Category: Miscellaneous

Random sh*t we don’t know where else to put

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Miscellaneous

Food for Our Ears

Food, picture of a sandwich
Credit: Mark Anbinder, Flickr CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0

Food and music is one of those life combinations that can truly change how you experience both mediums. Lyrics and rhythm of music combine with the smells and tastes of cooking to create a moment rather than just a meal or a song. Film makes a considerable impact on the way people see food, and music inspires and drives culinary artists just like food inspires artists to create their art. 

There’s no other artist I would want to start my food rant on than MF DOOM. DOOM’s lyrical insanity is one aspect of his art that I find so enjoyable. It’s those lyrics, and then there’s his production quality that drives my respect for MF DOOM even higher. “Mm.. Food” is fifteen tracks of foodie bliss. Yes, even the fifty second long, “Gumbo”, is masterful. DOOM combines food references, personal allegory, and humor. Just look at the lyrics to “One Beer”:

“He went to go laugh and get some head by the side road

She asked him autograph her derriere, it read

“To Wide Load, this yard bird taste like fried toad turd

Love, Villain””

He’s talking about himself, uses humor, and weaves food puns throughout the entire song. It’s truly incredible to me how much DOOM shows his love for food with his genius of production and lyrical mastery. This article isn’t only about MF DOOM, but he serves as one of my favorite examples of food and music combining to make something special. 

Representation of food in film has been and probably always will be a leading influence on what culinary artists create. Look at the difference between the ramen scene from “Tampopo” and the timpano scene from “Big Night” (warning: there are a few curse words). 

ramen scene, timpano scene

Both scenes showcase the beauty of food, but in “Tampopo” the music is sweet and used as more of a background to the ramen master’s lecture on how to enjoy ramen. In “Big Night” the music brings up the tempo of the scene to help make the tension extreme and more palpable. Both scenes are extremely popular for how they represent food, and they both inspired me to create more dishes from Japan and Italy because of how they are portrayed. 

Have you ever been cooking aggressively, headbanging, and listening to Gulch? Is that just me? When I work on dinner or other dishes that involve lots of effort in a short amount of time, I instantly flip on anything that makes my blood jump and hair curl. Sauteing onions and green beans while songs like “Self-Inflicted Mental Terror”, “Thong Song”, and “Ghost” pop up while tossing french fries in a tablespoon of oil and you immediately start thrashing and whipping the fries around a large bowl to make sure they are all well coated. This is what music does to cooking. It makes it fun. It makes it lively. Music adds more flavor to cooking than a teaspoon of salt. 

Maybe you don’t cook. Even if you get takeout or find yourself eating at a restaurant, there needs to be a good ambiance and delightful music. It feels like a waste of food if not enjoyed with musical accompaniment (at least to me, if you enjoy silence with your meals then please go on doing so). I find myself listening to calmer music while eating compared to the boisterous blastings while cooking. I find myself putting on Adrianne Lenker or Silver Jews for most of my meals. They both set a calm tone with their vocals and smooth instrumentals, which allows for a calm embrace of a nice fresh meal and some relaxing music.

I hope some of these words are able to inspire you to cook more or even listen to “foodie music”! Cooking is an important part of keeping myself mentally healthy, so I thought it might bring some light into your kitchen too (or some crazy flavor combinations). 

-chef

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Miscellaneous

What’s Your WKNC DJ Name?

Whether you’re a long-time WKNC fan or you just started listening this morning, I bet you’ve wondered what your DJ name might be if you were a DJ here at WKNC. There have been thousands of DJ names over the years: some creative, some weird and all awesome. The day is finally here where you can determine what your DJ name would be if you were one of us… and who knows? One day you might be. And when asked how you came up with the name “DJ Baby Spoon” you can know it’s because your name is Paula and you were born on October 1. 

This graphic will also be posted on our Instagram, so let us know over there what your assigned DJ name is.

— Caitlin

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Miscellaneous

Overcoming Writer’s Block

text that reads "Writer's Block." Pink and yellow picture of a typewriter in the background.

Having been a writer for the WKNC blog for over a year now, there are times in which I feel like there’s nothing to write about. I scroll through my Spotify, look at old lists I’ve made and read my colleagues’ blogs and nothing strikes my inspiration. These blocks can be annoying at best and paralyzing at worst, especially when held to a deadline.

But there’s one tip that I’ve heard and practiced that I feel has been instrumental in getting past writer’s block and creating blogs that I’m proud of.

Live your life.

Going about life as normal presents me with so much creative inspiration. Rather than hole-ing myself into my room until I can think of an idea or come up with something I feel is worthy of creation, I try to do activities (not even necessarily related to writing) and those provide me with inspiration.  Whether it be just going on a walk, being extra intentional about spending time with my friends or paying attention to the music playing in the grocery store, inspiration has struck me far more when I’m doing something rather than just telling my brain to create an idea from thin air.

Creative blocks are a nuisance, but sometimes they are necessary.

– Caitlin

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Miscellaneous

“The Silent Patient” By Alex Michaelides – Book Review

Synopsis

“Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband.”

Who doesn’t love opening up a book to find an absolutely attention grabbing first line? The Silent Patient, a 2019 psychological thriller novel written by British-Cypriot Alex Michaelides, will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Inspired by Alcestis, an Athenian tragedy by Greek playwright Euripides, The Silent Patient is a bit of a slow-burn. Main character Alicia Berenson, a famous painter married to famous fashion photographer Gabriel Berenson, lived a happy life in London…until she brutally murdered him. Committed to The Grove, a forensic facility nestled in North London, Alicia refuses to speak to anybody and has stayed silent since her arrest. There she is met with Theo Faber, a forensic psychotherapist with an intense fascination around the Berenson case. 

Theo, the narrator, walks the reader through a bit of his life leading up to getting a job at The Grove and continues to detail the hardships of working with a patient who simply won’t speak. Theo eventually builds enough rapport with Alicia to get her to speak, and what she admits is a page-turning shocker. Michaelides paints colorful side characters in this Agatha Christie-esque whodunit novel, and you end up itching to find the truth. I don’t want to give too much away because the twist is what really makes this book great.

My Review

I stayed up all night to read this book (admittedly, any creaks around the apartment raised my blood pressure) because I just had to know what happened. While I don’t usually consider myself a fan of slow-burn novels, The Silent Patient kept my attention and continuously piqued my curiosity. For those of you not too keen on reading, a movie adaptation is reportedly in the works. 

About the Author

The Silent Patient was Alex Michaelides’ first novel and a New York Times bestseller. He found inspiration for this novel at his time studying psychotherapy and working in an adult facility. His new novel, The Maidens, was published in 2021 and is a psychological detective story about murders that take place at Cambridge college. Michaelides doesn’t just write novels; he wrote The Devil You Know (starring Lena Olin, Rosamund Pike and Jennifer Lawrence) and co-wrote The Con Is On (starring Uma Thurman and Tim Roth).

I hope to read The Maidens sometime soon and look forward to more work from Michaelides. Adjusting to school after spring break is always tough for me, so I encourage you to go pick a book and just live in another world for a little. Here’s to the final stretch!

<3 dj mozzie

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Miscellaneous

Spring Album Recommendations

Butterflies against a pale green background. Non-serifed text that reads "spring albums."

It’s nearly spring again, and I’ve been writing many blogs to celebrate the end of winter. Despite already making my “Ringing In Spring” series, I felt it would be nice to give some album recommendations for the spring for those who prefer the album listening experience as opposed to the playlist. These are all albums I’ve either been obsessed with in past springs, I feel evoke the energy of new beginnings quite well or just sound “springy” to me. 

It’s been beautiful to go outside without layers on (although, considerably harder for me to brainstorm outfits) and see the flowers blooming on the trees. I can never decide which season is my favorite (they all have major pros and cons), but I think if I had to choose it would be spring.

Without further ado, here are some albums I think you should check out or revisit this spring.

Have a lovely spring,

Caitlin

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Miscellaneous

“Take Off Your Shirt!”: Rethinking Boundaries of Concert Attendees

Glitchy photo. White text that reads "rethinking concert boundaries.

When I go to concerts, I always end up next to really annoying people. At first, I thought it was just me having bad luck or that I like artists that tend to have younger fanbases. While both of these things might have a role in it, I think a lot of it is a lot of people having absolutely no respect for musicians/ artists/ celebrities as people. When I attended the Mitski show at the Ritz Raleigh, the people standing next to me were hellbent on being comedians, although it just came off as extremely disrespectful. 

Mitski, a carefully private and composed person, who has expressed many times that her fans don’t know her, has tried to draw clear boundaries between her as a person and as a performer (in both her art and in interviews). And yet, as she gracefully performed every choreographed movement in animated and exaggerated forms, the people next to me laughed, yelled and willfully misinterpreted the artistic moves she was making.  During certain songs, Mitski would collapse to her knees, lie on the ground, or otherwise make herself completely vulnerable; in response my concert neighbors would yell things like “Get up Mitski!” or “What is she doing right now?!” These two people were blatantly ignoring all of the vulnerability she was offering and cringing at it, mentally closing themselves off from what she had to offer them. 

When going to shows, I feel it’s important to recognize the artist’s comfortability with the audience, and truly contemplate whether your actions draw some sort of false familiarity between you and the performer(s). Last September when I attended the Phoebe Bridgers show, again there were people completely unaware of how disrespectful they were being, and Bridgers is a lot more comfortable with that kind of stuff. From signs that read “Hey mommy!” to hooting and hollering during “Punisher,” a song notably about deceased Elliott Smith, most people there seemed to think that somehow they were entitled to friendship with her. Think about how utterly dehumanizing it must be to want to share art about some of the most intimate parts of yourself, and to be made a laughing stock. 

I understand why and how it happens; people relate to the music that an artist makes and feel like the artist knows and understands them. In turn, this leads to people thinking that because they feel understood, they must also understand the artist. While in some cases this could true, for Mitski it ultimately isn’t. It’s embarrassing to witness. 

Phoebe Bridgers is not your “bestie,” she doesn’t know you. Just enjoy the music, dance with your friends, take pictures and let loose.

– Caitlin

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Miscellaneous Playlists

Fight Scene Soundtracks of “The Umbrella Academy”

With a new Instagram post celebrating the 3-year anniversary of season 1’s release, “The Umbrella Academy” fans are getting excited for season 3. Unfortunately, there’s still very little information from the showrunners themselves, but that can’t stop fans—myself included—from speculating on the release date. Recently, I’ve been rewatching the show to ease my anticipation, and the rewatch has reminded me just how incredible the soundtrack is. One of my favorite parts of the soundtrack is the unexpected yet strangely fitting songs in the fight scenes. So, I’m here to share some of my favorite fight scene sounds of “The Umbrella Academy.”

“Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by They Might Be Giants (S1 E1)

This being the first big fight scene of the show, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went into it. I knew that I was dealing with a 58-year-old-man in a child’s body who had powers of teleportation, and I knew that I was dealing with trained assassins attacking a donut shop. What I didn’t know was that “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” would be playing in the background, and that it would quickly become one of my favorite fight scenes in any piece of media.

“Sinnerman” by Nina Simone (S1 E3)

This is the first time you see the family of superheroes fight together, and it is quite an incredible display. This song adds just the right amount of weirdness, highlighting the dysfunction between the siblings.

“Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows” by Lesley Gore (S1 E9)

When I hear this song, the first thing I think of definitely isn’t two highly trained, time-traveling assassins fighting each other. But that’s exactly what I got. I love it.

“My Way” by Frank Sinatra (S2 E1)

With caution not to spoil anything, I can say that this scene is the most epic display of the siblings’ powers and ability to act as a team. Who other than Frank Sinatra could play in the background of such an important moment?

“Polk Salad Annie” by Tony Joe White (S2 E7)

This song plays in perhaps the most gruesome scene of the entire show; it definitely doesn’t fit the murder spree vibe. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the showrunners included it to ease some of the brutality of the scene, but no matter their reasons for including it, it works.

These songs make up only a few of the incredible song choices in “The Umbrella Academy,” both in fight scenes and in the rest of the show. If you’ve seen “The Umbrella Academy” before, I hope you enjoyed reminiscing over some of these iconic fight scenes, and if you haven’t, I hope this list has convinced you to give it a shot. Either way, happy viewing.

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Miscellaneous

My Favorite Blogs My Peers Have Written

Red background with the WKNC 88.1 logo repeated over and over,

To no one’s surprise, I spend a lot of time on the WKNC blog. Apple computers don’t give a screentime report like their phones do, but if they did I would certainly have a ridiculous number of hours spent on WKNC’s website. I go to the blog looking for inspiration, entertainment and of course, to support my fellow content creators. So, if you’re new to the WKNC blog, an old friend or are just looking for some music-related content to consume, you’ve come to the right place.

Without further ado, let me tell you (just some) of my favorite blogs my peers here at WKNC have written.

“The Power of the Playlist” by Erie: Everything Erie writes is full of deliberate and careful thought, but this blog by her is my favorite. They delve into the importance of a good playlist and compare/contrast the things playlists have to offer in opposition to albums.

“WKNC’s Top Tracks of 2021” by Maddie: If there’s one thing Maddie is going to do, it’s take on a passion project. This tradition started in 2020, and it consists of Maddie polling DJs and other WKNC staff of their favorite releases from that year. Then, she writes a blog and compiles a playlist. I often frequent that playlist to discover new music. I highly recommend checking both the blog and the playlist out.

“Why Independent Radio Matters” by toad maiden: Working at a radio station, you’re constantly surrounded by an amazing community of listeners and peers who love radio and understand its importance. toad maiden breaks down some of the many reasons why indie radio is so important and delves into some of its history.

“‘Work It’ Lives Rent Free in My Head” by Delusional Melodrama: Delusional Melodrama is always making topics I don’t necessarily have a big interest in be super interesting. This blog is just one of many where he shares all of the fascinating and niche information he has on a topic. Like, did you know “Work It” by Missy Elliot samples “Heart of Glass” by Blondie?

“North Carolina Museums and the Songs They’d Be” by dj mozzie: dj mozzie loves to incorporate her personal interests in the blog, and she loves museums. This blog is a fun thought experiment and also a great reminder to support our local museums when possible. 

“Hopscotch Music Festival 2021 Series: Bag Tour” by Silya Bennai: Silya absolutely killed it with the Hopscotch Music Festival content and this blog was my favorite of her Hopscotch series. Silya is a concise and honest writer, and I always look forward to her playlists as well.

“Zoom Rave 101” by Emma Sutich: The featured photo and first sentence alone are reason enough to check this one out. Emma explains her experience at a Zoom rave and how it compares to a normal, in-person rave. 

I had such a hard time narrowing this list down but I hope this gave you a good look into some blogs you could read if you’re interested in doing so.

Happy reading,

Caitlin

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Blog Miscellaneous

The Music of “Ted Lasso”

"Ted Lasso" soundtrack
"Ted Lasso" soundtrack cover

At the beginning of 2022, I opened my iPhone to be treated with a surprise: 3 free months of Apple TV+. While that came as a welcome surprise, I didn’t really know what was good on the platform, with the only name I had heard of being “Ted Lasso.” I gave it a shot and was rewarded with a uniquely charming, funny, and engaging show that also had, and this is relevant for WKNC blog readers, a killer soundtrack.

Pop culture references are the language the show is built on, and there are often mentions of artists by the characters such as Elton John and Robbie Williams. It’s definitely populist, often using tracks that it expects the audience to be familiar with. A moment where lifelong fans of soccer team Richmond AFC finally getting to stand on the field has Queen’s “We Are The Champions” playing triumphantly over it, while the titular character enters England to “God Save The Queen” by Sex Pistols. It’s clearly a very expensive show and casually flexing songs from that caliber of artist adds to the production value. 

And in my opinion at least it does it well; when a lot of shows use really obvious musical cues it feels like a symptom of poor writing and a cheap emotional play, but “Ted Lasso” strikes this interesting balance where it uses familiar songs as a way to bring everyone to the party in a way. It’s like how when you’re at a club, super popular songs you would never admit to listening to on your own time become danceable bangers just because you’ve heard them before. There’s a particular episode where “Never Gonna Give You Up” is used as a plot point, and how a connection to that song helps a character overcome grief, taking what is a very played out song by this point and adding emotional resonance to it.

One other way I thought songs were used in an obvious but creative way is through very on the nose lyrical choices. The line “strangers to friends, friends into lovers” is sung over a quasi-montage of two characters going through that exact arc, while Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” plays over, naturally, a character being alone again. This is a technique that always results in cringe, and yet although it’s maybe one of the weaker elements of the show, it genuinely works with “Ted Lasso” in a way I rarely see. Maybe it’s because those songs are often slow and subtle so it’s not very in your face, but I think it’s more of a tonal phenomenon: the show is wholesome in a way where obvious gestures add to the appeal. That’s why I wanted to talk about it today, it’s a wholly unique experience even at the sonic level and I’m really glad it’s been seeing the awards success and viewership that it has been getting. Season 3 is set to start filming soon and it’s probably my most anticipated show right now. And of course I can’t wait to hear it as well, with inspired song choices and musical motifs being such a cornerstone of the experience.

-Erie

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Miscellaneous

“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast): Book Review

Book cover for Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. Red background with chopsticks on either side, cradling noodles in between them. Black text that reads Crying In H Mart. White text that reads A Memoir and Michelle Zauner.

For a while I had seen both the band Japanese Breakfast and the book “Crying in H Mart” float around in the different spheres of the internet I occupy. One day, a couple months ago, I finally had the realization that Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast was the same Michelle Zauner who authored “Crying in H Mart.” Who would have thought? After hearing the umpteenth glowing review of this memoir, I finally decided to read it.

“Crying in H Mart” is a story of grief, specifically revolving around the passing of her mother and how her mother’s life and death is the throughline in her journey on this earth. Zauner is particularly skilled at putting the reader in her shoes, giving you every detail down to the food she ate and what she was wearing. Food is the hallmark of Zauner’s relationship to her mother, because of the connection it gives her to her Korean heritage. Zauner communicates the permanence of loss, never searching for the silver linings but rather describing the concrete ways that grief sticks with you.

The book, published in 2021, originally began as an article Zauner wrote for the New Yorker in 2018, which now serves as the first chapter of the memoir. The article/chapter ends with the following disclosure: “Within the past five years, I lost both my aunt and mother to cancer. So, when I go to H Mart, I’m not just on the hunt for cuttlefish and three bunches of scallions for a buck; I’m searching for their memory. I’m collecting the evidence that the Korean half of my identity didn’t die when they did.” The remainder of the book explores the memories she is on a hunt for.

Michelle Zauner is a spectacular and versatile writer. It shouldn’t have been surprising to see that an excellent songwriter was also an excellent storyteller in other mediums, but for some reason it caught me off guard. She is the narrator of the audiobook (which is how I elected to read this book), and she makes every word feel important.

“Crying in H Mart” is deeply personal to Zauner, but also deeply telling of the human experience. Kristen Martin, in her review of the book published on NPR, sums it up perfectly when she says: “What Crying in H Mart reveals, though, is that in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself.”