Archive for the ‘onMusic’ Category

For music junkies on a tight budget

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

For a music junkie, the NYC music scene is an extremely potent form of opium. From record shops to restaurants that feature live music, concerts at MSG to hidden gem musicians performing in the subways for spare change, being in the city that never stops the music is the ultimate destination.

It may seem that in order to get the full music experience in the city would cost a fortune but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. For those living on the cumbersome college budget like myself, half the fun is the adventure that comes with finding cheap musical entertainment. The other half of the fun is the part where you discover your new favorite artist at a show in Brooklyn that you only paid 20 bucks to see, not including the 5 bucks for the subway trip there.

But even the subway systems provide cheap entertainment and good stuff too. Struggling musicians constantly perform on subway platforms as people wait for their trains. I once gave a couple dollars to one musician and he played “Hey Jude” for me, totally giving The Beatles a run for their money.

Those who prefer hard cover CDs and vinyls (yes, people still sell those) in this digital age, don’t have to search very far to run into a record shop in NYC. For true music lovers, having a hardcopy version of an album is like having a piece of their favorite artists. MP3 downloads and an MP3 player makes any subway ride and doing homework a lot less tedious.

But to have a small piece of your favorite artist in the form of a CD or a vinyl record (if you’re lucky enough), which often times include some clever artwork and lyrics, makes the music more personal to you as the individual listener in a world where digital makes everything, literally everything, less personal.

Depending on what you’re looking for, artists ranging from The Beatles to the Spice Girls and maybe even some Scandinavian folk pop can be found in vinyl and CD format any good, hole-in-the-wall NYC record shop. The Scandinavian folk pop might require a bit of research and phone calls but you get my point.

Tons of treasures can be found in these mini musical sanctuaries where rummaging through the stacks and shelves can result in finding some pretty cool keepsakes.
If you’re looking for CD’s, vinyls and more music memorabilia, stop by Village Music World on Bleecker Street and print the coupon below to save $2 when you purchase a CD!

 

Janet Reyes, College of Saint Elizabeth, 2012

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So You Think You Can (Learn To) Dance?

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Ok, sorry about the cheesy title but I just couldn’t resist. I wanted to highlight the fabulous deal Piel Canela Dance Studio has for Campus Clipper followers – it’s really too good to pass up if you’re interested in learning any of the Latin dances. They’re offering an Unlimited Dance Card for 30 days for only $300! What makes this deal great is that the regular price is literally 5 times the sale price. That’s right: regular price is $150 for an Unlimited Dance Card. So if you think you can learn to dance then you shouldn’t pass this up!
What makes Piel Canela a great place to learn or polish your moves is the diversity they offer. Not only can you learn beginner or advanced levels of Salsa, Bachata or Cha Cha, (just to name a few of their offerings), but you can also take Spanish language classes, audition for their dance company, attend social dances or even take music lessons. They truly offer a full immersion into the Latin Culture. The inspiring music is sure to have you moving, and you may find it hard to resist signing up for other events Piel Canela participates in: vacation plans to exotic places like the Dominican Republic or Machu Picchu, Salsa Cruises or expos during the half time of Knicks Games. This wonderful deal is too good to pass on if you have ever considered tripping the light fantastic!

 

 

Kristen, Salem College ’11

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Golf Wang 101: an OFWGKTA Primer

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

If you’ve never heard the phrase Odd Future, you probably don’t spend a lot of time reading about music on the internet. Which in this case is lucky, since the good- or badness of this group of teenagers from LA has been debated, discussed, and reblogged ad infinitum over the past few months, without necessarily including any real consideration of their music. Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is a rap music and art collective, composed mainly of teenagers, with the twin goals of making art and making you talk about them. That second part has surely been achieved faster than even Tyler the Creator, the group’s leader, could have hoped. Luckily for us consumers, the music is almost as good as the controversy, and should last a lot longer.

A few of the members of Odd Future

Over the last year and a half, Odd Future has put out about a dozen mixtapes, all available for free on their website. [Beware: the content behind these links might be offensive, but it’s not meant to be taken too seriously.] Incredibly, almost every track has been produced by Tyler, an impressive show of prolificacy from an artist who can’t yet buy alcohol legally. Several of the wolf gang-ers were still in high school while the majority of their corpus was recorded, and the group’s online promotion is even more aggressive than the music itself. Which is plenty aggressive. Beyond making good, original music at such a young age and marketing it well, the key to Odd Future’s appeal is their angry, silly, violent, playful, and above all, provocative ethos. Members of Odd Future love skateboarding, fire, and upsetting you, and not necessarily in that order. They want to make you uncomfortable, and they want to enjoy themselves while doing it.  In other words, their effect is basically that of a classroom full of class clowns. Or full of teenage Eminems.

The Odd Future media blitz was (of course) not accomplished solely through posting tons of good free music (which they did). In a week of brilliantly targeted internet manipulation and branding, Tyler released his first music video, “Yonkers”–a real showstopper, and maybe the best video of the year–hours after making an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the first TV spot for a group that had yet to tour the east coast. Tyler’s energetic performance with fellow wolf Hodgy Beats was everything that late night TV usually is not: electric, exciting, and bursting with wild energy. A few days later, the internet was abuzz.

All of which is introductory to what I really wanted to talk about, the hundred or so songs that Odd Future’s put out so far. To this point there are eleven mixtapes, three albums, and dozens of youtube videos that constitute the body of Odd Future’s work. Odd Future Tape and Radical feature all of the (rapper) members of the group, and are a good place for the uninitiated to get acquainted with the whole gang (Radical is better). The biggest OF release so far is Goblin, Tyler’s first solo album and the first real material OF album. It’s strange, long, self-referential, kind of spooky, and very personal–to the point that it’s the rare album that can be described as confessional shock rap. I’d also recommend Nostalgia, Ultra, which is somewhat of an anomaly in the OF catalog. It’s the debut of Frank Ocean, the only R&B singer in the group, and its appeal is definitely not tied to the balls-out OF aesthetic: it’s just an album of buttery smooth love songs that both your mother and your hottest friend might like.

Earl Sweatshirt, age 16

My favorite wolves are Tyler, Hodgy, and above all, the mysterious Earl Sweatshirt. Earl is the youngest member of the group, and after recording a phenomenal mixtape and a handful of other songs in 2010, he disappeared. Tyler began a FREE EARL campaign, while refusing to answer any questions about his bandmate’s whereabouts. As his music blew up on the internet, Earl was MIA. By far the best lyricist in the group, Earl ranks as either one of the most exciting new voices in hip-hop or the greatest sixteen-year-old rapper ever, depending on who you ask. None of which will matter much unless he decides to make some more music. A couple of months ago, Kelefa Sanneh of the New Yorker found Earl, improbably, at a boarding school in Samoa. Through emails with the writer, the young rapper urged OF fans to leave his mom alone. Tyler has challenged the accuracy of the New Yorker story, of course.

I love Earl, and a lot of the OF catalog is really good stuff. Odd Future’s music is very raw, roughly equal parts clever and stupid, and pretty inconsistent, but most of all it is new and exciting, like a child is new and exciting. Through all of the background stories and internet hype and overheated controversy, it’s very easy to lose sight of the only good reason that anyone should care about Odd Future, which is for their music. But that’s clearly how Tyler wants you to come to the music, and the important thing is that you enjoy listening. Just don’t think about it too hard. Click through and check it out for yourself!

—Aaron Brown

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Fuerza Bruta: Look Up Review

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

This past weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing the off-Broadway hit Fuerza Bruta: Look Up. I had seen plenty of ads for it on the subway and thought it was definitely of interest to me, but never quite committed any time to going. Luckily, my brother bought me tickets to a showing of Fuerza Bruta for my birthday.

The "running-man" crashing through a wall.

Right off the bat, I have to say this show probably isn’t for everyone. It is not your normal theater-going experience. For one, you will have to stand the entire time because the spectators and performers share the stage. I enjoyed this because there are points in the show where you get to interact with the performers and take part in their seemingly random dances and confetti-fests. The performers themselves are very friendly and want to get you involved. The “running-man” of the show, John Hartzell, even took a photo on stage with my girlfriend, who attended the show with me.

Also, you will be forced to move from place to place on the stage for changes in the set. This can be very uncomfortable because the stage crew will pack you and your fellow audience members together like sardines. At times this can detract from the experience of the show. It can also be discouraging to shorter audience members if they end up behind someone very tall. However, if you are a real New Yorker, you spend half your life standing around, side by side, with people you don’t know during commutes on the train or bus. I wasn’t bothered too much by this aspect of Fuerza Bruta, but if you think you may be, you have been warned.

As for the actual show, I have to admit there is nothing spectacular about it. The show doesn’t have any dialogue, though I’m positive I saw the performers shouting to each other every once in a while. However, whatever they were saying was drowned out by the loud, electro music that set the tone for the entire performance. The show also doesn’t have spectacular choreography for the portions that involve dancing. The dancing, in fact, basically involves the performers dancing and you dancing along with them.

Half of the time you will be watching a man in a white suit run, get shot, and attempt to continue running, crashing through walls and barriers along the way. The other half of the time you will watch an overheard pool, home to the spectacle of four performers who will swim, smash and stare at their onlookers imperviously, knowing there is a secure barrier between their fun and your wonder.

Performers in the overhead pool.

Despite the fact that Fuerza Bruta seems to be a hodge-podge of disconnected acts, I found the visual spectacle of it all very interesting. Without giving away too much, I will let you know that many bungee cords are involved; moving strobe lights illuminate the stage; performers will be as close as next to you and as far as the ceiling; smoke and confetti will cover the stage (and possibly you); you will get wet, and it can vary depending on how much you interact with the show. For the record, my girlfriend and I were soaked and it was exhilarating. Like I said, this is not your normal theater-going experience.

If you are looking to go out for an hour, dance, get pushed around, get wet, and watch an unexplainable show all at the same time, then this show is for you. I enjoyed it because watching Fuerza Bruta felt like being in a club that was conceived by Dali but run by Duchamp. It is quite artistic, from the music to the set to the pool to the performers and to the way all of those things mesh together. At the same time, however, the show achieves nothing (though a quick flip through the program will reveal that that is exactly what’s at work). I align the show with club-going because I think the type of people who will enjoy the show most are younger individuals who like to dance and party and bask in the nothingness that is achieved by doing so.

For students who are interested, a student discount is available for Fuerza Bruta showings during the Student Rush. The Student Rush occurs two hours before each show time and makes $25 tickets available to college students on a first-come, first-serve basis (actual price is $79). For more information about show times and Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, visit www.fuerzabrutanyc.com.

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: www.donhall.blogspot.com

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Record Store Fun

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Sound Fix of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Music has always been an integral part of my existence, so much so that I enjoy nothing more than listening to music. It’s that simple. If you’re music-obsessed like me, then I suggest planning a day of record store fun. I define record store fun as visiting several different record stores in the span of one day and browsing for jewels in the form of CD or vinyl. I find my record store visits are usually affordable, keeping in mind my average college student budget, mostly because of the wide array of albums that can be bought used. Another thing—if you’re itching to buy a new album before it’s on sale, independent record stores tend to have lower prices than chains like Best Buy. I’d like to recommend a few record stores that you can visit alone or with friends. But it’s always more fun with friends, for sure!

My intention is not to critique or rank any of these record stores against one another. Instead I’d like to just suggest a few that I think are worth your time. The first that I’d like to discuss is Other Music, located in NoHo. Other Music is the best place to find an obscure album in many different genres. Although small, the store has a wide selection of used CDs, but it’s lacking in the arena of used vinyl. However, Other Music makes up for this with their great selection of new vinyl and new CDs. Another plus, Other Music is very well organized and you’re bound to hear some great tunes while browsing for that album you’ve been looking for. Two other great record stores in the area are St. Mark’s Sounds and Rockit Scientist. St. Mark’s Sounds is a popular staple in the East Village, and is a rather wide space.  There is an immense CD selection that will appeal to just about anyone. Rockit Scientist is right across the street from St. Mark’s Sounds, and although it’s smaller, it gives a nice shot of nostalgia for an enthusiast of underground classics. My last record store suggestion within the borough of Manhattan is Village Music World of Greenwich Village. Village Music World is student discounts and student savings friendly! You can use a Campus Clipper coupon and receive a 2-dollar discount on any CD you decide to purchase.

There are three record stores I shall recommend in Brooklyn, and they are: Earwax, Sound Fix, and Academy Records. All of these record stores are located on the north side of Williamsburg, separated from each other by only a few blocks. Academy Records is the go-to place for your vinyl desires and also has a small but rich used CD selection. Sound Fix is the most hyper-organized of the three and is probably my favorite of all because of the super friendly staff. And also it’s a guarantee you’ll find many treasures from their used CD selection. They also have very convenient listening stations as well as handy descriptions of albums that decorate the walls. Earwax has a wider selection of used CDs than the other two, allowing you to score that album you’ve been searching for by an artist no one else knows or cares about it.

Record store fun can be a nice break from the worries of the everyday, and it’s always nice to return home with something that you can enjoy over and over again. Another thing, many of the record stores mentioned here hold record store day events, which involve musicians performing for free within the store. If you love all things music, then I say check out these places and have some fun!

Anjelica LaFurno (Baruch College)

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Fathom Events/The Lord of the Rings

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Over the past three weeks, Fathom Events had a special showing of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in their extended editions, one each weekend for June 14th, 21st, and 28th. The Lord of the Rings films, based on the books series by J. R. R. Tolkien, follow Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, on his adventure through Middle Earth to destroy the last of twenty powerful rings, forged to bring power to he/she who wears one. Each wearer of the ring is soon corrupted by the evil forces with which it possesses, and the movie’s adventure is both a battle on land against armies of Orcs and other evil creatures, as well as of the mind, in an attempt to thwart the call of evil. Until the ring is destroyed—only possible in the fires from which it was made, in the fires of Mount Doom, smack in the middle of antagonist, Sauron’s, territory—it will continue to be sought by those in power greedy enough to desire more. This trilogy is a fantasy adventure film series classic, gaining rave reviews across the world, a definite worthy use of your time, despite their length of about three hours each (for the non-extended versions).

Back to Fathom Events, a company that aims to set up “live one-night entertainment events, engaging business events, and even church worship” for the public to attend. Fathom Events puts on many different types of shows, including performing arts, sporting events, concerts, original shows, and classic films. Though they do cost money, they’re a great way to spend time and bring more culture into your life. Some things coming up in July include a live showing of Wimbledon, Giselle, many operas, the Israeli Philharmonic, and more.

If you’re looking for something to do this summer, or even past this summer into the year, this should definitely be on your list. And if you don’t want to spend the extra cash, you can recreate the movie theater experience at home with popcorn and sodas bought inexpensively from your local super market, such as Morton Williams.

/elizabeth Kaleko, Tufts University

Image from: lotr.wikia.com

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So why lo-fi?

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

lo-fi band Best Coast of California

In today’s music world it can seem like every popular song is terribly artificial, overly processed, and unforgivably marred by auto-tune. Is there no room for humanity in a business that’s dominated by pitch-perfecting, high-tech, expensive machines? Is there any form of originality in pop music? Song after song is practically the same. Live shows are nothing but overdone moments of hyperstimulation. In many ways, it appears that artistic merit is a thing of the past in today’s pop. But hi-fi doesn’t dominate every realm of music—except many people wouldn’t know that, since they’re completely unaware. And it’s not necessarily their fault; after all, such bands and artists receive very little attention from television and radio stations.

In the world of indie and underground music, bands have experimented with lo-fi for decades, and the fuzzy sound has become very popular lately. Lo-fi, for those of you that don’t know, is a recording style that is not intended to sound particularly crisp. In other words, lo-fi music is meant to sound homemade and inexpensive. Don’t get me wrong, it probably sounds a lot better than a karaoke night at Karaoke Boho fueled by student discounts! But there’s no gaudy flash to lo-fi, which is not the case on the billboard charts or on your friend’s Lady Gaga-heavy iPod. Lo-fi has transitioned from being a simple recording technique to becoming a genre in it’s own right. My suggestion is, if you’re bored with the monotony of popular music, then try listening to some lo-fi indie acts.

Four bands I’d recommend checking out are: Smith Westerns, Wavves, Yuck, and Best Coast. Smith Westerns are a young trio from Chicago whose glam-tinged 2011 album Dye it Blonde has garnered a lot of attention from music journals like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. I’ve seen this band live and I was very impressed by the skill and musical maturity of a band composed of guys my age, yet it was of course wonderfully youthful too. Wavves and Best Coast are probably the biggest lo-fi acts out of California right now (and the two groups’ lead singers are dating!). Best Coast’s debut album Crazy For You cracked the top 40, which is a huge achievement in today’s indie scene, and demonstrates the increasing popularity of lo-fi. I also think it’s pretty cool that this success was realized by a female-fronted band. Yuck’s self-titled album is, in my opinion, by far the best album of 2011, chock full of shoegaze wonder.  Yuck is comprised of musicians from New Jersey, London, and Tokyo, which has an interesting influence on their sound. Many of these bands and other lo-fi acts take their queues from the original kings of lo-fi, the cult 90s band Pavement.

The fours bands I’ve mentioned have been touring extensively, promoting recent albums (I’ve been lucky enough to see all four), so there’s a chance you could still catch them yourself! If you’d like to experience some nostalgia then I highly recommend seeing Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks on Monday, September 26 at Terminal 5. Stephen Malkmus is the lead singer of Pavement, which just finished up a successful reunion tour, and he’s now touring with the Jicks. If you’re bored with what’s playing on z100 you should try listening to these bands and exploring websites like Pitchfork and the music blog Fucking Nostalgic to discover even more. And don’t forget indie darkroom, the only true indie radio station, which is on 87.7 FM!

Anjelica LaFurno (Baruch College)

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Image credit: Pitchfork.com

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Rehashing a Music Debate, or: Someone Stole My iPod

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

music is my boyfriend, music is my girlfriend

In the uplifting whirlwind of my past week (I signed a lease!  I locked down another job!  My parents came to persuade me to go home to North Carolina, and they failed!), I’ve suddenly found myself in another slump, and one that I would’ve expected after I moved to New York, not before: two days ago, someone stole my phone and iPod from my makeshift bedside table while I was walking my friend out to his car.  I’m a txting junkie, so the loss of the phone was, of course, a blow, but what hit me more was the iPod theft.  I love music.  All my friends love music.  We snobbishly listen to our music on big DJ headphones and tweet Starfucker lyrics with #STRFCKR.  At least once a summer I listen to Abbey Road on vinyl with them.  Yeah, I’m one of those people.  I wear v-necks and neon and sunglasses indoors—especially at night.

I Skyped my parents (praise to the Internet for existing), and they reactivated my old phone with the T9 keypad and sticky battery pack and Fedexed it to me (it arrives this morning.  I’m anxiously awaiting the email from my campus mailing center).  So the phone situation is almost fixed.  Now for the iPod.  What to do in this age of music, when losing your mp3 player sentences you to dull, loud train rides and awkward eavesdropping on the subway?  Not to mention, that’s at least 24 gigs of essential music that I’ve painstakingly ripped and downloaded that I’ll have to sync to another iPod… when I can afford one that can store the vast amounts of 320 kbps files that I’ve organized on my external HD.

But enough obnoxious audiophile talk—or maybe not.  The last time my iPod went on the fritz, I was in high school, and I put everything on CDs and wandered around with an old school DiscMan, switching out CD for CD at every opportunity.  It was kind of a drag.  CDs take up space, the DiskMan takes up space, no matter how many mixes I made I’d always want to listen to a song on a different CD next, I couldn’t see the album art, etc.  This time, I’m far from my backup DiskMan and giant case of CDs (both bought and burned).  I have to resort to opening my laptop just to have something playing while I read, clean or pack.  And I’m beginning to notice, perhaps with my snobbily developed ear, that some of my favorite songs are showing signs of wear.  I hadn’t ripped them in lossless FLAC form, or I’d opted for the smaller 128 kbps file size, and now I could tell: there were gaps in the music, in some of the instrumental layers, that flickered or shorted out completely as the song played on.  On other songs, the sound modulated from left to right, but never in true stereo.  I know, I know.  The horror, the imperfect quality of my music!  And how could I fix this, if I didn’t have the original CDs I’d ripped them all from!?  (I could replace them quickly, but I have a personal squick about buying music from iTunes.  It has everything to do with the DRM and overall file quality and nothing to do with the pirate-revulsion at paying for music.  Let’s not get into the debate on piracy, I don’t have enough words.)

And what was worse: how am I going to listen to these soiled tracks on my daily commute—by leaving my laptop open while I read some Bret Easton Ellis?  Don’t be absurd.  That takes up way too much space.  Only grownups open their laptops on the train, and that’s because they have spreadsheets to look at and Powerpoints to polish.  I’m just a student, a youth who doesn’t know how to go anywhere without something in my ears.  If only I had my Walkman and some sweet, CD-quality music piping in through my Klipsch headphones.

I’m not delusional about what this post is roundaboutly advocating.  The fight for physical music isn’t really much of a fight at all, and hasn’t been for a long time, with record stores inexorably losing ground to other dealers like Amazon, which offers non-DRM tracks and almost CD-level quality, and to the entire torrent culture, which can get you or anyone else with an internet connection the FLAC and portable-friendly 320 kbps (or even 192 kbps) versions of nearly any album for free in five minutes.  And admittedly, portable music itself pales when you listen to the same track on a more powerful machine like a laptop, desktop, or amp.  Honestly, vinyl wins the audiophile debate on every front.

But I’d still like to make the case for the humble CD, the technological link between big, fragile, warpable vinyl records and tiny pocket-sized, low-quality mp3 players.  A CD is solid.  It’s material, it takes up some space.  If you’ve bought it new from Best Buy or used from a record store like P-rex (near where I live right now), it doesn’t matter—it’s going to sound just as good in your CD player.  All the layers will be balanced, the bass will have the perfect, intended depth, and the highs will be crisp and clear.  And there’s so much art that goes into an album package: the cover art, the liner notes, the top of the CD itself.  There’s still something to be said for artists who release albums and not just a list of singles.  There’s still something to be said for the feeling of holding a CD and knowing that you own whatever tracks are on it.  If your computer crashes or your external HD reformats itself, you’re okay.  You have the original CD version, which is nicer to listen to anyway.  Plus, no one’s going to steal a five-year-old DiskMan and a six-pound CD case.

If you’re still the type to buy CDs or at least download tracks of CD quality (burn them onto actual CDs!  Burn them now!), then luckily for you and me there are still many record stores around the city that cater to our obsessive audiophilic needs.  While I’m still in New Jersey, I have P-Rex, which deals in many, many used CDs and records as well as blank CDs with enough storage for larger high-quality downloads.  In the city, though, I’ll probably head to Village Music World.  They’re not paying me to say that, they just have a $2 student discount off any CD, and I’m student-poor.  I already have to spend money on another DiskMan.

x
Robin

I tweet while I’m at work. I have yet to master hashtags.
My personal blog: a collection of music and other pop culture things I like.

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Beyoncé: 4 Album Review

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Beyoncé Knowles’ fourth studio release, aptly titled 4, hits shelves this week. Beyoncé has been hard at work since her last album release. Her productivity has been cited as “overwhelming” to Columbia, her record label. Beyoncé continues to be one of the most talented and hardest-working singers in the world. It is because of this fact that fans are sure to be pleased with her latest project.

The album opens with a beautiful number in ‘1+1’, a ballad that finds Beyoncé crooning in a way other artists simply can’t (and at times maybe in ways others don’t want to). What’s impressive, however, is the soulful feel that the track possesses. Beyoncé delivers real R&B, or what today’s popular radio stations have made old R&B. ‘I Care’ takes a turn towards showcasing Beyoncé’s vocal intensity while still being a meaningful song with old-school production value as the drums boom and the synth keys vibe.

The third song, ‘I Miss You’, changes the pace without changing how enjoyable the album is. The song feels sappy because of simplistic production and generic lyrics. Anyone could have performed this song and have made it decent, but as Beyoncé often does, she makes it her own. From here, we move into one of the singles of the album ‘Best Thing I Never Had.’ Though it has pop appeal, there’s more to this song than meets the ear. It’s radio-friendly, but still manages to contain a wealth of compositional appeal with unwavering piano play and significant lyrics.

Beyonce

Beyoncé's '4' deluxe edition album cover.

At this point, 4 takes a hip-hop intermission with ‘Party’. Accompanied by Kanye West and Andre 3000, Beyoncé does nothing special, allowing doubled vocals to fill out the simple-but-effective ‘Ye produced beat. Keeping in line with the album’s old-school appeal, however, the beat samples Slick Rick’s ‘La Di Da Di’ and sounds more like a classic rap party jam than today’s club-centric rap music.

Next on the agenda is ‘Rather Die Young’, debatably Beyoncé’s finest moment on 4. It includes everything we expect from Beyoncé vocally and continues to back-track through musical generations compositionally, sounding very inspired by The Supremes, particularly during the chorus. Then there is ‘Start Over’, the first song that doesn’t possess the same classic influence as everything else on the album thus far. Beyoncé attempts to make-up for this with a high-volume performance which you can hear here.

The volume doesn’t turn down as 4 presents us with ‘Love On Top’. This is a very fun song and once again very throwback R&B melodically. The album stays fun and light with ‘Countdown’, a track laden with brass horns, prominent percussion and even steel drums. Also very interesting is the “countdown” chorus that goes, “My baby is a 10/We dressing through the 9/He pick me up in 8/Make me feel so lucky 7/He kiss me in his 6/We be making love in 5/Still the one I do this 4/I’m trying to make a 3/From that 2/He still the 1.” The horns don’t disappear as the album continues with ‘End Of Time’. The song has a repetitive chorus and doesn’t stand out vocally, but it keeps the album balanced by maintaining the fun, fast-paced attitude that characterizes the middle of 4.

Beyoncé delivers a strong finale with ‘I Was Here’. Though emotional in its own right, it lacks something that the rest of the ballads on 4 seem to own: uniqueness, classical influence and a bit of experimentation. ‘I Was Here’ is very by-the-book and though an excellent way to wrap things up, not quite a show-stopper.

Ironically enough, the show doesn’t stop with ‘I Was Here.’ For whatever reason, ‘Run The World (Girls)’, a song that would fit better with the up-tempo middle section of the album, appears as the final track on 4. If ‘Run The World’ needed to remain last, ‘I Was Here’ should have been moved to better serve the continuity of the album that way it could really go out with a bang.

Overall, fans of Beyoncé and fans of R&B will be very pleased and pleasantly surprised considering the fact that the singles used to promote the album don’t highlight the things that really make 4 an impressive body of work.

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: © Copyright Columbia Records – 2011

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Heading to Canada

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Quebec City Summer Festival 2011

I was a little disappointed that I could not spend this summer studying abroad in Europe. As a college junior this may have been my last shot at a study abroad semester. But hey, if I can’t go to France then I can at least go to the next best francophone land – Quebec!

Quebec is not just the home of Celine Dion, it has a rich history and the thriving metropolises of Montreal and Quebec City. And, to celebrate itself, it has a number of festivals throughout the year. The next one is the Quebec City Summer Festival 2011, an eleven-day-long event which will take place from July 7 to July 17. The festival attracts more than a million people each year and tickets are sold online and by phone. A single day ticket will cost about $30. For more information, visit www.infofestival.com.

The festival’s main attraction is music, and it’s been thrilling music lovers for the past 44 years. As Canada’s biggest outdoor artistic event, the festival has stages located in Old Quebec, Port of Quebec and the Saint-Roch district. Over a span of 11 days, the festival features over 1,000 artists and nearly 300 shows and the genres represented include rock, hip-hop, electro, jazz, classical, French song and more. This year’s line-up includes Elton John, Metallica and Simple Plan, among many others.

When you are not enjoying the music at the festival, you can explore the rest of Quebec City, where you can go on whale-watching cruises, ride in a hot air balloon, have a night out in Grand Allee, or watch live hockey.  You can also visit the city walls (did you know that Quebec City is the only fortified city in North America?), or visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which is like Quebec’s version of the Met. To get your shopping fix you can visit boulevard Laurier where you will find the world’s second largest indoor amusement park placed beside high fashion stores. You can also go over to Petit-Champlain where you will find boutiques, bistros, and restaurants in a charmingly European atmosphere. And, if you are feeling religious or have an appreciation for architecture, you can visit the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, or Notre-Dame-des-Victoires to name just a few of the 130 churches and cathedrals that can be found in Quebec.

However, if you are unable to cross the border and get to Canada this summer, you can always go to a French restaurant like Cosette Café Bistro and experience a different culture right here in New York.

Bushra Tawhid

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