. There was one girl who had worked with refugees before in America and wanted more experience with that.

OT: And where exactly in Belgium did this take place?
KR: A small town called Rixensart, which turns out to be the wealthiest village in Belgium, even though it didn’t exactly feel wealthy in the way we have come to view such things in America.

OT: Was it a fun town?
KR: It actually totally sucked. It was beautiful, with cobblestone streets, but there were only about two things to do outside of the refugee center, where we lived. One was The Chalet – a tiny, crowded bar. The other was The Video Factory, which is a movie rental place where they would sell snacks. The snack food was funny! Cool Ranch Doritos were called “Cool American” and popcorn bags had Uncle Sam on them.

OT: That is funny! What other cultural differences did you detect while you were there?
KR: Well, it seems like the Oberlin fashion is kind of based on that of European style. Music in Belgium was different than the popular music here. On the radio, you’d hear American top 40 from years ago, and if you went out, there was a lot of techno. There’s even a dance style called “techtronique,” which looks like marshal arts and rave dancing combined. It’s interesting that all their popular music is in English.

OT: Did you find your experience to be rewarding?
KR: It was different than I expected. I realized that people are all basically the same. We all want happiness and safety. I felt that our presence was valued, especially since we were new faces in the center. Sometimes it seemed like we were pretty scandalous because we would hang out with the men, playing pool and talking. There were gender divisions we didn’t expect. Also, I wore PJ’s one day, and got asked if America was really that casual!

OT: Would you recommend this to other Oberlin students?
KR: Yes, but with some changes. There needs to be more communication and understanding of what the project is before embarking on it. It was poorly organized. I wouldn’t do it again, because I felt that our roles were not clearly defined and we sometimes felt useless. We would have liked more responsibility than we actually had.

Music Journalism's Place in this Techno-Essentialist Society

Authority seems to poke its ugly head into almost everything, including the dictation of what music we should and should not listen to. If I walked up to a randomly selected American, I doubt that me telling them, “You know, the newest Elliott Smith compilation is the pinnacle of songwriting” would not invoke some sort of interrogation concerning the path of indie folk rock in the American Northwest. After all, what authority do I have to make such a bold statement? In a world where musical preference can segregate people and dictate one’s overall legitimacy in (let’s face it) many situations, the common practice of music journalism is, naturally enough, a sensitive subject. The concept of who has authority and who does not is constantly becoming redefined, spanning back to the late 18th century.

Within early music reviews, technical language and unabashed snobbery was more than commonplace, as were biased statements concerning the overall validity of a piece of music. During the Romantic era (1790-1914) one music review could seal the fate of a composer or musical composition. One example jumps to mind, in which a criticism by César Cui of the S. Petersburg News on March 16, 1897 basically gave Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony the death sentence, stating that “If there were a conservatory in Hell, and if one of its talented students was to compose a symphony based on the story of the Seven Plagues of Egypt, and if he had written one similar to Rachmaninoff’s, he would have brilliantly accomplished his task and would have delighted in the habitants of Hell." This review single-handedly discredited Rachmaninoff to such a degree that, for three years, he composed absolutely nothing and spent the majority of his time receiving hypnotherapy and contemplating various other life paths. Of course, this was only a stage in Rachmaninoff’s prolific and successful career, but the fact that this review had such a long-standing and profound impact on his compositional process and upon the piece of music itself says volumes about the music reviewer’s position of power during this period of time.

This sort of unconditional trust placed in the media disappeared when magazines such as Creem started writing music reviews in the late 1960’s. They did many of the same things, including one-sided opinions on albums and their place within the rock genre, but also included pop culture and image-based stories. This was, of course, because of the new arts of album art, music videos, artistic photography, and the establishment of the rock star as a sex icon. As such, the actual review takes up a subordinate position in the magazine’s layout. In the case of the August 1976 review of the self-titled Ramones album, a stage scene is presented with dramatic lighting and a silhouetted rioting crowd thrashing around and trying to clamor up to the stage, and the text itself is both concise and in minimal white print. A stylistic shift in the art of music writing is easily demonstrated within this passage from the same article:

Ramones: four guys, 14 great two-minute songs, three great chords. Proficiency, poetry, taste, Art have nothing to do with the Ramones. Nor do blues, improvisatory solos or pedal steel. White, American rock ‘n’ roll is what they practice and in this sense the Romanes are the latest speed-crazed cruisers to drive chicken down that white line that extends straight from Eddie Cochran to Iggy to their own Bowery loft.

Not only is this text dramatically more casually constructed and unconcerned with fancy metaphorical comparison, it is also indicative of a major shift in the musical sphere. The genre dichotomies have more than surfaced at this point – they have modeled generations of countless subcultures, obsessed with musical hierarchy, image projection, and staying up-to-date with their respective genre of choice and the styles thereof. There is no longer one credible music review to rely on. There are now torrents of genre-specific magazines and news sources for each subculture and for each brand of rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop, jazz, classical music, country, blues…you name it, they have reviewed it….many times. Creem has a history of being both genre-specific (rock ‘n’ roll and punk) as well as location-specific, focusing on many Detroit-area bands. This array of option leaves the 20th century’s music enthusiast with endless choice, thus giving the reader increasing power over the media.

Any paper of this nature would, of course, be lax and ill-informed if Rolling Stone magazine went ignored. Despite a contested bias towards the 1960’s and 1970’s, this 40-year-old magazine is often seen as the apex of music journalism in America. The motto of Rolling Stone is: "It is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." As a result, American pop culture can be traced back through the articles, photos, and even covers of various issues of this revolutionary magazine. Even though rock ‘n’ roll is the most commonly discussed genre, the magazine has always attempted to balance the readership, including lengthy interviews and articles about rap artists, electronic acts, jazz musicians, politicians, authors, artists, photographers, and etc. In the 40th Anniversary issue, pop music icons such as Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Bruce Springstein, and Lenny Kravitz (among many others) were interviewed, not about their art, but about current events and the upcoming election. This sort of cross-genre, cross-topic journalism can capture the attention of a wide audience. This is both a good commercial concept as well as a response to the 21st century as an age of pop culture idolatry. Although this is not always healthy, it is respectable that a magazine find such seamless interviews with musicians and film stars who know the works of the world. Although the reviews are rather short (some only two or three sentences long) and biased, the newfangled and infinitely popular practice of awarding a certain number of “stars” (out of a possible five) allows the reader to pick and choose which reviews to read or glance over during a quick read of the magazine.

Because reviews have started getting shorter and the genre-specific (and sometimes even artist-specific) followings have anything but decreased, there is a need for detail and variety in the modern age. I went to www.rollingstone.com to see what I could find to supplement the magazine. As expected, longer reviews are available, as are videos, song clips, many photos, and artist backgrounds. This can be used in addition to or instead of the magazine itself. Magazine websites have become useful for multi-media presentations of magazine content, but in today’s curious and multi-faceted world, one website cannot be trusted alone.

Pitchfork Media is transforming the very idea of the music review. When you have a favorite band or extremely specific genre interest, why wait for the next issue of your favorite magazine to see a review? Pitchfork allows the reader to search for any album by any artist, whether new or not - and the “new” is really new, sometimes available before the CD has even been officially titled, or as the tracks become illegally available online. Unlike music magazines, Pitchfork accepts article applications from anyone. Each article gets reviewed by committees in the Brooklyn office, and then if it passes through that system, the article is uploaded to the constantly updated website. This gives the articles a less biased and more diverse tone, but (as with any writing – this paper included!) the articles are always written by those with very specific tastes and opinions. The author then provides a “star” rating, which is then affirmed or contested by online readers who rate the article as well as the CD or single track. The instant gratification involved in such a reading experience has led those in the music industry to question the life expectancy of music magazines. In addition, iTunes now allows users to rate music on the Music Store. The reviews are written rather haphazardly by any user who wishes to write a review, so they are not exactly reliable in any sense of the word. However, I challenge you to find someone who has completely neglected the reviews on iTunes before purchasing an album.

Despite the new developments in technology and their roles in the art of music journalism, the institution of the music magazine has a historical place in the scope of modern music. Collections of prominent articles have been published in mass quantities, such as Barney Hoskyns’ 40 Years of Classic Rock Journalism: The Sound and the Fury, published in 2003 and containing articles about such monumental artists as Morrissey, Abba, Madonna, and Kurt Cobain. This phenomenon coincides with the music historians’ obsession with the place of the music critic starting in the Romantic era. Whether or not music magazines keep tech-savvy audiences captive, music journalism will never die out. In fact, in a world where musical preference defines “cool” for 20-somethings everywhere, music journalism has never been in such high demand.

Death to False Metal: Genghis Tron Conquers the 'Sco

As one of the people on campus who wear the anonymously deemed “silly Genghis Tron hoodies” (Oberlin Confessional post), I had been the recipient of generally everyone’s personal outlook on their Friday, March 7^th show here at the ‘Sco. Some students speculated that an electronic, experimental, metal band would be hard-pressed to put on a genuinely musical live show. Some were curious about the buzz surrounding this band on campus; probably as a result of last year’s performance, described by the band members themselves to be the second craziest show they have ever played. Some were intrigued by GT but were primarily interested in seeing Oberlin’s own metal band, Goatsucker perform. Costing only four bucks and sporting a fairly diverse lineup, the show was more than worth checking out for anyone who had ever wondered what the hell Genghis Tron was.

Boston-based rock band, Clouds, kicked off the show with a lackluster performance of a type of music difficult to put one’s finger on. Garage rock sensibilities were overwrought with a pop punk stage presence and, dare I say, “emo” backwash. The crowd was hesitant to react in any way to the music, until urged closer to the stage by both the band and the group of loyal headbangers from the Metal Exco. By the end of their set, the ‘Sco was filling up and excitement for Goatsucker was weighing heavy in the air. Senior Ian Page (vocals) cut a striking image, as breakdown after solid, brutal breakdown fueled the ever-growing mosh pit. With newly recorded material under their belt, Goatsucker sounded confident and severe, priming the audience for the highly anticipated headliner.

“Where’s your drummer?” screamed a belligerent fan, garnering sidelong glances from the three-piece band now based in Philadelphia. Random snippets of loud conversation were filtering through the decently sized crowd. It was easy to see who the loyal fans were, standing in the front and listening to the sound check intently, figuring out what the set list would be. Mookie Singerman (vocals) paced calmly, wearing pale beige aviators and sporting an impressive beard. Hamilton Jordan (guitar & drum programming) and Michael Sochynsky (keyboards & drum programming) prepared intently, making sure the drum parts they meticulously polished for their newest full-length release, Board Up the House (Relapse Records, Feb. ’08), sounded just the way they had planned.

And then there came a familiar metronomic clicking, followed by the metallically synthesized three-note riff announcing the title track off of the new album. The crowd braced themselves as multicolored, vertical, flashing lights pulsated along with the music. The introduction slammed straight into heavy, technical grindcore with Singerman’s crisp screams detailing the horror story of two people trapped in a house – a fear of Singerman’s and running theme throughout the new album. The energy was undeniably intense, students mercilessly pushing and thrashing along with the relentless drive of the music. However, during the industrial, IDM, and dance-inspired interludes, the audience regrouped and followed the grooves set up by Sochynsky. A highlight of the concert came with a few moments of lyricism, in which I could see devoted fans singing together with their eyes fixed on Singerman, “Things don’t look good” before submerging themselves once again into the sonic mayhem.

As GT closed with a kick-ass performance of track off of the 2006 release, Dead Mountain Mouth, entitled “Asleep on the Forest Floor,” I looked through the bright, blinking lights and saw an assembly of people with usually variant taste in music. However, they were all immersed in this continuously escalating blend of metal and electronic music. The show ended strongly, with all of the skeptics nodding their heads at me as if to affirm Genghis Tron’s legitimacy. I have yet to run into anyone who did not have the wind knocked out of them by the sheer force and finesse of this performance…unless you count Sochynsky who grumbled that the show was “really loud. Maybe too loud.”

I'm not complaining.


Genghis Tron - "Arms" mp3