By: Enoch Whitaker Welcome to the fifth edition of New Music Friday, where I will be reviewing the most notable releases from last Friday. This includes albums, EPs, and singles from a variety of musical genres. After listening to each project a couple times, I will give my personal thoughts and opinions on it, then a score out of 10. This week I will be reviewing “ROADRUNNER,” the latest album from Hip-Hop/R&B collective Brockhampton, and “Shy Away,” a single by alternative band, Twenty-One Pilots.
To kick off this issue of New Music Friday, we have the latest album from Brockhampton, “ROADRUNNER.” This is the first album from Texas based collective in over two years, with the last album being titled “Ginger.” I was very excited to see what Brockhampton would do on this record because, over their last couple albums, they have slowly gotten less experimental and gone more in a basic direction. I got my answer for my question almost immediately as the opening track “BUZZCUT” has a very experimental beat and “in your face” sound. The heavy bass slowly fades away the longer you listen and it seems to unravel itself into a beautiful outro. The next song that catches my attention the most is “Bankroll” featuring A$AP Rocky. It also has fantastic production and the featuring is top tier from A$AP. Further down the album you find “The Light,” another very enjoyable listen. It features an instrumental layered with synths that I can’t help thinking that Sir Elton John played it himself. There are more songs I did enjoy on this record but those were just the most notable to me. I personally was really pleased with what Brockhampton did with this album sonically. They did have many great songs on this album and were better than most of their other records from the past. I still have this album on repeat and will for the coming days or even weeks. Overall, I am feeling an eight out of ten on “ROADRUNNER” and would definitely recommend it for a listen. The other release from last Friday that I will be reviewing as previously mentioned is “Shy Away” by Twenty-One Pilots. This is the first new piece of music from Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn in just about a year, and it serves as a teaser track to their upcoming Sixth Studio Album, “Scaled and Icy.” This track wasn’t what I was expecting from the duo. Twenty-One Pilots is no stranger to changing up their styles and they have often dipped their toes into about every single genre of music there is. I have listened to some of their previous works, but this seems to be a little differential with some similarities. It is the same guitar band that we have seen in the past with the same drum hits but more of an indie sound. Tyler Joseph's voice seems to fit this type of sound great and the two of them seem really comfortable on it. There’s not too much to say about this track as it is pretty basic and nothing too crazy, but that is what makes it so good. Overall, I am feeling a seven out of ten on “Shy Away” and I would recommend it. This week we had a lot of highs when it comes to new music being released. From Brockhampton’s fantastic new album to the indie highs of “Shy Away”, there was plenty of great music released last Friday. I would like to thank you for reading the latest edition of New Music Friday and I hope to see you next time.
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By: Madisen Child Welcome back to the sixth installment of “This Day In History,” where we feature a prominent event, birth, and death from one day spanning all of human history. Today, we are focused on April 28.
Event: Billy the Kid was an infamous criminal in the “Wild West” era of American history. He was born William Henry McCarty in 1859, though his exact date of birth is disputed. McCarty was orphaned at age 15 after his mother died of tuberculosis and his father abandoned him. His crimes started only a year later when he was caught stealing laundry from Sarah Brown, who had let him stay with her in exchange for work. From then on, his crimes only escalated. He quickly gained a reputation as an outlaw, including an alleged 21 murders. It was today, in 1881, that McCarty escaped from Lincoln County Jail in London, New Mexico. He had been incarcerated for the murder of a sheriff during the Lincoln County War. Unfortunately for the young desperado, Sheriff Pat Garrett would catch up with him at Fort Sumner on July 14 that same year and he’d be shot to death. Death: Italy often gets overlooked for their role as an Axis Power in World War II. The Nazis of Germany and America’s personal grudge with Japan after Pearl Harbor left little room for them in the eyes of history, it seems. However, Italy was suffering with its own problems during the war. Benito Mussolini was the Fascist dictator of Italy that worked alongside Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo. After Allied troops invaded Italy in April 1945, Mussolini and his mistress escaped to Switzerland with the intention to go to Spain. Two days after their escape, they were stopped, identified, and arrested. The next day, April 28, they were shot to death with fifteen other members of the Italian Social Republic. Their bodies were kicked, spit on, hung upside down from an Esso gas station roof, and stoned by civilians. Birth: Terry Pratchett was an English humorist, satirist, and author who wrote over 41 novels. One well-known novel is his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, “Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch,” known mostly as just “Good Omens.” The story is a comedy about the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley attempting to sabotage the apocalypse, as well as a “Switched at Birth” esque subplot involving the Antichrist and a normal human child. The book has since been turned into a TV series, released in 2019. Pratchett was born as Sir Terrence David John Pratchett on April 28, 1948. He was born to David and Eileen Pratchett in Beaconsfield, England as their only child. Pratchett would grow up to be an extremely gifted individual. His story “The Hades Business” would become his first commercially published story when he was only 15. By: Enoch Whitaker Welcome to the fourth edition of New Music Friday, where I will be reviewing the most notable releases from last Friday. This includes albums, EPs, and singles from a variety of musical genres. After listening to each project a couple times, I will give my personal thoughts and opinions on it, then a score out of 10. This week I will be reviewing “El Dorado,” the latest album from Califronia Rapper/Singer 24kGoldn, and “Montero,” a single by Georgia Native, Lil Nas X.
To start off this week's edition of New Music Friday, we have the debut album of rising artist 24kGoldn. The album is titled “El Dorado” and has a run time of just under 40 minutes. To give some insight into his past, the Califronia songwriter first blew up a year ago with his first two viral singles: “Valentino” and “City of Angels.” Shortly after, he then dropped his first mixtape titled “Dropped Outta College” which was nothing short of average with him showing great potential. Listening to his latest single releases from the past couple months have left me excitedly waiting for this album to come out. Sadly though, I did not find this album to be what I was hoping to hear. On “El Dorado” it feels like 24kGoldn is confused on what he wants to be, musically speaking. A week or two back, the California artist self proclaimed that he was better than “more than half of the rappers in the game.” With that bold statement one would think that this album would be a very rap-centered album, but that isn't true. Pulling up the album on Apple Music and Spotify, it is listed under the “Pop” genre. I would have no problem with that if it actually was the case. Just about a half of these songs are way more rap than they are pop. In my opinion, 24kGoldn is a much better popstar than he will ever be a rapper, and I mainly enjoy the pop songs on the album. 24kGoldn seems to be trying to entertain both audiences and it makes this album worse than if he just stuck with one sound. I’d like to sum up this album with an old saying: “If you hunt two rabbits at once, you end up losing both.” Overall, I am feeling a solid five on “El Dorado” by 24kGoldn. The second review for this week is “Montero” by Lil Nas X. The Georgia artist first blew up with his 2019 record breaking single “Old Town Road.” Since then, he has released one EP and several singles, all to high critical acclaim. To give some history about this song, it was first teased in June 2020, going by the name “Call Me By Your Name.” The song seems to take inspiration from the 2017 romance film going by the same name. It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that he told his audience that one, he would be releasing the song soon and two, that the new title would be “Montero,” which is also the artist's first name. Now it is time to talk about the actual song itself, which to no surprise, Lil Nas X delivers again. The track starts off with some angelic harp-like cords that set the foundation of the instrumental. The instrumental then continues to layer itself with some potent guitars and drums. The singing on the track by Lil Nas is not anything spectacular and seems to be sub-par at some points, but it doesn’t really affect the track in a negative way at all. The lyrics are set up in a very simple way with an intro, a chorus, a verse, a chorus, and then the song is over. That is what is most commonly found in music these days and it can seem a little repetitive. Despite those couple of complaints, I still really enjoy this single. Lil Nas X seems really confident and comfortable on this song, and in my opinion it was well worth the wait. I am feeling a strong eight on “Montero” by Lil Nas X. This week we had a lot of highs and lows when it comes to new music being released. From 24kGoldn’s underwhelming album to the flying highs of “Montero”, there was plenty of great music released last Friday. I would like to thank you for reading the latest edition of New Music Friday and I hope to see you next time. By: Madisen Child Welcome back to the fifth installment “This Day In History,” where we feature a prominent event, birth, and death from one day spanning all of human history. Today, we are focused on April 14.
Death: George Fridric Handel was a famous German composer active in the early to mid 1700s. Handel is responsible for composing The Messiah, a two and a half hour long biblical chorus. The most famous portion, or at least most recognizable, is the Hallelujah chorus. This chorus has been played in many movies, usually in comedic settings during triumphant moments. A little known fact about this chorus has to do with the old tradition of standing as it is sung. The story goes that King George II stood during this part of the song, most likely to stretch his legs. Since he was the king, the rest of the audience followed. The rest was history. Handel died in London at 74 years old. He died of a stroke and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Event: Detective fiction, such as the stories of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, is a widespread genre. Although Sherlock may be the most well known detective, he definitely wasn’t the first. In 1841, Edgar Allen Poe published a book called “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” It featured a detective named Dupin who investigated the murders of two women, Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter. “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and the adventures of Dupin isn’t a long series. In fact it’s only classified as a short story. With this story, Poe paved the way for a new brand of fiction. Since then, it’s only grown. Birth: Robert Carlyle is a Scottish actor who started work in 1990 and is still active today. Carlyle was born in 1961 to Elizabeth and Joseph Carlyle in Glasgow, United Kingdom. He has featured in many movies and TV shows over the years, some more recognizable than others. One such show is Once Upon a Time, which ran from 2011 to 2018. It is a dramatic fantasy series about fairytale characters from all kinds of stories. Carlyle plays Rumpelstiltskin, also known as Mr. Gold. Gold has a knack for throwing a wrench, or maybe a dagger in his case, into other people’s plans for his own gain. Some hate him for it while others love him for it. Either way, many will agree that Robert Carlyle does an excellent job portraying Mr. Gold as well as his other characters. |
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