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(06/10/12 10:01pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the members of The Main Squeeze took the stage at Bonnaroo on Saturday, more than 300 miles from Bloomington, they were delighted to see a crimson-laden crowd staring back at them.This is the first year the local band has played at one of the most well-attended music festivals. Lead singer Corey Frye donned a throwback Isaiah Thomas jersey for the occasion and greeted the hometown crowd warmly. “It’s good to see so many familiar faces. B-town representing at Bonnaroo!” Song breaks were littered with “Hoosiers” chants, and the crowd wore everything from Pacers jerseys to Kilroy’s tanks.The Squeeze opened to a modest crowd, one that enjoyed some groovier jams like “Mama Told Me.”Frye said the early set caused them to tweak their performance.“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s so different in the morning, so we didn’t want to do too much. We wanted to cater to a more feel-good, chill sound.”The group was able to score the gig at the Miller Lite Great Taste Lounge through a connection of a couple of members. After sending in their recent debut album, they were given the go-ahead in the time slot.As the set drew longer, the crowd grew larger. Passing foot traffic stopped walking and started dancing as the group cranked out a 50-minute set. By the time it ended, it looked more like the Bluebird than Bonnaroo.“It was awesome,” drummer Reuben Gingrich said. ‘“The crowd was small, but we built it up until the crowd was huge. I couldn’t see past the sides, but that’s always a good thing.” The group pulled off the set without bassist Willie Robinson, who was away from the band with a prior commitment. In his place, Olas Ortwein filled in seamlessly.Aaron Burkhart, a Bloomington native and IU masters student, had seen the band once before in passing but made a point to come to their set during his Bonnaroo trip. He moved his feet during the set and left with an album in hand.Burkhart complimented the counterpoint solos of guitarist Max Newman and keyboardist Ben “Smiley” Silverstein during the end of the set. He also said the Squeeze was one of the best shows he had seen at the festival.After the show, Burkhart was one of many people to approach the band with praise and congratulations. As Frye shook the hand of another appreciative fan (“We just loved it!” she said), he made sure to comment again about the home connection.“It’s just so great seeing B-town represented, all the way down here,” he said. “That’s half the battle, and it feels like home.”
(05/17/12 6:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On more than one occasion, Beach House has discussed Bob Dylan interviews, and recently shared one lyric particularly integral to the conception of “Bloom,” the band’s fourth studio album: “To dance beneath the diamond sky/With one hand waving free,” which comes from “Mr. Tambourine Man.”Here, Victoria Legrand muses about much of the same — “If you built yourself a myth/You’d know just what to give/What comes after this/Momentary bliss” she coos on opener “Myth.” Who built myth better, or had a harder time with happiness, than Dylan?Alex Scally composes a largely harmonic soundscape for Legrand’s voice. Often, the songs’ melody and tone rest on the rhythm and timbre of her vocals, and thankfully her touch is light and lovely, dancing perfectly in step with churning, cyclic organ, guitar and synth sounds. The explicit, singular and cathartic melodies of “Teen Dream” would overpower most of “Bloom,” where the homogenous, nuanced instrumentation is as impressionistic as its lyrics about both longing and receiving — the cycle of things.Trippy, uplifting and even lurchy at times, “Bloom” isn’t perfect. But even when it drags, Legrand and Scally never falter in their execution, a clear aesthetic that’s as much about what isn’t there as what is.By Adam Lukach
(01/19/12 2:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There’s a moment on “Rich Forever” when Rick Ross explains its title — about how he used to want to live forever, but due to life’s difficulty, would now much rather just be rich forever. It’s a perfect articulation of the Bawse’s lifestyle and his music: all of the good, none of the bad, then more of the good.Since Lex Luger and BMF powered up Ross on “BMF,” everything about Ross and his music has been a grand exercise in excess: slightly refining his coke narratives to carry an opulence that inspired more aspiration than admiration.With a 19-track mixtape that features Nas, Drake, Kelly Rowland, Pharrell and John Legend, Ross is the king of having his cake and eating it too.Whether he’s painting pictures of strung-out customers over elastic strings on “Hi-Definition” or lamenting on ladies on the mellophone’d “Mine Games” with Rowland, Ross proves a chameleon for balancing subject matter and stakes with partners and production.“Rich Forever” has been promised as an appetizer for Ross’ next LP, “God Forgives, I Don’t.” At times brilliant, it’s hard to imagine a better effort, but with the cast of characters in the life of the Teflon Don, it’s also not a stretch.
(12/08/11 1:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After years of label drama and grinding on the mixtape circuit, Curren$y has created his own refuge in the form of his Jets International label, a weed-rapper’s Neverland to Curren$y’s Peter Pan, a paradise meant for stoner bliss and infinite days of nothing but the same. Even Jet’s roster reads like a list of Lost Boys: slightly wayward or misfit emcees like Young Roddy, Trademark Da Skydiver, Fiend and Mikey Rocks (of Cool Kids fame), all getting lifted by Tinker Bell, which could just be the name of their cannabis.“Jet World Order” combines the power of Jets International label under the name Jet Life, featuring both the full range of its artists and the production styles on which they work. Roddy and Trademark do the heaviest lifting on the LP, with writing credits on every single track. They sound remarkably comfortable doing it, not overdoing anything. Nonchalance is an important element for verses pairing themselves with production from Monsta Beatz, Cookin’ Soul and Nesby Phips, a sleepy combination of elevator music instrumentation and ambient synth. Such spaced-out landscape makes it easy to stay chill, and Roddy and Trademark sound as such as they navigate their verses more reliant on wordplay and flow than imagery and speech — a hallmark of Curren$y’s style.Mikey Rocks and Fiend, the other two vets, only show up once each on the album, on “1st Place” and “Picture Perfect,” respectively. Their appearances both do wonders — Rocks concocts a better weed analogy than even track-mate Curren$y (“I’m rolling up a inst-a-gram, pass-a-gram in one blunt/ Twenty for the point 5/ It’s like a brown bag lunch higher than the top bunk”), and Fiend’s super-methodical delivery helps invigorate a staler back half of the album.“World Order” finds trouble in its second half, as its middling tempos and pretty production are fully capable of putting listeners to sleep. The Jet Life understudies are certainly more technically proficient than they were on last year’s Curren$y features, but their improvement is undermined by both a lack of diversity and description. Perhaps the most predictable criticism of a primarily weed-rap album is predictability. It’s a little unfair to hold their lack of ambition in contempt when all they want to do is roll up and have a good time, and thankfully, “World Order” doesn’t aspire to be anything more than that: a perfectly rolled joint that’s meant solely to be enjoyed.
(12/08/11 1:09am)
WEEKEND's best TV shows of the year
(12/08/11 12:59am)
WEEKEND's absolute best albums of the year
(12/06/11 5:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This fall marked the end of an era for “Entourage” as a show. Its Hollywood tales of broads, bros and blow concluded after eight seasons with its main dudes boarding planes to foreign lands — their girls and their dreams perfectly intact. But real life careers move on, and for show creator Doug Ellin, that means two new pilots for HBO and (allegedly) an “Entourage” movie.IDS What’s the status of the “Entourage” movie?ELLIN I gotta write a script. They’re waiting. I haven’t done it, but I just finished shooting two pilots for HBO. I need to get on it.IDS What was your mindset going into season eight? How did you want to handle the show going out?ELLIN I really wanted to just kind of end on a feeling. I didn’t know what the plot or the story was going to be, but for me, the show was kind never a story-driven show, more of a vibe of friendship. So whatever it was when I started, I just wanted to have some feeling at the end, like, we like these guys. We like being with them, and hopefully, we’ll follow them if anything else happens. So it wasn’t going to be very plot-driven. IDS Did that change at all?ELLIN No, that stayed consistent. That was always kind of my thought process, that no matter what the story was going to be, that was it. Also I wanted to get away from any dark, serious drug stuff that was leftover from the season before.IDS With a core cast that is so small and a show that’s so much about those people, how did those relationships translate off-screen throughout the course of seasons one through eight?ELLIN You know, it’s kind of what you see on the screen is what it is. It was a really tight group on and off screen. Everyone was very sad when it ended. It was kind of like a family. I’m so close with all of them that I brought a lot of their stuff into the show, too. IDS The end of the series wrapped up very quickly plot-wise. Was that a plan or a logistical necessity?ELLIN You know, I don’t plan too much ahead, but at the end of the day, it’s a wish-fulfillment show. There are people who are like, “Oh I wish it got more dramatic. I wish worse things happened,” but at the end of the day, it’s supposed to be, “I wish that was me and my friends, and I wish it all worked out.” And at the end of the day, for movie stars, it usually does. That’s what happens. I’ve done some dramatic things on the show that some people criticized, and it didn’t go far enough and this and that. But I look at Mark Wahlberg’s life, and it’s not as dark and dramatic as people wanna hope it is, you know? It’s pretty good — life’s pretty good. And that’s what I was going for. It was supposed to be a happy ending. Things are going to be pretty good for these guys.IDS Was there one story, one sequence or season that you thought worked better than another, or was a favorite?ELLIN I don’t look back too much and think about it. There was one time that we had this “Medellin” thing that I thought, this is just going on and on and on, and I couldn’t figure out a way out of it. Other than that, I’ll look back one day on it, but I thought we did a good job with the dark stuff. Some people thought drug addiction — how’s he so addicted to drugs? I didn’t look at it like a drug addiction, though. I thought it was a bad week with a girl. I’ve had friends who that sort of situation has happened to.IDS With all the celebrities you paraded in, was there ever a time you worried about the potential novelty that could create?ELLIN No. No, because that’s again, everything I’ve tried to show on the show is realistic. If you’re in Hollywood, you’re going to see a celebrity, and if you’re Mark, you’re going to talk to them. Nothing to me about it felt forced or unnatural. That’s one of those things that people who want to look for criticism will say, but if you’re walking around a college campus, you’re going to see college kids, and if you’re in Hollywood, you’re going to see celebrities. That’s just how it is.IDS What do you think the legacy of the show will be in five-10 years? What would you want the legacy of the show to be in five-10 years?ELLIN The best thing for me was always hearing from especially young people that are like, “We got together with our friends and watched the show.” So they’ll remember that whether they like the show five or 10 years from now or not. They had a good time on Sunday nights. Hopefully, it’ll be a show that sticks, that people talk about and remember. For me, again, it was more about the friendship than the Hollywood stuff, but I think we probably did the most realistic portrayal of Hollywood that’s ever been on television. Hopefully, people will remember it. That’s all you can hope for.
(12/01/11 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Holiday candles typically adorn the surfaces of coffee tables or desks, emanating some sweet scent and burning out by the end of winter. Two candles at the Indiana Memorial Union, however, have been burning during the winter holiday for more than 20 years.Students know well the 75-foot pillars of light that hang from the east and west towers of the IMU. They are the biggest part of the IMU’s holiday decorations, typically taking a group of workers several hours to mount on towers’ sides.“They hang from the top of the building with brackets holding them down,” said Gary Chrzastowski, assistant director of facility services. “There are laws that the workers need to be harnessed and tied off. We follow all the necessary procedures.”Before the candles are hung, Chrzastowski said, the strings of lights are all checked to avoid any faulty bulbs. If a bulb does go out during their decorative stead, it must wait to be replaced until next year.Chrzastowski emphasized their mission to hang the candles before Black Friday.“Especially with the west tower, our focus is to get them up and operating for the day after Thanksgiving,” he said. “The west tower more so, though, because it’s visible from the town square that Friday, when they light the canopy of lights downtown."Chrzastowski began his work at the IMU in 1991, and associate director of the IMU Thom Simmons has been working there since 1989. Both said the candles were a decoration the two inherited. They both emphasized the broadening of holiday décor in their time at the IMU.“It used to be more of a traditional Christian theme, and we’ve been trying to be more inclusive with other themes for the holidays,” Simmons said.“It’s been more of a group effort in recent years,” echoed Chrzastowski. “We’ve tried to account for Hannukah and other holidays this time of year. It’s a combination of different groups from around campus helping decorate, not just us.”
(11/20/11 8:11pm)
“Take Care,” his sophomore LP, takes a definite step away
from that subject matter and relishes in a sentiment more in line with the
title – take care, fuck you, good riddance. Here, Drake creates something of a
hip-hop opera that’s an ambitious sprawl of dimly lit tracks, chock full of
lavish production and tremendous overstatement. This is, after all, the weird
world of Drake, where drunk texts read like wedding vows, strippers are sirens
in need of saving and your best friend is Lil Wayne.
(11/10/11 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Lions, tigers and bears — the furry triumvirate that famously inspired fear in “The Wizard of Oz” is truly a dangerous one. However, in recent years, these kinds of dangerous animals have been found in a much less fantastical place: people’s backyards.The Internet has made it easier than ever to acquire exotic animals as pets, said Monica Engebretson, senior program associate for Born Free USA, a national animal advocacy nonprofit. “What we’ve kind of seen with the Internet is that it has made it much easier for sellers to connect with buyers,” she said. “Before, people wouldn’t even know where to go if you wanted to find a monkey.”As a result, people have been able to acquire exotic pets without fully understanding the responsibilities or consequences of housing such an animal, she said. Terry Thompson, an Ohio man who recently committed suicide after turning loose more than 50 exotic animals from his property, was deeply in debt before he released his animals, most of which were eventually gunned down by police. His flock included Bengal tigers, monkeys, leopards and grizzly bears, among others.Joe Taft has been the director of the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Ind., for more than 20 years. He attested to both the difficulties and the dangers of keeping such animals as pets.“They are not cheap,” he said. “They will eat your kids. They’re a threat to neighbors and can cause you to lose homeowner’s insurance.”Taft’s center is the largest federally licensed collection of big cats in the United States. It provides a home for endangered or neglected cats from around the country for the rest of their lives. He said although big cats are capable of adapting to captivity better than many other exotic animals, the proper care is an absolute necessity.“That’s not to say they do well in an 8-by-10 cage when you don’t feed them,” Taft said.“They don’t make good pets in the sense of companion animals or animals that can lie in your house,” he said. “They are incredibly dangerous animals that take specialized housing and specialized veterinarian care.”Ohio is one of fewer than 10 states in the country that have no rules regulating the ownership or sale of exotic pets. Indiana’s laws are more stringent. The state is one of 13 requiring that people apply for a permit. The application process includes undergoing a facility inspection prior to obtaining the animals, said Linnea Petercheff, operations staff specialist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.Among the requirements are fences of a certain height and material, including one that prevents outsiders from getting close to the animals, Petercheff said. The permits also require yearly renewal in conjunction with inspections by both a conservation officer and veterinarian of the facilities and the animals themselves.“All permit holders are also subject to unannounced exams at any time of the year,” she added.Although Indiana’s laws are stricter than some states, Engebretson said they have some room for improvements. Born Free USA has a model that states would ideally follow when making their exotic pet laws.“Permits are difficult to enforce,” she said. “It takes someone to notice and the officers to go out and check it. Someone checking up is a huge cost, and a ban is just much easier. That way there is no grey area or neighbors saying, ‘I don’t know if this is legal or not.’ With a ban, there’s no question. You’re not supposed to have them.”Taft, whose facility is a federally licensed organization, said Indiana does a good job enforcing its permits, making them fairly difficult to obtain with high housing standards and a solid inspection program.“I’m really happy with what I see out of the state,” he said. “They don’t give out the permits to just anyone, and they do a good job of keeping an eye on the people who have them.”While Petercheff said there have been no discussions of revisiting Indiana’s exotic animal laws, she wanted to stress the difficulties that come along with care-taking for such animals.“We want to make it clear that a permit is required and that people need to be aware of the work and the money and time involved in housing these animals,” she said. “It should not be taken lightly. Purchasing a cat as a young animal is much different than when it’s grown.”Taft echoed her sentiment before adding his own take on legislation about the animals.“Regulations are a pretty complex matter,” he said. “They are not the black-and-white matter like people try to make out of it.”
(10/06/11 1:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>2011 has been a great year for the 1990s — between grunge anniversaries, big-time rock docs and the Nick programming revival, this year has been drenched in neon tights and denim, denim, denim. Both Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and Pearl Jam’s “Ten” turn 20 this year, and both have celebrated with massive reissues. Jonathan Cohen, an IU and IDS alumnus who now books bands for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” has just released “PJ20,” the Pearl Jam book he wrote in conjunction with Cameron Crowe’s new rock doc, “Pearl Jam Twenty.” Cohen has worked closely with the band for several years, and after he made an offer to help with the project, he was presented the opportunity to pen the tome. Cohen spoke to WEEKEND about his book, booking Pearl Jam for Fallon and the ’90s nostalgia boom sweeping the nation today. WEEKEND How did you get started on a project of this magnitude?JONATHAN COHEN Well, it was intended to be a normal book with a chapter-by-chapter narrative. But when the band got involved, Eddie (Vedder) wanted a different approach, and it became more of an oral history, with a chapter for each year and each album. I was worried about changing the whole structure of the book like that at first, but it was a brilliant move. It ended up being a good way to organize information, and the process became pretty quick after that.WKND How closely did you interact with the band, then, during the book-writing?JC We worked with them pretty intimately. They were a part of everything from the manuscript to the end of the book.WKND What was the hardest part of writing the book?JC Well, as you would expect from any band with a 20-year history, there are some famous stories that have become part of the mythology of the band that are not technically true. So we were trying to set the record straight about some of those things. For example, during their tiff with Ticketmaster during the ’90s. The band never actually sued Ticketmaster, even though a lot of people think they did. So we wanted to present the real narrative there.There’s also been a lot written about how Eddie really became a member of the band that is not correct. Some of it has certain elements of truth, but I think we were able to really nail down his first days in Seattle much better.WKND Pearl Jam played Fallon a few weeks ago. What was that like, bringing them onto the show?JC It really was pretty heavy. It’s gotta be one of the hardest shows we’ve had for me. I mean, I started as a teen and a fan just like everyone else, and I’ve been lucky to work very closely with them both personally and professionally since. So it was really a full-circle moment and I was very proud that I was able to work with them on that level. They went above and beyond the call, too. They performed a new song for us, they did a collaboration with The Roots and did a Pink Floyd cover, since they were here during our Pink Floyd tribute week. They don’t like TV appearances. They do it very infrequently. But we had a really good time. I was glad to help them in some way.WKND Keeping with the ’90s spirit, what do you make of this year being something of the year of retro? Nick at Nite brought back all their old shows, all the rock docs coming out, the bajillion reissues, etc.JC Well, that was an extremely significant time for people. There was tremendous change for pop and rock music. Hair metal kind of got blown away by a move to more down-to-earth rock bands that didn’t have to rely on an image and just wanted to make good music. The nostalgia is very strong for that time and it speaks to the enduring strength of that music. U2 had “Achtung Baby,” Nirvana made “Nevermind” and obviously “Ten.” Those are still touchstones of rock and roll — they’re still powerful after 20 years.
(09/29/11 4:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Wavves frontman Nathan Williams consumes (and tweets about) a seemingly unhealthy amount of television, from MTV’s “Teen Wolf” reboot to “The Price is Right.” His latest EP, “Life Sux,” comes out sounding, in different spots, a whole lot like the range of his TV habits: trashy, volatile, fun, ridiculous and always entertaining.“Still never gonna stop me,” he yells over and over again on “I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl,” reiterating his refrain from “King of the Beach.” It’s Williams at his punky, fuck-it best — even the title, “Life Sux,” is a complaint borne of stoner boredom and a general disdain for the rest of the world. The sentiment could be more appropriately read like his tweet: “fucked around on my arcade all morning gonna go smoke a joint and skate around million dollar houses #thelife #peace.”What many thought would be a short 15 minutes for Williams after his young indiscretions has proved to be quite long. “Sux” showcases several sides of Williams, including two very different guest appearances from girlfriend Bethany Constentino of Best Coast on “Nodding Off” and Damian Abraham from Fucked Up on “Destroy.” The former brings out Williams’ more pop-inclined side while the latter throws down for a raging three-minute cut that completely rocks out.So whether he’s bored, angry or happy, Williams “fucks around” with a pretty good crowd, and, when he feels like it, also makes some pretty good punk rock.
(09/21/11 10:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Neon Indian frontman Alan Palomo sequestered himself in Helsinki, Finland, to record “Era Extraña.” He did it in the middle of the winter, no less. He said he saw the sun only twice during his stay — a wild change for a Mexican-born Texas native. The music from his sophomore effort reflects that seclusion. Palomo creates vast, ambient soundscapes with largely emotional evocations, like on the heavy lead single, “Fallout.” Synth nailed funky cuts on his debut, “Psychic Chasms,” such as “Deadbeat Summer,” but here he generates broader melodies such as “The Blindside Kiss,” a grunged-out yet charming cut of aggressive chillwave. Palomo utilizes a much less eclectic repertoire than we’re used to, constructing a levelheaded sound that’s more prone to moving outward than up or down. “Polish Girl” and “Hex Girlfriend” plod along more directly than most other tracks but are coolly executed, hiding any sort of lovey angst. Neon Indian’s emotion succeeds on a level somewhere between the nostalgia of Teen Daze and the sexiness of Washed Out. “Extraña” sounds almost cosmic, creating something of an accessible vulnerability that’s propped up by the steadfastness of his craft. If it’s musically less ambitious or less intricate, it certainly makes up for that in nuance and realism.
(09/07/11 11:59pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There has always been something different about Lil Wayne. As we
watched him go from d-boy to Hot Boy, from Birdman-kisser to
rapper-eater, from Dwayne Michael Carter to Weezy F. Baby, the one
constant was Wayne’s will to be weird.
His bizarrely brilliant sizzurp- and Swisher-fueled rhymes laced lines
of coke-rap with Outkast-like extraterrestrialisms that made him both
widely embraced and wildly enigmatic. All of this made for an
unprecedented mixtape rampage in the middle of the decade that
culminated in something of a perfect moment when 2008’s “Tha Carter III”
garnered critical acclaim, chart-topping status and a Grammy.
Now, more than three years later, Weezy returns to the “Tha Carter”
franchise following two solid mixtapes, two terrible albums and one
infamous jail term. But “Tha Carter IV” is largely absent of his
former eccentricities. Those have been replaced with an onslaught of
punchless, lazy lines such as the album’s opener, “Man, fuck them
bitches and them hoes/Them nigga pussies, camel toes.” It epitomizes
Wayne’s attitude, post-“III”: “Fuck you, fuck you and you, and, oh yeah,
here’s a hashtag rap.”
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that “IV” sounds largely complacent. It’s
the musings of a man who has become satisfied with his level of success
and, more recently, thrown around talk of retirement. His electric
moments are few and far between here. More unfortunately, they’re mostly
on tracks we’ve heard, such as the “A Milli” reincarnate “6 Foot 7
Foot,” the Banana-song-sampling single from last December where we heard
Wayne spit fire (“Life is the bitch, and death is her sister/Sleep is
the cousin, what a fuckin’ family picture”) over a booming Bangladesh
beat before giving way to Cory Gunz for an unimpressive mess of bars.
This is a common thread on “IV”: Wayne getting out of the way for other people. On
two different tracks, he gets stellar guest spots from the likes of
Tech N9ne, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Bun B, Shyne and (strangely uncredited)
Andre 3000 while Wayne elects to stand aside.
He’s no longer trying to be the Best Rapper Alive — in fact, he’s content with not even being the Best Rapper on His Own Album.He’s
most alive when swiping at his perpetual frenemy, Jay-Z, on “It’s
Good,” with the highly publicized response to Hov’s “baby money” diss:
“Talkin’ ‘bout baby money, I got your baby money/ Kidnap your bitch, get
that ‘how much you love your lady?’ money.” Here he partners with
Jadakiss and Drake with a strung-out southern beat. They seem to
invigorate Weezy, much like Rick Ross on “John,” another single. Unfortunately, for every one of those, there’s a track like “How to
Hate,” a prequel of sorts to the smash hit, “How to Love,” complete with
a bubblegum T-Pain hook that’s absolutely been sitting in someone’s
closet since 2007.
If we were hoping for a glance into prison life, we don’t get it from
Wayne, but Drake manages to connect the Riker’s Island prison to bad
bitches and back again, letting Wayne shy away from anything too crucial
or ambitious.
So “Tha Carter IV” adds very little (except record sales, impressively)
to the artistic legacy of Lil Wayne. It stands as a frustrating reminder
of the maniacally productive rapper we once knew and a new chapter to
what has still become a fascinating career arc.
(07/21/11 8:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Perhaps more so than any other rapper since Lil Wayne, Lil B forced his way into hip-hop’s consciousness. Lil B’s career spans 676-song mixtapes, over 150 MySpace pages and numerous collabs with Soulja Boy, all of which have been used as methods to the madness of the Based God — the middling-to-completely ironic nickname that 21-year-old Brandon McCartney uses when spreading his gospel of positivity.But his biggest maneuver to date came at Coachella this year when he announced his next album was to be titled “I’m Gay.” B had always been socially conscious, but even his most positively-charged raps of change were emphatically counteracted by a web of rhymes about celebrities, internet memes and cars filled with money. Now, to suddenly throw yourself directly in the middle of hip-hop’s most combustible topic seems a little like falling on your own sword, though it’s actually called “I’m Gay (I’m Happy).”And yet, the young Based God rises to the occasion, producing some of his best strings of rhymes and more cohesive subject matter than ever before. That’s right kids, actual lyricism, courtesy of Lil B.The album’s first song, “Trapped in Prison,” opens with the line, “Mental slavery/ niggas be hangin’ off the trees in the woods,” a reverse hashtag rap with connotations as dark and heavy as you’ll see anywhere else on the album. Lil B’s stream-of-consciousness flow can be stop-and-start at times with awkward pauses that serve as a reset button between messages. Here, those rhymes are more about race relations and poverty than celebrities and cash. On “I Hate Myself,” Lil B raps over a slowed, softened version of the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” which is about identity and loneliness. The artist turns to more positive territory on the standout “I Seen That Light,” an Eric Benet sampler that’s also a self-promoter.What makes “I’m Gay” such an intriguing listen are Lil B’s earnest approach and honest lyrics. His message sometimes fails to hold up when inspected closely, but when he almost desperately raps about respecting women on “Last Chance,” it’s hard not to like a guy who believes he’s standing for some higher standard with his message — no matter how weird that perception might be.
(07/21/11 8:12pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For six years, Pitchfork Media has been putting on the best music festival that many people have never heard of. Don’t let the big summer festivities fool you. Bonnaroo is expensive and Coachella can get crowded. Pitchfork is a festival that does things right by providing a top-notch lineup without putting too big of a dent in your pocketbook. Set in Chicago’s Union Park in late July, this three-day weekend of up-and-coming artists and popular acts makes for an atmosphere that is both personal and overwhelmingly positive. I was at Pitchfork Music Festival this past weekend and witnessed all the cut off jeans, bandanas and ironic T-shirts it had to offer. But once you look past the hipster exterior, Pitchfork becomes an eclectic collection of music fans who are there just to see their favorite show. With only three stages to choose from, the festival can’t help but feel intimate. Music can be heard from all corners of the park and many attendees spend the day spread out in the lawn instead of getting up close and personal with the bands. Here are a few reasons why Pitchfork is one of the greatest music festivals ever. IT’S CHEAPYou can’t beat Pitchfork for the price. However, beer is outrageously expensive, and it is difficult to find food for a good deal, but there is a fountain in the park that provides attendees with water. On the hottest day, Pitchfork provided free suntan lotion and bottles of water to help the fans on a budget.EYE-CATCHING FASHIONBeing at Pitchfork is like stepping into an American Apparel advertisement. Attendees in throwback jerseys and rompers cover the lawn and tattoos can be spotted on every other limb. As the weekend wore on and the weather got hotter, clothes became scarcer. By Sunday, it wasn’t uncommon to see girls walking around in bikini tops and men cheering on bands in only their boxers. Face paint was a popular accessory for many of the attendees, too.At the beginning of the day, people painted their cheeks with swirls of color. By the evening, most of the paint had sweated off. And as you would expect, flannel still hasn’t gone out of style. MUSIC FOR EVERYONEPitchfork may be criticized for being a hipster’s guide to music, but it certainly doesn’t discriminate when choosing the lineup for its festival. While the headliners are heavily dominated by alternative rock, the rest of the day is represented by almost all genres. Rap and punk had a healthy presence at Union Park this past weekend with artists Das Racist, Curren$y, Yuck and OFWGKTA performing. Reunion shows were also a trend at Pitchfork with bands like Guided by Voices and The Dismemberment Plan coming together for one last show. Here's a recap of some acts we saw:Curren$yCurren$y’s Friday set at the Blue Stage really took things to a higher level, mostly courtesy of marijuana cigarettes. The hot spitta took the stage to “Elevator Musik,” a fan favorite. He littered his show with bits of acapella rap and crowd interaction. Curren$y was probably the day’s most amicable performer. Whether he was complimenting the crowd size, “Wow, there are a lot of motherfuckin’ people here right now,” their demeanor, “I didn’t think ya’ll would be so trill,” or wearing a Michael Jordan 23 jersey in honor of Chicago, he got things popping in a big way on a hot Friday afternoon. His performance wasn’t too bad, either.The Dismemberment Plan I came to Pitchfork not knowing who Dismemberment Plan was, but I certainly left a fan. The indie-rock outfit was born out of DC’s hardcore scene, but brings along a sense of whimsy and fun. Their performance at Pitchfork was a long awaited reunion for many die-hard fans. The show was lively with lead singer Travis Morrison trading jokes with the audience throughout the set. His candor helped to draw an enormous crowd.EMAErika M. Anderson was one of the first acts to kick off the festival. The former member of the drone-folk band Gowns, EMA went solo this year with her debut album “Past Life Martyred Saints.” While the album has garnered critical acclaim, EMA’s live show left more to be desired. Her performance was lackluster, and it was difficult to tell if she was enjoying herself on stage. At one point during the show, she told the crowd she did not “want to wear them out before the day was over,” leaving many fans confused as to why they came out in the first place to see her. Hopefully EMA will become more comfortable with live performances as her solo career continues. Animal CollectiveOf the three major headliners, my expectations were lowest for this act, but the show blew me away. I had seen Animal Collective twice before and both shows had little enthusiasm and next to no energy. At Pitchfork, however, Animal Collective made up for any past transgressions by giving the best performance of the festival. A majority of the act was new material, giving rise to some speculation of a new album or EP. The classics that Animal Collective did revive were “Did You See The Words,” “Brothersport,” “Taste,” “We Tigers” and “Summertime Clothes.” The remixes were so good, I keep listening to the bootleg recordings from the show instead of the original versions. Das Racist Having seen Das Racist before, I didn’t know what to expect going into their Friday show. I was hoping for a (slightly) more polished show than I witnessed in Indianapolis with all of about five songs and a lot of tiger noises. At any rate, I was rewarded. The group came out a little slow at first, but eventually Dapwell’s energy spread to bandmates Himanshu Suri and Victor Vasquez, who threw down pretty hard, bringing out beers and looking more interested in performing than I had ever seen them before.They rapped some classics like “Rainbow in the Dark” and the phenomenal “Rapping 2 U,” and even busted out some new songs like “Michael Jackson,” with the awesome hook of “Michael Jackson, a million dollars/ if you see me, holler.”Detroit rapper Danny Brown even made an appearance, winning over an initially apprehensive crowd with some awesome lyrics and brutal stage presence.tUnE-yArDsLead singer Merrill Garbus sounds like she has an entire tribe behind her when she sings. In fact when performing, she creates drum loops on the spot and then layers the beats with ukulele, electric bass, saxophone and vocals. The result was an upbeat and energetic performance that had the whole lawn jumping to the rhythms. Garbus’ enthusiasm is excitingly childlike and the music finds its inspiration in tribal and electronic beats. If you missed tUnE-yArDs at Pitchfork, you can catch her in Bloomington on Sept. 28 at Rhino’s.
(07/20/11 11:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The title for Bloomington’s Battle of the Bands is slightly misleading.While indeed there are bands competing every Tuesday night this summer at the Bluebird, the onstage rivalry takes a backseat to creating friendships with other bands.“What we’re really aiming to do is to progress local and independent bands,” Josh Johnson, the creator of the competition, said. “We wanted to put something together that’s competition based, but we also want the bands to get something out of it.”The Battle was an idea of Johnson’s when he started the competition by himself as a local promoter in 2005. He said doing a lot of shows for places like Uncle Fester’s and Club 902’s gave him a promoter’s insight when it came to knowledge of which local bands to book and how to get them.Jeff Shew came on to help him run the Battle in 2009, and the pair still run the competition, which had more bands than ever this year at 46. The Calumet Reel reached the semifinals both this year and in 2010. Vocalist/guitarist David James said their reason for returning was two-fold. “I mean, we’ve made enough money to pay for recordings and stuff, but the chance of winning $1,500 is definitely appealing,” he said. “But there’s also the chance to meet new people, which is a good part of it, too.”The event has prizes for the top three of $1,500, $1,000 and $500 allotted for first, second and third places, respectively. The top 12 bands also win a day of studio time.Half of the performers from each night move on to the next round, decided by a panel of six judges, which include the audience and five persons involved with the local music scene in some capacity.“We want to support any local music regardless of genre or experience,” Johnson said. “It’s a good cross-section of Bloomington talent.”That talent, Johnson said, is also quite diverse. Bands from funkadelic jammers the Main Squeeze to hip-hop collective Apollo Quad to Americana rockers like the Calumet Reel play tight 20-minute sets to create a “very eclectic mix that genre would normally prevent,” Johnson said.Corey Frye, the vocalist for the Main Squeeze, said exposure for fans and the bands are both important. “You have 50 different bands with 50 different styles. Fans get exposed to genres they normally wouldn’t,” he said. “You also find out stuff about bands you didn’t know existed, get to see what they’re all about and how they do things.”Brian Johnson, frontman from Brian Johnson and the Acquitted, said his rock group really enjoyed one band they didn’t expect to, so much so they wanted to have a show together. “We got to see Apollo Quad, who’s like a hip-hop group, perform on our night, and the next time they play I’m gonna go because it was a spectacular show,” Johnson said. Even the Squeeze, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals, had a great experience despite their disappointment.“We were a little taken aback at not advancing, but we were really happy with our performances,” Frye said. “We were really happy for all the people who wouldn’t normally perform on a stage like that to get their foot in the door.”Johnson echoed his sentiment, even in his seventh year of the competition.“This year we have a lot of great new local groups. We always have a strong local scene here,” he said. “It’s just a good way to be a part of it.”
(07/17/11 11:11pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Elevation was a common theme at the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend: high temperatures, high spirits and high people.From Friday to Sunday, Chicago’s Union Park was engulfed in clouds of smoke and dust, home to three stages and a sea of booths that entertained festival-goers.Both the temperature and the acts were quite cool for Friday’s shows, which were headlined by a polarizing Animal Collective performance in the evening. Earlier acts like TuNe-yArDs and James Blake weren’t terribly exciting to watch, but their overall performances and sound were very good, inspiring numerous declarations of fandom from those who were unfamiliar with them.Curren$y and Das Racist, two rap acts that tore up the Blue Stage that afternoon, were both sharp and charismatic, taking an excited crowd to another level. “They’re so awesome and funny. I can’t wait to see them,” Allen Knight said about Das Racist. Knight had driven six hours from Missouri to see the festival and the three-man rap crew specifically.The group didn’t disappoint either, playing several new songs from their upcoming album and bringing a sense of humor, enthusiasm and beers to their performance.Curren$y certainly knew his audience, sporting a Michael Jordan jersey for Chi-city, a move that didn’t go unnoticed.“Wow, there are a lot of motherfuckin’ people here right now. I didn’t expect to see all ya’ll out here,” Curren$y said as he came out on stage.Saturday featured performances from Sun Airway, who are on Bloomington’s Dead Oceans label. They later tweeted at Fleet Foxes, Saturday’s headliner, “@fleetfoxes pretty mindblowing last night...never seen so many vocal harmonies executed so well...glad we got to play the same day!”Indeed, Foxes were magnificent, executing their delicate tunes to perfection and garnering universal raves about their set, something AnCo couldn’t manage the night before.Sunday, which sold out weeks ago, was the first day of the three day festival to sell out, thanks to a pretty stacked lineup from top to bottom.Though it wound up being the hottest day of the festival, a lineup featuring Toro Y Moi, OFWGKTA, Deerhunter and TV on the Radio was enough to pack the park with more ironic and non-ironic attendees alike. Even Tyler, the Creator, Odd Future’s chief member, was decked out in a tie-dye peace sign t-shirt and came out on crutches to Bob Marley blasting. Pitchfork passed out free water for much of the festival, but their handouts were particularly plentiful on the last day.And while Sunday was the crown jewel of the festival’s dates, each one was excellent on its own.“It was a great time,” Chloe Lawson, a DePauw student said of Friday. “We went with some good people, saw some great shows and nothing really went wrong.”
(07/14/11 12:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One might say the Indiana Festival Theatre’s summer productions are a mixture of something old, something new and something borrowed.This weekend’s production is “The Comedy of Errors” by William Shakespeare. The Festival Theatre program itself is brand new this summer, as these kinds of productions had previously been performed in Brown County. As for the borrowed, the production staff brought in four professional Actors’ Equity Association performers: Adam Noble and Fontaine Syer, both members of IU faculty, Rob Johansen, an IU alumnus and Henry Woronicz.The play takes place in the modern day where director Jonathan Michaelsen has made some tweaks that deal with our 21st century technological dependence. The plot revolves around two sets of identical twin brothers separated at birth during a shipwreck, one twin from each set winding up with another. Eventually both sets of twins wind up in the same town, and several wild cases of mistaken identities ensue.The professional presence has helped breed a more professional atmosphere than some productions during the academic school year, said Kelly Lusk, a first-year M.F.A. student in playwriting at IU. Lusk plays one of the servant twin brothers.“You can go and see them up on stage and that’s obviously a learning experience,” Lusk said. “But it’s much more beneficial to see them during the rehearsal process and how they work.”Syer echoed Lusk, saying it’s good to “watch the pros forget their lines and call for it or get tongue-tied and have word-burgers,” but also said there is definitely no disconnect between the pros and the students. “We’re still trying to work things out too — make moments work on stage and build relationships with everyone,” Syer said. She also pointed out that the cast of “Errors” is the same cast people will see in “Ah, Wilderness,” a work by Eugene O’Neill which will be the next production from the Festival Theatre.“Everybody is something completely different in the two plays,” she said. “It’s a great example and great experience to see what actors do.” Woronicz also attested to their abilities.“It’s a very good group, everyone has worked pretty hard, but there’s always room for improvement,” said Woronicz, who has been in regional theatre for more than 35 years and has performed a great deal of Shakespeare.He said the play is a great example of Shakespeare’s ability to tell great stories and create characters that are significantly and palpably different from one another. He and Syer were both enthusiastic about these upcoming shows.“It’s a new venture for IU,” Woronicz said. “I’m hoping it’s very successful.”
(07/11/11 12:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It started with oranges, piles and piles of oranges pouring out of a fridge. At least, the name did.The Main Squeeze, recently one of Bloomington’s more buzzed-about bands, found its moniker in a dream, when the band’s now-former drummer had one that he was thirsty. He visualized going downstairs only to find a fridge full of oranges, which he squeezed into his mouth one-by-one, standing in front of a neon sign that flashed, “The Main Squeeze.” “He had a dream the night before our first show,” keyboardist Ben “Smiley” Silverstein said. “We ended up going with that.”The group has changed its complexion a bit since then, with both a new drummer and new lead vocalist from the original lineup. Even though they all came from different hometowns or states, the current lineup of Silverstein, singer Corey Frye, guitarist Max Newman, bassist Willie Robinson and drummer Reuben Gingrich came together rather easily.Silverstein said he and Newman met at a summer camp in upstate New York during high school. They clicked almost immediately.“We knew we wanted to play music together from that time,” Silverstein said. “When Max came to IU, then, he looked me up and we started playing.”Music has been a large part of both of their lives for a long time. Silverstein found his keyboard muse through piano lessons, while Newman has been playing the cello since he was in first grade. He even came to the Jacobs School of Music from his hometown of New York City to play cello.“By the time I was here as a freshman I was already really into blues and rock guitar and that,” Newman said. “So my sophomore year I actually gave up playing cello at the level I had been.”He added that he definitely wanted to work the cello into one of the band’s songs at some point. Given the band’s diverse group of influences, it’s certainly plausible.Corey Frye, the group’s lead singer, was one of the last members to join the band in February 2010. He had been in Straight No Chaser for five years and was a member of a band called Soul Review, which at different times held Robinson, Silverstein and Gingrich as members as well, making it the main common ground between the current lineup. “I was just kind of hopping on the mic for people at Sports at the time, and after a show, Smiley approached me and said ‘Hey, we should jam sometime,’ and we eventually made it happen and obviously it worked out,” Frye said.Frye said that his time with Straight No Chaser helped him not only realize what he wanted to do, but also learn a lot of the non-musical aspects of being in a band, things he still utilizes with the Squeeze today.“It puts you in a situation where you need to be ready to go and put on a good show,” he said. “I learned a lot about the professionalism of doing it right.”Whatever the group is doing, something has been working for it this summer. The early summer shows at the Bluebird were drawing crowds of between 500 and 700, earning the group a trip to Summer Camp music festival in May. Last month, the group played in New York City for the first time. “We had about 200 or 250 people there, mostly people that Max and I knew or IU grads, but still, it was pretty cool in a city like that to have that many people at a show,” Silverstein said.Now comes the hard part. Frye said the group is trying to take its shows outside of Bloomington to garner some regional, and hopefully, eventually national, recognition for the band.“We want to take this thing as far as we can go,” he said.Currently, the group is in the studio laying down three new tracks, a couple of which it hopes will be ready for the return of students in the fall.“We try to be the best of what everyone wants to hear,” Frye said. “We’re really trying to write, make some original tunes for everyone. Now that we’re playing a lot, we’re just now truly discovering our sound.”Want more Main Squeeze?The group will be playing another show at the Bluebird July 23. The first album, “First Drops” is available for a full, free download on the band’s website, where you can also see the group’s first music video, which was released in May.