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Posts tagged ‘music’

Jan 15

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Sunday Reading: Twinkies, Tebow and Hipsters

Hey everybody! After a solid first week of Jterm: be it Death-by-Orgo, non-stop skiing, devoutly working on your “thesis” (watching all of Mad Men) or never leaving Ross (there’s gotta be someone…) I now bring you my weekly installment of news/random stories/whatever I think is interesting outside of the Middlebury world.

MUSIC: Remember “This is How We Do It” and Eiffel 65′s “Blue?” Me either. Thankfully, Thought Catalog’s Chelsea Fagan has assembled a list of the Top 10 Middle school dance jams. You’ll thank me later. Turn up those speakers.

BEAUTIFUL GEEKDOM: Several big ones this week.  (1) Ever wonder what Star Wars characters would look like if they were style-saavy hipsters? Apparently so has John Woo, a Hong-Kong based designer and illustrator. You can find his paintings here. My personal favorite is “Chewbacca with Outdoor Style.” (2) Collider.com reports that the Avengers will be from Captain America’s perspective. Not all too worried about whose perspective its from, just want to see more of this.

WEDDING CRASHING: Now, there’s an app for that too. Crash Corsage (be sure to watch the video demo) deftly uses all of the happy couple’s online info they post about the wedding; the app streams it into an easy-to-navigate format and helps you party the night away. Even better, you can earn points to see where you rank among fellow wedding crashers.

TWINKIES: The news that Hostess filed for bankruptcy was a filing heard round the world, soliciting response from the most prestigious to obscure of news sources. From those who tried to envision a world without Twinkies to NPR’s list of 10 things to do with Twinkies to prove how useful they are, it is clear they are an American cultural icon. Interesting finding: turns out, Twinkies do not dissolve in Mountain Dew, unlike mice (as Pepsi claims).

HAPPINESS: It’s like Thought Catalog just exists to provide me with my favorite articles. Ever wonder the Things You Need In Order To Stay Happy? Or just want confirmation someone agrees with your life philosophy? Definitely read it. Read it now. And read it once more.

TEBOW, FOOTBALL & FATE: Tebow. The amazing man, the myth, the legend. Sadly though, yesterday the Broncos were easily shut down by the Patriots, (45-10) in a highly anticipated playoff game. Blogger Patton Dodd wrote of the match-up between Tebow and Brady in advance of the game: “Brady is the guy every teenage boy wants to be. Tebow is the guy every teenage boy’s mom wants him to be.” Apparently, being a momma’s favorite didn’t serve him too well against the Patriots. The victory has led some to question if God exists, though, I’ll leave that up to you.

COLBERT: As though last week my obsession level wasn’t obsessed enough… this week he definitely deserves his own category. This past Thursday, Colbert handed over his SuperPac to Jon Stewart in order to form an exploratory committee to examine his possible run as a candidate for the President of South Carolina!

And for your video of the week, for all you thesis and ‘independent project’ workers for Jterm — this video goes to you. An oldie-but-goodie AMAZING post-it stop motion animation film about deadlines & the art of procrastination. Enjoy!

Dec 6

Radio Run-Through: Bitter Gourd

Welcome to Radio Run-Through, a new feature where we’ll showcase WRMC’s student-run radio shows to help you figure out what you’ll want to tune in to. Let us know if there any specific shows or music genres you’d like to see featured in the comment section below!

Real Estate's new album "Days" helps to facilitate plant growth (and human productivity, we like to think).

WHAT: Bitter Gourd – a botanical talk show interspersed with college rock songs that help to facilitate plant growth
WHO: Anjali Merchant ’13 and Carly Shumaker ’13
WHEN: 10:00 – 11:00 am on Saturdays
WHY THEY THINK YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: “Growing up, children generally feel a stronger affinity to animals than plants. Our radio show aims to champion the undervalued green world. Each week, we focus on a particular plant species and over the course of an hour we talk about its economic, medicinal, social, culinary, and/or ecological value and consequences. Two weeks ago we discussed agave, a type of succulent plant that grows in the southeastern united states and mexico. The syrup of blue agave is employed in the production of tequila and is also consumed as a natural sweetener. We spoke about tila tequila, mexican state laws, diabetes, and ways to drink tequila … Ultimately, you should listen to our show because we discuss more than just plant physiology, for we address the implications these plants have on their local ecosystems and the world. We’re also willing to bet that we’re the only botanical talk show on college radio.”
WHY WE THINK YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: The concept is intriguing enough on its own, but if you need a real reason to listen, the jams are killer. It’s just up-beat enough to help motivate you to start your day, but also mellow enough to help you get through that Saturday morning hangover.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

“Intro (ft. Zola Jesus)” – M83

“It’s Real” – Real Estate

Dec 3

Arts Runoff: MAN OF LA MANCHA

Arts Runoff is a Middblog series of performance reviews, originally written by JP Allen ’11. Ele Woods ’11.5 is going to take over the series for now!

Summary: Middlebury College Music Players (MCMP)’s fall show.  A musical written in the 1960’s about madness, art and the power of a dream.  Miguel de Cervantes, a poor poet/actor/writer, is imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition. The inmates put Cervantes and his manservant, Sancho, on trial and as part of his defense, they perform the story of Don Quixote de La Mancha (the world’s most loveable idiot). Yes, it IS a musical within a musical! It’s principal song, “The Impossible Dream” is one of those great drunken karaoke songs that many people know, but don’t quite know where they know it from.

 Good: This is an impressive show. It is a big cast and it’s a musical. That means a lot of people to coordinate, plus extra time for music rehearsals.  Charles Giardina (direction), Hannah Rommer (music direction), and Cami Quiñónez  (costumes) did a great job creating a cohesive show and handling that kind of pressure. The set was innovative, multi-purpose and did not distract from the production. The acting was fine, for the most part. Some were better than others. Nathaniel Rothrock gave a wonderfully convincing and comedic portrayal of Don Quixote. Nicholas Hemerling did a great job balancing his different roles with equal levels of humor, menace and delightfulness. Thomas Scott is a good physical comic and used that to his advantage playing the lovable manservant, Sancho. Nejla Calvo sounds and looks great on a stage and was most believable when she was physically dominating the rest of her cast.  “I’m Only Thinking of Him” and “Dulcinea” were great and are still stuck in my head.

 Bad: It’s hard to be truly immersed in a show when you are sitting in bleachers, so far above it (damn you MCC Social Space and your terrible acoustics!).

The show seemed unintentionally slapdash for a college production. The lights looked pretty, especially the colored lights in companion with the set, but they seemed out of sync with the show.

The cast was imbalanced. Some of the performers didn’t know how to capture the audiences’ attention, (which to me may be the most important part of a musical, bravado!) and others distracted me when I should have been focused on the principles.  Also, while I believe they gave good individual performances, I was skeptical of the connection between Aldonza and Don Quixote.

 Broad: I am always impressed by how many talented musicians and singers there are at Middlebury. The pit band was a real treat. As corny and hippy dippy as the message was –BELIEVE IN YOUR OWN MADNESS! — it is one that I enjoy. There are some real moments of comedy created by (I am assuming) the director, but there are also some misfires. Also, every time a Spanish Inquisitor came onstage I couldn’t help thinking of this.

Contextual Rating:  The last show is tonight at 8PM in McCullough Social Space!
If you already have something planned this afternoon/ evening…

…have fun.  See a different show next week.
…do it.  See Man of La Mancha if you can.
…put it off.  See this show.
.
…skip it. See this show.

Nov 29

Radio Run-Through: Stratocumulus

Welcome to Radio Run-Through, a new feature where we’ll showcase WRMC’s student-run radio shows to help you figure out what you’ll want to tune in to. Let us know if there any specific shows or music genres you’d like to see featured in the comment section below!

My Bloody Valentine's 1991 album "Loveless" falls under the category of shoegaze.

WHAT: Stratocumulus – Currently shoegaze, noise-pop, and dream pop, three subgenres of alternative from the 80s and 90s that experienced a revival during the mid-aughts. The music genres emphasized on the show change semesterly, though the overarching alt-rock, indie pop sound remains consistent.
WHO: Sam Tolzmann ’14
WHEN: 8:00 – 10:00 pm on Tuesdays
WHY HE THINKS YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: “I would like to think that people should listen to the show because it provides a lot of contextual information about the music being played, and hopefully teaches listeners who don’t know a lot about shoegaze, dream pop, and/or noise-pop a lot about the sounds of the genres, their history, the role of specific independent record labels in developing genres, the relationships between bands in these scenes, etc. While I myself am I big fan of all three genres, I used this semester as a reason to delve really deep into them, and I try to avoid playing only the most famous bands or songs. I didn’t repeat any artists for four weeks. So in addition to playing music that sounds great and has a specific, dreamy vibe, I think people should listen to learn about the music they’re hearing.”
WHY WE THINK YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: MiddKids love a good history lesson, and who doesn’t like to learn about new bands? There’s actually a good chance that you’ve heard of some of the artists featured, but could never really figure out how to classify them. Let Sam teach you. As with most other alt-rock, indie pop, etc. etc. WRMC stations, Stratocumulus is great to listen to as you’re banging out a paper or lab report.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

“When the Sun Hits” – Slowdrive

“Cherry-Coloured Funk” – Cocteau Twins

Nov 22

Radio Run-Through: Misanthropy

Welcome to Radio Run-Through, a new feature where we’ll showcase WRMC’s student-run radio shows to help you figure out what you’ll want to tune in to. Let us know if there any specific shows or music genres you’d like to see featured in the comment section below!

Tune in to Misanthropy see what your friends have to say about love, heartbreak and everything else!

WHAT: Misanthropy – abstract narrative journalism with songs that coincide with the week’s theme.
WHO: Eliza Wallace ’14
WHEN: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm on Wednesdays
WHY SHE THINKS YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: “[Sometimes you] get to hear [yourself] on air answering a question… or sometimes I’ll play a recorded story that will really resonate with you or make you think or make you laugh.  Also, it plays in Procs at lunchtime on Wednesdays so if you’re sitting in the booths, you don’t really have a choice! … You can often expect to hear lots of people confronted with sometimes very complicated questions, my roommate’s extremely pessimistic views on life, some randos trying to be philosophical, some giggling, some serious moments, some bizarre music sets, some great stories, and always, something unexpected.”
WHY WE THINK YOU SHOULD TUNE IN: Misanthropy is new, different and unexpected, featuring a broad range of emotions and topics. The stuff that your fellow classmates, hallmates and awkward-round-Atwater-tablemates talk about are things that you want to hear. Plus, it’s fun to try to pick out the voices and (embarrassing) stories of people you know!

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