MUSIC
Honors
BY MICHAEL HOLCOMB SOPHOMORE, MATHEMATICS AND ECONOMICS
bookshelf
BY ANUPA KOTIPOYINA SOPHOMORE, HISTORY
A year is a long time, and to be simplistic, there’s a lot of good music out there. There’s no such thing as a “best” album of 2014 or any other year, and I couldn’t possibly list all the music I really enjoyed the past twelve months. So instead, I’ve made a countdown-style list of the albums of 2014 that have stuck with me the most. Get your headphones ready— it’s been an interesting year in music.
6
MAC DEMARCO SALAD DAYS
Mac Demarco wastes no time coming to terms with his burgeoning celebrity, musing about the fatigues of fame in the opener “Salad Days,” which includes the pivotal line “Always feeling tired / Smile when required.” His third album sees Demarco and his sound growing up a bit, as much as one can who’s made a name for himself by being a big goofy kid. One highlight is “Let My Baby Stay,” a sweet and simple song about the immigration situation of his long-time Canadian girlfriend living in New York. It wouldn’t be a Mac Demarco record though without a heaping spoonful of playfulness, and he certainly doesn’t disappoint this time around.
5
TUNE-YARDS NIKKI NACK
Full disclosure: Tune-Yards makes some of my favorite music of all time. Bandleader Merrill Garbus could release an hour of garbage disposals and car horns at rush hour and I would buy three copies. Luckily, she delivers much more on Nikki Nack, her second studio album. Garbus seems to be having the most fun of anyone in music, and this emanates from the record. Heavily influenced by African percussion and vocals, Tune-Yards yelps and clangs its way through infectious melodies and rhythms. Garbus’ peculiar voice contorts to fit into every howl or falsetto or deep note on command. In the single “Water Fountain,” the song’s climax finds her shouting over crunchy guitars and click-clacking drums. Such is the enjoyable layered complexity of Tune-Yards’ music.
4
JULIE BYRNE ROOMS WITH WALLS AND WINDOWS
The most captivating purely folk album in a long while, Julie Byrne’s Rooms With Walls And Windows envelops the listener in an intimate sonic embrace. Her musical approach is reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan or Sibylle Baier—not a bad club to be in. Byrne breathily half-whispers over her fingerpicked guitar, and if you listen closely enough, you can imagine her sitting in the room with you in another world. This is no accident—with a heavy emphasis on sense of place, Byrne constructs a captivating realm where the mundane meets the profound. In “Holiday,” she muses “I will leave again, and make all new plans to fill the space that you left.” Space, place, room, both physical and metaphorical—these are the weighty, nuanced themes Byrne grapples with caringly.
3
HUNDRED WATERS THE MOON RANG LIKE A BELL
With their self-titled debut, Hundred Waters set a high bar for themselves. A foursome that claims roots in Gainesville, the group is now based in Los Angeles and has built a national name for itself with a unique approach to electronic music. On their sophomore release, the band delivers a richer, more refined sound. The album seamlessly weaves together booming electronic production with humble acoustic instruments and a helping hand from frontwoman Nicole Miglis’ sublime vocals. Album highlight “Murmurs” soars over strong piano chords and a rich soundscape, and Miglis delivers a charming singsong melody that is hard to let go of. As ambitious as it is well-executed, The Moon Rang Like A Bell is one of the most utterly satisfying albums of this year.
2
FOG LAKE VIRGO INDIGO
Fog Lake, headed by Newfoundland’s Aaron Powell, quietly made some of the most spellbinding and emotionally resonant music this year. Released by the prolific and always excellent label Orchid Tapes, Virgo Indigo feels like a time-bending trip through all of your life’s most touching and burningly significant moments. Powell, with his innocent voice and simplistic guitar playing and piano, strips down the frills and goes purely for atmosphere. The soundscapes he achieves on such tracks as “Little Black Balloon” and “Virgo Indigo” are mesmerizing. Put on this album and gaze longingly toward the horizon at sunset—you’ll thank me after your self-reflective transcendent experience. Brilliantly moving and intimately cinematic, this album deserves more attention than it gets.
Though the Honors Program encompasses a pretty diverse bunch, it is without a doubt home to a lot of book lovers—the length of the (Un)Common Reading list is proof enough! We’ve all felt the special thrill that comes only from reading a book that you know has made a lasting impression. Here are the ones that Honors faculty and students have enjoyed, reread, been affected by professionally or personally, and would be handing out if they could:
DR. LAW
PRISM | FALL 2014 10
BOOKS
the operations. Like To Engineer is Human, The Art of the Start contends that failure can be positive. In fact, the culture of Silicon Valley is one in which past failures are seen as a mark of experience. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate by Ernest L. Boyer This book challenges the current system of academia, in which professors are rewarded for their research and not their teaching ability. Since students and education have changed so much, Dr. Law thinks it is critical that the university model evolve as well.
REGAN GARNER
Associate Director, Advisor Dr. Law, an engineer himself, appreciates this book for its message that “everyone makes mistakes” and that mistakes are opportunities to learn and make progress. The book is accessible to the non-engineer and offers easily understandable examples of civil engineering failures that we have learned from. Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069 by William Strauss and Neil Howe
A Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
DR. MELISSA JOHNSON
This Pulitzer Prize-winning book is the story of an overweight Dominican-American “ghetto nerd” growing up in New Jersey. However, it isn’t just another teen coming-of-age story. The novel goes into a lot of Dominican history and is, according to Garner, beautifully written.
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
1
ANGEL OLSEN BURN YOUR FIRE FOR NO WITNESS
With an eye turned decisively toward a twangy country-western heritage, Angel Olsen’s breakthrough record nonetheless manages to be refreshingly new. Her music shows impressive range of expression, from the moody strums of “Iota” to the harrowing drums and piano of “Dance Slow Decades” to the gritty yelps of “Hi-Five.” From this, the album feels like a ride through the ups and downs of a tumultuous life. Underpinning everything is Olsen’s beautifully wavering, humbly imperfect voice. Her lyrics are perceptive, putting to words some of the more nuanced and difficult human emotions. On “Enemy” she laments, “I wish it were the same / As it is in my mind.” Expectations, coming to terms with disappointment, hope for resolution, all packed into one line. Throughout, Olsen deftly encapsulates the complexity of human experience. It is one of the most cohesive albums in recent memory, and shows that even in 2014 you don’t have to be on the cutting edge to deliver greatness.
This nonfiction book is the one that is “closest to [Ms. Garner’s] heart and professional interests.” The author is a Rhodes scholar who dedicated his whole life to supporting public education, offering his perspective on issues discussed in the field today. The book shares the voices of educators, students, and others involved in the challenge of addressing the shameful issues plaguing American public schools. (Regan Garner has been a part of a book club for five years now and highly recommends everyone either start one or join one!)
Honors Program Director To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design by Henry Petroski
The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol
Generations narrates American history through description of the characteristics of the generations that have shaped it. The book has helped Dr. Law better understand his students and the way they see the world. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki This book illuminates the process of turning an idea into an actual success. The author, a former Apple executive, offers valuable advice for anyone running an organization. Though he has made his career in Silicon Valley, his book shows that the heart of success is not necessarily the technology involved, but the people-side of
This book was actually recommended to Ms. Garner by a student! It offers a perspective of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without vilifying anyone involved. Though fictional, it is incredibly well researched and thought provoking. A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra The novel, one that Ms. Garner says “everybody should read” is, like two of her other picks, a work of historical fiction, and is set in rural Chechnya during one of the Chechen wars. Garner describes the work as both “breathtaking in its prose” and heartbreaking.
Associate Director, Advisor
Daring Greatly takes on how we think about vulnerability, shame, and imperfection. This book was a huge hit when Dr. Johnson used it in one of her honors classes and she thinks its message that “we are all imperfect” is one that students, especially honors students, can really benefit from. The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy Dr. Johnson likes this novel so much she rereads it every few years and describes it as a “powerful” work. In The Lords of Discipline, Conroy draws on his experience at The Citadel to bring readers into the world of the fictional Carolina Military Institute as it is in the process of desegregation, and explores hazing, racism, and secret societies in the process.