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(05/02/14 11:00am)
This little blog post is the last thing I’ll ever write for the the State Press. It feels appropriate that despite the often more than 3,000-word features I’ve written, this one last piece of me gets to be a casual, mere fragment of what the State Press offers as a glorious whole.
(04/23/14 1:47pm)
It’s hard to sift through a music news site or blog without stumbling across the name “Chet Faker.” Faker, 24, is an Australian singer who dabbles in electronic, R&B, soul and jazz, with an unsurprising musical influence derived from Chet Baker and Motown.
(04/17/14 4:00am)
I think it’s really important to feel like a badass motorcyclist sometimes. There’s nothing more liberating than putting on the badass-motorcyclist equivalent of shoes (i.e. Converse or black combat boots) and blaring some rock ‘n’ roll in the morning while you pour yourself a bowl of cereal. No matter how blasé you feel about the day ahead, a little inspiration can harness the blues into something much cooler. And with that, I’m fairly sure I just gave away my favorite (and probably only) life tip.
(04/15/14 4:00am)
After about twenty seconds into Book of Shred’s music video “Straight Up,” it’s easy to see that Robbie Cohen and incoming ASU junior Colin Denker don’t take themselves too seriously. Clad in brightly colored mismatched sweatbands, sunglasses, tanks and short-shorts, the duo quite literally hop around to display what I can only assume are their “special occasion” dance moves.
(04/08/14 7:49pm)
Music is one of the few things that are forever. There’s always room for new discoveries to nestle a permanent place between old favorites—maybe even songs you’ve listened to for years. Unlike music, college is fleeting, and I find myself staring at one last month of classes. (Imagine a 22-year-old version of a kid grasping her stuffed teddy bear, shaking her head, tears welling, after hearing Santa isn’t real. That’s me right now.) Does it have to end?
(04/01/14 8:49pm)
Whoever thinks good music doesn’t come from Texas is profoundly mistaken. I’m not a fan of the pop-country fusion you hear at bars that serve buckets of Bud Light and offer mechanical bull rides. But I do love the timeless twang of more classical folk and country.
(03/27/14 12:13pm)
A couple days ago while I was sitting at my desk and scrolling through Twitter, I read words that had been missing from the world since 2011. The Black Keys was finally going to release a new single. It’s one of those bands I can’t say I still listen to very often. However, I fostered an addiction to them my sophomore year in college while walking from the light rail to my English class in Tempe. It was a long stretch of ground to cover coming from my internship downtown, and I had a solid hour and a half of peaceful solace to listen at will. The Black Keys albums would be on shuffle the whole span.
(03/25/14 12:40pm)
I’m not one for huge concerts. There’s a certain intimacy that you get in small to mid-sized venues that leaves arena shows feeling more like miniature festivals or sports events. My comfort zone dwells somewhere near the stage, surrounded by meshing conversations and the lingering scents of beer and cigarette smoke. Assigned seats miles from the stage—who needs them?
(03/22/14 4:06pm)
“Sweet enough to make Tom Waits cry, mean enough to beat up CSNY (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young).”
(03/06/14 5:00am)
I was in my Business and Future of Journalism class last week when we were given a group project. The idea was pretty simple: We were supposed to invent something people needed. Ideas largely included apps (hello, 2014) with innovative and funny concepts. One of them in particular struck me as interesting. It was a dating website that matched you up with your dream significant other according to your taste in music. Country two-steppers and hipster snobs could now be provided with almost effortless means to snagging that perfect first date. Not a bad idea—admittedly better than my group’s sad attempt at some “get back at your ex-boyfriend” app that referenced Ryan Gosling. It left me wondering: Is that what we’ve come to as a people, and, would it work?
(02/27/14 8:46pm)
Music videos are kind of hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes they leave me unaffected, but more often than not, I’m either floored or underwhelmed. The worst is when the vision I had for a song gets crushed by a video interpretation that doesn’t fit. This might come off as irrelevant to the music or even selfish, but I think there’s usually a heavy dose of meaning for artists in the videos they piece together for songs. To not resonate with a video feels much like not resonating with the artist, their initial vision and the music itself.
(02/25/14 5:00am)
Childhood memories have an enormous impact on my life that often slips through the cracks. One of my favorite things about growing up in my family is the road trips we would take every summer across the country. While my fellow classmates would brag about luxury cruises and trips to Disney Land, I would talk about the crazy, tumultuous adventures my family partook in as we drove from Wisconsin to the Florida Keys or Washington D.C. There always seemed to be something special about being in such close quarters with my parents and sister for an extended period of time with nothing but each other, gas station snacks and mixed tapes to keep us amused.
(02/20/14 5:00am)
Do you remember your first MySpace song? I remember mine. I was sitting in my grade school’s “computer lab,” which for my seriously tiny, private Catholic school entailed a small room filled with the beige plastic boxes we once knew as computers. Of course, we were supposed to be working on some project that probably involved a lot of floppy disks and clip art instead of dipping our toes in social media for the first time. After I chose some painfully emo selfie with too much black eyeliner and a lime-green font, it was time for the moment of truth. I picked “Cute Without the ‘E’” by Taking Back Sunday. “And will you tell all your friends / you’ve got your gun to my head / this all was only wishful thinking.” Yeah, my 13-year-old, completely provided-for self with a functional family liked to pretend she had it rough.
(02/18/14 5:00am)
I’ve only recently gravitated toward artist collaborations. I think a pivotal point was when I first heard the song “The Baddest Man Alive” by The Black Keys featuring rapper, actor and producer RZA. It was made for the movie “Man With the Iron Fists,” and I admit, the idea of one of my favorite rock bands teaming up with a rap artist didn’t initially sit well. But that’s one thing I’ve grown to appreciate most about collaborations—the unexpected yet perfect synthesis of genre-jumping. It’s an art.
(02/13/14 5:00am)
My dad introduced me to Kings Of Leon when I was in high school. They’re one of those bands that some recent fanatics might not realize have been around for quite a long time. In fact, this Tennessee garage rock band has been making music since 1999. In a sense, I think they’ve more or less coined the phrase “Southern rock,” or at least evolved it into a more tangible genre with country and blues influence, heavy guitar and scruffy facial hair. Swoon.
(02/11/14 5:00am)
You know a band has imprinted on your soul when you remember the exact moment you first heard them. I was a freshman in college when I first heard “Lost in My Mind” by The Head and the Heart. I distinctly remember sitting at Starbucks, studying for my midterms on the downtown Phoenix campus. It was kind of a moment of clarity while my discombobulated brain feebly attempted to decipher “z-scores” in statistics. Hearing Charity Rose Thielen’s voice allowed me to reach a level of comfort I hadn’t yet achieved while being away from my house in Wisconsin.
(02/10/14 1:30pm)
A cool breeze swirls around the buildings of downtown Phoenix on an uncharacteristically chilly October night. Truth be told, this city after dark is a bit of a ghost town. Skeletons of failed, abandoned music venues and clubs scatter among gas stations, chain restaurants and vacant lots.
(02/07/14 4:16pm)
I feel like Bon Iver became a household name chucked into the indie music genre after the “Bonnie Bear” fiasco of the 2012 Grammy Awards. How sad. Fortunately, that most ironic and uproarious release of Justin Vernon’s songs to the masses did not deter from his music making or my obsession with it. Here’s a Tumblr post I created a couple of years ago that puts this into words:
(02/04/14 3:51pm)
I don’t know about you, but the music I listen to varies. Sure, some particular artists and songs will forever hold a special place in my heart, but one of the most exciting aspects of music for me has always been discovery. My heart races when I hear a song good enough to “Shazam” or read lyrics that resonate with me on a blog. I have a methodical approach to music-listening that was subconscious for a long time. I create playlists on iTunes according to emotional and spiritual phases of my life. These often end up satisfying me through semesters, seasons or even lengthy trips.
(01/30/14 3:56pm)
I studied abroad in London last year at the University of Westminster, although it kind of feels like that never happened. I’ll occasionally get these flashbacks of taking the tube to class, walking with wet cobblestones under my boot, or gazing up at wooden beams from the bottom part of my bunk bed (yes — bunk bed). Even while I was there, things felt a little surreal.