#is that community service line one of the greatest lyrics of all time?

[javelinbk]

Happy 25th Birthday to this iconic video

Outside - George Michael. Released 19th October 1998

The song was Michael's first single since his arrest for engaging in a lewd act six months earlier by an undercover police officer in the public lavatory of the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverley Hills, California– an incident that prompted him to declare his homosexuality, which had been rumoured for some years but never publicly confirmed.

Michael disparaged the incident in the lyrics, claiming he wanted an alfresco sex life because he was bored with lovemaking behind closed doors. Reference to the Beverly Hills affair came with the line: "I'd service the community, but I already have, you see" (he was sentenced to 80 hours of community service for the offense) and direct samples of radio reports of his arrest.

In a 2004 interview with Adam Mattera for UK magazine Attitude, Michael reflected: "I felt that lightening the stigma around cruising was the most immediately beneficial thing I could do. I know for a fact that when I was 16, 17, when I started cruising, that watching the Outside video would have taken some of the weight off my shoulders."

[presumenothing]

ZHOU SHEN: UNCONDITIONAL SURVIVAL

translated from 《人物》 magazine, part 5 of 5 | previous post

An Unburnt Sesame Seed

Even with having listened to this melody hundreds of times while writing the lyrics, upon first hearing that version of 人是_ prior to post-production mixing and editing, Tang Tian still cried on the spot. "This calls for great sense of compassion to mankind, yet also that sense of shattering of a struggle to the death, and Zhou Shen's voice contains all of it."

In Tang Tian's view, Zhou Shen's greatest uniqueness lay not in how wide his vocal range was, or how skilled he was in singing, but rather in his ability to realise an unstoppably contagious communication of feeling through song. She could also understand why Zhou Shen had now become a popular choice among various major galas, music programmes, and drama soundtracks: it was because these songs that he sang could achieve a universal resonance.

Zhou Shen always carries with him a kind of care and understanding for those around him, allowing him to realise empathy through song. Producers who have collaborated with Zhou Shen laughingly term him "a particularly good Party B", whether in his abilities or personality both.

Being of service to the needs of others – that has always been the most important guide for Zhou Shen's actions. One of the reasons Keep Running's director Yao Yitian decided to choose Zhou Shen as a regular guest for season 6 was exactly because of this strong consideration towards other people, allowing him to merge in well with any and all other guests. He held nothing back during shows, and would also proactively initiate bits for others to catch and respond to.

During a game in one of the episodes, Zhou Shen accidentally exposed his "undercover" identity midway through. Right after the recording concluded, while everyone was still eating, Zhou Shen had already sent messages to Yao Yitian, saying that he was worried that he'd ruined the original design and entertainment value of the game. Even until the day it aired, though the final effect turned out well, Zhou Shen was still stubbornly talking to Yao Yitian about it. "He's very concerned with whether he can help create a nice effect to our show through his efforts, with making sure that he doesn't drop the ball – he's always very concerned with that."

Being overly considerate of others is also a double-edged sword at times. Zhou Shen lacks a certain capriciousness as an artist. Those who understand him know that Zhou Shen does have the capacity for composition; should the need arise to add a harmony line while recording a song, he needs no scores to write on or instruments to cue him in, merely to sing it right then and there. The high notes in the highlights of 大鱼 was also improvised by him in the recording booth. But when it comes to an album where he can express himself without restraint, he instead finds himself on the thin ice of analysis paralysis.

Zhou Shen himself too acknowledges that, by this juncture, "no matter what, it's really time that I tossed out an album". He knows that everyone is eagerly awaiting the emergence of a work where he can come yet closer to expressing himself, with richer and deeper meaning than before. Last year, he also did much preparatory work for his new album, but still kept feeling it wasn't good enough.

"Actually I'm still not confident, even now," Zhou Shen says. To let go of himself has never been an easy thing for him. Each time he arrives to a new show, or a new environment, Zhou Shen still experiences "social anxiety", but he always forces himself to adapt just a little faster, and a little faster yet.

The good side of a double-edged sword is that Zhou Shen has made himself develop a kind of unconditional ability to survive. Regardless of how the external environment changes, he can adapt very quickly, finding a place suitable for himself, and laying roots down there.

Zhou Shen credits this adaptability to his experiences while growing up as a young child. With his parents busy, he grew accustomed to always taking care of himself. One incident that left a particularly deep impression was from when he was around seven or eight years old; he'd cooked a meal, and had been on the way to deliver it to his parents. There was a large pit on the road a metre or two deep, with a layer of tarp covering it, and in a moment of inattention he fell in with a thump.

When his mother saw him, Zhou Shen was carrying the food with a blood-streaked face, and a large bump on his head from the fall. He didn't even think about having his parents bring him to the hospital, but instead set the food down, and went back alone to get his injuries bandaged at a clinic. From that time on, in Zhou Shen's consciousness, whatever the situation was, he had to learn to deal with it himself.

To put it frankly, the last few years have not been the best of times for musicians. With the pandemic, physical performances have all but stopped entirely; under the impact of short videos, the logic underlying the creation and spread of music has fundamentally changed; as the album format declines, the space for musicians to express themselves and diversify their creations is slowly and steadily reducing.

In such an environment, Zhou Shen has opened up more space for himself through a kind of tenacity. He is now becoming a "greatest common denominator" in music for the people of today, fulfilling the needs of a highest majority of audiences across a comparatively wide spectrum. He too hopes that, when the audience needs him, he will always be "here".

September of 2019, still a few months away from Zhou Shen's participation in Singer 2020. At the Mid-Autumn Festival, a friend was baking mooncakes at their mother's house, but they ended up utterly burnt; the whole tray of mooncakes was charcoal black when removed from the oven.

That friend took a photo, and sent it to Zhou Shen as an embarrassing anecdote. Zhou Shen got very excited after seeing it, zooming in to the maximum on that photo to screenshot the few lone sesame seeds on the mooncakes' surface that still remained unburnt, and sent it back over five or six times as a sticker, saying: "See, on each completely-burnt mooncake there's always some sesame seed that worked hard not to get burned – that's me." ■

[independentartistbuzz]

7 From the Women with Kristen Rae Bowden

Charlottesville-based singer/songwriter Kristen Rae Bowden's music exhibits a bold vulnerability. She’s a confessional storyteller with a theatrical flair who draws from a wide swath of influences, including Kate Bush, Phoebe Bridgers, Radiohead, and Madi Diaz.

Her latest song, "Fault Lines," is a powerful indie pop piece about a break up she experienced. She paints a captivating musical picture using vibrant lyrics and stunning melodies as she compares fault lines to relationships.

We got a chance to speak with Kristen about her music, career, and influences in this edition of 7 From the Women:

What have you been working to promote lately?

I just released a midsummer single called ‘Fault Lines’! It’s a road-trip-worthy indie pop song inspired by a breakup on the Highway 1 in California. In case you’re unfamiliar, the Highway 1/Pacific Coast Highway is an iconic, stunningly scenic road that winds along the Cali coastline. As it does so it crosses several fault lines, including the famous San Andreas Fault, which has been responsible for numerous earthquakes. 

In my song I used the cliff-side scenery to represent the feeling of a breakup… like you’re on the edge of a precipice and can’t see what’s next. And I used the first line, “It’s all your fault,” to word-play with ideas of blame and shaky ground. The whole song grew out of that first line… I’d always wanted to start a song that way. (I wonder what that says about me?)

‘Fault Lines’ came from a collection of my memories, as opposed to just one, so I’m proud of how cohesive I think it is. I never really had a breakup on the Highway 1, but somehow I’ve been in that incredibly vivid part of the world at times when various relationships were failing. The scenery there provides a sharp, poignant backdrop for end-of-the-world feelings.

Sonically I was inspired by 1990’s pop-rock… the stuff I heard on the radio when I was still riding around in my parents’ car.  I think the song reflects that, but with ethereal textures blended into it. Please have a listen! I’m very happy with this version of the tune.

Stream it:

Or listen on YouTube:

Please tell us about your favorite song written, recorded, or produced by another woman and why it’s meaningful to you.

The last time I stopped in for this interview I talked about Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” which is still and forever a classic favorite of mine. Today the first song that comes to mind is Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain”. It has an undeniable groove that stops my over-thinking brain and lets me forget myself. I love the relatable simplicity of the lyrics. They make me think of every time a sound or a smell has attached itself to one of my memories - it’s fascinating how strong that association can be, where I basically time travel in my head when I smell jasmine or woodsmoke, or hear a song I sang with an old lover, etc. I often attempt to write songs with complicated ideas behind them, but there’s no denying that sometimes simplicity is just the greatest. I also love how they captured the sound of raindrops. And the vocal melody is soulfully ingenious.

What does it mean to you to be a woman making music/in the music business today and do you feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes in your music?

I think it’s safe to say that women are still vastly underrepresented in the music industry (even more so with women of color and minority communities). From what I’ve read, most of the studies on this underrepresentation often focus on highly successful artists, the Grammys, etc. But I can say that in my personal experience as an independent artist, my artistic interactions are overwhelmingly male dominated as well. When I’m the only woman in the room, I’m happy there’s a woman in the room!

When I create music I let my thoughts and feelings dictate what I write. I don’t feel a responsibility to other women to create messages and themes, no. Instead I feel a responsibility to myself as an artist to create work that is honest, and to continue pushing myself to express my most private and personal thoughts and feelings. Given that I am a woman and experience the world as such, this is inherently tied up in my artistic expressions. I would hope for a world where all women are and feel free to express themselves openly and with authenticity. We’re obviously not there yet. It’s crazy how many feminine experiences are still considered somehow taboo.

What female artists have inspired you and influenced you?

Too many to list! Lately I’ve been slowly working my way through Kate Bush’s song catalogue… I’m caught up in her Aerial double album at the moment. It’s incredible. I tend to write very narrative lyrics, and I’m inspired by her ability to flash from enigmatic, mythological imagery into real life details. It’s hallucinatory. Recently I’ve also been drawing inspiration from Japanese Breakfast, Aoife O'Donovan, Madi Diaz, Phoebe Bridgers, CMAT, and Birdy.

Who's Your Favorite Female Icon(dead or alive) and why?

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is a female icon I’ve delighted in learning more about in recent years. I’d previously admired her beautiful, raw, symbolic paintings, but two years ago I decided to read her biography after seeing an X-Ray of my own spine. I have scoliosis and finally decided to get some physical therapy when my back pain became overwhelming. Seeing the X-Ray of my spine was upsetting, and after I cried about it for a minute I thought, I bet reading Frida’s biography would change my perspective and stop me feeling sorry for myself. I knew she had polio as a child, and then as a young woman she suffered and broken back and many other terrible injuries in a bus/trolley crash, leaving her in pain for the rest of her life. She took up painting while bedridden after her accident, and channeled the pain into her art.

Reading her biography I learned about the origins of her instantly recognizable personal style: she used fashion and her outward appearance to express her Indigenous Mexican heritage, essentially becoming a work of art herself. She challenged traditional norms of gender and sexuality, defying conventional expectations of femininity. Her paintings address deeply personal women’s issues and pain, such as her sexuality and her inability to carry a pregnancy to term, with shocking openness at a time when nobody was doing that. They also address her political stances and cultural heritage. The way she lived her life and created art is incredibly touching and inspiring to me.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit her house in Coyoacan, Mexico City, which is now the Frida Kahlo museum. Seeing her paintings up close, along with her her belongings (her wheelchair, her easel, her back braces and incredible folk style clothing), and walking through the rooms where she walked, gave me goosebumps. If you have the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? If so, why or why not?

I definitely consider myself a feminist, now more than ever, since a woman’s right to bodily autonomy has been decimated in the US. I am lucky enough to live in a state where my right to healthcare, including abortion, is still intact, for now. But we should not be voting on whether women and their doctors get to decide what healthcare a woman needs and when. Our basic rights should not be on the ballot. Women should not have to wait until they are at death’s door to get the help they need. It’s barbaric, disgusting, and devastating. No one is free without bodily autonomy. It’s really tragic that we have to work to undo the same bullshit that our grandmothers and mothers already fought to change, but we must, and we will.

What do you hope to share with other women in the industry with your music?

My songs often end up being related to self empowerment and the rejection of what I’d call fairy-tale romantic ideas. I hope my little story songs will be a drop in the ocean of music encouraging women to choose themselves and their own needs - to express themselves freely and put themselves first. 

Finally – Where can we find you online?

Website and Bandcamp

Stream:

Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora, Tidal

Follow:

Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 1: Activity to Jeff Parker

Irreversible Entanglements

Six years ago, newly moved to Tumblr, we looked for a fresh take on the mid-year best-of list idea, partly to be contrary, partly because some of us had no interest in writing about the same records over and over again. After some discussion — well, a lot of discussion — we decided to turn our mid-year feature into a sort of secret Santa exchange. We’d each nominate two records and each review two records, but, here’s the kicker, they wouldn’t be the same records. We’d trade with our fellow writers, and if it meant that we had to listen to music way out of our comfort zone, so be it.

Since then we’ve had smooth exchanges and rough ones – last year’s was especially testy, but what can you do with such an opinionated bunch—but it’s become a favorite annual event. This year was no different, except that no one was truly revolted by their assignments.

Unlike some years, there was no clear dominant pick, though Six Organs, James Elkington, Makaya McCraven/Gil Scott-Heron, Cable Ties and Irreversible Entanglements all got multiple votes.

We’ll split our individual album write-ups into two posts. Today’s covers records by artists from Activity to Jeff Parker. We’ll get to the rest of the alphabet tomorrow. On the third and final day, we’ll post writers’ lists. Participants included Tobias Carroll, Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Andrew Forell, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Arthur Krumins, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw and Derek Taylor.

Activity — Unmask Whoever

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim said, “This music strains at the leash, held tightly in check by the motorik rhythms, while gaseous synths seek to permeate all corners of the soundscape.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

You wouldn’t know that it is a debut album, but then it’s a super band, so that doesn’t count. Vocalist Travis Johnson’s delivery reminds you a symbolist poet reciting some lines from his notebook, neither singing nor reading. Despite referring to violence in song titles and lyrics, this music is as far from violent as it can be. It’s too self-conscious to even carry symbolic violence but when on ‘Earth Angel’ the vocalist with the hook “I wanna fuck around” almost breaks into a scream, it turns into a whisper instead. It’s these small details that unmask the outfit’s postmodern disguise and show that Activity is the real deal, not a half-baked pastiche.

Decoy with Joe McPhee — AC/DC (OtoRoku)

Who picked it? Derek Taylor.

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “Decoy is a working group and a heady amalgam that recalls a dream fusion of Atlantis-era Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett’s marathon electric stand with Miles at the Cellar Door, and Larry Young circa his Blue Note moonshot Contrasts, while still relentlessly retaining its own flight plan.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Wow. “A/C” is impressive enough with its wild unfurlings of trumpet and sax, its woozy meditations in bowed and plucked stand-up bass, its incendiary organ bursts, all rooted in jazz, but touching on the hot, experimental outposts of rock and soul and R&B, too. But the second side, “D/C,” is even more exciting, as the tumult of sounds gets more fevered and McPhee breaks out in song. Who can blame him? You want to join in. It’s a mind-bending swirl that boils up and over the edges, heady, excessive and exhilarating. So glad I got to hear this, Derek, and it reinforces the benefits of trading favorites, i.e. finding music that is way out of your normal circuit but, even so, exactly what you need.  

 Sandy Ewen — You Win (Gilgongo)

You Win by Sandy Ewen

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Andrew Forell’s take:

Experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen appears as much concerned with space as sound. On You Win, she treats her instrument as pure object to explore the minutiae of its potential. Patterns emerge like communications from distant galaxies or the gradual shift and warp of old buildings. The 5 tracks scrape and rumble as occasionally identifiable guitar sounds — feedback hum, plucked strings — flicker from the mix. Best heard through headphones, You Win demands concentration lest one misses the nuanced denaturing and subversion of Ewen’s work, which is as fascinating as it is challenging.  

Fake Laugh — Dining Alone (State 51 Conspiracy)

Fake Laugh · Ever Imagine

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes Tim said, “These sharp, funny, warm-hearted songs are immediately endearing, yet shot through with bracingly sour ingredients.” 

Andrew Forell’s take:

Dining Alone, Kamran Khan’s latest album as Fake Laugh, is a collection of pastel Day-Glo bedroom pop songs that breeze by leaving barely a hair ruffled in their wake. Khan has an ear for a melody, a wistfully pleasant voice and a talent for arrangement that make this album an enjoyable listen but there is a nagging feeling that he is holding something back. Tracks like the finely wrought “A Memory” and Supertramp update “The Empty Party” stand out but Dining Alone feels like an intermediate step on which Khan tries out ideas and seeks a way forward although there is enough here to be optimistic about what might come next.

 Field Works — Ultrasonic (Temporary Residence)

Ultrasonic by Field Works

Who picked it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? Yes, in a May Dust, Tim Clarke wrote that “Stuart Hyatt’s latest compilation in the Field Works series is an absolute beauty — and timely given it’s being released during a pandemic whose origins may be linked to bats.” 

Derek Taylor’s take:

Most of the listening that I do in the service of reviewing music revolves around discerning who’s, what’s and how’s. Those sorts of taxonomic identifications feel superfluous, not to mention futile when navigating the music on Ultrasonic. Sources I mistook as aquatic (“Dusk Tempi,” “Echo Affinity,” “Music for a Room with Vaulted Ceiling,” and “Indiana Blindfold”) are subterranean, specifically the echolocation emissions of bats. Harp and piano sounds dapple “Silver Secrets” and “Sodalis” as instrumental signposts, but they’re outliers in a program that feels largely electronic and beyond the scope of scrupulous inventory.  

The closest, if admittedly antiquated, genre descriptors I have for these ecology-minded creations are ambient and new age. A seraphic, celestial quality suffuses most of them with sweeping washes of tonal color layering over more definable rhythms and progressions. The combination curiously reminds me of a distant temporal relic that served as childhood gateway to this sort of territory, my father’s vinyl edition of Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast. It’s another feeble attempt at a compass point and evidence of how difficult it can be to escape the ingrained habits that influence personal musical consumption.

The Giving Shapes — Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere)

Who recommended it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “You feel like you’re being carried into a dream, familiar yet strange.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

There’s just something nice about a record where, a few minutes after putting it on, your partner suddenly remarks “you know, this is very calming”. It’s not that the work of Robyn Jacob (voice, piano) and Elisa Thorn (voice, harp) is soporific or somehow uninvolving, more that there’s a somehow centered kind of deliberateness with which they approach these songs that feels oddly reassuring. The way their voices often echo lines (or slightly altered lines) back at one another can feel vaguely Stereolab-ish, but rather than the coolly pulsing, layered grooves (and transient noise bursts) of that outfit, the simplicity of the arrangements here feels direct and clean and often comforting. But it’s the type of comfort that lets you see the difficulty you’re trying to tackle head-on, not the comfort that swaddles you away from having to deal with the world. It’s more bracing than lulling, in other words, and frequently beautiful at that.

  Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (Don Giovanni/International Anthem)

Who recommended it? Andrew Forell.

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Who Sent You? is an extraordinary statement lyrically and musically.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

I’m inclined to agree with Andrew Forell. When I first encountered the vocal-focused free jazz of Irreversible Entanglements in 2018, I was more taken by the band’s focused exchanges of energy onstage than I was by their self-titled debut LP as a listening experience. But its successor steps up their already powerful game by easing up just a bit. They’ve let more air and variety into the surging rhythms and interweaving horn lines, opening up space for vocalist Camae Ayewa’s words to land with even more impact and staying power. Ayewa, who also records as Moor Mother, is more of a poetic declaimer than a singer or rapper, and her expressions of cultural memory and existential survival in the face of remorseless racism and economic terrorism boom over the music’s ebb and flow with inspiring authority. While her words are always applicable, this record sounds like it was made to be heard in a time of plague and revolt; when people ask in years to come what record sounds like the middle of 2020 felt, a lot of people will hold up Who Sent You?

  The Jacka — Murder Weapon (The Artist / EMPIRE)

Who recommended it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes. Ray Garraty said, “this album confirms Jacka’s status among the greatest fallen soldiers of hip hop.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

Despite being a posthumous release whose title refers to the artist’s tragic death by shooting back in 2015, Murder Weapon by Bay Area rapper The Jacka is a surprisingly cohesive listening experience, largely thanks to the lush palette of old-school samples employed on many of these tracks. From the aching strings on early highlight “Walk Away” via the swinging funk of “Can’t Go Home” to the children’s choir on “We Outside,” there’s a warmth and humanity to this sad story that honors the artist’s memory.

 Ka — Descendants of Cain (Iron Works)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes, Ray said, “Descendants of Cain, Ka’s seventh album combines the epic bleakness of the Old Testament with Brownsville’s hopelessness.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Shamefully, this is my first exposure to the music of MC and producer Ka; it’s his sixth album overall, and I’ve got some catching up to do. For an album with a title and cover art that could just as easily fit on a doom metal album, what surprised me was how focused this all was. The album flows beautifully, with music that fits somewhere between sinuous soul and the art-damaged Americana heard on, say, Matmos’s The West — with a handful of cinematic samples topping it off. It’s a perfect match for Ka’s voice, which manages to be textured and beatifically smooth all at once. Some albums paint a picture for the listener; this one is wholly immersive.

Matt LaJoie — Everlasting Spring

Everlasting Spring by Matt LaJoie

Who picked it? Tobias Carroll

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

Matt LaJoie’s technical verbosity is on the spot here, as all the man-made sounds can be mistaken for something Nature produced out of its vast resources. Everlasting Spring is like a small water spring which flows and flows but can’t eventually flow into a river, being forever condemned to be just this spring. Everlasting Spring lasts almost for an hour (if we count a bonus track), and it’s six minutes for every string LaJoie’s guitar has. Not many men can admire nature for that long. The whole album has that New Age-ish feel, when you can start listening to it from any track, and nothing will change in your views on it.

Maybe it does give a good mimesis of what spring sounds like but we still need a change of weather from time to time.

 Mamaleek — Come & See (The Flenser)

Come and See by Mamaleek

Who recommended it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan said, “Their dominant textures are still harsh and confrontational, vocals are still howled and shouted. But there are riffs. There are melodic structures.”

Justin Cober-Lake's take:

As black metal, Mamaleek would hold their own, but there's a persistent work to stretch boundaries here. Come & See keeps a core mix of sludge and anger, but the group's inventiveness keeps the album consistently surprising. The group finds brighter tones than anticipated, even while moving away from metal more toward alt-rock at times, and post-rock at others, and generally finding expressions that require a hyphen. An occasional breakdown touches on jazz or finds its roots in rock 'n' roll. “Cabrini-Green” functions like a suite — track the movements and break the track into its separate pieces — even as it avoids a sort of linear sequence. “Elsewhere” (and, indeed, much of the album) turns out a demented history of hardcore. The record probably won't find much of an audience outside of the metal scene, but listening past the obvious trappings reveals a wealth of influences and a complexity that makes for intriguing listening across genre strictures.

 Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

Suite for Max Brown by Jeff Parker

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “Following the looped, electronic and eclectic New Breed, Jeff Parker’s latest album expands into an even greater range of off-kilter sonic experiments.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Before this year, my knowledge of Jeff Parker’s music came largely from his work with Tortoise. And that’s far from a bad thing; Tortoise is a fine band. But hearing Parker push further into the realm of jazz with Suite for Max Brown is its own form of delight, where precisely-played melodies meet instrumental virtuosity. It’s an eminently listenable album, and one where I’m still noticing new moments of subtle beauty in the mix.

[thisisnotacomp]

R.I.P. MF DOOM

At around 1 PM Pacific on New Years eve I scrolled through twitter after putting my little dude down for a nap. I was looking to take a mental break after trying to keep my 20 month old occupied inside for 5 hours on a rainy ass winter day in Seattle. That is when I read the news of Daniel Dumile’s aka MF DOOM’s passing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Of all the artists who I have closely followed MF DOOM has to be the most iconic. He was a singular talent that stood high above all but a few others in my book. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. This was not the mental break I was looking for. I took a few mins to digest the news, luckily I had at least 90 mins left of nap time to work through it. 

Since reading the news I was a bit surprised to see the outpouring for this relatively obscure MC. That is not to say DOOM was an unknown figure, quite the opposite. Q-Tip summed it up best saying that MF Doom was your favorite MC's favorite MCs. I expected to hear quite a bit from the legends of the underground and NYC hip-hop community but was a bit taken aback from the articles published by NPR, The Financial Times and many others. Reading them has helped, it feels good to see DOOM get his do. 

DOOM has been a constant presence in my life so long I honestly don't remember when I heard him first. All I know is that it was sometime in 2001. Over the past days I have been listening to a lot of his music and if I had to guess it was the track “Black List” off of Prefuse 73′s 2001 Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives LP. At the time hip-hop made up about 10-20% of the music I listened to. I was more into electronic and rock music at the time and 2001 had some great releases. Here is a short list:

Avalanches - Since I Left You Radiohead - Amnesiac White Stripes - White Blood Cells Herbert - Bodily Functions Jay-Z - The Blueprint Daft Punk - Discovery

But the top 3ish for me that year were: 1. Strokes - Is This It 2. Prefuse 73 - Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives 3. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein / Aesop Rock - Labor Days

To say there were a few good LP’s released in 2001 would be an understatement. But back to DOOM. I loved that Prefuse album, what he was doing blew my mind. I was also a huge fan of Aesop Rock who like DOOM is one of the best MC’s ever. Hearing DOOM rap on the cut up beat had to be my intro. Now remember this was before you could stream anything, and at a time record stores were over charging for everything. Also remember Napster and the other P2P services were in full effect so if you knew how, you could find just about anything on the interwebs. I did some digging, talked to a few friends and tracked down DOOM’s first LP “Operation Doomsday” and my world was never the same. I still remember hearing lines like: Clang! Crime don't pay, listen, youth It's like me holding up the line at the kissing booth I took her back to the truck, she was uncouth Spittin' all out the sunroof, through her missing tooth I was hooked. From then on out I have been following Dumile ever since. At the time I was in College and had more time than money. Listening to music filled a lot of that time. The money I did have started going to records in early 2002. Back then vinyl was cheap, as everyone was still buying CD’s. I figured if I could just burn a CD where was the value. I can still support artists by buying vinyl so that is what I did. To give credit where credit is due, my buddy Alex was a huge influence. One weekend he brought me to a record on 13th and Pine called Respect Records. They had a ton of underground Hip-Hop and I we hit that place up every time we were back in Seattle. I bought most of my Def Jux and Stones Throw albums from there. Its closed now and I really miss that spot. The owner knew us and what we were looking for. He held a white label copy of Madlib’s Stevie LP aside for me. At the time I thought I had found the holy grail. He also pushed me to Doom. I picked up a few singles there along with Take Me to Your Leader, Madvillian and Special Herbs 1 & 2.

The 2 MF DOOM releases that had the biggest impact on me were Operation Doomsday and Madvillian. The later is still my favorite hip-hop LP of all time and in contention for my favorite LP ever released. Its damn near perfect. I think what makes is so great is its timeless feel. If it dropped today I feel it would be just a relevant. It hasn’t aged a bit, or I should say nothing feels dated which is a rare accomplishment for a 16 year old release. 

03/04 was peak DOOM. Between June of 03 and November of 04 he released what can only be described as an historic run of classic LP’s:

“Take Me to Your Leader” under the King Geedorah alias “Vaudeville Villain” under the Viktor Vaughn alias “Madvillainy“ a joint release with Madlib “MM... Food” as MF DOOM

Along with these LP’s he dropped another one as Viktor Vaughn and half of his Special Herbs instrumental albums. At the end of 2004 there was no doubt MF DOOM was one of the greatest MC’s of all time. In 2005 he released the Mouse and the Mask as a joint LP with Danger Mouse. The album was clearly a way to get DOOM some cash flow from the folks at Adult Swim but its a solid release in its own right. Up until 2005 everything Doom touched was gold. 

After this point, his output slowed down. There was talk of a second Madvilian LP which we are still waiting for along with a host of other side projects. DOOM did a few guest verses here and there but overall things were quite. DOOM’s final full length “Born Like This” was released in 2009. It was a return to form and while it might not be a certified classic like his early works its damn close. 

I put this together to get some thoughts out of my head. Honestly the news of  Daniel Dumile’s passing was a gut punch. He was more than an MC he was an icon for so many. No one wrote rhymes like DOOM. No one in hip-hop has created a universe like DOOM. There will never be another MF DOOM. Here are a few lyrics to prove it. 

“He came with more rhymes than molecules in air”

“What up? To all rappers: shut up with your shutting up And keep a shirt on, at least a button-up Yuck, is they rhymers or stripping males? Out of work jerks since they shut down Chippendales They chipping nails, DOOM tipping scales Let alone the pre-orders that's counted off shipping sales This one goes out to all my peoples skipping bail Dipping jail, whipping tail and sipping ale”

“Already woke, spared a joke, barely spoke, rarely smoke Stared at folks when properly provoked, mirror broke Here, share strawberry morning, gone an more important spawning Torn in, poor men sworn in Cornish hens switching positions, auditioning morticians Saw it in a vision, ignoring prison Ignoramuses enlist and sound dumb Found 'em drowned in cow's dung, crowns flung”

“Don't let the drama getcha In the only genre of music where the fans shoot the messenger Bitch niggas talk behind your back like a catcher Either M-Y-O-B or B-Y-O stretcher”

“Oooo my aching hands, from raking in grands and breaking in mic stands”

“Catch a throatful from the fire vocal Ash and molten glass like Eyjafjallajökull”

“Livin' off borrowed time, the clock tick faster”

“Ever since the womb ’til I’m back where my brother went That’s what my tomb will say Right above my government; Dumile Either unmarked or engraved, hey, who’s to say?”

R.I.P. MF DOOM. 

[cynthiasoderlund-blog]

MP3 Music Download For Android

ITunes M4P Software program, convert iTunes M4P to MP3, M4A to MP3, WMA to MP3, and more; Offers greatest iTunes Audio Converter, iTunes M4P to Merge Mp3 online Converter. Most iphone customers struggle to get some music downloaded to the gadget, nonetheless, this is not as simple as you may need imagined. While downloading to android is straightforward, that is tough and if you would like a dependable app to obtain music onto iphone then you need to give BOX mp3 Free app a attempt. This app will enable you get music on your iphone with ease. It is possible for you to to surpass all of the wants of the iphone and have the ability to just remember to have the right kind of songs to take heed to. You will not want any kind of apps anymore. Google Play because the identify suggests is developed by Google themselves. It's obtainable for each Android and iOS. So, you'll be able to simply use it on your iPhone. It boasts the newest music and tracks along with a huge library of songs as well as other media that you can obtain. You need to use the free version of this app to stream music anytime and the paid version permits you to download and play tracks at a subscription charge of 1.ninety nine$ per month. SoundCloud Downloader is a straightforward on-line tool for downloading any music tracks from SoundCloud. It is free and very easy to make use of and also you get top quality mp3 for any monitor. Simply paste the monitor page link in URL field above and hit the obtain button. It extracts the monitor uri(hosted on SoundCloud's server) from which you'll immediately obtain or save the mp3 monitor in a single click on. Be sure you paste just one url at a time, in the above input field. Though the editor is pretty awesome, one massive drawback is that you would be able to solely work with one file at a time. So when you've got a number of MP3s that it is advisable minimize individually after which be a part of together, you will should edit them right here first after which return to a different device like MP3Cut and be part of them collectively. Also, if it's essential remix one thing that can be longer than 5 minutes, you can do it in elements and then use the other web site to hitch them together. Wherever it's possible you'll be, you can simply search and download songs you've all the time needed to have. Gone are the days when you have to mentally remember a music's title or artist and rush back dwelling to access the computer just to download the tune. Most often than not, you end up forgetting the tune title and artist and have to search the track utilizing components of its lyrics as a substitute. Eliminate the trouble with some of these best music and MP3 downloader apps for Android.

Stellar can also be one of the fastest applications we tested. It converted a 625 MB WAV file to a 26 MB MP3 in less than two minutes. There are no hidden windows or menus to navigate and the software program walks you through the conversion process step-by-step. Stellar also converts and edits video files. Use it to add a watermark or modify the brightness, contrast and saturation of a variety of video formats, including MP4, AVI and WMV. It would not have a quantity normalization tool, however it could change a stereo monitor to mono and regulate the bitrate and pattern price.SoundCloud basically serves as the YouTube of music importing, that means anyone can add their tracks to the positioning before specifying whether they're available for download or strictly for streaming purposes. Moreover, the positioning touts a particularly energetic user community and one of the sleekest person interfaces of any website on our listing, one conveniently lined with a navigational bar on the high and direct entry to the service's accompanying cellular apps. Artists may not all the time supply free downloads of their music, however the labels almost always do. Fair warning: SoundCloud's had a bit of monetary hassle recently , so you might want to go to the site soon and go on a downloading spree simply in case the location goes kaput.All of your downloads could be in mp3 format with 320 kbps audio quality. We use Format shifting experience to legally convert all these films to mp3 recordsdata. Altogether, now we've got over 10 Million audio recordsdata ready for you to obtain, including the 4 Million inventive commons tracks in our store, plus films, motion pictures, TV shows, radio channels and video games filtered by our software program program. All these info might be legally downloaded to your laptop computer utilizing House shifting expertise.M4A is the file extension for MPEG-4 Audio, the audio a part of your MPEG-four videos. Apple has used the M4a (small "a") designation for several of the low-loss audio codecs it is sold for years at the iTunes Store. To add to the confusion, some have digital rights management encryption, and a few do not. To make an extended story short, compatibility is the difficulty, particularly for individuals with large MP3 collections. While we're as regards to compatibility, we should point out that Free M4A to MP3 Converter would not convert or play M4B information utilized by audiobooks.It's necessary to keep in mind that downloading music protected by copyright on YouTube is illegal. Since 2016, the majors, by way of the RIAA, systematically launch legal proceedings towards unlawful MP3 download sites, like which closed in 2017. With the intention to remain a authorized download service, our on-line You Tube converter does not permit you to download copyrighted contents. In the event you're involved and see that your music is downloadable on our web site, please tell us and we'll block your content material.

[marylemay4699537-blog]

Mp3 Cutter & Merger

Music, Arts & Tradition : Free Audio : Obtain & Streaming collection eye Take heed to this collection of 78rpm data and cylinder recordings launched within the early twentieth century. Music is life. All of us like to take heed to music whatever the state of affairs is. Nevertheless, each one among us has completely different style. A few of us love rock and fast paced songs while different love listening to gradual songs. And as we're advancing in expertise, we are able to hearken to music all day long. With none mess of changing of records, CD's or DVDs. We can just directly download music on our smartphone and hearken to it hustle free. App builders made it simpler to obtain music by introducing music downloader apps for Android. MP3 just isn't the best format underneath any circumstances, however its sound high quality is way from horrible. The settings used to encode an MP3 are crucial. Default settings used to encode a WAV to a 128kb MP3 will lead to a crummy sounding file. Tweak the ripper to encode at 320kb or use "Extreme" high quality and the resulting file will sound wonderful. My PC feeds a dedicated 100W amplifier connected to basic JBL studio screens and if the supply file sounds unhealthy, I am gonna hear it. Encoding as per my earlier put up results in information that sound almost indistinguishable from the original. Just to satisfy my curiosity, I converted a WAV to 320kb MP3 and then back to WAV and burned it to a CD together with the uncompressed unique. I performed the two songs back to again on my car stereo and guess what - there wasn't a lot of a difference between the 2. But many comparisons between MP3 and WMA are somewhat unfair. The MP3 recordsdata might need been generated by Home windows Media Player or other conversion instruments. However, those MP3s sound very totally different from the MP3 recordsdata generated with the MP3 encoder referred to as LAME. That's to say, in order for you the very best sound high quality, you need to convert your MP3 files with the LAME encoder out of your lossless music sources. This, nonetheless, has not at all times been so easy for an average person who would not even know what LAME is all about. I've been creating music on GarageBand, which supplies a number of choices when exporting the ultimate project. My two essential methods are to either compress the song as an MP3 at 320kbps or to export the song with out compressing it all, and then changing it to an "Apple Lossless Version" often known as an ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) or an ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder). The brand new format does not seem as an ALAC or an ALE. It seems with the m4a file extension as a result of it's a container format which might deal with each lossless and lossy formats. However, when I do this, I still have extraordinarily excessive bit rates which take up a lot of memory, but when reminiscence will not be an issue for you, m4a is usually going to be better than MP3 (but not all the time). Wherever you might be, you possibly can simply search and obtain songs you have always needed to have. Gone are the days when you must mentally keep in mind a track's title or artist and rush again house to access the computer simply to obtain the song. Most often than not, you end up forgetting the track title and artist and have to look the track utilizing components of its lyrics as a substitute. Do away with the hassle with some of these finest music and MP3 downloader apps for Android.

With you'll find quite a lot of music compositions and download them trouble free. The interface is sort of trendy, which makes it nice to navigate on the location. You may discover new, newest and trending charts to select from. Sadly, would not show the monitor quality, but it lets listen to a tune earlier than downloading it. Thus, roughly you'll determine whether you still want to download a track or not. Moreover, each album incorporates a quick description and data about related artists to check. To obtain a monitor you want to sign up along with your Fb account. After that click on orange Obtain music button and what till the observe is saved in your LAPTOP. SoundCloud essentially serves because the YouTube of music uploading, meaning anybody can upload their tracks to the location before specifying whether they're available for download or strictly for streaming purposes. Moreover, the positioning touts a particularly active user community and one of many sleekest consumer interfaces of any site on our checklist, one conveniently lined with a navigational bar on the high and direct access to the service's accompanying mobile apps. Artists might not all the time provide free downloads of their music, but the labels almost at all times do. Honest warning: SoundCloud's had a bit of monetary bother just lately , so you would possibly want to go to the location quickly and go on a downloading spree simply in case the location goes kaput. What's the point of downloading songs when your friends already have it. If you want to get the songs your pals have on their telephones really quick then downloading 4shared is likely one of the greatest methods to get there. In order for you to be able to get these songs you and your friend have to have this app on the telephones, Aside from being able to share songs, it's also possible to share movies, films, pictures and much more. This app is very straightforward to use and once you download it, you'll work out learn how to merge mp3 files to use it very quickly. The 4shared music downloader is alleged to be one of the best and the fastest downloader available immediately.Yes, you might, but in that case you would not have the ability to posess either the bodily copy of the mp3 files both on your laptop or on compact disc. You may let a good friend borrow your compact disc, or different type of media, but then in essence they're borrowing the copyright for the music as properly. Once you have the music in 2 or more places on the identical time, not all being in your posession, you could have distribuited the copyrighted music illegally since there's someone other than yourself posessing the music which you've purchased and is currently in your possession.If you happen to're a rap lover and you haven't found the type of music that you've got been on the lookout for on the other major music apps which you could obtain then check out Rhapsody at this time. This is an effective play music downloader that caters to the rap wants that you've at all times missed on other apps. It is possible for you to to take heed to previous songs that had been hits in their occasions. You will even be capable of obtain complete albums at a time. This is one thing that no other app gives. You will even be capable to just remember to have the largest collection of albums with this app.

[cucamonga-springs]

Death of a Dystopian: The life and legacy of J.G. Ballard - by Joanne McNeil

On the third week of April in 2009, the news included stories about celebrity obsession, empty foreclosed properties, a young medical student who murdered prostitutes, and the death of the man who forecast this media landscape years ago. James Graham Ballard died of advanced prostate cancer on April 19 at the age of 78.

Apart from maybe Samuel Beckett, no other modern writer saw his ideas proliferate across so many platforms. Ballard influenced filmmakers from David Cronenberg to Mary Harron. The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard and the American critic Susan Sontag were fans. Ed Ruscha quotes Ballard in one of his paintings. Joy Division, Hawkwind, and even Madonna have alluded to his work in their lyrics. There was an art show in Barcelona last year entirely devoted to his life and ideas.

J.G. Ballard is best known for Empire of the Sun (1984), a largely autobiographical coming-of-age novel based on his upbringing in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman, and his internment in a World War II prison camp during the Japanese invasion. For those with darker tastes, there is the cult classic Crash, a wild, transgressive 1973 novel about a community of car-crash fetishists that was eventually made into a Cronenberg film. His writing is obsessed with the territories where the organic meets the inorganic; it is absurdist, bleak, vivid, and awake to the psychological effects of media and manmade landscapes. In the words of the novelist Martin Amis, “Ballard is quite unlike anyone else; indeed, he seems to address a different—a disused—part of the reader’s brain.”

Ballard presents particularly gruesome details of his early years in Miracles of Life, a 2008 autobiography, without any sentimental navel gazing or bitterness. While interned, with his father’s encouragement, the boy ate weevils around his plate of mushy rice “for protein.” Ballard accepted the situation as it was and even looked back at the experience with some fondness. “The most important consequence of internment was that for the first time in my life I was extremely close to my parents,” he writes. “I slept, ate, read, dressed, and undressed within a few feet of them in the same small room, in many ways like the poorer Chinese families for whom I had felt so sorry in Shanghai.”

Ballard considered this childhood ordinary. “People who read Empire of the Sun have often said to me, ‘What a strange life, how unusual,’” he told the BBC World Service in 2002. “And I say to them, actually, the life I led in Shanghai before and during the Second World War was not strange; it wasn’t unusual. The majority of the people on this planet today and for most of this century and previous centuries have always lived lives much closer to the way I lived than to, say, the comfortable suburbs of Western Europe and North America. It is here where I live today that is very strange by the world’s standards. Civil war, famine, flood, drought, poverty, disease are the norms of human experience.” Shanghai is an enormous city, but Ballard was isolated there. At the time it had only a small community of Westerners. He never learned a word of Chinese, and he had his first Chinese meal in Britain, long after he left Asia. But it was England, his home for the rest of his life, that bewildered him. In Shanghai fear and hunger and violence were right in front of him; there were dead bodies lying in the streets where he bicycled. As an adult in the comfortable London suburb of Shepperton, by contrast, Ballard had to look under the surface to find the darkest parts of the human psyche.

A characteristic Ballardian situation is the set-up to his 1974 novel Concrete Island. The protagonist has crashed off the highway and onto the triangle of land beside it. The motorists, when they even notice, mistake him for a homeless person and are unwilling to assist. He is left stranded on the concrete island, and he depends on the totaled car for survival—even drinking from the windshield-wiper water reservoir. He thinks about the son he was supposed to pick up from school. “Ironically,” Ballard writes, “in this warm spring weather the line of crippled war veterans would be sitting in the wheel chairs by the park gates as if exhibiting to the boy the variety of injuries which his father might have suffered.”

Ballard emerged as a writer in the 1960s, when he became a part of the “new wave” movement within science fiction; his early novels focused on disaster scenarios created by wind storms, floods, and drought. His finest work from this period is The Drowned World (1962). The title is pretty self-explanatory, but it plays out with a sensitivity to the natural world typically absent in science fiction. When the city of London is finally drained, the characters aren’t pleased. In fact, they’re horrified. They can’t believe people actually lived in these structures and streets so far removed from nature. The “limpid beauty” of London underwater becomes a “jungle of cubist blocks [like] a drained and festering sewer.”

As Ballard’s writing matured, his unique sensibility took shape. He was fascinated with everyday architecture—industrial parks, high ways, billboards, drained swimming pools, tract housing developments, airports—and he described these places as culturally indistinguishable interruptions of the natural landscape. His stories evinced a distrust of both technology and human nature, along with an intuitive understanding of how architecture, especially in its most banal forms, affects our emotions. In the 1970s, he produced a series of experimental novels heavily influenced by the Beat writer William Burroughs: Crash, 1970’s The Atrocity Exhibition, and 1975’s High Rise, perhaps his best novel, about the chaos that emerges among the tenants of a luxury apartment complex who form tribes and refuse to leave the building.

Ballard identified himself as a libertarian. “I’m all for free sex, alcohol and would liberalize the drug laws if some way could be found to protect adolescents,” he once told The Independent. He supported both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, but generally avoided economic issues in his writing. Unlike most American libertarians, he considered himself an anti-consumerist. In his last published novel, Kingdom Come (2006), he drew a parallel between a comfortable mall-going society and a fascist one, with a character declaring that consumerism has “drawn the blueprint for the fascist states of the future. [It] creates an appetite that can only be satisfied by fascism. Some kind of insanity is the last way forward.” He criticized the other sort of “consumerism” too, and for similar reasons. In a 1971 essay, he asked whether Ralph Nader could ever become “the first dictator of the United States,” insisting that the question “isn’t entirely frivolous.…Inevitably, I suppose, the consumer society must produce its own unique demagogue, but this sort of dictator may well be difficult to recognize and unseat.”

In Ballard’s slapstick satire Millennium People (2003), the bourgeois residents of a gated community commit terrorist acts. They riot, clash with police, and bomb upper-middle-class establishments such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum. What are they protesting? “Double yellow lines, school fees, maintenance charges…cheap holidays, over-priced housing, educations that no longer buy security.” They are rebelling against, in one character’s words, “the barriers set out by the system. Try getting drunk at a school speech day, or making a mildly racist joke at a charity dinner. Try letting your garden grow and not painting your house for a few weeks.”

Like most of Ballard’s fiction from the last 20 years, Millennium People uses the framework of a middlebrow English novel as a way to parody the reader. For Ballard, as he explained to Salon in 1997, the novel is “the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented. It’s a vast, sentimentalizing structure that reassures the reader and at every point offers the comfort of secure moral frameworks and recognizable characters. This whole notion was advanced by Mary McCarthy and many others years ago, that the main function of the novel was to carry out a kind of moral criticism of life. But the writer has no business making moral judgments or trying to set himself up as a one-man or one-woman magistrate’s court. I think it’s far better, as Burroughs did and I’ve tried to do in my small way, to tell the truth.”

[scrawnydutchman]

O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes! Series Review

Now HERE’S a show I’ve wanted to get a chance to sit down and watch forever. O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes! is the rare show that comes along every once in a while that immediately sparks my interest upon seeing some previews. The show is just everything I love as a person. It’s back to good ol’ hand drawn frame by frame, it’s got both fun physical AND well written humor, and it features some of my favorite people in the industry around like members of the animation team behind the also fantastic Steven Universe and the guys behind some of the most phenomenal animation on the web, Studio Yotta, which fans may know created most of the music videos for the band Starbomb.  As if the show was literally made for me it also premiered on my birthday no less. It’s centered around one of the coolest concepts ever . . . FIGHTING. Yeah, I know that recently we’ve been getting pretty tired of violence in the real world and for good reason. The controversial shit is really getting to a lot of people. But there’s two types of fighting: that which is propelled by maliciousness and hatred, and that which is for sportsmanship, adrenaline and honest to God fun. This show is the latter type of fighting through and through, and it is AWESOME. Naturally this show did not disappoint me. I binge watched a whole bunch of it to get caught up and had a big ass grin on my face the whole time.

PLOT SYNOPSIS:

 K.O is a spunky, ambitious and good hearted little kid (Think Steven Universe and Goku from DBZ mashed together, and a bit of Ryu from Street Fighter) who wants to become a hero like the people around who inspire him, such as the towering musclebound badass of a plaza boss Mr. Gar. To do this, he ends up getting employed at Lakewood Plaza Turbo and works alongside Radicles, the pompous macho alien man with the levitation beam who’s secretly hiding a sensitive side (think Lars from Steven Universe but more endearing and less of a pain in the ass), and Enid, the snarky, sarcastic ninja who gives no fucks. They go on some misadventures, learn some lessons about themselves, occasionally Lord Boxman and his goons cause some trouble but they’re never threatening, and once in a while we get some clues into Mr. Gar’s past and how it’s tied to K.O’s mom Carol.

STORYTELLING:

I’ve gone on record before in saying that the best show premises are the ones just broad enough to go in all sorts of different directions with creative storytelling, and this show is thankfully no different. It’s got a great memorable setting with an expansive likable cast, great recurring jokes and a refreshingly fun tone about it. You can definitely tell the Steven Universe team worked on it because that and O.K.K.O have very distinct similarities, especially early season one of SU. The main difference to me though is the level of drama and the quality of humour. It’s a relatively new show that promises to introduce some drama down the line so comparing that to SU doesn’t feel fair at this point in time, but I’m very confident in saying O.K.K.O is funnier. SU has decent jokes, don’t get me wrong, but something about O.K.K.O just got me to laugh more consistently at it’s ultra bizarre humor. My favorite jokes tend to be the ones about Enid hating having to deal with entitled customers, but my favorite joke in the whole show thus far involves a certain coffee pun making mughead named Joe Cuppa. It’s a reveal that is so surreal and so bewildering that I can’t spoil the surprise, but damn if it isn’t funny.

In terms of both storytelling and animation, despite being an action show first and foremost, O.K.K.O’s greatest attribute is it’s humor. The wild faces, the great comedic timing in the cuts, the bizarre movement of the characters at times, plus the combination of both surreal and poignant lines make for a consistently clever ride. There’s one particular episode that I think really captures the harsh reality of fandoms that’s relevant to an eerie extent, and it can all be summed up by this one line by Radicles.

“Who knew people could be so dumb about art they love so much?”

ANIMATION:

Now, being an animator myself, one of the biggest attractions to this show for me was the fact that it was a return to classic Hand Drawn 2D animation. In a time where the vast majority of television programming is either passable but uninteresting character rigging or bland, texture lacking 3d animation, a return to what is in my opinion the most organic, spontaneous and therefore the most consistently interesting animation style is always welcome. The show even references it’s animation style at 24 FPS in one of the lyrics sung by Rebecca Sugar in the credits, which I adore.

“Every second that you see is 24 connected pieces. Thank you for coming. Thank you for staying. Thank you for watching the show.” - Rebecca Sugar.

Really, that lyric should be a pretty good indication about the kind of passion put into this show. When this show gets going, it’s got some of the most consistently satisfying and creative animation I’ve seen in a long time. The characters feel unbound by typical design conventions which allows for more flexibility in their expressions and their poses, and it makes for both very effective comedy and some of the most dynamic and well choreographed action scenes you can find on TV right now. A large contribution to the studio being able to pull this off is the simplistic art style. Every character is often times sketched pretty roughly with some proportions being askew at times, hands turning into little spheres, backgrounds lacking big details and so on. But what the art lacks in consistency it more then makes up for in fluidity and spontaneity. I’m actually glad they don’t care as much about the little details because it gives them the freedom to put more time into creating the kind of epic grand scale fighting we like to see. It really does feel like they put a lot of heart and soul into how this show looks. The intro and outro alone are hype as hell to watch.

Now that said, the animation isn’t without it’s problems. Sometimes it’s really obvious where they put in minimal effort to save time, especially in large cheering crowd scenes, and I’ve noticed more then a few awkward cuts and transitions unfortunately when I could easily think of something that would have looked better and could be done in the same amount of time. But you can’t win everything I guess. All in all, I dig the way this show works and it has it’s priorities in check.

Acting

This show has a great cast that really fits each character. K.O. has a voice that’s kiddish and endearing, but it never gets annoying or grading, which is a flaw a lot of child characters have the unfortunate tendency of having. Chalk this up as another way in which K.O. is better then Steven Universe btw. Enid has a great voice for articulating a snarky give-no-fucks attitude but it’s also always great whenever she needs to be genuine. Radicles is the macho alien man so naturally he has a great voice that’s a combination of every surfer dude and college fratboy you ever heard of. He’s a pompous egotistical jerk certainly but he’s several times more endearing then characters of his archetype because he’s shown to not be completely heartless or needlessly cruel to people close to him. Mr. Gar is great and more often then not gets the funniest lines in the show. Carol is the sweetest most charismatic badass mom in all of cartoon history and I gush whenever she and K.O interact. All the supporting characters do great, there isn’t a single voice in the show I find unbearable. Also this show consistently gets awesome celebrity voices like Keith David, and, more notably, the dude who says “INCONCEIVABLE!” in The Princess Bride.

Sound Design

Not a whole lot to say here other then it’s definitely serviceable. They sneak in some appropriate cartoon sound effects in there. The sound effects for the fight scenes like the crashing and exploding are pretty good. The intro song is fucking amazing. Like literally, I can watch the intro to this show over and over and be consistently entertained, it’s great. That’s the true sign of a promising show; when you can always sit through the intro and not get tired of it.

Art Design

I’ve already touched upon this point in the animation section, but as I mentioned before the art style is very minimal at times. But that’s totally fine. It acts in the shows favor more often then not because it gives the animators freedom to put their best work in the places that matter. Plus the character designs are great and memorable, they cover the bases for character design 101. You can tell who each character is in silhouette. Their inspirations are pretty plain to see like K.O. is so obviously modeled after headband clad fighting dudes like Street Fighter or Double Dragon. Enid is so obviously a Naruto inspired character. Radicles is probably some alien marvel character, idk. Point being, everyone is distinct and they communicate their personalities through how they look. You know everything you need to know about K.O. through a single picture of him.

*fun fact: K.O’s character design was the inspiration for the design of Ruby in Steven Universe.

Conclusion:

O.K.K.O: Let’s Be Heroes is everything I hoped it would be. It’s got a lot of heart, great surreal humor, intense and well choreographed action, great memorable characters and overall just leaves me with a simultaneously light/pumped up heart and a smile. The only thing I can really think of that’s wrong with it is it’s weird editing choices and select moments where cutting corners in animation was obvious, but that’s pretty small fry issues. I can’t wait to watch more.

STORYTELLING: 2/2

ANIMATION: 1.5/2

ACTING: 2/2

SOUND DESIGN: 1.5/2

ART DESIGN: 1.5/2

OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 18 October 1926 – 18 March 2017 Charles Edward Anderson Berry

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess, he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines. After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". But these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970′s he was more in demand as a nostalgic performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1972 he reached a new level of achievement when a rendition of "My Ding-a-Ling" became his only record to top the charts. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four-month jail sentence and community service, for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.

[neojoli-neuroplasticity-blog]

CMS 316

An essay comparing and contrasting Hip-Hop and Rock including the origins of the genres. Hip-Hop Value

There is this connotation or connection between HipHop and Black people, as stereotypical as that may be. Most black families especially in the United States grew up listening to Hip-hop or RnB. Hip-Hop serves as a cultural expression of socially and economically marginalized African-Americans. Before Hip-Hop and rap expanded commercially, the songs in both genres focused on the community and lives of the artists. Many rappers in the 1970s and beyond presented the troubles of being black and poor while suffering white control and power. Let us digress, as we learned in class. Jamaican music, for example, reggaeton was a  genre of music that was introduced in a very interesting way by the use of sound systems. It became a competition in the island amongst others, and it was a way where young people listened and grew accustomed to a genre that was being born and developed, a genre that came to fruition. This may serve as a background to my previous statement in which black families would play music of their forefathers and greats that played music during their era or the previous one. Most artists nowadays point out how influential their parents were to their artistry, playing certain types of music.  In 2018, Hip Hop and R&B became the biggest music genre in the United States and was the big break African-Americans had been waiting for. With the technology that is in place at this moment, it has propelled the consumption and commercialization of music.  

The Pulitzer Prize

Another major achievement in Hip-Hop was Kendrick Lamar winning the Pulitzer Prize. It was a momentous and historic occasion for Hip-Hop. The win added value to the category and went further to define the authenticity of this category of music. The Pulitzer prize impacts significantly on American journalism, photography, writing, and music. Incidentally many upcoming journalists, writers, and musicians dream of ever bagging this highly esteemed and prestigious prize established in 1917. Pulitzer Prize defines any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University, New York City, for excellent public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. The prize that is also endowed with a substantial amount of $ 500,000 as a gift from the newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer and has been awarded since 1917. The Pulitzer Prize Board comprises of judges appointed by Columbia University. Kendrick Lamar became the first non-classical or jazz winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music. “They gave an “additional citation” to Bob Dylan in 2008, and to Hank Williams in 2010– a mere 57 years after the latter’s death – but the prize itself has remained almost exclusively the domain of classical music. In its history, there have only been three jazz winners: Wynton Marsalis in 1997, Ornette Coleman in 2006, and Henry Threadgill in 2016.” (The Guardian) Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a spoken-word poet, dancer, and playwright who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays. In an interview conducted by Philip Bither, Senior Curator, Performing Arts, Walker Art Center, via skype. He asked what Hip Hop means to Joseph as an artist, and he retorted by saying, “In the way the Civil Rights era, or the Vietnam War, or any number of climatic global or localized cultural events have shaped the ideology and aesthetics and morals and morale of folks born at those times, I was born in the same place at the same time that hip-hop culture was born, I was born in a time of AIDS, born in a period of Reaganomics. Hip-hop music and aesthetics formed the soundtrack for all things for me. My political consciousness was formed through hip-hop music and hip-hop culture, through the work of Chuck D and Public Enemy, KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions. They gave me vocabulary to articulate political positions and language to locate myself socio-economically. I think about hip-hop culture not only in terms of its aesthetic manifestations, not only in terms of B-boying or MC-ing or DJ-ing or graffiti, I think about energetic reciprocity. I think about ritual and (in)visibility. I think about the idea of the break and sampling and style. These are my antecedents.” This gives new perspective to what was previously said. Not only is Hip-Hop all about music. There is a deeper meaning, in a time of racial injustice and political and economical unfairness towards the black community. Hip-Hop music was right there to write the message, in a lyrical and explicit way. For example, the N.W.A (Niggaz with Attitude) were an American hip-hop group from Los Angeles, California.  They were active from 1986 to 1991 and the rap group was plagued with controversy for their explicit lyrics, misogynistic and romanticising drug use and crime. The group was vocal about their experiences of racism and uncontrolled policing. Generally speaking, rap music serves as an expressive artistic outlet for a marginalized and demonized urban social bloc that speaks with heavily black and latino, predominantly masculine accents within a staunchly white and patriarchal social order (C. H. Smith 1995). Additionally, the group was political and their music revolved around political issues happening in the country during that time (Wikipedia).  The group is considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip-hop music. The unapologetic violent, and sexist veterans of gangsta rap remain the most infamous group in history. It is important to note that gangsta rap harnessed itself as the  most popular form of hip-hop and the  group also rewrote the rules of the category during the 1990’s. NWA established a cultural resurgence that led to the mainstream recognition of their cultivated legacy in the history of rap and hip-hop that culminated to their induction into the rock and roll hall of fame in 2016. 

Hip-Hop’s authenticity and credibility

Authenticity and the hip-hop genre has been linked since the late 1970s. With debut albums from Beanie Sigel with the bold album name “The Truth”, or Nas’s most famous song, “Last Real Nigga Alive.” These songs titles alone encapsulate what hip-hop is and its identity as an authentic piece of expression. Magazines such as The Source played an important role in dedicating their newsletter to “true hip-hop.” The source is a full-color magazine based in the United States that covers hip-hop music, politics and culture and was founded in 1968. It is the world’s longest running rap periodical. However, as we have learned in class, the music industry will always find and commercialize a genre that is seemingly on the rise. This has further ruined the credibility of hip-hop’s “realness.” Rapper Murs saw this happening, and in 2004 in his song, And This is For, he raps, “Used to feel I should be silent, I was scared to do this song/But I want everyone aware of what is going on/Yes it is jazz and yes it is the blues/And yes it is the exact same way they did rock/But I refuse to watch the same thing happen to hip-hop/I refuse to watch that bullshit.”  Hip-hop, like any genre of music that is explicit towards the culture such as punk, and American folk music, finds itself in the mainstream where MC’s try to attempt to draw a line of authenticity by distinguishing it around their culture. The issue of authenticity is a difficult matter to tackle within the hip-hop genre. Some MC’s believe it is the realness of lyrics and remaining true to oneself. Others may also believe that it is not acceptable to the mainstream or encouraging hypermasculinity, which is a problem in the African American community, but let us digress. Another theory of authenticity in hip-hop is the capacity of knowledge and history by an MC where he/she could wield that understanding and become an authentic character in the genre. President Kennedy had this to say about hip-hop’s history, “is like taillights on a boat which illuminates where we have been when we should be focusing on where we should be going.”

Rock credibility, authenticity, and value

Equally important is rock. Rock is described to be the first “oppositional” form of expression to be pushed into mainstream consumption. Rock culture has prevailed since the 1960s, and the rock genre has undergone different forms to what can be studied today. During its different augmentation, rock music has remained to be an expression of the youth. During the 1960s, rock has been a mode of declaration for political statements and of course romantic relationships. This is where comparison with Hip-Hop draws close. Also, the genre uses satire as irony to criticize the culture. There’s a question of authenticity that resides in pop music or rock music, and this further deviates into marginalizing rock music in itself. The use of authenticity to analyze the differentiation between rock identifies itself and separates itself from popular or mainstream music. There is a residual spoken language between recording and live performances. Live performances aid in considering an authentic rocker; furthermore, in following a traditional path. Musicians have to initiate connection and conversation through live performances. In the same conversation, we must acknowledge that there are two different types of authenticity in recognizing rock ethos. Modernist and Romantic. The modernist approach constitutes of tradition and continuity with the past roots, sense of community, populism, belief in a core or essential rock sound, liveness. The romantic approach is as follows:  avant gardes, status of the artist, elitism, openness regarding rock, record-ness, and celebrating technology. This is important to understand because elitists do not hold any ground in influencing rock culture. As opposed to Hip-Hop, where being real is hailed with honor. However, if we are to analyze the hip-hop scenario in the present day, avant-gardes could be denounced as infectious to the hip-hop community. Regardless, traditional MCs do have a huge following, because they follow a more romantic approach. The 1960s youth demographic brewed the existence of rock to be pushed and consumed within mainstream music. While rock music expresses modernity and romance, hip-hop is validly not just a type of music but also a culture. It is a by-product of culture. People embedded in this culture are associated with musical practices such as rapping, Djing, beatboxing, freestyling, and looping. Early hip-hop music embed man-made beats, turntables, and vocals while the lyrics were often in rhythmic spoken format. Dancing was an essential part of this genre. However, hip-hop has evolved to the luxurious music embedded with technology, computerized beat machines, synthesizers, and digital beat and rhythm equipment. Conversely, rock is one of the oldest forms of music in mainstream today. The modern rock genre has roots in Rock n’ roll of the 1940s. Rock is an instrument based music with total reliance on guitar’s beat and rhythm. The utilization of bass guitar and drums is often evident. Rock possesses many sub-tribes like blues, jazz, funk, and glam. While hip-hop is hinged on origins that are expressly political, societal, and social, rock registers its origins with the creation of rhythm and melodies produced by instruments. It is important to note rock is older than hip-hop and while hip-hop was not instrument-oriented, rock adapted to instruments at inception. While African –Americans were the major agents and originators of hip-hop. Caucasians and white Americans were and still remain the promoters of rock. While hip-hop continues to be hardwired by rhythmic sounds of speech, rock is embedded with the guitar’s rhythms. While hip-hop music originates and has maintained its presence only in the United States of America, rock transcended to other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia.  Both positive and negative influences of hip-hop are acknowledged. It is recognized that early hip-hop helped minimize inner-city gang violence by replacing physical violence with dance and artwork battles. Hip-hop has contributed abundantly to our economic wellbeing and represents a multi-billion dollar industry that impacts on many aspects of life, such as the automotive design and fashion, prime time television programming, college and professional sports, mass media marketing (Centre for Mental Health in Schools).

[dragonflymage]

10 Things You Should Know About Being in a Relationship with an INFP

Love is the life-blood for those who identify as an INFP personality type. As lovers of love, finding a compatible partner willing to investigate our complex, individualistic nature can be hard. Thankfully, we found you. Our number one desire in a relationship is to be understood and accepted for our authentic self. While we’re keenly self-aware, we can struggle to help you discern our perplexing ways. If you haven’t already noticed, we can be paradoxical, with many traits that contradict each other. Getting to know an INFP can be an expedition full of swift twists and turns, with a few unexpected boundaries thrown in. So, here are 10 things you should know while on your quest to understanding an INFP’s mysterious behavior in a relationship:

1. We prefer to move at a slower pace. In the beginning of a relationship with an INFP, you may notice their hesitance to reveal certain parts of themselves. Occasionally we’re an open-book, but the stuff that matters will take time to unveil. We take mental and physical intimacy very seriously, as we want to be sure that you are capable of accepting us. One of our romantic ideals is to share our innermost self with you, so try to ask the right questions in a gentle manner to help this along. Pressuring us to open up may result in more resistance (we’re stubborn that way).

2. We’re genuine romantics. Think more along the lines of a Shakespearean sonnet, rather than a Hallmark card with platitudes of affection. We’ll certainly enjoy fresh flowers or dinner by candlelight, but personalized gestures will make us feel incredibly special. A foolproof way to accomplish this is through handmade gifts. Masterful or loaded with imperfections, your gift is bound to be thoughtful since you put in the effort. Finding creative ways to say, “I love you” that are uniquely suited to your INFP demonstrate that you understand and admire us — the attempt of which is the greatest gift of all.

After spending many years counseling couples, Dr. Gary Chapman concluded that there are five love languages, or in other words, five ways that people speak and understand emotional love. The five love languages are: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. I’ve noticed that INFPs tend to appreciate quality time the most. Try deliberately fitting us into your schedule for some one-on-one time so we can feel connected to you.

3. We’re hopelessly devoted to you. Thanks to our ever-present idealism, when we fall, we fall hard…to the point where we might overlook our own needs and desires. We love to please the one we adore, as they are seen as someone deserving special treatment. Harmony is important to us, and we value working together so we both win. Unfortunately, as the song lyrics suggest, being “hopelessly devoted” can result in staying in relationships that don’t serve us completely. We can be taken advantage of for our devotion, and end up damaging important parts of ourselves to serve our partner’s needs. If your INFP has dealt with this in the past, remind them that it’s all about balance. Take care of them the best you can, but make sure they consider their own needs too.

4. We want our values and emotions taken seriously. INFPs tend to think with their feelings. With dominant Introverted Feeling (Fi), we use our inner sense of ethics formed by personal experiences as a way to interpret information. This impulse shapes our values, which are tightly laced to our deeply felt emotions. If you aspire to understand an INFP, you must understand that this is how we perceive the world. And, you must aspire to respect this. We are accustomed to judgment and criticism when we share how we feel. Dismiss our emotions or our values and you might as well be rejecting our entire self. Please choose to listen. Kindly assist us when we aren’t being objective and it’s clearly called for.

5. We’re open-minded (most of the time). Auxiliary Extroverted Intuition (Ne) gives INFPs a penchant for exploring ideas, possibilities, and patterns. This is what makes us unconventional, easy-going, and willing to try new things. Nevertheless, these characteristics come with the price of indecision, so don’t expect us to always know where we want to go for dinner. We’re much better at laying out options and deciding together. It’s tempting to bask in the convenience of our open-mindedness…until you hit a value. We’re compromising — to a point. Each INFP will have values worth defending and standing by, no matter what. These will appear unexpectedly, so be ready for them. Again, respect is much obliged.

6. We can be cryptic. Being direct can be impossible for us, as Extroverted Thinking (Te) is our last and least developed cognitive function. We can be reluctant to divulge specific emotions straightaway, making our roundabout manner of communicating hard to decipher. With great affection, we may tell you how much we care about you through a heart-felt letter, rather than a face-to-face conversation. In frustration, we may unfortunately resort to passive-aggression, along with some uncharacteristic lashing out. If this happens, approach the situation directly, so it can be resolved. Try not to take this personally (we know, it’s hard).

7. We need a lot of time and space for processing — alone. This need manifests a number of ways. As introverts, we need time by ourselves to regain lost energy. Our creative process also requires isolation so we can form thoughts and ideas. When we’re alone, we can relax and follow our own schedule. Otherwise, we may become overwhelmed and unable to focus. Please note that alone time is the most critical when an INFP is processing their emotions. We often know how we feel instantaneously, but we need time to sort through our labyrinth of emotions before sharing them with others. Be mindful that we’ll be unable to properly share how we feel unless we’ve had time to think things over on our own.

8. We may need your help when we’re stressed. Everyone has to deal with stress from time to time, but it can be particularly daunting for INFPs. We can quickly become distraught when our perfectionism kicks in. Tedious day-to-day activities can add up and contribute to the madness. As we established earlier, we have trouble being direct — and this applies to asking for help. Crossing things off our to-do list for us will win you major points, especially the little things. Sometimes we’ll need to vent while you dry our tears of exasperation. Thank you in advance for this; you don’t know how much it means to us.

9. We want you to be honest, despite how sensitive we can be. Being completely honest with us can seem dangerous. We don’t take criticism well and can often respond emotionally when confronted with an issue. However, it doesn’t help anyone to withhold concerns, and we will become hurt if we realize that you can’t share with us completely. INFPs can be receptive to negative statements if they are explained in a loving and affectionate manner. Try to phrase things in a way that won’t be perceived as an attack. We recognize compassionate intentions. Approaching potential conflict this way shows you are trying to help us, and ultimately, help our relationship.

10. We need you to be reliable. The world can be a harsh place for INFPs. We regularly feel misunderstood. We worry that our attributes are not highly valued by those around us. As a result, our imagination often serves as our place to retreat and feel free. When we come back to reality, we want to rely on you, our romantic partner, first and foremost, for support and care. Be our refuge when we are caught up in the unfairness of the world. Be our champion and point out when we’re not properly sticking up for ourselves. Be our source of comfort and assurance when we are in need of empathy and a warm hug. We will forever cherish this, and we’ll be determined to do the same for you. (source)

[auskultu]

Rock 'n' Roll: Open Up, Tune In, Turn On

uncredited writer, Time, 16 June 1967

The snarl of an engine splits the stillness. Out of the half-light, the projected silhouette of a Piper Cub glides ghostlike across a side wall. Suddenly, sound track and silhouette become a screaming, whooshing jet that dives at the stage and disintegrates with a shattering roar in the midst of six musicians. The drummer roars back with a thumping beat. The guitarists twang away lustily. And, momentum building, voices wailing and all systems gogo, the Jefferson Airplane blasts off.

The launching pad is San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, where for the past year and a half the combo with the singular name has fashioned a freewheeling style of music that has made it the hottest new rock group in the country. The Airplane is the anointed purveyor of the San Francisco Sound, a heady mixture of blues, folk and jazz that began as the private expression of the hippie underground and only recently bubbled to the surface. Now, in such cavernous San Francisco halls as the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom, as well as in rollerskating rinks, movie theaters, veterans' halls, park bandstands, college gyms and roped-off streets from Pacific Heights to Butchertown, about 300 bands are inviting the faithful to "blow your mind" with the new sound. Hairy hippies all, they go by such fanciful names as the Moby Grape, the Grateful Dead, the Allnight Apothecary, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, the Loading Zone, and the Yellow Brick Road.

Frock Coats & Turbans. In its permutations, the San Francisco Sound encompasses everything from bluegrass to Indian ragas, from Bach to jug-band music—often within the framework of a single song. It is a raw, raucous, rough-hewn sound that has the spark and spontaneity of a free-for-all jam session. Most of the groups write their own songs and, unlike most rock 'n' rollers, improvise freely, building climax upon climax in songs that run on for 20 minutes or more. It is a compelling entreaty to open up, tune in and turn on. Says one regular Fillmore irregular: "Fight it, stay aloof and critical, and you'll suffer one of the most painful headaches imaginable."

The sound is also a scene. With its roots in the LSDisneyland of the Haight Ashbury district, the music is a reflection of the defiant new bohemians, their art nouveau and madly mod fashions. Performances at the Fillmore attempt to induce psychedelic experiences without drugs. The hippies and teenyboppers, wearing everything from Arab caftans and top hats to frock coats and turbans, huddle over sticks of burning incense, casually daub the floors and each other with fluorescent paint.

Free Love, Free Sex. As the pile-driving beat thunders out of six speakers with deafening insistence, blinding strobe lights flash in rhythm with the music; the walls swim with projections of amoeba-like patterns slithering through puddles of quivering color. Just as in other psychedelic-lit joints, such as Andy Warhol's Gymnasium in Manhattan, the aim is to immerse everybody in sound and sight. When the spell takes hold, young mothers with sleeping infants in their arms waltz dreamily around the floor; other dancers drift into a private reverie, devising new ways to contort their bodies. Some of the crowd sit in a yoga-like trance or, if that fails to satisfy, roll on the floor.

Says Airplane Paul Kantner: "There's a significantly greater communication between the music itself, the people who make it, and the people who listen to it than there was in Elvis Presley's day." One difference is that Elvis never had "acid rock" going for him. The Airplane's “Runnin' 'Round This World,” for example, is a number that, says Lead Singer Marty Balin, celebrates the "fantastic joy of making love while under LSD." Their latest single, “White Rabbit,” is a fantasy about a kind of Alice in Wonder-drugland that is "aimed at the twelve-year-old junkie." Explains Grace Slick, a striking former model who gives the Airplane go-power with her big, belting blues voice: "It doesn't matter what the lyrics say, or who sings them. They're all the same. They say, 'Be free —free in love, free in sex.' "

Pop Potpourri. The crew aboard the Airplane is in their middle and late 20s. Musically, they represent a kind of pop potpourri: Balin and Kantner are refugees from folk music, Drummer Spencer Dryden and Guitarist Jack Casady from jazz, Singers Jorma Kaukonen from blues and Grace Slick from pop. Together they produce a lilting, carefree music that crosses so many stylistic lines that they are the only rock group to be invited to both the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Berkeley Folk Festival, not to mention gigs with the San Francisco Symphony and TV's highbrow Bell Telephone Hour.

Preaching the rock 'n' roll is "the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest church in the last century," they like to call their music "love rock." Is that any way to run an Airplane? Yes. Formed just 21 months ago, the high-flying group now has both a single and an album in the top ten bestsellers, commands $5,000 for a performance. "The stage is our bed," exults Balin, "and the audience is our broad. We're not entertaining, we're making love."

[difuduhu-blog]

Happy Birthday Slideshow Maker Online

To begin with, you want to learn to create a marketing program. Creating content for Social Media doesn't need to be complicated. Utilizing social media are able to help you construct your community of loyal fans. Video promotion is one of the greatest strategies to publicize your brand online.

There are dozens and dozens of fonts and backgrounds to choose so you might make sure to find something perfect. You will still have to select the opportunity to collect and sort through photographs, but the majority of the work is going to be taken from you. Finally, in the event you're searching to earn a banner to hang at a party, we will explain to you how to modify the slides to create a huge banner suited to printing. If you are in need of a particular size banner for a site, divide your pixel dimensions by 96 to find the value you have to have in inches.

Type of Happy Birthday Slideshow Maker Online

Double-click on any of the folks you see, and you are able to confirm or deny which faces belong to that particular friend or relative. However much you think about precisely how to publicize your music, you secretly hope that one day you will be discovered by some celebrity and it is going to be your way to the top. If your birthday person feels the exact same, you have an entirely new possibility facing you. Not only must you to be cheerful but you also need to dress and act like a healthy, happy and expert individual.

Although the on-line world is advancing and getting more popular as time passes, we are all aware that the restaurant business is more of an offline spot. It is tough to come across people who don't search online for those restaurants they wish to visit. It is far better than spending the remainder of your life in jail!'' You don't need to compose a Hub each and every day, write if you want to.

Making clay animations isn't a sheet of cake. Likewise quality content is very important to your restaurant promotion. You may also utilize gift wrapping tubes in case the tubes aren't too thick.

If you don't hand in your essay in Week 9, you won't get feedback. Video views can end up being cheaper on Facebook once they are correctly targeted and optimized. The intro isn't put right at the start of the video. The video is a favorite and it will stay popular in the years to come.

With the growth of digital technologies, it's become easier to accomplish your target audience. You must invest your time and even a little quantity of money to publicize your campaign. For example, you may speak about the future of your organization and new goods, or invite followers to ask you about existing services. You require visual content to be able to continue to keep your audience engaged.

The Downside Risk of Happy Birthday Slideshow Maker Online

There are several sorts of video content you may use in your content advertising strategy, you are able to also utilize videos for your advertising banners. Therefore, it's critical to creating video content that may engage users. High-quality content is the secret to everything. User-generated content is, on the flip side, free, effortless and it lets you concentrate on other important advertising and marketing tasks instead of producing content.

If you believe you necessitate a crowdfunding campaign, then you have to consider all the benefits and disadvantages before creating it. Secondly and thirdly, you will need to be sure that your headline is remarkably precise and invokes a feeling of urgency to the reader. There are lots of ways to go live. Among the ways to create the video special is by putting in a collection of placards that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

The Good, the Bad and Happy Birthday Slideshow Maker Online

The truly amazing thing about searching for an athletic woman is there are always great new products coming out, so it's going to be likely that there's a product that the individual you're shopping for does not yet have. Numerous characters are created from parts of clay and depending on the imagination of the animator different stories are unfolded. In addition, if you're making your birthday video for your lover, you always have the option to add just a little romance to it. In any event, it's still possible to create beautiful gifts.

One of the benefits of giving birth to an audio website is that you are able to collect the contacts of your audience. The song is readily available for download on the important MP3 websites and the lyrics are found on Lyrics 007. It is available for download on all major MP3 websites. If you're interested in cutting up the song, it's possible to always simply take out the chorus and mix it in with a different song too.

[simplemlmsponsoring]

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How to Build Demand Around Your Brand

In any given week, how many sales emails do you get from companies you’ve never heard of, toting solutions to problems you may not even have? If you’re anything like me, it’s A LOT. (Praise be unto the spam folder.) The frustrating thing about sales pitches is that they’re often packed with catchy phrases and misleading statistics to convince you that you #NEED their product or service. But oftentimes, you aren’t even in the market for what they’re selling or aren’t yet in a position to buy. The result? A waste of two people’s time and a cluttered inbox. No bueno.

To quote the cheesiest sales line of all time:

There’s got to be a better way!

(Spoiler alert: There is.)

  Rather than waste your efforts fruitlessly chasing random leads online, focus on attracting your ideal customers or clients to you. This seems like an obvious statement, but knowing where to start is easier said than done. Building a magnetic brand with a strong following takes time, but with these steps, you can position yourself in the market to attract your biggest brand fans without pushy sales tactics.

EXAMPLE A:

  Remember how Kelis’s milkshake brought all the boys to the yard?

Notice how the lyrics DON’T say, “My cold email sequence brings all the boys to the yard.” or, “Door-to-door solicitation brings all the boys to the yard.” Nope. It was her milkshake that had them dropping by in droves. (Well, that and probably a few more sinister things… but you get the idea.) With a killer product or service and a strong brand identity, clients WILL come to you.

  Let’s walk through the process together…

  Set yourself apart.

It’s tempting to look at successful entrepreneurs in your space and mimic what they’re doing, but that isn’t how you build an authentic brand. The best brands are the ones with a strong identity – even if that identity isn’t for everyone. The same way that not every client is a good fit for you, you won’t be the right solution for some. THAT’S OKAY. By honing in on your most natural gifts, you can do your best work without sacrificing your sense of self. After all, your brand is a reflection of your unique personality and skills. So, show it off and attract the perfect clients for your individual biz style.

Be easy to find.

The internet is absolutely swarming with businesses selling their products and services. To convince people to buy yours instead of the thousands of other options out there, you’ll need to get in front of the right audience. Gaining visibility online may seem like a daunting task, but there are plenty of ways to increase brand awareness (many of which are totally free!). From blogging (to provide value and up your SEO ranking) to social media marketing, advertisements, community outreach, and more – your audience is just waiting to find you. Make it easier on them by using targeted content and advertisements to reach your desired clientele.

  Get ’em in the feels.

Even if you’re spouting out super valuable intel, it won’t make the impact you’re hoping for unless it prompts an emotional response. Emotion is the #1 driver of brand loyalty, so make your audience feel something. Whether you’re exciting them, tugging at their heartstrings, or motivating them with powerful messaging, it’s crucial that your audience feels emotionally attached to your voice. Remember: behind every brand is a person or group of people. Don’t be afraid to show humanity in your business. The more YOU that can be seen and heard, the better results you’ll see.

  Provide real value.

When it comes to creating valuable content, there’s more to it than providing great information and prompting an emotional response. The best content out there doesn’t stop at interesting or helpful; it positions you as an expert, someone your readers can trust and rely on. So if you’re planning to put out a blog on your go-to method for creating a content calendar, take it one step further and create a free downloadable template to walk your readers through the process step-by-step. Value comes in many forms, so don’t be afraid to do a little handholding whenever possible. Your audience will thank you!

  Get known for something.

One of the biggest problems that many solo/entrepreneurs face is that they try to do too much or be too many things. It’s great to be a Jack-of-all-trades, but it’s better to kick booty and take names at what you do best. When you carve out your specific niche and build your biz around your greatest strengths, you’ll be most useful and get your highest praise from clients. By focusing on specific services that you rock the house at, you’ll hone your skills with every new project and position yourself as an industry pro in no time. And guess what that means? PREMIUM PRICING, BABY!

  Create In-Demand products/packages.

With such fierce competition out there on the world wide web, it isn’t enough to offer a run-of-the-mill service. Take me for example… Rather than market myself as a regular ol’ brand strategist, I took it a step further and found an unmet niche. I asked myself, how can I provide the most value? What can I do to give my clients the best possible understanding of their brand moving forward? From there, I developed my Brand Archetype Quiz and labeled myself a Psychology-Driven Brand Strategist. My point is: don’t stop at ordinary. Find or create demand around your services by thinking outside the box and offering a product or service unlike anyone else’s. (I know you got this, you trendsetter, you!)

  Give it away!

I’ve found that one of the very best ways to attract your ideal clients is by giving away freebies that spark their interest. Whether it’s a downloadable eBook or PDF in exchange for an email opt-in, a sponsored contest on social media, or just stellar advice on a regular, reliable schedule – give your audience something to remember you by. Free downloads and contests are an excellent way to build your email list with relevant leads without spending too much of your hard-earned cash. When it comes to building trust, you’ll need to give your time away rather than throw around money. Develop relationships with your clients (and prospective clients) online. Engage with them on social media. Send them emails. Show them some love! The more they learn about you and your expertise, the more likely they are to think of you when their next project comes up, refer you to a friend, or reach out to YOU for help instead of Google.

  Automate your hustle.

We just talked about giving away your time… and if you were thinking, “GIRL, what are you, crazy? I don’t have any time to give!” I hear you. I know how difficult it is to juggle all of the various tasks involved in running a business and still manage to maintain a relationship with your audience (or the other humans in your household, for that matter). But the good news is, there are SO many systems out there to make your work life easier and clear up time in that hectic schedule of yours. A while back, I wrote about 5 systems I use that make it look like I’m on a 24/7 grind, but there are thousands more where these came from.

In addition to saving you an insane amount of time, automated systems also boost your credibility by making you look like a total pro. Think about it… would you rather have to email someone to schedule an appointment or just book a timeslot online? Would you rather manually onboard your clients in an hour-long Skype call or get the basic questions out of the way with an interactive form? Customized automations create a better experience for both you and your client. Plus, let’s be honest. NOBODY wants to log into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. a million times a day to post when they could throw the content into an auto-scheduler and hit the beach instead! Give yourself the gift of time.

  Generate leads on autopilot.

Those automated systems I was telling you about? They’ll be your new BFF when it comes to attracting and nurturing leads. By releasing targeted content out there into the web, you’re enticing readers to click, read, download, or share… but the funnel doesn’t stop there! Let’s say you just published a new blog on managing invoices and expenses. Rather than post it and call it a day, you create a free downloadable finance worksheet and boost the post on Facebook to a select audience. Someone clicks. They read. When they go to download your free worksheet, that’s your chance to capture their email address. They opt-in, and BOOM! Immediately, you’re emailing them a warm welcome! Once they’ve subscribed to your emails, you can enter them into an entire sequence to educate them on your services and convince them to buy… and you won’t have to lift a finger!

(Pin for later!)

  Selling isn’t about chasing, it’s about being found.

  While you may have had to chase down clients at the very beginning of your business, it isn’t a sustainable process for acquiring customers. It’s too much time, money, and effort that could be better spent on other things. Frankly, it can be exhausting and lead to a pretty severe burnout. It may seem difficult now and it won’t happen overnight, but by giving your audience the best possible experience and GIVING AWAY value, you’ll become more and more visible each day.

  Whew, that was a lot.

Let’s recap, shall we?

  Distinguish your brand with your unique personality. Don’t be afraid to stand out! Your individual strengths and style will guide you to your perfect audience. Come out, come out, wherever you are! Don’t hide away in the shadows of the ‘net. Put yourself out there with regular content, targeted advertising, and community/industry involvement. Take an emotional approach. Share stories. Foster a meaningful company culture. Show your clients that you can take them to that place they’re dreaming of. Offer more value than the next guy. While you may be writing about the same things or touting the same services, you can up your value with helpful guides, videos, and worksheets. Carve out YOUR spot in the game. Choose a few of your favorite services; the ones that give you the most joy and that you’re best at, and focus on those. With expertise comes moolah and praise. (And who doesn’t love money and kind words?) Meet a special need. Your business is no place to be vague. Find a way to include a unique niche or solution into your services. Your perfect clients will be THRILLED to see that you specialize in exactly what they’ve been looking for. Spend time ON and WITH your audience. Offer free goodies to generate leads and add value for your prospective clients… but don’t stop there. Foster a meaningful relationship by engaging with your audience regularly. Leave some things to the robots. There’s a reason why robots are stealing our jobs (only half kidding) – there just aren’t enough hours in the day to manually do all of the things we need to do to scale and maintain our businesses. Get by with a little help from your electronic friends. Trust me, you’ll be happy you did. Nurture the heck out of your leads. With automated systems in place, it’s easy to keep the conversation going and offer real-time solutions, even as you sleep. #WIN

With these steps as your guiding priorities, you’ll see a more genuine interest in your brand, better-suited leads, and boundless growth potential. The most important thing is that you remember who you are, what you’re worth, and how you can help. With the right combination of confidence and clarity, you can finally stop chasing leads and let your clients do the discovering.

Get the workbook to start building demand around *YOUR* brand today!

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The post How to Build Demand Around Your Brand appeared first on Kaye Putnam | Psychology Driven Brand Strategist.

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Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, he was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". But these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four month jail sentence and community service, for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.