Chris Orzeske's Top 5 Albums of 2014

Best of 2014

5. Clean Bandit - New Eyes

“If you gave me a chance, I would take it/it’s a shot in the dark, but I’ll make it.” Those words blasted through our radios more and more as the year progressed. By the end of it all, English quartet Clean Bandit and their breakout single “Rather Be” were almost as ubiquitous on this side of the pond as on theirs. Perhaps the one downside of such a perfectly crafted piece of pop becoming so, so popular is that the song’s impressive parent album often goes unnoticed.

New Eyes, the band’s debut, is much more than the collection of first single similarities that so many modern pop albums are. Displaying their classical roots, the sound of live strings permeates nearly every track on the album. From seafaring stabs on the chorus of “Come Over” to full-on classical movement recreations on the opener “Mozart’s House”, the band misses no opportunity to add classical flavor to modern dance music.

Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces on the album is British single “A+E”, which has criminally not been pushed yet in America. An enticing classical opening section gives way to an irresistible dance plod, complete with the trademark bleeps and steel pan synths that Clean Bandit has made their signature. The four have an unmatched knack for melding pop sensibility with classical melody.

The influences displayed range from southern trap on the title track to island music on “UK Shanty” to the aforementioned classical flavorings. For a record on paper so across-the-board, the result is surprisingly cohesive and compelling. When pop music is viewed through a serious lens, the results are often great. Through the lens of the strict structure of classical music, the result is the catchy, danceable, melodically complex and intrinsically appealing sound that you know from “Rather Be”. It would be criminal to assume Clean Bandit to be just a one-trick pony, when they’re more like an entire herd moving in unison to the sound of strings and techno beats.

4. Beck - Morning Phase

A full twenty years since “Loser”, Beck is still pushing the boundaries of rock music. After dabbling in glitch, crunchy alternative, hip-hop and psychedelia, where is an enterprising oddball rocker to turn? As it happens, the call is a long-requested return to the acoustic melodies of his heavily acclaimed Sea Change. Where that album was rooted in melancholy loneliness, Morning Phase deals instead in wide-eyed optimism with folk-rock flavor. Gone is the breakup-inspired, tearful sunset of Sea Change in favor of a sunrise companion piece with appropriately bright soundscapes.

To begin the album with a song called “Morning” is no coincidence. “Morning” sounds like the sigh of relief at 7am after a terrible night of red eyes and broken memories. The simple brushed drums and solo guitar four-chord progression gives way to a cascade of vocal harmonies, courtesy of a choir of Beck’s. The man’s own voice is an instrument he proudly wields like Hendrix’s guitar.

Early standout “Heart Is A Drum” chugs along on a repeated guitar line, swaddled in ethereal synth waves and reverb-powered vocal sighs. Following track “Say Goodbye” seems to tread more traditional bluesy Beck territory, but expands to include his now-trademark vocal harmonies and a banjo line you didn’t know you wanted until it enters. Synth organ waves buoy held vocal wails on “Unforgiven”, and the almost-overproduced-but-not-quite “Blue Moon” stands as a welcoming first single.

The general positivity of Morning Phase persists in feeling up until and through the epic closer “Waking Light”. In a culmination of all of the tricks he’s displayed throughout the album, “Light” slowly builds into a string-heavy cavalcade to close the album on an essentially-Beck note of all possible technical capabilities in full force. Morning Phase stands both as the perfect closure to Sea Change and a wonderful display of Beck’s raw talent in its own right. Is it an unexpected sound in the midst of an experiment-fueled musical era never more similar to Beck’s own heart? Sure, but leave it to Beck to leave us happily surprised time after time.

3. Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo

Rap music in 2014 became a very fickle beast. In a world in which Bobby Shmurda hits the top 10 by wailing that “Mitch caught a body ‘bout a week agoooo” and iLoveMakonnen lights up radio by singing entirely off-key about weekday club excursions, it’s hard to see a place for traditional lyricism in the fray. Record label Top Dawg Entertainment has made its name as a beacon in a murky sea of punchlines and distorted 808s as modern rap’s guiding force towards the past, with mainstays like Kendrick Lamar and Ab-Soul recalling yesteryear’s rhyming passion and Schoolboy Q inserting the same spirit into today’s sounds.

Enter Isaiah Rashad. Alongside fellow new signee SZA (whose silky R&B can be heard on two Cilvia Demo tracks), Rashad has emerged as TDE’s latest hip-hop wunderkind. It’s not hard to imagine Rashad’s incessant flow and sharp rhymes fitting snugly in the rap scene of nearly 20 years ago, in the era of Wu-Tang and NWA. From the beginning of electric piano-led head-nodder “Webbie Flow” opening the album, the feeling of something both familiar and brand new is omnipresent.

But it’s his brutal personality that anchors Rashad to the modern era throughout the disc. He tackles the feelings of loneliness and desperation in his career path over a steel-pan skeleton on “Heavenly Father”, a show of raw honesty and vulnerability that wouldn’t have been as warmly received in a pre-808s & Heartbreak world. And the boastful Scarface referencing “Brad Jordan” could have easily been recorded on by a Future or a Kevin Gates, albeit likely not with the same fury and lyrical acrobatics.

The sarcastic musings on substance of “Menthol” betray Rashad’s dissatisfaction with the materialistic and molly-popping modern rap scene. “Thought the remedy was balling, I’m falling darling, I’m done/Finna be a workaholic, an alcoholic or some’” are bitter slams on the cashwise attitude of today’s young stars. Though only 23, Rashad speaks with the brutal honesty of a man with the glamorous world in his rearview.

His soul-soaked honesty carries through the project. Here is a young man with a story to tell and the talent to tell it in rhyme. With incredibly tight production from the likes of Sounwave and The Antydote, the result is an album as fresh as it is nostalgic, as haunting as it is optimistic. “At least we fell in love with something greater than debating suicide,” he laments on standout “West Savannah”, and it’s one of the most beautiful lines from a new rapper this year.

2. Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End

One of the year’s most shockingly impressive projects came from perhaps the least likely source. Weezer, after a disappointing string of albums through the latter 2000s and culminating with an odd collection of songs tied together with a picture of Jorge Garcia, had had just enough of being modern rock’s perennial joke. After entering the studio with The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, who had previously assisted with their heavily acclaimed blue and green albums, the band emerged with their best piece of work in over a decade.

Clocking in at just over 40 minutes, Everything Will Be Alright is Weezer’s heftiest work since 2005’s Make Believe. In spite of the longer running time, the album feels like the band has finally cut the fat that plagued their recent works. Gone are the experimentally dance-leaning cuts and Lil Wayne features, replaced with pure, unadulterated power pop. Lead single “Back to the Shack” finds lead singer Rivers Cuomo apologizing for their transgressions and promising a return to form. Admittedly hard to swallow upon its release, it now sits proudly at the start of the album as a vindicated mission statement.  

Weezer has always shined brightest on its catchy pop-rock hooks; as such, the highlights of the album are the ones you’ll be singing to yourself for days after hearing. “Lonely Girl”, calling back almost immediately the sounds of Bleach-era Nirvana, gets its point across with a 3-word chorus repeated ad nauseam (and that’s in no way a bad thing). The silly historical rock of “The British Are Coming” ends up as the coolest thing that could possibly end up in a high school history lesson, and though “Da Vinci” has a hook without any real meaning, Cuomo’s earnest moans leave the listener at a “loss for words” all their own.

If it sounds a little corny, that’s because it is. And that’s the beauty of truly artistic pop music – a band’s own sound captured in the ultra-polish of a homogenized medium. That’s not to say you’ll be able to predict every turn. Opener “Ain’t Got Nobody” is about as rock as they come, and “Cleopatra” evokes the folk-rock movement that gained steam this year. And of course, Ocasek’s influence means a few proto-Cars tracks like “I’ve Had It Up To Here” and “Foolish Father”, which are always a welcome addition.

The ambitious three-song suite at the album’s close sums up the work in a concise statement: this is Weezer, and we’ve still got it. As the listener finds themselves enveloped by crashing guitars and wailed vocals, the sounds and feelings of days gone by creep back. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think you’d been transported back to 1994, when “Buddy Holly” still ruled the radio. In fact, you haven’t. It’s 2014, and Weezer is determined to continue their legacy. And for the first time in almost a decade, that’s a good thing.

1. FKA Twigs – LP1

From its whispery onset to its cacophonous finale, FKA Twigs’ first full-length (quite literally titled) is a journey in both sound and feeling. Its eye-catching portrait cover is fitting; a woman painted in makeup with glazed eyes and the ghost of a smile barely having quit her lips, simultaneously personal and hollowly reminiscent of the listener’s own sensualities. But most importantly, it looks like nothing you’ve ever seen before in an album cover. Likewise, the album breaks new sonic ground effortlessly and continuously by delving unabashedly into emotion with a perfectly poised dive.

The chaotic intro, one of many contributions from modern production weirdo Arca, sets the tone with what can best be described as a quiet storm of flickering percussion, reverb-soaked vocal coos and pure, beautiful lust. Without one intelligible word rising above the fray, Twigs paints a picture in jittery computerized sound that expresses her thoughts better than any essay or memoir ever could. Similarly evocative highlights like “Hours” forego R&B tradition for a blend of instrumentation to endorse statement; in the aforementioned track, the chorus of “I could kiss you for hours” merges with a vast soundscape complete with whispering synths mimicking a desert wind, holding her bold sexuality as beauty against emptiness.

Such vastly empty soundscapes and traveling percussion lines contrast throughout the album with Twigs’ raw, pained vocals. Rather than background noise, however, the instrumentals serve as scaffolding to underscore her words - at no point is her heartfelt vocalizing not center stage. Therein lies the beauty of the album, which almost better understood as a collection of beautiful acapellas built with exoskeletons of synths into the physical incarnations of Twigs’ inner monologues.

It’s the wordlessness that speaks volumes. In “Video Girl”, Twigs reflects on her previous life as just that – a nameless backup dancer silently attempting expression. You can feel her pained restraint as she sighs, “You’re gonna get yourself broke one day”, followed by a quiet “Is she the girl that’s from the video?” It’s as though her bottled emotions exploded in a studio, caking the walls with spindly snare rolls and ratcheting knocks.

Breakout single “Two Weeks” is a haunting show of pain; a woman alone, asserting her superior sexuality to an absent ex-boyfriend who has since moved on. The phrase “I can fuck you better than her” has never felt so full of regret. The chorus erupts as a symphony of breathy vocals, half-time drum lines, rolling ticks and moaning sighs. There may not have been a closer auditory representation of pure, vulnerable lovemaking yet created in modern music.

In an era of quiet judgment attached to any mention of the word “sex”, Twigs’ straightforward and unashamed approach to intimacy is incredibly refreshing. There’s a quiet strength underlying her every word; one track, “Kicks”, reminds her absent lover that she can and will get her kicks without him, and – oh yeah – that she has a beautiful body of which she is very proud. The blend of sheer spirit and technological musicianship is something to behold. If there’s one absolutely essential music release this year, it’s this monument to human sexuality hiding behind a woman’s makeup-covered face.

Home for the Holidays

Ironic

That this place where I grew up

The room in which I came of age

This house - so big

And this town - so small

Though shrouded in memory

- each annal with its own story -

And housing those I love

Ironic, it is

That out this window

The very window out of which

Countless nights I laid awake

And asked the moon my fortune

As teenage angst did sweep my heart

Out this window

All I see

Is dying branches

Browned arms of lifeless trees

A graveyard boreal

Ironic

That I only visit here in winter

A lifeless time of year

Though cozy in a bed of love

Encircled in my family’s warmth 

Outside, there is only cold

And gazing out my window

- a man, no more a boy -

All I see are withered memories

Disparate reminders

Of time’s steady gait

A westward wind howls

It’s time to move on

This place

Though here my family stays

Is not my home

And once they leave

I’ll close my blinds

And I won’t look back

Thoughts Post-Meditation

If life is a film reel, the present is the projector. Each second that we’ve experienced - each moment, breathe - is encased eternally in one frame of film. The sum of those frames is our life, the span that we are present upon this earth. Though we have millions of frames in our life, we have only a fleeting second to cherish each one individually.

Of course, with the illumination of the present, there are bound to be shadows. Each figure in your frame casts a dark replica behind them, invariably and despite any efforts to the contrary. These shadows are not to be feared; in fact, they are to be embraced. For the shadows of our present are merely the reflections of the frames of our lives. For each dark shadow we see in our days, remember that each is but a consequence of the projector. We see darkness, but within each spot of dark is the essence of something illuminated by light.

This is the way in which we live - frame to frame, image to image, shadows to new shadows. We have millions of frames in our life; of those, a large majority will pass with no fanfare. But it’s our choice as to which frames we will choose to pause upon and cherish. When our film reel is paused, and we remove an individual frame from the context of the prior and the following, the individual beauty of that moment is clear. What else is clear is the true natures of the cast shadows. What would seem dark when looked at fleetingly is actually just a consequence of our life’s illuminations. 

Life can go by very fast; our film reel, if you will, has a lot of time to cover. Without our pauses, our frames will blend into each other until each moment’s preciousness is lost. It’s our right and our privilege to pause the movie. We have no way to rewind, nor to fast forward. Our film will one day end, but it’s up to us to ingest each moment heartily. When the credits roll, it’s the frames of our lives which we had paused upon that will shine in our memories the clearest.

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Use your pause button. Meditation takes only a bit of time out of your day, and it can make all of the difference when life gets ahead of you. I recommend Yoga Nidra meditation or, alternatively Vipassana. A good guided example of the latter can be found here: http://www.diydharma.org/guided-vipassana-meditation-joseph-goldstein

Tryst

She said “Baby, this is real love"

And I believed her

Until the evening found us screaming

And I had to leave her

Please don’t believe her

I didn’t mean to break her 

To make her just like me

A bitter young twentysomething

But that’s the way it goes

When your own selfish dreams

Are barely sealed at the seams

I knew I couldn’t love another

Until I learned to love me

But I thought I’d skip a step or two

For temporary company

And look where that left me

Alone the way I’m meant to be

Nothing gained but a new enemy

I wish you didn’t hate me

But hateful’s what the world made me

You may be with another guy

And I, alone entirely

I wish that I could take us back

To my palms on your back

A familiar scene

When it was you and me

We used to live in teenage dreams

Now I just see you mentally

Oh yes, I still find

That you’re still on my mind

But only sometimes

To stand on opposing sides

Of rented homes is our destiny

To awkwardly greet at every party

Where you dance with other guys

And I stand unaccompanied

That’s the way it’s meant to be

You and I weren’t meant to be

But what does “meant to” even mean?

I asked

Can we rewrite the scene?

Well, she said, not easily

It’d take a lot of work, you see

And if I know you -

And I’m sure that I do -

You’d never work that hard on anything

And so I’m once again lonely

Of my own accord, accordingly

I never doubted our chemistry

But it seems I was the wrong piece

Every single day you puzzled me

I don’t know what the hell you mean

You make it all about you

And then you say it’s ‘cause of me

Whatever - it’s over

I’m over it entirely

But I might not be

Your dark cloud’s still over me

The raincloud that follows me

When I look up, you’re what I see

The drops I feel are memories

Patchwork Man

I broke a couple years ago

I split right down the seams

The mark was sound but not lethal

Fissures run through my genes

And so I grabbed some superglue

Put it inside and squeezed

It won’t fix me, I knew - and yet

The sealant set with speed

A patchwork man, I found myself

But oh, it’s so easy

To anchor my thoughts to the ground

With externalities

My hourglass flipped long ago

Time’s not my friend it seems

My sand is sliding down the glass

Towards fiery hellish steam

But labored breath is better

Than fighting life without

The facade seen when judging me

Is never hard to doubt

But please don’t take my superglue

Without it I’m not whole

And even with, I’m fragile too

From fission in my soul

LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 6

We left Cherub a little early to get moderately close for the next act. Who was it again? Well, they certainly confused me when they opened their set with the unmistakable hype of A$AP Rocky and Skrillex cut "Wild For The Night". We ran into the crowd as the song died down, and we were soon being serenaded by...

Grouplove

Again, in full honesty, I'm not too much of a Grouplove fan. I first heard of them from "Tongue Tied", as did many in the tightly packed crowd. But it was the eclectic album cuts like "Lovely Cup" and "Shark Attack" that really impressed me.

The five-some did away with their one-hit-wonder title pretty quickly, winning the crowd over with warm guitars and steady drumbeats. "Tongue Tied" was crammed in the middle of the set, almost unnoticeable amongst the stacked amount of album cuts. My two friends Kenzie and Sara, huge Grouplove fans, were having the time of their lives, and I couldn't have been happier to see it.

As someone not very familiar with the group, perhaps my favorite part of the set was an inspired cover of Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love". Beyoncé is one of my biggest weaknesses, and they were clearly aware. Although a rapped Jay-Z verse just wasn't in the cards, the cover was a compelling argument for Grouplove fanhood.

After Grouplove finished their set, we pushed our way into the tightest-packed crowd of the weekend for close spots at... wow, I still can't believe this...

OutKast

As Matt & Kim's power-pop faintly floated through the impatient crowd waiting for the rap act of the century, we stood like sardines with no room for movement whatsoever. But knowing that Big and Dre would soon be out in front of us, we stuck it out.

I, like many suburban children of my age, first heard of OutKast in the blur of childhood thanks to smash hits "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move". It wasn't until I picked up a used copy of "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" as a teenager that I began to dive deeper into their legendary albums. Among their extensive back-log, "Aquemini" stuck out to me as a favorite thanks to their pioneering blend of rap lyricism with jazz and rock influenced instrumentals.

So it was with baited breath that we waited, and the wait went fast. They started with "B.O.B", rushing our heartbeats to match the 154 bpm pace. They closed by reminding us that they do it for "The Whole World", rolling out an exclusive from the Big & Dre Greatest Hits pack. And everything in between was magical.

"Don't everybody like the smell of gasoline?"

"Old school players to new school fools, cats keep it jumping like kangaroos"

"I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, oooh, I am for real..."

The hits kept rolling, and the quotables were quoted. My favorite track of theirs, "SpottieOttieDopalicious" came relatively quickly with a beautiful full-band rendition highlighting the song's furtive horn line. Big Boi's solo set included the extremely-hyped "Kryptonite" and the lightning pace of "GhettoMusick" before jumping into "The Way You Move" with Sleepy Brown to add a silky smooth breakdown.

For André's solo section, he serenaded the crowd with "Prototype" and "She Lives In My Lap" before blasting into "Hey Ya!", shooting most of us back to 2003 in instants. The duo reunited for "Roses" and "So Fresh, So Clean", the latter featuring a backdrop of cows tip-toe-wing-in-their-jawwdinz through a field.

It's clear that I loved the set. What really stuck out to me, though was something almost entirely unrelated to the music. At the start of the set, as the curtain dropped, each bandmember had their hands up. André's famously shifting jumpsuit message read "Can One Rest In Peace And Violence?", a chilling statement to make just miles away from the recent terrors in Ferguson. It was a tasteful tribute and solemn reminder that even as we danced, the world kept turning. To take such an important case to the festival frontlines was a very respectable move on André's part, and the moment was one that would stand out to me above the whole weekend.

The weekend was over almost as soon as it started. We headed back to Columbia on coffee and the familiar post-concert high. LouFest killed it this year, and I can easily say that I'll be heading back to Forest Park in '15!

LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 5

We stuck around at the from of the Bud Light stage after Portugal. to secure front row seats. We were among several OutKast fans who had been camping there already and were waiting for the last set of the day. We had a few more to see yet, but for now, the seats were secured for...

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

How about a rock band from New Orleans fronted by a soulful singer with a talent for the Trombone? Trombone Shorty may have been an out-of-the-blue choice for many, but we were more than excited to see him break out jams like "Hurricane Season" and "Buckjump".

Trombone Shorty himself was on top of his game, bringing out his full vocal range as well as some fine-tuned trombone playing to impress the crowd of thousands. Though many seemed to be unaware of the band, they were soon won over. The sheer energy of the set was mostly unrivaled throughout the day.

It's easy to forget the backing band with such a prevalent frontman, but Orleans Avenue held down the fort with ease. A notable alto sax player lent a hand to some of the more horn-filled numbers, while the drummer was as tight as he sounded on the album. Trombone Shorty may have been playing in a park in St. Louis, but we were all on Orleans Ave for an hour.

Having said goodbye to our friends still waiting for OutKast, we headed back to the Forest Park stage for the last time to dance to...

Cherub

A personal favorite of mine, Cherub is an easy go-to for dance grooves and disco revival fun. They started their high-energy set with the brilliantly cheeky "<3", featuring lyrics about taking a sledgehammer to a car.

Though a sizeable amount of the crowd was clearly only there for closer "Doses & Mimosas", the two-piece performed an unfazed and strong set drawing from all 3 of their albums. Of particular note was the partially acapella "Disco Shit", which still managed to whip the crowd into a frenzy despite almost no collective lyrical knowledge.

Sexual anthem "Work The Middle" was appropriated by our back-of-the-crowd crew as an excuse to start a swaying dance circle to the chorus of "back and forth, back and forth." What started small quickly grew to 30-plus festivalgoers, and once the beats kicked back in, the dance-offs began. Through a powerful cover of Calvin Harris' "Feel So Close", we and dozens of strangers fist-pumped and showed off our questionable moves. It was one of the most unique and memorable moments of the whole weekend, and I couldn't have asked for it to happen at a better set.

The set wound down, and as "Doses" blasted through the park, we headed back to the main stage for the remainder of the fest. I'll continue shortly with reviews of Grouplove and OutKast!

LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 4

So, day one was over. Day two, though. Oh man. It was hard to believe going in that I would be seeing OutKast in a few very short hours. But back to the beginning of the day, we started things off with...

Old Salt Union

I'm not the biggest bluegrass fan in my house, but man were these guys good. Fiddles, fiddles everywhere! The upright bass was a nice touch, certainly not something common among the rest of the act. It was a sunny way to start a sunny day.

Unfortunately, we only stayed for a few songs before heading over to Pretty Little Empire and the food stations, and my only video was interrupted by my roommate talking about how proud he was that he used a waterless toothbrush to brush that day. It happens.

So, after some gyros and tacos for good luck, we decided to forego the main stage Empires set in order to get good spots for...

Glass Animals

Given how excited I was for their set, I was maybe most curious about how Glass Animals' trippy sound would translate to a live atmosphere, especially at a paltry 1:30pm time slot. But through the beaming sun and sweaty crowd, the unmistakable guitar strums of "Hazey" penetrated the thick air. Frontman Dave Bayley wasn't shy at all about showing off his falsetto, sounding just as airy and atmospheric as he does on record.

Hit single "Gooey" was an ecstatic sing-along, albeit with much less punch on the drum kick than in the studio version. Similarly, "Toes" had the crowd nodding in agreement with the mantra: "I got toes, and I can smile."

The highlight was - and I still can't believe they actually played this - a funked-out cover of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" formerly confined to a b-side on the "Gooey" single. The lads brought their all into the left-of-center rendition complete with bass plucks and "ahhh-OOH" harmonies.

We actually had the pleasure of meeting Dave after the set, and I thanked him personally for "Love Lockdown". A very nice guy. This caused us to be a bit late, but we still showed up a few songs into...

Portugal. The Man

I had missed the Portugal set in Columbia last year, so I was anticipating this one as we headed over to the tune of "Purple Yellow Red & Blue". Due to how tired we were after Glass Animals, however, Portugal became a chill set to which we swayed from sitting spots just outside of the crowd. Their loud pop-rock carried far beyond the reaches of the main stage, with the opening synths of "Modern Jesus" ringing clear even from the water station across the park.

Some bands just work well on a main stage, and Portugal fit the bill. Opting to play hits like "Purple" early on, the remainder of the set was comprised mostly of deep cuts, proving the prowess of what some may have called a one trick pony.

Just when I thought I had Portugal's set pinned down as just another festival-rock show, they changed my tune with one of the funniest cover moments of the festival - "Dayman" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I'm not really sure how to describe just how great this was. Luckily, I have video:

We skipped out on Young & Sick in order to secure good seats at the main stage. I'll continue shortly with my reviews of Trombone Shorty and Cherub!

LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 3

After Yo La Tengo, we waited in the crowd through the distant sounds of The 1975 in order to secure the best, front-row spots for...

Cake

Dear god. When I first heard "Short Skirt / Long Jacket" as the theme from Chuck, I never expected to see Cake live. I certainly never expected to even become a fan of theirs; "Jacket" had to grow on me from an initial annoyance of an intro to a shower-singing staple complete with shouts of "GETS UP EARLY" and "STAYS UP LATE".

When singer John McCrea came out in a trucker hat smacking a vibraphone like it was the last day of his life, the crowd morphed into one huge singing machine. Favorites like "Shadow Stabbing" and "Frank Sinatra" translated beautifully to a live setting complete with an energetic horn player (now becoming a trend at LouFest, seemingly) and keyboardist underlining every note with a thick brass sharpie.

Despite the curious absence of "The Distance", the band rolled out most of their hits proudly. When the likes of "Love You Madly" and "Jacket" started out, they were received with the warmth of an old friend who hadn't been seen in years. The na-nas in "Jacket" were transformed into a multiple-part crowd chorus which continued through the end of the song and set, even continuing as people left for Arctic Monkeys. "Madly" was especially well-received; it seemed as though every audience member knew every word.

The highlight of the powerful set was "Sheep Go To Heaven", an even better sing-along somehow than "Jacket". My friends, non-Cake fans who had followed me for lack of another option, were laughing hysterically as McCrea had us all repeat the mantra: "sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell". The set could actually be summed up well with a line from the song: "as soon as you're born you start dying, so you might as well have a good time".

Arctic Monkeys

Finally, it was time for day one to come to a close with brit-rock darlings Arctic Monkeys. I had missed their set in Columbia at The Blue Note, so I was excited to see, as my other friend puts it, a true "middle school classic". We had sacrificed a good spot at this set for our front-row at Cake, but that was okay because the lads were loud. Damn, were they loud.

They started off with "Do I Wanna Know?", which surprised me as it's currently their "song" for much of the audience. But the rest of the hour-and-a-half set was packed with songs from throughout the Monkeys' timeline. "Brianstorm" seemed a little weird set to a light show shaped like the AM logo, but it successfully whipped the crowd into the frenzy it was always designed to incite. By the time "Flourescent Adolescent" came on, the barriers between the new and old fans had mostly dissolved.

Though I'm not the biggest fan of the Monkeys, I was very pleased to hear those mid-2000s jams that I had almost forgotten. Mixed in with their much-matured new material, it shows a band clearly unafraid to evolve and push the limits of their sound. For a band that was almost pigeonholed with the rest of the "emo" movement thanks to "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor", they made a strong case for their status as an enduring and respected rock act.

And with that, the first day was done. I'll continue shortly with day two, featuring Old Salt Union and Glass Animals!

LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 2

After dancing our wavy hearts out to Washed Out, next up was...

RAC

You may know RAC for his remixes, and, as such, he opened the set with 3 of his best. The likes of Two Door Cinema Club ("Something Good Can Work"), The Temper Trap ("Sweet Disposition") and Lana Del Rey ("Blue Jeans") filled the air in extra-poppy editions. Just when the crowd seemed to be wondering if the group had any original songs at all, bandleader André Anjos proved his worth by breaking into the refreshingly guitar-driven "Tear You Down".

Anjos provided a bit of band trivia by informing the crowd that he had actually proposed to his wife in this very park. His wife - stationed over on keyboard - clarified that she had, of course, said yes. It was one of the only crowd interactions of their set, but it was a fun reminder of the humanity of this remix machine.

Perhaps the highlight was crowd favorite "Cheap Sunglasses", featuring up-and-coming pop singer Matthew Koma. By the time its opening keyboard notes floated through the crowd, however, the absence of a lead singer was becoming painfully obvious. Each band member had wonderful instrumental performances, but hearing prerecorded vocals on every track got a little odd after a while. When the band's name stands for "Remix Artist Collective", though, it's kind of to be expected.

Future Islands

It was back to the main stage for synth-pop giants Future Islands. Though we elected for a spot to lay outside of the crowd, the beachy melodies of the band made a hell of an impression even from afar. 

Though we only stayed for a short amount of time, we danced with our bad selves to "Seasons (Waiting On You)" like our lives depended on it. It was a fun surprise to hear post-hardcore influences in the form of a few songs featuring screamed melodies at a festival otherwise buoyed by safe pop-rock and fun dance beats.


Yo La Tengo

A good friend of mine by the name of Ryan has championed Yo La Tengo to me for years. So, when they were announced as Kelis' replacement on the lineup, I made sure to make room in my schedule for them. After hearing a few of their songs, I actually decided to leave Future Islands early in order to get the best spot possible for them. They had actually become one of my most anticipated acts solely due to my unfamiliarity with them; I had never seen a true "jam-rock" show prior to this. So I had high hopes and an open mind going into the 30-year-veteran act's set.

Unfortunately (I'm so sorry Ryan), Yo La Tengo ended up as my biggest disappointment of the weekend. However, I have to admit that it was entirely my fault that they disappointed. While they opened with my favorite song by theirs ("Mr. Tough"), the entire rest of the set was comprised of songs I didn't know and extended jam seshes. After about 10 minutes of one jam showered in distorted bass and screeching guitar, I found myself checking my watch only to see that we weren't even halfway through.

That said, even though the music wasn't quite my cup of tea, by god were they talented. And I mean talented. Each member of the three piece played each instrument and several pieces of percussion, and they played each one well. Lead singer Ira Kaplan in particular showed his guitar prowess during the extended jams, playing each note with the passion that only such a seasoned rocker can. Though by the latter half of the set I was waiting for the final note, I remained impressed the entire time with the sheer talent being displayed on the stage. Though I don't know that I'd go to a Yo La Tengo show on my own, they certainly left me inspired to pick up the guitar again.

Oh, and did I mention that they're all over 50? I cannot stress this enough - Yo La Tengo was probably the single most musically impressive act of the festival, despite not quite being what I expected genre-wise. Perhaps going into their set only knowing them for latin-tinged songs like "Mr. Tough" was a bad idea.


I'll continue shortly with the final acts of day one, Cake and Arctic Monkeys!

A Small Project / LouFest 2014 In Review, pt. 1

So, I haven't posted on this blog in several months. I planned to write between shifts of my job, but the summer kind of sped by to be honest. I've had some terrible writer's block, too, so that definitely wasn't helping. But here I am, three weeks into my junior year of college, and I'm feeling the itch to write something. And what better to write about than the music festival I just got back from?

LouFest 2014!

It. Was. Great. I had an amazing time at LouFest last year and jumped at the chance to buy tickets to this one. It didn't hurt that the lineup included some amazing names - Glass Animals, San Fermin, Washed Out, RAC, Cherub, Cake. Oh, and OUTKAST.

I've got some videos and a decently accurate memory of the shows I saw (which will only deteriorate the longer I wait), so let's get to it!

San Fermin

So we started out Saturday with one of my most anticipated acts of the weekend. I hadn't heard of San Fermin before the lineup had been announced, but I fell in love with their song "Sonsick" almost immediately after hearing it. A little further digging into their catalog found me their song "Renaissance!", a similarly hypnotic song which I almost didn't recognize as them thanks to the lead singer switch-up. Unlike Rae Cassidy's soaring, catchy melodies, the husky voice of frontman Ellis Ludwig-Leone is firmly grounded with a low growl.

San Fermin filled the Bud Light Stage with no less than eight members including the two lead singers, a guitarist, a drummer, a violinist, a trumpeter and an impressive tenor sax player. Where the daunting task of opening the main stage at the fest got the best of Youngblood Hawke last year, San Fermin rose to the challenge. Each instrumentalist got a solo, and each displayed their immense talent succinctly.

While founder Ludwig-Leone's deep tenor was in full display, the band's previous female lead, Rae Cassidy, left about a year prior. She was replaced by Charlene Kaye, a woman with a powerful voice built for loudness. Unfortunately, this didn't translate well to "Sonsick". Where Cassidy's voice was able to easily flow through the high notes in the chorus, Kaye struggled while allowing the horn section to take center stage. Kaye's inability to match Cassidy's high range was highlighted in a few other songs, but was mostly forgotten thanks to her otherwise stunning pipes.

We hit the Nosh Pit for lunch during SKATERS, but we were still able to hear the familiarly bubblegum-rock melodies of "I Wanna Dance (But I Don't Know How)" from across the park. From afar, it certainly sounded good.


Washed Out

Back at the main stage, we closed our eyes and swayed to and fro to the waves of synths provided by Ernest Greene, otherwise known as Washed Out. In what must have been the most beach-ball-filled set of the weekend, Greene matched his reverb-soaked vocals with a very capable backup band to bring a live flair to his usually computerized instrumentals. It was particularly cool to hear songs like "New Theory" with heavily distorted guitar replacing the opening synth, or "Eyes Be Closed" with a double-layered tom/kick.

Interestingly, with three albums to choose material from, Greene mostly stuck to his debut EP, Life of Leisure. This was entirely okay with the crowd, however, with favorites like the aforementioned "Eyes Be Closed" and "Feel It All Around" turning into passionate... well, not sing-alongs. More like sway-alongs?

As a big electronic music fan, I'm always interested to see how electro-tinged bands like Washed Out fare in a live setting. For this particular set, the consensus seemed positive. I remember getting chills when the opening string samples of "It All Feels Right" boomed through the speakers over Greene's perfectly crafted live setting. For an act so heavily rooted in electric psychedelia, Washed Out at LouFest gave more of a rock vibe than I ever expected.

I'll continue my LouFest experience shortly with set reviews from RAC, Future Islands, and Yo La Tengo!

The Life of the Party

It's no crime to descry
To watch the dancers of life
Repeating the motions
With brand new associans
Who will just disappoint
But converge at a joint
It's a laughable thing
But I just have to join
A waltz through the room
To find that the door
Has been locked from within
So we turn to the floor
Let's dance til we can no more
Together, tonight
And in this single place
Our hands clasped together
My eyes on your face
And your eyes on mine
Synced perfect in time
We won't ever cry
But laugh, we will try
In this room where we'll die
As the air thins inside
We just have the night
Let's keep us in stride
3/4, Box step
Up and then a timid left
Love will tear us apart
Joy divide my weak heart
And yours just as torn
Young ambitions unborn
Inward though these walls will slide
You and I still dance in time
And though with tears your cheeks are stained
I've never seen more lovely eyes

Scratching My Head About the Monkeysphere

I'm sure we've all heard the terrible news about Tracy Morgan's limo accident. For those who haven't been updated, the hilarious stand-up comedian and 30 Rock actor was critically injured a few days ago when his limo was hit by a tractor trailer on the Jersey Turnpike. The crash sent Morgan and four others to the intensive care unit; Morgan's close friend and mentor, James McNair, was killed in the crash. Those sent to the hospital have received varying degrees of diagnoses, with Morgan's latest being that his leg may require amputation.

It's a terrible, terrible story. Of course, I send my thoughts and good vibes to those involved in the accident and their families and loved ones. But what's really interested me about the situation is the public response. For obvious reasons, news coverage has centered on Morgan, the celebrity. But what about the five other passengers - one of whom was killed? A quick browse through the relevant trends on Twitter reveal, scattered among Tracy Morgan condolence posts, several acrid tweets blasting the mainstream for "forgetting" the other five victims.

The posts mean well, but there's a reason I put quotations around the word "forgetting". See, it's difficult to forget about someone that you've never heard of. Unfortunately, the five other victims were not famous. Not even McNair, who has received by far the most coverage next to Morgan, was even close to a recognizable name. It's sad and blunt, but it's true. We won't care about the unrecognizable deaths when a familiar name stands out, especially in a situation like this.

There's a great term that applies here: the monkeysphere. "Monkeysphere" refers to a thought experiment that I'd like to explain (with the help of Cracked.com having previously explained to me). Imagine that you have a pet monkey. You care for that monkey immensely, and you have a unique bond with it. You'd care if it died, no question. So, what if you had 10 monkeys? Each has their own personality and value to you. You'd probably still mourn the loss of all 10. How many monkeys would it take before we don't care when one dies?

The answer is Dunbar's Number. The psychologist Robert Dunbar defines this as the number of relationships we as humans can individually and reliably maintain. The number is commonly thought to be between 100 and 200 people. This brings credence to the saying that one death is a tragedy and one million deaths is a statistic.

So, back to the Tracy Morgan crash. Unfortunately, our nation has a collective monkeysphere, and these five were outside of it. But why does that lessen their value? In truth, it doesn't inherently. It's us that choose to lessen their value by not acknowledging them.

I'd like to use this concept to illustrate a point about our modern world. America in 2014 has never valued the individual less. With stories like these constantly littering our news, what's another 5 deaths when 500 people are killed in Chicago each year? And what are those 500 when over 5,000 have died in conflict in Afganistan fighting for a cause that the average American doesn't even come close to understanding?

We've created a cult of impersonality. We hear so much tragedy that we just aren't able to care anymore. The exception to this lies within our monkeysphere, the limits of which are defined by us. So, how big is your monkeysphere? How much of the world do you actually care about? When you heard the news about the crash, did you only tweet to Tracy Morgan to stay strong, or did your mind wander to the others involved that won't see their names in headlines upon recovery? Or did your mind wander further to the amount of people killed by reckless driving each year? It's a difference in our understanding and our open-mindedness that very much intrigues me.

I challenge both myself and any readers to expand their monkeysphere. It's easy to stick to your personal bubble when you're scared of what you might find outside. Next time you read a story about a celebrity in some situation like this, it's okay to feel for them. But I challenge you to think not only about the others involved, but how we can take this situation as an example to change something we're encountering in our nation. Remain conscious of the limits of your monkeysphere, and remember their fluidity. Think outside of your personal world, and you just might find the way to betterment for the rest of us.

New Eyes

Take out your eyes at the start of each day

By the light of the sun as it shines on your face

You slowly lose sight, but your senses stay

The pain’s okay; it’s better this way

Your new eyes are nice

But you squint to read books

You lose not just sight

But the way that things look

Nothing is special;

That is, you can’t say

Your new eyes aren’t perfect

But you made them this way

Go through your day with your new set of eyes

Smell all the flowers, breathe the sunlight

But don’t expect much; you still can’t see right

What’s in a future if it isn’t bright?

Come home; it’s time

Your eyes are fatigued

You go to eject them

So that you can read

But try as you might

They just will not leave

And you can’t find your old eyes

Cause you still can’t see

It’s fine; you live through your new set of eyes

But colors are dulled, and so is your life

It’s hard to come down when you live on a high

But damn, nothing tempts like a new set of eyes

Lemon

Don’t be afraid
This life’s just a game
And you’ve come of age
You’re ready to play

You’re a diamond, yet rough
To be shined over years
Never to be dulled
Never held back by fears
From pain you grew
And from happiness, too
You’ve had your lows, yet
they haven’t slowed you 

Each leaf you step past
Is a step in your path
You’re ready to shine
So the world can see you
The days you make last
Will never soon leave you
You may live fast
But never without purpose
You’re still skipping class
To learn what your worth is

Young adult with no faith
This world is your place
Your shadow will fade
The sun’s on its way


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Poem inspired by this great picture by Brad Spudich: