WVAU Magazine/Paper

7/28/2019 WVAU Magazine/Paper

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITYI N T E R N E T R A D I O

WVAU.ORG

DESIGNED BY MARISSA CETIN // GRAPHICS BY MORGAN WHEATON



Photo by NICOLE BRUNET

Deerhunter performs at Sixth & I Synagogue. From left: Frankie Broyles, Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta (back),Lockett Pundt, Josh McKay.

Deerhunterblows minds,eardrums at

rst-ever DCCollege RadioPresents showBradford Cox’s ambient punkproject plays sold-out Sixth &I Synagogue for a spiritual,

uniting night for the district’scollege radio stations

Deerhunter’s art-rock noise reverberat-

ed off the domed ceiling of D.C.’s Sixth & I

Synagogue, under which the capital’s col-

lege radio community united for a rst-ever

collaborative concert April 22.

WVAU, University of Maryland-College

Park’s WMUC and George Washington

University’s WRGW joined musical forces

to bring ambient punk rockers Deerhunter

back to D.C. for the rst time since October

2010 in the unprecedented District College

Radio Presents show.

“Everyone had really interesting events

going on, but there was never really an ini-

tiative to put these forces together. And es-

pecially because we are working with peo-

ple who have really cool interests and [are]

booking people and have these awesome

ideas … I just wanted to meet other people

from the stations and see what we could do

together.” Paula Mejia, general manager of

WRGW and a senior at GW, said.

The April 22 show also marked the rst

night of Deerhunter’s latest string of shows

playing material off their new record Mono-

mania, out May 7 on 4AD.

Experiencing Deerhunter’s performance

was an hour-long visit to frontman Bradford

Cox’s strange, wonderful mind, and the

Sixth & I Synagogue setting only added to

the spiritual vibes. Deerhunter opened with

a warped jam that led into the trance-induc-

ing “Cryptograms,” from their 2007 record

of the same name, covering the surfaces of

the venue with noise and distortion.Cox donned a black wig and a white

cheetah-print blouse hung on his lanky

frame which bent around the stage over his

guitar, mic and tambourine (maracas also

made an appearance).

The trance continued through the main

set closer, lead single and title track off the

upcoming Monomania. Though a bit obvi-

ous to end with the new single, the song is

perfect for that role, with continuous shouts

By MARISSA CETIN

“mono-monomania” and loud, psychedelic

droning that likely left ears ringing for days.

Before the song ended, Cox slinked off the

stage leaving his band members to contin-

ue blowing minds (and ears).

New York’s experimental electronic artis

MAS YSA was the rst opener, appropri-

ately setting the night’s tone with sampling

choirs and Counting Crow’s emotional

“Colorblind” piano track over dance beats.

It’s easy to see why Deerhunter picked the

second act Jackson Scott to open their

upcoming shows; his odd presence and

ambient rock is obviously Cox-inspired,

though no where near as fully formed yet —Deerhunter’s soundcheck was noticeably

more complete. Fortunately the headliners

weeded out any negativity and promptly set

the audience in an hour-long daze.

A ticket to the hypnotic show was much

coveted. WRGW GM Mejia said, “Our old

GM posted on my Facebook that people

were selling tickets on Craigslist, and he’s

like, ‘There’s a black market for tickets.

Good job.’ We made it.”Ofcial event poster by Morgan Wheaton.

2013

And if you got a ritual /We’ve drowned by rain /And if you memorize the

words / They will showyou the way

“Neon Junkyard” from

Deerhunter’s Monomania

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2013

Before we can understand what “pop”

might mean in 2013, we have to under-

stand that pop music is constantly evolving.

In the 1940s and 1950s, cast record-

ings from hit Broadway musicals occupied

the top of the Billboard charts. Today, such

songs are relegated to theater fanatics’

Spotify playlists.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, ballads were in

vogue. Now, songs like Adele’s “SomeoneLike You” and Rihanna’s “Stay” are outliers

in an era of rhythm-driven radio.

Even as recently as ve years ago, art-

ists like Daughtry and Nickelback straddled

the pop-rock divide. Now, they’re trapped

on rock-specic radio stations and verge

on cultural irrelevance.

Pop music is undoubtedly a busi-

ness enterprise, run by enormous record

companies with hundreds of metaphorical

cooks in the kitchen. The best pop songs

transcend their commercially motivated

origins, nding rich meaning and sonic bliss

amid a sea of lookalikes and copycats. Pop

music isn’t like it used to be, sure, but it’s

reductive to say that “all pop songs sound

the same.” They don’t. It’s even reductive

to say “All current pop songs sound the

same.” They don’t.

Which is not to say that none of them

do. Indeed, pop music coalesces around

trends. The rise of songs by unknowns

Gotye, fun. and Carly Rae

Jepsen last year arose from

rising digital methods for ob-

taining music. In other ways,

though, pop music createstrends and then asks the

songs within those trends to

break loose. Gotye’s “Some-

body That I Used to Know”

eschews carefree for contem-

plative, mayhem for melan-

choly. Carly Rae Jepsen’s

“Call Me Maybe” is that rare

gem, unapologetically catchy

while completely aware of

its immaturity. fun.’s “We Are

Young” and “Some Nights”

nod to Queen and MichaelJackson while experimenting

with an updated pop rock

sound that feels genuinely modern.

Many of this year’s biggest hits nod to

their inuences. Bruno Mars channels Sting

with “Locked Out of Heaven,” incorporating

tinges of 21st century melody into a retro

pop construct. Justin Timberlake’s “Suit &

Tie” evokes memories of the swanky ‘60s,

when smoking cigarettes onstage was

glamorous, not rebellious. Even Mackle-

more and Ryan Lewis, a fairly progressive

rap duo, can’t let go of the past. What is a

“Thrift Stop” if not a nostalgia trip?

We want pop music to remind us that

the past is a wonderland and evoking the

past in music can take us back to a simpler

time. These records showcase the best of

the past, an optimistic collage of where we

are now, but mostly where we’ve been.

There’s a danger in recycling the past,

though, and most pop music lies on the

line of that danger. Looking back with an

eye towards the future? We like that. Look-

ing back for the sake of looking back? Not

so much. Mariah Carey has fallen into this

trap lately. Her alleged comeback single

“Triumphant (Get ‘Em)” made many mis-

takes — sidelining Carey’s vocals in favor

of uninspired rap verses from Meek Mill and

Rick Ross — but its biggest blunder was

the lack of personality. The track doesn’t

feel indicative of triumph in 2013, but it

doesn’t feel like a refreshed ‘90s Carey

either. It felt tired, clichéd, rote.

Even the recent obsession with boy

bands has experienced this phenomenon.

In early 2012, The Wanted and One Direc-

tion were leading a boy band renaissance.

A year later, The Wanted has had one

single and some duds. One Direction,

while extremely popular with its tween

fanbase, has yet to break out with a widely

appealing record. Despite robust sales and

endless tabloid coverage, One Direction

hasn’t had a chart-topping hit since its rst,

“What Makes You Beautiful.” It was nice to

be reminded that boy bands exist, but now

we want the 2013 Boy Band Renaissance,

not the 1990s Boy Band Throwback.

How do all of these examples answer

the central question of pop music? They

don’t — not denitively anyway. Pop music

is a mystery, but we wouldn’t have it any

other way. People who listen to music are

ckle just as their emotions are ckle.

What is pop music? Pop music is right

now.

It’s not country. It’s not

rock. It’s not punk.

It’s POP.

Pop. An entire musical

genre built around three

letters. Those three letters

could not be less specic.

POPwith a Captial ‘P’

Dening ‘pop’: A study in futility Columnist Mark Lieberman dissects what makes pop pop

Pop music isn’t like itused to be, sure.

But it’s reductive to

say that “all pop songssound the same.” They don’t.

By CAMERON STEWART

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SPECIALTY SHOW

THE UNDERCURRENTHosted by

Eli FoslWVAU offers DJs with special interests a chance to develop their own brand of show.

Eli Fosl hosts the ‘home for emotive, progressive, hardcore student radio.’

• Emo: an abbreviated form of emotive.

“Emo” has a lot of negative connotations

due the Hot Topic “scene kid.” The pop

culture term emo and musical style emo

are homonyms. Content-wise, emotive

music, as the name suggests, centers

primarily on emotions (usually angsty, de-

spondent, or aggressive). Emo is a spinoff

of punk and hardcore that focuses more

on melodic construction and powerful feel-

ings. Emo started (like many great things)

here in D.C. with Ian MacKaye in the hard-

core-punk scene. Nowadays, emo hasseparated itself from hardcore. Emotional,

melodic, complex bands take sounds from

groups like Death Cab For Cutie or Empire!

Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate).

• Screamo/Skramz: If emo music is

loud and screamy enough, it’s “screamo”;

although mallcore bands such as Of Mice

And Men or Asking Alexandria have ruined

this term. True screamo bands have mostly

converted to the terminology of skramz,

which I commonly use. Skramz is a place-

holder term that refers to a screamo bandthat is actually, well, good.

• Post-hardcore: music with the loud,

abrasive elements of hardcore music, while

also incorporating complex musicianship.

I often use this label when hardcore bands

use stylistic elements of post-rock — long,

ambient instrumental segments like Explo-

sions In The Sky or This Will Destroy You.

Vocabulary lesson: Undercurrent 101

The best way to understand la-

bels is to look up classic bands who

label themselves as such.

For example, the work of afore-

mentioned punk god, Ian MacKaye.

MacKaye was the frontman of many

bands, most importantly Minor

Threat, Fugazi and Embrace.Minor Threat was a starter of

hardcore punk; Fugazi was a starter

of post-hardcore; and Embrace was

a starter for emo/screamo.

Labels and terminology are two of the most complicated, frus-

trating, impossible things about underground music. Today, you can

look up a band on Bandcamp or Last.fm to see how they categorize

themselves, but even then there are at least a half-dozen tags.

It took me weeks to gure out how to describe my show. I settled

on calling my show: “Your home for progressive, emotive, hardcore

student radio.”

Q&AFun Fact: A fun fact about me is that every

time I do an icebreaker and I hear that I

have to say a fun fact about myself, I start

vomiting uncontrollably. Also I’m in love with

Björk. She hasn’t responded to my propos-

al yet, but I my ngers are crossed.

Favorite D.C. venue: DC9. The size is per-

fect for small shows, and the stage rules.

It’s low, so you aren’t separated from theband, but it’s elevated enough so everyone

can see, And stage dives are a possibility.

Album recommendation: There are so,

so, so many albums that I constantly want

to recommend to everyone on earth. Forc-

ing me to choose one… Old Wounds by

Young Widows.

Dream concert lineup: How many bands

am I able to put on this list? I’m gonna say

seven and yes. Native, Loma Prieta, Cap’n

Jazz, La Dispute, Pianos Become The

Teeth, Fugazi and Björk.Favorite musicians in middle school?n-

What a humiliating question. I mostly lis-

tened to what I picked up from my brother.

I loved the Beatles, which isn’t bad. I also

loved Enya and the “Digimon: The Movie

soundtrack.” Thankfully my brother was

around to play good bands for me like The

Decemberists, The New Pornographers

and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

2013



2013

WVAEventsPosters designed by

Morgan Wheaton and Eli Fos

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JapandroidsCelebration Rock

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What we’re listening toSTAFFPICKS

“Avant-pop.” “Ambient experimental.”

“Ethereal.” “Baroque-pop.” Try as they

might, the blogs cannot pin a clean tag on

Julia Holter’s second record Ekstasis.

Though they are not entirely wrong.

Underneath the layers of antique atmo-

sphere, swelling and staccato strings,

oating vocals, oceanic synths, ambient

echoes and theatrical structure, there is

a pop record with hooks, melodies and

harmonies.The familiar pop foundation allows

Holter to add all these meticulously com-

posed, avant-garde elements to create a

record unlike anything I have ever heard.

“Ekstasis” means “to be outside of

oneself,” accurate of how Holter must

have felt while composing the record, and

of my mindset when I sit down to listen

and of the sounds she creates.

Album opener “Marienbad” shifts be-

tween movements, as if giving a sampler

of what’s to come in the next 56 minutes.

It starts with soft arpeggios leading into a

sweet, bouncing verse and chorus. The

song transitions into something more

sinister, but you only notice once it has

already happened. It stops, with sparse

percussion to break the uncomfortable,

relieved silence before the pleasant pop

kicks back in, this time rewarding your

bravery with joyful trumpet riffs.

The grand nale “This Is Ekstasis”

entwines jangly, jazzy brass and strings

seamlessly with layered chants of “Joy!

Ekstasis!” and haunting vocal harmonieswhich feel as if they are coming from all

different corners within your head.

I empathize with the critics who

tried to put words to Ekstasis. It is hard.

Holter’s careful composition of melodies

and atmosphere defy all logic and stereo-

type of the “bedroom-pop” label under

which blogs have lazily led this record.

Each listen, focused or casual, reveals

new layers, and peeling them back is a joy.

Julia HolterEkstasis By MARISSA CETIN

We can thank heartbreak for an end-

less wealth of classic albums — Blue, On

the Beach, Funeral , For Emma. But rarely

has an album inhabited heartbreak so well

that it universalized it.

And rarely has one succeeded with

such re and passion as Sharon Van Et-

ten’s devastating achievement in Tramp, anuncompromising journey into the depths of

a woman’s immolated heart.

It is not an album for casual listen-

ing. It is impossible to leave Tramp in the

same emotional state or even as the same

person. This is in part due to Van Etten’s

incredible voice, an unique instrument that

is among the best singer-songwriters. It is

angelic, languid, full and rich with emotion.

“Give Out” begins with lonely, naked

guitar strums, a powerful self-examination

delivered with striking honesty and desper-

ation. “Ask” contains the album’s best lyrics

— “like cigarette ash, the world is collaps-

ing around me”— a lonely plea for a port in

a storm of depression and entropy. “Magic

Chords,” with martial drumrolls and eerie,

descending keys, is spine-chilling.

And then there is “Leonard,” one of 2012’s best songs. The lyrical transition

among choruses— “I am bad,” “I am bad

at loving,” “I am bad at loving you”— re-

veals a new emotion: guilt at letting love

die. The movement from present tense

(“he loves you”) to past tense (“he loved

you”) and then to the personal pronoun (“I

loved you”) is heartbreaking. And the sung

chorus, as it rises to the pinnacle with “well

well, hell” and then slips down the scale

again with “I am bad,” is one of the most

well-crafted, evocative and gorgeous folk

melodies of all time.While Sharon Van Etten’s heartbreak is

a personal issue, a small thing to the move-

ments of the universe, her unprecedented

expression thereof can tear the bandag-

es from the loss that anyone has felt. It

addresses heartbreak with hatred, remorse

and despair, not simply her own single

situation but the overarching suffering of

anybody who has felt love disappear.

This is what you should hear when

you turn on the radio. This is what you

should have on your roadtrip mixtape. This

is what should soundtrack the montage to

your youth. This is a celebration.

The second LP by the Canadian duo

displays not so much of the emotional,

introspective side of songwriting that their

rst album, Post Nothing, did. Rather, Cel-

ebration Rock owns a sense of community

and exuberance.

The only thing you will want to do

while listening to this record is shout

the choruses in the middle of a packed,

sweaty room of your peers and forget

about the fact that one day you mightactually grow old.

If you wanted to critique the record,

you could say the songwriting is a bit

simplistic and the lyrics can sometimes

almost get “corny”, but that misses the

point of the record — pure energy and

youthful abandon for its own sake, refus-

ing any cynicism.

So invested are Japandroids in this,

they chose to begin and end the record

with the sound of reworks off in the dis-

tance, an idea which could go wrong in so

many ways, but is pulled off with incredi-

ble results.

By RICHARD MURPHY

Sharon Van EttenTramp By JESSE PALLER

2013



2013

What we’re listening toSTAFFPICKS

Listening to this album is an explo-

ration of experimental music in a digital

age, gender in a post-industrial society,

and even a comment here and there on

copyright law.

The Knife found its inspiration outside

of the musical world, and the result soundslike a nuclear rave 10 years in the future.

Plastic percussion bounces off all

walls, perfectly out of sync, as if they were

processed kitchen utensils. Karin Dreijer

Andersson’s vocals get manipulated into

those of an androgynous alien, singing ear-

worm melodies crafted into an atmosphere

that is both creepy and inviting.

The style ts well with thematic content

of the album, exemplied at the end of

the colossal “Full of Fire,” as Karin chants

“Let’s talk about gender, baby,” her voice

morphing from feminine to masculine to

robotic to static.

Twenty-minute long drone piece “Old

Dreams Waiting To Be Realized” is all dig-

ital feedback recorded from a boiler room,

reminding us how the noise of new media

will occupy a disproportionate partition of

our time.

The Knife has blueprinted the aws of the ‘10s for generations to come. It’s up to

us to remedy those aws for the sake of

those generations.

The KnifeShaking the Habitual

By CAMERON STEWART

This record’s title could be: “Ty Segall

and Mikal Cronin go nuts in the studio.”

The rst six songs are two-minutes-or-

less garage rockers that come at you full

blast. The opener is an all-out sonic attack.

The vocals are so loud and distorted that

you can’t understand a word Segall sings

until he says the name of the song. Tracks

3-5 are fast, relentless and ow right into

each other. They contain all of the raw

energy of a Segall live show.

Then Segall and Cronin do a Pink Floyd

cover, “Take Up Thy Stethoscope And

Walk,” which is faithful to the original. But

with the crazy loud production, it’s got a fun

punk rock feel.

The title track is over 10 minutes long

and switches styles, from psychedelic

with heavily processed vocals, to a gentle

acoustic section.

It ends with a surf part with tremo-

lo-picked riffs and an insane amount of

distortion only Segall would use. Reverse

Shark Attack is less melodic than Segall’s

other releases, but has the same energy.

Ty Segall & Mikal CroninReverse Shark Attack

By DREW SHER

Titus Andronicus’ third album, Local

Business, seems to nd the band thinking

about its long-term career and making

some subtle changes in its sound and

approach as a result.

The record’s title has a lot more mean-

ing than just frontman Patrick Stickles’cries on Twitter to “#CRUSHCAPITAL-

ISM.” For one, Local Business emphasizes

tight group interplay and recalls the local

DIY punk scene, wisely opting away from

trying to top the grandeur of 2010’s The

Monitor . The title also lends to the per-

sonal struggles Stickles describes on the

record, including his battle with selective

eating disorder on the album’s brave, bold

centerpiece “My Eating Disorder.”

While the spo-

ken word inter-

ludes and Civil War

metaphors of earlier

albums may be

gone, the songwrit-

ing and performanc-

es are as strong as

ever. “Ecce Homo”

opens with a winking

nod to the band’s

angst-ridden nature,

declaring, “OK, I

think by now we’ve

established that everything is inherently

worthless.”

“Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape

With The Flood Of Detritus” describes

a car crash in horric detail behind an

excellent harmonizing guitar riff. Best of

all is lead single “In A Big City,” in whichStickles tackles consumerism, anonymity,

and Brooklyn to create the band’s most

compact anthem yet.

Local Business might not be the punk

masterpiece The Monitor is, but it doesn’t

have to be. The album reminds us that

Titus don’t need bells and whistles (and

bagpipes) to convey their musical power

– they’re just ne with a few guitars and a

whole lot of fury, thank you very much.

Titus AndronicusLocal Business By CAMERON MEINDL

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