Mixtapemotions

  • "Let's See It" by We Are Scientists, Saturday, August 21, 2021

    We Are Scientists formed in 2000 when two college students in Berkley, California met at bass guitarist Chris Cain’s Dawson’s Creek viewing party. Cain and guitarist/vocalist Keith Murray became good friends. Their mutual interests included comic books, films, television, and stand-up comedy. The nerdy pair went on to create nerdy music, blending music and comedy into their live shows. The band’s biggest hit “After Hours” is from their second album, Brain Thrust Mastery. The song was featured in the video game Tony Hawk: Ride and in the movie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Today’s song, “Let’s See It,” was featured in an episode of Gossip Girl. “Let’s See It” analyzes a couple’s argument in terms of science, faith, and fate. “The evidence is gonna suggest that [the speaker] will let [the listener] down.” He “muster[s] the faith that [the speaker] won’t let [the listener] down.” But he must be resolved that “science will just have to surrender to fate.”
    I KNOW THE EVIDENCE IS GONNA SUGGEST THAT I WILL LET YOU DOWN. For one week in October every year at Mission College, evening activities shut down. “Sorry but the weight room is closed for TentsRevival,” the RA told James, Allan, and Mark. “That’s a great way to kill a workout routine,” Mark said. It was only the fifth week of school and the third week since they Allan had joined his roommate Mark and new friend James three nights a week in the basement of the dormitory. “Should we check out the meetings for our spiritual health?” James said with a smug smile. “Might as well see what all the hype is all about,” Mark said. “I want to go up to my room and get a jacket,” Jim said. When the trio met in front of the the large canopy spread out on the lawn in front of the music and communications halls, Allan was wearing a thin Skillet hoodie covering his t-shirt and the Floridians were wearing winter coats. Music was coming from the tent. Praise and worship music “He is mighty to save, mighty to save” was coming out for the from the tent accompanied by an acoustic guitar and woodblock drumming. The tent was pack and staff continued to put out chairs in the back. Students were pushing their way to sit in the front. Allan made a sideways glance to his friends. Like Allan, they were also looking for seats in the back and at the sides. “Amen!” “Amen!” “We love you Jesus!” students shouted after the song finished. After two more energetic songs and a worshipful slow song, the guest speaker, Daniel Ashcraft, took the stage in his tight jeans and slim-fitting pink lavender shirt with a skinny black tie. 
    I WOULDN’T SAY SOMETHING I DIDN’T MEAN. The handsome young pastor mesmerized the rows and rows of students in front of in front of Allan and his friends. Ashcraft was a well-skilled orator, using crowd dynamics to play into his conversational preaching style. He started by telling his testimony, about how he was a straight-edge punk rocker, kicked out of the house and on a motorcycle migration between San Diego to Seattle, sleeping in garages wherever he could, often eating from dumpsters or stealing food when he needed to, until one day he was caught stealing from this old surfer dude just south of San Francisco. Rather than pressing charges, the man invited him to the local Seventh-day Adventist church. “I was hungry and that man fed me. But he knew that I was hungry for more than bread.” The crowd erupted in cheers and intense “Amens.” Pastor curated a look, a preaching style, that said, “I’m not your parent’s generation of preacher,” yet preaching generally the same message the old men in suits on Sabbath said with their neck ties strangling them. “I don’t believe in rock music anymore. I sold my bass guitar so that I could study at the Believable Truths institute in northern California. You see, rock music is all about the glory of man. Even Christian rock it’s all about ‘look at me.’ I say, ‘don’t look at me, look at him.’” The crowd erupted in cheers. Later that evening, Facebook and Twitter had the quote: “Don’t look at me, look at HIM”–Pastor Daniel Ashcraft along with other quotes from the evening flooding students at Mission College’s timeline. After a twenty-five minute altar call for 1)first timers 2)rededication 3)call into ministry, the evening ended with several praise and worship songs. “Guys, I really gotta get to my calculus homework,” Mark said. Allan and James also slipped out during one of the last songs.
    Read the lyrics on Genius.  

  • "Ringa Linga" (링아링아) by Taeyang (태양), Friday, August 20, 2021

    In recent years, YG Entertainment boyband Big Bang has had quite a share of scandal. From the accidental drag on the wrong kind of cigarette for rapper G-Dragon to T.O.P’s military drug scandal to Seungri’s involvement in an underground gambling and prostitution ring, the hit machine that was Big Bang has been canceled by many former fans. Taeyang, however, is the only member free of controversy.  Rise was Taeyang’s second solo LP, and the album was huge in 2014. Paste included the album in their article “10 K-pop Albums for People Who Don’t Like K-pop,” and as a former K-pop skeptic myself, this album was the slippery slope that got me into the genre. Taeyang’s Rise sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. The surging pulse of the EDM drum machine, the minor-key tonal hip hop was perhaps reminiscent of some era of Linkin Park.   


    PUT YOUR HANDS UP LIKE THE COUNTRY’S BEEN LIBERATED. Taeyang’s Rise album starts with a sample of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” then takes a journey of satisfying pop-R&B. The biggest hit from the album is the slow ballad “Nose, Eyes, and Lips” which has been covered by many Korean artists and even by Michael Bublé. But the lead single, “Ringa Linga,” Dazed magazine said “this unapologetic dancehall monster is meth-level addictive.” I certainly listened to “Ringa Linga” over and over again after I bought the single on iTunes. The old, slightly off-key piano intro which comes back for the bridge makes the tune sound worldly in a way that invites the listener to a sinfully delightful experience. Lyrically, the song was all about taking your mind off of your worries on a Friday night. The hook is based on the carefree Korean nursery rhyme “Round and Round,” a song that encourages children to have fun. A grownup Taeyang is using this call to fun in a grownup way–hitting the club and forgetting his worries with beautiful women. Likening this experience to riding a rollercoaster without a seatbelt, and talking about “bumping” and “shaking” coupled with the music video with the young singer showing off his abs, the song is simply a call to the dance floor. 

    IT’S OUR PARTY WE CAN DO WHAT WE WANT TO. “Ringa Linga” uses the Korean slang bulgeum (불금), which literally translates to “fire Friday.” Bul (불) is the word for fire and 금요일 (geumyoil) is the word for Friday. Geum can also mean gold and can refer to payment. So a “Fire Friday” is used when you go out with your friends for an epic night on the town on a Friday night, something good Adventists know nothing about. After vespers, Allan and Andrew were walking to Allan’s apartment. “It’s a shame your students are showing up for the religious activities,” Andrew said. “The institution really doesn’t see anything beyond money.” “We try to advertise, and a few of my students show up, but the other teacher’s don’t promote vespers or Sabbath School,” Allan said. “What’s even worse is that the Adventist teachers are no better than the non-Adventist teachers. They don’t care about getting the students into Bible studies,” Andrew said. “The church here will die if there are no new converts. But instead the missionaries are all about their free time,” Allan said as they turned into the darkened market in front of the apartment complex. “And that’s understandable how we can fall into that trap,” Andrew said. The smell of the day’s fish was still lingered as they passed through the market. “But there’s too much compromise when you start routinely buying food on the Sabbath. The other Adventist teachers at my institute stop at the bakery every Sabbath morning and bring the bread in for the students. And then they pray over it as if God is going to bless their sin they knowingly committed in front of him,” Andrew started breathing harder under the weight of his backpack as they climbed the stairs to the third floor. “They do that here too. Sometimes the church members deliver food after the sermon.” “When Adventist missionaries would rather talk about who they danced with in the club in Hongdae than give a Bible Study, the system is pretty damn broken,” Andrew said as Allan opened the door. “But lest we forget,” he added, “But for the grace of God, that’s our story too.”
     

  • "Something Left to Give" by The Starting Line, Thursday, August 19, 2021

    Howard Benson has two Grammys for his production and quite a few Dove Awards, the Christian version of the Grammys. Benson started producing hard rock bands in 1989. Ten years later, his production for P.O.D.’s The Fundamental Elements of Southtown went multiplatinum. P.O.D. kept producing records with Benson, and other rock acts followed. Benson’s early records have that early 2000s hard rock style you can hear in bands he produced like Crazy Town, Blindside, Trust Company, My Chemical Romance, Flyleaf, and Hoobastank. But little by little, Benson was developing pop sensibilities. In 2005, Benson produced The All-American Rejects’ Move Along and Hoobastank’s “The Reason” was a pop mega hit. He went on to work with Kelly Clarkson, Daniel Powter, Daughtry, and Rascal Flatts, as well as being a go-to producer for hard rock acts like Red, Skillet, and Of Mice and Men. But somewhere in the middle, lies Benson’s alternative and pop-punk records, like Relient K, Simple Plan, and today’s band, The Starting Line.


    SOME WERE SATELLITES, OTHERS PLANES. I talked about “Island” and The Starting Line’s Direction album back in April and I mentioned “Something Left to Give” as one of my favorites from the album. Track 6, directly in the middle of Direction, “Something Left to Give” is an acoustic campfire ballad, in which the young singer Kenny Vasoli, 23 at the time, looks up to the night sky and thinks of the stars that he discovers, which he will tell his children and grandchildren about. Scientifically speaking, one man’s naked eye discovering an unknown planet or new star seems unlikely, given the telescopes we have today. However, metaphorically, Vasoli is probably talking about the experiences he has had that he has kept to himself, not telling a soul. These experiences he will relate to his children and grandchildren. Despite these stories not being “that interesting,” a father’s perspective on the world can shape his children’s future. With those stories will come the lessons he has learned from them. The lyrics of “Something Left to Give” remind me about how temporary humankind is. Compared to the age of the earth, the longest human life is but a fraction of a nanosecond. Ancient humans were looking up at the same stars that we see every night with much less of an understanding about them, unaware that at any moment, a rock could come hurdling through the atmosphere, obliterating every chance of a future, and yet, it hasn’t happened. The same constellations we gaze up on a summer night graced the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, and their mythology has been passed down to this day. For a young man to stare up at the stars and find something to call his own is arrogant, in the grand scheme of things, but it’s quintessentially human.

    I’LL HEAR MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN SING. “Once you get in the van, the day is over.” Abram’s sage advice was playing in the back of Allan’s head, as the sun was setting in the countryside of Gangwon-do. Pastor Shim had prepared a long message and the message turned into hymn singing, and all of it was in Korean, which Kelly sparsely interpreted at Allan’s request. Some of the ajummas had lit some lamps that were attracting bugs as they were rolling kimbap. “We’re so bored,” Jenny said, loud enough for some of the congregation in the back to hear and jolted Allan out of his daydreams as he stared at the waning crescent moon and the evening star. Jenny was Pastor Shim’s eldest child. She was holding her younger brother’s hand as she shook her limbs the way a restless child does when seeking attention. “Ok, ok. I think your dad is just going to preach for a little while longer then we’re going to look at the stars.” “That sounds boring,” Ji-hoon said. “Have you looked at the stars before?” Allan asked. “In the city, you can’t see them. But here, it’s dark and we can see the constellations. See it’s getting darker.” The congregation began singing a hymn in Korean. The melody made him feel like a child again, safe and secure. It was a hymn that he had grown up singing in church, but he couldn’t think of the title or the English lyrics. After the hymn, Pastor Shim said, in English, “We came tonight for earnest prayer for the future of our institution.” Kelly interpreted the pastor’s message in Korean. “We have one faithful missionary here tonight, and yet, across the country, our institutions are suffering financial losses. We are here tonight to pray that God will change the hearts of the headquarters in Seoul that want to shut down this institution, if we cannot raise the funds, our building will close–scattering the church.” The cool air bit Allan as he thought of his role in the church’s continuation. He thought of the English students who were dragged to this “stargazing event” as an English opportunity. “But tonight, we pray that just as God promised the descendants more numerous than the stars, he will send students who will become church members. Teacher Allan, would you lead us in this prayer?”

  • “Contact” (Complexus) by Falling Up, Wednesday, August 18, 2021

     

    The idea of a remix album has been around since the 1970s. In 1987 Madonna released her remix album You Can Dance, the second most-selling remix album ever after Michael Jackson‘s 1997 Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. Jennifer Lopez‘s remix album J to tha L–O! The Remixes, in  2002, was the first remix album to top Billboard‘s Hot 200 album sales charts.  There have been some notable rock remix records. Nine Inch Nails released Further Down the Spiral in 1995, remixing their classic album The Downward Spiral. In 2001 Limp Bizkit released New Old Songs, which sold 500,000 copies. However, I argue that it was another platinum remix album that was followed by a slew of Christian Rock artists to copy their style. The band is Linkin Park and the album was Reanimation, a reworking of their 12x platinum debut Hybrid Theory. 

    HE’S IN THIS PLACE TO QUESTION WHO YOU ARE. Reanimation featured collaboration between rockers and underground rappers. While the track listing of Hybrid Theory was different, every song had a remix. There were also a few additional songs and interlude tracks. In 2006, Falling Up was one of the biggest upcoming acts in Christian Rock and they drew comparison to Linkin Park for their use of electronics, hard rock sound, and collaborations in the genre. Unlike Reanimation, Falling Up’s 2006 remix album Exit Lights draws on the band’s two prior studio albums: Crashings and Dawn Escapes. Exit Lights featured artists like Family Force 5’s Solomon Olds, Thousand Foot Krutch’s Trevor McNevan, and CCM singer Rachel Lampa. The album opened with a new song, “Islander” and featured several creepy instrumentals. Many of the remixes take on a darker approach to the original songs. At this point in the band’s career, members started leaving and the band started losing popularity. When they performed at Cornerstone in the summer of 2007, lead singer Jessy Ribordy seemed distracted, sometimes forgetting the band’s lyrics. The hype Falling Up had garnered started tapering off. 

    EVERYTHING WITHIN YOU WILL FEEL ERASED. I still listen to Dawn Escapes, particularly in the fall. It’s one of my first “driving” records, released the fall after the summer I got my license. The early tracks on Dawn Escapes set an uncanny mood, not quite a horror movie, but a “Thank God I’m in the warm car and not on the broke down on the side of the road” feeling. Taking a break from the intense guitar-driven songs, track 5 was a repetitive piano-arpeggio-driven song called “Contact.” The song evokes emotions and even inspired my sister and I to write a teen drama when we were in high school–we never finished it. The track was remixed on Exit Lights, but this time, an acoustic guitar took the place of the piano. “Contact” (Complexus) still has an atmosphere to it, though rather than the rainy cold sound of the piano, the guitar makes it sound like an autumn or late summer afternoon or evening. Based on Psalm 42:7, the song was featured on X Worship 2007, despite vague references to God and not being a particularly good song to sing as a congregation. The Bible verse, too, is vague. Is it baptism? Is it drowning? And what is this erasure? According to a user on SongMeanings.com, in concert lead singer Jessy Ribordy talked about “how temporary everything in life is, and how Jesus is the only thing you can put your faith in.” But following this thread too far can lead to a godly depression, so typical of believers. Erasing everything I am is erasing the person God made. Spending hours in self-reflection about what is wrong with me, trying to kill the sinful cancer could damn near kill me. And yet, how much do preachers and every religious organization want to reprogram me? How much do they want me to look just like them? Why? Because differences are scary. You start to wake up and realize that you were never following Christ, but your pastor. And you’re just left erased.
    Dawn Escapes (Original):
    Exit Lights (Remix):

  • "Sunflower, Vol. 6" by Harry Styles, Tuesday, August 17, 2021

    When Stevie Nicks named Harry Styles Fine Line his version of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, look no further than the influence and writers of Styles‘ first act: One Direction. The writers and the members of One Direction have been accused by music listeners of plagiarizing hit after hit from the 60s to the 2000s; however, Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who was flattered by how the pop act reinterpreted the opening of “Baba O’riley.” In One Direction, Styles learned about what makes up a hit. He internalized the formula and took it to his solo career. His 2019 release, Fine Line, spawn six singles, including a number one for “Watermelon Sugar,” which was a summer hit last year. But buried beneath the hit singles, Fine Line‘s vibey ’60s and ’70s psychedelic prog pop tracks about “having sex and feeling sad” are some truly remarkable middle tracks. The George Harrison/Beatles sounding “Sunflower, Vol. 6” is one of such tracks.


    MOUTHFUL OF TOOTHPASTE BEFORE I GOT TO KNOW YOU. As summer wears on, the days get shorter little by little in July and August. At first you don’t notice it. The 6 pm shadow comes earlier, bringing a relieving breeze. The mid-day sweat starts to cool, and you find that the plants that you hadn’t seen when it was too hot in early July to enjoy the outdoors have now grown. The corn husks, now taller than a Scandinavian man–if you enter a field of them, you could be lost for hours. And in late July to mid-August, sunflowers grow tall. These beautiful flowers have a beauty that is both masculine and feminine at the same time. In pictures they look as fair as any flower. Yet averaging between 10-20 feet tall, sunflowers are not delicate. Sometimes they can be quite intimidating. There’s even a phobia named for the irrational fear of the flower, Helianthophobia.  Styles’ ninth track on Fine Line, “Sunflower, Vol. 6″ is a song of musical surprises. House grooving, soulful backup singers, varied vocal runs, guitars and a sitar? or dulcimer?, sound effects of taking a deep breath in, and the drum beat that breaks down (which reminds me of the drums in The Juliana Theory’s “Can’t Go Home”) all create a bright, summery sound. The lyrics about falling in love in the late summer, make me think of being a little less than hygienic–despite the toothpaste. “Sunflower, Vol. 6” adds sweat to the otherwise sticky, sweet, delicious mess of Fine Line.  “Sunflower” is sexy in the way that a carpeted hippy van and it’s young long, unwashed haired driver is wearing a white skin-tight jumpsuit and a bead of chest hair sticking out, put through an Instagram filter and maybe some psychedelics for the mood. 

    I WAS JUST TONGUE TIED. Allan liked being at his grandmother’s house as long as he didn’t have to see his grandmother. As a child, he spent a lot of time in the winter in his grandfather’s hay-bales, wrestling with his cousins or playing with the barn-mouser, a grey tabby. In the early spring he spent late hours with his uncles and his father in the sugar house, boiling sap into syrup. But in the summer, he spent his time playing in his grandmother’s unkempt water garden. The garden was built into the hill around the jagged stone steps leading to the house and the garden wrapped around the house. These rocks became slippery in the rain or if the sprinkler hit them, making the pathway impassible to grandma’s sitting room. From the main rock stairs, another set of stairs lead to the back of the house. Behind the house was grandma’s sunflower patch, and the tall grasses, overgrowing the path to grandma’s sheep barn. After he saw a fat black snake, Allan never attempted to see the sheep, so he stayed with the sunflowers, though, they too looked over him, judging him like his grandmother judged the family. Every one in the large family was on a rotation for grandma’s favor and coldness. Some cousins she doted upon until she didn’t. Allan’s family never seemed to be in grandma’s good graces. “I’m Grandma,” Allan said in a deep voice behind the house to his sister and cousin. They rolled on the floor with laughter. “Stay out of my garden!” Suddenly a shadow appeared from the deck above the garden. “What are you kids doing?” a deep voice called. Even from the distance Allan turned around and saw the chin hair of his grandmother. Screaming, all the kids ran away. “Get out of my garden!”

     

  • “Harbinger” by Anberlin, Monday, August 16, 2021
























    “Harbinger” was supposed to be the last song we ever heard from Anberlin. In 2013, the band agreed that they would release one last album and tour the world one last time. Stephen Christian talked openly about that dark hour in the band and the recording industry at the time, and because he was the only one speaking, many fans wondered if there was bad blood. However, in 2017, which was certainly not “forever” after their “final show” in December of 2014, the band announced a reunion supporting their good friends Underoath, who had also gotten back together. Since that reunion show, the band has toured off-and-on again, and most recently, performed all seven of their studio albums on livestreams. Yesterday, the band performed the album they never intended to play live, Lowborn. But right after the band’s final movement in their requiem, they premiered a new song called “Two Graves,” along with the announcement that a new record is in the works. If only all deaths worked this way.


    I DON’T WANT TO GO NOW, BUT I’VE GOT TO FOR YOU TO REMEMBER ME IN THIS LIGHT. For long-term fans who noticed a change in Anberlin’s music toward the end of their career, thank their drummer, Nate Young. When the band began in 2002, Nate was a high school student. Seven years junior to the other bandmates, Nate’s youthful energy helped to push the band to finish strong. He composed music on Vital and selected the artwork for the packaging of Dark Is the Way Light Is a Place and Vital. However, in the band’s livestream for Lowborn, the band members (sans. Stephen who was home sick with COVID) revealed that Nate was responsible for the moody pop sounds on Lowborn. However, while Young oversaw the band’s production and vision for their final album, it was a blending of the band’s instrumentals, Stephen’s lyrics, and the oversight of three producers. The band returned to Atlanta for preproduction and drum production with Matt Goldman, who was known for his production on several Underoath albums and had also recorded Anberlin’s earliest demos that helped them get their first record deal. Next, the band worked with Aaron Marsh of Copeland to record the instrumentals. Finally, Stephen Christian recorded vocals in Nashville with Aaron Sprinkle, the producer they had worked with for all but two of their records. The final product was what some fans and critics complained about being disjointed, and that is true in some places. The track listing, for one, could have been better arranged. However, it was the band throwing everything they had left into an Anberlin record, without much filter. 

    WE’LL LIVE FOREVER. The band announced in January 2014 that it was their final year as a band. They promised a world tour and a new album in July. They released “Stranger Ways” as the first single, and then “Dissenter” was leaked and circulated online. “Was that Stephen screaming? Is this really Anberlin?” everyone wondered. However, the bridge in which Stephen sings “For so long I’ve waited for this” the album’s theme was clear: the ending of a labor of love. The songs “Atonement” and “Harbinger” explained different reasons for the band’s split up. “Atonement” talked about band members’ individual obligations to their families and the strain of being a touring band. “Harbinger” talked about not wanting to be an aging band that fades out of popularity. Anberlin wanted to be seen in the best light possible. This message resonated with Allan back in 2014. Lowborn is a breakup album, but goes much deeper than a human relationship. Six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., plus about a Sunday a month, he was devoted to the company. But the bags under his eyes were swelling. He was losing weight as his stomach was reacting to everything with any spice dairy or complex. It became clearer and clearer that money was the root of the company and that he could continue in his personal piety or fake it. Either way, the company needed compliance to take in as many students as possible, to open as many classes as possible, and to not complain to the labor board. To suck it up, and if you can’t stand it just go home. But what was left for him at home?

     

  • “childhood bedroom” by Ben Platt, Sunday, August 15, 2021

    Ben Platt is a musician-actor who has played roles in Pitch Perfect, Ricki and the Flash, and stars in the Netflix original series The Politician. He stars in the upcoming film Dear Evan Hansen directed by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder, Jericho). The film is an adaptation of the broadway play in which Platt also starred and won a Tony Award for best leading role actor. At 23, Platt was the youngest actor have won this award. On Friday, Platt released his second solo pop record, Reverie. “Childhood bedroom” is the second track on Reverie, and deals with a similar theme to Dear Evan Hanson–anxiety. In “childhood bedroom,” Platt escapes his worries by mentally transporting himself to his past, a time when he feels secure. 


    BAREFOOT ON MY DARK BLUE CARPET, TEMPORARY FREEDOM WITHIN THESE WALLS. He had had a happy childhood, a room full of hand-me-down stuffed animals, a few Hess Trucks, Matchbox cars, and Legos, which he shared with Jess until he was about seven years old. Playtime usually consisted of Hot Wheels and Barbies, playing house or school. But when he played with Legos, Allan’s imagination ran wild. He built the perfect home–a two story house with a pool outside–just like in the movies and PBS shows he watched. He would grow up and make money to buy this Lego house life. His children would have every new Lego set they wanted. How would he afford this life? By being an actor/movie maker. Outside, in the forest behind his house, Allan acted out these movies. The plots were similar to whatever Disney movie he had watched recently and Jurassic Park–there were always a few lines from Jurassic Park. On the swings, he imagined taking off in a plane. The slide was running away from the villain. The naughty parts, well, they took place in the playhouse his dad had built, away from his mother’s eye. He’d imagine being tied up, like in the movies, by some brute–a man with broad shoulders and disproportionately small legs. Tying himself up in the dirty tree house, made Allan feel something strange, a feeling he couldn’t describe. It started with a cold rush and turned into a cold sweat. It wasn’t fear because he knew he controlled the narrative. This made him, the hero of this someday Disney Adventure, to add more intensity. More rope? More hot breath from the unshaven villain with a cleft chin? Perhaps a stroke to the chest?

    Three-disc changer Sony stereo system
    Source: Wikimedia Commons.

    A LOOPHOLE WHEN I NEED TO ESCAPE. When Allan was ten years old, his family moved from the trailer in New York to a rented house in North Carolina. The backwoods behind the house also allowed for movie making fantasies, but he was growing up and at the age of thirteen guitar practice and thoughts of being a rockstar started replace his dreams. Spending hours next to his Sony stereo, he’d sit with his guitar figuring out how to play songs. It started out with CCM radio. Allan really wanted to be next Michael W. Smith. He was so handsome and loved by everyone in the Christian music scene. He played piano and guitar and composed music. He had a scruffy beard and a voice that would rasp at just the right part of the song. He eventually grew out of CCM and started playing classic rock and then current pop and rock songs–early 2000s Goo Goo Dolls and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then Christian hard rock like P.O.D. But his music teacher pushed him to play older songs–classical to mid-20th century songs. She said that’s where the money in music is. The hours he spent in his room making music, dreaming of the rock band he would one day form, would be just like the hours spent imagining the movies he would make. The hours of imagination in childhood didn’t translate to commitment in a dream, so they were discarded back into the deck, never to be dealt back.

  • “Animal” by Kye Kye, Saturday, August 14, 2021

    In March, I talked about Kye Kye’s 2014 single, “I Already See It”  and gave a brief history of the band and their connection to the Christian music scene. Since their 2014 release, the 4-piece band, originally composed of siblings Olga, Timothy, and Alex Yagolnikov along with Olga’s husband, Thomas Phelan, now is a duo of Olga and Timothy. They broke their six-year hiatus last year, releasing an eerie single titled “A Forest,” an electronic rhapsody incorporating singing and spoken word and scary sounding electronic tones. Then, in June of this year, the duo started releasing a series of two-track singles that would be part of their July 30 release of the 16-track Arya. But with Kye Kye’s hiatus and without a record label, the album is quite under the radar. One listener on Twitter called the album, “an ode to Bowie and Brian Eno,” and that sounds appropriate. Much of the tracks are not catchy–they don’t often follow a pop-song formula nor do they lend themselves to the dance floor. It’s a different Kye Kye, and some longtime fans may be asking, what’s up?

    LOOKING FOR LIFE AS A STORY. What’s different about 2021’s Kye Kye and 2014’s is not only musical. Vocalist Olga Yagolnikov Phelan trades vaguely spiritual lines for the cryptically cynical. It seems that the lyrics on Arya are about the dissolving of a relationship, leaving listeners to wonder if Olga is writing about her husband or ex-husband. Arya still uses spiritual imagery, perhaps more so than the band’s prior releases. But the usage of spiritual imagery in Arya is related to hurt and betrayal. “Animal” attests to the speaker being “cynical” and the speaker seems to be the instigator and caught up in a “holy lie.” When the “holy lie” is realized, the lover “write[s] a story, so all the town knows” thus shaming the speaker. By the end of the ordeal, the speaker begs “Let me free.” As neither Olga nor Timothy have explicitly stated what the lyrics are about, it’s not fair to project the following story onto Olga; however, when the band released their 2011 album, Young Love, the lyrics were much more optimistic. A common story plays out among the devout: marry young, encounter problems, divorce, question your devotion. I’ve seen this story play out growing up and it continues today. The young spark of love of high school sweethearts burns out as individuals grow older and experience more of the world. If the spark of love was also a lie, was the belief that pushed for the early marriage also a lie?  
    HOLY LIE, I LIED. From Allan’s earliest days in Sabbath school, besides the felt board lessons of Old Testament Bible stories–of Noah building the ark, of Elijah calling fire down from heaven, of Jonah swallowed by a big fish–he remembered one principle lesson: “Thou shalt not lie.” “God will never lie to us,” Mrs. Davis, a grey-haired woman who taught Primary, before Allan’s baby blonde darkened. All the other older women to Allan and his sister were “grandma” or “aunt” in the tight-knit church, but Mrs. Davis insisted to Allan’s mother that she be called “Mrs. Davis.” Years later, Allan’s mom told her children that Mrs. Davis had scolded her on several occasions about the children’s behavior as she had been the chief old crone of the run-down church building. Just like every child learns not to lie to parents and building trust, Allan was taught the lesson of “Thou shalt not lie” at home and at school. From sneaking out of bed at night to steal a cookie to an embarrassing game on the school bus with another boy in which the loser had to expose himself–whenever the lie was found out, Allan remembered God’s wrath. He thought about the Old Testament punishments–ground swallowing up, bears attacking, dogs lapping up the blood of the corpse. As he got older, Allan heard sermons about “The father of lies” who was currently deceiving the world, telling Christians to worship on Sunday, when the true day was Saturday. “Satan has deceived the world, but historical sources tell us the truth about who is really behind this lie.” Pastor Jim’s sermons left a knot in Allan’s stomach as he thought of the tribulation to come. And late at night he thought about the lies on which his life was based. How confessing his sins would inevitably lead to shame and banishment. He knew deep down, he could never recover from this sin. So, it was much better to live a lie.

     

  • "Bike" by Adoy, Friday, August 13, 2021

    Adoy is a Korean Indie group that formed in 2017 with members from other indie groups. The band contains the keyboardist/vocalist Zee from the indie band From the Airport, who I talked about in January. Zee has also been involved with writing on George‘s “Summer in Love,” covered last month. Adoy was founded as musical project to produce “commercial indie,” an oxymoron that reminds me of the early 2000s when bands like Modest Mouse and The Strokes went mainstream. In Korea, too, the growing indie sound is flooding cafes, television, and movies. The Korean indie wave is much smaller than K-pop and K-dramas, but within Korea and in some underground scenes, Korean indie music is a cooler alternative to the bubblegum pop, the cute boys and and girls stickers slapped onto a binder. 

    WE RAN AWAY FROM THE TOWN. In Korea, though, a K-pop act’s visibility helps to contribute to their sales. Much like seeing the image of a giant McDonald’s M or a Nike check mark, seeing the K-pop posters helps to attract young fans. Korean indie, however, usually doesn’t have the visual component of handsome/beautiful musicians. However, an article published last year in The Korean Times looks into a growing trend in Korean digital music. The author observes: “As more think the cover design reflects the artists’ identity and the concept that they want to create, more artists started to put more effort into them, moving away from simple portrait-style images and introducing new artistic designs such as retro-inspired artwork and illustrations that help audiences understand the album concepts. More importantly, as more people choose to listen to new songs based on thumbnail images uploaded on streaming services, more eye-catching designs are emerging.” Certainly, this is similar to the vinyl age with Pink Floyd records or the ’90s and early ’00s, where graphic designers like Ryan Clark helped to make Tooth & Nail packaging iconic. The Korea Times goes on to attribute the band Adoy’s success with their usage of artist Ok Seung-Cheol‘s vivid, cartoon designs to help bolster the band’s success.  

    WE HID AWAY TO THE MOONLIGHT, BEHIND THE MERRY-GO-ROUND. Musically, Adoy falls into a Newtro style, a word coined in Korean, but very applicable to trends current trends. Newtro means “New” + “Retro” and, if you’ve listened to any pop song in the last 20 years, you could find an example of newtro. Newtro culture doesn’t just apply to music, but art, food and drink as well. The South Korean coffee shop, A Twosome Place, has a Newtro drink menu, taking a modern approach to traditional Korean drinks. “Bike” is a middle track on the band’s second EP, Love. Released in 2018, the synth pop vibes sound almost minor key on this track. But, like other songs on the EP, rather than sadness, the music creates a deep sense of nostalgia, which would translate across cultures even if the song were sung in Korean. However, Adoy, like From the Airport, chooses to set most of their songs in English. The musical tone of “Bike” suggests an overcast summer day or the memory of a summer day thought back on sitting inside during a November rain shower. However, given how many summer days in Korea are overcast, anticipating a heavy rainstorm–monsoon or typhoon–that often doesn’t come, “Bike” is a perfect cloudy day Korean summer track that speaks of new love.
    Live performance:

    Studio version:

  • “Glory Days” by Betty Who, Thursday, August 12, 2021

     

    Australian singer-songwriter Jessica Anne Newham, better known by her stage name, Betty Who, released her debut album Take Me When You Go in 2014. In her three albums, Who has yet to have a mainstream pop hit, though she has three #1 singles on the US dance chart. She has toured with Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Kiesza, Panic at the Disco, and Kesha who graduated from Berklee College of Music and was a classmate of Charlie Puth. In 2014, she was featured on Troye Sivan’s debut album Blue Neighborhoods on the track “Heaven.” Who is a staple in the LGBTQ+ music scene; she herself came out as “queer and bisexual.” Her song “Glory Days” talks about young adulthood, mentioning names of people she knows, and remembering fondly a boyfriend who has a bit of a bad reputation. From the big ’80s synth intro to the provocative lyrics, “Glory Days” is a nostalgic summer night jam.


    BREAKING BACK INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAYS. “It’s really best never to touch any part of another person’s body that should have two layers of clothes,” Pastor Manley said to the class of seniors one day as they were studying a unit on God’s plan for marriage. He was looking at Justin, who then laughed. “Why are you looking at me?” “I was talking to everyone,” Pastor Manley said, his face cracking into a smile. “Just saying, when you’re dating a local pastor’s daughter, you have to be careful.” “I’m the king of careful. Nothing ungodly is happening here, Pastor.” “Is that what you say to her father?” Isaac, the class clown, interjected. “You guys have it all wrong.” Everyone knew the rumors. The boy who transferred from public school last year after breaking up with his girlfriend. Some were talking about how he cheated on her, others were saying that that she turned him down, but he didn’t take no for an answer. But either way he came to a new school, and showed his devotion to King James theology, making this young man a solid candidate to date Ariella, the daughter of one of the many Baptist pastors in Mern. It wasn’t long before the rumors of their relationship started circulating, X-rated rumors detailing their sexual relationship, or the everything else they did so that Ariella could tell her father with a straight face that she wasn’t having sex and that she was still technically a virgin. This technicality was important .

    FEEL YOUR HANDS UNDER THE BLANKET. Senior year included two trips–a class trip to Disney World in February. and a volunteer trip to Chattanooga in March. On the second night in Chattanooga, the boys in the dormitory started talking about their experiences in terms of which base they got to. “Home Run,” Collin said lying down in his bunk. “You guys know that before I got saved, I lived a wild life. said, “Please,” Wes said sitting up in the adjacent bunk, “I’ve been saved since I was 5, but that didn’t stop me from taking Holly Daughtery’s virginity.” “You didn’t take Holly’s virginity,” Johnathan said,  “There were at least five others before you.” After some laughter,  and defining of terms, the game commenced. One by one, in the dark room, the boys went through their shameful confessions, which they talked about proudly. Allan dreaded the moment when it was his turn. He lay there in the dark, realizing that purity and abstinence was a myth told at a Rebecca St. James concert. “What about you, Mason?” Mason had started dating Brittney shortly after the volunteer trip sophomore year. “Well, you know I don’t like to tell, but there’s definitely been some under the blanket stuff.” Allan’s thoughts turned back to the late night conversations he had with Brittney, three years ago. How it could have been him “doing under blanket stuff,” but he probably wouldn’t because sexual purity was important. “Allan, it’s your turn.” Allan was silent. “Come on, dude, it’s not like you’re asleep,” Collin said. “Alright, alright. First base.” “What?” “Only first base.” “Dude. Are you,” Brandon choked on his words, “Christian?” Allan laughed nervously. “I guess, I’ve always just been, um, unlucky in love.”