Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
Me. I'm only kidding. I'm not hot. But with an article title like this, I needed to throw in some fake narcissism somewhere. Moving on from that horrible joke introduction...This week was filled with lots of love coming from the music community. So many awesome surprise songs dropped this week! Perfect for Valentine's Day, right? Finally, my moping around eating Hershey's chocolate and watching the Olympics for hours on end had a soundtrack. I think people like me are the reason so many artists released bangers this week. Here, let me show you some. 1. Catch It - IceageI discovered Iceage on Pinterest, after mistaking singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt for Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT. Then I proceeded to do a reverse Google image search to see if I was right, and the video for their most popular song The Lord's Favorite came up. I quickly became obsessed with their dark melodious punk sound. Elias' dragged-on vocals and the clashing of the guitars transports you to the heart of winter, especially in this song with the added effect of the jingle bells. Personally, I felt like I was back in the wilderness of Île d'Orléans again. If you listen to their other songs, this one might be perceived as more "understandable" or "basic." I see it as a good turning chapter for their next album! This slower, more haunting vibe creates endless possibilities for who Iceage could be able to freak out next with their new songs. If you want more of these guys, I would recommend watching some live stuff. This one is my favorite, because it perfectly shows Elias' stage presence and the beautiful way he expresses himself by sliding on the floor for a couple minutes. Happy Iceaging! It isn't just a kids movie anymore. 2. Meet Me In Mexico - The DrumsThis charity single for the earthquakes that have happened in Mexico was released when I was in a study period, so of course I had to sneak out my headphones and give it a listen. It was such a good pick-me-up for the middle of the week! I love that it sounded like it could have made it onto Abysmal Thoughts if made earlier, but also had a different, quicker tone to it. I also thought the color scheme of the cover matched the vibes that this song gave off. I pictured an escape from reality, like a tropical vacation at a resort surrounded by palm trees and a variety of fruit. The lyrics give off that vibe too, of not wanting to party with "Americans," and wanting to go somewhere else and meet different people. That's an emotion that I think everyone has felt at least once, wanting to get away from their typical crowd and explore other towns and cultures. Wow. I need another vacation. Buy this song on Bandcamp! All the proceeds will go to hurricane relief in Mexico! 3. Nameless, Faceless - Courtney BarnettQueen Courtney is blessing us with another album, people. This song, an obvious callout to the anonymous online male haters out there, makes points that are extremely important to remember in this era. An example of one of these points can be shown in the lyrics: "I wanna walk through the park in the dark Men are scared that women will laugh at them I wanna walk through the park in the dark Women are scared that men will kill them." You hear all of these stories these days about boyfriends that kill women for rejecting them, etc etc. This song portrays the struggle of being a woman in the music industry, and just being a woman in general. Courtney is basically saying that no matter what women sing about, there will always be men out there that will hate them for just being women, and for no other reason. That is something men don't usually have to worry about! As well as addressing feminist issues, this song also addresses the hypocrisy of online hate. I never got why people bothered to comment mean messages on things that have absolutely no negative effect on their lives. Courtney is challenging these haters, saying that if they are so set on hating on her, why are they too afraid to do it in real life? That is the main problem with the internet: it could give you the power to go nameless and faceless. A very deep and important song to start 2018. Let's go Courtney! 4. Thought Contagion - MuseA conversation that my mom and I had in the Target parking lot this weekend perfectly summarized what I wanted to say about this song. She brought up that Muse has the power to stand the test of time, and that no matter what sound changes they go through, they will always stay true to their rock roots. Just think about it: No matter what era you listen to, Muse will always sound badass. Always. End of argument. Even The 2nd Law. I am loving the superhero soundtrack movie vibe that this song and Dig Down have been giving off. I'm hoping these singles lead into another amazing project by them! I really don't have anything else to say about this song that isn't shameless praise. God, I always forget how good these guys are. Matt's voice will never die out. 5. Far Away Truths - Albert Hammond Jr.AHJ was always my favorite solo project that stemmed from The Strokes. This song sounds like pure ol' school 2000s indie, and I love it. Especially the cover art, too. I feel like it should be a lost Strokes B-side! After all, it has their trademark guitar that everyone loves. I also hear a slight Queens of the Stone Age sound to it, and so do the other commentors of this video.
Not only am I pumped for AHJ's new album, I am also intrigued. From the description of this video, this album is inspired by a deeply personal topic and I am interested to hear how he expresses it through his sound and lyrics. Let's look forward to that! I hope you guys had a decent Valentine's Day. Don't get too many cavities from eating all of the discount chocolate from CVS. Have a great President's Week, as well!
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I have done 7 of these already but, with overwhelming confidence, I must say that this episode of ATOC is the craziest yet. It isn't just because of ONE crazy event like some of my stories, but it's a combination of a million tiny crazy ingredients to make this concert one bizarre-tasting soup.
The events of this day turned out even crazier because everything was multiplied by the fact that I also saw Dear Evan Hansen (That is another story for another in depth article, though. For now. let's focus on Hippo). So by 6:30pm, I was sitting on the Ferry, completely exhausted, heading to Staten Island so my cousin, Gerri, and Mom could pick me up and drop me off in Brooklyn. That exhaustion was replaced with anxiety, because it was getting close to when doors were opening and I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. My other cousin, Jessie, was sitting in the venue, having been there since 4:00pm. The line outside Brooklyn Steel was dizzyingly large, which made me wonder if I would be able to get to the barricade. Would people yell at me for pushing them? Would I have to cry and blame the crowd for separating family members? I stuffed all my essential things (money, permit for ID, and phone) into my pockets and go on the no bag line since there was no one on it. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure I could get to Jessie. But, I always seem to forget how these concerts go. There was no one there. Everyone was either waiting for VIP, talking to the nice Planned Parenthood ladies, or buying hipster alcoholic beverages. I practically skipped to the large doors and saw that there was virtually no one at the stage yet. There, I saw Jessie at the barricade, with a huge space next to her! Another classic example of how my anxiety makes waiting for things 100 times worse when, in reality, everything turns out ok. Now that that huge cloud blew away, I could think about what was going to come next. While waiting for Sure Sure, the opening act, we were greeted with airdrops of Spongebob memes from people throughout the crowd. As this meme popped up on Jessie's phone, the lights dimmed and the band came out. I listened to some of their songs before, so I knew enough lyrics to semi-sing along. There was a lot of funny banter between the four members, the main subject of it being the drummer, Kevin. Example: Charlie, singer: "When you're on tour, everything looks like a snack. Even Kevin. Kevin is a snack." Kevin: "Well if I'm a snack, then you're a full course meal!" (This exchange caused the entire crowd to cheer Kevin on every time a song ended and even when he came back on stage to clean stuff up at the end.) Sure Sure's set was amazing and made the whole crowd dance. My personal favorite moment was when they introduced a song by saying "Ok guys, whenever we say 'put your hands up keep your head down,' put your hands up, put your head down, and bounce." Everyone did what they said, and was so much fun! When they came off, Jessie and I group Instagram live streamed to our staggering 3 person audience. We sung 500 miles as they played it in the venue, and probably annoyed the two girls standing next to us. If they see this, I'm sorry! Your outfits were really nice! In the middle of my performance of Tighten Up, the lights shut off and Hippo came on immediately. My heart rate went rapid, and I fell in love with them all over again. Their show was so amazing that it felt like the first time, standing in Webster Hall in October of 2016. When they came out to Poems, that is when I realized "Wow, I truly am growing up with these guys." I went crazy. I swung my arms out of the barricade, almost hitting innocent photographers, yelling, no YODELING every word. They played two new songs. TWO. AND NATHAN SANG ON ONE OF THEM. They need to release it right now. Like, I'm not even being funny. I can't just watch the 40 second video I recorded forever. They called us the best show on the tour yet, which was pretty amazing but not surprising. NYC is always the best. We lit. Here are some top notch quotes from Hippo: Jake: (before traveler) "I'm getting f**king sweaty, baby! Alright!" Jake: "This one goes out to the Yankees! ......or Mets. Screw it! It goes out to the Knicks!" Nathan: "This goes out to Johann Bach! He's a real inspo of mine...if that even matters.." (it does!) Jake: "This one is about tennis! *baseball plays*" Jessie had a realization during one of the songs that Zach is her favorite. She did not know his name, so I told her Zach. She thought I said Dan. I laughed abnormally loudly. This was also the first show I saw with DeCarlo! I loved that he would still jam hard, even when he didn't have a trumpet solo coming up. At one point he was showing Nathan stuff on his phone. Me as a performer. The rest of the show was absolutely amazing. Like I said earlier, it felt like the first time all over again. I will never get sick of seeing them live. There always will be a new opener, new fans, new merch, and new adventures. The adventures did not end when they walked off the stage, though. Hell, the memories were just beginning. Jessie and I chilled for a little while, took some pics next to the stage, and had a dance off with some drunk 20-somethings to Electric Avenue. Even though we waited to leave the stage for 10 minutes, the lobby was PACKED. It was like a sea of hyped-up teen girls and the occasional annoying group of guys that made fun of said teens. We blended in with the crowd and pushed to the merch area, which was not a good idea at all. Everyone was pushing towards the exit, so the merch-buyers were getting screamed at by the exit-ers. Some guy whispered to me, "You know, you're causing this huge issue here." Sorry for wanting to buy a $5 pin! And plus, I'm only 120 pounds, you could push me over if you wanted could, but since you'd rather complain, you probably couldn't. I really hope he sees this. I was stuck in front of this guy who really had to pee. He then said my favorite quote of the night: "Man, I really should have pissed on the side of the building." After 10 minutes, an employee finally spoke up and made all the buyers get in a line. That's when Jessie and I met these ladies who tried to sneak beer in. Leading up to another golden exchange. Lady: "Yeah, I couldn't bring my alcohol in here! They even took my fake ID! I spent $56 dollars on that!" Jessie: "Wait...are you over 21?" Lady: "Nope." *The worst awkward silence ever. Jessie stood there in shock. I started laughing and talked to her about how I'm used to hearing about fakes on SI.* Soon the line moved up. I waved goodbye to my new law-breaking friends. I looked in my wallet to see what I could buy, but realized I only had $20. I started panicking. I did not wait 20 minutes to walk out empty handed! That is when everything got 100 times weirder. Two members of Sure Sure, Kevin and Chris, were standing behind the counter signing free posters. Like, so nonchalantly. I was never expecting it. I skipped all of the people buying Hippo stuff and began talking. Jessie started singing for them and asked Kevin if he would be interested in taking her to her Junior Prom. He sadly declined, for he had to tour. I talked to them about what it was like to live in LA, how we both went to Canada this year, and how everyone spells Allison the wrong way (IT'S TWO LS!). They told us that they had a sure at Rough Trade on 4/20, but I told them that my prom was two days after, so my mom would probably say no. They understood. I signed up for their mailing list and as we were about to leave, another Sure Sure member magically appeared! We complimented Michael on his shoes and his Canada Goose jacket, and ran outside to my mom, who, as she was waiting for us, became best friends with the security guard. We ran outside clutching our precious signed posters in the pouring rain to the car. There was a group of hipsters blocking our way, so we said excuse me. We were about to run off again when we heard a voice yell "Yo, do you guys want your shit signed?" We turn around, and it was the FINAL MEMBER OF SURE SURE. I'm realizing I'm talking like each of the members of Sure Sure were bosses in a video game and we just got to the last round. Charlie was surrounded by a bunch of his friends, including the one who yelled out to us. "I'll do anything for the fans," the guy later remarked. We got our final signature, talked about my tweet for them, and then finally left as some girls pulled up blasting Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. As I got into the car, Jessie said she wanted to stalk the Hippo CampBUS (my mom literally thought the bus said that), but I said no thanks. I already met them once, and to be honest, I couldn't have been more exhausted. I was sweaty, I couldn't hear a thing, and I looked horrible. I was in no shape to take a good-looking close up selfie with any member of Hippo. Jessie was, though! And she took some great ones. So, that's how it ended. I couldn't go to sleep because I was just LAUGHING at everything that happened. That's the thing with me. It doesn't matter who I'm seeing or who I'm going with, I always end up in the most bizarre situations. Hey, it's a good thing. It makes for amazing tales like this one. I really can't believe January's finally over. I feel like I've been in this month for....well...MONTHS. A lot of stuff happened and a lot of music was played on my laptop. One of the constant bands that I really got into this month was a band by the name of Vundabar! I was immediately drawn to them due to their northeastern roots, because, I'm from 'round those parts too. Like many of the great music I'm into, I discovered Vundabar on my Spotify Daily Mix. I was heavily procrastinating my physics homework one day, so I decided to check that week's one out. A song called Greenland was first on the playlist and I was intrigued. I listened to it, and my perspective on a lot of things in life was changed. Not to get all sappy or anything, but some of the lyrics of this song have helped me to understand and get through some of the events that have been happening to me. Over the course of the past month I've been going through a lot of stressful situations, mostly stupid typical high school stuff. Schoolwork, midterms, prom, all those fun things! A lyric that I remember every time I struggle to achieve something that I really want is "You can't get no honey without some bees, and sometimes you may get bee stings, but such is life." It's my VSCO bio now. This has been my go to song when I need to rock out and let off some steam. If you have some sort of angst in your life that you need to vent about, listen to this song and let all you feelings of anger wash over you as you sing along. "What did you come here for?" I don't think I've ever talked about my favorite kind of music videos, but they're the spontaneous kind. You know, the ones not recorded with a professional camera that show the band's daily life and them going on tour, almost like a vlog! I feel happy when I watch them and I like seeing the band having fun and being themselves with each other, because, after all, they're just buds making music. These type of videos create an ambitious energy in me, an urge to go out and film a video like this with my good friends. This is the video for Oulala by Vundabar, a video that displays all of the qualities I just described in the most perfect way. I was sad to see that most of these videos were from a couple years ago and I wasn't sure if Vundabar was still a thing. Then, days later, they read my mind and released an amazing music video for their song Acetone! I also found out about their new album coming out this year that you should ALL be excited for. I really like the vintage vibe of this video; The large attention-grabbing font creates the atmosphere of an 80s horror film. The long coats and the fog also add on to that. This could easily be the new scary Netflix hit, with the body burying, the three characters, and the creepy-sounding title (Acetone, one of the most FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS, OOOOO).
This also made me feel nostalgic because I saw Vermont plates on the pick up truck. Oh, how I miss vacationing in that beautiful place. I felt like it was a very appropriate state for this video to be set in because of how desolate it is. I hope you enjoyed this article a lot. LISTEN TO VUNDABAR. They're such an underrated band and I really want to try and catch their Brooklyn show when they come in March. Have a great week everyone! |