Dad's Weekend: Time to Throwback

For those non-U of I students reading this, let me preface this entry by explaining the chaos of dad's weekend. The fact that the university has to split parents' visits into Dad's Weekend (in the fall) and Mom's Weekend (in the spring) should shed a little light on the fact that these weekends tend to get a little rowdy. Picture it: a bunch of middle-aged men back at college, reliving their glory days as notorious partiers. Whether they're hitting the bars with their children or with each other, the dad's like to have a good time.
Now, you may be thinking, how does a bunch of dad's getting drunk at college relate to music? Well, it does. It brings up the issue of the music the bars decide to bust out that weekend. I doubt these fellas would enjoy hearing about being fly "like a G6" or how Enrique Iglesias "likes it," so what music does dear old dad want to listen to? Personally, my pops tends to be more of a Frank Sinatra/Rat Pack fan, stuck in the glory days of piano bars. But that's not to say that he doesn't enjoy some good dance music. However, his idea of "dance music" is disco hall tunes such as Laura Branigan and Donna Summer.
So how do we bridge the generation gap? I will admit that I do - on occasion - enjoy listening to his tunes, but it's doubtful to say that all of Firehaus (a campus bar) would. One song in particular, Don't Stop Beleivin' by Journey, gathered the attention of the majority of bar-goers. As I belted out the lyrics with my roommate and other friends, my dad tapped my shoulder and asked "Who sings this?" I looked at him incredulously, expecting him to be singing along with me. But it seemed that the only ones singing along were the college students and the younger generation of dads. This raised a question (in my mind) of what "throwback" songs have been played at bars on campus. For out generation, throwbacks might consist of songs by NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Spice Girls, all 90's pop music. I can't count the number of times I've heard songs such as "Dirty Pop" by NSYNC or "Faded" by soulDecision played while out and people go nuts. While I can't imagine my dad - or any of the dads out this past weekend - getting excited over some has-been 90's boy band, I am glad that my dad and I share a (rather limited) selection of music that we can enjoy together.

Taylor Swift: Speak Now

So it's been a couple weeks since the release of the CD, but Taylor Swift, teen country-pop singer, has released a new album titled "Speak Now." You know what that means, teenage girls are going to constantly be referencing her lyrics and how Taylor "writes about their lives." Because let's face it, who else can relate to (the majority of) her songs besides teenage girls? Teenage boys? Nope. I'm sure they don't care about kissing in the rain and waiting for that "special someone" they just met to knock on their door, telling them they were enchanted to meet them. Don't get me wrong, I love Taylor Swift's music just as much as any other teenage girl out there, but that's because her audience is (most likely) 95% females between the ages of 12 and 25.
The coming of a new Taylor Swift album also means that someone new that broke her heart is going to get called out via song. This time's hit: John Mayer. With lyrics such as "And I lived in your chess game but you changed the rules everyday, wonderin’ which version of you I might get on the phone, tonight" and "And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand and I'll look back in regret how I ignored when they said
 'run as fast as you can’" no one can deny that this girl can write a song that cuts to the core.
So what have we learned so far? That you should never break Taylor Swift's heart because she will write a song about you and that her primary fan base is teenage girls. But strictly talking about her music, I can't help but admit that I've heard these songs before. Every album has the same topics: falling in love, heartbreak, getting revenge, growing up, and living in a fairy tale. Her newest album, however, deals with more mature topics than past ones, such as moving out, marriage, and paying bills. But one can't help but think if she acts too wise for her age. After all, she is only 20 years old. She sings "It's okay, life is a tough crowd, 32 and still growin' up now, who you are is not what you did, you're still an innocent," but what does she know about being 32 years old? Perhaps I'm just reading too far into this, but I hope I'm not the only one that thinks she isn't in the best position to be doling out this advice.
To get one thing straight: I am a Taylor Swift fan. I know it may not seem like it in this entry, but I am. She manages to sing about (relatively) the same topics over and over again yet still produce music that will stick in your head for weeks. It's been 2 weeks since the album was released, and I've probably listened to it 20 times. So what does that say about Taylor Swift as an artist? She has a sound that is her own and she stays true to that. What does that mean for her future? Are we going to look forward to her next few albums to be strikingly similar to her previous ones? I say as long as she can produce catchy songs that people will fawn over, the more power to her.

What Is a Lemonworld?

I'll be the first to admit that my musical library is significantly expanding since my roommate, Sarah, met a boy who works for the radio station here on campus. He recommends artists to her, she plays them while in the apartment, and I in turn start to like what she's playing. Our newest discovery is The National, a Brooklyn-based band formed in 1999. The first song Sarah recommended was titled "Lemonworld," and to say that I became obsessed upon first listen would be an understatement. I'm not sure if it's the opening chords or the lyrics which give the song a haunting feeling, but being in the spirit of Halloween I'm all for it. The question of "What exactly is a Lemonworld?" arose when the lead singer and songwriter Matt Berninger sung the words "you and your sister live in a Lemonworld." I think a natural reaction would be to ask that exact question and wonder how exactly one would come to live in a Lemonworld. I'm not sure why, but the first thing that came to mind was that living in a Lemonworld was something similar to viewing things through rose colored glasses. Then I thought that maybe it something to do with a lemon being bright and colorful on the outside but sour within.
To find the answer to this pressing question, I took to the oh-so reliable world of the internet. Pretty soon though I found the answer I was looking for. A website called songfacts.com had a direct quote from Berninger.

A Lemonworld is an invented, sexy, weird place where you can escape from New York. I had some image of it being a big beautiful, maybe semi-decrepit house. You know the documentary Grey Gardens? It's set in a house out in the Hamptons, it's about this crazy mother and daughter who live there in their own little world. It's also very depressing and odd and beautiful. Anyways, I had this sense of a Lemonworld as a place where these two sexy sisters who wear bathing suits all the time and drink a lot, y'know, 'put flowers in my mouth and we can say we invented a summer lovin' torture party' – that's awesome! That's sexy, weird, and fun. My wife and her sister are very close in age, they're both hilarious and sexy and brilliant, so I think I was channeling them a little bit. It's a fun world.

After reading the words direct from the man who wrote the song, I couldn't imagine how it wasn't obvious before that this was what a Lemonworld was. Despite the fact that I have never seen or even heard of the documentary which he speaks of, I immediately pictured what he was talking about. An old Victorian house with enormous wrap around porches which looks perfect from far away but upon closer look you can see all the cracks and paint chips. Surrounding the house is a vast yard both in front and back, the grass as green as a Christmas tree. In this Lemonworld there's no such thing as not laughing or not being as carefree as you can. And in imagining this world, the listener slowly fades into it, leaving whatever surroundings they are currently in (mine being the Undergraduate Library) and just feeling at peace.

Discovery of the Week: Mumford & Sons

After five seconds of being in the car with my mom and sister with my newest CD playing, my sister's first words were "I feel like I'm at an Irish folk dance." That "Irish folk dance" music was Mumford & Sons, a "British folk rock band" according to Wikipedia; the particular song was titled "Sigh No More."
Flashback to a week ago at the library: I'm sitting at the library across from my roommate. It was at this time that I was introduced to the band Mumford & Sons since my roommate, Sarah, had just sent me a link to the song "Little Lion Man." I'll be honest, the opening strumming completely captivated me the second the music hit my ears. And if that hadn't drawn me in, the accented voice of the lead singer Marcus Mumford would have had me hooked (I'm a sucker for British accents, what girl isn't?).
Fast forward to present time: I'm sitting at home listening to Mumford & Sons as I write this. After I played their CD in my car all weekend. After I listened to the CD the entire 3 hour drive back to Chicago from Champaign (I 57 traffic added an extra 45 minutes to my travels but I was happy to have more time to restart the CD). In the words of the band's banjo player Country Wilson, "What we write about is real, and we sing and play our instruments more passionately cos we feel like we need to. We love honest music." And that's exactly what comes across in their music. Whether the song be upbeat or slow and dramatic, you can hear the pure, unadulterated emotion straining through the speakers.

Kid Cudi: Mr. Rager.

This is my first entry on here, and I figured what better way to start off my blog than with an entry about Kid Cudi and my experience at his concert here in Champaign on Tuesday, October 5th. The 26 year older has released 3 albums since 2008, each with several hits. I'm sure we all can recall his first major single being Day 'N' Night, or at least that's the way I remember it. At the point of the song's release, that's all it was to me, a hit song by a rapper I had never heard of before. However, I attended Lollapalooza in the summer of 2009, at to my surprise Kid Cudi was performing at the Perry stage that year, a stage dedicated to rap, dance, house, and electronica music. During the time slot that Kid Cudi, or as he has commonly been referred to, Cudi, was playing, there wasn't really another artist that I was passionate about seeing, so my friends and I headed to the Perry stage. It was at this time that I realized Kid Cudi was going to be known as more than just "the guy who raps Day 'N" Night." And here I am, over a year later, writing a blog entry specifically about him and the recent concert of his I attended.
Let me just say, before I talk about the actual concert, I will take time to mention the incredible hype this concert got. And yes, it's true that any big performer that comes to U of I will receive their fair share of hype, but for weeks before the concert all I heard was "Are you going to Kid Cudi?" or ""How excited are you for Kid Cudi?!" The amount of talking people did in anticipation of the show should serve to demonstrate how this campus warmly welcomed the performer. And it's not just this campus in particular - Kid Cudi is an artist that college students nation wide devote their time listening to. That being said, weeks before the concert, my roommate and I went into a Kudi craze - at all hours of the day, Kid Cudi's music could be heard playing from either one of our - if not both - rooms.
As for the concert itself, I was less than underwhelmed by the special guest. To be honest, I didn't actually get to the concert until 20 or so minutes before Kid Cudi performed. But I can assure you that when he came out on the stage, there was not a silent person in the crowd, and everyone was up on their feet, moving and signing to the songs. My seats were not by any means good or close, (section C what up) but that's not to say that I didn't have a good time and enjoy the concert. When it comes down to it, Kid Cudi's music is about being with friends and having a good time (and being "up, up and away, if you catch my drift), and I can guarantee you that that's exactly what everyone was doing - having a good time while listening to good music.