Music – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:36:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Music – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Mahan Esfahani dazzles with fiery harpsichord flourishes https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/12/mahan-esfahani-dazzles-with-fiery-harpsichord-flourishes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/12/mahan-esfahani-dazzles-with-fiery-harpsichord-flourishes/#respond Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:34:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244412 The harpsichordist revealed his playfulness and virtuosity throughout the night, Wang writes.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

Historical instruments might not be your idea of a fun night out, but Stanford alumnus and professional harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani B.A. ’05 turned that on its head with an incredible program of Tomkins, Bach, Applebaum and Scarlatti during his Wednesday performance.

The harpsichord can’t vary in volume based on finger pressure like the piano can. As such, Esfahani’s expressive performance demonstrated his mastery of the instrument and its complex stops and manuals that permit changes in tone and contrasting dynamics.

The first two pieces were composed by Renaissance/Baroque musician Thomas Tomkins and served as great openings to the concert. Esfahani opened with Tomkins’s “Pavana FvB CXXIII,” playing with remarkable control, beautifully highlighting its melancholy nature. 

He then went on to “Barafostus’ Dreame,” a lively theme and variations that presented a sprightly, dance-like theme. With fast moving scales and considerable virtuosity, the piece showcased a taste of the fiery energy that Esfahani would sustain throughout the concert.

Esfahani’s rendition of Bach’s “English Suite No. 2 in A minor” highlighted the characteristics of each movement in a wonderfully cohesive and authentic manner. One of my favorites was the third movement “Courante.” The harpsichordist highlighted the persistent rhythmic meter that was carried along by exceptionally clear counterpoint in a short, lively dance. 

Following the lighthearted “Courante,” the “Sarabande” provided an incredible contrast. Esfahani presented the movement’s heavy anguish and penetrative longing with remarkable authenticity and touch. His range in musical expression truly shone through in this movement, with an air of dark solemnity providing for an incredible listening experience.

Stanford composition professor and composer Mark Applebaum wrote the piece that Esfahani performed to conclude the first half of the evening performance. Titled “October 1582,” the song was inspired by the ten days that were cut out from the Julian calendar due to astronomical inaccuracy.

It was the only piece performed from a living composer in the program, as Applebaum jokingly pointed out in his brief speech to the audience. The strong composition utilized electronics, bells and visual cues such as giant post-its that wrote “THE END” at the end of the piece. 

It certainly wasn’t my favorite work in the concert, as the atonality felt rather bizarre in its portrayal of each of the ten days. As someone who has never really found the joy in atonal music, I found it rather hard to understand and, consequently, enjoy.

The second half of the concert revealed some of the most exciting and unique renditions of the music of Domenico Scarlatti I have ever heard. The explosiveness and energy that Esfahani brings to his music were truly at their best here. 

For instance, in “Sonata K. 28,” Esfahani created incredible vigor through the imitations of Spanish guitar technique Scarlatti embedded in the piece, offering a thrilling adventure through the lively work. I’ve never heard a more convincing and exciting rendition of the piece, and I absolutely loved it. 

In the final “Sonata K. 436,” Esfahani coupled his playfulness with virtuosity. He showcased his astounding ability to play with audience expectations by withholding cadential resolutions or playing moderately-paced scales that quickly snowballed into surprising eruptions. Despite these liberties, Esfahani’s interpretation always felt respectful and reverent of Scarlatti’s work, never overstepping the bounds the composer set.

I’ve really never heard the harpsichord played with such fiery energy. Esfahani offered a completely new perspective for me on the harpsichord, as he overcame the instrument’s limitations of color and dynamics in such a creative way. Watching his entire body move with each note felt like I was watching a performance that, while entertaining, felt truly authentic in his expression of the music.

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Beandon’s Musical Corner: MGMT carves a new sound with ‘Loss of Life’ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/11/beandons-musical-corner-mgmt-carves-a-new-sound-in-loss-of-life/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/11/beandons-musical-corner-mgmt-carves-a-new-sound-in-loss-of-life/#respond Mon, 11 Mar 2024 08:23:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244366 The album features multitudes — crunchy bursts of guitar and textured synthesizer hums amid a mix of rock and power ballads, Rupp writes.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and contains subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

Welcome to a new and improved Beandon’s Musical Corner: The only place on campus for in-depth, exhaustive reviews on the latest releases in rock, jazz, experimental … and pretty much everything else. Brandon Rupp (also known by his mononymous musical title “beandon,” under which he releases music and DJs as KZSU’s Student Music Director) explores a new title and gives unfiltered feedback, regardless of the genre. Feel free to send him music — he would love to take a look!

Dear reader, put on your tinfoil hats. I have a question: Is it a coincidence that Ween’s last record, “La Cucaracha,” came out the same year, 2007, that MGMT debuted with “Oracular Spectacular”?

For the less imaginative among us, it may seem that the answer is a resounding yes. But Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser of MGMT have revealed themselves to be a spiritual successor to Dean and Gene Ween in many ways: they’re both quirky duos that love leapfrogging between disparate genres, leaning into their bizarre senses of humor, spotlighting the chameleon voices of their dynamic lead singers and masking chart-ready pop songs in layers of murk. Perhaps, I posit, reincarnation is real!

For fear of further alienating my readership, I’ll stop. Onto MGMT. 

I came to love these psych pop goofballs with their seminal progressive rock epic “Congratulations” (2010), which features the 12-minute behemoth “Siberian Breaks.” The album earned points by taking a page or two from the books of Mr. Bungle (listen to “Song for Dan Treacy” and “Disco Volante” back-to-back), Frank Zappa (“Brian Eno” is almost as much a tribute to Zappa as Eno himself) and more. In other words, it was fresh and fun prog — an utter rarity.

But that album is a long way from their humble beginnings as global superstars. While it is fair to say that they’ve only released three hit singles, what hits they have been! Most people have heard “Time to Pretend,” “Electric Feel” and “Kids,” and these tunes somehow haven’t lost their luster 17 years later. 

They released their strangest, though weakest record in 2013: the self-titled “MGMT.” It’s not terrible, but it simply doesn’t meet the standards the band has earned over their career. Then followed the wonderful “Little Dark Age” (2018), which featured contributions from Ariel Pink (another clear influence) and a title track that later hit big on TikTok. Then silence.

And, now we’re here. MGMT first hinted at their new album, “Loss of Life” through a cryptic Reddit post captioned “Just got done cooking L.O.L.” The emotionally inverse relationship between the grim title and its jaunty acronym is a testament to just how strange the resulting record sounds.

I could try to sum it up with a juxtapositional “[band] does [band]” soundbite: Ween does Meat Loaf, Aphex Twin does the Beatles, T-Rex does Dinosaur Jr.

Or I could complain that they didn’t continue the sound of their non-album single “In the Afternoon,” one of the best songs of the 2010s. But these all miss the point of the record. 

This record carves a new sound that is most reminiscent of their earlier self-titled misstep. However, it ends up faring much better. After a throwaway minute-long introduction to the album, we are hit with lead single “Mother Nature,” a gorgeous psychedelic breeze. The song immediately highlights that MGMT’s move to an independent label, Mom+Pop, has not diminished the quality of their production: they gleefully layer on Mercury Rev-esque flute melodies, crunchy bursts of guitar and textured synthesizer hums.

The following track, “Dancing in Babylon,” is another gem. It begins a trend that is littered throughout the rest of the album — power ballads plucked straight out of the ’80s. There, I’ve ripped the bandaid: this is an album of power ballads interspersed with a couple of rock tracks. Somehow, it works

It’s all in the attention to detail paid to every track. For example, listen to the bridge of the aforementioned track. Over a wonderfully cadencing chord progression, the lyrics feel uncharacteristically straightforward for VanWyngarden: “I wanna tell everyone I know I love you / I wanna touch the scars and break the chains that hold you.”

The interlocking vocals from Christine and the Queens, the first guest vocalist to appear on any MGMT record, just sell it.

“People in the Streets” is a bit harder to praise. It has some great guitar work and a groovy fretless bass, but the track takes its sweet time to become interesting. At least there is wild psychedelic soloing at the end. 

Two wildly different singles — the swaggering rocker “Bubblegum Dog” and psych folk ditty “Nothing to Declare” — are placed right in the middle of the tracklist. Both are wonderful, though the former has quickly cemented itself among my favorite MGMT songs.

A previously unreleased remnant of the “Little Dark Age” sessions, the track became popular on the strength of its odd title alone — I still have no idea what a “Bubblegum Dog” might be. The track represents MGMT at their most playful, with baroque harpsichord, chugging guitars and an unpredictable chord progression. It’s also a production marvel: Listen to those dissonant keyboard harmonies in the last chorus!

Some tracks lean into the prog weirdness of “Congratulations,” like the somewhat confusing “I Wish I Was Joking.” Meanwhile, deep cuts like “Phradie’s Song” would fit in on their 2013 self-titled record (as an album highlight, no less). The closing title track, “Loss of Life,” is much harder to describe. It balances glitchy drums with French horn arrangements, ultimately sounding like a scratched-up “Sgt. Peppers” vinyl.

I’ll leave you with the album’s biggest earworm for me: “Nothing Changes” is my favorite of the album’s power ballads. What makes the track so interesting is a central irony between the lyrics and instrumental — just as we’ve been hammered with the repeated lyric “Nothing’s going to change, believe me!” over a looping instrumental, the track explodes into a triumphant French horn solo. The song structure pokes a hole in the very idea that “nothing changes.”

Here, music itself becomes an undeniable counterargument to reactionary pessimism. The beauty of MGMT’s music is defined by an adventurous embrace of the constant current of progress. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

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Mixed Company unites anti-romantics for ‘Love Sucks’ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/06/mixed-company-love-sucks/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/06/mixed-company-love-sucks/#respond Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:47:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244127 The student a cappella group performed their annual anti-Valentine's Day show Saturday. The event highlighted the creative and collaborative spirit of the singers.

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From disappointment with Marriage Pact to weariness over dating apps, disillusionment with finding the ever elusive concept of “love” has perhaps never felt stronger on campus. 

Stanford’s oldest all-gender a cappella group Mixed Company (Mixed Co) channeled this sentiment into their annual anti-Valentine’s Day show, “Love Sucks,” at Toyon on Saturday. Paper heart decorations emblazoned with personalized messages such as “Lucky for you I’m a vampire” and “Kiss me, cowboy” welcomed audience members into the venue. 

The performance attracted many singles and couples alike for a night of sexy lyrics and impassioned renditions of popular songs, including “Bellyache” by Billie Eilish and “The Weekend” by SZA. 

The show aimed to offer students a chance to have fun by finding solidarity in the anti-Valentine’s Day sentiment.

“‘Love Sucks’ brings the campus together with a kind of silly anti-Valentine’s Day idea, but more so in the spirit of love, sexuality and supporting the arts,” said Mixed Co alum Nicole Jehl ’23, who attended the performance Saturday. “It’s a big highlight on campus, not just among the a cappella community, but also for the greater community, which is really special.” 

“Love Sucks” doesn’t just bring together students across campus — Jehl was one of several previous Mixed Co members coming back as audience members. 

“While I was in college, I had never been more proud of something, but coming back and seeing people — both familiar and new faces — made me especially proud,” said Natalie Stiner ’23, another former Mixed Co member. “I know how much work goes into this performance and how nerve-racking it is, so just seeing everyone blossom and come to life on stage was incredible.”

Mixed Co changes the theme for every iteration of “Love Sucks,” maintaining traditions while bringing a new sense of individuality in each performance. This year, they embraced “Mixed Country,” performing songs such as “Last Name” and “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood. 

“We thought it would be fun to try country songs, but not an entire country set. Hence why we took off our pink cowboy hats after one song,” said baritone and Mixed Co performance manager Nicholas Buckovich ’26. “We’re trying to find new creative ways to switch it up every year.” 

The performers evoked strong emotions from the audience; listeners requested an encore and gave a standing ovation at the end. 

“I loved all aspects of the show — the aesthetics, the songs, performances, the artists, everything,” said audience member Luv Jawahrani ’27. “The show exceeded my expectations by 1000 percent. I want Mixed Co to have shows more often!”  

To Stiner, the event’s turnout and the audience’s appreciation were indicative of a campus-wide value in the arts. 

“I would say there’s so much excitement and commitment to art and music on this campus,” Stiner said. “Showing up for the arts and being so excited is what this event is all about.” 

According to Buckovich, Mixed Co members rehearsed together for at least seven hours each week. Beyond rehearsals, orchestrating the event also required collaboration among several planning committees. 

While an essential part of a cappella is harmonizing as a group, several songs in the performance featured solos, highlighting the voices of individual singers. One song featured all seven new members of the group.

“The Harry Styles medley was the first song that we learned all together. All the newbies have a solo in it, which is really special, and the energy is always so high for that song,” said alto Mia Grace Davis ’27. 

While Mixed Co performs popular songs, members add personal flavor by uniquely arranging all of their own music. For “Love Sucks,” Davis and tenor Zoey Hu ’24 arranged Sabrina Carpenter’s “Feather” by writing the melody before adding the harmony and a cappella vocals. 

“Being able to build something from the ground up and call it my own is very validating,” Davis said. 

As an art form that unites people from different backgrounds, a cappella offers a particularly special community to Mixed Co members. 

“It’s this beautiful art form between a huge, diverse group of people across different class years and across different studies,” Jehl said. “It’s a really cool experience to listen to all these people making this incredible art together, and celebrate and uplift each other.” 

Beyond the emotionally charged songs of “Love Sucks,” Mixed Co also offers members a space to regroup and channel passion into their music. 

“I love our community so much. Whenever we have rehearsals, I know that I can always return to such a special group, and sing and laugh with them, and just share special moments, even when my day goes really poorly,” Davis said. “It’s honestly the best thing I could ask for on campus.”

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SF Symphony experiments with the beautiful and the strange https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/04/sf-symphony-experiments-with-the-beautiful-and-the-strange/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/04/sf-symphony-experiments-with-the-beautiful-and-the-strange/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:47:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244019 The orchestra presented a unique approach to “Prometheus” and “Bluebeard’s Castle” by incorporating lighting and perfume — and a smoke cannon.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

Flashing lights! Smoke cannons! And … perfume? While perhaps unusual at a typical symphony concert, lights, smoke and perfume were featured in the San Francisco (SF) Symphony Orchestra’s Saturday performance at Davies Symphony Hall.

Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen and the orchestra offered their fascinating take on Alexander Scriabin’s tone poem “Prometheus: The Poem of Fire” and Béla Bartók’s opera “Bluebeard’s Castle.”

“Prometheus” by Alexander Scriabin

An abrupt lighting shift from red to pitch black announced the start of “Prometheus.” The orchestra began playing in a fittingly ominous fashion, with terrifyingly dissonant chords and tensely uncertain harmony. The stage was slowly re-illuminated as the piece progressed, with changing colors of light coming from behind the orchestra and a ring of lights overhead.

Red lighting was used to align with dark moments in the music, like sinister growls from the double basses. Red lights enhanced my listening experience.

The frequency of the color in the beginning of the piece signified a warning — perhaps from the gods — in reference to the myth of Prometheus, who brings fire to humans. This was reinforced by the last, ecstatic section of the piece, which saw a brief return of red when the orchestra and choir delivered ominous melodies as a shadow of the warning amid triumph.

A smoke cannon marked the climax in the piece. It felt like a divide between two halves of the piece, where the first half was a warning from the gods while the second half depicted humans experimenting with their new possession of fire.

The piece finished with a resoundingly majestic chord, with its grandeur further magnified as the ring of lights above shone down upon the ensemble in a triumphant kaleidoscope of colors. I’ve never heard an orchestra sound so powerful before, with choir, organ and what sounded like every instrument blasting an F# major chord.

While the usage of red lighting amplified the musicality of the orchestra, lights of other colors introduced confusion to the concert experience.

But I suppose this is less of a criticism for the SF Symphony and more so for Scriabin. 

He wrote in colors for the “clavier à lumières,” an instrument he invented for “Prometheus” that projects different colors based on the note being played. The SF Symphony likely orchestrated their color lighting based on Scriabin’s composition, but these lights distracted me from the music instead of clarifying its meaning.

Other distractions included perfume, with scents emitted over the audience at moments in “Prometheus.”

The most prominent one was a rather woody scent, one that reminded me of furniture. I couldn’t really identify it or understand its contribution to the overall performance, though it was a thought-provoking addition.

“Bluebeard’s Castle” by Béla Bartók

The one-act opera is based on a French folk legend that features the mysterious and sinister duke Bluebeard and his new wife Judith and revolves around Judith opening seven locked doors in Bluebeard’s castle.

Each door reveals “symbols of different aspects of Bluebeard’s mind,” as described in the concert’s program notes. Judith grows increasingly horrified as she discovers what the first five doors concealed. 

The orchestra took audience members on an emotional roller coaster as Judith finds a torture chamber at the first door and an armory at the second, both covered in blood. Behind the following three doors, Judith is met with a stash of blood-stained jewels and crowns, a garden growing out of pools of blood and a view of Bluebeard’s kingdom with blood-red clouds looming overhead.

I found “Bluebeard’s Castle” to be an incredible operatic work, performed with phenomenal control and character. Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, the orchestra and singers bass-baritone Gerald Finley (Bluebeard) and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung (Judith) masterfully depicted Judith’s reaction to opening each door, from the horror of the torture chamber to the grandeur of the kingdom.

The opening of the fifth door was one of the most impactful moments in the entire concert. With the orchestra building up to a staggering volume, Bartók set up great anticipation for a huge explosion of sound to open the fifth door.

And explode, Salonen did.

At the opening of the fifth door, Salonen whipped around to signal to the organist, who was seated behind the audience. As the emphatic chord was struck, every single light turned on to flood the audience with white light. Listeners were transported to a completely new and bright setting that reflected the majesty of Bluebeard’s kingdom, accompanied by blasts of orchestral chords.

My favorite musical door depiction was the sixth, which revealed a serene white lake being described by Judith, which Bluebeard insists was filled with his tears. The harp and flute motif that punctured the serene strings was so beautiful, yet it carried a foreboding feeling that set up Judith’s tirade in anticipation of what was behind the seventh door — where the truth about why Bluebeard brought Judith to his castle was revealed.

It it difficult for me to criticize “Bluebeard’s Castle.” The maestro, orchestra and incredibly talented singers delivered a phenomenal performance.

The lighting was also used far more effectively than in “Prometheus,” from the makeshift sun illuminating the castle chamber to the “clouds” above the white lake wonderfully painting the setting changes.

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Bad Bunny delivers explosive latin trap in San Francisco https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/04/bad-bunny-delivers-explosive-latin-trap/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/04/bad-bunny-delivers-explosive-latin-trap/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:37:54 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1244000 Bad Bunny's San Francisco visit this weekend for the Most Wanted Tour showcased his versatility, presenting both high-energy and vulnerable moments throughout his performance, Kearns writes.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

Emerging on stage through rolling fog, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio or Bad Bunny gave an electrifying and unforgettable performance at his Most Wanted Tour on Saturday night in San Francisco.

As the artist stepped onstage at the Chase Center, anticipatory strings built excitement among audience members, while the atmosphere crackled with energy.

The Most Wanted Tour is Puerto Rican rapper and singer-songwriter Bad Bunny’s fifth concert tour, launched as he promotes his fifth studio album, “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana” (“Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow” in Spanish).

The tour features 47 dates across 31 cities in North America, showcasing Bad Bunny’s trap-inspired music to his dedicated fan base. 

The opening performance featured a unique orchestral arrangement by the 24-member Philharmonic Orchestra Project, led by Grammy-winning conductor Carlitos Lopez. The orchestral suite lasted approximately nine minutes, creating a cinematic atmosphere in the venue as anticipation built. 

Bad Bunny entered in a black suit and a head scarf that partially covered his features before opening the concert with a Drake-adjacent lament on celebrity insecurity, “NADIE SABE.” His performance sustained the energy of audience members as he took over the stage, with pyrotechnics and dynamic colorful lights extending to the back of the stadium.

With the crowd already hyped, the rest of Bad Bunny’s show testified to his musicianship and affinity for performance. The concert was divided into four acts during which Bad Bunny changed outfits and shifted his location on the stage. The crowd’s energy reached its peak as the artist delved into his more familiar hits like “Efecto” and “25/8” during acts two and four.

One standout moment occurred when Bad Bunny showcased vulnerability in a heartfelt acoustic rendition of “GRACIAS POR NADA” while seated atop a piano. His vocals were pure and precise, demonstrating his skillful vocal training and adding depth to his emotional expression. This performance highlighted Bad Bunny’s versatility as an artist, forging a more personal connection with his audience and serving as a stark contrast to his other high-energy songs like “MONACO” and “CYBERTRUCK.”

Bad Bunny’s stage presence was magnetic as he seamlessly shifted between tough and playful personas, captivating the audience with his blustery rap verses and melodic vocals. His explosive performances, seamless transitions and genuine interactions with fans remain unmatched. He engaged with fans throughout the arena, frequently moving around the stage, waving to different sections of the crowd and acknowledging signs and messages from audience members.

The concert was full of surprises; Bad Bunny once returned to the stage while riding on the back of a live horse as a nod to the illustrated Wild West scene depicted on the album cover of “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana.” 

Being the performer he is, Bad Bunny had some other tricks up his sleeves — false endings. Just when it seemed like the show was over, Bad Bunny returned for an encore, much to the crowd’s delight. The artist skillfully maintained momentum, delivering an exhilarating finale with hits like “La Jumpa” and “Me Porto Bonito.” Even after concluding his encore, the musician left everyone yearning for more.

While some fans may have been disappointed not to hear “Tití Me Preguntó” — one of Bad Bunny’s biggest hits and my personal favorite — the evening was still a remarkable experience filled with fantastic music and unforgettable moments. 

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Stanford Chamber Chorale to tour Hawai‘i with upcoming program ‘Tour Aloha’ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/03/stanford-chamber-chorale-to-tour-hawaii-with-upcoming-program-tour-aloha/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/03/03/stanford-chamber-chorale-to-tour-hawaii-with-upcoming-program-tour-aloha/#respond Mon, 04 Mar 2024 02:06:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1243891 The ensemble will perform a diverse program of songs, ranging from classical pieces to those written and sung in Ōlelo Hawaiʻi.

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Traveling over 2000 miles, music from Hawai‘i was brought to campus on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. by the Stanford Chamber Chorale with “Tour Aloha.” The ensemble prepared a diverse program of vocal music, ranging from classical music based on English poetry to songs by Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last sovereign to govern the Hawaiʻi islands. 

The Stanford Chamber Chorale is the most selective group among the six choral ensembles in the Department of Music, according to Director of Choral Studies Stephen Sano, who also directs the chorale. The ensemble takes on projects like recordings and has achieved acclaim in their work. According to Sano, “the last three of our recordings were on the Grammy first-round ballot.”

The chorale is offered as a class, “MUSIC 165: Chamber Chorale,” and is composed of roughly equal numbers of undergraduate and graduate students. Despite each member ranging in their musical pursuits, the chorale still collectively attains a high caliber in performance. 

“Most of us are not music majors,” said Cecilia La Puma ’25. “I think itʻs something unique to Stanford that we’re still able to perform at such a high level.”

The chorale plans to bring their Sunday program to Hawaiʻi over the upcoming spring break, visiting various locations on the Big Islands and Oahu. The ʻIolani Palace serves as an important setting for one of the works: “Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (My Flower at Paoakalani)” written by Queen Liliʻuokalani. 

“Queen Liliʻuokalani was this incredible composer and had a real gift for melody,” Sano said. The chorale will perform “Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani” in the room where Queen Liliʻuokalani composed it while she was under house arrest following the overthrow of her government. Sano describes the purpose of that performance as “honoring her, as well as the docents and staff in the palace”.

On top paying a meaningful tribute to the last reigning monarch of the kingdom of Hawai‘i, Trip Masters B.A. ’23 M.A. ’24 views both the chorale’s work and the setting of their performance as emotionally impactful.

“We’re able to do something really, really interesting and powerful that will honestly be pretty emotional,” Masters said. “I think that it’s much bigger than us.”

The chorale is also performing several songs from a more contemporary Hawaiian repertoire. Jin-Hee Lee B.A. ’23 M.A. ’24 especially enjoys “Pālehua,” a song that was a “huge hit in the ’90s when it came out,” according to Sano. Lee appreciates the beauty in the song’s simplicity and its communal feel.

“There are a lot of unisons in the voice parts, and we branch off and come together again,” Lee said. “It almost feels like we’re all holding each otherʻs hands while we’re singing it.”

Many songs were written and will be performed in Ōlelo Hawaiʻi, the indigenous language of Hawaiʻi. La Puma finds Ōlelo Hawaiʻi to be simultaneously challenging to memorize, yet facilitative for singing since the language has many vowels.

“The consonants serve as flag posts and help you remember differences between words,” La Puma said. “Luckily, when you forget the words, it’s not as hard to just blend in with the rest of the chorale; pick a vowel and you have a one-in-seven chance.”

While ensemble members may blend into vocal parts easily, their ability to blend into Hawaiian culture as visitors may present a challenge in light of recent controversy surrounding tourism in Hawai‘i. However, Sano’s cultural sensitivity and awareness puts ensemble members at ease.

“Steve has a really good understanding of how to ethically go to Hawaiʻi,” La Puma said. “He really focuses on being respectful of local cultures, and adding rather than taking away from them.”

While the program brings light to works composed by natives of Hawai‘i, composers of different backgrounds are also featured. For instance, the ensemble will be performing “Cello Songs” by American composer Jake Runestad, featuring the St. Lawrence String Quartet cellist and Stanford Artist-in-Residence Christopher Costanza along with Director of Collaborative Piano Laura Dahl. 

Runestad’s composition includes four movements, each representing one of the four seasons. Collaborating with Costanza and Dahl has been a rewarding musical experience, according to Masters.

“[The piece] is really gorgeous,” Masters said. “When we were rehearsing with Chris and Laura, it was almost hard to focus because of how impressive [they are].”

The concert is planned to close out with an African American spiritual arrangement by composer and arranger Moses Hogan, who is “one of the icons of the genre,” according to Sano. 

“It’s a wonderful, uniquely American style of choral singing,” Sano said. “The Chamber Chorale actually had the great privilege to work with him in a masterclass when he was still alive. And those things that he imparted to us still guide how I approach his music and that genre.”

The group typically goes on annual tours around the world, although their last tour to England was the first after an extended hiatus from touring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a student who was involved in the chorale for five years, Lee is excited to return to touring with the ensemble.

“We were actually supposed to go on the Aloha tour in my freshman year in 2020,” Lee said. “This is only my second tour, and I’m incredibly excited to connect with this rich, incredible Hawaiian culture with all my choir members.”

A previous version of this article misspelled Costanza’s and Liliʻuokalani’s last names. The Daily regrets this error.

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Banana Bred cooks up spontaneous student music https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/29/banana-bred-cooks-up-spontaneous-student-music/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/29/banana-bred-cooks-up-spontaneous-student-music/#respond Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:25:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1243812 The band adds a unique flavor to its indie rock band covers and paints color into college music experiences.

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No, Banana Bred isn’t a Stanford research study on breeding optimal bananas. This self-proclaimed “indie rock cover band” embodies a different spirit — vibrant, fun and unbelievably authentic. 

Formed in 2022, Banana Bred includes singers and guitarists Matt Reed ’24 and Elliot Dauber ’23 M.S. ’24, bass guitarist Isaac Cheruiyot ’23 M.S. ’24 and drummer Gareth Cockroft ’24. The band members originally connected through spontaneous jam sessions.

“We all lived together in junior year in Phi Psi and we just started jamming as a way to become friends,” Dauber said.

Ever since, they have been using their live covers to channel rock band The Backseat Lovers or indie pop group Peach Pit, while occasionally playing a few originals on and off campus. According to Cockroft, the band doesn’t perform paid gigs. 

“I think Elliot once said last year that he was paid for music once, and in some ways it ruined it for him — which I think is super cool and inspiring,” Cockroft said.

Their focus on having fun drives the long-lasting connection between band members, cultivating a welcoming atmosphere that is prime for music making. Cockroft, who picked up the drums for the first time to play with the band, felt this experimentalism firsthand.

“It was fun to be in the audience of their performances and it was even cooler when Matt showed me the most basic drum beat and to be able to [perform] with them,” Cockroft said.

Similar in spirit to the members’ willingness to start on new instruments or re-familiarize themselves with old instruments, the band’s name and concept also originated from fun spontaneity. 

“Right before our first show, we still didn’t have a name and I was eating banana bread from CoHo,” Reed said. “I was like ‘Yo, what about banana bread?’ And then Isaac had the genius idea of just dropping out the ‘a’ — just a little spicier.”

The band stays true to their values of having fun in the moment. When it comes to their intentionality behind music making, Banana Bred spends some time collaborating to make and release singles (most recently, “Homesick”), but ultimately prioritizes live performances. 

“We’ve had a lot more fun and tried to pour energy into just playing shows than recording a bunch of music. [Recording music] is fun for a bit and then you get a couple hours in and you’re like ‘Oh, vocal line again,’” Dauber said. “I think our band’s always been more about just having fun and playing shows.”

Close friend and long-time fan of the band Grant Sheen ’24 said the band’s electricity is evident in their live shows. 

“The fun energy that they bring is really what makes them so special,” Sheen said. “They bring the college feel and try to push the boundaries of genres. They are always trying to grow and just make [performances] a fun experience.”

Each group member hones their own style and brings their own music taste, contributing to Banana Bred’s uninhibited tendency to innovate together. 

“We each bring different characters into the band,” Reed said. “I think Elliot is more folky than the rest of us. I think I bring a more electronic lens.”

Their characteristic improvisational ability has also made their performances have a distinctly immersive and multi-layered feel. Sheen said that his favorite Banana Bred show was their performance of “Apocalypse” by Cigarettes after Sex at Crochella last year.

“After [Banana Bred] finished the song, they just kept jamming and freestyling on it. It was just so amazing,” Sheen said. “The fact that they’re able to take that song which I already love and then expand it was so magical.”

With most of the group members in their final year at Stanford, Banana Bred seeks to seize as many opportunities as possible to share their energetic live music before they graduate. 

“This band will not exist next year, at least not in its current form,” Dauber said. “So, personally, I’m just trying to play as many fun shows as we can.”

To Sheen, Banana Bred has represented something larger than a student band — the ensemble reflects the revival of spirited student initiative and is a platform for pure, communal gathering and enjoyment.

“As someone who has experienced Stanford culture and seen it evolve over the past four years, I think Banana Bred embodies the best of our culture and the direction that I want to see our student body follow,” Sheen said. “They embody a playful, lightness of heart and the creativity and freedom of not being afraid to create your own path and have fun while doing it.”

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Stanford (Taylor’s Version): Four new classes study Swift’s style and story https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/27/taylor-swift-classes-at-stanford/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/27/taylor-swift-classes-at-stanford/#respond Tue, 27 Feb 2024 08:53:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1243543 “Life is just a classroom,” Swift once sang. The singer-songwriter and her work will be focal points in history, music and literature classes, to be offered in the coming quarters.

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“My name is Taylor, and I was born in 1989.”

Played at the opening of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, this line will also be the Week 1 theme of a new Stanford class, taught this spring by COLLEGE and history lecturer Theresa Iker Ph.D. ’23. 

The class, “HISTORY 262A: Taylor Swift and Millennial America,” examines the socio-historical context around Swift’s upbringing and rise to fame. During Week 1, students will study how events in 1989, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, shaped the global economy.

“We will look at the world that made Taylor Swift, and by the end of the class we will also look at the world that she is making,” Iker said.

Iker has had a “Taylor file” full of ideas for a study on Swift for years. It was not until a few months ago that she decided to propose “HISTORY 262A” to the department.

“In the last year or so, she has attained even a new level of superstardom,” Iker said, citing Swift’s impact on politics, culture and the economy. “How does this happen?”

Iker designed the class to understand Swift’s rise by studying recent history, from the 1990s through the 2010s. Materials for each class session include readings on a historic episode paired with a few of Swift’s songs emblematic of the time period.

“HISTORY 262A” will be one of four new classes this year to discuss Swift, her work and her cultural significance. Three of the four will be offered this Spring, and one will be offered this Summer.

These four new courses join a myriad of pop culture-inspired classes that blossomed on university campuses in the post-pandemic years. These classes, offered at Harvard, New York University and beyond, discuss topics ranging from Swift’s lyrics to her role in the feminist movement. Educators drew connections between Swift’s songs and their research and many wanted to make class materials more relevant to students by bringing Swift into seminars.

The pandemic push

Lockdown had dramatic effects on education: In California, university and community college enrollment dropped 7% between 2019 and 2023. Nationwide, more students became chronically absent from schools.

More than ever, professors sense a need to draw students into classes. According to French and Italian professor Marisa Galvez Ph.D. ’07, this means “meeting students halfway” — finding a middle ground between professors’ research and students’ interests. 

This spring, Galvez will co-teach “COMPLIT 163: A Brief History of Now: Song and Poetry from Sappho to Taylor Swift” (also cross-listed as FRENCH 163) with third-year comparative literature Ph.D. student Harry Carter.

Galvez attributed this new collaborative learning model to students’ desire for community after pandemic lockdowns. Current college students spent at least a year taking online classes after March 2020. Now that in-person classes have resumed, students are “hungry” for opportunities in which they can “be present together,” whether in a classroom or concert stadium, Galvez said.

Galvez and Carter hope to incorporate these experiences into “COMPLIT 163.” Students will listen to live music and deliver presentations on chosen songs that test out learned theories, such as the concept of “now.”

The pandemic may have given rise to these new experimental classes in more ways than one. Massive national and global changes since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cultivated a public appetite for understanding the recent past, Iker said.

“During the pandemic and in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, there has been interest in understanding, ‘How did we get here?’” Iker said. “What historical trends informed these moments that are so overwhelming?”

This interest enabled the genesis of new classes like “HISTORY 1: The History of 2023.” It also encourages academics to turn their attention to recent pop culture phenomena such as Taylor Swift’s influence.

Swift: The poet or the sensation?

When Carter read Sappho’s “Midnight Poem” fragment 168B, he was immediately reminded of Swift’s “the last great american dynasty.” 

Sappho opens the poem with picturesque descriptions of the moon before bringing up her own solitude. In “the last great american dynasty,” Swift narrates the story of Rebekah Harkness, the wife of Standard Oil heir Bill Harkness. She then connects Rebekah’s story to herself through Rebekah’s Holiday House, which Swift now owns.

“What can we learn by putting these things next to each other?” Carter said.

Galvez, who studies medieval lyric poets called troubadours, said she is similarly fascinated by shared themes in song lyrics across time. She said pop music can be an entry point to get students excited about subjects that seem disconnected with the present day.

“The historical world and medieval poetry get more distant from us every generation. It seems like another planet,” Galvez said. “How do you make that other planet more interesting? You have to be more creative in making a connection.”

Ava Jeffs ’26, who will teach “TAPS 89SI: The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling with Taylor Swift through the Eras” this Spring, wanted to analyze Swift’s discography “one era at a time” and “bring modern mediums of storytelling to the forefront of discussions in higher education.”

For other educators, like Iker and fourth-year ethnomusicology Ph.D. student Matthew Gilbert, it is the popularity of Swift and her music that warrants close analysis. 

Gilbert will teach “MUSIC 20AX: The Singer-Songwriter & American Popular Culture” this summer. The class will explore the rise of singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Lhasa de Sela, ending with a deep-dive into Swift, capitalism and productivity. 

Swift’s songs are personal, yet they resonate with listeners nationwide. According to Gilbert, her songs embody a tension at the heart of American music — whether it should tell personal stories or represent the collective experience.

“When something is that important to society, it is our responsibility to understand why,” Gilbert said on Swift’s music. “But if you are treating her like a poet, you are doing it wrong.”

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Beandon’s Musical Corner: ‘Wall of Eyes’ by The Smile https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/25/beandons-musical-corner-wall-of-eyes-by-the-smile/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/25/beandons-musical-corner-wall-of-eyes-by-the-smile/#respond Sun, 25 Feb 2024 20:41:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1243343 Two key members of legendary rock band Radiohead return with yet another great record, kicking off 2024 with a bang.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a review and contains subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

Radiohead are impossibly good. Over nine albums and 30 years, they have never made a bad record — I will even defend the hour-long political sprawl “Hail to the Thief” and the loopy delirium of “The King of Limbs” as being almost overlooked amidst today’s frivolous critical climate. (You might be asking about their first record, “Pablo Honey.” Just because they haven’t made a bad album doesn’t mean it’s good!) And for full disclosure, they’re a strong contender for my favorite band.

As Radiohead drag their feet on a tenth studio album, eager listeners have become acquainted with a myriad side projects from various members of the band: Ed O’Brien released a middling pandemic album under the name EOB, Colin Greenwood is touring around with Nick Cave and Phil Selway released a stunningly boring chamber pop album. 

The Smile is yet another Radiohead side-project, this time helmed by vocalist Thom Yorke, guitarist Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. As is the case with the aforementioned projects, the band (understandably though unfortunately) lives in the shadow of the most important rock group of the past few decades. No big deal. 

But The Smile doesn’t seem to care about all of this added pressure: their music sounds inviting, organic and — against all odds — carefree. Fresh off the heels of their adventurous first record, “A Light for Attracting Attention” (2022), they went back to the studio and continued to carve a jazzier, more atmospheric niche within the context of their larger discographies. I am happy to report that The Smile’s new record “Wall of Eyes” is the first great record of 2024. 

I think the band understood that the sound of their first album could only take them so far. Don’t get me wrong: their first record made my best of 2022 list, and I think it continues to surprise two years and dozens of listens later. But the mellower sound of “Wall of Eyes” does wonders for expanding the scope of the project. Each band member leans even further into their respective strengths: Yorke’s rich falsetto, Greenwood’s avant-garde compositional brilliance and Skinner’s penchant for complex, jazzy rhythms converge into an album that only these three musicians could make.

Yorke and Greenwood have always been furious experimentalists, integrating walls of harsh noise into their early grunge-influenced Britpop or computer bleeps into their progressive rock epics. But the real instrumental brilliance of the album is found in Tom Skinner’s formidable, nimble jazz drumming. He is the glue for every disparate element here, always serving the song while never failing to add a unique, playful edge to each composition. He has a very difficult job — playing in the place of Phil Selway, one of rock’s most reliable drummers — that he utterly nails across all eight tracks. 

There is far more than meets the eye with virtually every song here. Take for instance the opener, a vaguely samba title track. The instrumental balances its 5/4 time signature wisely, featuring cinematic strings alongside the muted clunk of toms and cross-stick snare work. This in turn leaves room for Thom’s lyrics about an encroaching surveillance state, the titular “Wall of Eyes.” It’s an unassuming though rewarding track, complete with an ending jazz convulsion that hints at its underlying musical complexity.

“Read The Room” is the band at their showiest, flexing flashy math-rock guitars and a rock-solid drum groove over Yorke’s bitter snarl. “Now I am gonna count to three / Keep this shit away from me / Honestly? / Maybe you should read the room,” he sings over thunderous drum fills and distorted bass riffage. Across the album’s mere eight tracks, this is the song that could most easily be called “rock,” especially when its krautrock coda finally kicks in.

But the album’s best track is the eight-minute behemoth “Bending Hectic.” In an article packed with superlatives, I will add one more: this is one of the best compositions any of these musicians have ever released. While Greenwood has always been a noisy, uber-talented guitarist, I did not have a full-fledged post-metal explosion on this year’s bingo card. That’s right — they haven’t sounded this loud since “Bodysnatchers.”

Greenwood uses a bizarre technique of continually de-tuning then re-tuning his guitar — literally “Bending Hectic” — to add a lopsided, drunken sound to the instrumental. The song describes a harrowing car crash where a narrator is “seeing double,” so this instrumental choice isn’t aimless noodling. About five and a half minutes into the song, shrill strings begin to crowd the mix à la The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.”

Then we’re hit with soaring guitars, bursts of processed background vocals from Yorke (“Turn!”) and triumphant, crash-heavy drumming. You never expect to refer to a nearly ten minute song from a side project’s sophomore album as “exciting,” but this track is truly special. 

“You Know Me!” has the unfortunate role of immediately following the track (and closing the album). It’s a fine song, but the album should have ended with the masterful “Bending Hectic,” an auditory exclamation mark that would have replaced the ironic punctuation at the end of this underwhelming ballad’s title.

The Smile is a testament to what these musical geniuses can do when freed from the standards of having to make an “important,” capital-A “Album” under the Radiohead moniker. Their range has already proven to be boundless: “Creep” is regularly covered on terrible reality television talent shows, Jonny Greenwood is a prolific film composer working for the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and they’ve taken hard left turns into every genre from psychedelic folk to avant-garde electronic. With The Smile, Yorke and Greenwood add yet another example of their Midas touch, as if we needed more proof.

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In ‘treble’ with love: Anti-Valentine’s Day songs  https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/in-treble-with-love-anti-valentines-day-songs/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/in-treble-with-love-anti-valentines-day-songs/#respond Wed, 14 Feb 2024 03:47:38 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1242479 Just as the feeling of love is universal, so is heartbreak and heartache — find some company in your love woes through these anthems for singles.

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If you’re newly single — or have always been single — and feel lonely or bitter on a holiday celebrating love, you are in good (musical) company. The Daily’s staff collected a wide range of tracks that speak to both the frustration and acceptance of a lost love. We hope they will bring you some comfort and company this Valentine’s Day.

Take a listen to our Spotify playlist while you read through our staff’s thoughts: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4fPJQAh1dBv2O7srJ15PIM?si=9a7434dab2be41b1 

“I Forgot that You Existed” by Taylor Swift — Ribka Desta

Love is one of the only emotions that can invade your entire spirit, and still disappear so definitively that you forget the hold it had on you. Swift sings about how a once-mighty love fell so greatly that she now pays no matter to a breakup that she once predicted would kill her. 

“I Forgot that You Existed” reminds listeners that if you find yourself aching over the absence of affection this Valentine’s Day, know that it can’t kill you. Or, if it does, remember that most of the couples you see celebrating this holiday will be broken up by the next.

“Lovedrunk” by Epik High (feat. Crush) — Hana Dao

Epik High’s discography includes a number of melancholic songs combining Korean hip-hop, rap and indie ballads. This song in particular refers to how the bitterness of an ill-fated romance can ironically make alcohol seem sweet. Alone under a cold moon, with nothing but the sweetness of alcohol to get by, Epik High contemplates: “Maybe while I was erasing you / I erased myself.” 

The band’s composer and vocalist Tablo, or Daniel Armand Lee ’02 M.A. ’02, shared in a Billboard interview that the album featuring “Lovedrunk,” titled “Sleepless in ______,” was influenced by his own experiences with insomnia and feeling like “reality had become a nightmare.”

“Lost the Breakup” by Maisie Peters — Charlotte Kearns

“Lost the Breakup” by Maisie Peters captures the essence of finding solace and strength in being single — especially on Valentine’s Day. Peters’s poignant lyrics remind us that the end of a relationship can be a gateway to self-discovery and personal growth. The upbeat and empowering melody adds an extra layer of positivity, making it an anthem for those embracing their independence: “I’ll smile and you’ll have to face it / I’m the greatest love that you wasted / But, by then, I’ll be far away /  And, oh shit, you lost the breakup!” 

“the way things go” by beabadoobee — Erin Ye

They say the last stage in grief is acceptance. If you’re in a reflective mood this Valentine’s Day, “the way things go” by beabadoobee is a song about moving forward after a relationship. I’m a fan of the candid lyrics and the soft delivery of the melody. 

While not exactly a diss on Valentine’s Day, beabadoobee reminds listeners that sometimes it’s better to be alone. Most of the happy relationships you see end in fateful disappointment, so you can be glad you’ve reached that point already, rather than having to dread an inevitable end.

“Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele — Dan Kubota

Sometimes you just need a song you can scream at the top of your lungs to while mascara runs down your face after a breakup. You need to let everything out to allow yourself to heal from the experience and move on — you need catharsis. Relationships ending can be quite difficult, especially if they lasted a long time.

Adele’s emotional ballads are always perfect to deal with the complex cocktail of feelings following a breakup, and “Set Fire to the Rain” is no different. Adele masterfully uses imagery of nature to depict the post-breakup tumult, weaving together the concrete and the abstract to help the listener visualize and move on from the hurt they’ve been feeling. There’s no better way to kick off your self-love era than with this 2010’s classic. 

“龍捲風” by Jay Chou — Emma Kexin Wang

Hailed as the king of pop in China, Taiwanese singer Jay Chou brings us a simple backtrack with a lyrical form that exemplifies the song’s title, “tornado” in Mandarin. The punchy chorus of short verses repeats itself with only slight variations: “The love that comes too fast, just like a tornado / The love that goes too fast, just like a tornado.” Much like how Chou is trapped in reiterating the same lyrics and melody, he is unable to escape this cyclical love. 

“feel good” by Tierra Whack — Blyss Cleveland

There are many reasons to feel sad on Valentine’s Day. The lack of a dedicated admirer can make the holiday feel like a personal affront for single people who are bonafide members of the delightful community (i.e. people who are witty, hilarious and generally fun to be around). 

Among those who have a special sweetheart, insufficient displays of devotion can throw the whole relationship into conflict. Tierra Whack’s short ode to refusing to lie about feeling good is the perfect balm for everyone in a bad mood on Feb. 14. 

Over a twinkly piano melody, the rapper admits her unfulfilled desire to be happy and defends her right to be bummed out because “holidays just keep getting old.” Instead of falling into despair at not being well-loved, Whack’s song gives everyone license to be grumpy as we all wait for Feb. 15 — the day when we can console ourselves with heart-shaped candy purchased at a steep discount.

“Se Preparó” by Ozuna — Sarayu Pai

“Se Preparó” (“She got ready” in Spanish) is an ode to female empowerment. Puerto Rican artist Ozuna shares the story of a woman who confidently ventures out with her girlfriends for a fun night after just learning her boyfriend cheated. 

A dembow beat (the rhythm present in most reggaeton tracks) accompanies Ozuna’s bouncy vocals as cheerful synthesizer notes flutter in the background. The song’s lyrics emphasize the woman’s confidence and independence (“Hoy ella hace lo que quiera”) as Ozuna croons that she indeed is the prize — “Ese bobo se perdió a esa mamacita tan chula.”

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Tuned in to love: Best Valentine’s Day tracks https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/tuned-in-to-love-best-valentines-day-tracks/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/13/tuned-in-to-love-best-valentines-day-tracks/#respond Wed, 14 Feb 2024 03:38:39 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1242467 From The Penguins to Lizzy McAlpine, from Cantonese to Spanish, play some new heartstrings this Valentine's Day.

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It may be a rainy winter quarter, but flowers are blooming… somewhere. The Daily’s staff compiled the best tracks to accompany you — and your partner, perhaps — on this Valentine’s Day.

Take a listen to the Spotify playlist while you read through our staff’s thoughts: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Y3aYZu9MRbFwLGbkq4FF2?si=0ad2a798824f44b3 

“Video Games” by Lana Del Rey (Cover by The Young Professionals) — Cate Burtner

This Lana Del Rey cover is perfect for late-night drives and romantic jam sessions. From the opening video game sound effects, to the chorus drop of epic proportions, this song complements and adds on to the beloved Lana anthem. 

The track revolves around the trivial things we do for fun that seem small when real love comes into your life. It’s a fun song, and I personally can’t help but swoon at the lines, “Heaven is a place on earth with you / Tell me all the things you wanna do.” Something you wanna do this V-day: Give this song a listen!

“Odoriko” by Vaundy — Hana Dao

“Odoriko” translates to “dancer” in Japanese. Vaundy’s song takes this interpretation in stride by depicting a dancer spinning around in circles — alluding to the desire to return to a past romance. The repetitive chorus paints a circling top: Perhaps Vaundy is suggesting that only fools long to revive lost loves. The pairing of the song and the hazy, dreamlike lighting of the music video create a sense of wistfulness for a missed connection. Vaundy speaks to the hope of starting anew and being optimistic despite the uncertain nature of future love.  

“You Are In Love (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift — Ribka Desta

This song is a Valentine’s Day anthem for its gorgeous storytelling of the “like to love” revelation. Because of this transformation in relation, Swift has finally realized why love is so important to those who experience it. She details this experience and epiphany so softly — how it takes over your senses, the gravity of even the smallest moments — that the song can even strike a chord in those without a significant other.  

“Ăn Sáng Nha” by ERIK and Suni Hạ Linh — Dan Kubota

Don’t let the seemingly ordinary title “Ăn Sáng Nha” (“Eating Breakfast” in Vietnamese) fool you: This upbeat V-pop bop simultaneously captures the honeymoon phase of budding romances and the companionship phase that long-term couples enjoy. 

You can practically hear ERIK and Hạ Linh smiling at each other like lovesick fools. The singers personify the heart-eyes emoji throughout the song as they jokingly argue about what they’ll do for breakfast — to only sweetly agree that it doesn’t matter as long as they’re together. Their complementary voices are paired with a gentle yet upbeat background track to conjure visions of rom-com first kisses and fairytale romance endings: “And they lived happily ever after.”

“Pancakes for Dinner” by Lizzy McAlpine — Charlotte Kearns

This track weaves a nostalgic narrative that beautifully encapsulates the romantic atmosphere of Valentine’s Day. The whimsical title serves as a metaphor for the unexpected and charming aspects of love, inviting listeners to savor the sweetness in life’s unconventional moments. The song’s gentle melody and McAlpine’s soothing vocals create a warm, intimate atmosphere, making it a perfect addition to any romantic playlist.

“初恋” by 回春丹 — Emma Kexin Wang

Translating to “first love,” this Cantonese song combines an upbeat backtrack with soft and dreamy vocals that culminate in a chorus of overlapping voices. The narrative is a familiar one to us: The subject longs for his first lover, “wishing to see them every minute of every day.” However, a certain melancholy is intertwined with its wistfulness. The primary narrative takes place in the past, with the singer relating from an older, presumably wiser perspective — yet, his words describing his past, inexperienced self are sympathetic, as if to say that everyone has had these same feelings of first love. 

“Luz de Día” by Los Enanitos Verdes — Amistad Vanegas

“Luz de Día” (Spanish for “Light of Day”) is a celebration of love and living in the moment. The title refers to the singer’s assurance that they can be a beacon of light and a support system for their partner at any moment. 

Melodic-rock music is coupled with the romantic opening lines, inviting listeners to forget the past and immerse themselves in the now. The lyrics reassure the subject of their unbreakable bond, and reminds them of their total devotion to their love. This captivating scene makes the love Los Enanitos Verdes declare even more compelling. 

“Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” by The Penguins — Erin Ye

“Earth Angel,” featured in the school dance scene of “Back to the Future,” is a doo-wop classic that perfectly embodies that sweet romance of Valentine’s Day. The Penguins remind listeners of innocent, hopeful love with harmonic opening vocals and heartfelt lyrics asking, “Will you be mine?”

The overarching sentiment of the song seems to be the repeated lines, “I’m just a fool / A fool in love with you.” Whether it’s for your significant other or campus crush, “Earth Angel” is the perfect Valentine’s Day listen for any hopeless romantic who has felt this kind of dumbfound enchantment.

“All I Ask” by Adele — Anthony Martinez Rosales

Adele’s discography features many noteworthy songs about love, but “All I Ask” stands out as one of her most moving pieces. You can feel the emotion in every word. Adele’s inflection captures the pain of loving and the uncertainty that often accompanies it. The accompanying piano perfectly harmonizes with her voice, allowing her to take the spotlight when she belts out the chorus. I consider this song a great choice for Valentine’s Day because it illustrates how love can be simultaneously scary and desired. 

“Main Yahaan Hoon” by Udit Narayan — Sarayu Pai

“Main Yahaan Hoon,” meaning “I am here” in Hindi, is a poignant and reassuring ballad emblematic of the heart-wrenching love story of characters Veer and Zaara in the Bollywood film “Veer Zaara” (2004). 

The protagonists are ripped apart due to their cultural differences —Veer being Indian and Zaara, Pakistani. When Zaara’s parents arrange her marriage to another man, she daydreams about Veer’s presence. Narayan’s warm and rich vocals are beautifully complemented by haunting strings, sultry santoor and playful flute. The lyrics emphasize that love does not have to be tangible to be felt.

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Concerts we’re anticipating this year https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/01/concerts-were-anticipating-this-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/02/01/concerts-were-anticipating-this-year/#respond Fri, 02 Feb 2024 07:31:14 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1241686 From rock to R&B and indie, a myriad of musical artists will be performing near Stanford in 2024. Where will you find yourself next?

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In honor of the new year, the Daily staff compiled some concerts that are coming to the Bay Area or arenas near campus in 2024. Use this listicle to find your next concert-going experience, from a hypnotic electronic show to an indie folk trip into nostalgia.

Sofia Kourtesis — Alexandra Blum

Genre: Electronic/house

Date and time: Feb. 29 at 9 p.m.

Ticket price: $18-20

Location: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco, CA

Sofia Kourtesis’s hypnotic dance music is a refreshing retreat from the mainstream electronic sound. The Peruvian-born, Berlin-based singer incorporates a handful of spiritual, political and cultural influences into her music. Her newest album, “Madres,” was released last October and offers moments of meditation and movement. It is dedicated to preeminent neurosurgeon Peter Vajkoczy, who responded to Kourtesis’s plea for help when her mother was diagnosed with cancer — making the lyrics and rhythm of her tracks that much more powerful. 

Kourtesis’s stage presence is distinctive, and her charm is undeniable. I saw her perform in Berlin at Funkhaus this past fall. Throughout the set, she constantly incorporated the audience into the performance, inviting everyone to sing and dance on stage at the end of her performance. Dancers and drag queens strutted through the crowd as she played music. She oscillated between three languages — English, Spanish and German. Kourtesis is a stand alone in a male dominated genre. The emotion she adds to electronic music and her humble yet strong presence make her a pleasure to witness live. 

Hackney Diamonds ’24 Tour: The Rolling Stones — Charlotte Burks

Genre: Rock/pop

Date and time: July 17 at 2:30 p.m.

Ticket price: $167+

Location: Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA

The Rolling Stones were the “bad boy” band of the 60’s — but for all their “bad boy” reputation, they’ve aced every album they’ve released since 1965. Their latest album “Hackney Diamonds,” released last October, is the namesake of their current tour. Before you question the stage presence of the Stones, keep in mind that they sold out every concert in their 2019 tour “No Filter Tour,” which was cut short by COVID-19. 

Live performance aside, their music is full of energy and harkens back to their original albums without their music ever sounding old. Tickets are expensive by this point, but they’re still for sale — given they sold out every theater where they played in 2019, though, I wouldn’t expect tickets to remain available for long.

GUTS world tour: Olivia Rodrigo — Charlotte Kearns

Genre: Pop

Date and time: Aug. 2-3, 7:30 p.m.

Ticket price: $320+

Location: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA

Sensational singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo has taken the music industry by storm with her power ballads and poignant lyrics. As a rising star, the anticipation for her concert is palpable, and there are several reasons why attending is a must.

Rodrigo’s music has reached great heights thanks to its strong emotional resonance to her audience. Her debut album, “SOUR,” was praised for addressing themes of heartbreak, self-discovery and the rollercoaster of feelings that come with growing up. Experiencing this emotional connection between the artist and the audience is a recipe for a memorable concert.

Moreover, Rodrigo’s stage presence in past concerts has been known for being electrifying. Even if you haven’t witnessed her live before, her performances display raw emotion and keep the audience engaged from start to finish. Her ability to translate the intensity of her lyrics into a live experience is truly something to behold.

If you’re a fan of genuine talent and crave a concert experience that goes beyond mere entertainment, Rodrigo’s live performance of her newest album “GUTS” promises an unforgettable evening filled with heart, soul and a musical journey through the emotions of life. 

The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We: Mitski — Brandon Rupp

Genre: Alternative/indie

Date and time: Sept. 25, 7 p.m.

Ticket price: Starting price of $49.95

Location: Frost Amphitheater, Stanford University, CA

Mitski has become an ubiquitous symbol of 21st-century singer-songwriter music: Well-written songs such as the Weezer-esque “Townie” and the dance-pop “Nobody” were inescapable for terminally-online Gen-Zers browsing online music circles (cough cough). But her most recent album, “The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We,” is a sparse and folky left-turn for the indie legend. She’ll put the record on the road in her upcoming 2024 North American tour, this time for an even larger fanbase. 

The record’s third single, “My Love Mine All Mine,” has become one of her most popular songs on TikTok, racking up over 537 million streams on Spotify in just over five months. By attending this concert at Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater, you’ll get to see a premier indie musician in peak form. Consider yourself warned: Tickets are all but sold out, so expect to pay a pretty penny (if you can even find a re-seller anywhere).

We’ll All Be Here Forever Tour: Noah Kahan — Leyla Yilmaz

Genre: Indie/folk-pop

Date and time: July 5, 6 at 8 p.m.

Ticket price: $200

Location: The Greek Theater at the University of California, Berkeley, CA

The first song I heard from Noah Kahan was “Maine” from his 2020 EP “Cape Elizabeth.” The beautiful lyricism and the cozy melody made me feel nostalgic for a place I’ve never even been. Since then, I’ve been hooked on his music. This summer, Noah Kahan is coming to California again for the “We’ll All Be Here Forever Tour.”

Although I’ve never been to a Noah Kahan concert, watching his live performances has taken me aboard several emotional roller coasters. While you want to scream along to his songs that explore themes such as homesickness, loss, mental health, friendship and love, the warmth in his voice never dies down, dragging listeners into a state of vulnerability. The currently sold-out show has retail tickets starting from prices around $300 all the way up to $800 — if you’re willing to pay for a concert on the more expensive side, these shows are a must-go.

Jamila Woods — Blyss Cleveland

Genre: Indie/R&B

Date and time: Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.

Ticket price: $29.50

Location: August Hall, San Francisco, CA

I’ve seen Jamila Woods on large festival stages and noisy dive bars — the singer-songwriter and poet transforms every venue into an intimate setting. Her soulful live renditions give me a newfound appreciation for her records and leave me feeling affirmed. Her latest album, “Water Made Us,” is an examination of the highs and lows of romantic relationships — a guidebook for the forlorn and those who are hopeful but remain cautious about love. 

Beyond the restorative potential of an evening with Woods, her setlist will likely include an unexpected but delightful cover. The last time I saw her, she and her band performed Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Going Down.” The best way to get ready for her concert is to set your intentions and study up on a few rock classics.

Yo La Tengo — Sofia Raquel Gonzalez-Rodriguez

Genre: Indie/alternative rock

Date and time: Feb. 8, 9 at 8 p.m.

Ticket price: $73

Location: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

From Green Day to The Pixies and (almost) the Talking Heads, there are plenty of options for the late century, alternative rock revivalist tour-goers of Gen Z. Trio group Yo La Tengo (YLT) is throwing their hat into the ring for your consideration. Their most successful projects may have been 1997’s shoegazey “I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One” and 2000’s quietly dreamy “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,” but the trio has continued to release albums fairly consistently in the years since. 

Judging by their latest re-recordings and 2023 setlists, you can expect to hear them perform a setlist with the old and new bittersweet crooning of “Aselestine” and fuzzy guitar noise of “This Stupid World.” The latter is also the title of their well-received 2023 album, proof that their creative spark hasn’t diminished since their founding in 1984. 

In the band’s 40-year run, YLT has developed quite the expansive repertoire. If you’re a fan of bands like the Velvet Underground or Radiohead, you should consider giving their music a listen — even if you don’t spend upward of $70 for the concert experience.

Think Later Tour: Tate McRae — Cameron Duran

Genre: Pop

Date and time: July 9 at 8 p.m.

Ticket price: $86

Location: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA

If you don’t already recognize Tate McRae from her trending, sultry sophomore album, “Think Later,” you will soon. Her singles “Exes” and “Greedy” are undeniable hits, but the 20-year-old has been on the rise with moody, heartbreak-fueled releases for years — and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. Her voice is pop perfection with an addictive edge, and her lyrics boldly cut to the heart of the twenty-something experience. McRae’s discography ranges from brooding ballads to infectious, danceable electronic beats, and she’s collaborated with fellow melancholic pop favorites Troye Sivan and Khalid.

If her television appearances are any indication, McRae won’t disappoint on stage. A former competitive dancer, McRae’s mesmerizing performances have caught the attention of social media, and with good reason. Her performances tell a story, with set design, styling and choreography coming together for maximum entertainment. Don’t miss out on this chance to see pop’s new it girl!

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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Kali Uchis’s ‘ORQUÍDEAS’ showcases an artist in full bloom https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/31/kali-uchiss-orquideas-showcases-an-artist-in-full-bloom/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/31/kali-uchiss-orquideas-showcases-an-artist-in-full-bloom/#respond Thu, 01 Feb 2024 06:44:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1241559 Uchis's latest album highlights her versatility and ability to deliver subversive reggaeton anthems, writes Blyss Cleveland.

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Less than a year after releasing “Red Moon in Venus,” Kali Uchis released her fourth studio and second Spanish-language album, “ORQUÍDEAS.” When she announced the lead single “Muñekita,” a beat-switching dembow track featuring Dominican rapper El Alfa and JT from the City Girls, Uchis promised fans a new era. Named after the Colombian national flower, “ORQUÍDEAS” is an excellent contemporary Latin urbano album that showcases Uchis’s ability to seamlessly move between genres and deliver striking visuals.   

Although initial singles signaled this would be a Latin album, the Colombian American singer-songwriter has never been content to stick to one style. Nevertheless, there are rewards for those who come along for the ride. As she chants the chorus of album opener “¿Cómo Así?,” Uchis’s self-assured lyrics promise, “If you come around here … you’ll never wanna leave.”

In the first half of the album, songs move from the bossa nova of “Me Pongo Loca” to the theatrical bolero on “Te Mata.” In the accompanying video for the latter, Uchis plays the object-throwing scorned woman in a telenovela. The lyrics are much more measured — Uchis has set hard boundaries with a former lover who treated her badly and if that kills them, then so be it. 

Throughout her discography, Uchis frequently returns to the theme of moving on from past hurts and this resonates deeply on “Perdiste.” The singer serenely intimates to the person who has lost her love that she feels a bit sad for them over a lo-fi tropical beat. Feeling sorry for someone who didn’t do right by you? This is a level of enlightenment that it would take me several lifetimes to achieve.

My favorite song is the sexy and melodic 90s R&B track, “Young Rich & In Love.” It’s the only song titled in English, though the singer blends English and Spanish lyrics on the song and throughout the album as seamlessly as she does on her English-language records. Two minutes and 20 seconds in, the music stops abruptly before the lush song outro. Just when we think Uchis is done with us, she shows us she has a little more to give.

The album is cohesive despite the diversity of styles. However, the contributions of the featured male artists come off as dissonant. Consider Peso Pluma’s verse on the disco-tinged “Igual Que Un Ángel.” Although singing a single syllable while moving between different notes is exciting, Uchis’s melisma ends up carrying his heavily autotuned verse. El Alfa similarly disappoints on “Muñekita.” His verse would have been better used by JT (who dubs herself JT Medellín on the track) to deliver her signature rapid-fire bars. 

Admittedly, I don’t always love when featured male artists use their appearance to discuss their sexual prowess or their exacting standards for women’s appearances. It’s the sonic equivalent of a random guy entering the dance space of a group of girls at a party, uninvited and offbeat. A minor inconvenience, but a nuisance nevertheless.

Only Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro seems to understand the assignment. Uchis originally released “No Hay Ley” as a single in 2022, and on “No Hay Ley Parte 2,” love is still a lawless endeavor. Alejandro delivers a frenetic verse to assure Uchis he’s qualified to satisfy the “high class lover” and he’s just as obsessed with the singer as she is with him.  

On “Labios Mordidos,” Colombian singer-songer Karol G makes an appearance to help transform a reggaeton rhythm into a sensual anthem about same-sex desire. The strategic perreos (a form of twerking) and bevy of writhing vixens in the video signify girls who love a girls’ night out.  

The transgressive nature of Uchis incorporating LGBTQ visuals in a “reggaeton suave” anthem cannot be understated. The genre has traditionally relegated female artists to uncredited background singers while male artists trafficked in machismo themes. Reggaeton feminista is a powerful reclamation of a genre women have long supported, but which has long relegated them to the sidelines of the mainstream.

Ultimately, the album displays Uchis’s mastery of Latin music and flexes her ability to incorporate dance music and the alternative R&B style she has perfected on past projects. “Red Moon in Venus” was my most-played album last year; “ORQUÍDEAS” is a strong contender for my favorite record of this one. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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‘First Night at the Opera/Edges’ narrates nostalgia and new experiences https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/30/first-night-at-the-opera-edges-narrates-stories-of-nostalgia-and-new-experiences/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/30/first-night-at-the-opera-edges-narrates-stories-of-nostalgia-and-new-experiences/#respond Tue, 30 Jan 2024 09:25:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1241345 The annual Department of Music production imparted a personal perspective into both the complicated college experience, and also the varying thoughts of first-time opera attendees, writes Eric Wang.

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What do you get when you mix Western musical tradition with the college experience? The Department of Music answered that question with their annual production, this past Thursday through Saturday.

Titled “First Night at the Opera/Edges,” the show fused performance genres to deliver a very “meta” plot. The first half is the story of audience members arriving to attend an opera premiere, told through the original operatic work of Stanford music theory director Giancarlo Aquilanti. The opera itself is subsequently portrayed through Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s 2005 work “Edges” — but through the medium of musical theater.

I immensely enjoyed the production overall. Aquilanti’s “First Night” offered some well-crafted moments of intensely moving beauty amid the commotion of an anxious composer’s first opera. The performance of “Edges” presented a very raw and genuine depiction of the college experience. However, the show was limited by some of its orchestral shortcomings and a confusing thematic link.

“First Night at the Opera”

The “meta” effect of the show’s first half made for a unique and charming viewing experience. Having the “audience member” characters enter from the same places as real audience members offered a playful twist on the idea of who is watching, and hinted that the “real” show — “Edges” — hadn’t started yet. The auditorium lights that usually dim to signal the start of a performance were even kept on, illuminating audience members and actors alike throughout “First Night.”

The chaotic beginning of “First Night” revealed the frenzy of emotions that different characters experienced in anticipation of the opera, from the composer’s building nerves to the confused entry of inexperienced audience members.

The unenthusiastic character Joe (played by Mauricio Alvarez ’27) voiced the concerns of a first-time opera listener as he asked about the language of the opera and expressed shock at its three intermissions. As someone who only recently started watching opera myself, it was quite amusing to see his trepidation and overall apathy. References to incredibly famous operas like Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Bizet’s “Carmen” provided fun moments and helped the audience relate to what might be an unfamiliar genre.

One highlight was the duet featuring opera aficionado Clara (played by lecturer and vocalist Wendy Hillhouse MLA ’18) and her husband Robert (Michael Murphy). The two reminisce on their experiences in opera, offering a beautiful peek backward in time through an interchange of voices threaded by running string lines. It is such a nostalgic and beautiful scene, with fantastic singing and pacing. 

'First Night at the Opera/Edges' narrates nostalgia and new experiences
Lecturer and vocalist Wendy Hillhouse (left), Deven Bansal ’25 (middle) and Michael Murphy (right) singing in “First Night at the Opera.” (Photo courtesy of Aeri Chen)

I do wish that there had been more coordination in the string section. Some areas that needed to move in service of the melodic line felt static; a more unified movement and feeling would have done much to elevate the scene.

Another highlight of the opera for me was the solo performed by opera lover Lila (played by Julia Yu M.A. ’24). Her beautiful singing drew me into her character’s perspective, with incredibly controlled and intense crescendos contrasting delicate subito pianos (becoming suddenly quieter in volume). 

Her character has little experience in attending operas despite her enthusiasm, and her rhapsodic anticipation perfectly encapsulated that nuance. Aquilanti’s orchestration was also beautiful, although limited by the same notes on execution that could’ve allowed for more space and support for Yu’s voice to shine.

“Edges”

As a whole, “Edges” was phenomenal. The actors skillfully portrayed the emotions exclusive to each piece. The connection to the college experience was clear: The emotion and ideas in each song seemed to come straight from the minds of the actors. 

My favorite piece was “I Hmm You,” sung by Ecy King ’23 M.S. ’24 and Deven Bansal ’25. The song portrays two characters confused about their relationship, not knowing if they were in love with one another. So, as a compromise between liking and loving each other, they come up with the phrase “I hmm you.” 

An energetic samba melody supported the awkward comedic dynamic between the two characters, eliciting a collective “aww” from the audience at its satisfying close. King’s and Bansal’s acting were fantastic, marked by facial expressions and natural vocal inflections that made the whole scene even more endearing.

College dating isn’t all sunshine, though — another reality that “Edges” didn’t fail to capture. The song “Dispensable,” performed by Iskander Nekkaz – Le Roux ’23 M.A. ’24, was a mesmerizing rendition of heartbreak. It captures the emotion of a boy who realizes his girlfriend never felt the same love as he did for her. Le Roux’s heart-shattering vocal breaks were tear-jerking, demonstrating his perfect control of raw emotion in his voice. I felt goosebumps throughout the whole song.

'First Night at the Opera/Edges' narrates nostalgia and new experiences
Cast members of Edges sing together in the final number of the production. (Photo courtesy of Alyssa Koh)

One of my only critiques of “Edges” would be the transition from “First Night.” While I did enjoy the dimming lights signifying the official beginning, the two seemed to lack a broader thematic link. The actors’ different characters didn’t seem to have particular thematic links to one another, and the concept of audience largely fell apart when the cast all stood up.

At the end of the day, the innovative spirit at this yearly Department of Music production was refreshingly personal and captivating. I eagerly await next year’s production!

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

A previous version of this article misidentified a performer. The Daily regrets this error.

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Rhythmic revolutions: Exploring ‘New Standards’ with Terri Lyne Carrington https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/29/rhythmic-revolutions-exploring-new-standards-with-terri-lyne-carrington/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/29/rhythmic-revolutions-exploring-new-standards-with-terri-lyne-carrington/#respond Mon, 29 Jan 2024 08:16:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1241183 The artist and her ensemble performed at the intersection of dance, spoken word and jazz, painting a tale of tension and release, of expectation and surprise, writes dePierre.

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Terri Lyne Carrington evolved the conventional jazz concert experience into an avant-garde spectacle of dance and spoken word at her “New Standards” concert at Bing Concert Hall on Thursday. The performance was part of a week-long celebration of women in jazz, a fitting tribute given Carrington’s dedication to highlighting contributions of the genre’s female composers. 

Though the crowd was less dense than one might expect for a name as prominent as Carrington’s, this intimacy only added to the uniqueness of the event.

In fact, it was in the moments of contrast that the concert truly shone. Experimental works — some suspenseful, some cinematic — showcased Carrington’s willingness to push boundaries, to explore the spaces between the notes.

Carrington laid the groundwork for the evening with an eclectic opening that challenged the audience’s perceptions of harmony and rhythm. Harmony seemed to cascade down on us from every angle. In particular, pianist Kris Davis’s rapid and precise movements across the keyboard were a spectacle of mastery and passion for the craft.

A dancer, initially mistaken for a vocalist due to her poised seating, surprised everyone by rising to perform rhythmic choreography. The disorienting collection of noise at the beginning eventually gave way to a more melodious flow, the dancer’s aerobic movements syncing with the transition.

A dancer in a silver two-piece raises her hands to the ceiling as people perform in the back.
A rhythmic dance drew audience members in to the start of the concert. (Courtesy of Michael Spencer)

Vocalist Vuyo Sotashe’s entry marked a shift into a more narrative-driven part of the evening. Despite some audio challenges, his rich and emotive voice punctuated the hall with hauntingly beautiful lines.

“You can never lose a thing if it belongs to you,” Sotashe sang as the final words of his first song.

His work on “Circling” brought a lively, calypso vibe, turning the hall into a shadowy dance floor. The audience swayed hypnotically with the groovy bass lines and guitar riffs.

This narrative arc continued to deepen with “Black Beauty” and “10 Minutes Till Closing,” where music and spoken word merged to create a powerful commentary on identity and beauty. Davis’s interaction with his instrument told a story in itself — a tale of tension and release, of expectation and surprise. The dancer transitioned into a narrating role to weave words into the fabric of the music, making each note and phrase resonate with a profound significance.

Under the glow of warm pink lights, the concert concluded with “Two Hearts Lost,” a piece that perfectly encapsulated the evening’s journey — a stroll through the complexities of jazz, the power of narrative in music and the undeniable talent of Carrington and her ensemble. This final melody not only resonated as a testament to the transformative power of music but left an indelible impression of emotional depth, establishing “new standards” for captivating musical journeys.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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‘First Night at the Opera/Edges’: Belting about theater, unrequited love and college https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/26/first-night-at-the-opera-edges-belting-about-theater-unrequited-love-and-college/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/26/first-night-at-the-opera-edges-belting-about-theater-unrequited-love-and-college/#respond Fri, 26 Jan 2024 09:25:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1241064 The Department of Music production, which will run on Friday and Saturday, explores the excitement and chaos of attending an opera for the first time and features musical theater numbers through the perspectives of college students.

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The Department of Music will present “First Night at the Opera/Edges, a unique mash-up of opera and musical theater, at Dinkelspiel Auditorium from Friday to Saturday. 

“Edges” is a musical theater production written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, co-writers of the music of “La La Land” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” “First Night at the Opera” was written by Giancarlo Aquilanti, director of music theory and senior lecturer in the music department.

The production, which sees cast members embodying first-time opera-goers on stage, aims to bring cast and audience members together, according to lecturer Marie-Louise Catsalis. Catsalis directed the show alongside lecturer and vocalist Wendy Hillhouse, whose part in “First Night” marks one of the last performances before retirement from Stanford.

According to Aquilanti, “First Night” is a “light opera.”

“It’s not the usual heavy melodrama, where everyone gets killed or there’s blood, sex, love, you name it,” Aquilanti said. 

“First Night” is meant to portray “the excitement of people going to the opera, the fear that the singers have before the opera starts, the chaos outside the theater before the people get inside,” Aquilanti said, highlighting the production’s self-referential nature.

“My opera ends at the downbeat of the ‘real opera,’” Aquilanti said. 

Hence, “First Night” serves as a prelude to what many consider the main event: “Edges.” The musical features college-age characters discussing their experiences, making the production personal for the actors, according to Hillhouse.

“‘Edges’ is actually a song cycle, which you think of as a very classical genre,” Catsalis said. 

Catsalis describes the piece as a series of snapshots into the lives of people who are, in fact, the age of the cast members. 

“Where’s my life leading? What’s it like when I go to this party and I don’t know what to say? What’s it like to endure a breakup? Or, you know, how do I bounce back from that?” Catsalis said, referring to the emotions in the musical numbers. “Each of the cast members comes up and gives their own personal snapshot. In a way, it’s a perfect college piece.” 

Julia Yu M.A. ’24 spoke of her experience balancing opera and musical theater from a very young age.

“I think there’s mixed feelings in terms of ‘you can only be Broadway or only classical,’” Yu said. “But if you have fun doing it and you’re not hurting yourself, there’s a way to do what you want to do.”

In “First Night,” Yu portrays an audience member new to opera, a perfectionist stuck in an abusive relationship. A perfectionist in her own artistic pursuits, Yu said she could relate to her role in “Edges.”

“If I could just be perfect, if I can just do these things, I will get the approval of the audience,” Yu said. “But then I kind of realize at some point I need to do this for me, not for external validation.”

For Iskander Nekkaz Le Roux B.A. ’23 M.A. ’24, who portrays an energetic yet nervous composer, “First Night” is his first experiment with opera singing.

“[My character] feels like it’s all going to go wrong, and he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown,” Le Roux said. “It’s all so dramatic, and everyone’s hitting these high notes out of nowhere and freaking out.”

In “Edges,” Le Roux puts on a much darker and sadder tone, performing the penultimate song in the show as a heartbroken man reconciling with his unrequited love.

The cast also features first-time performers. Deven Bansal ’25 started studying singing in fall of 2022; they portray an anxious usher dealing with tickets and programs in “First Night.”

“It’s been challenging but fun to try and embody a haughty opera usher who is also a funny character to watch,” Bansal said.

Their role in “Edges” is also a lighthearted one. Bansal will perform a duet with Ecy King ’23 M.S. ’24, portraying two people with mutual crushes trying to tell each other “I love you” for the first time.

“All I need to do is really tap into my own mushiness and how I like to be with those I love while also throwing in some awkwardness!” Bansal said.

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The Living Earth Show breaks boundaries in ‘Lyra’ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/23/the-living-earth-show-breaks-boundaries-in-lyra/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/23/the-living-earth-show-breaks-boundaries-in-lyra/#respond Tue, 23 Jan 2024 09:48:06 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1240759 The ensemble explored the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through contemporary classic music, live dance and cinematography.

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The atmosphere of Bing Concert Hall studio was charged with an undercurrent of excitement as the lights around the audience dimmed and the stage backdrop brightened. Little did I know that the next hour would be a journey through sonic landscapes, a testament to the show’s unique collaboration with contemporary composers.

The Living Earth Show’s performance of “Lyra” whisked its audience into an auditory adventure in Bing Concert Hall studio last Saturday. The San Francisco-based ensemble explored the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through an interdisciplinary work of concert, dance, contemporary classical music and visual design.

In the tragic original story, the bard and poet Orpheus attempts to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the land of the dead after she is killed by a snakebite. Though he strikes a deal with the god of the dead, Hades, Orpheus ultimately fails to meet the conditions to secure Eurydice’s release.

The projector displayed some of Earth’s natural beauties, including glaciers, forests and deserts. The movements of the dancers complemented the backdrops — sharper movements when surrounded by glaciers, smoother movements when by the waves. 

The stage was set with an intriguing array of instruments, from classical guitars to a diverse collection of percussion instruments. The show began with a projected scene of three individuals walking on the screen with a prominent sound of blowing winds, as if coming from a desert in the distance. They strolled to the foreground, where two men left the screen and appeared in real life as the ensemble.

Just as I started wondering what was going on, the ensemble interrupted the silence and began playing. The two musicians had clearly honed a synergy between Travis Andrews’s deft guitar work and Andy Meyerson’s rhythmic precision. This rhythmic precision synced masterfully with the visuals and dancing that was occurring in the background. It was like watching a silent movie: a film with no lyrics or dialogue, just visuals and sound. 

Together, these elements came together in a narrative that resonated with shared human experiences of love, loss and the challenging journey of learning to let go. It is the kind of performance that can be initially perplexing, commanding its audience to pay careful attention to the different creative choices.

Indeed, there was an evident level of thought and intention behind each element of the show. Choreographer Vanessa Thiessen’s movement design, executed by live dance artist Babatunji Johnson, added an indescribable dimension to the performance. The dance elements were not merely an accompaniment but an integral part of the storytelling, embodying the emotional nuances of Orpheus and Eurydice with graceful movements that mirrored the ebb and flow of their tragic love, seamlessly translating passion, pain and delicate moments of their mythic journey.

Benjamin Tarquin’s cinematography elevated the performance to new heights, capturing an interplay of light and shadow. The prerecorded film elements seamlessly blended with the live performance, creating a harmonious convergence of digital and physical realms.  

The night concluded when one of the dancers in the video “came to life.” They danced in silence as audience members squirmed in their seats to get a better view of his enactment. After the performance, a sense of awe and appreciation overcame the audience, manifesting in a grand standing ovation. 

In that moment, I realized that The Living Earth Show had not just performed a concert — they had orchestrated a celebration of innovation, collaboration and the boundless possibilities that emerge when musicians embrace the spirit of exploration.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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Joey Alexander reinvents rhapsody in jazz https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/22/joey-alexander-reinvents-rhapsody-in-jazz/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/22/joey-alexander-reinvents-rhapsody-in-jazz/#respond Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:19:41 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1240651 Joey Alexander reaffirmed his standing as a talented young pianist and jazz composer, captivating the audience with a delightful fusion of traditional jazz with contemporary innovation from his latest album, “Continuance.”

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Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall transformed into a haven for jazz enthusiasts on Friday evening with the performance of Grammy-nominated prodigy Joey Alexander. The concert was a kaleidoscope of emotions and genres; the immersive experience left the audience spellbound.

From the very first note, Alexander’s charismatic accompaniment transported me into a world of enchanting melodies repeating like a hypnotic spell. It was as though the audience was suspended in the center of the universe, a place where time stood still, alone with his music. 

Alexander’s mastery of the piano made the performance seem easy and light, but anyone who understands the demands of this instrument would recognize the depth of his skill. Parts played on electric piano were a testament to Alexander’s great transitions. He seamlessly moved between the realms of traditional jazz and more alternative expressions, with notes reminiscent of futurism and even surrealism. It seemed as though he was giving a carte blanche to his unconscious mind, bestowing it with complete freedom to create new sounds. 

This was not Alexander’s first rodeo at Stanford. The first time, he visited as a performer presenting his Grammy-nominated album of jazz covers, “My Favorite Things.” This time, he came as a composer in his own right, sharing his latest album, “Continuance.”

What truly set this concert apart was the synergy among the musicians on stage. Alexander’s compositions not only highlighted his own talents but gave independent and star moments to every member of the ensemble. The players themselves seemed to enjoy the performance immensely, often celebrated by the thunderous applause of appreciative listeners.

This collaborative spirit was a testament to his dedication to jazz as “people music.” Alexander told The Daily that jazz is “a medium of honest expression, a way to tell my stories, give energy to the audience.”

The variety of instruments and sounds woven into his compositions created an immersive, enveloping experience. Throughout the performance, there was a delightful juxtaposition of moments of great intensity with quiet murmurs, the variety keeping us on the edge of our seats.

One of the standout pieces of the evening was “Remembering.” While some may have already listened to on YouTube, experiencing it live is an entirely different journey. The transitions from the central melody to more delicate, savored moments felt like reminiscences of a lost souvenir, with high and low moments that resonated deeply.

The concert hall’s dim lighting and the music’s ethereality created an atmosphere that felt almost otherworldly. It was as if we had been transported to a dimly-lit jazz bar, where the music and fleeting thoughts mingled as one.

The concert concluded with a crescendo that grew before gradually disappearing, leaving us in a state of calm as we stepped out into the night.

When asked about his process for composing, Alexander said that he “maintains a practice routine while waiting for inspiration to strike naturally.” 

The young composer and performer also shared how diverse cultural experiences, like that of his birthplace in Bali and the bustling energy of New York, have shaped his compositions. The musician also looks to the outdoor environment: “Nature, including beaches and mountains, serves as a wellspring of inspiration for my compositions.” 

Collaboration with fellow musicians has also played a significant role in Alexander’s creative process. Despite his young age, he has already performed with many jazz greats. 

“I am fortunate to have met musical giants who have already passed. But the music remains,” Alexander said. “We continuously shaped each other, and they helped me become a better musician.” 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Beandon’s Musical Corner: Top 10 albums of 2023 https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/19/beandons-musical-corner-top-10-albums-of-2023/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/19/beandons-musical-corner-top-10-albums-of-2023/#respond Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:28:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1240528 From unique guitar tones to precisely poignant lyrics, from Lana del Rey to Jamie Branch, 2023 presented a strong year for album releases. But who came out on top?

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Welcome to a new and improved Beandon’s Musical Corner, the only place on campus for in-depth, exhaustive reviews of the latest releases in rock, jazz, experimental … and pretty much everything else. Brandon Rupp (also known by his mononymous musical title “beandon,” under which he releases music and DJs as KZSU’s Student Music Director) explores a new title and gives unfiltered feedback, regardless of the genre. Feel free to send him music; he’d love to take a look!

In his 1916 booklet “The Key to Success in Life,” Theodore Roosevelt writes:

“It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic, important though it is, is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does the things …”

But as we rapidly enter 2024, the work of the critic is more important than ever — sorry, Teddy! We face the uphill battle of having to continually affirm this fact within the music industry: Last year saw the mass firing of music journalists from all around the country. (In fact, while editing this article, Pitchfork was dissolved into GQ.) Meanwhile, top publications like Rolling Stone have become glorified public relations firms for pop stars like Taylor Swift. As a result, talented (though less famous) artists, such as underscores or Jamie Branch, are not given the attention they deserve. 

At the same time, some of the industry’s heaviest hitters — the “doers of things,” as Roosevelt would say — failed to deliver in 2023. The brilliant André 3000 returned from a decade-long slumber with a boring flute album. DJ Shadow threw together a collection of glorified GarageBand loops and called it his latest project. Swans and Jeff Rosenstock disappointed with uneven new records, while zombified revival acts like Slowdive bored us to tears. Even still, good music prevailed. Here are my 10 favorite albums of the year.

But first, here are a few albums that were considered for the list but just barely missed it. I highly recommend all of these Honorable Mentions:

  • “My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross” by ANOHNI and the Johnsons
  • “Desire, I Want to Turn Into You” by Caroline Polachek
  • “Integrated Tech Solutions” by Aesop Rock
  • “93696” by Liturgy
  • “Scaring the Hoes” by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown
  • “Gaburger” by Gezebelle Gaburgably 
  • “Heavy Heavy” by Young Fathers
  • “Sun Arcs” by Blue Lake
  • “This Stupid World” by Yo La Tengo
  • “softscars” by yeule
  • “Maps” by billy woods & Kenny Segal
  • “In Times New Roman…” by Queens of the Stone Age
  • “But Here We Are” by Foo Fighters
  • “Dance You Monster to My Soft Song!” by Victory Over the Sun

10. “Girl with Fish” by feeble little horse

Every few years, a band comes around that redefines the role of guitar in an increasingly electronic age — Alex G’s winding folk voicings or black midi’s prodigious post-rock interplay immediately come to mind. With Pittsburgh shoegaze band feeble little horse, we have found the new purveyors of rich, unique guitar tones. 

For example, the album’s best song, “Paces,” sounds unlike any other shoegaze song, alternating between pitch-shifted, glitchy guitar leads and a highly compressed, half-time breakdown in frantic intervals. 

But this album is far more than the sum of its guitars: Singer and bassist Lydia Slocum brings a bizarre, though recognizable, emotional core to these chaotic sonic experiments. 

Perhaps “Girl with Fish” finds its clearest predecessor in the Swirlies’ 1996 album “They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World of The Salons.” It’s only fitting that the latter record is one of the masterpieces of the first iteration of shoegaze, as the former may be the best of the genre’s 2023 revival.

9. “PetroDragonic Apocalypse” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

The jokes about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard write themselves: The band releases 15 albums per year, plays three shows a day at every festival on earth, repeats the same words in the chorus a hundred times, etc. But from the opening 5/4 rhythm of “Motor Spirit,” the first song on their newest album, it’s clear that King Gizzard is not goofing off. 

“PetroDragonic Apocalypse” is a brutal progressive metal record and somehow even better than their last experiment with the genre, 2019’s “Infest the Rats’ Nest.” The production is fantastic, with punchy drums and audible bass supporting sludgy guitar riffage. While the band has released better individual songs before, such as “The Dripping Tap” or “Head On/Pill,” this is by far their best album experience — and the best metal record of the year by a wide margin. 

“PetroDragonic Apocalypse” is 50 minutes of pointedly political, intense and unrelenting stoner metal: just what the lizard wizard witch-doctor ordered before the end of the world.

8. “Oh Me Oh My” by Lonnie Holley

The fourth album by 73-year-old multidisciplinary artist Lonnie Holley is achingly beautiful and refreshingly sincere. The organically recorded songs are, like Holley’s textured voice, as immediate and honest as they come. When he sings “The definition of gone / Is when we look around for our friends / And they are not here any longer with us” in the standout track “None of Us Have But a Little While,” I cry without fail well into the next song’s runtime. 

It’s only fitting that the title track has the lyric “Sometimes I sit alone in the corner / As tears roll down from my eyes / I let them fall, I’ll let them.” Listening to “Oh Me Oh My,” you never feel alone. Stunning.

7. “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo has finally hit a creative stride. With “GUTS,” she has crafted an album of 12 precisely written, expertly performed pop gems. “all-american bitch” is one of the year’s best openers, featuring Hole’s frantic feminine intensity updated for the 21st century

Rodrigo’s stylistic range is unbelievable. “bad idea right?” is a sneering, Cars-esque rocker, “lacy” is a homoerotic ballad which should be studied as a songwriting masterclass and “ballad of a homeschooled girl” is absolutely hilarious: “Thought your mom was your wife / Called you the wrong name twice / Can’t think of a third line / La-la-la-la-la-la.” 

But I have to give credit to the dreamy haze of “pretty isn’t pretty,” which features the album’s most adventurous melodic line and outstanding production choices. No one is doing pop-rock like Rodrigo right now.

6. “Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))” by Jamie Branch

When I first listened to this album, I viewed it as a riveting, unique jazz statement and immediately flagged Branch as an artist to follow. But after seeking out more about Jamie Branch and finding out that she died in 2022 of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 39, the album was completely recontextualized as a tragic freeze frame from a bandleader who was far from the peak of her career. 

This is a joyous, ludic album that prevails in spite of its heartbreaking context. It is packed to the brim with danceable Latin grooves, interesting instrumental textures and fantastic trumpet playing from Branch. 

The few tracks with lyrics are also great: “The Mountain,” featuring a duet between Branch and singer Jason Ajemian, is a moving jazz folk cover of the Meat Puppets’ “Comin’ Down.” If you are at all a fan of jazz or want to honor one of the decade’s best musicians, feast your ears and take the 47-minute adventure into the bell of the trumpet of Branch’s mind.

5. “Javelin” by Sufjan Stevens

I have long sung the praises of Sufjan Stevens. He’s a fresh and confident voice in the singer-songwriter world, and I confidently call his 2005 album “Illinoise” my favorite of the 21st century. “Javelin” is yet another landmark in his treasure trove of a discography, with heartbreaking reflections on his love for (and loss of) his longtime partner, Evans Richardson. 

While the album features layered, complex tracks like the eight-minute highlight “Shit Talk” and massive explosions of brilliant arrangements like “Goodbye Evergreen,” I find myself gravitating to the restrained two-minute title track, “Javelin (To Have And To Hold).” Sufjan, with little more than his acoustic guitar and some light accompaniment, embodies the essence of regret in one phrase: “It’s a terrible thought to have and hold.” 

Sufjan has a unique understanding of how to be frank without feeling hollow. His metaphors are precise and his words cut deep — just like a javelin thrown through the listener’s heart.

4. “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey is simply my favorite pop songstress. What can I say? I connect deeply with her chanteuse aesthetic and love of David Lynch movies. From the early-career brilliance of “Ultraviolence” to the soft-rock masterpiece “Norman Fucking Rockwell!,” I have been consistently blown away by her ability to carve a unique, surrealist niche within commercial pop music. 

However, I never expected her to turn into a full-on art-pop experimentalist with “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” her longest and most intense album yet. She once again makes strides other songwriters could only dream of achieving. 

The multi-part “A&W” is a moving and jarring composition that takes her sensory, cinematic approach to songwriting to a logical extreme. But she also returns to the art of the soft-rock duet alongside Father John Misty: “Let the Light In” is one of the year’s finest songs. Quite simply, “Ocean Blvd” is a thrilling return to form after a series of middling follow-ups to “Norman Fucking Rockwell!,” one of the 21st century’s best albums.

3. “This Is Why” by Paramore

As I wrote last March, “This Is Why” sees Paramore back in full swing with an album equal parts Bloc Party and Talking Heads in its post-punk glory. After giving it a few more months, I am even more stunned by how much of a revelation this is for the band. 

They have never sounded more confident, and Hayley Williams’s songwriting has only gotten more fierce over the course of her career. Members Williams, Zac Ferro and Taylor York are in lockstep, effortlessly working in complex instrumental interplay while churning out groove after groove. Each song has an abundance of sticky melodies (and almost all of them were earworms for me over the past eight or nine months).

Since writing my initial piece, I saw the band live — “You First” was just as good as I hoped it would be as the concert opener — and they seem to be on hiatus (again). But I won’t be fooled: When they’re making music this fantastic 20 years into their career, I know they won’t be calling it quits anytime soon. Long live the people’s band, Paramore.

2. “3D Country” by Geese

There is no way to deny what Geese is doing here. Their talent is too monumental to ignore, and the immediacy of their songwriting is a refreshing and anthemic statement on the essence of rock and roll. Not that they would tell you this: They are goofy, postmodern and surreal, lending an elastic quality to “3D Country” which prevents it from being nailed down. The album mixes the fun of Zappa with the intensity of Zeppelin. 

I was close to placing this album at the top spot for a number of reasons. Cameron Winter is one of rock’s best working vocalists (even if he irritatingly seems to never sing anymore in live performances). Every song is auditory gold. “Cowboy Nudes” is likely my favorite song of the year, with a chorus so anthemic it can only be screamed at full volume.

To be completely honest, “3D Country” and my number one album alternate almost daily: They are in a plane of their own when it comes to the music of 2023. But for anyone who has been keeping up with the column, my top spot should be pretty obvious.

1. “Wallsocket” by underscores

I may have shown my cards too soon with this one: From the moment I first heard this project, I knew it would shoot straight to the top of my year-end list. 

Great records craft exciting and fulfilling experiences for an audience; “Wallsocket” goes a step further and crafts an entire world to live in as a listener. 

San Francisco native April Harper Grey masterminded an album packed with idiosyncratic production flourishes, adventurous song structures and more character than a Robert Altman ensemble. As a matter of fact, like Altman’s “Nashville,” underscores sweeps through a city (in her case, the fictional town of Wallsocket) and allows listeners to experience the lives of a multiplicity of residents. 

In a move far beyond any other contemporary, irony-poisoned hyperpop act, underscores sprinkles her hilarious lyrics with off-kilter poetic brilliance and off-handed political commentary. 

This is her true revelation: You don’t have to be plucking away at an acoustic guitar or sitting behind a grand piano to craft lyrics that mean something. In fact, you can fill your album with video game samples, dubstep wobbles and dance pop grooves and be poignant and deeply important. A classic in the making.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and contains subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Five and five: Jaap van Zweden conducts SF Symphony https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/16/five-and-five-jaap-van-zweden-conducts-sf-symphony/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/16/five-and-five-jaap-van-zweden-conducts-sf-symphony/#respond Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:48:38 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1240285 While the orchestra stumbled a bit through Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, their Shostakovich performance masterfully conveyed emotional depth.

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When Beethoven knocks on the door, you answer.

New York Philharmonic director Jaap van Zweden answered the call at the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) performance on Saturday. The concert was the final showing in a three-night run featuring the fifth symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Dmitri Shostakovich.

The music of these composers is often associated with pain, but these two symphonies — the most recognizable from each of the composers’ work — brim with life, drama and triumph. Beethoven’s, often nicknamed “Fate,” boasts four movements at the pinnacles of their respective forms. Shostakovich’s is a masterclass in pacing, with an energetic trajectory that sends your soul into the stratosphere. In short, the program was loaded.

Though I was slightly disappointed with the Beethoven performance, the piece is simply irresistible; I imagine most were in attendance just to hear the concert’s opening 10 seconds. Still, SFS surprised me with their rendition of the Shostakovich, which seemed to be the clear audience favorite by the end of the night. 

Here, I give roughly five praises and critiques of the performance, in a particular order.

Five down: Beethoven Symphony No. 5

First, some context: I really enjoyed the SFS performance of this work. Sections hit their marks and soloists carried their lines. The piece’s heroism and histrionics were on marvelous display, with textural and dynamic shifts executed well.

But as someone who once aspired to become a music educator, I inevitably have many notes. For one, I thought the tempo of the outer movements was rushed. The issue culminated in the fourth movement’s coda, where a particularly tricky accelerando (speeding up) passage fell slightly flat since the tempo was too fast when it began.

Similarly, the piece felt like it missed some opportunities for rubato (time taking). Van Zweden is not an old musician, yet it seems that he adopts a conservative approach by sticking to a more rigid tempo. Though it’s true that indulgence isn’t always best, I would have enjoyed a little more interpretive freedom. (Even when van Zweden did flex time in the fourth movement’s opening theme, I found that it only reduced the theme’s natural majesty.)

Most egregious for me, however, was the string sections’ lack of coordination in the first movement. Any performance of these seven minutes requires a steady leading hand, a capable concertmaster and hours of rehearsal to stay together in time. The theme is deceptively simple but difficult to execute; though SFS had it mostly down, some moments felt awkward.

Many of these are purely subjective interpretive disagreements. Truthfully, I spent most of the piece — especially the exceptional inner movements — reveling in the purity of the oboe, clarinet and flute. Plus, my favorite sections of the ensemble — the brass and the basses — expressed themselves fully in the balance, soaring over and under the orchestra like diving birds.

Five and five: Jaap van Zweden conducts SF Symphony
The wind and percussion sections of the SFS play Mahler 5 at a concert in 2023. (Courtesy of Brandon Patoc)
Five up: Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

When Shostakovich comes knocking, it’s probably best to leave the door closed — unless you want the KGB in your home.

The SFS played this piece flawlessly, to my ear. The apprehensions and nits that had built in my head from the first half were gone immediately: Every moment of the work was matched by raw talent and emotion.

Van Zweden demonstrated why he rose to the top of the musical world. Many orchestras like to ignore guest conductors in favor of the music, but van Zweden commands attention and precision at the podium. He has a unique push and pull with the orchestra, egging them on for more vibrato or wider sound and reacting physically to the group’s response. I had immense fun just watching his legs: seeing the way the music moves him and vice versa. Hector Berlioz said the orchestra is an instrument; van Zweden is a virtuoso. 

One also gets the sense that van Zweden knows every bar of these pieces. He cues in the first violins without looking in one bar, then mimics a perfect harp glissando in the next. Familiarity may breed contempt, but all I sensed from van Zweden on Saturday was love and joy. 

The third movement epitomized this love, showcasing one of the most expressive string passages in all of Western music. The finale of this movement, which moves attacca (without pause) into the fourth, was easily the highlight of the whole concert.

To cap it off, the last movement glorified the SF Symphony’s illustrious brass, with guest horn Brett Hodge, trumpet Aaron Schuman and trombone Timothy Higgins taking center stage. I will never understand how these three managed to balance against the entire string section with such heavenly tone, but I hope to see them again very soon.

I believe no lover of the arts left Davies on Saturday unsatisfied. Concerts like this are few and far between, and we are lucky to live in a world where collaborations of this caliber lie just beyond our doorstep. When van Zweden relinquishes his position in New York in 2026, I hope his schedule clears enough to make more regular appearances in San Francisco.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article mistakenly attributed Saturday’s performance to horn Jesse Clevenger and trumpet Mark Inouye. The Daily regrets this error.

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The Sound of Cinema: ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ transforms dancing and splashing into musical joy https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/11/the-sound-of-cinema-singin-in-the-rain-transforms-dancing-and-splashing-into-musical-joy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2024/01/11/the-sound-of-cinema-singin-in-the-rain-transforms-dancing-and-splashing-into-musical-joy/#respond Fri, 12 Jan 2024 07:05:59 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1240091 Anthony Martinez Rosales continues his column with an analysis of how timeless vocals and songs in a film captivate audience members. Despite not being written for the movie, the soundtrack for the musical rom-com creates an enchanting scene, writes Martinez Rosales.

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When I was first introduced to “Singin’ in the Rain” senior year of high school, the film captivated me. It was incredible to see the joy of music and dance transcend time, enthralling me and my classmates decades after its release in 1952. The mesmerizing musical numbers fit the narrative so well that it was unthinkable to me that the music wasn’t even written for the film.

“Singin’ in the Rain” is a jukebox musical, meaning its soundtrack is composed of songs that were released before the movie. Created at a pivotal point in the transition from silent to talking pictures, the movie’s craftsmanship has earned it a spot in film and media curricula to this day — including in Stanford’s FILMEDIA 4: “Introduction to Film Study.”

Among many wonderful cinematic elements, the featured songs lie at the heart of this work. They contribute to the magical quality of “Singin’ in the Rain” by giving it a vibrant tone, ultimately developing a different type of storytelling.

One highlight is the catchy, upbeat “Good Morning.” It is my favorite “Singin’ in the Rain” track, and it cemented this film as my all-time favorite. 

The vocals in this song are beautiful. All three actors showcase their singing abilities in the number, but Debbie Reynolds’s voice truly elevates this song. Her clear, soothing voice is always the main melody. The instrumentation is also quite diverse, with piano, violin, trumpets and triangles to emphasize downbeats all adding to the texture of the piece.

Reynolds and co-stars pump their hearts into the song to make it bewitching and catchy. The accompanying choreography — tap-dancing up steps, jumping onto benches and even rolling over a coach — makes this musical number feel truly one-of-a-kind, lively and joyful.

It is also no surprise that this amazing number is followed by the titular number, “Singin’ in the Rain,” featuring leading man Gene Kelly. This moment captures magic on celluloid. Kelly’s character, Don Lockwood, says goodnight to Kathy (Reynolds) and then dances about in the rain. It remains one of few scenes in cinematic history with eternal fame.

Kelly’s deep voice opens the song, cutting through the soft instrumental melody and providing it with a nice counterbalance before fading into the background. The serenity makes this scene feel unreal, like a dream sequence. (And it makes sense, considering we are witnessing Don Lockwood standing in pouring rain without an umbrella.) The scene and song masterfully convey Lockwood’s happiness — so profound that even rain can’t dampen his spirits.

From Kelly’s charming singing to the rhythm-mimicking tap dancing, the song breathes life into the scene. What would initially be a simple recording of Kelly splashing around becomes a mesmerizing show of coordination.

In fact, all of the actors had to perform their tap dancing numbers in the rain. After recording the movements on film, they had to record the audio of the tap dancing and overlay it with the film’s original sound for more clarity.

While all the songs work alongside each other like puzzle pieces, it’s “Good Morning” and “Singin’ in the Rain” that always bring a smile to my face, prompt me to sing along and brighten my day. The film’s general acceptance as one of the top movies of all time proves these numbers have brought smiles to countless more. 

“Singin’ in the Rain” sparked my love for film. It shows me how a film, or a musical, is truly capable of embedding itself in the hearts of viewers. This doesn’t mean the film is without faults. There are instances of sexist undertones and a background depiction of blackface. Some may argue that it’s just due to the social norms of the film’s time. 

Ultimately, there is true joy found in this film. Its flaws call into question for whom the joy was intended, but I encourage you to give this film a shot and let it grip you as it comes to life.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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From Biiig band to open mics: The unsung heroes of Stanford’s music scene https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/from-biiig-band-to-open-mics-the-unsung-heroes-of-stanfords-music-scene/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/from-biiig-band-to-open-mics-the-unsung-heroes-of-stanfords-music-scene/#respond Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:10:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1238917 The active roles of Nathan Sariowan ’24, Ellie Stalcup ’24 and Sebastian Hochman ’26 are key drivers in keeping campus music alive.

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With no plans on a Friday night, you venture to CoHo for a warm drink, and you are treated to student bands’ live performances. These performances are a subset of many events — such as concerts and open mic nights — made possible by several student musicians and audio engineers tinkering behind the scenes. 

After a year of virtual classes, Nathan Sariowan ’24 and Ellie Stalcup ’24 sought to bring together the community through live music in 2021.

Sariowan and Stalcup teamed up with The Arbor, a branch of the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) that supports campus music events, and launched a series of activities at Tresidder. Thus Wednesday open mic nights, Thursday trivia nights and Friday night student band performances became as we know them today. The impact that Sariowan and Stalcup had on Stanford’s music community is carried on by other musicians, like Sebastian Hochman ’26, who also writes for The Daily. 

Nathan Sariowan ’24

A photo of two performers tuning in front of a waiting audience.
Ever since coming to Stanford, Sariowan (above, center) has been busy creating opportunities for fellow musicians to share their music with a campus audience. (Courtesy of Nathan Sariowan)

San Diego native Nathan Sariowan has a background in classical violin and jazz music. It was not until he came to Stanford that he started to experiment with performing on the bass in bands, mixing music and organizing concerts. 

According to Sariowan, the campus live music scene has come a long way.

“We started with a few concerts, and now we have whole crews of people setting up equipment and a whole process for booking and paying artists,” Sariowan said. “It’s been really cool to see the evolution of that.” 

Sariowan said working with newer performers is a highlight of their work: “You see it in their eyes that they’re thinking, ‘That was really cool to do, and I want to do it again.'”

These experiences culminated in Sariowan’s role as lead student organizer of The Arbor during the 2022-23 academic year and organizer of CoHo’s open mic nights. 

Some of the most rewarding moments of organizing open mic nights include interacting with the audience and connecting performers, Sariowan said. 

“It’s always cool to bring new audiences to performers and bring musicians together,” Sariowan said. “I also love when I can introduce two musicians and say ‘You two do similar things, and you should meet.’” 

A senior and music minor, Sariowan has also mixed sound for Stanford’s numerous theater productions and acapella groups, including Everyday People, Counterpoint and Mixed Company. He also organizes performances on and off campus. 

“Music has been a major part of my identity at Stanford. I’m so lucky that there are many musicians and music opportunities here,” Sariowan said. “Music is my work, it’s what I do for fun, it’s what I do to relax and it’s what motivates me.” 

Ellie Stalcup ’24

A photo of a person singing on the CoHo stage.
Experimenting with music tech for the first time at Stanford, Stalcup aspires to extend a similar opportunity of exploration to their peers. (Courtesy of Ellie Stalcup)

“My mom’s one rule for me and my siblings was that we had to do some sort of music. It didn’t matter what it was and we didn’t have to be good at it,” Stalcup said. “We had to have that in our lives.”

Stalcup grew up with a background in singing, piano, clarinet and oboe. At Stanford, they serve as current head manager of The Arbor and sing in the soprano/alto a capella group Counterpoint. They are grateful for their current involvement in music, which exceeded their initial expectations.

“Coming into Stanford, I was adamantly thinking I would only be a performer,” Stalcup said. “I hadn’t given music tech a chance, and I’m really glad that I did.”

Stalcup’s versatility and willingness to explore different disciplines within the musical realm inspired those around them. 

“Throughout our time at Stanford, I’ve been really impressed by the way Ellie just goes for things,” said Claire Morton ’24, Stalcup’s friend. “If it’s something they are interested in, even if they have no experience, they’ll work really hard to learn it and succeed at it.”

Stalcup made some of their favorite musical memories at Stanford through the Arts Intensive course “Wild Sound Explorers: Digital Storytelling at Jasper Ridge,” where they explored the sounds of nature and composed a song out of their field recordings. 

“It was the first actual piece I had ever written,” Stalcup said. “I was really proud of that.” 

At The Arbor, Stalcup experimented with audio engineering for the first time. They have since helped launch open mic nights and acted as an audio engineer for the Stanford Shakespeare Company. 

Now, as the manager of The Arbor, Stalcup sees students who are where they once started: brand new to music tech and eager to learn. Stalcup hopes to use their experience to help inform newcomers and assist with organizing events. They especially hope to educate others in music tech.

“Something that’s really important to me is making music tech more accessible to people,” Stalcup said. “It’s a specialized skill that requires all this access to special equipment that we’re lucky Stanford has provided for us.”

In their last year at Stanford, Stalcup urged students to carry on with a more diverse array of music environments and events. 

“A lot of the music events on campus right now are very popular music-focused, but I don’t think the same exists for more classical, instrumental music,” Stalcup said. “I would hope that similar opportunities arise for those forms of music; there are so many organizations that really want to teach people, to help people and to make it more accessible.”

Sebastian Hochman ’26

A photo of a person in front of the keyboard with a puppet in one hand.
Contributing to the ensemble of numerous student bands, Hochman seeks to create a more supportive setting for budding musicians on campus (Courtesy of Sebastian Hochman).

Hochman was introduced to the University’s music scene through the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble before becoming involved in student bands and the Stanford Improvisors. 

The Stanford Improvisors introduced Hochman to a new technique of creating music: The group combines acting and music improvisation in full-length plays, with actors onstage improvising lines and musicians accompanying them spontaneously. 

“Working together, listening to each other and making everything up on the spot for an hour and a half is just crazy,” Hochman said. “Musicians can be just as important as actors onstage.”

Hochman, who studies music, is a keyboardist in several student bands, such as General Consumption, Lavender Lovelounge and Biiig, a new band he recently formed with Sariowan and some fellow Stanford musicians. 

Hochman exudes passion for creating more opportunities for up-and-coming Stanford musicians. 

“There’s a growing culture of maintaining creativity at Stanford, but there does need to be work done by the University to give more resources to on-campus groups,” Hochman said. “There’s not enough practice spaces and resources for bands to meet, and there’s no access to funding for bands in any way that would rival a cappella or other voluntary student organizations.” 

The University did not respond to a request for comment.

Peers who have seen Hochman at work have felt the depth of his passions. 

“It is obvious that he cares about the music community and will do anything to promote music on campus,” said General Consumption saxophone player Sidd Wali ’25.

However, Hochman’s task of garnering an audience for musical performances comes with challenges. 

“There have been gigs that I’ve been playing where people don’t show up,” Hochman said.

“The question is: ‘How can we encourage the student community to be more excited about on-campus music so that musicians can feel more supported?’”

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Computer music center composes and codes unique paths https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/computer-music-center-composes-and-codes-unique-paths/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/computer-music-center-composes-and-codes-unique-paths/#respond Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:05:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1238756 The Center for Computer Research and Acoustics (CCRMA) brings together composers and researchers for an interdisciplinary exploration of various areas of focus within music technology.

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Nestled serenely atop the hill behind Florence Moore Hall is The Knoll, which houses Stanford’s Center for Computer Research and Acoustics (CCRMA) — a central location for discovery in the realm of music technology. 

CCRMA (pronounced like “karma”) is a hub for the implementation of computer-based technology into artistic mediums, bringing together composers and researchers alike. The center was officially established in 1975, but the spirit of electronic music was alive on campus before this time. 

In 1964, John Chowning Ph.D. ’66 and undergraduate David Poole developed the world’s first online computer composition and synthesis system. Together, they discovered frequency modulation (FM) with a synthesis technique, and licensed the technique to Yamaha in 1974. Thus Japan began to develop electronic music instruments with consultation from Stanford.

CCRMA has resided in The Knoll since 1983. Although initially focused on the analysis of acoustic signals, the center’s courses and research later incorporated topics like musical acoustics, psychoacoustics, audio networking and more as the field of computer music grew.

A part of the music department, CCRMA provides classes and seminars marked by a strong interdisciplinary nature. 

Students come from a diverse range of backgrounds, ranging from music to engineering. As a result, CCRMA’s offerings vary greatly in subject focus, including performance, perceptual audio coding and data sonification.   

Students are free to explore different realms within electronic music at CCRMA. Camille Noufi Ph.D. ’23 analyzed the auditory portion of the voice through a computer science lens. According to Noufi, her research was very “self-led” — an invaluable standard of the CCRMA experience. 

“CCRMA is a place where you can go after whatever interests you, whatever you want,” Noufi said. 

Many other students agreed with Noufi’s sentiments. The program gives students “huge room to explore with a flexibility that benefits students a lot,” according to Mengfen Zhang M.A. ’21. 

While faculty are present to mentor the work of students, students exercise significant autonomy in pursuing various focuses. 

“CCRMA is a research center in which the student gets to really pursue their own dreams,” said fourth-year Ph.D. student Kunwoo Kim M.A. ’19. “We’re not tied to the professor’s research, but we get to pursue our own.”

During his time at CCRMA, Scott Teiichi Oshiro Ph.D. ’23 studied jazz improvisation using quantum computing and acoustics. 

“Everybody’s doing different things, so everybody has a different perspective. They give you really useful feedback on your own work,” Oshiro said. “Then you get exposed to so many different kinds of intersections of music, art and technology.”  

On the other hand, seeking out collaboration and making connections with colleagues at CCRMA can be challenging when everyone is paving their own distinct paths.

“There’s no guarantee that other people are going to be doing things that you’re doing or are interested in, so sometimes finding collaborators can be difficult,” said fourth-year Ph.D. student Lloyd May. 

“For colleagues who are maybe a bit more reserved or learned English as a second language, there are not a lot of formal ways to establish collaborations,” May said.

CCRMA did not respond to a request for comment.

Other center affiliates describe the center’s classes as very tight-knit.

Brought together through “the beautiful, black sheep of Stanford,” CCRMA students thrive in the “funky, creative, curiosity-driven [center],” Noufi said. 

CCRMA alumni remain active and maintain connections with the program long after graduation, said Senyuan Fan M.A. ’24. 

“People who graduate are going into the industry in Silicon Valley or going to other schools, but we are still kind of bonded by the concept of CCRMA alumni,” Fan said. “We have a lot of seminars with alumni from industry every week.”

Inspired by the community, many students return to the center for further education.

The community was “the reason that I decided to stay for my Ph.D.,” said fifth-year Ph.D. student Barbara Nerness M.A. ’24. “I love it. It feels like more than just a place where I work. It’s like close friends.”

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Salsa, folklore and timba: Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble encourages musical diversity https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/salsa-folklore-and-timba-afro-latin-jazz-ensemble-encourages-musical-diversity/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/04/salsa-folklore-and-timba-afro-latin-jazz-ensemble-encourages-musical-diversity/#respond Tue, 05 Dec 2023 04:23:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1238737 Created to showcase cultural music that stems from the global African Diaspora, the ensemble brings together musicians of various backgrounds in concert.

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On a Wednesday night in Dinkelspiel Auditorium, four vocalists rehearse an arrangement of Cuban singer Celia Cruz, accompanied by a pianist to their right. Through these weekly rehearsals, Stanford Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble (SALJE) aims to educate its members on the cultural and historical significance of a diverse repertoire.

The ensemble was founded by four-time Grammy-nominated pianist and lecturer Murray Low in 2008 and has since become one of the most respected groups of its kind. 

SALJE brings together Stanford undergraduates and community affiliates for performances of salsa, Afro-folklore, rumba jazz and more. In its fall concert, which took place this past Saturday, the group performed a mix of old school jazz, Cuban charanga and funky timba, along with traditional salsa and Latin jazz pieces.

Low created SALJE to showcase the multitude of cultural music that stems from the African diaspora around the world. The ensemble is currently chartered by the Department of Music.

“Our purpose is to really highlight Afro-Latin music in its many contexts by thinking about how the music transcends continents and brings people together,” Low said. 

The ensemble hosts members that come from different musical backgrounds. No experience in Afro-Latin music is necessary to join — just a readiness to learn and explore. 

Sebastian Andrews ’25 joined SALJE during spring quarter of his freshman year after taking jazz piano lessons from Low. He plays the piano in the ensemble. 

“I’m a person who plays all different kinds of music,” Andrews said. “I didn’t have much experience playing Latin jazz or salsa music, but now I think it’s the most fun genre I get to perform.”

Bassist Hayyah Muller M.D. ’98 became involved with the ensemble around 10 years ago, first as an “observer” and eventually filling in when the ensemble needed an extra bassist for its performances. She said that she’s “gotten a lot better and learned a lot more about music theory” during her time in the group.

The complexities in the style of music that SALJE performs have also been informative for Muller’s growth as a bassist. 

“Salsa and Latin music are challenging and have a strong role for bass, so we always have really great material to play,” Muller said. 

SALJE comprises undergraduates, alumni like Muller and members of the greater Stanford community who share an affinity for Afro-Latin music.

“A lot of the players — including the other percussionists in the ensemble — are professional musicians who live nearby and Murray’s friends, and it’s really cool to get to play with them,” said percussionist Allie Bogetich ’25.

Despite coming from different walks of life, SALJE musicians create a shared group atmosphere marked by high-energy performances.

“It always feels like a party [during concerts],” trombonist Andrew Song ’25 said. “People get up and dance along to the music, and it’s just a great time.” 

The ensemble, which performs once a quarter, frequently features professional guest musicians. Next quarter, they will be joined by world-renowned pianist and director of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra Oscar Hernández. 

“One of the many great things about Murray is how well connected he is in the jazz and salsa scene,” Andrews said. “We’re able to have legends in the jazz world perform with us on a quarterly basis.” 

Bogetich, who also plays in the Stanford Wind Symphony, took MUSIC 18B: “Jazz History: Bebop to Present, 1940-Present” with Low last spring and became involved with SALJE during that quarter. 

“It’s a very niche genre of music for a campus group, and I just really enjoy that there’s a space to try new things,” said Bogetich.

You can listen to SALJE’s past recordings on SoundCloud here.

This article was updated to correct a misspelling of a SALJE member’s name. The Daily regrets this error.

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Concerto Competition winners and Symphony Orchestra brighten the night https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/03/concerto-competition-winners-brighten-the-night/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/12/03/concerto-competition-winners-brighten-the-night/#respond Mon, 04 Dec 2023 05:53:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1238784 The ensemble dazzled audiences at their fall concert, featuring two concerto competition winners.

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There are not many events for which people are willing to leave their warm and cozy homes on a rainy and cold night, but the Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) fall concert on Saturday was an exception. Arriving 30 minutes early, I was greeted by a surprisingly large crowd. After watching the orchestra’s stellar performance, I understood the audience’s eagerness to attend.  

The concert started with “Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche” (“Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”) by German composer Richard Strauss. The piece is an example of “program music,” which expresses an image or story centered around a heroic main character. “Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche” features Till, a roguish anti-hero commonly found in German folklore. Throughout the piece, horn and clarinet led motifs narrating the story of our hero. 

The poem’s ending is rather surprising to the connoisseurs of the legend — normally always able to escape from the punishment, Till is caught and hanged. The epilogue, however, restores the hope of the vivacity of the rebellious spirit.

I was amazed by the SSO’s ability to navigate the rapid changes in tempo and dynamics. I experienced a wide range of emotions through the constant dynamic contrasts in a short period of time. Strangely, for me, the story was not as central to appreciating the humor, tension, drama and ingenuity of the opus.  

Still deeply immersed in the emotional afterglow of “Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche,” I found myself then captivated by Johannes Brahms’s Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, which featured violin soloist Richard Cheung ’24, a winner of the 2023 Concerto Competition. 

From the first movement, Cheung’s command of the violin was evident. He navigated the concerto’s demanding passages with remarkable confidence, keeping all eyes on him. His performance offered a remarkable fierce strength accompanied by SSO’s cohesive sound and director Paul Phillips’s robust movements. At some point, I wondered how Cheung could catch his breath, given the intensity and complexity of Brahms’s composition.

The orchestra also performed “Poem for Flute and Orchestra” by Charles Griffes, featuring soloist Laura Futamura ’24, another competition winner. The piece bewildered with its blending of musical styles and contrasts, an authentic reflection of Charles Griffes ingenuity. Such variety! 

Right from her arrival on stage, Futamura dazzled the audience with her stunning dress and even more brilliant performance. Her flute solo flowed above the rest of the ensemble, capable not only of considerable delicacy but also of powerful mastery. She flawlessly moved from whisper-soft pianissimos to powerful, resonant fortissimos. I particularly loved how gracefully Futamura moved her body, as if she were engaged in a delicate dance with a melody itself.

At the end, SSO offered us a little treat, performing “The Incredible Flutist — Suite from the Ballet” by Walter Piston. Prior to the piece, Phillips spoke to the audience about the extra-musical sounds in the orchestral suite. These included instruments and orchestra imitating animal noises, such as dogs barking, birds chirping and crowd babbling. 

Arranged into 12 movements played without pause, “The Incredible Flutist” tells the story of a busy marketplace with sundry characters. The SSO took the audience on an incredible trip to a Latin-American town where the magic of love is in the air. A discerning ear could pleasantly follow the movements until the polka finale magnificently ended the suite. 

SSO’s fall concert program was incredible to the point where it was impossible to select a pièce de résistance. Phillips and the orchestra delivered a magical and powerful performance, and the standing ovation proved that it truly left a lasting impression on many. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Beandon’s Musical Corner: ‘The Lamb as Effigy’ by Sprain https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/30/beandons-musical-corner-the-lamb-as-effigy-by-sprain/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/30/beandons-musical-corner-the-lamb-as-effigy-by-sprain/#respond Thu, 30 Nov 2023 09:29:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1238495 A few positive qualities aside, Sprain's sophomore release lacks substance and is overstuffed with clueless religious imagery, writes Rupp.

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Welcome to a new and improved Beandon’s Musical Corner, the only place on campus for in-depth, exhaustive reviews of the latest releases in rock, jazz, experimental … and pretty much everything else. Brandon Rupp (also known by his mononymous musical title “beandon,” under which he releases music and DJs as KZSU’s Student Music Director) explores a new title and gives unfiltered feedback, regardless of the genre. Feel free to send him music; he’d love to take a look!

The great poet and literary critic W. H. Auden once said:

“Attacking bad books is not only a waste of time but also bad for the character. If I find a book really bad, the only interest I can derive from writing about it has to come from myself, from such display of intelligence, wit and malice as I can contrive. One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” 

I sought to avoid this negativity (but with regard to music) in creating this column. As a result, I have been in the midst of what I have called my column’s gushing praise arc. This tendency to celebrate may seem to be chalked up to the free reign inherent to the column format, but it’s not that simple. Auden has the common sense to realize that it’s impossible for the average critic to always stay true to this principle: “… if a regular reviewer on one of the big Sunday papers were to obey his inclination, at least one Sunday in three his column would be empty.”

I am increasingly hitting those “empty” Sundays. This is not from lack of listening, however. To the contrary, I have been devouring more music than ever. It just turns out that new music that I should theoretically love — such as “The Lamb as Effigy,” the sophomore record from the recently disbanded experimental rock group Sprain — has left me wanting more.

Sprain was a band born and killed at the hands of frontman Alexander Kent. Just as quickly as they hit the scene, the outfit announced their departure in October with a bizarre Instagram post featuring a clip-art of an alligator. And, according to co-founder April Gerloff, this came three weeks after she was abruptly kicked out of the band.

Sprain’s parting release, “The Lamb as Effigy,” with its irritating subtitle “or Three Hundred and Fifty XOXOXOS for a Spark Union With My Darling Divine,” is a last hurrah desperately vying for attention. I decided to give the album’s eight tracks an hour and 36 minutes of my attention on nothing more than friends’ recommendations, the title’s absurdity and the album’s incredible cover art. 

This turned out to be a poor decision. “The Lamb as Effigy” is a miserable album which meanders in half-hour post-rock tracks (heavily indebted to Swans) and trots out Alexander Kent’s brittle spoken word (a Xerox of every “post-Brexit new wave” band with a vocalist who can’t sing).

To be clear, I love Sprain’s sources of influence, making the album’s squandering of good ideas feel even more depressing. Swans’s recent album trilogy (“The Seer,” “To Be Kind” and “The Glowing Man”) is a colossal achievement, and the 1996 album “Soundtracks for the Blind” is an uncontested masterpiece. So-called “Post-Brexit new wave” is the source of some of my favorite bands of the past few years, such as black midi or Black Country, New Road. 

And Sprain does get a lot of it right. “The Lamb as Effigy” is a forcefully performed album ripe with fantastic arrangements and a propellant rhythm section. The production is punchy, raw and well suited for music as dynamic as post rock. This production, in turn, reveals an abundance of complexity buried within the album’s oftentimes ear-splitting distortion. (Take a look at the stunning instrumental for the opening track, “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” for an example of what I mean.) 

In its best moments — the ones without vocals — the album has a classical flair reminiscent of Glenn Branca’s finest work. 

However, as soon as the vocals emerge in track one, the album’s main problem becomes uncomfortably evident. The lyrics are horrific ramblings that should have been abandoned in journal entries. “A post-ejaculation man upstairs watching guilt / Wet potential smeared across your stomach guilt” is as ludicrous as it is garish.

And one can only imagine that the impetus for clunkers like “An exchange of jargon from one orifice to the next / All my thoughts are ‘Colorless green ideas sleep furiously,’” was frontman Alexander Kent watching a clip from a Noam Chomsky lecture on YouTube. 

I’m not saying this to minimize any emotional connection one may make with this album. Kent is certainly delivering a unique, challenging experience which might, in fact, appeal to you. But the album’s overly verbose lyrics are best described by a Bloomian paraphrase of an Oscar Wilde quote: “all bad poetry is sincere.” To put it bluntly, listening to this album gives me second-hand embarrassment.

When Kent is not delivering mumbly, monotone spoken word, his vocals are great. The screaming at the beginning of “Reiterations” is powerful and guttural, dragging the listener through an emotionally turbulent sludge metal passage. However, he frequently trades this for goofy falsetto or pseudo-spooky ramblings.

For example, the 11-minute “The Commercial Nude” is one of the album’s toughest listens. The middle section’s wailing falsetto of “Make horses see scorpions / Make horses see scorpions / Tear all these walls down / What am I now if not my failures?” is worthy of a skip alone, but the song continues for four more minutes. 

The track reminded me that there is a reason why Glenn Branca did not squawk quotes from his high school diary over harsh guitar noise when recording his 1981 no-wave masterpiece “The Ascension.” Namely, it would’ve detracted from the power and beauty of his dense, challenging instrumentals.

Moving in a positive direction, “We Think So Ill of You” is one of the album’s highlights. In its comparatively brief four-minute runtime, shrill guitar noise plays overtop a groovy, slinky bassline and technical drum patterns. 

The closing composition, “God, or Whatever You Call It,” is a mixed bag in an album of mixed bags. The first few minutes are fantastic: They are built around bursts of dissonant, furious guitar runs that move up and down the neck at a breakneck pace. 

While I could hyperfocus on travesties of the English language like “It is rapturous still thе way I empty my mouth / Stillborn ideas plus fertilе hips,” I am more interested in the lack of lyrics in the song’s second half. 

In order to convey the impossible task of mortals comprehending the Lamb’s divine machinations, Kent deploys an interesting aural conceit. He asks the Lamb questions and then uses bursts of high-pitched noise to represent its answers.

The combination is both annoying and deeply interesting — Sprain in a nutshell. On a serious note, I love how the band morphs their guitars into a moaning and wailing animal at around the 17-minute mark through brilliant effect trickery.

I come back to Auden: “One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” Considering that I spent the introduction to this column constructing a meta-analysis of my approach to criticism, he may very well be correct.

However, I see this as emblematic of the sheer hollowness of “The Lamb as Effigy.” Much akin to the clueless religious imagery littering the album, I’m finding myself at the end of an “empty” Sunday, wondering if that idea means anything (or if I should even care).

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and contains subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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Silkroad Ensemble harmonizes cultures on the ‘American Railroad’ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/20/silkroad-ensemble-harmonizes-cultures-on-the-american-railroad/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/20/silkroad-ensemble-harmonizes-cultures-on-the-american-railroad/#respond Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:39:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1237818 Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the ensemble brought together musicians of diverse backgrounds in their performance highlighting the musical traditions of immigrant workers who worked on the transcontinental railroad.

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On Wednesday evening, amid a frantic Week 8, I had the opportunity to watch the Silkroad Ensemble deliver a once-in-a-lifetime performance at Bing Concert Hall. As one of the youngest attendees of the performance, I felt calm and at peace for the first time after hearing the ensemble’s uniquely colorful sounds.

Eminent cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the Silkroad Ensemble in 1998 as a musical collective that sought to transcend cultural boundaries, bringing together musicians from different backgrounds to craft a distinctive blend of sounds. The ensemble’s very name pays homage to the historic Silk Road, which connected the East and West and facilitated exchange of ideas for centuries.

Wednesday’s performance was a musical expedition delving into the rich tapestry of the American experience, with a specific focus on the historical significance of the railroad. Under the artistic directorship of Rhiannon Giddens, the ensemble masterfully interwove diverse threads of musical traditions that shape the United States, complete with a wide range of instruments such as the tabla, accordion, pipa and Japanese flute, to name a few. 

Central to the ensemble’s approach is a spirit of multicultural collaboration and innovation through the universal language of music. “American Railroad” focused on the experiences of Irish immigrants, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans. Through music and visuals, the ensemble told often-forgotten immigrant stories mirroring the diverse tapestry of the railroad itself.

While all the numbers were strong, a few resonated with me most profoundly. “Swannanoa Tunnel,” a folk song sung by Black laborers starting in the late 19th century, emanated wonderful harmonies and a soulful, industrial feel. The use of different forms of percussion and instruments, such as a pipa and a conch shell, added a unique layer to the piece. As a person of African descent, the familiarity of the tune had me tapping my toes and nodding my head with a soft smile.

The tune’s recurrence throughout the concert — juxtaposed with other pieces that paid homage to other cultures — added to my enjoyment.

For instance, the melody resurfaced during “Canoe Song,” a number that paid tribute to singer Pura Fé’s Tuscaroran ancestors. The piece smoothly transitioned the new melody into the familiar “Swannanoa Tunnel” as Fé sang beautifully without instrumental accompaniment. Fé’s raw vocals packed potent vulnerability with emotional intensity, providing the audience with a more intimate connection with the lyrics.  

Another powerful mashup was with “Steel-Driving Man,” a piece that stood out as a personal favorite. Accompanied by percussion echoing the strenuous but necessary work, the backdrop featured images of Black men toiling at the railroad. 

The initial somber and sad tones symbolized the workers’ struggles; various string instruments joined in as the piece shifted from a minor to a bright major key. The piece concluded with a hint of a calypso feel, signaling a final optimism.

Vocalist Mazz Swift performed an exceptional cover of a familiar hymn that I identified as “Have You Seen My Man?”, a song about a woman’s longing for her lover working away from home. This rendition surpassed any prior programming. The chemistry among performers, particularly the string instrumentalists, was palpable and added an extra layer of enchantment to the evening.

Despite the overall strength of the musical numbers, the performance’s background projections served as a distraction. I couldn’t grasp the meaning of some backdrops, primarily those that were paintings or composed of geometric shapes. Looking at them, I felt I was missing a part of a culture’s story. 

Regardless, the performance resonated with me as a powerful reminder of how music can bridge cultural divides. As the Silkroad Ensemble continues to chart new musical territories, their work demonstrates how the arts can inspire connection and understanding in an ever-changing world. Their message of collaboration urges us to appreciate the nuanced threads in our shared human experience. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

A previous version of this article incorrectly identified a performer. The Daily regrets this error.

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Thank you for the music: Bands at Stanford and Berkeley thrive despite rough odds https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/16/thank-you-for-the-music-bands-at-stanford-and-berkeley-thrive-despite-rough-odds/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/16/thank-you-for-the-music-bands-at-stanford-and-berkeley-thrive-despite-rough-odds/#respond Fri, 17 Nov 2023 05:18:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1237515 While inter-university rivalries remain strong, student bands find similar joys and challenges performing live music on Stanford and Berkeley’s campuses.

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As annual debates over academic and social superiority resurface between Stanford and Cal students amid the buzz of the Big Game, the culture surrounding student bands and musicians at the two universities suggests the Bay’s notorious collegiate rivals have more in common than meets the eye — or the ear, for that matter.

While the Bay Area’s top universities attract their fair share of computer science whizzes and electrical engineers, Stanford and Berkeley also boast an equally vibrant community of musicians, including many that are classically trained.

Stanford bedroom pop artist EASHA (Easha Nandyala ’24) is known for her discography of “manufactured melancholy.”  She found her voice while training in classic Indian repertoire and now has a social media following of 57,000 on Instagram. Similarly, lead singer and founder of Berkeley’s alternative indie group The Pansies, Bella Sonen ’27, trained in classical opera and cello before turning her talents over to the cathartic influences of boygenius and Adrianne Lenker.

According to Sidd Wali ’25, saxophonist for Stanford’s “dad rock of every generation” band, General Consumption, the ease with which students transition from classical repertoire to pop is a testament to the technical prowess abundant on The Farm.

“When you have so many gifted musicians who know how to play so well, it’s easy to switch them into a pop setting,” Wali said. “I think that’s why we’re seeing so many people pop up — there’s so much talent here that wasn’t utilized before.”

Ty Hosein ’26, lead singer of Stanford’s jazz pop and neo soul group Six of Spades, feels that student abilities have gone under-utilized as an unfortunate side effect of Stanford’s post-pandemic policies, which implicitly discouraged the formation of bands in the transition back on campus.

“It was hard to get gigs coming back from the pandemic, so people were playing for free,” Hosein said. “It’s great they got to play, but cultivating a culture of playing for free — for exposure — isn’t what you want as an artist.” 

Creating student bands can be tough in a barren musical community. At Stanford, some bands established their initial presences outside of student social scenes.

When General Consumption was started in 2022, “there wasn’t much of a band ecosystem,” Wali said. “There weren’t many parties to play at, so it didn’t make sense. We were playing a lot of gigs for free.”

Despite early setbacks, interest in the student-run music community seems to be picking up speed as students have the chance to attend more student band performances. Such was the case with Six of Spades’s headline show at this year’s Admit Weekend, Spade Rade. According to Six of Spades drummer Sid Yu ’26, the event inspired a group of current frosh jazz musicians to form their own band. Seeing new sparks ignite in underclassmen brings fulfillment to some of the early post-pandemic pioneers.

“A lot of new bands are popping up,” Wali said. “Now there’s a strong band ecosystem, which is what we wanted. We were part of the original wave. It’s cool to see it paying off.”

Across the Bay, Berkeley’s band culture remains relatively small and casual, which can be a strength, according to Jillian Flynn. Flynn is the lead singer of The Hot Teas, Cal’s one-stop shop for Mariah Carey hits and neo-nineties bliss. 

“There are very few bands on campus, and most of them end up playing for Greek life. We have a lot of DJs here; live music isn’t as big in comparison,” Flynn said. “I think it’s cool that there are only a couple of bands. We get to perform with each other. There are a lot more opportunities to be called upon for shows.”

Miles Griffin ’27, guitarist for The Pansies, said they enjoy the intimate, “laid back” music culture on campus.

While the highly curated environments of Stanford and Berkeley offer unique resources for emerging, like-minded artists, they also pose unique challenges for those with long-term musical aspirations. Forming a band within a highly musically proficient student body is only the tip of the iceberg of hurdles; for one, Nandyala feels that increasing grind culture and world-class academics seek to “discourage the artistic mindset.”

“People are so busy here. It’s hard to ingrain the level of passion you have [for music] onto others when they have problem sets they care about,” Nandyala said. “There’s something about being in a band that goes far where you need that element of having nothing to lose — that element of ridiculousness — which isn’t really on campus right now.”

For Wali, the impermanent nature of Stanford’s band culture reinforces his appreciation for the artform.

“Pursuing music at Stanford is knowing the whole time that it isn’t end-all-be-all,” Wali said. General Consumption has always been temporary. The fact that it’s going to end at some point makes me enjoy every performance and rehearsal we have — it keeps me present.”

Jacob Isrow, drummer for Berkeley’s The Hot Teas, instead views his commitment to music in the long term, whether that be in the form of an official band or through other means.

“Music is not the kind of thing you give up. It changes forms,” Isrow said. “People will find different ways to keep it in their lives, but I think I speak for everyone [in the band] when I say it’s a non-negotiable.”

Regardless of the longevity of their pursuits, Stanford and Berkeley bands expressed frustration with the rehearsal facilities and resource allocation at their universities. According to Six of Spades keyboardist Kai Charp ’26, pianos that are available across campus are out of tune. This includes the tiny upright piano he and his five bandmates use to rehearse in one of Braun Music Center’s compact, three-person practice rooms. 

Not only are rehearsal instruments minimally maintained; rehearsal spaces are also hard to come across, since student bands can’t register to use them, according to Charp. His trombonist bandmate Andrew Zhang ’26 added that there are two rooms allotted for officially registered student music groups.

The Hot Teas and other student bands at Berkeley do not receive financial compensation from the university, as they are not “university-affiliated” organizations. Practice rooms are also often too small to accommodate the sizes of the bands, according to Griffin.

“We’ve bought all of our own equipment,” Flynn said. “The school has practice rooms that students pay to rent. We don’t use those rooms.”

Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley did not provide comment.

Despite the obstacles they face in acquiring adequate rehearsal facilities and support, Stanford and Berkeley bands maintain the vibrant, often eccentric culture that surrounds their presence on campus. 

The bands implement unique traditions to announce their presence and prepare for performances on their respective campuses. Miscellaneous playing cards flashing a six of spades are scattered throughout Stanford’s campus. The Hot Teas pat their bassist, Francesca Estrada, on the head for good luck prior to Row performances.

According to the musicians, student bands play an integral role in strengthening the broader campus community. For Wali, watching live instrumentalists “creates a closer community than listening to a DJ set” because it is a more “tangible” and intimate experience.

“At the end of the day, unbridled by the biases of being musicians, it’s about student life and students being able to enjoy live music,” said Six of Spades guitarist Jules Jackson ’26. “That requires funding, space for live music to happen, space for live music to be rehearsed. It’s possible with the right resources. You can’t neglect it.”

Andrew Zhang ’26 writes for The Daily.

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Lightness, circles and birds: Sampha explores family, fatherhood in “Lahai” https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/13/lightness-circles-and-birds-sampha-explores-family-fatherhood-in-lahai/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/13/lightness-circles-and-birds-sampha-explores-family-fatherhood-in-lahai/#respond Mon, 13 Nov 2023 08:07:59 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1236804 Sampha stitches memory and other chronological objects through his new album as fatherhood reacquaints him with the naivete of childhood, writes Chu.

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Artists of this time are constantly seeking to reposition themselves and reinvent their art, be it through monikers or thematic shifts. South London musician Sampha is the latest to join the club.

Honoring his paternal grandfather, Sampha’s “Lahai” is a beautiful homage to family and lineage. His new album reveres the ways in which the significance of a name is transferred and continued, even beyond death. 

Sampha’s obsession with time makes this clear. Memory and other chronological objects stitch through the album: in its opening track “Stereo Colour Cloud (Shaman’s Dreams),” again near the center of the album in “Suspended” and “Time Piece,” at the end in “Rose Tint.”

The existential nature of Sampha’s new music may have to do with the birth of his daughter. Fatherhood does weird things to people. It makes us reminisce on our own youth, holding up a mirror to everything we once were, and opens a litany of possibilities for what we can be. As Sampha bellows to his lover in “Satellite Business,” it is “through the eyes of [his] child” that he now views the world. 

The song’s heavy-synth production style borders technopop. Björk-esque tinkles and warbles render time senseless. The sonic texture inspires a nonlinearity that pervades memory, prods it with a stick of uncertainty. Sampha is seeing with a child’s eyes once again. He questions the world, asking the necessary naivetes that enchant our lives with delight and wonder. 

As he preempts in “Time Piece,” “le temps n’existe pas” (time does not exist). It is not the only arbitrator of life and death. Our spirit is relived through our children, through legacy — encircled, recycled and born anew. 

He strings chords into parabolic rainbows — seeking to return, as a circle does, to the origin of his storytelling and genealogy. I believe that, at the heart of Sampha’s album, there is a circularity without definitive end. He uses it as an allegory of sorts, referencing the many different ways in which we linger long after our souls leave this Earth. 

Lightness confounds in “Dancing Circles.” I love Sampha’s utility on the piano, and I’m glad he hasn’t abandoned his near-virtuosic relationship with the instrument. After strings of features with some of the biggest artists of our time (Drake, Beyonce, Kanye West, Kendrick), I was afraid that some of the electronic-heavy styles might overtake him. But they don’t. 

In one word, the song embodies staccato. His falsetto leaps and hails. It skips, like a smooth pebble over water. One- and two-word stanzas etch his style here: “madness,” “flickering flashes,” “dancing, dancing.” Alliterative syllables produce an even greater bounce: they gallop restlessly, emphasizing “Lahai” as a fundamentally quick enterprise. 

After Sampha won the coveted Mercury Prize in 2017 for his debut album “Process,” hordes of young teenagers and college students flocked to him. “Cult following” is an apt description here. This guy was new, sublime, full of youthful exuberance. He was accessible but lovely, fulfilling the new niche of R&B that resided somewhere between The Weeknd, Solange and Kelela. 

“Lahai” may recognize this space, but it sometimes flits uncomfortably about within it. At times I was lost by the lack of specifics. The songwriting is thematically strong but generic. I think Sampha remains a little afraid to lean forcefully into all the burdens and revolutions a child brings to your life. In an act of safety, he dances around the answers — the grief, joy and even heaviness. Abstract qualities of time fly and falter throughout the album as they’re buttressed in even more elusive multilingual lyricism. The album is good, but it stops there — it suffices.

Like a caged bird who flutters ceaselessly against the walls of its prison, Sampha has found a door, and he is ready to soar. It leaves me wondering then: what is it that weighs him down? Will he ever return, or has he simply outlived the cage and all that it entails?

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ will never go out of ‘Style’ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/10/1989-taylors-version-will-never-go-out-of-style/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/10/1989-taylors-version-will-never-go-out-of-style/#respond Fri, 10 Nov 2023 09:33:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1236584 Re-recorded and revamped, Swift’s new album recaptures the magic listeners felt when hearing her timeless tracks for the first time.

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Exactly nine years after Taylor Swift released the legendary studio album “1989,” we are still dancing to its beat. 

The original 2014 album reinvented Swift as a pop artist and cast her into the media spotlight. Now fans have the chance to relive this iconic era with the Oct. 27 release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” complete with re-recorded old beats and five new tracks.

One of the main conversation topics on the release centered around the album cover, which presented another fresh angle to the record. The original “1989” maintained a very urban and city-like feel, featuring Swift’s “cherry lips” captured by a polaroid. The 2023 album cover, however, has a more natural and nautical feel. It seems that Swift has embraced a new side of the beloved collection. 

Additionally, the new album cover sees Swift smiling for the first time, signifying that 2023 has been the start of a new — happier — chapter for Swift. 

The album presented a listening experience that has certainly lived up to its hype. In what ensues, we will each review the re-recorded tracks and the additional “From the Vault” tracks in “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” 

Original “1989” tracks passed down like folk songs — Canon Pham ’27

The reimagined 2014 classics allow listeners to rediscover these beloved tracks and listen for any changes. What makes the original collection on this album particularly special is its balanced mix of fun songs making light of otherwise difficult situations, and wistful tunes expressing the longing for love. 

Some of my favorite tracks on the original “1989” are those that show Swift’s more “self-aware” side: when she is able to poke fun at herself and make a commentary on how she is being perceived. 

This characteristic is conveyed in the energetic and dynamic second track, “Blank Space (Taylor’s Version).” With caricatures and clever one-liners such as “darling, I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream,” Swift created a character for herself out of the media backlash and accusations of “serial dating.” She took ownership of her narrative in a way that was much “Better than Revenge.” 

“Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)” has a notably slower pace than the original, though this seems to reflect Swift’s new maturity and calmness. 

Swift released some of the re-recorded tracks, such as “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” and “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” prior to Oct. 27. These songs are only part of a collection that delicately conveys both the beauty and challenges of falling in love. 

“Clean (Taylor’s Version)” portrays a desperate attempt to get rid of any lingering heartache and hurt from a previous relationship. “You’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore,” sings Swift to an anonymous lover.

“New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)” is playful and optimistic in tone: “Heartbreak is the national anthem, we sing it proudly.” 

The new versions have a less busy and more focused mix and instrumental. This makes the desperation in “Clean (Taylor’s Version)” even more prominent and the passion of “New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)” all the more sweet and victorious.

The varied tracks, communicating the complexities of love, make this album a masterpiece with an element of relatability for everybody. Taylor Swift was quite a mastermind for illustrating the journey of a girl who dives headfirst into love, has her heart broken and picks herself back up again.  

One of the many factors behind the success of “1989” is the iconic instrumental introductions to each song. The re-recorded tracks added additional layering and percussion to the anxiety in the intro of “Out of the Woods (Taylor’s Version).” The beloved opener “Welcome to New York (Taylor’s Version)” also received what appears to be an extended introduction, adding to that feeling of anticipation as the listener awaits the euphoric track. 

Swift and her producers managed to perfectly recapture the magic of hearing these songs for the first time. 

It’s a new “Vault” track! — Ella Wang ’24

Five new tracks that were scrapped from the original 2014 album were included on “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” as “From the Vault” songs. 

The opening vault track, “Slut! (Taylor’s Version),” demonstrates the self-awareness of “Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)” with a new angle. Swift boldly accepts her media scrutiny, finding solace in being with someone she genuinely loves: “And if they call me a slut, you know it might be worth it for once.”

“Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version)” stands out as my clear personal favorite. In the song, Swift is one who wants her partner to tell her “All You Had To Do Was Stay.” She shout-sings, “I would stay forever if you say ‘don’t go,’” expressing the uncertainty of a relationship in turmoil. 

“Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version)” shows Swift’s acceptance of a breakup while making a commentary on gender roles within relationships. Swift’s lyrics about no longer pretending to “like acid rock” or “be on a mega-yacht with important men who think important thoughts” remind us of her famous girl-power lines, such as “indie record that’s much cooler than mine” or being “just like Leo in Saint-Tropez.”

One track that failed to deliver was “Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version),” which lacks musicality and thematic cohesion. The song explores a small town relationship with the potential to become a “suburban legend” but ultimately fails. It adopts a self-deprecating and pessimistic tone, more aligned with Swift’s 2022 record “Midnights” than “1989.” Hollow lyrics like “tick-tock on the clock, I pace down your block” fail to engage the listener.

“1989 (Taylor’s Version)” truly “left a permanent mark,” catapulting Swift to the position of the most streamed artist on Spotify within a week of its release and winning over hearts of millions worldwide. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Stephen Sanchez in Oakland: Theatrical storytelling by a true troubadour https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/08/stephen-sanchez-in-oakland-theatrical-storytelling-by-a-true-troubadour/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/08/stephen-sanchez-in-oakland-theatrical-storytelling-by-a-true-troubadour/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2023 10:12:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1236186 On Saturday evening, Stephen Sanchez’s soulful voice and trusty guitar whisked audiences into a story of two star-crossed lovers. The highlights of the concert included Sanchez's emotional ballads, 1950s fashion and fun interactions with the audience, writes Dan Kubota.

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When the lights dimmed in Fox Theater, fog creeped onto the stage as singer-songwriter Stephen Sanchez took the spotlight. During the Oakland concert on Saturday, Sanchez immersed the audience in an enchanting musical narrative.

Sanchez was simultaneously the narrator of the love story and main character of his concert; with his sultry voice and emotive expressions, he was incredibly present throughout. 

The setlist told a story of two star-crossed lovers — Evangeline, the daughter of a mob boss and the subject of the eponymous song “Evangeline,” and a troubadour. The evolution in their enamors were captured by the wistful “Something About Her,” the tender “I Need You Most of All” and the energetic “High” and “Only Girl.” 

Tragically, the lovers were kept apart by their social standings and then ultimately by death, ending in the song “Death of the Troubadour.”

Sanchez’s performance was as much a concert as a theatrical showcase, solidified by the nontraditional concert venue and elements of set and lighting design. During “Only Girl,” lights from opposite ends of the stage flashed in alternation to illuminate one side of Sanchez’s face at a time, creating a stunning sight. For more somber numbers like “Send My Heart With a Kiss,” the stage was bathed in lights of soft pastels as Sanchez looked out into the audience, face full of feeling.

Sanchez’s raw displays of emotion through his singing, particularly evident in ballads “Something About Her” and his most well-known “Until I Found You,” were particularly impressive. He captivated the audience with his use of dynamics. He had an extraordinary ability to switch between soft-singing in the intros and outros and soaring high notes in passionate moments. 

In more energetic numbers, the floor shook as the audience stomped their feet. Many’s excitement appeared to have begun long before the concert. Some were dressed in 1950s fashion to match Sanchez’s costume style, which was reminiscent of Elvis’ era and 1950s “Greasers.” Hair slicked back, Sanchez pranced across the stage in a classy black blazer layered over a white shirt.

Having celebrated his birthday the day before, Sanchez had his family at the venue to support him. He introduced them as the first audience for his music, discovering them through his request or by accident. He then called his listeners his family members. Sanchez showed care for his fans throughout the concert, even stopping one of his numbers to get an audience member some water.

Much like the troubadour captured the heart of Evangeline, Sanchez had his audience captivated. He crafted a tale in which the fictional love story intertwined with his real life, and the audience followed along his journey passionately.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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RL Grime takes over Frost https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/06/rl-grime-takes-over-frost/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/06/rl-grime-takes-over-frost/#respond Tue, 07 Nov 2023 06:34:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1235202 DJ and producer RL Grime filled Stanford's Frost Amphitheater on Oct. 29 with an electric performance.

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RL Grime / Frost Amphitheater

By Cayden Gu

DJ and producer RL Grime delivered a high-energy performance featuring electrifying beats and pulsating rhythms at Frost Amphitheater for his tour RL Grime Presents: PLAY Live on Friday, Oct. 29. Grime, who first arose to prominence in the electronic music scene through his viral remixes of Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa” and Kanye West’s “Mercy,” has delicately trodden the line between mainstream and independent sound. He now has over 200 million streams, specializing in trap and bass music, and runs the Sable Valley label that supports emerging and established artists who push the boundaries of electronic music. On a stage illuminated by flashing lights, lasers and smoke, Grime’s set — defined by heavy basslines and intricate sound design — energized the Halloween-costumed crowd with hit songs such as his viral 2018 release “UCLA” along with “Silo” and “I am the MooZ.” Accompanied by DJs Jawns and 33 Below, who are both known for experimental soundscapes in electronic dance music, Grime demonstrated the versatility of his sets and his pioneering spirit in the electronic music industry.

Dressed mysteriously in a cap and mask, Jawns demonstrated his lengthy experience of performing at captivating dance parties with an energizing EDM performance that included his recent collaboration “NME” with RL Grime.

Electronic producer 33 Below, who has steadily become a household name in the New Zealand music scene, opened the night with a performance defined by experimental soundscapes, highlighting his potential to break through with his sophomore album anticipated for later this year.

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Press Play: What makes a winning playlist for athletes? https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/06/press-play-what-makes-a-winning-playlist-for-athletes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/06/press-play-what-makes-a-winning-playlist-for-athletes/#respond Tue, 07 Nov 2023 04:11:43 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1235829 Stanford is home to the most NCAA titles of all Division I sports. In this week’s installation of “Press Play,” columnist Erin Ye spoke to varsity student athletes across four different teams to learn about the music that gets them through practices, classes and competitions.

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Press Play is a column that seeks to spotlight people of Stanford and the collections of songs that power them through their days. Each installation will feature different Stanford students, faculty members or affiliates and highlight a playlist that is meaningful to them and their experiences on the Farm.

You’ve seen them on the pitch, in the pool and on the court, but do you know what they’ve been listening to? Stanford’s Division I athletes are among the best in the country. For many, music is a key source of motivation and joy during what can be grueling competitions and daily practices.

Field hockey defender Scout Butler ’26 made her team’s practice playlist, which mainly consists of disco and dance pop music. The task of creating each year’s playlist is passed on through generations of team members, according to Butler.

“Last year, the seniors on our team did all the music, and it was mostly 2000s and 2010s pop music,” Butler said. “This year, I decided to take charge.”

Curating a playlist that all team members enjoy is a job that involves collecting insights from everyone. Butler created playlists for different moods based on songs contributed by team members.

“The playlists are a good mix of pop and dance music. We usually play the ‘Stanfock’ playlist at practice, and we play ‘For When It’s Needed’ on Fridays or when everyone is just in the mood for some nostalgic classics,” Butler said. “On game days, we play a pre-made remix that one of our upperclassmen made last year.”

Just as different playlists exude different styles and emotions, music tastes vary across the various athletic teams across campus. Hunter Garvin ’26 is a member of the Stanford wrestling team, which favors EDM and country music during its practices. 

“When I’m wrestling, I listen to a lot of EDM and upbeat music,” Garvin said, showing me one of his favorite playlists. “It’s stuff I can listen to, to get ‘in the zone.’” 

When selecting songs for team playlists, athletes often look for tracks with the ability to amp up the team’s energy.

“I look for hype songs with motivational lyrics that my teammates will know, so that we can warm up and jam out together,” said squash athlete Madison Ho ’27. Ho curated the “Squash It Up” playlist accordingly.

A number of songs can also help athletes stay calm in preparation for meets and competitions.

“Sometimes one of the guys [on the wrestling team] will play some country too — Zach Bryan is a fan favorite,” Garvin said. “It can help take away a lot of the anxieties of wrestling when you find music you can flow to. I find that music helps me focus and distance myself from the different distractions of competition.”

As tradition, many athletic teams play certain songs during pep talks or other pre-game gatherings. These include “Hall of Fame” by The Script for the squash athletes, or “Big Rings” by Drake for artistic swimming team members. According to synchronized swimmer Atira O’Neil ’26, playing “Big Rings” became a tradition after the team won the national title for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) in June.

“Because our sport relies heavily on music, we are always exploring different genres for our competition routines and love hearing suggestions from others on what they’d like to see us swim our routines to,” O’Neil said. The team’s favorite playlist is “aquabaddies,” which includes everything from house music to folk pop to R&B.

Garvin, Butler and Ho all noted that their personal music preferences differ from what they listen to when they are training and competing.

When Garvin is not training with his wrestling teammates, he listens to a lot of Christian or worship music. For Butler, she turns to older and slower music when not surrounded by pop and dance music at field hockey practice. Ho describes her personal music taste as more “chill and relaxing,” opting for indie songs when studying or on her own.

Ultimately, finding music that will bring energy to training sessions is a team effort for Stanford athletes.

“We switch up who is on aux throughout the season and enjoy the variety that this brings to each practice as everyone is welcome to bring their own music taste,” O’Neil said.

Listen to the student athletes’ playlists below:

Garvin’s playlists: “Wrestling Summer” and “Top Songs 2018

Butler’s playlists: “Stanfock” and “For When It’s Needed

Ho’s playlist: “Squash It Up

O’Neil’s playlist: “aquabaddies

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The Book of Revelation has a sound: ‘SAVED!’ wears it gracefully https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/02/the-book-of-revelations-has-a-sound-saved-wears-it-gracefully/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/02/the-book-of-revelations-has-a-sound-saved-wears-it-gracefully/#respond Fri, 03 Nov 2023 06:49:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1235502 In her newest album, Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter conveys the shift in her personal relationship with God through masterful manipulation of sound. She controls tension and release with a honed and remarkably sharp hand, writes Chu.

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In the days of the Christian Old Testament, the forgiveness of sin required a sacrifice; it demanded an exchange from its participants. Fast forward to the year 2023 — reverend Kristin Michael Hayter’s new album “SAVED!” has created a sound emblematic of the 5th Century BCE religious text. Released on Oct. 20, “SAVED!” rings in the rhythm of sacrifice, a haunting hymn immortalized by the reverend’s reinvention of her art.

This album is a direct response to her days as Lingua Ignota — the pseudonym Hayter utilized up until earlier this year. For Lingua Ignota, God was a righting force of justice, but for the Hayter of “SAVED!” God is a parent; he fulfills her, heals her. Here, Hayter’s mystic conversion from atheism to Catholicism becomes apparent. 

The opening track, “I’M GETTING OUT WHILE I CAN,” is both an allegory for her salvation from a life of sin and a reference to her persona — she is breaking free from the callous God of Lingua Ignota, manifesting for herself a greater higher power. The movements Hayter creates here are the most brilliant.

She controls tension and release with a remarkably sharp hand. Enigmatic background thumping, fake stops and the abrasive surprise of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) at the end of the track usurp my attention. I tell myself I can hear everything, that I am not disturbed, but I am. It is almost painful how well she has mastered surprise. 

Hayter tenders revelations of profound kindness, “[building] a fortress from God’s wondrous love,” and swamps them with eerie percussives and stringent noise. Tension builds like a balloon, and she wrestles air from it with swift-footed intelligence.

Still, her soaring cadences do not preclude violence. Instead, their eerie sound renders him docile; frank, even. The lamenting ballad “IDUMEA” feels like an invitation despite its lyrical anger. 

A particular feeling of privacy extends from her voice. As I listen, I feel as if I have arrived at teatime with her and her God; or perhaps I am an honored guest at the holiest goth concert in the nation. I think this is built in part by the antiquated qualities of the album. 

There is an undeniable technical excellence to Hayter’s newest opus. First recording all 11 tracks in high-fidelity audio, she passes them through a four-track recorder to distort their sound, then funnels all their data into small half-broken cassette players. She axes the poly-hertz noises that flare deliciously in high-quality audio files, opting instead for the grunge of the indie artist. 

As a result, the album sounds like a cassette dug up from the cellar of a forest, an utterance produced only in deep territorial secrecy — not illegal to hear, but certainly amoral to listen to and partake in (at least with eyes open). 

Hayter is intensely faithful to her artistic form in “SAVED!” She devotes herself to shifts in the vocal texture of her voice, opting for gravel-like tones that rasp and halt. This constitutes a significant departure from the silky mezzo-soprano of Lingua Ignota.

Across 46 minutes of song, her musicality deviates from the operatic forms of Diamanda Galas and Klaus Nomi, artists who once seemed to guide her style. Instead, Hayter heads toward a contortion of the church sermon. Her lyrics are not for the listener, but rather for a sometimes inexplicit and fickle divinity. 

Hayter’s album is an excellent introduction to her new name under the “Reverend” honorific, but leaves something to be desired in its production. She has confiscated the idiosyncratic clicks and blips and unexpected sweet hubbub that used to characterize her music. These spellbound constructions are now rarer and only occasionally enswathe me in her world on “SAVED!” falling short of being fully convincing. 

There are moments of distraction and over-exerted distortion that can disfigure the immersive listening experience. But I would be remiss not to mention the ebullient piano arpeggios here. If anything, they save this album from the bland distaste that is often associated with outdated church choruses. The unfaltering chords are a delectable gift for the listener, and in “SAVED!” they pull even the unwitting listener upwards, climbing the stairs to heaven — or perhaps the steps to the altar of sacrifice. 

No one really knows.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

The article has been updated to reflect the correct title for the “Book of Revelation,” not “Book of Revelations.” The Daily regrets this error.

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Beandon’s Musical Corner: ‘Wallsocket’ by underscores https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/01/beandons-musical-corner-wallsocket-by-underscores/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/01/beandons-musical-corner-wallsocket-by-underscores/#respond Thu, 02 Nov 2023 05:05:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1234950 Undertaking a task of world-building through her newest album “Wallsocket,” April Harper Grey masterfully mixes various disparate elements into her music — with an undertone of dark humor.

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Welcome to a new and improved Beandon’s Musical Corner, the only place on campus for in-depth, exhaustive reviews of the latest releases in rock, jazz, experimental … and pretty much everything else. Brandon Rupp (also known by his mononymous musical title “beandon,” under which he releases music and DJs as KZSU’s Student Music Director) explores a new title and gives unfiltered feedback, regardless of the genre. Feel free to send him music; he’d love to take a look!

In the town of Wallsocket, Michigan, there are small-town staples like turnpikes, supermarkets and picket fences. However, like the town of Lumberton in David Lynch’s 1986 film “Blue Velvet,” there lies a darker, more sinister current under the deceptively traditional façade. 

Odds are you’ll run into a variety of unique Wallsocket characters, such as a crystal-meth-addled white-collar thief or a billionaire’s nepotistic daughter who shoplifts from CVS. But the most interesting thing about Wallsocket? It’s not a real place.

Wallsocket, Michigan is in fact the fictional center of “Wallsocket,” the ambitious sophomore release by San Francisco-born, New York-based musician April Harper Grey, known as “underscores.” A capital-C concept album, “Wallsocket” stands out as one of the boldest and most unique artistic statements this year.

“Wallsocket” is an absolute buffet for music criticism, featuring an overabundance of idiosyncratic — and often contradictory — elements to chew on. This review could proceed hundreds of different ways, but I’m most interested in how Grey has grown from her first record, “fishmonger,” to this sprawling concept album released in September. 

While “fishmonger” was an accomplished lo-fi release that landed her gigs at big name festivals like Lollapalooza and collaborations with Dylan Brady of 100 gecs and Benny Blanco, “Wallsocket” is a complete left-field swing I cannot help but attempt to unpack. I suspect that the dramatic improvement in quality — from great to masterful — comes as a result of Grey refining her immense musical vocabulary to match her distinctive lyrical imagery.

A speciality for this column has been highlighting music that recklessly evades genre. There are few things more impressive than artists who are so versatile that they cannot be pinned down under a label or two. On “Wallsocket,” Grey gleefully mixes dozens of disparate elements: the high-pitched vocals of hyperpop, the adventurous sampling of plunderphonics, glitchy production and a punkish energy that propels nearly every track into the stratosphere. It’s probably the first stadium-ready bedroom pop album; it features the only folk songs littered with dubstep wobbles. 

But the album isn’t a mess, and these choices aren’t without reason. Grey uses her musical versatility to ironically complement unique vignettes in each song. 

Most of these songs touch on themes and topics I’ve never even heard mentioned before. For example, the rocking opener, “Cops and Robbers,” discusses how as-seen-on-TV “ski mask and gun” bank robberies have gone out of style, while internal embezzlement by an employee became more likely. It’s probably the first song to focus on “deceased family member identity theft.” 

The ironic deployment of contrasting styles is put on full display: the relatively mundane subject of white-collar crime is paired with the album’s most aggressive instrumental, featuring glitchy breaks and heavily distorted guitars backing Grey’s snarling punk vocals. This is also probably the album’s catchiest song, with the simple advice to “get on the inside: you gotta do it like me.”

Another song that heavily plays ironic contrast, “Shoot to kill, kill your darlings,” questions the motives of affluent people who join the military: “You’re the son of a lawyer and the son of a doctor / With dreams of holding a gun and jumping out of a chopper. / And everyone here is a poor kid right out of high school / But you’re different from the rest of your peers / You’re the only one who knows why they’re here.” 

Grey’s skillful writing balances serious class commentary with dark humor, both of which are further complicated by the upbeat indietronica instrumental (with percussion sampled from real cocking guns) and dinky Casio keyboard refrains. 

“Shoot to kill, kill your darlings” takes a sincere turn with its empathetic ending: a looping sample of “I just don’t want you to die,” piercing through the shield of irony. Grey extends an arm to the subjects of her stories, valuing their lives as truly worth examining.

“Wallsocket” is less of a coherent narrative as it is a series of short stories in musical form. However, Grey’s perfectionist talents bring the entire project together: she played all of the instruments, wrote all of the songs and even single-handedly produced the vast majority of the album. As a result of this control, every “i” is dotted; every “t” crossed. 

Like a film auteur, each of her unique turns or repeated motifs feels purposeful, and even cinematic. Lyrically, Grey gracefully sweeps her camera’s viewfinder through the town of “Wallsocket” to physically construct an entire world around the listener. 

The music videos for this record have also been among the best of the year: Shot mostly with a single iPhone, they are a mix of a David Lynch’s “Inland Empire” and a Lars von Trier film. In certain shots, the director straps the iPhone to a drone and actually sweeps through the town.

I want to emphasize that Grey’s lyrics extend far past the incredibly low bar we’ve set for what is poetry set to music. Grey utilizes her prowess wisely. The seven-minute centerpiece “Geez Louise” balances themes of gender identity, religious trauma and the effects of colonization in the album’s most personal moment. 

The harrowing “Johnny Johnny Johnny,” a first-person recounting by a young girl who was groomed and molested by the titular pedophile Johnny, could have easily fallen apart in the hands of a less talented writer. The main refrain is based around the childhood game of Johnny Whoop. Through Grey’s invocation of the game, she highlights the innocence of the narrator and alludes to a child’s tendency to follow orders (as is the crux of the game). 

But the song quickly becomes darker: “And once he told me he was so glad / That I hadn’t been touched yet / I exited my body and it got up off the carpet / and it kept on telling lies until they got me out the door.” 

Here, the traumatized narrator’s depersonalization manifests in her altered point of view (her body becoming an “it”) for the latter two lines. Such empathetic choices of language are not something you see often in music, especially not in the midst of the year’s catchiest dance-pop instrumental — once more, ironic contrast between the music and lyrics comes into the equation.

Every song on “Wallsocket” sees Grey’s strong attention to detail. This album contains imagery and a sheer sense of scope that isn’t often associated with modern music. Over the course of 12 songs and 55 minutes, the listener lives 12 lives, experiences 12 defining moments. 

With the monumental “Wallsocket,” Grey has done something more than craft empathetic, fiercely written vignettes or hook-laden, genre-hopping pop songs; she has created a world — and an artistic voice — that she can uniquely call her own. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and contains subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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All treats and no tricks at annual Halloween Concert https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/01/all-treats-and-no-tricks-at-annual-halloween-concert/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/11/01/all-treats-and-no-tricks-at-annual-halloween-concert/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 07:55:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1235282 Drawing in an audience from all walks of life with their cheerful spirit and musical prowess, Stanford’s Jazz Orchestra and Wind Symphony joined forces to create a spook-tacular showcase that felt like a world apart, writes Dan Kubota.

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It may be one thing to jam out to your favorite tunes on late nights in your room, but it’s certainly another when you’re immersed by sound, rhythm, light — and a little Halloween spirit. Dinkelspiel Auditorium was transformed on Friday evening from a standard auditorium (and occasional classroom) to an adorably spooky concert hall for the Stanford Wind Symphony’s annual Halloween Concert, featuring the Stanford Jazz Orchestra. 

There was a hum of excitement in the room even before the concert had begun. Children dressed up as unicorns or Minecraft Steves fidgeted in their seats as their guardians hushed them. Students eagerly waved their friends over to sit with them, and other attendees flipped through the program looking for familiar faces and reading through the repertoire. Soon, the lights dimmed, signaling the start of the concert.

Student musicians created a delightful concoction of pieces from various genres, combining serious technical pieces with familiar tunes that audiences of all ages could enjoy. Stanford Jazz Orchestra opened with selections from “The Incredibles,” transitioning seamlessly between “The Pink Panther” and “I’ll Be Seeing You” and finishing off with a solo-laden James Bond medley and Lizzo’s “Cuz I Love You.”

The stage lighting color and brightness changed between pieces to match the energy of each song. This effect really emphasized the changes in dynamic, adding to the magic of it all.

The jazz musicians themselves were also incredibly engaged throughout their performances, tapping their feet along to the beat and leaning in as they played. They supported soloists with silent yet visible focus while waiting for their cue to join back in as a group. This small orchestra’s camaraderie translates into a cohesive, tight-knit community that members appreciate. 

“You get to do something as a whole and you’re all unified towards a singular goal,” said Ethan Htun ’27, who is a tenor saxophonist and “The Pink Panther” medley soloist.

This collective effort was also evident in the ensembles’ non-musical preparation. Ensemble members worked together to create Halloween costumes, according to alto saxophonist Grant Moore ’25.

The Jazz Orchestra’s various solos captured the curiosity of students in attendance.

“One person would start with a small beat behind and then the beat would build and it would change as the solo grew in intensity,” said audience member Jackson Whitt ’26.

Whether performing a solo or playing as a collective, each member held their own. Even  accompaniments brought a pizzazz of their own in accentuating the soloist’s performance. If the numerous moving parts posed a problem for these seasoned musicians, it certainly did not show. 

“There were probably hundreds of mess-ups that the audience really wouldn’t have known about,” Moore said. “I think it’s because we really have that spirit of ‘if you mess up it’s not your fault, nobody’s perfect and just move on.’”

The wind symphony’s “Wicked” medley seamlessly connected energies between pieces like the boundless “Defying Gravity” and angsty “No Good Deed.” Guest conductor Rachael Vega, Associate Director of Bands for the Leland Stanford Junior Marching Band, provided her expert guidance while decked out on theme in a witch costume. 

Not to be outdone, Stanford Wind Symphony director Giancarlo Aquilanti conducted the four movements of Second Suite for Band (Latino-Mexicano): Son Montuno, Tango (“Sargasso Serenade”), Guaracha and Paso Doble (“A La Corrida!”). Aquilanti and his students worked in tandem, responding to one another. 

The use of percussion — especially the clave — in the wind symphony stood out to Whitt, who is currently in the process of writing a song for an all-percussion group. They found the pieces not only “nice to listen to,” especially because of their Latino background, but also informative for their own songwriting. 

In the “spoopy” (spooky and cute) Halloween spirit, both ensembles were dressed up, each instrument section having their own theme. It was an absolute delight to see members decked out in chef hats and aprons, simple cowboy gear and even crazy neon colors paired with black suits to fit “Barbenheimer.” 

The festivities culminated with the annual costume contest, which invited any willing audience members to showcase their costumes on stage. The pineapple flavored Hi-Chew received the most applause and cheers from the audience, deeming them the winner.

As a reward, they were given the chance to conduct the closing piece, “The Washington Post March.” Bathed in red and blue lights, the new conductor wielded the baton with enthusiastic movements that prompted the audience to start clapping along. By the end of the concert, the initial anticipatory energy in the room had reached exponential heights. 

“The audience was loving it,” Whitt said. “It was great to see everyone come together in the cheers for the costumes.”

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Has Bad Bunny bounced back with his new album? https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/31/has-bad-bunny-bounced-back-with-his-new-album/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/31/has-bad-bunny-bounced-back-with-his-new-album/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 05:54:53 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1235196 Bad Bunny resists the volatile tension between fame and disposability on his latest release, “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana.” Despite the Internet jokes about “switching” to regional Mexican singer Peso Pluma, the two artists aren’t substitute goods on some parasocial market, writes Gonzalez-Rodriguez.

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Leer en español (traducido por Victoria Bermudez).

It would be an understatement to call Puerto Rican urban music phenomenon Bad Bunny (born Benito Martinez Ocasio) a well-known artist. With his last blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti” ranking Billboard’s No. 1 most popular in 2022, Martinez Ocasio has come a long way from his first song on Soundcloud in 2016.

And yet, at the height of his fame, el conejo malo seemed to stumble from grace. From a viral video showing him tossing a fan’s phone away to his controversial relationship with fashion model and so-called tequila culture-vulture Kendall Jenner, Martinez Ocasio became the heart of numerous controversies over the past year. The scandals had the Internet abuzz about dropping Bad Bunny’s music, with some “switching” to that of hit regional Mexican singer Peso Pluma.

But maybe we shouldn’t pivot away from Bad Bunny just yet. Such a substitution flagrantly dismisses the decades-long politically charged histories of both reggaeton and corridos tumbados.

Besides, Bad Bunny is still up and kicking. His Oct. 13 release, “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana” (“nobody knows what will happen tomorrow”), contests public opinion and calls back to the darker flow and cheeky swagger of his early trap roots. Its ample 22 tracks lean on this genre to explore themes of sex, fame, heartbreak and the streets.

In this sense, the album feels familiar. It contains all the same archetypes we know and love from Bad Bunny’s past discography: angsty rants directed at past lovers, sexual bars set to sultry melodies, bittersweet reflections on growth and confident going-out bops that basically command you to shake your hips. 

In other ways, though, “nadie” is certainly a departure from his previous release, international smash hit “Un Verano Sin Ti.” Songs like “Monaco,” “Mr. October” and “Telefono Nuevo” ooze with braggadocio over catchy trap hi-hats and lend this project a far darker sound than that of its predecessor. 

Drill-trap newcomer YOVNGCHIMI joins in to create a bold impression on “Mercedes Carota,” rapping about the power dynamics of the streets. Menacing cackles punctuate flashy bars; the question-response chorus has the singers dismissing an imaginary third person for not exercising authority through drugs, death or money. These cocky tracks make for an energizing listen, and they became some of my favorites on “nadie.”

On the other hand, the “sad Bunny” songs on the album don’t quite measure up to Martinez-Ocasio’s earlier classics like “Solo de Mi,” “Soy Peor” or “Vete.” Perhaps these new songs lack a harder-hitting message, or perhaps his flows simply don’t manage to capture the emotion of angst in the same way. (The exception to that may be “Gracias Por Nada,” which did move my cold heart to some emotion.)

Similarly, the album’s introduction “Nadie Sabe” also lacks catchiness and relatability — though maybe that wasn’t the goal with this one in particular.

Martinez Ocasio opens by plainly lamenting certain toxic elements of his fame, setting up an interesting context for what follows. In light of the artist’s discontent, this album’s return to his 2016 trap sound almost feels like a small gesture of resistance to the international commercial success he earned through his reggaeton albums. After all, Bad Bunny had established his prowess as the king of the Latin trap scene long before “Tití Me Preguntó” was standard college party fare.

But fear not, reggaeton fans — the album’s 81-minute duration makes plenty of space for a broad palette of sound and energy. Solid reggaeton gems pepper the project. “Perro Negro” is an irresistable bouncing perreíto, and “Hibiki” practically begs you sing along boisterously.

Admittedly, reggaeton slow jam “Seda” struck me as a lyrically creepier version of Martinez Ocasio’s 2022 hit “Aguacero.” I preferred the more nonchalant seductive rap track “VOU 787,” which crafts a chic beat by sampling Madonna’s “Vogue.”

One of the strongest bops on the album is “Fina,” a coquettish tune featuring rising queer reggaetonera Young Miko. Between Miko’s signature hoarse flow and clever bars from Bad Bunny, there’s much to love.

Interestingly, though the chorus on “Fina” calls back to reggaeton giant Tego Calderón, this album continues Bad Bunny’s shift toward featuring younger up-and-coming urban musicians. Whereas his 2020 project used copious collaborations with reggaeton founders to illustrate his rise to stardom, he paves the way for others on “nadie.”

Fan backlash notwithstanding, Martinez Ocasio did secure a chart-topping debut for “nadie,” demonstrating that this bunny is capable of bouncing back. A breakdown of public image does seem inevitable for many celebrities these days, be it over a petty squabble or a deeply concerning pattern of abuse. In both cases, we should approach the parasocial cycle of “stan, scandal, repeat” with caution.

In cases like that of Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma, our conversations about artist accountability must avoid treating those from marginalized communities and genres as disposable, interchangeable commodities.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Jake Minch masters teleportation in debut EP ‘how many’ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/31/jake-minchs-masters-teleportation-in-debut-ep-how-many/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/31/jake-minchs-masters-teleportation-in-debut-ep-how-many/#respond Tue, 31 Oct 2023 08:48:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1234973 In his most recent EP, Jake Minch uses music to grapple with reminiscing upon a past that he must let go of, teleporting listeners into his story.

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The first time I teleported was when I came across a sample of indie artist Jake Minch’s “handgun” on TikTok, less than a year ago. Within seconds, I was in the magical world of his life-changing lyricism. I was left impatiently waiting for his debut EP “how many,” to be released on Oct. 20.

It was well worth the wait. Minch’s hard-hitting, intimate lyrics in “how many” captivated me and, judging by the Spotify stats, a few thousand other listeners. 

Throughout the EP, Minch details experiences of his old high school life and forces the audience to attend each memory with him. The lyrics are uncomfortably, breathtakingly raw.

It’s enough to give any young songwriter an inferiority complex. No one else could conjure such intense rhymes about painful topics: “Who gives a kid a handgun? Who gives a kid to a mom who doesn’t want one?” 

This song, “handgun,” has over 1.5 million streams to date. Listeners are teleported to different settings of his heartbreak throughout the song (a bar bathroom, the back of a car, a laundry room), envisioning and feeling exactly what Minch experienced in each scene. It aches with devastating emotion, as if plagiarizing rhetorical questions and anecdotes from diaries across the globe.

If this single is a musical obituary lamenting the end of an unhealthy relationship, the rest of the EP is a Ouija board.

In the project’s six tracks, Minch desperately calls out to his passed-on life and contemplates how he arrived at his current reality. There’s an enticing mix of raw hope and misery. Clearly, Minch wants to hold onto high school — a world that he’s memorized and memorialized — up until his college years. But it is too late.  

The song “bike ride” has Minch reminiscing about long-gone friendships. He takes simple, universal aspects of childhood (games of manhunt, rolling pointlessly down grassy hills) and wields them to demonstrate personal emotions. Although listeners don’t know much about the people Minch lists off, these vignettes show us the vibrancy and significance of his friendships, appealing to our own childhood memories. 

Meanwhile, “strip mall” is about experiences delicate to him. Although specific, I found myself easily resonating with the underlying sentiments. There’s a mismatch between the “new you” and the “old life”; there’s a strikingly palpable absence of someone who used to be “your person.” 

Everyone wants to run away from some aspect of their high school experiences. The images in this EP are so relatable and memorable that they won’t let the listener escape. I’m held captive by my experiences while Minch grieves his own. When he sob-screams, “You touch my arm, and I believe that there’s a god,” I’m lying on my bedroom floor, 17 again, reliving a time when I turned romance into religion. 

I can’t wait for a future in which we have more than 17 streamable minutes of Minch’s music. That being said, I felt that the release could do without its first track, “moms new car.” It begins the collection with a focus on a difficult family dynamic, but it lacks a resolution as it is never unpacked or highlighted in songs two through six. 

The songs are also repetitive in sound and aesthetic. It was hard to distinguish between tracks during my first and second EP listen. After the first few streams, though, revisiting certain lines had the satisfaction of re-riding a familiar emotional rollercoaster. 

With Minch’s brilliant, one-of-a-kind voice and lyricism, it’s easy to say that his music is underrated. I hold hope that it will gather much more attention as months pass. However, no number of streams can convince me that “how many” has gotten sufficient praise and ears. The release is everything, and it deserves much more than that. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Classic rock meets orchestral grandeur at the Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros concert https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/30/classic-rock-meets-orchestral-grandeur-at-the-bobby-weir-wolf-bros-concert/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/30/classic-rock-meets-orchestral-grandeur-at-the-bobby-weir-wolf-bros-concert/#respond Tue, 31 Oct 2023 05:14:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1234956 Droves of Deadheads descended upon campus Sunday to witness a bold collaboration between Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. The unexpected stylistic collaboration lived up to the hype, writes Charlotte Kearns.

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Flower crowns, cigarette smoke, a rock band and a 115-person orchestra — this unlikely combination set the scene for an unforgettable evening at the Frost Amphitheater, where Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros took the stage with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra on Sunday.

Weir co-founded the legendary rock band Grateful Dead in Palo Alto in 1965. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, a group composed of Weir, Don Was and Jay Lane, embarked on a mission to perform the expansive catalog of Grateful Dead and Weir’s solo albums beginning in 2018. 

The amphitheater stage was set with an air of anticipation, and the audience was transported into a magical realm where passionate rock and orchestral excellence seamlessly intertwined. 

Dozens of people ranging in age, some dressed in tie dye and fringe, wait in line.
Fans sporting Grateful Dead merch wait in line for Sunday’s concert. Concertgoers, along with vendors selling Deadhead fare such as hand-printed shirts and flower crowns, converted a sleepy eucalyptus grove into a bustling time capsule from the ’70s. (Photo: LAWRENCE LIU/The Stanford Daily)

The audience at the Frost Amphitheater was as diverse as it was enthusiastic. Fans of all ages, from those who had followed Bobby Weir and Grateful Dead since the ’70s to younger generations discovering the magic of their music, gathered under the starlit sky. Devotees of the band arrived in style, wearing vibrant bohemian maxi dresses, embroidered vests and beaded jewelry. It soon became evident that most audience members knew every lyric by heart.

A man with long white hair and mustache plays an intricate black guitar. Beside him, a conductor gestures to the symphony.
Bob Weir playing the guitar in front of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Weir’s electric riffs have captivated audiences for decades. (Photo: JULIA LOFSTRAND/Goldenvoice House Photographer)

Weir’s performance was nothing short of mesmerizing. His gravelly voice, as captivating as ever, filled the amphitheater, and his guitar playing was a masterclass. Whether he was improvising or leading the ensemble through a soulful rendition of “China Cat Sunflower,” Weir’s passion for the music shone through. 

The setlist for the evening was a carefully curated journey through the extensive Grateful Dead catalog, featuring classics like “Dark Star,” “Days Between” and “Uncle John’s Band,” which had the crowd singing along with unbridled enthusiasm. The setlist showcased the band’s versatility and its ability to seamlessly transition from one musical gem to another, captivating the audience from start to finish. 

The Stanford Symphony Orchestra, composed of students under the direction of Paul Phillips, beautifully complemented the band. From the soaring strings in “Terrapin, Part 1” to the thunderous crescendos in “Weather Report Suite,” their precise execution and dynamic range added a symphonic richness that elevated each song to new heights. 

I was impressed by how the orchestra was able to blend into the rock arrangements, creating a harmonious fusion. The ensemble mostly played in unison, adding an extra layer of depth and grandeur to the overall performance. 

The performance did come with flaws. At times, the orchestra seemed to overpower the vocals and guitar, making it difficult to fully appreciate the nuances of the rock group’s performance. Additionally, the shifts between rock and orchestral arrangements sometimes felt abrupt, and I would have appreciated a smoother transition between different musical sections.

These minor technical flaws were overshadowed by the sheer expressiveness of the audience. Throughout the three-and-a-half-hour concert, the crowd couldn’t resist the infectious rhythms and melodies, which was evident in its enthusiastic dancing. 

Every song seemed to ignite a flame within the audience members, as they swayed, twirled and let loose with unbridled joy. It was a sight to behold and a night to remember.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

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Emotional shipwreck in San Francisco harbor: SZA ‘saves our souls’ at tour performance https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/29/emotional-shipwreck-in-san-francisco-harbor-sza-saves-our-souls-at-tour-performance/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/10/29/emotional-shipwreck-in-san-francisco-harbor-sza-saves-our-souls-at-tour-performance/#respond Mon, 30 Oct 2023 05:48:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1234928 Sailing beyond musical and performative expectations, SZA sang of turbulent emotional experiences at her SOS tour. The enrapturing ocean-inspired performance took audiences on a cathartic, inspirational journey, writes Jain.

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As the lights dimmed in San Francisco’s Chase Center on Thursday night, renowned R&B artist SZA embarked on a 90-minute expedition for self-discovery and love. She opened the concert poised on the edge of an illuminated ship deck with the beeping Morse code for SOS sounding overhead. As she launched herself off the deck, catapulting herself into the unpredictable ocean, the journey began. 

SZA continued to navigate these uncharted waters of life throughout the show. Though she didn’t speak much between songs, her background visuals and incredible vocals told a beautiful story and invited us to discover her reality. The musician’s signature soulful voice steered us through feelings of unease, hurt and rage about past romantic endeavors.

Stunning visual effects amplified SZA’s already-enrapturing music — whenever she needed to self-reflect, lights would fade to a melancholy blue and green, bathing her in the colors of the deep. As she came to understand herself, radiant pinks and yellows lit up the stage, grounding her in the joy of self-acceptance and welcoming potential new love interests. By the end, we were all part of SZA’s crew, following her through life’s rough waters to find hope on the horizon. 

The most astonishing sequence of the concert came right after a heart-pounding scene of SZA fighting rough waves. Right when it seemed she might not resurface — there she was. 

Wearing a red dress, SZA was lifted into the air on an orange lifeboat, circling high above the stadium crowd. Her crooning renditions of “Nobody Gets Me” and “Special” were truly spellbinding, and her vocal range did wonders to the pure, unadulterated pain behind her lyricism. 

Emotional shipwreck in San Francisco harbor: SZA 'saves our souls' at tour performance
Lighthouse shining beneath her, SZA rose above the crowds in a lifeboat to deliver a beautiful live version of “Nobody Gets Me,” off of her latest album, “SOS.” (Photo: RHEA JAIN/The Stanford Daily)

Floating high in the stadium, she sang heart-wrenching, guttural notes that crescendoed into a powerfully honest chorus: “How am I supposed to let you go? Only like myself when I’m with you / Nobody gets me, you do.”

SZA’s emotional delivery stirred my heart. I related to the anxiety of wanting to be understood by others. Her stage presence reached me all the way in my seat, soothing my worries about being yourself in a world of artificiality. 

Her vibrant energy and siren-like voice kept me spellbound through the entire performance. She seamlessly blended in sultry R&B tracks like “Shirt” and “Used” (ft. Don Toliver) with more mainstream pop hits like “Kiss Me More.” Longtime fans like myself were likely familiar with her versatility. Her honeyed voice smoothly shifted to a lower, rougher tone to rap lines in “Smoking on my Ex Pack,” starting from “Roll the clip and run it back, I’m really like that / I’m really not friendly, I need my credit, — hate that.” While I’ve heard it all before in the studio versions, experiencing her smooth beats and lyricism live was a highlight of the show.

It was clear just how much SZA still resonates with these deeply personal songs several months after the album release, judging by the energy and charisma of her performance. She glided across the stage, dancing playfully alongside her backup dancers and engaging with the crowd whether they were in the front row or far in the rafters. 

Emotional shipwreck in San Francisco harbor: SZA 'saves our souls' at tour performance
SZA’s dynamic show incorporated fiery visual effects and multiple costume changes in her passionate performance of “I Hate U.”  (Photo: RHEA JAIN/The Stanford Daily)

At times, the lively, high-spirited nature of the concert gave some of her more vulnerable songs like “Too Late” and “F2F” a more bubbly, pop feel compared to the studio versions. While I had my reservations about this alternative beat, I appreciated her ability to experiment with the mood and arrangements while still delivering stunning vocals. 

This innovation with different flows and genres is also a strength of the album itself. She manages to pull every song together in a cohesive manner that delivers a nearly flawless, emotional sentiment. The lyrical wit and musical range illustrates her growth as a person and artist.

While I’ve listened to “SOS” nonstop since its release, seeing the songs come alive on stage was a completely captivating experience. The lighting, ocean visuals and SZA’s masterful delivery brought the emotion in these songs to another level. Hearing the crowd sing along to “Good Days” crystallized the album’s cohesive message of persevering through life’s rough waters. By the end, I was left in awe, having witnessed SZA’s artistry shine brighter than ever before. This was more than just a concert — it was a cathartic, inspirational journey.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective opinions, thoughts and critiques.

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