Author Archive for Nick Rizzuto
Drexel’s Best Dance Crew Recap
Friday night in the Main Auditorium, as part of CAB’s Spring Jam events,aspiring dance crews gathered together to compete for the title of Drexel’s Best Dance Crew. Along with the treacherous competition, MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew season four winners, We Are Heroes, visited and performed for the audience and competing dance crews.
M.I.A.’s Newest Controversy – Ginger Genocide in “Born Free”
M.I.A. sent out dozens of tweets to Pitchfork’s almost 1.5 million followers throughout the day, but nothing had quite as much of an impact as the release of the ten-minute long video for “Born Free”. I won’t get into much commentary in case you haven’t seen it, but I’m telling you that it is nothing short of classic. Controversial, bloody, gory – essentially the movie The Hurt Locker plus redheaded young men plus genocide. Consider this sentence my disclaimer though: you will be disturbed! I would advise against watching the video at work and against watching it at all if you do not respond well to gore.
Lollapalooza 2010!
Other must see acts include blog favorite Grizzly Bear, who are four incredible multi-instrumentalists that are sure put on one of the finest exhibits of musical talent of the festival. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, who’s album Up From Below is currently number 9 on the Billboard Heatseeker’s Chart, also promise a fantastic show with their ridiculous antics which first caught my eye here on Letterman. B.o.B. whose song “Nothin’ On You” is currently number two on Billboard will be there this year, as will indie act MGMT to support their new album Congratulations (Drexelist review coming soon!). Other lesser known notables include The XX, Wild Beasts, Hockey, The Soft Pack, Dirty Projectors, Yeasayer, Hot Chip, The Morning Benders, Dragonette and Miniature Tigers. You can hear some of these acts best songs below via LaLa.
Danger Danger! Dinosaur Feathers Go on Display This Friday!
After expressing my fan-boy appreciation for the band, I asked something that I couldn’t really get an answer for by the band’s Myspace or Facebook. In case you don’t follow indie rock as religiously as I do, in the last couple of years or so, there has been an amazing scene growing in Brooklyn. There’s really no better place to be right now if you’re a musician. Also, there are a lot of incredibly interesting musical trends going on in Brooklyn-based music right now – which include tendencies for African rhythms, noodly guitars, and Beach Boy-like harmonies. However, Dinosaur Feathers seems to put all of these elements together into a summery rock context that hasn’t really been done before.
Donovan McNabb Traded to Redskins
By Jeffrey Danziger Donovan McNabb was traded to the Washington Redskins on Sunday for the fifth pick of the second-round in this years upcoming draft, as well as a conditional third- and fourth-round pick in next years draft. McNabb will largely be recognized as one of the greatest quarterback in Philadelphia Eagles history, and arguably the [...]
Spring comes to Drexel with help from musical guests
Spring comes to Drexel with help from musical guests! CAB announces Spring Jam artists for 2010 concert PHILADELPHIA (April 1, 2010) – Campus Activities Board announced the selected artists to perform at their annual Spring Jam concert. The two artists slated to perform are Kevin Rudolf and N.E.R.D. Spring Jam 2010 will take place on [...]
Copyright Controversy Over Gorillaz’ New Single “Stylo”
At the end of the day, music is just a series of notes that are thrown together in random combinations with the hopes of sounding good. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, if you think about it. As a musician myself, I know that I’ve drawn inspiration from other songs. I’ve studied and applied certain chord progressions here and there but I’ve always made a song my own. Also, as copyright holder of “Time Warp,” Grant, by law, only owns the melody and lyrics of the song. However, “Time Warp” lacks lyrics and so the only component of the song he really ‘owns’ is the synth melody, which he is accusing the Gorillaz of stealing. I’ll admit, the resemblance to “Time Warp” and the synth at the 39 second mark of “Stylo” makes for a convincing argument that the Gorillaz plagiarized – even if they do drop the riff about two octaves. However, I’ll also say that the Gorillaz have proven time and time again that they can be successful through their own originality. Why stop trying now?
Lady GaGa “Telephone” – Pop Culture Phenomenon
Lady GaGa’s highly anticipated video for her collaboration with Beyonce was released to E! on Thursday night. It had previously been released at 9:30 PM Pacific Time, so tons of people watched it online before its big premiere and at the time this article was written it had already collected almost 10 million views on YouTube. Beyonce and Lady GaGa had previously collaborated on the song “Videophone” and have since seemed to form a bond and friendship. Lady GaGa’s song “Telephone” is her second huge hit from the new reissue of her debut album, The Fame Monster. Compared to her first album, this one has a more daring and dark twist to the stereotypical pop songs one hears on Top 40 radio.
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
“Stylo,” the first single off the new LP, is reminiscent of the 1980s with its synth sounds and bass-heavy beats. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City fans, this is your track. “To Binge” meshes elevator music, dreamy vocals, and hints of the old Gorillaz sound with catchy lyrics about love that sing, “My heart is in economy due to this autonomy.” The album’s namesake track, “Plastic Beach,” is a great example of how the band’s sound is expanding and changing into something that sounds like music from the future (think back to the innovative, technological feel of Radiohead’s In Rainbows or the repertoire of Daft Punk). Mix in songs like “White Flag” which rely on theatrical orchestral melodies to propel them, and you have the Gorillaz third and most recent release.
Museum of Modern Art – Tim Burton Exhibit
Despite this progression, throughout all of Burton’s work there is a sinister style that is distinctly him – even in the artist’s earliest work. His work is not frightening in a typical blood-and-guts horror way. It is much more dark and subtle, with an underlying criticism of society beneath the twisted humor on the surface. All of his pieces view the world through this cynical lens. My favorite series involved clever literal interpretation of common phrases such as “Holding Hands,” “Enjoying Each Others’ Limbs,” and “Undressing with Your Eyes”. Respectively they featured a couple holding severed hands; eating each other’s limbs; and demonic eyes with claws undressing a woman.
