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(01/31/18 12:54am)
It’s no big secret that the music industry has a toxic culture of heteronormativity and homophobia. No matter the level of notoriety or success achieved, nothing makes queer artists immune to intolerance, mistreatment, and outright hate (I’m looking at you, Migos). Artists are pressured to be less gay, less feminine, less their true selves. And in an industry where your persona is your everything, being told to essentially suppresses your true identity and put on a mask for society is incredibly demoralizing.
(02/07/18 7:51am)
Most associate classical music with the past and the likes of Mozart and Bach. But the genre has found a strong voice here at Penn with the help of three intrepid graduate students.
(01/28/18 11:05pm)
For the first time in its 45 year history, Spring Fling will no longer be held in the Quad. Spring Fling, which falls on Saturday, April 14 this year, will now be a single day event that coincides with the traditional headliner musical performance. Penn's Social Planning and Events Committee (SPEC) has announced significant changes to the structure of Spring Fling this year, including a new venue and shortening of the overall festival.
(02/14/18 4:25am)
Man, the 2000s were a strange time for music. Hip–hop was in a weird, adolescent phase, traditional rock and roll had become completely obsolete, and electronic dance music had yet to blow up. The only unsurprising fact is that pop reigned supreme, as it has since the 1990s. As the 2010s come to a close, it still feels weird to consider that songs like “Live Your Life,” “Viva La Vida,” and “Love in this Club” came out ten years ago.
(02/01/18 1:09pm)
When founders Steve Beckett, Rob Mitchell, and Robert Gordon came together to form Warp Records in 1989, they likely didn’t realize they were about to form a record label with one of the most cohesive sounds and artist rosters today. The time and place of Warp Records’ origins undoubtedly influenced their aim for its future musical sound. The three came together in Sheffield, UK in 1989. Beckett and Mitchell were record store workers (Gordon, a producer) who aimed to replicate the atmospheric techno sound that was starting to boom in Sheffield at the time. Warp quickly began to gain traction not only in Sheffield but in the United States as well as they began getting music from similarly industrial areas in the U.S. such as Chicago and Detroit.
(01/29/18 8:28am)
Iconic. Inescapable. Made for wild fiestas and weekend DFMOs. You walk into a fraternity house, and immediately detect the distinctive bass of a familiar EDM tune. Like clockwork, your body starts gyrating to the beat, edging towards a dance floor full of sweaty, rowdy, and hormonal college students. Suddenly, the song changes, and most of the crowd groans while a select few cheer. Clearly, not all party songs are created equal. Some have staying power, some don’t, some are currently the rage, and some I really just like a lot. Without further ado, here are Street’s rankings of frat party songs.
(01/29/18 8:40am)
Hear, hear!
(01/29/18 8:38am)
I often find myself to be an anomaly among my music–loving peers. While many are dying to hear any live music they can get their ears to absorb, I really just prefer listening to music on my own earbuds. I’m just not as drawn to concerts as other music fans. Although it’s not a popular opinion, and some music junkies may look down on me, I still find myself enjoying my listening experience much more in a setting of my own choosing while playing my recently–created Spotify playlist.
(02/07/18 7:49am)
One could say Kygo has managed to avoid a musical step backwards in his latest album, Kids In Love, but that’s exactly the issue—he hasn’t moved anywhere at all. When he first began releasing tracks publicly in 2014, Kygo’s melodic, tropical, and atmospheric remixes on Soundcloud of popular tracks took many by storm. His remixes of “High For This” by Ellie Goulding, “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, and “I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran had racked up 12 million, 30 million, and 60 million plays on Soundcloud, respectively.
(02/07/18 7:50am)
To quote a tweet I saw the other day: “Every time I remember that Lil Pump is a 17–year–old who got rich and famous for saying ‘Gucci gang’ for three minutes, I have to remind myself that life is a meaningless simulation in order to calm down.” Yes, that last part might be a little dark and hyperbolic, but the point remains the same.
(01/25/18 2:00pm)
The painfully obvious has now become at long last official.
(01/22/18 8:06pm)
“All Mine,” an electronic pop ballad, written by Penn’s very own Karis Stephen (C '18), will leave you dreaming of sandy beaches and sweeping vistas. Over Sense’s tropical beats, Stephen’s sultry vocals will charm you with the promise of love so easy and so effortless that time seems to stand still. Together, Karis and her counterpart Blue Bookhard (C '17) form a poppy R&B duo called Eleven. “All Mine,” which features French electronic group Sense, is Eleven’s third single.
(02/10/18 10:17pm)
Rex Orange County is more than a smooth R&B voice featured on Tyler, the Creator’s Flower Boy. Although this album may have been the first place many listeners came across his velvety British voice, the 19–year–old had actually released a couple albums before that. Hailing from Haslemere, England, Rex’s real name is Alex O’Connor, but he picked up the moniker from a high school teacher who nicknamed him “the OC.” He’s kind of like Ed Sheeran before Ed Sheeran started making radio pop, in that when he sings it sounds like he’s speaking directly to you. His voice is so genuine that it feels as if you’re hearing a story or the internal musings of one of your good friends.
(01/20/18 5:05am)
When I wiped out my entire Twitter feed to exterminate my fangirl past before I could follow any Penn people, of course, no one noticed. But on August 18, 2017, when country–turned–pop juggernaut Taylor Swift wiped everything from all of her social media, it was as if the entire internet was turned on its head. This was the single biggest publicity stunt Taylor did to promote her sixth studio album Reputation. Such is the power of Taylor Swift.
(01/18/18 10:05pm)
2015 might seem like an eternity away as we dive into the spring semester, but it felt like just yesterday when self–described “ignorant R&B” artist Fetty Wap sauntered up to the stage last Monday at the Theatre of the Living Arts.
(01/19/18 5:27pm)
You know that feeling when you wake up, check your phone, see it’s 15 degrees and snowing, and immediately decide to stay inside all day? This is a playlist for that. Hopefully it captures the pseudo–sadness that comes with the freezing weather while ultimately filling you with a romantic warmth. Ideally, you’ll listen to this while looking out your window and gazing at some snow–covered trees, letting the tenderness of these songs spread throughout your insides.
(01/24/18 2:00pm)
There’s no way Ian “Kevin Abstract” Simpson could’ve imagined that a simple 2010 post in the KanyeToThe online forum (Mr. West’s most notable fan site) would eventually result in a meteoric rise to fame. Not a chance. At the time, Abstract asked if any of his fellow users wanted to form a hip–hop band, and soon enough, AliveSinceForever was created with Ameer Vann, Dom McLennon, and Rodney Tenor.
(01/22/18 7:42pm)
If you like NAO or Jorja Smith, make way for the next great R&B artist from England: Mahalia Burkmar, better known by her stage name Mahalia. The Birmingham–based artist is just 19, but she has shown repeated glimpses of brilliance in her small discography.
(01/17/18 11:03pm)
Outside the realm of sampling, the Isley Brothers are an extremely popular R&B and soul group even to this day, despite their mid–20th century beginnings. They have hits like “It’s Your Thing,” “Shout,” and “That Lady, Pts. 1 & 2.” While “Shout” would later be remade by artists such as Marvin Gaye and the Beatles, one of their lesser known (but equally impactful) influences in music has been The Isley Brothers’ sampled tracks, particularly in hip–hop. From their hit “That Lady, Pts. 1 & 2” which peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1976 to “Between the Sheets” and “Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1 & 2”, the Isley Brothers' samples might not be as widespread as other hip–hop influencers such as James Brown, but their samples have packed a stronger punch in recent hip–hop than most. Many think of James Brown as one of the godfathers of hip–hop, and this is indisputable given the sampling of Brown’s 1970 hit “Funky Drummer” by artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, Jay–Z, Mos Def, LL Cool J, and Raekwon or his 1974 record “Funky President (People It’s Bad)" by Kanye West, Childish Gambino, Rick Ross, Pusha T, Naughty by Nature, Ghostface Killah, and N.W.A.
(01/16/18 12:51am)
