The Beat: Baroque (October 2022)

-letter from the editorMy lovely Beat-niks, There comes a time in every zine editor’s life when they are confronted with the sad, harsh reality of their post; as the dozens of hours’ worth of blue light exposure mingles with the mind-numbing incredulity of hearing Idina Menzel’s rendition of Funny Girl from Gl**, one invariably considers their place in the universe, the sequence of events that culminated in such a potent retinal-cochlear assault.

In such moments, when the LED wax amply splashes over the plasticine candelabra, a special, internal pleading penetrates the mind and yearns for relief. From this results the inherently Faustian bargain of the long-feared jumping of the shark, and what better heralds a college music zine’s shark jump than an issue centered on an art movement far beyond the scope or capability of a humble radio-zine’s ability?

Thus, my friend, I give you the Baroque issue.

With love,

(editor-in-chief)

Beats for a Baroquen Home

METEOR HERD - MANAPOOL What’s Inside Your Mind - KFC Murder Chicks Promotion Man - Merzbow glimpse into - Vertigoaway What Else Could I Be But a Jester - The Garden Goatmeal - LustSickPuppy Dreams Be Like - Prolaps Hypersigil - Anita Velveeta Western Union - Ecco2k, Bladee I’ve Seen Footage - Death Grips Hardcore can’t die! - Casper Mcfadden My type of girl - Golden Boy OVERTURE: SQUIGGLECORE - floor baba The Storm - Machine Girl ifeelgr8 - death insurance doomspiral - Black Dresses

- Marshall Brown

SUNDAY

October MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

2 Rexx Life Raj 7:00pm @Middle East

3 The Killers 7:30pm @TD Garden

4 The Garden 7:00pm @Big Night Live

5 The Ooze 9:30pm @Middle East

9 Remi Wolf 8pm @Roadrunner

10 Steve Lacy 8:30pm @Roadrunner

11 Gorillaz 7:30pm @TD Garden

12 Mother Mother 6pm @House of Blues Twin Temple 8pm @Sinclair

16 Smashing Pumpkins 6:30 @TD Garden

17 The Sheepdogs 8pm @Sinclair

18 Psychedelic Porn Crumpets 8pm @Sinclair

19 Graveyard Shift 9:30 @Middle East

23 AWOLNATION 6:30pm @House of Blues

24 Ella Jane 7pm @Red Room

25 Dehd 8pm @Royale 40 Fingers 8pm @City Winery

26 Dave East 7pm @Big Night Live Calexico 8pm @Sinclair

30 Kurt Vile 8pm @Royale

31 DJ Esco 9:30pm @The Grand

Calendar

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

6 Manila Killa 9pm @Royale

7 Pink Turns Blue 8pm @Middle East

1 Modern Disarray 5:30pm @Middle East 8 Denzel Curry 8pm @Roadrunner

13 Demi Lovato 8pm @MGM

14 The Black Angels 7pm @Paradise Hannah Montana vs Miley Cyrus 8pm @Sonia

15 Violent Femmes 7pm @Paradise Colbie Caillat 7:30pm @Shubert Theatre

20 Alexander 23 7pm @Big Night Live

21 Brandi Carlile 7:30pm @House of Blues

22 Noah Cyrus 7pm @Paradise Trippie Redd 7pm @Tsongas (Lowell)

27 The Calling 8pm @City Winery

28 Black Coffee 10pm @The Grand FEAR 7pm @Middle East

29 MAKJ 9:30pm @The Grand Emo Night Brooklyn 11pm @Brighton Music Hall

Word Search

- MacLean Bishop

A Smattering of Haiku

Growing Pains

You must learn to city walk. Please Walk faster. Don’t stop in the Middle of Comm Ave. Empathy I don’t frequent the Orange Line, but I’m really Happy for those who do.

I was cornered into buying a yoga book.

Com lawn Yogi wants Venmo donation, not cash.

“We’re not Amish.”

- Michaela Patriacca

A Humble Recipe: Good morrow, my friends and courtiers!

Looking for a delicious dish, I presume? Unfortunately for you, the food of the Baroque period was often less-than-tasty to our modern palate, with dishes often served lukewarm or cold, and many so soft-boiled they could be eaten without teeth. Still, if you desire a dish of royal richness without a fricassee so soft you don’t need to chew, try this simple chicken dinner with enough flavor to blow a peasant’s mind.

PANNAGE (serves 4): - 4 chicken thighs, preferably with skin and bone - 1 teaspoon olive oil - 3 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped - 10 ounces canned chopped tomatoes or plain tomato sauce - ½ cup chicken stock - 1 sprig or ½ tablespoon thyme - 2 teaspoons beef bouillon (I recommend Better Than Bouillon) CUSTOMS: 1. Dry off the chicken thighs with a paper towel and season them with salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you may enjoy. Pour the olive oil into the most giant pan you have over medium heat, then brown the chicken thighs for no more than 5 minutes per side, just to get them nice and crispy. Remove them and set aside.

2. Add the garlic to the pan, which should be full of delicious chicken fat and set to medium-low heat.

Cook the garlic for barely a minute until it starts smelling amazing, then add the canned tomatoes, stock, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Crank up the

-Pannage-

heat and let the liquid simmer before stirring and making sure to scrape all the good stuff off the bottom of the pan.

3. Add your bouillon and thyme, and stir vigorously to melt the bouillon. Gently place the chicken into the pan, skin side up, and cook for about 30 minutes at medium-low heat. Make sure to check in every once in a while to guarantee the sauce isn’t getting too thick (add more chicken stock if it is) and the chicken isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4. Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce is, well, saucy, plate it up and enjoy! It pairs well with rice, orzo, or couscous.

Now go sit down with your goblet of mead and a hunk of the crustiest bread you can find and dig in. Just remember, eating with a fork and knife is a relatively new custom that wasn’t established until the 19th century, and the tablecloth is only there for wiping your fingers. While you’re at it, maybe sprinkle some cholera into your water and bathe once a week– it’ll make the experience really authentic.

BONUS TIP: If you want a delicious vegetable to add to your meal, try tossing some broccoli in olive oil, salt, pepper, and sriracha, and bake it on a sheet pan at 400° for 30 minutes, or until deliciously crispy.

Serve with balsamic vinegar (which you can also drizzle on top of the chicken for added fanciness).

Hear more of Toby’s dining decrees on All You Can Eat, Saturdays 8-10 am on WTBU.

An

Interview with

Stan Harrison is an American Saxophonist who has played with groups such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Duran Duran, Radiohead, and so many more. Most recently, he is on tour with They Might Be Giants.

Danielle: So how has the tour been so far?

Stan: It’s been good. We haven’t been doing this for that long.

I mean, I’ve been working with this band [They Might Be Giants] on and off for over 20 years and this part we’ve played eight or nine shows. But it’s been a lot of fun because I like the music and I like all the people in the band. It has been a bit tiring because we’ve been driving around a lot and that does get exhausting. It’s sometimes difficult to practice- I practice a lot and it’s hard to do that when I’m spending a lot of hours driving.

D: Do you have a favorite song to play with They Might Be Giants?

S: There are a couple that I really love. There are a couple I love listening to that I don’t play on, as well. But among my favorites are “The Museum of Idiots,” “The Darlings of Lumberland;” god so many of the songs are just funny and catchy and weird in the best possible way.

D: You’ve obviously toured with some fantastic and iconic artists. Which tours have been some of the best?

S: Well touring with David Bowie was just really great. I did a couple of tours with a french artist named Serge Gainsbourg, you might not have heard of him. Those tours were among the absolute best that I’ve ever done. I did a series of isolated concerts after doing one song on a record with Radiohead and I’ve always loved that band, so that was a real thrill.

D: Any interesting tour stories?

S: Some of them wouldn’t be appropriate. Some of them I’ve been sworn to secrecy to not tell. Let me just say this: those tours are everything people imagine that they might be, a lot more and also a lot less, okay? There is the glamor, there is the excitement, there is the traveling under the most incredible conditions: private jets, luxury hotels, being treated like kings and queens. All of that is the case but at the same time it is exhausting, sometimes it has a negative effect on your personal life. It takes you away from other things that you probably should be doing. You have to make a special effort to keep sane and keep everything happening with your instrument. For every Paris that you’re in, there are ten that are nothing like Paris, so it’s not all what people think it is. I spent about two and a half years with a band called Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, led by Steve Van Zant, who was Springsteen’s guitar player, whom I’ve known for many years. And over this period, much of which was on the road, I rented practice rooms all over the world; two, three times a week. I kept a personal routine. It ended up being one of the best tours in that respect because by the time I was finished I was better on a number of levels than I was when I started.

D: You said you’ve toured with artists like David Bowie and Little Steven. How did you first get into the music world?

Stan Harrison S: When I was younger, I was really into jazz. As soon as I started playing saxophone, I became a jazz fanatic. I wanted very little to do with the rock n’ roll world. When I got out of college, I got a call from a friend asking me if I wanted to audition for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. That was a band that was being run by Little Steven, which is when I met him. I got in the band and everything seemed to stem from either there or just lucky connections. You meet somebody, who needs somebody, who knows somebody, who needs somebody, I just seemed to be in the mix all of the sudden. Of course you have to be able to do the job and the other band members have to be able to stand being around you for more than five minutes; but once you pass those two tests, word travels.

D: You’ve released two albums. How were those experiences, and would you think about doing another one?

S: The best part about any of that stuff, for me, was the actual process of writing the material. I’m much happier with the first one [“The Ties That Blind”] than with the second one [“The Optimist.”] I’ve been writing a lot of new material and I’ve been working with a new group that I put together a few months ago. I’m planning to write more material and record with this group. But the process; best part about doing your own project is being able to bring to life other aspects of who you are, or to discover musical aspects. The more you do it, the more refined you become and things start to get more clarified. At the same time, they can get muddy because you find yourself in areas you haven’t been in before. All this clarity turns into this big abyss of where am I and what am I doing, which is also exciting and scary. I guess you could apply this to anything new you undertake. It’s a very empowering sort of activity.

D: So you said you’ve been writing a lot of new material. Are you planning on releasing another album soon?

S: That’s what I’m hoping to do. I don’t have enough for an album yetnot that I know the length. I probably would like to have maybe nine or ten pieces and I’m just a few pieces short, but I want to continue writing so I have a larger body of work to choose from.

D: What’s next for you?

S: They Might Be Giants tour extends sporadically through next May. In between that, I plan to be working on my own material. I’m trying to find places to play with the band that I just put together. I was given a few opportunities which I have passed on because they were going to take time away from what I really wanted to do. I’m just going to be concentrating on my own thing.

- Danielle Krantz

September 18th, 2022

Bandcamp Review:

A Place to Bury Strangers The duality of October is a difficult thing to capture— the end of summer merges with a plunge into autumn that feels almost like dunking your head in cold water. Clinging to the warmth and freedom of summer while simultaneously reaching ahead to the routine and excitement of the upcoming months comes with a kind of nostalgia unique to October.

Brooklyn-based band A Place to Bury Strangers has transformed that nostalgia into sound; composed of Oliver Ackermann, Sandra Fedowitz, and John Fedowitz, the trio has found its niche in the balance between wistfulness and anticipation, weariness and impatience. Hologram, the band’s 2021 EP, follows over a decade of shoegaze-y psychedelic rock that earned A Place to Bury Strangers the title of “the loudest band in New York.” However, Hologram and the productions that have followed it serve almost as a reintroduction to the band, a rebranding that has been the root of some of the most impressive work A Place to Bury Strangers has released. Combining experimental vocals, fuzzy guitar solos, and the New York post-punk energy often associated with bands like The Strokes and Interpol, the group’s recent work is a way to dip your toes into that inevitable restless October feeling that you know and love.

Tracks like “Playing the Part,” and “In my Hive,” act as perfect introductions to A Place to Bury Strangers’ newer work, and are vital to any October playlist. The music that A Place to Bury Strangers puts out is designed to make you feel like you’re on a precipice and whatever comes next is something great, something life-changing. Their latest record, See Through You, is a must-listen and a stunning example of the band’s ability to find a space in any genre, almost as if they’re creating one for themselves. If you need a hand to guide you into the great unknown that is October and the months to follow, give A Place to Bury Strangers a listen.

- Riley Pavelek

An

Interview with

Quivers and I met at a booth in Seoul Jangteo, one of the many great korean restaurants in Allston. They were playing later that night in O’brien’s pub, and chose Seoul Janteo as their landing space before the show. I arrived to the four band members sitting with who appeared to be a few friends and tour manager along for the ride. Other restaurant goers could have easily passed this respectable group off as a polite family dinner.

Although Quivers’ first songs were released in 2017, all of the bandmates have experience going much further back, either in smaller group projects or in solo work.

Their veteran status is on clear display while talking with them through their confident casualty. An air of gratitude for the space they occupy is very apparent.

We spoke for a bit about their influences, 90s alternative rock being the most obvious sound, considering their full-length R.E.M. cover album in early 2021. Canadian musician Chad Vangaalen is the band’s designated ‘hero,’ and they pointed to Angel Olsen as another strong inspiration.

Sam Nicholson, vocalist and guitarist, pointed to Soul music as another guiding force, which shines through beautifully in some of the swelling vocals and instrumentals on Golden Doubt, their latest LP. Much of the conversation I had with Quivers centered around their writing process, especially how to incorporate the voices of all four band members. According to the band, their process of completing an album is more a matter of refining a series of shorter riffs, rather than sitting down to write full songs from nothing. The band prefers to play these shorter melodies and let themselves follow the sound almost instinctively. “Like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel” was the simile of choice from Quivers.

Golden Doubt incorporates more sonic experimentation than Quivers’ debut album, and they attribute some of their new direction to COVID-19. Guitarist Michael Panton explained that the band was sitting on songs they would

QUIVERS

have considered to be finished in the past, and the extra time allotted by the pandemic encouraged them to try adding new instruments. Strings and horns are layered throughout many tracks on the new album, and provide a very well-rounded, stadium-filling sound.

You can follow a clear growth of sound when it comes to both included instrumentals and included vocalists throughout the band’s developing discography. Their first album featured just Nicholson on vocals, with drummer Holly Thomas singing additional vocals on a few tracks.

Golden Doubt features multiple vocalists on almost every track, and Quivers has plans to continue that trend. Bassist Bella Quinlan released her first solo EP in July 2020, and the band expressed a strong desire to include her vocals much more in future works.

While Golden Doubt has grown quickly to be the bands most successful release to date (and very deservingly so), The Melbourne based band is already beginning work on their next project. Nothing is set in stone about the album yet, but the word ‘apparations’ was thrown around by multiple members, and could provide some insight to the tone and possibly the title of the upcoming release.

- Maxwell Pociask

On

Caravaggio’s

Basket of Fruit

The still life genre is an unfortunate inevitability in visual art. Yes, studies in the mundane can produce provocative works, but they are largely reminiscent of an art class; it is an invaluable asset in developing fundamental artistic skills, but at the expense of aesthetic intruige.

Thus, one may expect Caravaggio’s still life, Basket of Fruit, to be simiarly underwhelming, particularly considering the titular subject’s omnipresence in the genre.

Caravaggio’s interpretation of the still life, however, demonstrates the merits of the Baroque sensibility in visual art. The painting depicts a humble basket of various fruit against a beige wall. At first glance, the fruit appears as any other still life’s; round, plump, lush, and the rest. However, one quickly notices how the fruit decays; the fruits all show signs of rot, and the leaves stretch limp towards the ground. Even the wicker basket, intricately painted as it may be, shows damage, with a strand out of place on its right side. The framing of the image is similarly imperfect, as a stem of leaves is cut off by the painting’s right edge.

There is ample historical context to read into about this painting and Caravaggio’s perspective on religious corruption and the decay of the church. However, that has all been thoroughly hashed out by people far more intelligent and informed than myself, so I won’t pretend to have anything to add. I simply want to call attention to the painting for its aesthetic merits, as I think it’s a silent, underrated masterpiece of the still life genre.

- MacLean Bishop

Answer Key