Blogs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZjIKHdlW0 Sorry for the delay, but I’m back and here to pull some more in-depth thoughts out of music, and this week it’s none other than One Direction. You may be thinking, “there is no way you could pull some meaningful messages out...

I take melatonin because I have hard time sleeping. Sometimes there’s no need for me to “wake” as I might end up remaining conscious all through a given night anyway. I’m straight edge and a lousy cook, so “bake” isn’t applicable to me at all in any definition of the...

Recording artist Vince Staples has come a long way since his humble beginnings in Ramona Park, Long Beach, California. The standout rapper is a cynical, compelling figure who has achieved complete creative control over his craft, and whose tweets get as much press as...

William Daron Pulliam is known to diehard soul fans as Darondo--an elusive singer with a distinctly powerful voice. Graham Reid wrote a detailed and comprehensive history of the singer on Elsewhere, after his unfortunate passing in 2013. It seems Darondo has always...

Earlier this month Denzel Curry performed a cover of the Rage Against the Machine classic “Bulls on Parade.” It was amazing to say the least. Energetic, angry, and sweaty-all the things one would want in a rendition of a RATM tune. Performances like this one that...

You’d have to be living under a rock not to recognize the cover for Ariana Grande’s latest #1 album, thank u, next. It’s the eagerly anticipated, confident breakup album currently taking the world by storm. Following the release of the album, Grande quickly snagged...

Author’s note: I originally wrote this piece in sorta flaccid academic style last spring, when Saturation III was still a hot release and we didn’t yet know how hard Ameer Vann sucks. Nonetheless I stand by this song and my take on it (which might be rendered even...

“BLK Magic” by iLLism speaks to the intrinsic value of Black culture just in time for Black History Month.   Black culture, via an American lens, is rich. It can be argued that American Black culture: a blend of eurocentric standards, western religion, antebellum...

Content Warning: discussions of sexual assault, abuse, and substance use   Article contains spoilers for A Star is Born (2018)   Last week, the New York Times published an exposé of singer-songwriter, Ryan Adams, in which several women accused him of sexual...

Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming (2011, Daptone) Genre: R&B/Soul Verdict: The real deal, no time machine present. The late Charles Bradley was cut from the same cloth that made James Brown and Sam Cooke musical deities. However, despite his natural talents,...

Procrastination got the best of me. On January 24, 2019, Weezer came out with their twelfth studio album, and fifth self-titled album, also known as the Teal Album. Yet here we are, about three weeks later finally sitting down, ready to talk about it. I listened to...

Verdict: Pop and sound is everywhere! Money! One of the most notable bands to come out of the 2000s indie rock smorgasbord, Atlanta band Deerhunter have always jumped out different styles and genres throughout each release. The band can go funky on one release (Fading...

The topic for this article could make for a compelling 200-page memoir in and of itself but I’ve been tossing this concept around in my head for awhile and I suppose it’s time I spilled some guts before they spill themselves for me. If you haven’t already taken a hint...

It’s another day, and indie/folk songstress Phoebe Bridgers has created another side project, this time a collab with indie rock titan and Bright Eyes front man Conor Oberst under the moniker Better Oblivion Community Center. Oberst and Bridgers have performed...

There really isn’t any way I can describe this song clearly. It is basically just one big groovy feel fest. I picked this song because the first line mentions Hermann Hesse who was a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter who received the Nobel Prize in...

I’ve been a drummer for about half my life. My involvement in playing music has greatly influenced the artists I have listened to. Most, if not all, of the music on pop radio in my formative years was rhythmically monotonous. I’m not saying that songs that weren’t...

There’s a lot of perks to being short, especially at a concert. For example……  well, I can’t think of any right now. However, it didn’t matter that the tallest people in North America were standing in front of me for the first half of Young the Giant. Front man,...

Is it cheating to talk about a movie on a music column? Especially one that just about everyone has been talking about? This past weekend, I finally found the time to pay a visit to the local movie theater, overpriced popcorn in hand and a purse full of candy from CVS...

I know you are looking at the picture for this article thinking to yourself, “Wow, this person can really use paint on Windows 10!!” and you are damn right I can use paint. I’m not GOOD at using paint, but I can USE it. What can you say you can use and not be a good...

Lawrence Rotham- I Know I've Been Wrong, but Can We Talk? (Downtown) [art-pop/alt-electro] In a polished new six-song EP, Lawrence Rotham uses upbeat synth-pop numbers to tackle the most downbeat of topics. From close friend Bobby’s, who the album is dedicated to,...

This Friday, November 30, Earl Sweatshirt will drop his long-anticipated fourth album, Some Rap Songs. It seems like ages since Sweatshirt, full name Thebe Kgositsile, dropped his critically acclaimed, and unapologetically morbid third relese I Don’t Like Shit, I...

Sampled by: Jay Electronica, DJ Premier, J. Cole, Slick Rick, Ghostface Billy Stewart grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended the Armstrong High School over in Truxton Circle. Born William Larry Stewart II, Billy created the Four Stewart Brothers, a vocal group...

Recommended: 2, 6, 8,9; RIYL: Zella Day, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Vera Sola is here with her unique distinctly southern vibe, chilling vocals, and acoustic guitars in her first album Shades, through her label, Spectraphonic. Drawing on folk, southern, and...

RIYL: Cloud Nothings, Waxahatchee, Tacocat After going on a brief hiatus from 2013, Swearin’ came back and is better than ever with their new album Fall Into the Sun. It’s almost like they took this time off to take what they were and become that but more confident...

On Saturday, November 10, Kamasi Washington and his accompanying band performed a jaw-dropping set to a sold-out crowd of over 1,000 individuals at the Lincoln Theatre on U-Street.  I was lucky enough to be a member of that audience. The show was part of a world tour...

Blitzkrieg Bop is easy. It’s infamous for being easy. When you’re the most well-known song off the Ramones catalogue then there’s hardly anything to it—you are really fucking easy to learn, and not just for guitar. A baby burping onto a bass could play you, a man...

RIYL: Childish Gambino, De La Soul, Fashawn, Arrested Development You've probably heard of Shadrach Kabango, a.k.a. Shad, if you've seen his award-winning documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution on Netflix. A Short Story About A War is the Canadian rapper’s first album...