There are people in the world right now who are celebrating Mardi Gras instead of frantically trying to finish essays that were due two days ago. Maybe I’ll go to NOLA’s.
CHROMEO — “Night by Night” — as described by sasha perigo
Perhaps influenced by the totally retro black light bowling party that was my dorm’s Saturday Screw-Your-Roo extravaganza, I’m feeling the disco vibes this week. Hopefully the electrofunk beats of the always exciting Chromeo duo can inspire the Week 9 study grind!
LUDACRIS — “Growing Pains” — as described by makshya tolbert
I’m sitting at Philz bobbing my head up and down, up and down to the beat of this song. When the beat comes in, I’m like, “Wait this song is so old” and I’m right – this song has thirteen years to its name. My first thought is that I don’t know how to reconcile how disparate these two communities seem – I’m trying to fit in at Philz while Ludacris, Keon Bryce, and Fate Wilson are trading verses that take you to the block, whether you know it or not. The song switches off from Fate Wilson and Ludacris writing certain streets, telling us how to “hang with the big boys and play with the big toys” and then to the smooth vocals of Keon Bryce who breaks from the verses and reminds me that we used to listen to hip-hop and R&B at the same time! Also, hip-hop with the sounds of kids in the background is great. The song is almost over now, and I’m realizing that even if you never listened to Ludacris and aren’t feeling his lyrics, this beat is pretty damn good. My head is still bobbing and I don’t even care about fitting in at Philz anymore.
PAROV STELAR — “Booty Swing” — as described by alejandra salazar
Electroswing: a subgenre you didn’t even know you wanted until—bam! The static vinyl noise and the piano and then the beat and the trumpet and the cymbals and the who-knows-what-else that comes though, looping in and out and wow—if my sentences are incoherent or incomplete right now, it’s because I’m listening to this on repeat and it’s just too catchy to properly focus on anything else. Just listen on repeat, guys, listen to Parov Stelar, don your sharpest outfit, walk in tune to the electrifying brass, and don’t let the week 9 doldrums get you down.
LEMONADE — “Vivid” — as described by bojan srb
This song makes me feel like I’m lost in some post-apocalyptic temple overgrown with irradiated (maybe even glow-in-the-dark) ivy, trying to track down the other remaining living human. Something about this song’s so-out-it’s-in, overdone echoes works for me. All it takes is to be told: ‘skin so hard rules the wild’ and I am taken to that other place. Judging by the fact that I have this shit on loop, you should discern that I never wanna leave.
JANIS JOPLIN — Flower In The Sun — as described by adam bowles
“Flower In The Sun” is a track from Joplin’s posthumous live album Joplin In Concert. It’s right groovy. So break out your best hippie dancing moves and rock out to the one & only Queen of Psychedelic Soul.
AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR – “Eunoia / Big Thinks Do Remarkable” – as described by connor kelley
This is some pretty weird shit and I like it. Glasgow-based And So I Watch You From Afar makes crazy math-rock/post-rock that kind of sounds like 1) they were on some weird drugs or 2) they didn’t give a damn what people would think when they were making it. These two tracks start off All Hail Bright Futures, their newest album, and set a great tone for the album. Get into the rage-study vibe!
BLIND MELON — “No Rain” — as described by jake friedler
Last Tuesday, I was quite enjoying my weekly walk across Oxford, marveling at the particularly fine weather. For the first time I could remember, the sun was out in full force, with hardly a cloud in sight. I almost forgot I was in England… how naïve. Not long after I walked in the door of Stanford House (but before I had time to make it through the labyrinth of stairs to my room), the rain was coming down harder and faster than a caffeinated millenial’s fingers on the keys of a laptop. It hadn’t let up by the time I finished my next essay, closed my Macbook, and crawled into bed later that “day,” circa 4:30am. I have learned to appreciate this alternate climate, the way that the puddles gather rain. But I’m over it. Get me back to California, where I first heard this song play from the radio in the backseat of the family car; where long-haired hippies dance with bumblebees in rolling fields of green; where, at least most of the time, there’s no rain.
THE IRREPRESSIBLES — “In This Shirt (remix by Royskopp)” — as described by associate editor brittany newell
It’s like Antony being born on top of an Icelandic glacier in the middle of an electrical storm! Hold your wigs tight to your beautiful heads, lads!
WILEY WEBB — Open (remix) — as described by editor in chief lawrence neil
Wiley Webb (full disclosure: I’m a Wiley Webb groupie) drops this haunting, dreamy, dark remix of Rhye’s single that ate up the music blogosphere last season. It’s heavy. It makes me breathe slower, in shades of indigo and blue.
TUBA FATS’ CHOSEN FEW BRASS BAND — “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” — as described by managing editor alec arceneaux
I miss my home so much.
Happy Mardi Gras, y’all. Eat, drink, be merry, and wish you were in Louisiana right now.
('17, Computer Science) takes herself too seriously. She is enthusiastic about live music, problem solving and social media.
(‘15, American Studies) likes food, music, exercise and poetry.
(‘16, English, Editor-in-Chief) learned most of his English from Cartoon Network. What Bojan cares about: Freud, cities, gazpacho, and you.
(‘17, Undeclared) is from southern West Virginia. He likes adventure, music, and mischief. He is currently undecided about everything.
(‘15, Art History) joins you from the rain-drenched foothills of Duvall, Washington, where there are 3 stoplights and the smell of cow feces wafts through the summer air. He began his foray into the performing arts at age 8, and now studies architectural history and theory (primarily). He also loves avocados.
(‘15, Comparative Literature) grew up in White Suburbia, CA and is still trying to get out. His interests include haiku poetry, long conversations, and the re-mystification of our postmodern wasteland.
(‘16, Culture and Commentary Editor) (also known as Ratty St. John) is in your walls. Her chewing sounds lull you to sleep. Keep abreast of the bastard at rattysaintjohn.tumblr.com.
(‘14, History/Creative Writing, Editor-at-Large) is from Cleveland, Ohio and writes fiction.
(‘16, Undeclared, Literature Editor) hails originally from Lafayette, Louisiana. When not gator wrestlin’ or crawfish boilin’, Alec spends his time playing and listening to music, reading, writing, and dominating at fantasy football. He writes for the Stanford Review and is a member of the local jazz ensemble Skeleton Crew.