Thursday, April 3, 2014 The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University Year XLIV. Volume LXXXVI. Issue XXXIX
www.dailyfreepress.com
Special music issue
The Daily Free Press
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • A peek inside Allston Rock City Hall, p. 2 • FACE, Warren sandwich king, takes the rap world, p. 2 • BU bands begin to expand off campus, p. 4 • Boston Calling returns for third round, p.5 • The sweet taste of Allston Pudding, p. 5 • Opinions, reviews, shows and more! p. 6-8
MARISA BENJAMIN/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
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Thursday, april 3, 2014
New music showcase room in works at Studio 52 Brooke Jackson-Glidden
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Muse Staff
ick Grieco has always been a musician. Growing up in a musical family in Farmington, Conn., he had a cello in his hands at age 4 and a passion for punk rock by his teenage years. Music has always been the plan, but how it manifested itself changed with time and hiccups. “It’s almost something I take for granted,” Grieco said, shaking his head. A Berkeley College dropout, producer and guitarist for punkrock band The Field Effect, former producer with So I Heard House of Music and notable face around the Boston music community, Grieco is in a long-term, committed relationship with rock ‘n’ roll. And with his latest project, the showcase room Allston Rock City Hall at Studio 52, he’s keeping the spice alive — even through the speed bumps. Allston Rock City Hall was thrown into Grieco’s lap after he developed a relationship with Studio 52, a practice space for artists within the Allston community. Studio 52 looms large, cold concrete halls lined with band posters and stickers. At the entrance and through a hallway or two hides ARCH, an intimate, unassuming room with glass bottle light fixtures encasing curling lights, pieces by local artists lining the walls, a bar in the corner and a stage. The room is quiet, but it won’t stay that way — Grieco has big plans for the venue.
“I want it to kind of be a space where we can create a really unique experience,” Grieco said. “I want it to be a showcase room for national acts. I am very much focusing on the local scene, but ... I want there to be a sort of exclusivity to the room, so that when there’s a VIP, RSVP-only event that’s going on with some big, national act, we can automatically know we can fill a room, and then the next day have four acts from around the corner play here. I want a balance. I want the room to basically do anything, and I designed it to be flexible in that sense.” The bar in the corner is empty — intentional, said Grieco, although ARCH isn’t going to stay dry. He said he hopes to throw BYOB shows in the future, where guests can check bottles of alcohol. That way, patrons can visit the bar throughout the night without spending the classically inflated price of venue drinks. ARCH will also host sponsored events by local breweries, with free tastings accompanied by music and art. Allston Rock City Hall was supposed to open its doors to the public Saturday, for a nine-artist gallery opening and after party with local bands and beer and liquor tastings. The event was set to start at 4 p.m., until a complication involving permits shut it down before it even began. Grieco is working to solve the issue and reschedule the grand open-
ALEX HENSEL/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
ARCH manager Nick Grieco (with bandana) talks with guests at the Allston Rock City Hall gallery opening Saturday before it was shut down.
ing and is far from discouraged by the setback. In fact, a setback helped him land the ARCH management gig in the first place. “A couple summers ago, I had a couple of really [expletive] roommates who decided to not pay rent for four months, and I had no idea,” Grieco said. “So the 48-hour eviction notice landed on my doorstep and kind of uprooted everything in my life. ... At the same time, [The Field Effect] was going full-throt-
tle and I had every reason to be in Boston. I had no intention of leaving, but I did have to temporarily go back to Connecticut, which was really hard because I never want to live there ever again.” Grieco started commuting between Studio 52, where his band rehearses, and Connecticut. He was in “crisis” when he decided to ask the director of operations, Glenn Michael, if he could help around the space, hoping to
make some money to move back to Boston. He started working at the front desk and developed a relationship with Michael, until he finally offered Grieco the chance to manage Allston Rock City Hall. “Like the space, when you have a limitation it allows you to create something new and refreshing,” Grieco said. “... I really have put a lot of work into creating this entity here that I really want to stick around here and see this through.”
A Message in the Music:
Warren Dining sandwich station king rules the rap game on the side
J
ohn Howard-Devoe. Simply by name, you may not recognize him. But perhaps his alter ego, “John the Sandwich Guy,” rings a bell. You know, the one who loves tweeting about Warren’s cranberry chicken salad special? Yeah, that guy! But Howard-Devoe makes more than just sandwiches for the Boston University masses at Warren Towers’ dining hall. The 38-year-old Boston native also makes his own music, a passion that has driven him to pursue his hip-hop dreams for more than 25 years. In comparison to many modernday musicians, Howard-Devoe’s tracks are what he considers “just something different” and “a change of vocabulary.” And, unlike much of today’s negatively infused “gangsta rap,” Howard-Devoe’s hip-hop contains positive and motivational messages that he hopes will inspire young people to better themselves and pursue their passions. “There’s so much in the music that I’m saying. I know it can help other people. I know it can,” said Howard-Devoe in an interview with The Daily Free Press. He said he wants his music to reach kids primarily of middle school and high school ages. “So that’s what I’m hoping for. When people have a bad day they can play [my] songs and go ‘You know, yeah — I can get through this test today.’ For me personally, I would love for somebody to just get the message. If I could get that, I’ll feel blessed.” Howard-Devoe said his musical
Christina Janansky Muse Staff pursuits began in 1987 when he and a group of childhood friends began recording instrumental beats and freestyling over them. “We never really did it to become famous or anything. It was just a hobby,” he said. “We were just helping each other out. It was kind of like a little round table kind of thing.” Inspired by rapper KRS-One — Howard-Devoe’s biggest musical role model of both past and present, and whom he considers to be “music, 100 percent” — HowardDevoe’s hobby quickly transformed into a potential career path, and he began performing as a solo MC in and around Boston. At one point his networking even led him to the West Coast, after someone heard his track “Brothers and Sisters” and flew him out to Los Angeles. “It opened doors. Nothing too big, but it was enough for me,” Howard-Devoe said. For him, music was a message more than it was a means for making money. “As long as I knew that I could touch 10 to 20 people — and I was doing more than that — I was like, ‘Wow, this is kind of cool.’” Howard-Devoe continued to dedicate his undivided attention to his career in music until 2001, when his daughter Jonnai was born and he turned his focus to a new kind of job: being a father. “That’s when I put the career on hold because you have to spend 24/7, seven days a week with the music,” he said. “You can’t take no breaks. It’s like when you guys have midterms; you can’t slack off.”
To support his daughter, Howard-Devoe said he began looking toward paying career paths outside of hip-hop. With encouragement from his stepfather, who also works at BU, Howard-Devoe applied for a position in the University’s dining services. “I filled out an application and that was it. I’m here,” he said, laughing. “And I love everything that I do now. I love making sandwiches! I can’t believe it.” Since coming to Warren Towers — which he claims is the “#1 dining hall” — Howard-Devoe’s personal life, as well as his musical career, have both undergone major changes. In the past year alone he has acquired a manager, whom he met at this year’s Beanpot, and has gotten married. (“Shout out to my babe!”) With a new manager, HowardDevoe said that he would continue to write, record and release music through his SoundCloud account, where he currently has three original songs posted with another one to come in the upcoming weeks. He hopes the meaning behind his newer music will be powerful enough to reach and inspire a broader audience. “Everybody wants money, but I’ve been writing for so long and I have so much material — I really just want to get the message out there,” he said. “You can get your word out and you can actually get a message out to people through music. I didn’t know it was going to be this powerful.” Looking toward the future, Howard-Devoe said he also plans
to create a video for “Brothers and Sisters,” which will perhaps include an appearance from his daughter. He also hopes to speak and inspire at youth centers in the area, and publish written works, including a short book of rhymes that readers can use as a “picker-upper.” But for now, Howard-Devoe said his biggest hopes for the future lay
right here on BU’s campus. “I have a bright future here,” he said. “I don’t want to do nothing to where I have to leave this.” To listen to music by John Howard-Devoe, aka FACE, visit his SoundCloud account “TheOfficialFACE” or on Facebook at Facebook.com/OfficialFACE2FACE.
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Thursday, april 3, 2014
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BU Hip Hop: New EP in the works Brandon Kesselly
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Muse Staff
t has been a long time coming for Boston University Hip-Hop. Back in 2012, the group was first meeting in classrooms to discuss hip-hop. Now, two years later, the group has grown into a force on campus with more events and a second mixtape on the way. Chances are that if you’ve been walking past the George Sherman Union week-byweek, you have noticed that, on Wednesday evenings, a small congregation of young men and women are circled in front of the building. Some brave souls have approached this seemingly terrifying circle, astonished by the way in which the people moved their heads and bodies in unison. In the center lay a set of speakers blasting loud, bass-heavy instrumentals as members of this circle each listened to each other chant rhythmically, interweaving their speech with different rhyme schemes. In short, these brave souls were drawn into BU Hip-Hop’s weekly “cypher” — essentially a “freestyle circle,” which have been making major moves this past semester. On Jan. 20, BU Hip-Hop released its debut mixtape, BUHH Vol. 1: The ILL RHETTORIC accompanied by two singles. The first is “Sitting at the Kitchen Table” by Sibes, E da Buddha, Forno and Blair. The second, “BOuNCe” by Yung Homie, K4BLE, Tony Jamm and JT the Professor. It features 16 tracks, more than 20 rappers and half a dozen producers from all over the BU community. That same day, the student group also took the stage at Metcalf Hall for a joint performance with the Roxbury Youth Orchestra for the university’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. Yet music has been just one part of the club’s activities this past semester. Aside from planning its two mixtapes, BU HipHop has been hard at work promoting what they have dubbed the “Four Pillars of Hip-Hop.” This is an effort that they hope will keep the culture and spirit of hip-hop alive on campus long after the founding members graduate. “DJing, street art, MCing, and b-boying are the four major pillars we are delving into this semester,” explained Blair Lineham, club president, co-founder and School of Management senior. “Freestyling is just one of the things we do, so we wanted to shatter some misconceptions and really take a look at the entirety of our club’s central theme: hiphop.” KaPo Lam, the club’s project leader and co-founder, sees more value in the Four Pillars initiative than simply keeping the club active. “You can express yourself freely and originally with each pillar,” the SMG senior said. “As no one rapper raps the same as each other, no b-boy does it the
same, no street artist and no DJs. They allow everyone to create their own style, their own flavor, and allows them to flourish without restraining them with rules.” The group kicked off its Pillar Series on Feb. 22 with a bboy workshop and panel. xcel of Problemz Kru moderated a discussion panel while three students — Carl Zhang or “Zhango,” a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences senior, of the Inglorious Basterdz; Robinson Le or “Conan,” a University of Phoenix student, of WZKZ; and Alejandro Ramon, a Northeastern University junior — lead the workshop and taught attendants some essential breakdancing basics. In an event on March 18 cohosted with BU’s Entrepreneurship Club, Rap Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam and executive editor of News Genius Liz Fosslien gave a presentation on the past, present and future of the two websites. On March 27, the group teamed up with Teach for America to host a screening of the documentary Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme. An impressive display of lyrical acumen, ferocity and braggadocio, Freestyle featured videos from veterans like Supernatural, PackFM, The Last Poets, and The Lyricist Lounge, as well as high profile videos from the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Mos Def, Muhammad Ali and John Coltrane. Kevin Fitzgerald, the film’s director, hosted a discussion panel afterward and Brooklyn rapper PackFM led the club members in a highly anticipated cypher. The next event will be a Street Art Immersion on April 4 [Friday?], followed by a DJ panel moderated by Dean Kenneth Elmore at the Paradise Rock Club on April 7 [Monday?]. The Pillar Series will conclude with the group’s new mixtape, BUHH Vol. 2. As with The ILL RHETTORIC, Vol. 2 was recorded locally in dorm rooms, Allston houses and local Boston studio The Record Company. “There was a unanimous desire to step our game up after hearing each others’ songs on the first mixtape,” Lineham said of the project. “Everyone played into the friendly competition of wanting to have the best verse. We also had more time to craft our songs, so it will feel more thought out. In addition, this project will feature many more people than the first, which will definitely diversify the end sound.” Vol. 2 will feature 20 tracks, 30 rappers and 13 producers. One of the artists and sound engineer Jordan Pories, a freshman in the College of Communication, has high expectations for the upcoming mixtape. “Everyone is stepping their game up,” he said. “It is going to be an incredible release.” BUHH Vol. 2 hits the airwaves late April.
MILK: Good for your musical health, experts say Joe Incollingo Muse Staff
ASHLYN EDWARDS/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
The band Milk, comprised of BU students and graduates, poses for a portrait. The band recently performed at Dean Kenneth Elmore’s home.
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n certain still nights some years ago, Jesse Galkowski and Matt Brady would haul instruments up to the fourth floor of the College of Arts and Sciences for some much-needed escape. “He lived on Bay State, so we’d have those yellow bins and roll our stuff up and up the elevator,” says Brady, a CAS senior. “And so we could play, and all the janitors would be cool with it.” “They were good guys,” adds Galkowski, a College of Communication graduate, from behind his patchwork drum kit. Galkowski (drums) and Brady (guitar and vocals), along with Luke Savoca (bass guitar) and Sam Taber (keyboards), seem to welcome a chance to reminisce before buckling down for a Friday afternoon band practice in Savoca’s fairy-lit Brookline basement.
Collectively titled Milk, they’re only a few weeks away from releasing their first full-length album, Et in Arcadia. The title, Brady explains, comes from a Latin memento mori, or reminder of death: “Et in Arcadia ego.” Even in Paradise, there am I. “Even in a perfect place, bad [expletive]’s happening,” he says. If it is, though, they don’t seem too phased right now. They squeeze a couple of songs in before the interview and after a while they forget that anyone’s watching, dissolving into themselves with contagious chemistry. Savoca and Taber — both CAS graduates — eventually joined in on the fourth floor concerts, and the band settled on calling themselves Milk “once [they] were all sort of congealed as this unit,” both personally and musically. “You can sense where peo-
ple come from,” Brady says, and Galkowski explains. “Honky Tonk blues,” he begins, pointing to Taber. “Musical theater,” he continues, pointing to Savoca. “Death metal,” he concludes, pointing to himself. “I like funk,” Savoca interrupts. All four laugh. In all seriousness, Brady describes Milk’s music as “hard, weird blues,” but obviously isn’t thrilled to distill it to that much. Whatever it is, it hits hard, due in no small part to the band’s passion for what they’re doing. “It’s definitely one of the most ambitious full-length records for an unsigned band that I’ve heard,” Galkowski says of the album. “And that’s a lot to say, but I actually think it’s true, because the range of what we’re trying to do, without any guidance from a record label or anyone … We’re biting off a lot with this.” Brady agrees: “I think we’re accomplishing a lot with it, too,” he adds. Then again, there’s always that risk. Galkowski explained it more a little bit before practice. The summer after his freshman year, before Milk came together, he started a solo project, putting to work his production skills from film classes, his selftaught instrumental talent and his nagging need to create something new. Easy Elliot, as he dubbed it, quickly became as much an escape as it was an experiment. “I was thinking about the movie E.T., that I love, that I used to watch
daily with my younger sister, and I was convinced that one of the lines the mom said when Elliott finds the alien in his room and he was freaking out was ‘Easy, Elliott!’” he says with a grin. “I watched the movie again. She never says that. “My goal became to record one album every year, and freshman year I spent all summer recording it, down on the Cape, and then I spent the whole year mixing it, layering vocals in my dorm room in my headphones at night,” he recalls, sitting on his bed in his Allston apartment. His shelves are packed with worn books and Nintendo 64 cartridges, while classic American names populate his nightstand: Ayn Rand, Cormac McCarthy, Jim Beam. Cutouts of the Beatles from Abbey Road cross his headboard. His desk, a cluster of keyboards surrounded by wall-mounted guitars and an electronic drum kit, looks like a headquarters of sorts. Galkowski gives it a proud once-over and continues his story. “It was kind of my escape,” he says. “I found myself listening as I was walking to class to all the songs I was working on, all the time in my headphones, which I kind of was embarrassed by. ‘Oh what are you listening to?’ ‘Myself,’” he jokes. “But I’m working on something and I got to figure out how to make that snare drum pop the way I want it to.” Four years later, he admits he’s ready to retire the name and put what he learned into Milk. Having an outlet like that just isn’t something he’s about to give up entirely.
“I’m putting everything else off,” he says. “The pressure, finding a job after graduation really bummed me out. All summer, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what did I just do? I could have bought a house for all this student debt I have now.’ But, you got to remember that you are an individual, and you have a vision that no one else has, and it’s kind of up to you to take that seriously and make it worth something to other people.” The others share this philosophy that the music has too much potential to just abandon for something safer. “Sometimes we get overwhelmed. Like, you look in the Boston Compass at the shows, and just the centerfold is just fine print shows, and it’s like, how do you make a name for yourself with all these people?” says Brady. For now, it doesn’t matter. “I don’t get any satisfaction from anything else the way I do this, and that’s why I do it. On a basic level, that’s the escape. Like, actually playing and sounding good is the escape from worrying about all this [expletive] that goes with it,” says Taber. “Obviously the majority of our work is yet to be done,” says Brady. “Overwhelmingly so. I feel like we’re on the right path.” With that, they start another song – something slower this time. Within seconds, they’re gone again. Et in Arcadia, will be available this month at milkband.bandcamp. com. Easy Elliot’s newest album, Il N’y a Pas de Quoi, is currently available at easyelliot.bandcamp.com.
BOSTON SOUND: From shower-singing to single-dropping: Ryan Aderréy perfects craft
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n the age of YouTube stardom, TV talent show fame and auto-tune, more musicians are achieving commercial success without having the tools or knowhow that was a requirement in the industry as little as 10 or 20 years ago. Such was the case with the now-infamous Rebecca Black: She didn’t have much in the way of natural talent, and her auto-tuned disaster “Friday” will live in the not-so-flattering portion of musical history. Much like Black, former Boston University student and 25-year-old musician Ryan Aderréy was, initially, not much of a singer when he started out. “Three years ago, I couldn’t sing other than in the shower or in the car, to be completely honest with you,” he laughed in a phone interview. Unlike Black, however, Aderréy has talent — both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes — that he is willing to nurture and hone to become a better musician. How else could he have gone from being unable to sing to having his single, “A Miracle, My Love,” charting in 20 different Top 40 stations across the country? “I kind of got started with [music] as a hobby when I was a sophomore in high school,” he said. “A friend of mine ... got me starting making electronic instrumentals. So I did the production thing for a good 10 to 12 years. It was just a hobby, nothing serious. And then I decided that I wanted to try vocals the last
two or three years and take it to the next level.” In fact, the concept of singing and producing music wasn’t even a serious consideration for Aderréy until these past few years. A chance encounter with vocal coach Anita Wilson in his hometown of Miami was enough to get him thinking about it as a possibility. “I was in Miami and I was in the presence of one of the best vocal coaches in the industry and she heard me sing, just as a joke, and she was like, ‘If you get with me and you work on this seven days a week for however long, I can really mold you and turn you into something,’” he said. “So that’s exactly what I did. For two years, I was with her seven days a week really learning how to sing and fine tuning everything.” It was more than just a vocal coach, however, that pushed Aderréy from behind the scenes to center stage. He was exposed to his parents’ music tastes as a child, including “some of the greats” like Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Jackson Browne. But his familial ties to music ran even deeper. “My father has written for Apple Records as a songwriter ... and my grandfather was a trumpet player for Tony Bennett and my mom was a background singer,” Aderréy said. “It was some big shoes to live to fill, but it was something that I really wanted to do because it was just such a rich history and a big part of my family … I think it was always in the back of my mind. I always
Hannah Landers Muse Staff
had a real passion for music, a real love for it even when it wasn’t my main focus.” And for a while, it wasn’t. After his first semester at BU, Aderréy took a three-year leave of absence to play for OmniWorld, a Dutch soccer club. He said his time on the team made it easier for him to go from the privacy of producing to the public world of performance. “When I was overseas I was lucky enough to play in front of a lot of people. It’s always something I enjoy to do,” he said. “I get a rush whenever I’m up onstage in front of a crowd.” When he came back to the states, Aderréy used his time finishing up a degree in print journalism at BU to take advantage of all the things the campus and the city of Boston had to offer a budding musician, from piano classes to creative writing and poetry classes. “I think BU offers a lot of good musical courses,” he said. “They offer a lot of different things that you can take just to better your overall knowledge of music, and I think that the more knowledge you have, the better. I also think that there’s things like Bristol Recording Studios on Massachusetts Avenue. They offer engineering classes and vocal classes. “I think [it’s] just the culture of Boston, how there’s 250,000 students here and all the schools they’re in and just the music scene in general,” he continued. “There’s so many things around the city, not just at BU, where you can better
PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN ADERRÉY
Former BU student and musician Ryan Aderréy looks forward to big things.
yourself and just grow as a musician in general.” Growth is a big part of the process for Aderréy, regardless of how much time it takes. Though he started making music in high school, he repeatedly acknowledges that it’s only just taking off now. He just signed to a new label, through which he will be releasing his EP titled What If on April 8, and has recently performed at the Bitter End club in New York and in Boston’s Hard Rock Cafe. As of now these live performances have been small, acoustic shows, which Aderréy doesn’t mind. “It’s very intimate and [the crowd] is hanging on your every word and the stage is right there and they’re sitting on top of you,” he said. “It’s a really nice atmosphere and I enjoy it.”
Still, he looks forward to the days of amphitheaters packed with shrieking fans, a scenario that doesn’t seem too far off in the future, he said, judging by the speed with which things have been happening. As for the more recent future, Aderréy has signed on as an opener for some “really big tours” in April and is scheduled to head to Europe this summer. “But in five years, I could see myself playing in front of sold out venues and some major stadiums or arenas,” he said. “I think that’s definitely a reasonable expectation in five years.” This coming from a guy who, just three years ago could only be caught singing in the shower, it seems like a reasonable expectation indeed.
Boston calls back for 3rd music festival in single year
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hen you enter the transformed City Hall Plaza during the one of the bi-yearly weekends of the Boston Calling Music Festival, it is hard to imagine that, just two short hours ago, the square functioned as a part of the downtown cityscape of Boston. Complete with a monstrous stage, a collection of white-topped tents and, most importantly, acres of shrieking fans, the area is completely made over to create that special festival experience where every concertgoer, veteran and newbie feels at home. But you don’t have to kiss your mom goodbye or find someone to feed your cat for four days. Rather, festival-goers can jam to their favorite indie bands, rock a flower headband and even get a little sunburnt — all without having to sleep on the floor of a tent next to some guy named Jim who hasn’t showered in three days. While all of that definitely has its own appeal, festival lovers can find a whole new experience to love in Boston Calling. Whoever doubted whether Boston could have its own weekend-long music festival clearly underestimated the power of two dedicated guys — not to mention the entire city itself. Mike Snow, COO of Crash Line Productions and co-founder of Boston Calling, said the idea came to him and his partner, Brian Appel, a few years ago when they took note of all the music lovers in Boston. They saw the opportunity for Boston to have its own music festival and thought that City Hall Plaza would serve as the
Emily Hartwell Muse Staff
perfect outdoor venue. “My partner Brian and I had run a lot of events over the years for media companies here in Boston,” Snow said. “We had always wanted to fence in City Hall Plaza and use it as ticketed venue site. So him and I worked on it for about a year, working with the city to get all of our permitting. And then once we had that in place and our lease for the space, we formed our company and off we went.” Boston Calling has created a special brand for itself within the bevy of music festivals popping up all over the country, offering up the entire city of Boston as well as the fenced-off festival experience. “Ultimately, it is a festival, and we think the surrounding area makes it easy to get to,” Snow said. “You can go home — it ends kind of early. You can come in and out during the weekend. I think that when you look at the Boston Calling brand, what we’re doing on that end, that is certainly leading to people being responsive and enjoying the event.” The festival’s open invitation to attendees to explore what Boston has to offer has established the weekendlong concert as a positive force in the eyes of businesses and city officials. “What has really helped is everybody who comes down to the festival gets to enjoy this whole area,” Snow said. “People come over to Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall to eat before or after, people go to the bars, people go to all the shops. Our attendees seem to really have embraced com-
ing down here for the day, seeing a couple bands, walking around, checking out the Common, coming back and seeing another couple of bands.” This city-wide embrace of the festival along with the smaller capacity of the Plaza has allowed Crash Line Productions to put on two Boston Calling Music Festivals every year: one in May and one in September. The decision to give Boston two concert-filled weekends per year was initially just a test to see if the city could handle it. Obviously it could. “It was kind of an experiment to see if Boston could support basically six festival days a year,” Snow said. “But it’s a really cool music city. There are a lot of great venues in the city already.” Judging by the success of last year’s festival dates and the tickets already sold for the upcoming dates in May, the people of Boston and its surrounding areas are very interested and plenty willing to see their favorite bands in the sunny warmth of May and the September chill. The festival attracted roughly 20,000 people for each of the previous dates, with the May 2013 dates selling out right away and the September 2013 dates selling about 70 percent of tickets, said Snow. He expects this year’s festival to sell out as well. “The biggest thing has been every single person that has come to this festival,” he said. “When you see the amount of social media that comes out of that Plaza during the event, it’s really every one of those people
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE DISKIN
Boston Calling drew around 20,000 music fans to City Hall in September and May of 2013. Fans can return Boston’s call for a third time May 23-25.
who has really thrown our event individually. It’s just picture after picture and kind notes, and all that stuff that comes out of that Plaza. In this day and age, if you put on a good event and people have a good time, that’s the kind of stuff that really spreads your event like wildfire.” The social media has been one of the most defining aspects of Boston Calling. An overflow of positive reactions to the festival on social media has shown those who might not know about the festival what Boston Calling is all about and why they should come be a part of the fun. But Boston Calling has not only caught the attention of legions of music-loving New Englanders, but some pretty big-name bands as well. The dates last May boasted an eclectic group of musicians, from indiepop royalty fun. to brooding rockers The National to whistling folk hero
Andrew Bird. September’s dates saw the performance of swiftly rising hip-hopper Kendrick Lamar, pop songstress Bat for Lashes and preppy indie kings Vampire Weekend. A festival that can attract such huge artists and even larger crowds not only proves that Boston can handle a music festival of this caliber, but that Bostonians and other New Englanders support it, too. “As long as you get bands that a lot of people like,” Snow said, “I think there will always be strong attendance here, but clearly, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts are ready to have a music festival.” The third Boston Calling music festival kicks off Memorial Day weekend in City Hall Plaza with headliners Jack Johnson, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie and The Decemberists.
Local musicians, critics, managers rehabilitate Boston music scene to former glory with creativity, passion Snack Pack Chat: Allston Pudding creators serve local music coverage
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The inspiration was drawn from an episode of Full House,” said Perry Eaton, co-founder of hyper-local Boston music blog Allston Pudding. In the episode for which the blog is named, Uncle Jesse is opening the Smash Club downtown and hires DJ’s favorite band, Human Pudding, to play. “Human Pudding rocked so hard,” Eaton said. “The only song that they played was called ‘Human Pudding,’ and the only lyrics to that song was ‘Human pudding.’” And so Allston Pudding was named. Eaton met the two other founders of the blog while attending Boston University: Daniel Schiffer was his neighbor in Sleeper Hall during their freshman year in 2008. The two became close friends, and then met Jarrett Carr the next year when he moved onto their floor. All three Boston University students shared an interest in music and a lack of other extra curricular activities. By Schiffer and Eaton’s junior year, the friends had hit what Eaton calls a “mid-college crisis.” “None of us were really involved in too much other than going to a lot of concerts,” Eaton said. In order to put a constructive spin on their love of music, they came up with the idea to start a music blog focused on the Boston music scene. Starting off as a Tumblr page, the website was opened in 2010 with the goal of spreading the word about local bands.
Kaitlin Junod Muse Staff Prior to starting Allston Pudding, Eaton and Schiffer both had past experience working in the music industry. During the summer before their junior year, they worked with The Bowery Presents, a concert promotion and venue management organization. Schiffer, who is from Brooklyn, worked in the New York branch while Eaton, who grew up in Newton, worked at the Boston location. “We came back and we wanted an outlet to vent our musical feelings through,” Schiffer said. They also wanted to give a voice to the Boston community, Eaton added, especially to bands that were struggling financially and didn’t have places to practice. The three had no big expectations for the site, which was started as just a small experiment. “Our big thing was just being able to work with artists on a firsthand basis,” Eaton explained. “We really try to help them first before we help ourselves.” Yet their small experiment quickly grew in popularity. People began to recognize the name Allston Pudding even just a few months after the site’s launch. The blog seemed to spread by word of mouth, with friends and band members reposting and sharing Allston Pudding’s articles. “That was pretty cool because at that point, we hadn’t done anything special to push it out other than just writing it online and posting about it,” Schiffer said.
Schiffer claims that every so often, the Allston Pudding sweatshirt can be seen floating down Commonwealth Avenue. “In our prime, when we were seniors, walking from West Campus on a given day, you would see people wearing it,” Schiffer said. Once the blog gained some recognition, the next phase of its development was hiring more writers, photographers and videographers. The staff, run on an entirely volunteer basis, started out only among the three founders’ friends but gradually expanded over the past four years. Since its creation, the site has employed about 50 people. “One of the big hooks for being a writer is that you get to go to shows for free,” Schiffer said. “In the beginning, that’s what I was the most excited for. But then as you work with it, it kind of evolves as you get to help build the community.” Though the blog sometimes features an advertisement or two, all of the money generated is recycled back into the upkeep of the site, meaning the staff makes little, if anything, from all of their hard work. “It’s not about the money. It’s about building the community,” Schiffer said. “That’s why this isn’t my day job. If it were, then the site would probably be a lot different. It’s really about the community and giving back.” It makes sense that the website
isn’t a lucrative gold mine for the staff. According to Eaton, a lot of the bands that are featured on the site also don’t make a lot of money. Both the musicians and the Allston Pudding staffers share a common purpose: They do what they do because they love it. “It’s a labor of love, and we’ll continue to do it until the love is gone,” Eaton said. Fortunately, there is a lot to love about the Boston music scene. “A lot of the bands are really good, first of all,” Eaton said. “It’s not like it seems like work ever, to work with the bands. I think we’ve all kind of taken the stance that once it feels like work is when we’re going to stop working with Boston musicians, and I don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future.” Today, the staff is half-comprised of college students. Allston Pudding not only provides them with a chance to go to events for free, but also gives them a great opportunity to build their portfolios. For the staff writers who have already graduated from college, Allston Pudding is about finding a group of peers that have similar interests. “You lose that when you’re out of college,” Eaton said. “You’ll miss college, so some people will join the adult basketball league at the YMCA. And then there’s the people that join the Allston Pudding writing team.” Both Eaton and Schiffer have
day jobs apart from Allston Pudding, though they have the blog to thank for those opportunities. The Boston Globe, impressed with Allston Pudding, hired Eaton to help out with the development of a new website, BDCwire, which focuses on music, movies, theater and art in Boston. Schiffer, through a more complicated series of events, met the CEO of the company for which he currently works while trying to obtain free earplugs for the blog’s photography staff. Even though they are both busy with their jobs, they still devote time to Allston Pudding. Even if, in Eaton’s case, it means just being the site’s number one fan. “I would say that where I’m working with BDCwire now and what I was doing with Allston Pudding in the past shares the same collective mission to support artists,” Eaton said of his new job. “I would say my roles continues in that, just in another form and title.” Schiffer said though he cannot disclose any details now, they have big plans for the future of the site. Mainly, their goal is to keep spreading the word about Boston music to more and more people by adding new writers and contributors who are passionate about music. “The Boston music scene is a great one,” Eaton said. “Boston University students should feel very privileged to go to school and be able to be immersed in such creativity.”
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Opinion
Thursday, April 3, 2014
The Daily Free Press
The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University 44th year F Volume 86 F Issue 39
Sarah Kirkpatrick, Editor-in-Chief Brian Latimer, Managing Editor
Rachel Riley, Campus Editor
Alice Bazerghi, City Editor
Andrew Battifarano, Sports Editor
Trisha Thadani, Opinion Editor
Heather Goldin, Multimedia Editor
Maya Devereaux, Photo Editor
Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Features Editor
Emily Hartwell, Layout Editor
Shakti Rovner, Office Manager The Daily Free Press (ISSN 1094-7337) is published Monday through Thursday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing Co.,Inc., a nonprofit corporation operated by Boston University students. No content can be reproduced without the permission of Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2014 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
Gone, baby, gone Alex siber LEGEND HAS IT that an ancient figure — one signifying patience and time-defying skill — inlays a secretive, candlelit corridor within the crypts of Giza’s pyramids. Carved beside this mystical figure, hip-hop deity and mythological rapper Jay Electronica. Born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford in the crime-ridden Magnolia Projects of New Orleans, Electronica first sparked the interest of rap fans in 2007 when his sole official project, the 15 minute Act I: The Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), surfaced on Myspace. Wildly innovative in its drum-less approach, the sample and string-laden piece of continuous music cemented the emcee as the rapper to watch, if only because he was so much more than just a rapper. A storm struck hip-hop in 2009, the year that preceded Electronica’s signing with Jay Z’s Roc Nation record label and the year of exhibition. A pair of Just Blazeproduced singles, “Exhibit A” and “Exhibit C,” was released to an adoring audience. The latter soared to the Top 10 on the iTunes Hip-Hop charts, a formidable feat for a song of such substance that failed to conform to any and all trends in popular song structure. I remember eating lunch on my high school’s mezzanine, overlooking the cafeteria below when I first heard “Exhibit C.” I sat in shock, certain that I had just heard rap’s second coming of a true legend — the new millennium’s answer to the Nases and Jay Zs of the ‘90s. His cadence and depth attached weight to every syllable of every word, as if you should be thanking him for releasing a song to purchase and not the other way around. Jay Electronica possessed within an innate power of voice not seen prior to his arrival. Under Jay Z’s guiding wing, Electronica appeared destined to one day claim his rightful place as the ruler of hip-hop’s kingdom. I can recall searching, desperately, for any news of the cryptic artist’s
debut album. Nothing. But I thought little of the inconvenience; the single had just dropped that day. Now, five years later, that album has yet to see the light of day. Promises, official and unofficial songs, and a track list shared by Electronica himself over two years ago all failed to bring a proper full-length to the ears of hundreds of thousands of fans. Soon, any prospect of Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)’s release merely spurred chuckles or a hung head amongst rap circles. However, the fire that so evidently burns within Electronica — the fire that fuels his majestic pen and magical mind — burns, too, within his supporters, who he refers to as family. The past two weeks have seen the release of two brand new, high-profile songs: “better in tune with the infinite” featuring LaTonya Givens and a remix of Drake and Soulja Boy’s “We Made It” featuring Jay Z himself. Both records are superb. The latter’s string and piano arrangements back a philosophical artist on the brink of return, and the former’s bounce sees Jay Z at his most impressive in recent memory. In the time since their release, Electronica’s songs have together garnered more than one million views and streams. Online publications and flocks of fans have frantically jumped to cover the grand unveilings of these tracks, which have transformed into full-fledged musical events in and of themselves. The site that initially posted “We Made It” took the track offline, ominously signaling yet another period of dwindling hope and anticipation. But the New Orleans native continues to embody a similarly dwindling pillar of humanity: patience. Jay Electronica, perhaps forever shrouded by the unknown, by hypotheticals concerning what could have been, is a living symbol against instant gratification, and perhaps the best rapper alive — time traveler or not.
The opinions and ideas expressed by columnists and cartoonists are their own and are not necessarily representative of the opinions of The Daily Free Press.
Hip-Hop lyricism: Freedom of speech v. inflammatory speech BRANDON KESSELLY
The last year was a phenomenal year to be a hip-hop or R&B fan. Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean were met with critical acclaim and commercial success. Kanye West, JayZ, J. Cole, Drake, Pusha T, Childish Gambino, Eminem and Beyoncé released new, enjoyable LPs. Pharrell Williams made his triumphant return, winning the Grammy for Producer of the Year following two smashhit songs. Macklemore, Robin Thicke, and Justin Timberlake continually broke down racial barriers within the genres, and Nicki Minaj’s revival of strong female rappers brought ladies like Azaelia Banks, Angel Haze, Kitty Pryde (now known as simply “Kitty”) and Iggy Azalea into the spotlight. A lot of these artists embody diversity in more ways than one: While Pusha T is a black male who makes hardcore “gangsta” rap with gritty, dark and booming production, Iggy Azalea is a white woman from Australia who more closely represents the electronic dance music rap scene. No matter who you are, there’s something for everyone in the realm of hip-hop, as is the case in nearly any genre. But there is one issue that is continually the focus for hip-hop fans, regardless of race, gender or style of music: lyrics and an artist’s right to freedom of speech. And herein lies the dilemma. Up until recently, the status quo was that rappers said what they wanted to and the biggest consequences they faced were responses from other rappers. This was usually in the form of traded diss records between competing artists (Jay-Z’s “Takeover” and Nas’ “Ether” both come to mind). However, the controversies have routinely elevated as of late, seen with Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O.,” Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” and now Rick Ross’ “BLK & WHT,” which have all come under fire for different reasons. Of the three, two have been accused of “contributing to rape culture” to varying degrees, while the third uses a tasteless Trayvon Martin metaphor in a song about dealing drugs, violence and bragging about money. Interestingly enough, two of these controversies involved Miami-based rapper Rick Ross. In 2013, Ross was featured on Rocko’s breakout single “U.O.E.N.O.” A slow-moving club banger, Rocko’s verse contained the usual, expected themes of party/club songs. When it came to Ross’ verse, however, the song took a dark turn as he rapped the lyrics “Put Molly all in her champagne, you ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it.” He tried to clarify the lyric, but to no avail: It was too difficult to explain that a lyric alluding to date rape was “misinterpreted.” A petition was started, and on April 11, 2013, Reebok dropped his endorsement deal. He later issued an apology and things faded into the background. During this controversy, the song was in heavy rotation, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 4 on their Hot Rap Songs chart. (The fact that this was possible is a
separate issue in and of itself.) After that dust settled, one might think that Ross would lay low and choose his words more carefully. Unfortunately, on Feb. 26 he found himself in trouble once more for his Trayvon Martin lyric on a track for his then-upcoming album Mastermind. “Trayvon Martin, I’m never missing my target/B***h n****s hating, tell me it’s what I’m parking/Wingstop owner, lemon pepper aroma/Young black n***a, barely got a diploma,” he raps in verse two of “BLK & WHT.” He attempted to explain it, but why even bring it up in the first place? There is a fine line between freedom of speech and the explicit use of inflammatory language, and this was the latter. This brings us to “Drunk in Love”. When the world was first introduced to Beyoncé’s new self-titled album, it was beautifully polarizing. Many championed her powerful use of sexual themes and imagery while others felt it was demeaning and uncomfortable. While Queen B is certainly no stranger to adult content, the album explores more explicit territory in one spin than she has put out in a single LP. One track in particular hit the radio that probably should not have been sent to pop stations in the first place: “Drunk in Love,” a collaboration with her husband Jay-Z. After she explains in great detail her devotion to him and willingness to cater to his needs, Jay takes center stage with an equally dirty retort. He challenges her to live up to her own hype, and adds his own as well: “I’m Ike Turner, turn up, baby no I don’t play/ Now eat the cake Anna Mae said, ‘Eat the cake Anna Mae!’” The lines are a reference to a scene from the 1993 Tina Turner biopic, What’s Love Got to Do with It, in which her then-husband Ike addresses her by her real name and forcibly shoves cake in her face while in public. This is not the first time a reference to Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has been made — nor will it be the last — but the timing and phrasing turned heads in multiple news outlets, leading many to believe Beyoncé and Jay-Z were mocking domestic violence. The truth is that there is a fine line between lyrical freedom and the deliberate use of words, phrases and names that will tick people off. Mentioning Tina Turner — while in poor taste — was not a deliberate attempt to incite the fury of a thousand suns. It was incredibly dirty and put bad images in many minds, but it was not meant to disrespect Ms. Turner. Rick Ross, on the other hand, has more problems to face. His lyrics weren’t necessarily edgy, just poorly chosen and poorly worded. Regardless of intention, the words that hit the airwaves left a poor taste in people’s mouths, and the Trayvon Martin reference was not a crafty one. But this leads to another issue: Where does freedom of speech stop in hip-hop and in music in general?
The secret of loving vinyl: Accept your status as a pretentious nerd Ross hsu
The only reason there are people that don’t get vinyl is that the people who do love vinyl are never honest about why it’s great. Full disclosure: I love vinyl. And that’s stupid. It’s stupid the way collecting stamps is stupid, or the way that dumpster diving for antiques is stupid. It’s just a hobby. It’s worse than a hobby. It is a sick addiction and a sad, pathetic money-suck with little reward — but oh, how truly sweet that reward is. I can tell you with full confidence that vinyl isn’t in any way better than digital music. It isn’t better than CDs. It doesn’t sound “fuller” or “warmer” — the illusion
that it does is created by imperfections in the grooves and in the way the sound is transmitted through the needle and the turntable. Even albums that were recorded to be heard on vinyl are going to be much less accurate through a needle than they would be in a digital format. Likewise, buying new releases on vinyl is like buying Pacific Rim on Betamax. The real reasons to love vinyl are small, insignificant and only tangentially related to sound quality. If I wanted to hear the superior versions of random bands I find in the record store, I’d rip flac files off of the internet (say no to pirating, kids). But I don’t want to hear the best version. I want to hear my vague and mysterious early80s European reprint of Zeppelin IV. I want
to accidentally drop the needle too quickly, ruining the entry grooves and adding to the LP’s battle scars. I want to wonder about previous owners and why they would ever let go of such neat records. I want to enter a record store looking for nothing at all and leaving with a bag of mystery music. I want to be forced to buy from a sketchy Amazon source if I want anything specific. I want to blow and dust and wipe clean a record for five minutes only to put it on and hear a horrible pop in the middle of my favorite track. I want my fury to ring from the heavens as I realize that the pop will stay on the record forever. I want the smell of a record sleeve to make a real difference in whether I like an album or not — some smell like old books and vanilla, others smell like mold.
The same can be said of record stores, although most just smell like basements, and a good portion of them actually are basements. Much like my opinions of the plastic they peddle, my choice of record stores is based on features that are as unmusical as they are strange and kind of gross. I like my vinyl shops dark, stuffy, unorganized, dusty and gross, with bins of inscrutable knick-knacks in one corner and shelves of sleeveless singles and broken VCRs in another. I’m just as crazy and stupid as anyone who collects antiques, and I’m not any better just because I have to have speakers to enjoy my archeological finds. Record collectors aren’t dirty hipsters — we’re dirty nerds and we’re fools. Maybe someday you’ll join us and we all can live as one.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Album (p)reviews: music of 2014
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Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter wonderland experiments with mellow indie folk ALEX SIBER
Boston University — much like the rest of the northern East Coast — has been enduring a painstakingly prolonged winter. Students have waged colossal snowball wars, taken their chances crossing the frozen Charles, huddled under layers of blankets and studied to the sound of snowplows. But no matter your opinion on icy sidewalks, slushy street crossings and overstuffed down jackets, winter often draws out the very best from creatives who thrive off
of the imagery, emotional change and the occasional forced sense of shelter that arises when the big storms hit. Winter, the debut EP from Australian act Vancouver Sleep Clinic (Tim Bettinson), sonically embodies both the expansive and limiting qualities of the year’s final period. The 18-year-old is sure to garner comparisons to more popular and immensely talented artists like Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, the immersive band Daughter and soloist James Vincent McMorrow; with all of whom he undeniable shares aesthetic tastes.
Flipping through sweetly succinct vignettes, globalized outlooks and romantic reflection in a strictly falsetto tone, Bettinson glides between the experimental, often formless music of Bon Iver and the less obscure — albeit similarly delivered — records of a Daughter or James Blake. Scaled-back drums support, rather than lead, Bettinson in his quest through self and sound. Reverb amplifies already towering vocals. A cavernous space between the forefront and background of each of the project’s six tracks makes it easier for listeners — who are visiting Bet-
tinson’s mind and peering through his oddly mature eyes — to lose themselves in the music, an effect foreshadowed by the act’s title. Dreamy on the surface but brimming with occasionally stark sentiments just below the thin layer of ice, Winter is a conceptualized EP well worth the short running time. “Collapse” and “Vapour,” two previously released singles, serve as good measures to test the cold water before diving into the rest of the tracks. Winter’s finally coming to an end, but Winter has just begun.
Foster the People’s Supermodel struts Skrillex schools dubstep kings in Recess BROOKE JACKSON-GLIDDEN
“I feel like I’m coming of age,” Mark Foster sings on Foster the People’s latest album, Supermodel. The album, which dropped in March, shows remarkable development in its second half — but in the first few songs’ cathedral of celestial synths, I’m falling asleep in the pew. The first seven songs of Supermodel are destined to get lost in that tired, angsty cliché developing within contemporary alternative pop. Too many artists attempt to be deep by singing about relatively insignificant problems over sentimental poppy guitar riffs and an auto-tune church choir. Foster’s “Pumped Up Kicks” was a massive success because it was surprising; the music alone made you listen the first five times, and the lyrics kept you listening for the next five. In an attempt to focus on the message, Foster almost lost the edge — those imaginative, lively beats standing up to school shootings and depression without minimizing their gravity. But before I tear Supermodel apart, let me be clear: The back end of the album carries the slog of an intro. “Best Friend” revives Foster the People’s multifaceted, get-up-and-dance groove. Foster pulls out all the stops, with beachy rock guitar balanced out by funky bass, brass and a dash of slide whistle. What some critics may call cluttered is what I think makes pop powerful. If the chorus-and-synth two-for-
one deal is supposed to make me feel some sort of awe, I would recommend rocking the full brass band instead every time. When I hear a full orchestra of groove, I feel far more moved than when I hear a several-hundred-year-old cop-out. “A Beginner’s Guide to Destroying the Moon” maintains the disillusionment and anger the band attempts to express in Supermodel, but this effort is far more successful. The song transitions from eerie electronic to ‘90s-rock rile to despondent piano bridge, yet the song still sounds utterly Foster. “Goats in Trees” trots along, relaxed but not lazy. “Fire Escape” sounds absolutely nothing like the band, but it’s a beautiful song to end the album: Even with those damn choral echoes, it only feels right when the metaphors can make the song feel new. Every art-pop band in the scene has been filling the silence with church choir harmonies and the occasional afro-beat, but if I wanted to listen to upbeat guitar and electro-synth with mawkish, 50-percent-off mass-produced “struggle,” I’d listen to Coldplay. What was unique, remarkable even, about Torches was its enthusiastic, dance-ready hipster rock with a cerebral cortex. Foster’s lyrics are intelligent and contemplative. That thoughtful energy persists in Supermodel, but is hardly consistent. The only way a listener could catch the message behind any given song is by wanting to listen to that song again.
Karmin’s Pulses needs a defibrilator stat JULIANA ROCHE
Pop duo Karmin has accomplished a lot in the two years since their cover of Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now” became a hit on YouTube: They have performed at the American Music Awards, been featured in Rolling Stone and earned major recognition for their 2012 original single, “Brokenhearted,” all before the release of a full-length album. This much-anticipated debut album, Pulses, which dropped March 25, unfortunately falls short of the initial potential ascribed to the duo. The lead single “Acapella,” released last June, set a precedent for the rest of the album: It’s a surprising yet disconcerting combination of typical pop beats mixed with rapping. The title track, “Pulses,” is just one of many on that album that attempt this same style. If Karmin was trying to follow in the steps of Nicki Minaj by creating an infec-
tious mixture of pop and rap, they missed the mark. Pulses also tries to incorporate a dance vibe and is slightly more successful in this endeavor. “I Want it All” shows off an electric rhythm that channels the disco age, while “What’s in it for Me” evokes a new wave sound. And, as with any archetypal pop album, Pulses has its share of catchy ballads — notably “Neon Love” and “Tidal Wave.” These songs are slower than the other tracks but they’re still an example of classic pop uniformity. The real problem with Karmin’s album is not the rapping or the ordinary dance beats: It’s that the album lacks originality. Pulses does not break any boundaries or create any new ones. The album will probably be a Top 40 hit, but that does not mean it is a work of creative genius or that it contains anything that hasn’t already been done.
MAX COHEN
Five years ago, dubstep was relatively unknown — reserved for hipsters and underground web chat rooms. Then “King of Dubstep” Skrillex kick-started the dubstep boom with “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” and “Bangarang,” gaining immense popularity for the blossoming genre. Now, on Skrillex’s first full-length LP, Recess, he has, again, innovated his genre and crafted a diverse, complex — albeit imperfect — showcase of his skills. Like fellow DJ and featured artist Diplo, Skrillex shines when combining his heavy synth beats with reggae verses and instruments. On the first track, “All is Fair in Love and Brostep,” and on later tracks “Dirty Vibe” and “Ragga Bomb,” Skrillex forgoes the cliché, over-produced bass drops for a focus on the reggae voices. But instead of overshadowing the reggae with the electronics, he compliments it. It seems that Skrillex has finally found a balance between his heavy beats, which are omni-
present but not as overpowering as in his past EPs, and the softer melodies that made songs like “Scary Monsters” such hits. Still, he continues to branch out with the inclusion of genre-definers like Chance The Rapper, who takes control of “Coast is Clear,” and R&B crooner Sam Dew who puts a Motown spin on “Stranger” — one of the album’s best, most eclectic tracks. Another standout is slow, haunting final track “Fire Away.” He even dabbles in trap, a variation on Southern hip-hop, to great effect. But for all its eccentricity, Recess does rely on many dubstep clichés throughout. Many of the drops are bland; the best tracks are the ones where Skrillex experiments with his drops. The album isn’t perfect, but it showcases Skrillex’s broad musical knowledge and ear for detail in his melodies. By meshing many different genres with his dubstep expertise, Skrillex has crafted a fantastic, innovative album and has re-legitimized himself as “King of Dubstep.”
The Dandy Warhols’ Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder served raw, uncut HANNAH LANDERS
A vehement perfectionist, I never really “got” live versions of tracks, let alone entire live albums. There never seemed a place in my immaculate iTunes library for messy, unpolished live recordings. If I wanted to hear someone shouting “WOOOO!” over my favorite song, I would have bought concert tickets. Besides, live recordings always seemed like a cop out –– rehashing older material rather than trying to produce something new. But on March 25, the release of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder from psychedelic-tinged rock ‘n’ roll veterans The Dandy Warhols showed me the rugged brilliance of a harnessed live sound. Released in 2000, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is considered The Warhols’ breakout album, making it an easy choice for the first live album from a band that has been around for nearly 20 years. Conveniently, the original album bursts with the kind of sounds that demand to be heard reverbing through a concert hall, making it a perfect fit for the live album treatment at the Wonder Ballroom in The Warhols’ hometown of Portland, Ore. In fact, having listened to the album in its entirety first as a live recording and then as a studio release, the live version is clearly superior. The Warhols –– especially in their early
days –– have always had a raw, meandering sound that, after hearing all 13 tracks of Thirteen Tales live, is only fenced in and limited by the confines of a traditional studio album. The echoing reverb of “Godless” kicks off the album and, though frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s voice initially feels a dwarfed by the layers of sound, he finds his footing within the layers of trippy guitars and lazy trumpets. “Nietzsche” is a standout, almost bowling over the listener with meaty guitar riffs and heavy drums, much like the later “Horse Pills.” The ironically light “Solid” sees Taylor-Taylor’s typically flat, sardonic vocals venturing into higher octaves –– you can practically see him bopping around onstage, unable to contain himself. Slower numbers like the appropriately named “Sleep” simply smolder, never outwearing their welcome. And “Bohemian Like You,” arguably the Warhols’ biggest hit, packs more foot tapping, headbopping sing-along-ability than previously thought possible. To put it simply, Thirteen Tales Live rocks. A perfect combination of unpolished and unapologetic, the album itself is an unhindered stream of sound that vibrates with the energy of a live show, but one that is easily accessed through headphones at a moment’s notice. Wasted dude sloshing beer all over you not included.
The Black Keys’ Turn Blue makes us green with new single ‘Fever,’ hope not lost BROOKE JACKSON-GLIDDEN
When Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys released their debut album The Big Come Up in 2002, they were two fairly unknown, geeky 20-somethings from Akron, Ohio. Oddball musicians with a sense of humor and a love for raw, unfiltered music, they interspersed punky, bluesy, just-the-good-stuff rock ‘n’ roll with tiny skits and sarcastic ‘50s-style intros, juxtaposing “Gee, this is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life” with screeching electric guitar. Kitsch was always a source of humor for
The Black Keys, and the quirky candidness of the band was almost polished away in El Camino, with the Grammy-winning single “Lonely Boy.” The band’s upcoming album is rearing its head in the oddest, most classically Black-Keys way possible: with a bizarre, low-budget, surprisingly graphic hypnotism infomercial tweeted by Mike Tyson. No, there’s no music in it. Yes, it looks like something out of Twin Peaks. The sole mention of the album occurs for only eight seconds at the end of the video, when the screen reads “Special new album Turn Blue by rock musicians The Black Keys.” Most
importantly, the announcement includes a date: May 13. The bizarreness of the preview video suggested that maybe The Keys were returning to their Big Come Up roots – that is, before the album’s single, “Fever,” dropped March 24. The Black Keys have stuck to their sound fairly well for over a decade, developing as musicians and incorporating new elements without losing their footing. But “Fever” is such a departure from what The Keys provides the music industry: solid ground. Even with alt-pop taking over the airwaves, The Black Keys carried a century of music on their backs, making rock
‘n’ roll that we felt in our bones like it was something ancient, passed down. “Fever” is just another piece of alt-pop noise. Still, there’s something about that weird little video that hints at something bigger. Maybe The Black Keys are still going to surprise us. Maybe Turn Blue will show a new side of The Keys without losing that oomph, that hearty, snickering rock ‘n’ roll. Part of me imagines Auerbach and Carney posting that single with a knowing smile, holding back laughter, trying desperately to avoid ruining the joke.
BOOGYING IN BOSTON: A music fan’s guide to concert-hopping the GBA
MAPS BY MAYA DEVEREAUX/THE DAILY FREE PRESS
Regardless if you’re looking for a local act or big-named band, these maps will be your guide.
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Finals season: shows to see before summer break ROSS HSU
CONGRATS WINDHAM VEEVAERT FOR BREAKING THE SECRET CODE IN OUR APRIL FOOLS’ EDITION!
he semester’s almost over, and it’s too late to start planning concerts four months ahead of time. Festival season looms before us, with new lineups being released every day. That doesn’t mean there aren’t more shows to see, however! Here’s the FreeP’s selection of shows to check out before the year ends. Cloud Nothings Brighton Music Hall – April 8 RJD2 Paradise Rock Club — April 13 The War on Drugs Paradise Rock Club – April 17
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The Hold Steady and Deer Tick House of Blues — April 17 Black Lips Paradise Rock Club – April 19 Iggy Azalea House of Blues – April 23 Twenty One Pilots House of Blues – April 24 Say Hi Brighton Music Hall – April 27 The Knife House of Blues – April 28 Foals and Cage the Elephant Orpheum Theatre – May 4 M.I.A. House of Blues – May 5 Bombay Bicycle Club Royale Boston – May 6
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STEPPING INTO A MESS OF POLITICAL, RACIAL AND SEXUAL POWER PLAYS… MAKES FOR RAPT VIEWING.” -Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
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A SHARP, STIRRING AND POTENT ACCOUNT OF A LANDMARK MOMENT…ANITA HILL IS A FIGURE OF TREMENDOUS RESOLVE AND COURAGE.” -Nick Schager, Time Out New York
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