George Lewis Jr. has a lot to hang his hat on. Twin Shadow, his stage persona, has maintained a strong presence in the indie pop scene for the past five years. "Forget" (2010), his debut album, introduced listeners to his unique booming voice, one infused with a confidence and masculinity ...
The past few years have been kind to Andy Grammer: after riding sugary pop singles like “Keep Your Head Up”(2011), “Fine By Me”(2011) and this winter’s “Honey I’m Good”(2014) to the top of the Billboard charts, the singer-songwriter-producer is selling out headline tours around the country.Before playing at House of Blues in Boston on March 19 as part of his tour, alongside fellow headliner Alex & Sierra, Grammer caught up with the Daily to discuss honesty, the writing process and his roots as a street performer.
Courtney Barnett’s “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit," released March 23, starts with a story of a man who cut work to go watch the world from the top of a skyscraper. Barnett speaks from his perspective: "I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly / I come up here for perception and clarity / I like to imagine I'm playing SimCity." There isn’t any sting or irony to the song; it’s simply the story of a man “idling insignificantly.” These words capture the entire essence of the Australian singer-songwriter's garage rock album. It’s an album full of stories about the mundane and inconsequential. The beauty of Barnett’s work, however, is in the way she captures the ordinary -- with shades of complexity, empathy and half-humored boredom.
Growing up in rural Maine, I have spent many hours with my dad chopping and sawing firewood. Although I enjoy the work, I am also aware of the danger. One slip, and my ax might miss the chopping block, slicing through my lower leg. Or my saw might miss its groove in the wood, jump out and cut my arm ...
With an intimacy that is at times both jarring and comforting, Sufjan Stevens once again lets listeners into his private, imperfect world, allowing flaws to shine through to create an album with dimension and honesty. On his seventh studio album, “Carrie & Lowell,” released March 27, Stevens spends 43 minutes addressing themes of his youth and dissecting family relationships with a calculated hand that is often unforgiving in the portraits it paints. The album cover itself features a photo of Stevens’ mother and stepfather, and he spends the majority, if not the entirety, of the album delving into the relationships he had with both. Most specifically, the album addresses Stevens' complex relationship with his mother, who died of stomach cancer in 2012.
Hong Kong Restaurant, which is a stone's throw away from the Harvard red line stop, was nearly empty on a Sunday evening -- not an unusual occurrence for a restaurant in Boston. It should be noted, however, that Hong Kong Restaurant was considerably less busy than its restaurant neighbors. ...
Mimicking the architecture of a Venetian Palazzo, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum exudes an air of opulence. Masked by an unassuming modern outer structure, the original foundation lies beyond the concrete and glass barrier.The transparent concourse linking the modern architecture with the retrofitted ...
For those underclassmen who have not heard, there was quite the mix-up that happened a few days ago involving Tufts seniors and social media. Particularly, a bunch of Tufts seniors were mysteriously invited to the Facebook event for the Rice University Senior Gala.Now, in case you don’t know, Rice ...
The unaware student may have been slightly confused upon walking into Barnum 008 this past week, as there were some rather unusual course descriptions scrawled onto the blackboard at the front of the room. "Doctor John Faustus, Magical Arts 024, Barnum 008, Office: Aidekman 666, TA: Klaus Wagner" ...
As a lover of different styles of music, Chaz Bundick experiments with countless genres and creates records that are collective. As he has expressed in many interviews, Bundick likes to practice music as a “hobby,” which leads him to produce different styles of albums under different names. Clearly, Bundick has a lot on his plate with his versatile career as a composer, producer and recording artist. However, his upcoming release, "What For?" (April 7), his fourth album under the name Toro y Moi, comes right after the release of his dance record as Les Sins, showing just how productive and prolific he is. As a professional producer, Bundick does not follow the trend of collaborating with all his friends on the records he makes. Instead, he prefers to stay in his studio and create unique records by experimenting with different sounds. Though he includes traces of chillwave on his new album, Bundick doesn’t cease to experiment with different styles -- on "What For?" he chooses to explore indie pop sounds. With each subsequent album, Toro y Moi develops his sound and adds onto what he has already produced. Just as expected, “What For?” builds onto Chaz Bundick’s previous records and presents a unique collection of different genres.
Earl Sweatshirt is moving his music into the future at the perfect speed: a lagging creep that forces listeners to slow down and swallow every word. His rhymes are as slow as molasses, but without an ounce of sweetness, stripped of sugar and drenched in acid. The psychedelic feel of his backing instrumentation balances out the raw intensity of his rhymes and, on the whole, Earl Sweatshirt composes a layered, complex and demanding album.
Any chronic bookworm will understand the feeling you experience when you’re out of new books to read. The craving for a new story is too much to bear for very long, so a trip to the bookstore is necessary. I go through books like there’s no tomorrow, so I’m shopping for new reads every few weeks. When you step into the store, you take in shelf after shelf stocked with unread stories, each one begging you to pick it up. But how do you find your next book? Fear not, dear readers, for I have a handy step-by-step guide just for you!
While everyone remembers Ringo Starr as the affable drummer of The Beatles, he is also generally considered the least important member of the band. This may be a fair characterization; his contributions to the Beatles’ repertoire -- from “Yellow Submarine” (off “Revolver,” 1966) to “Octopus’s ...
This past Monday evening, March 30, esteemed alumni Reed Krakoff (LA '86) visited Tufts and spoke to an audience of alumni and students. As part of the Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series, Krakoff came to Tufts to discuss his experiences in the fashion industry and to provide insights into ...
Looking to make your weekend artsy? Check out these events!
The beauty of dilapidation reveals the cyclical nature of life. As the grandiose is detached from the grand, each component is shown in its singular form. The seamlessness of creation is fractured, unmasking the creator’s artifice. Life is seen as it is: unfiltered and unaware.Capturing the subtle ...
Chris Hnin launched a documentary centered around one fundamental question: What does it mean to be a woman in her hometown of Yangon, Myanmar?The answer lies in the dozens of interviews, relationships and stories that Chris, a sophomore, uncovered as she traveled home last summer to produce her documentary ...
Campus swanster Marcella Hastings is honing her creativity yet again. Luckily, all of the Tufts community will have a chance to participate in her latest enterprise tonight, April 2, at the Crane Room, where Hastings is set to host a silent rave. This is no April Fool’s joke; this dance party ...
Brandon Flowers, the singer best known as the sultry front man of The Killers, released the first single on March 30 from his upcoming album, “The Desired Effect,”set for release on May 19 in the United States. Bold and infectious, “Can’t Deny My Love” is a logical next step for Flowers, whose new wave and synth pop influences have been creeping into The Killers’ music since the band's debut in the early 2000s.
Graduation seems to be right around the corner. While everyone else on campus must be worrying about registering for classes next semester (that’s happening soon, right?) I am, along with the rest of the senior class, starting to realize that there are fewer than 50 days remaining until we’ve left ...
