Proof of the Corruption We All Want To Change

Viewing Stereo Putrid's post on Congresswoman Donna Adams reminded me of a video I saw a few weeks ago posted above. In this video Anthony Weiner lists a myriad unconstitutional actions that were committed by the House and Senate and basically schools them with, what I call, "swagger". This video definitely proves that corruption does occur in our government and I guarantee a large majority of the population are oblivious. They are making decisions that directly affect our economy.  Luckily we have access to videos like this  to become aware of what is occurring in our capital. I believe Anthony Weiner's passionate protest witnessed in the video is the way every citizen has to protest. We need to wake people up and stop certain politicians from manipulating the laws and passing bills that will take advantage of certain citizens.


I understand that it requires much effort and time to research, be heard and organize some form of rebellion against it. But, slowly, the more citizens begin knowing, it will be easier to send a more impacting message of discontent with the actions of the people in power. We also have the power of our vote that decides who sits and runs our government. There is much that needs to be changed but it we need to be intelligent and active or anyone can just step over us. We live in a democracy where we can be heard but no one speaks!

New Forms of Entertainment an Art Form?

As a young student heavily interested in the intricate and growing connection between the internet and our culture, I enjoy being aware of the many recent websites that seem to be becoming more diverse, interesting and useful. I'm not just talking social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter either. A friend recommended to visit Stereo Mood. It is a website that collects music and makes these massive playlists according to your mood. There is so much strange, new music (I would probably never have heard) that truly enhances whatever you are experiencing. As I was exploring the site I noticed a link on the left of the page. 

It says "Let us keep surprising you with emotions." as a call for donations and it was after reading this when I realized Stereo Mood is essentially part of this new artistic movement on the internet. I suppose it sounds strange classifying it as an art form, however in many ways it can be easily be compared to, let us say, a theatrical experience. Websites like this are usually organized and run by a team of people who are creative, tech savvy, and have a desire to intensify moments in your life. Do you a service. Entertain you. It's like a new frontier of art if you view the whole concept of the website. This observation can also be applied to StumbleUpon and the Tripatorium. There are more and more people designing websites utilizing the internet to create a world of culture and increase the sharing of aesthetic stimulation between people. It is the art of combining all the elements that go into designing a site and experience like StereoMood. The photograph in the background, the quality of the user interface, the choice of music for each mood, collectively entices people to use it.

Mardi Gras and Protest

For my first Mardi Gras celebration this year I made the bold move of leaving New Orleans and experiencing a Cajun Mardi Gras in Eunice, Louisiana, a small town about 2 hours north of here. It definitely feels like it is worlds apart from what we experience in New Orleans from the costumes to what the people do to celebrate and the most interesting element observed was that of protest within the Cajun celebration.

The day of a Cajun  Mardi Gras consists of a run. There are several places you may run throughout the towns and you gather with about 200 other people or more at 9 AM in the morning (Lundi Gras celebrating and drinking does not change this time either.) You MUST wear a costume, a mask and a capuchon or you are not allowed to run. Here is an example of the costumes. 

You may be wondering why we all look insane. These costumes are made to represent and make fun of the French royalty as if you were a court jester. Those tall hats are called capuchons and mimic those hats worn by the aristocracy and Cajun people take this dress seriously. When I walked up to register I was not wearing a mask and I was whipped by a Capitan, which are like the Mardi Gras police that hold leather whips and punish you if you misbehave. This sounds aggressive at first but people enjoy taunting them and they make sure everything is in check.

During this several mile run you stop at farms throughout the town and beg for a "cinq" (5 cents) or ingredients for your gumbo that you will make that evening. This was done by the French Canadian exiles to the upper class in these specific costumes because of the heavy taxing done by French royalty to the poor citizens. Because the rich heavily depended on the poor and did not credit them, Mardi Gras was a chance to turn the tables and push the French aristocracy into a humiliating light. The biggest event done at each house however is the chicken chase. Each house throws chickens off the roof and you must race to catch them or they place them in kennels on poles and everyone has to climb to get them. These chickens are also used for gumbo. 

 

 So from 9am to 3pm in the afternoon you play music, drink, dance, mud wrestle, chase chickens dressed in ridiculous costumes. At the last house of the run you all gather to listen to a Cajun band playing on a porch, eat the best gumbo you will ever taste in your life and mud wrestle even more all while protesting the massive taxes placed on you by French royalty.

  

The foundations of Mardi Gras music and celebration contain a lot more history than people realize and when I learned that Mardi Gras is a giant protest I could not contain myself. I think everyone should experience a Cajun Mardi Gras at least once in their lives because it definitely changed my life.

We are losing touch.

I believe my generation is losing touch with many important things. When I hold discussions with my peers about education, ethics, capitalism, socialism, communism, social reforms and so on, the conversation only goes so far. We learn about world politics and world economy through our professors and through websites and television stations. We can form opinions of these facts and refute certain standpoints for, or against, our own. We are informed to a certain point but this is not enough. Why are we being informed of these issues? Why is there media, hyper-media, the internet? To simply put these events and concepts in our heads and to discuss it over some lunch? We need to look beyond this simple line of action the majority of us seem to be leisurely taking and utilize these tools for the advancement of cultures and societies as a whole. 

I feel as if so many of us young kids today express this longing to "break away from society" and "lead an unconventional life". I have even expressed this feeling because it seems like our world now is so controlled and organized into going to school, getting a degree, making money and then retiring. But life is so much more than that and it is also so much more than the alternative that most of us choose which is to party our asses off. These are two extremes that will get us nowhere. Our generation is at a turning point in history. We are experiencing a technological revolution where every aspect of everyone's lives are changing due to perpetually advancing technology. Every single day our access to new information, art and the rest of humanity becomes more readily accesible and we seem to be evolving this non chalant attitude towards all of it, leaving it up to the small majority of those who only care about school deal with all of it. 

We need to discover the importance of self-education and discipline while effectively utilizing technology to change the way we live. I believe I have brought up a number of different issues that do not seem coherent but there is a video that inspired this post and I believe a lot of what I am expressing is brought together nicely in this lecture. 

I urge everyone to watch it because IT WILL change your life. 

The World of Animal Collective

They have made a lasting contribution and impact to the music culture of our generation, crossing boundaries through their textured, multi-layered sounds and vivid lyrics that seem to capture all your senses at once. They have created a concept and a purpose that does not only include their music but film, visual art and even performance art that was recently exhibited at the Guggenheim in Manhattan. They are Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Avey Tare (Dave Portner), Geologist (Brian Weitz) and Deakin (Josh Dibb) and together they make Animal Collective. This band, in more ways than one, has revolutionized today's independent and electronic music not only with their sound, but with their care for the collaborative musical process and the strong, deep connection they all share with each other that heavily shines through every median of their art. 

They began in Baltimore, Maryland. Four young best friends with a passionate love for creating music. They were heavily influenced by bands such as Climax Golden Twins and Noggin, part of the noise cassette scene in the Pacific North West, and experimental 20th century classical music composers. In an interview Portner said, “Ligeti and Penderecki are on The Shining soundtrack. We had never heard so-called experimental music at the time, we didn’t know that people made music with textures and pure sound. So we started doing that ourselves in high school, walls of drones with guitars and delay pedals and us screaming into mics." After high school, they separated yet maintained their friendships and individually explored different artists and genres sharing them with one another and learning from them seeing where they could take their music next. College turned out to be a difficult period for the four, but in time they reunited in New York City and continued to experiment together, growing closer as friends and evolving as musicians.

From 2000 to 2003 the band released 4 studio albums, "Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished", "Danse Manatee", "Campfire Songs" and "Here Comes the Indian". The first three were released under the names of the specific members who worked on them. ("Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished" under Avey Tare and Panda Bear, "Danse Manatee" under Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist, and "Campfire Songs" under Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin.) The impractical length of their names, the constant change of members bewteen projects in combination with the raw, animalistic element in their music led to the name Animal Collective. By this time in their career, their live shows were not just four guys playing instruments on stage but more of a high-energy musical experience. Many were immediately entranced by their almost shamanistic performances where they completely let go physically, vocally and mentally. They would wear animal masks to represent each of their individual names and personas and had no limits when it came to screaming and heavily moving with their music on stage. Deakin described the masks less as a theatrical element but more as something they did for themselves to establish that they were in a "special space". In recent years they no longer play live shows with their masks but still deliver an intense ride with every performance.

Since 2004 they have released "Sung Tongs" (2004), "Feels" (2005), "Strawberry Jam" (2007), "Merriweather Post Pavillion" (2009) with collaborations and EP's in between as well as their 53 minute visual album "ODDSAC". To delve into the history behind each album would take a much more extensive essay and would not satisfy the purpose of this particular post. So if you'd like to learn more here is a very descriptive article about their evolution as a band. 

What I would like to focus on is the unique quality of Animal Collective's music and their ability to capture sensations, texture and color through their sound and vivid imagery in their lyrics. I will begin with a section of the following song "Did You See the Words". It is the first track from their 2005 release "Feels" (My personal favorite.) which all four were a part of.

 

  

 The song begins with a low drone over sounds of children laughing. Mellow guitar accompanied by a haunting piano riff takes you into a peaceful, atmospheric haze that is continuously felt throughout the album. Avey Tare begins to sing quiet with excitement, almost in a secretive tone: 

Have you seen them?
The words cut open
Your poor intestines
Can’t deny
When the inky periods drip from your mailbox and
Blood flies, dip and glide, reach down inside
Grab inside
There’s something living in these lines...

And when your newest kisser is peeking
You dress yourself up tonight
Get all tangled up in arms and legs, it’s cramped up and
Someone grabs a hold, do you go oh oh oh!?
Should you go home?
There's something starting, don’t know why...

The calmness is broken with a sudden movement in the melody along with the lyrics "reach down inside", almost taking you through the progression of his thoughts like a wave, reaching down inside with him. In the second verse, which I believe is describing the elation you feel with a new love, that same wave of melodic motion repeats itself with "Some one grabs a hold do you go oh!?" perfectly capturing that sensation of surprise when the one you love touches you (emotionally or physically) for the first time, sparking an attraction. "Should you go home? There's something starting don't know why." continues this enthusiasm and an excitement of a new beginning and not knowing what it brings. Then the song builds and gains intensity as Avey's vocals raise in volume and emotion:

And in a house so cozy
Few words are spoken
Let’s take our shoes off and unwind
When there’s minuets off in the background drowning out
Eyes off, ears off, test the kiss goodnight
A kiss goodnight
Dont keep my loving on my mind.

The way this song intensifies through each thought in the lyrics is just one example of how Animal Collective utilizes every element of a song to not only allow the listener to understand the song but to make them physically feel it. In many interviews, they have expressed that they often take their perceptions of sound, weather, colors, imagery and emotions and write music that can bring that perceptive experience to whoever is listening. "Did You See The Words" not only exhibits this experience but also shows the unique train of thought their lyrics almost always take you through.

Here is another song from the same album entitled "Banshee Beat". It maintains the same naturalistic fluidity and earthy mellowness as "Did You See the Words" yet expresses the loss of a strong relationship with another person and the mental storm of memories that follows. "Banshee Beat" begins very slowly expressing meditative thoughts  on the time there will be in the future to mourn the end of their connection. It then quickly enters the flow of events and issues that brought them to the present. The description of specific memories one after another regardless of chronological or linear order represents the natural journey our mind takes when trying to figure out something so impacting like the termination of a relationship.

But I don't wish that I was dead

A very old friend of mine once said
that either way you look at it you have your fits
I have my fits but feeling is good
confusions not a kiddney stone in my brain
but if were miscommunicating do we feel the same?
Then either way you look at it you have your fits
I have my fits but feeling is good
You gotta give a little you gotta get a little bit

The song ends with somber lyrics indicating the defeat of not being able to do anything but move on. Regardless of these melancholy thoughts and frustration, being alive and feeling them in the first place is better than not even being present to experience it at all.

 Despite the fact there is heavy evolution that occurs with their music as every new album is released, Animal Collective continues to maintain the same impact and passion they began with. In "Strawberry Jam" you can hear a greater use of heavier sounding, electronic instruments that contribute to a much more chaotic tone. Once again this air of clashing and hectic fervor is established from the beginning of the album and continued throughout giving each album a world of its own. The continuous chaos within the album is well manifested in the following song "For Reverend Green": 

For Reverend Green

From one moment to a next,
reading in the papers to know what’s best
Sometimes you don’t know yourself,
eating loads of vitamins for your health
From one moment to a next,
red negativity in the street
Maybe it’s the earth, maybe it’s the heat
A baby on the bus smiled at me so easy

A pulse like static bleeds into a bright atonal chord progression and begins the first verse in which Avey speaks of the constant chain of events occurring within each moment in time. Avey maintains a tense, restless voice throughout out the song only becoming more clashing with the instruments accompanying him. He describes the belief that reading a newspaper can inform you of the truth or the belief that a vitamin can satisfy all your body's needs. However, it seems we are unable to look beyond the limits of a newspaper and are unaware of what our own bodies truly require. We attempt to take care of these uncertainties with quick solutions. Then in another moment "red negativity" is present within the city he walks in and he cannot specify a cause. Nevertheless amidst this "red negativity" a baby smiles at him with ease and no knowledge of anything that is happening in his world.

Now I think it’s alright that we’re together
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s the best we’ve ever played it
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s alright to sing together
Now I think that’s a riot
Now I think it’s alright to feel inhuman
Now I think that’s a riot

A running child’s bloody with burning knees
A careless child’s money flew in the trees
A camping child’s happy with winter’s freeze
A lucky child don’t know how lucky she is

With each lyrical progression in the song Avey reflects his rising frustration through his increasingly sharp and loud vocals, almost communicating a sense of needing to let go o escape which seems to be finally met when Avey begins to sing the melody in unison with the music. "For Reverend Green" is an example of Animal Collective's unique and fearless expression of sound regardless of how startling it sounds or how uneasy it makes someone feel. 

Animal Collective has definitely proven that there are no boundaries when it comes to their art. Their complex friendship, their wild imaginations and their passion for expressing every aspect of their being through music has allowed a unique world of their own to flourish. They are a group that has a lot to communicate to the world and more ways than one to do it.

Zef, yo.

+ WATCH BEFORE READING +

 

To a majority of those raised in the Western hemisphere a first glimpse at the video featured above may be quite a culture shock. A mostly unfamiliar dialect, images of lower class South Africa, odd dance moves and a rap flow and subject matter definitely incomparable to most music that seems to be on popular today. Many people reject it claiming it is too strange but I was instantly hooked. This band above, if you didn't catch in the video, is Die Antwoord. They are a rave-rap group from Cape Town, South Africa and they are slowly gaining recognition all over the world. This video was even featured in the Guggenheim, voted in by many artists including Animal Collective into the "YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video exhibit".

The two main members Yo-landi Vi$$er and Waddy Jones, who goes by the name of Ninja, began this project around 2009. What is incredibly interesting about these two art school drop outs is that they have been in the hip-hop scene in South Africa for years developing different personas. But Die Antwoord seem to be their final project. Waddy Jones described it as such, "Ninja is, how can I say, like Superman is to Clark Kent. The only difference is, I don't take off this fokken Superman suit." Watch this interview to get more a feel for who they are.

They rap in Afrikaans, the West Germanic/Dutch language spoken in South Africa. Many of their lyrics reflect so many elements of South African culture that so many people in America have no clue about. Even if one doesn't enjoy their sound you have to respect where they come from and their "zef" style. That's why I was so enthralled by them. Their message is something that isn't found in today's mainstream media. They decided to take the dirty, gritty truth of lower class South Africa and throw it in everyone's face with filthy lyrics, humor and sick beats. I think Die Antwoord is a revolutionary group for much of what music has turned into for the masses today. 

Arcade Fire

Lately you might of heard of a band by the name of Arcade Fire. They recently released their third studio album "The Suburbs" in 2010 which was nominated for three Grammy's including "Best Alternative Music Album", "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals" for "Ready to Start", and "Album of the Year". Along with these nominations they were also asked to perform at the Grammy's. Although they seem to be growing popularity now, this group of musicians have been building a strong fan base since their first studio album "Funeral" released in 2004. Their music has always communicated a strong sense of urgency and loss of innocence through aging along with being raised in suburbia. 

These themes are first echoed in the song, "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" off of their first album "funeral".  What at first may seem like a song about two lovers on opposite parts of town changes to a commentary on how so many aspects of our childhood and young love fall apart as we get older and all the things we held close to us become irrelevant.  This is best exemplified in the lyrics,

" Then we tried to name our babies

But we forgot all the names that

The names we used to know". 

I believe that since they've forgotten the names that they've always wanted to name their children they in turn have lost their own innocence and that the name of the babies signifies all the aspects of youthfulness that they have lost. 

The following lines show how as we move forward in life many aspects that one holds to be important such as family begin to be erased.  The lyrics are as follows: 

"But sometimes, we remember our bedrooms

And our parent's bedrooms

And the bedrooms of our friends

Then we think of our parents

Well, what ever happened to them"

These lines can be interpreted in a couple of ways which all connect. For one it can be seen as an older person discussing memories from along and as the memories progress they revert back to the basics.  In this case it's shown in the form of the parents. As you remember and discuss all these parts of your life you go back to your parents and wonder what their lives have become since you've left.  Along with that comes all of the layers that your life and their life consisted while living with them. Arcade Fire seems to resent this aspect of life and calls for us to stay young at heart before it becomes jaded.