34th Street Magazine is part of a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

Music

Old man trouble

Any McCartney-branded album is bound to be a "big deal." Sales-wise, the quality of the music is almost trivial.

by JON LEVIN

Anniemal Instinct

In the world of pop music, Scandinavia has always been a source of successful imports. From ABBA to Ace of Base, these acts have remained unapologetically "pop," climbing to the top of the U.S.

by TODD GRABARSKY

Jetting from Brazil

Seu Jorge ignited a samba fury during his sold-out show last Tuesday at the First Unitarian Church. Better known as the minstrel seaman with a penchant for acoustic Portuguese renditions of David Bowie classics in last year's The Life Aquatic, Jorge has emerged from humble beginnings in the slums of Rio de Janeiro to become a hot import in both the film and music worlds. Jorge and his charismatic band commanded the packed audience of urban hipsters, ethno-musicologists, and Brazilian fanatics with their no-frills local samba stylings.

by TODD GRABARSKY

Sophomore Dropout

Kanye West stands as a fascinating figure in music today. The Chicago producer-turned-MC blends bourgeois intellectualism with lower-class sympathy, swagger with insecurity.

by TODD GRABARSKY

Post-apocalyptic pop

It's Thursday afternoon and outside the front entrance to the Theatre of Living Arts are two middle-aged men.

by EUGENIA SALVO

Second chances

Joshua Radin missed out. He missed out big, and he knows it. When Radin's college buddy Zach asked him to contribute a song to his upcoming movie's soundtrack, Radin turned him down; he didn't have the money to record the track.

by YVONNE DELBANCO

Editors' Picks

Kevin Lo Norah Jones - "The Long Way Home" Jazz or not jazz, it's hard to deny the simple power of Norah Jones.

by 34TH STREET

The phoenix saga

Phoenix has a problem with sound check, and I don't speak French. Lead singer Thomas Mars turns to the engineer on his right, points at his microphone, then waves his hand in an upward motion.

by KEVIN LO

Fling Bands 101

Sonic Youth Who they are: Velvet Underground torch followers that extended the boundaries of experimental rock.

by 34TH STREET

Cope-ing this fling

When SPEC announced that Sonic Youth and Cat Power were headlining this year's Spring Fling, students across campus felt dejected.

by KALI BACKER

Editor's picks

Kevin Lo The Postal Service "We Will Become Silhouettes" Video If I can't have Jenny Lewis, I suppose Ben Gibbard should.

by 34TH STREET

Listening To Albert

It was Spring Break, and I had just gotten in from college. My parents and I were sipping Coronas, and I was explaining to them why I hadn't gone to the Bahamas.

by JON LEVIN

Summer In The City

Just like the smell of horse shit will always make me think of Penn in the spring, some songs are inextricably tied to our memory banks.

by EUGENIA SALVO

Finding the sexiness

"Christianity has become something I don't think Jesus would recognize, frankly." Forty-one years old, eight albums deep into her career and just recently a mother, singer-songwriter Tori Amos -- a minister's daughter -- is not going to let her child grow up the way she did.

by JIM NEWELL

Guilty Pleasure

To this day, just humming "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" in my head makes me want to get up and prance around.

by EUGENIA SALVO

Editors' Picks

The Band, "Up on Cripple Creek" Opening with Robbie Robertson's funky guitar lead, "Up on Cripple Creek" picks up right where Music from Big Pink's "The Weight" left off.

by 34TH STREET

Behind the Music

When the Music's self-titled debut album hit stores, they stirred up a frenzy with critics. It was not the actual album that caused the ruckus but rather just the name of the band.

by KALI BACKER

Editor's Picks

Hunter S. Thompson, 1937-2005 On Sunday, February 20th, journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson took his own life.

by 34TH STREET

10 most overrated albums of all time

Overrated. This term is most often uttered in one of two situations. Situation one: A new band is getting an incredible amount of press for their debut album.

by KEVIN LO

Editor's Picks

Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning I have a theory for how Conor Oberst writes songs.

by 34TH STREET