Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Criticism is a multi-headed monster that means something different to everyone. For a critic, it’s a job that offers the comforts of a sustainable lifestyle while critiquing art. For a reader, it’s a window into a (hopefully) well-constructed viewpoint that can easily shed light on a subject that was previously unknown. Yet, in a living, […]
It seems that with every passing year, the musical creative output continues to grow and prosper. Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen, but 2007 has presented an odd array of sounds from newbies and old hats, with plenty of surprises abound. While there has easily been more than ten great albums produced […]
Only time will tell what the worlds history books will say about the date October 10th, 2007, but for now, that date will remain firmly in the memory of college-aged music fans, slobbering hipsters, music critics, internet-users, and anyone who ever got Creep stuck in their head as the day that Radiohead outdid themselves.
Theres no word that can possibly describe the past year in music other than Crazy. Yes, the surprise single of the summer helped to define a year in music that no pompous internet-based music review site or increasingly commercial New York based magazine could have seen coming from miles away. So, on that note, here are the years ten best albums, starting with the one that defined it all…
No one could have possibly been prepared for the spastic dancing onslaught that is Girl Talk, and no one could have possibly been happier with the performance last Saturday night at Chums. The coffeehouse should have been renamed Club Chums in honor of Girl Talks Punk, Rock & Roll, Club-sponsored performance as the lucky two hundred or so audience members danced on every available surface in the glow of the strobe light. The hour-long set of spastic mash-up dance heaven by Gregg Gillis, the mastermind laptop musician who has been making interracially composed songs under the name Girl Talk since 2002, made up the best dance party that Brandeis has ever seen.
Its seven oclock on Sunday night as a hungry mass descends upon chicken wings and boxes of pizza in the second floor kitchen of 145 South Street. While hunger quickly bonds everyone together, the different groups of people can quickly be made out once everyone begins to shovel slices of pizza down their throats. Brandeis students and residents of 145 South Street run about the room, cracking jokes about the weekend and joyously celebrating the days achievements. Members of the Kuss family, visiting their son for Fall Fest weekend, sit around a cramped table situated next to the windows in the kitchen and gleefully chat with everyone in the room. Although space in the room is tight, five musicians who made one of the most endearing and enjoyable albums of the year awkwardly stand against the wall closest to the stairwell they just climbed to arrive at such a feast. The stage was perfectly set for Oh No! Oh My! to kick off Octoberfest, a three-day string of concerts put on by the Punk, Rock n Roll club, at least once the band could get past the barrage of questions from Mr. Kuss.
As an air of confusion and anxiety floated upon the crowd at Levin Ballroom on Monday, October 16, Broken Social Scene slowly made their way on stage for a commanding hour and a half long set. After the surprise cancellation by openers Do Make Say Think lead to an odd-performance by a reggae-centric DJ, the crowd held their stance in front of the stage, as anticipation for the Canadian-bred headliners bubbled over as the first of one of the seven members of the group took to the stage. Although all of the bands dozen-plus members rarely have the ability to tour together, the acts sound was as full and fresh as ever, with founding members Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning leading the collective of friends through a set filled with their best and finest songs.
Although its beginning to get cold, the music world is just heating up, with a bevy of new releases and upcoming concerts flooding the ears of everyone. Here is a little sample of whats new, whats coming up, and what to listen for:
During the halfway point of October, smack dab in the middle of midterm season and when the weather makes the leaves and people change shades of color, the Brandeis community will be given a real treat. For those of us who will survive the first onslaught of exams and papers, and especially for those who wont survive, Student Events will present a two-day music festival that should prove to be the music event of the year. Those wrought with a case of the Mondays on October 16th can relax and enjoy the indie pop sounds of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think;
those with energy to burn and in need of a kick of punk can skank to the sounds of Flogging Molly, Bedouin Soundclash, and Zox on October 17th. And for those who just love music, these two days will make Levin Ballroom seem like an oasis in the desert of the mid-semester overload of work.
This is it;
this is the album that music lovers have been waiting for, despite the fact that most people have yet to be aware of it.
