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New York City Street Photography- The Human Drama

by Mark Giarrusso

Fire On 5th.

William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances…” If the world is truly a stage then the people of New York City are at the very center of it. The human story that unfolds here daily is so rife with drama that it fairly swallows you up as soon as you leave your front door to wade into it. As shown here, just by going a few blocks in any direction you can encounter: creativity, romance, sadness, ingenuity, desperation, heroism, despair, and solemn determination. Each New Yorker contributing an equal amount to City’s story. Walt Whitman summed it up best by saying, “The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.”

Jazz Man On 5th.
Street Musician, 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
Endless Love
Couple Crosses 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
An Uncomfortable Sleep
Man Sleeps On Bench, 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
Construction On 55th St.
Construction On 55th St., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
Playing For Coins
Man Plays Flute, 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
Fire On 5th.
FDNY Respond To A Fire, 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
The Invisible Man
Man Sleeps On Box, 5th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013
A Walk Into The Night
Man Walks On A Rainy Night, 6th Ave., NYC, Photo by Mark Giarrusso, 2013

Filed Under: ARTS, BREAKING NEWS, SCIENCE, U.S. Tagged With: 5th Ave, 6th Ave, BlackandWhitePhotography, Candids, CityPhotography, FDNY, fire and rescue, fire men, fire truck, Metro, NewYork, NewYorkCity, NewYorkCityPhotography, NYC, People, Photography, street musicians, StreetPhotography, Urban, UrbanPhotography

Pedro Zamora- Why his legacy remains important

by Ryan Shea

Credit to: Bunny's Victory
Credit to: Bunny’s Victory

Out of frustration that I was stuck home last night due to circumstances (babysitting my nephew.  Cute yes, on a Saturday night not so much), I was flipping through my channels when I saw that MTV was doing a Real World marathon of their three biggest seasons (New York Season 1, San Fransisco Season 3 and Las Vegas Season 12).  They hashtagged it with #retroMTV, and where as I don’t see Vegas being so retro the other two were and so much more.  Vegas was on last night, and it was a great reminder of how great the show used to be yet somehow I see Vegas as the one that made that show “jump the shark” because they spent every season afterwards sexualizing the program as opposed to making it about 7 strangers who were trying to co-exist in one place.  There is a difference there.

Today they are doing what is still considered by so many people as the best season of Real World- San Fransisco.  The third season of this iconic show portrayed two of its most polarizing characters in Pedro Zamora, and David “Puck” Rainey.  Two completely different men in so many ways yet made the show fascinating with their unique viewpoints and how they got to the life they had at that time in 1994.  Puck was considered to be the zany outcast of the group, getting arrested on his way to going to the house and doing a number of unpredictable acts such as putting his fingers in the peanut butter as one.  Something by that standards could be on Nick Junior today and no one would blink an eye, but twenty years ago this was considered ground breaking in a variety of ways.

Pedro Zamora on the other hand, couldn’t have been more of a stark opposite.

An avid educator on AIDS, he was shown throughout the show doing his lectures about his condition and how others can prevent it.  Him and Sean Sasser also made headlines as one of the first gay couples to be seen on a national spotlight and in such a frank and open manner.  They would up getting engaged and had a commitment ceremony in the loft that Zamora and his castmates were living in for the show.

Sadly, Zamora wound up passing away only a couple of months after filming ended on November 11th, 1994.  Since his passing, he was acknowledged for his tireless efforts as an AIDS crusader by former President Bill Clinton and had several organizations named in his honor as well.

So why does he remain relevant today? It’s simple.  To put it in terms only I can, Pedro stood up and spoke loud and clear about a disease that was killing millions when others cowarded and avoided the topic due to their own personal feelings about homosexuals and AIDS itself.  He knew the uphill battle that he had to face and took it head on and instead of retreating and living out the rest of his life in silence he broke the mold and spoke his piece in a time where this disease was a major death sentence and viewed as globally in a terrible manner.  He made people wake up and educate themselves, something that a lot of people are still having a hard time doing today.

Quite frankly, he should’ve been nominated and awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize that year.  He brought a nation together and gave them an understanding of what he was going through so that each person themselves could get a better judgement on what the disease was and that beyond the disease there is a human being attached to that person.  There is more to a person than HIV.  He is and forever will be in people’s minds seen as a hero and he is one of mine as well for so many different reasons.

 

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, HEALTH, LIFESTYLE, TELEVISION Tagged With: 1994, aids, david, david puck rainey, hiv, mtv, pedro zamora, puck, San Fransisco, the real world

Album Review: David Bowie – The Next Day

by Rio Toro

David-Bowie-The-Next-Day1

David Bowie:          The Next Day

Similar Artists:          David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie

Genre:          David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie

Label:          Columbia

 

Deciding to write music reviews was the worst decision I ever made. There is nothing more torturous to me than constantly thinking “how can I put this into words” while listening to new music. I can already see what will happen if I decide to (properly) write a review of this album, so instead, I am going to talk about something that is much more important. So if you have listened to this album, (most of you should have by now) you have surely formulated your own opinions and I hereby deem them worthy. There is no reason for you to hear my opinion.

We need to wipe our minds clear of this elitist system of pseudo intellectualism. I have read a lot of reviews in my day and they are all garbage. They all say the same exact thing, which is, “I have a really good taste in music, and that is why this music is blah, blah, blah. If we were really all that smart we would know the fact that music isn’t meant to be put into words. Many critics feel they could bypass this aspect through skilled penmanship and a keen ear, but unfortunately, we were dead wrong.

Everyone hears music differently, so how can one sequence of notes be considered “better” than another. I have tried to rid my reviews of the hierarchical rating scale, but that has only slightly alleviated the problem. Who am I to tell you what music is good or bad? I don’t have your brain, so I surely wouldn’t know what makes it tick. Sure, on my short time on this earth I have listened to quite a lot of music, but lately I feel that that just makes me a pretentious snob rather than a higher authority on the topic. As a means towards putting a stop to this vile and rudimentary system of opinion-as-fact, I have decided to post a censored version of my album review which shall not influence your view on this album in any way.

————————————————————————————————–

…………… David Jones ……………………….. Comeback Album …………………. Mod …………………..…… Space Oddity ……….…… Ziggy Stardust ……………………. Iggy Pop ….….……………………. Sex …………………………. Fashion ………………………Spiders From Mars ……… Record Label …..……………………………………… Sound & Vision ………………………………………………… Thin White Duke ……………….……………………………………. Bisexual ……………………………………. Album Cover ………………………. Glam,Glam,Glam ……………………… Reinvention ……………………. Buddhism …………. Drugs, Drugs, Drugs ……… Berlin Trilogy …… Brian Eno  …………………….…………………… Low ………………………. Heroes ….. Tony Visconti ………………………………….. Scary Monsters ……………………… Man Who Fell To Earth …………………… Starman …………… Heart Surgery …….……………. The Next Day ………………………. Scott Walker ………………………………………………….. End.

 

Track Listing:

1.) The Next Day

2.) Dirty Boys

3.) The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

4.) Love is Lost

5.) Where Are We Now?

6.) Valentine’s Day

7.) If You Can See Me

8.) I’d Rather Be High

9.) Boss of Me

10.) Dancing out in Space

11.) How Does the Grass Grow

12.) (You Will) Set the World on Fire

13.) You Feel so Lonely you could Die

14.) Heat

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, REVIEWS Tagged With: Album Review, david bowie, the next day

Spring Breakers: The Boobs and Bullshit About Harmony Korine’s Latest

by Peter Foy

SpringBreakersPoster

Alright, I’ll admit it right here at the start: I went into Spring Breakers with a bit of a biased attitude towards it due to my feelings about director Harmony Korine. While I do admire the film maker as his entire movie career has been based around making incendiary arthouse releases, I also fell that all of his films have been missed opportunities. His films (such as Kids and Gummo) have always attempted to be stirring social commentaries, but are rendered useless due to the fact that Korine is more interested in focusing on depravity and graphic content, rather than on addressing the difficult questions he brings up. Still, despite my prior knowledge to Korine’s work, it’s hard for me to imagine having liked Spring Breakers anymore than I did had I not. The simple matter is that Korine hasn’t so much made a movie here, rather than an on-screen imitation of a drug binge spent watching MTV and pondering American society’s popularization of excess. The worst part is though, I don’t actually think that’s a bad concept at all.

The film’s plot is skeletal, but it’s there. It’s about four college-age girls played by Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgins, and Rachel Korine (yes, she is the director’s wife), who inexplicably decide to commit a crime so they can afford a spring break vacation. Afterwards, they travel to Florida where they take part in the ugly party culture there, before they are arrested. Fortunately for our protagonists, however, they are soon bailed out when a career criminal (James Franco) takes interest in the four-some. Next thing you know, he’s got himself a group of bikini clad thugs to help him take down the mandatory rival drug lord (Gucci Mane).

The advertising for Spring Breakers has been making the movie look like a crime film with hot chicks, but this isn’t really that kind of film at all. Harmony Korine gives the film what he terms a “liquid” narrative, and there’s virtually no scenes in the movie that could be called straight. Pretty much every scene is montage-esque, filled with hyper-stylized editing that showers the viewers with images (not necessarily in chronological order), and usually accompanied by bizarre narration or ironic use of pop music. It’s a tactic that was perhaps used to mirror the music video raised generation that the film is showcasing, the thing is…it’s almost immediately overwhelming!

It’s no secret that Spring Breakers already has an out there concept, and one that immediately got the attention of media circuits once they heard that Korine had cast Disney Channel starlets for it. I just feel that it was unnecessary than for Korine to use such an experimental narrative for the film, as isn’t it strange enough that we’re watching a film about a dread-locked James Franco employing a bunch of hot-bodied young girls to perform crimes for him? The added layer of weirdness comes off as pretentious and frankly annoying.

Worse though, Korine once again fails to give empathy towards his characters or world. Right from the start, Spring Breakers depicts it’s characters as vulgar and shallow miscreants (that also happen to love Brittney Spears), and they only get worse. Korrine tries to suggest they have glimmers of humanity in a few scenes that see the four girls playing in their dorm hallways while bathed in a bright white light, or inserting a few shots that show them embrace Franco’s character. It ultimately falls on deaf ears though, as none of it is developed in a way that makes us care for these girls, who are doing really fucked up things 95% of the film’s running time. The film’s climax is also predictable, and implies that Korrine really doesn’t know the first thing about story payoff, or perhaps doesn’t care in the first place.

spring-breakers-handcuffed

 As mentioned before, the film’s casting is certainly interesting, but there are some disappointments here as well. The film’s saving grace could have been in Selena Gomez’s character, who is actually frightened by the criminal acts she sees her friends perform. She could have been the human notion that the film really needed to communicate (assuming Gomez could give a convincing performance), but the character is all but abandoned before the film’s third act. James Franco turns out to be the film’s highlight, though. He was obviously cast as such a vile character due to his public persona as a sweet-natured young man with an established taste for the fine arts. We see the character take part in all sorts of aberance such as using the term “double-penetration”, or performing oral sex on hand guns, but behind the grit there’s still the awareness that this is the guys who is also starring in Oz: The Great and Powerful. An interesting tactic, and one that should have been applied to more screen time for the character, as Franco gives plenty of bravura in his performance, along with a sprinkling of his nice-guy nature.

On one hand, there is a part of me that doesn’t understand why I disliked this film. Some of my favorite films of the last few years, like Drive and The Master, have proven so intoxicating for me in the way that they acted as mainstream films while still using a highly unconventional narrative structure and leaving plenty of story gaps. Those two films, however, gave the viewer enough material to grasp some inkling as to why the characters were motivated the way they were, and never felt excessive or showy in their style of film making. Spring Breakers is a fine example on how delicate the blending of indie/commercial sensibilities are, and that film makers really need to be aware of when it’s time to say no. Had Harmony Korine given his film a more familiar story structure (perhaps even finding a veteran crime fiction writer to collaborate on the script with him), Spring Breakers really could have been the potent piece of social commentary he was aiming for, and even retained all it’s sex, drugs and violence. Instead, it’s a film more likely to leave viewers leaving the theater befuddled, infuriated, or just plain exhausted

-Spring-Breakers-photo

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

Late Night Turmoil Threatens to Engulf NBC (Again).

by Michael Tyminski

For the second time in five years, NBC is trying to wrestle away The Tonight Show from Jay Leno.
For the second time in five years, NBC is trying to wrestle away The Tonight Show from Jay Leno.
For the second time in five years, NBC is trying to wrestle away The Tonight Show from Jay Leno.

Thursday morning became a hotbed for rumors about the future of NBC pillar The Tonight Show. It seems that for the second time in five years, the Peacock is finding the least graceful way to handle the impending departure of Jay Leno (a decision that nearly killed the network five years ago, and a decision that the network is more than willing to make again).

The first piece of news was that with Jimmy Fallon’s anticipated ascension to the late-night throne, The Tonight Show would return to New York for the first time in four decades. According to the New York Times, NBC is apparently already in the process of building the set at their Rockerfeller Center studios in anticipation of a 2014 transition, with fall of 2014 being the latest possible date for such a transition. I am entirely in favor of such a move, if only because the idea of NBC’s four most venerable institutions (Today, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and the NBC Nightly News) in one building just feels correct.

In turn, this transition has also managed to cause Leno to slowly open fire on NBC in his recent monologues, including making constant mentions of how NBC has managed to dip to lower rankings than Spanish language Telemundo, making it the number five network in America. This in turn prompted an angry email from NBC head honcho Robert Greenblatt demanding that Leno stop bringing up that embarrassment on air. Needless to say, Leno has continued mining NBC for fodder since the email was sent. Personally, (and very rarely do I do this) I have to take Leno’s side in this kerfuffle. Mocking the network president is a time honored television tradition (and about 1/3 of the jokes in the entire seven season run of 30 Rock). If you don’t want to be fifth or have people point out you’re fifth, maybe I would stop putting out shows like Animal Practice and Do Not Harm.

So how’s Fallon reacting to all of this? He’s being coy, saying all the right things, and generally trying to keep this succession from spiraling out of control, playing down the rumors in last night’s monologue.

What do I think overall? I think NBC needs to play their hand particularly cool, as the last time they bruised Jay Leno’s ego they eviscerated their prime-time schedule, embarrassed themselves and dug themselves a hole that they are still struggling to get out of three and a half years later. Furthermore, NBC has traditionally proven themselves inept at making the Tonight Show transition (see: Carson to Leno, Leno to O’Brien back to Leno), and being aggressive at forcing Leno out seems to create a much bumpier ride than there needs to be. People forget it took a decade of Friday guest hosts and a considerably older Johnny Carson to move him from the late-night chair. That being said, it’s probably in the best interests of NBC to move Fallon to the Tonight Show chair as soon as possible, as Late Night seems to be getting the lions share of both the advertising and the ratings stunts (Justin Timberlake week). However, I could also see it being likely that the Leno force-out is part of broader network-wide change in personnel with the ratings struggles of Today possibly forcing Matt Lauer out in the near future as well.

 

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, TELEVISION Tagged With: Jay Leno, jimmy fallon, NBC, Robert Greenblatt, The Tonight Show

Scottie Gage’s “Moonglow”- Simple Yet Extraordinary

by Ryan Shea

Credit to: Scottie Gage
Credit to: Scottie Gage

 

Scottie Gage is a remarkably gifted vocalist and artist who has released some pretty amazing music over the course of his career (my personal favorite being Waterslide, which you can see here).  Now he is set to release some great new music, and is highlighting one track that goes by the name of “Moonglow”.

There are so many artists out there that try to evoke emotion both in the song and video that comes with that never seems to ever come to light.  It can be forced and other times just be completely fake.  For Scottie and this song, neither of those facts ring true.  You can see it in his eyes when he is singing that he means every word he says, something that artists like Mary J. Blige and Robin Thicke have truly achieved over their careers.  Scottie already has it.

“Moonglow” is truly a simple song in the sense that there is a beautiful piano and drum beat that accompany it but the main focus is the lyricism in the song and his beautiful voice. It is reminiscent of songs like “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis and “Foolish Games” by Jewel in that it really details the pain and agony of going through the end of a relationship and realizing ones faults in the aftermath.  The vibe of the song also has a Chet Baker feel to it with its fluidity and rhythm. The video for this is shot beautifully in black and white and has a great concrete background that gets the emotion of the song that much more on point.  Overall, it really is something that is worth watching and listening to and should be heard by many.

See the video here and support this talented artist as he embarks on his musical journey.

Official Site

iTunes

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC Tagged With: moonglow, scottie gage, waterslide

Dance Moms Recap: Everybody Move to the Back of the Bus

by David Baxter

abbyleemillerdance80371Last week on Dance Moms, Jill went even further into Madam Rose territory and McKenzie lied about her foot. We got seventh and Abby gave up. Until this week, that is. [Read more…] about Dance Moms Recap: Everybody Move to the Back of the Bus

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, TELEVISION Tagged With: dance moms, snark, television recaps

Chatty Talk with Elise

by Elise Pentz

Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Happy Hump Day, all!  Lets jump right in with some yummy news, shall we?!

 

Jonathan Taylor Thomas(you know who he is, cute boy from Home Improvement) may be returning to the small screen.. He guest starred on Tim Allan’s show ‘Last Man Standing’ & who wouldn’t want a gorgeous man like this back on the television?? Swoon!!

Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Credit to: fandncarpenter.blogspot.com

John Mayer & Katy Perry have called it quits, again after about 7 months! I’m sad for them, them seems so in love.. Maybe a little time apart will make third time, a charm?  We can hold out hope!

John Mayer
Credit to:justjared.com

Eli Manning & his gorgeous wife, Abby, are expecting their second child!  This baby has got some great genes & like their first baby, will be absolutely gorgeous, not to mention some football skills, if anything like all the other Manning men!  Congratulations Manning family!

Eli Manning
Credit to:nypost.com

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, uncategorized Tagged With: Abby Manning, Baby, breakup, Eli Manning, Eli Manning baby, Home Improvement, John Mayer, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Katy Perry, New York Giants, Splitsville

Diving With The D-List: Splash is a Guilty Pleasure

by Michael Tyminski

The cast of Splash (Source: ABC)
The cast of Splash (Source: ABC)
The cast of Splash (Source: ABC)

Splash: Tuesdays 8pm Eastern Time, ABC

Since American Idol brought the competition show back to prime-time network television a decade ago, we’ve seen the genre mostly built around singing, dancing, and cooking. We’ve also seen competition shows for close to everything else such as ice skating, weight loss, job hunting, and now ludicrously enough, platform diving.

Splash is ABC’s diving equivalent to it’s other, more venerable competition franchise: Dancing with the Stars, and the competitor pool seems like it’s built from similar, if less flashy cloth, with “stars” ranging from Ndamokung Suh to washed up child stars Drake Bell and Keshia Knight Pulliam to skier Rory Bushfield (whom I have never heard of before this show) to Louie Anderson (whom bewilders me that we see him in a show about athleticism and grace in the 2010’s). The stars are coached by legendary diver Greg Louganis and advertises 2012 gold medalist David Boudia as one of the judges.

This show follows the Dancing with the Stars model of video interludes of training leading into the performance. This actually creates an interesting dissonance, as the video segments seem fairly serious, while the in-studio segments are some of the campiest and most overblown segments on network TV (the divers enter with full blown entrance music and water effects – I would kill for Louie Anderson’s theme music, which is a full blown funk score).

David Boudia and Steve Foley are a serviceable pair of judges, with Boudia providing constructive criticism, while Foley plays a much nicer Simon Cowell role. Joey Lawrence (wearing the worst haircut ever) plays a passable host, but seems shaky whenever he has to interview someone or really say anything that’s not on a teleprompter. Charissa Thompson co-hosts but comes off considerably stronger than Lawrence, albeit that’s expected from someone with extensive sportscasting experience. Greg Louganis feels criminally underused, often only appearing in videos, but comes off as the most unfailingly positive coaching figure this side of Richard Simmons. He maintains this even in the most dire of situations, such as when himself, Suh, and Kareem have to pull Louie Anderson out of the pool on the first day of training.

If there is one main concern I have with the show, it’s the casting choices seem to set up an anticlimax, as a big-air style skier (Rory Bushfield) already seems to have a huge built in advantage. Thankfully the judges seem to be grading on a curve (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Louie Anderson both received higher averages for weaker dives than Katherine Webb did). I also did not appreciate that despite claiming the audience is responsible for half of the score that we never actually get to see the audience score, since between that and the vastly sliding scale the judges use for degree of difficulty, I get the vibe that the eliminations (or at the minimum whom is forced to dive off) will very likely be arbitrary.

Additionally, the pacing seemed fairly slow, as we only saw half of the divers on the first show, and all 10 dives and packages probably could have fit in sixty minutes if they didn’t focus on padding out the remainder of the time with three synchronized swimming numbers and taking an agonizingly long time on the board before each dive.

The Final Verdict: Splash is the definition of a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed it, but if I didn’t review these for the viewing public, I would probably deny that I ever saw this show. It has potential to be a much better show if they dropped some of the over-intense reality cliches and let the show do what it shines at: being a slightly cheesy show about celebrities falling from high places. If this show can ever get it’s out of it’s own way (and with a future shift in seasons), I could very easily see this being the post-Wipeout summer mainstay that ABC’s been looking for the past few years.

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, OPINION, REVIEWS, TELEVISION Tagged With: ABC, Guilty Pleasures, Splash, TV reviews

Album Review: Doldrums – Lesser Evil

by Rio Toro

images (2)

Doldrums:         Lesser Evil

Similar Artists:          Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice, Animal Collective, Purity Ring

Genre:          Post Pop, Post Rock, Post Noise

Label:          Souterrain Transmissions

 

In Norton Jester’s beloved children’s novel, “The Phantom Tollbooth”, The Doldrums is a place where nothing ever happens. The inhabitants of this fictitious area follow a strict set of daily routines and live out dull repetitious lives. It is surprising that Airick Woodhead decided to borrow this name for his musical project, because his work is the polar opposite of mundane. In fact, there is often so much going on within any few measures that it can seem messy and overwrought. This is maximalistic ADHD music that could only be described using words like post-rock, post-pop or post-noise. Although it is not without its noticeable influences, on “Lesser Evil”, Airick has either created one of the poppiest noise albums or noisiest pop albums in recent memory.

Most of us were introduced to Doldrums through his remix of Portishead’s “Chasing the Tear” in 2010. It sounded almost nothing like the original, and it showed off Airick’s tight production work. The combination of vocal samples, noisy guitars  and melodically layered electronic overtones proved Doldrums to be an artist to get excited about. Three long years have came and went and now the one man band is finally releasing his debut album, “Lesser Evil”. He hasn’t changed his style much in those three years, so it speaks towards his aptitude that this music still sounds so relevant and modern.

Although at face-value, much of this album comes off as dance music, I am often left to wonder if these songs are meant to leave me ecstatic or woeful. While some might say that the album’s lack of musical cohesiveness is a weakness, you would be hard-pressed to call it boring. However, this music is much more ambitious to simply be called “entertaining”. It’s abstractness has occasionally left me empty, but in the end it works towards the album’s otherworldly themes.

While comparisons to other left-of-center Canadian pop acts such as Grimes and Purity Ring are apt, the most glaring reference point to Doldrums is Brooklyn’s “Gang Gang Dance”. Both groups create psychotically induced dance music that is founded through the use of heavy percussion and bass. The heavily ornamented sound also brings to mind Animal Collective’s 2012 album, “Centipede Hz”. Likewise, Airick’s nerdy voice is a combination of Panda Bear’s tonality with Bjork’s overreaching style. Countless artists come into mind while listening to this music, but at its best, Doldrums reinvigorate otherwise worn out trends.

Airick is always pushing his hardware to the tipping point, which makes the music feels as if it could break apart at any moment. While he is obviously having fun toying with his machinery, the music is also beautifully composed within its sporadicness. Second track “Anomaly” opens with bursting Cocteau Twins vocals and shoegazing guitar strumming only to retreat into a sentimental electro ballad. Many of the songs contain snippets of drum & bass or hardcore techno, so even the mellower songs can’t really be called such. What makes the seemingly bizarre instrumentation impressive is how all the musical styles are used so tastefully. Don’t get me wrong, this album is packed full of disorder, but the inharmonalities speak towards Airick’s warped musical vision instead of being artistic missteps.

It might be a mystery as to exactly what we should feel while listening to this music, but what I do know is that Doldrums is solely meant for escapists. When I listen to this music I am in a fantasy world, or better yet, an alternate universe. Many people will see passed how dark this release is and tag it as a party album. There is no problem with dancing, but these songs require much more analysis than the dance floor will allow. Much like the book its name is contrived from, Doldrums is a beautiful, stimulating and unpredictable adventure that I can’t seem to put down.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Intro

2.) Anomaly*

3.) She Is The Wave*

4.) Sunrise

5.) Egypt

6.) Holographic Sand Castles*

7.) Singularity Acid face

8.) Lesser Evil*

9.) Golden Calf

10.) Lost In Everyone

11.) Painted Black

* – Album Highlight

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, REVIEWS Tagged With: album, Doldrums, Lesser Evil, review

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