I recently came to know the true meaning of “Chicken Tendies” by Clinton Kane. The title “Chicken Tendies” was given to this track as a joke, but once Clinton Kane decided to officially release this song he wanted it to sound as real as possible and the genuine message behind it to remain serious.
It’s about his mother, who he had a rocky relationship with and how he felt about not being close with his mom. However, the impact of her passing influenced the song that allowed Clinton Kane to jump-start his music career.
The song is sweet and melancholic on its own. About hoping that his mom is in a happier place now.
“Chicken Tendies” got its title inspired by the verse, “I thought I caught a glimpse of me and you | In our kitchen, where I cooked your favorite food | And if I’m being honest, I was a fool | So say the word and I’ll come running back to you”
He teased the verse on the internet and fans flooded the comments about naming the song chicken tenders as a joke. However, his mom’s favorite food was in fact chicken tenders.
The sentiments and stories that go behind a lot of musicians’ songs it what I love about being a fan. Music can teach you so much about someone’s past and trauma without them having to sit you down and explicitly tell you. A lot of the time you don’t realize that an amazing song could have stemmed from a hard time in an artist’s life.
My favorite verse of the song is the beginning. “I saw someone who looks just like you | In the back seat, with her hand out the sunroof | I swear it was the dress that I gave you | And I wonder, is your favorite color still blue?“
It’s moments when you start seeing someone you lost touch with everywhere you go, that make moving on that much more difficult.
He describes that the dress he saw someone wearing was the exact dress he gave her. You can’t help but get lost in the past when you think you’ve seen someone you once had a strong relationship with. Especially in his case, if it was his own mother.
The song is simple and sweet. Clinton Kane’s vocals are powerful and passionate and his pain is almost tangible.
I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from Clinton Kane and how his music journey progresses.
What good is a vampyre story? Sure, they provide some entertainment and create a little bit of mystery in our history, but what do these stories provide for humanity’s culture?
The vampyre started out in many cultures as a being to fear. According to an article from History.com, many cultures across western Europe and India frequently referred to blood sucking demons that hunt in the night. Vampyres resided in villages and were thought to be the center of demonic cults.
How did the vampyre become a mainstream media staple?
I’d like to think a lot of the fascination behind vampyres, ghouls and all the undead tropes came from Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and other gothic romantic writers. Their nightmarish stories exploited the human conditions and emotions of fear and death to look at parasitic immortality and rotten flesh. The attention these authors received
Stoker’s novel, “Dracula”, inspired many of the modern day vampyre stories like “Nosferatu the Vampyre” by Werner Herzog, “Twilight” and maybe even Playboi Carti’s “Whole Lotta Red”. The following stories are only a select few of the hundreds that are inspired by the vampyre.
Succulent Stories
“What We Do in the Shadows” by Taika Watiti is probably one of my favorite comedy films and vampyre flicks I have seen to date. This mockumentary is set in New Zealand and criticizes the common vampyre tropes by making the vampyre community a welcoming place and explores roommate relationships too.
Here’s a great clip from the film (it does involve a bit of swearing):
This scene is from YouTube, uploaded by IGN.
I have written an article that looks at another vampyre film, “Only Lovers Left Alive”. I love this film and story because of how it looks at the music culture and influences of vampyres on the world from the shadows. If you want to read more about this film, you can read my article.
Another one of my favorite and more culturally unique vampire films is “Thirst” by Park Chan-wook, an elegant Korean director. This vampire film treats the affliction more like a virus that has spread rather than romanticizing the bloodthirsty nature in more common myths.
It focuses more on the romance and relationship between the priest and Tae-ju, which means Park Chan-wook uses the vampyre affliction as a medium of storytelling rather than a central plot point.
Here’s a clip from “Thirst” in which the priest and Tae-ju first start their relationship:
This video is on YouTube, uploaded by Focus Features.
Bland Bloodsucker
There are a lot more really great vampyre films, but I am going to focus on how some directors and authors don’t use the setting well.
I found Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” boring. I have never been a fan of found film or the book version, letters and found writings, as an interesting way to tell a narrative. I would have much preferred Stoker’s massively influential novel to be more narratively focused, but at least it created more vampyre stories that I enjoy far more.
One cool thing I found recently is a website/ company that will email the original Stoker story piece by piece as it follows the dates of the story. Dracula Daily might be a better way to experience the original Dracula story than his novel, so if that interests you, be sure to check it out.
Undrinkable Narratives
“Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” is one of the worst vampyre adaptations I have read. I still am not sure why I decided this book would be a good idea to read cover to cover, but it was extremely tropey and also blames most of American slavery on vampyres. I haven’t seen the movie and nor do I plan to.
In “Dracula Untold” and “Dark Shadows”, these films involve vampyres just for the sake of entertainment. I found them to be lazy additions to the original “Dracula”, and if they tried to do something new to the story, it wasn’t handled well.
Bad Blood but Fun Times
“Twilight” is not a good film, but it provides enough entertainment that the movies are almost watchable. Just look at these clips of Kristen Stewart and Billy Burke interacting as father and daughter.
https://youtu.be/b29rJuF6nOE
This video is on YouTube, uploaded by OFFALICK.
The acting is fine, but their script is awful and cringey. These are not normal teen to parent interactions, but they’ve made the relationship funny to watch and gawk at.
Another rough but enjoyable vamp flick I’ve seen is “The Lost Boys”. There’s a whole lot going on in this movie, but between the fun cast, music and cheesy scenes it’s hard not to enjoy it. The trailer puts on a show and makes the movie seem a bit better than it actually is, but if you like tropey 80’s goth and vampyres, then you’ll probably enjoy the movie.
Into the Sunrise
Vampyre aesthetics seep into music culture, architecture and clothing too. The romanticized gothic architecture of Dracula’s Castle is seen worldwide and the dark, dreary and sleek coats and styles that people wear all add so much beauty to the horrific nature of a vampyre. It’s interesting how much people love a bloodsucker and serial killer.
All these vampyre stories have enough differences in them to add to the beauty of the vampyre genre. They create mystery, spill blood and have some beautiful costumes and aesthetics. The vampyre genre adds more than entertainment to the world. It adds a sense of glory and love to death and immortality.
Michelle Zauner is an extremely talented songwriter, and her talents especially shine on Japanese Breakfast’s 2021 album, “Jubilee.” The third LP released by Japanese Breakfast, “Jubilee” is a sickeningly sweet and at times devastating record that Zauner herself says is meant to be joyful.
This is my favorite work of Japanese Breakfast’s as I’m a sucker for an indie-pop record and this is a masterfully-made one. With ten songs that clock in at just over 37 minutes, this Grammy-nominated album is one I’m sure will continue to soundtrack my early 20s.
Although Zauner says the album is meant to be a joyful one, a lot of the lyrics seem like they’re more adjacent to yearning than joy. “Be Sweet,” the album’s most popular song, has lyrics that beg for kindness and attention: “Be sweet to me, baby / I wanna believe in you” and “Make it up once more with feeling / Recognize your mistakes and I’ll let you back in.” “Kokomo, IN” begs the desperate question “These days I can’t shake the awful feeling / I’m missing something I can’t place, is that you?” in verse two. The feeling of longing is littered throughout the album, making even your first listen to it a painfully nostalgic experience.
The production, done by Michelle Zauner and Craig Hendrix (Japanese Breakfast’s drummer), is dreamlike and nostalgic, at times large and sweeping and at times intricate in a smaller and more subtle way.
Upon the album’s release some critics said that the album fell short in the back half, and while I agree that tracks like “Sit” and “In Hell” aren’t the strongest, the album is tied together fantastically with one of my favorite songs of all time, “Posing For Cars.” It is the album’s final track and is nearly seven minutes long (the back half of which is 3 minutes of the most beautiful guitar solo you can imagine) and is just absolutely devastating in a way that could bring anyone to their knees.
So while I don’t agree with Zauner that “Jubilee” elicits much joy, it does feel summer-y: wide open, nostalgic, filled with the highest highs and lowest lows.
Cover art for Yaya Bey's, "Remember Your North Star".
Hadaiyah (Yaya) Bey is a splendid R&B artist that resides in New York. Their new album, “Remember Your North Star”, is an unforgettable excursion into the effects of misogyny and failed love.
Bey’s magnetic voice attracts ears like no other. Many tracks are like whispers into the soul, and when they picks up the rhythm I get lost in their encapsulating storytelling
Yaya Bey’s previous work can be found on their Bandcamp and Spotify. They have released a few other albums and EPs over the past couple of years, but this release is getting much deserved love from many music journalists.
Bey is also an art curator and physical art creator. As stated on the album’s Bandcamp page, “[i]n 2019, her work was featured in the District of Columbia Arts Center’s “Reparations Realized” exhibit and Brooklyn’s Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA)’s “Let the Circle Be Unbroken” exhibit”.
Smooth Tracks
I thought it would be harder to pick out some of my favorite tracks on this album, but the way Bey is able to set up certain tracks for emphasis makes the choices more straightforward.
Wow. “keisha” blew me away with its elegance in storytelling and vocals. Bey conveys so many emotions in the short span of 2 minutes and 55 seconds. The warm instrumentals slyly slip us into a fight for love and attempt at understanding the lack of mutual warmth in a relationship.
The music video for this track is super cool. Bey has gorgeous style and there are a few clips that make the song more emotionally impactful too. Also, this song is explicit:
Video from YouTube. Uploaded by Yaya Bey.
In “street fighter blues”, the opening lyrics, “Love/ Love is a waste of time/ I’m spinning out of my mind”, set us up for an epic exploration of personal grief about love. Finding that beautiful soul after years of iffy and horrible relationships feels impossible. This song is that feeling. It exudes the smothering of hope in finding someone truly wonderful to share your life with.
As “reprise” is the longest track by almost 1 minute and 30 seconds, the instruments and beats that make up the background of the track have the most depth out of any track on the album. The syrupy flow that the horn pushes allows for the hard cutting lyrics and vocal flow of Bey’s voice to slice the air into the perfect bars. The bars are bite-sized and delicious, just like this whole track.
There are so few faults in this album that it doesn’t leave much to be desired. The only thing I could think of is a bit more instrumental depth in a few tracks like “mama loves her son”, but really the simplicity of the beats brings out the beauty of Bey’s voice.
Conclusion
If you’re not listening to this album by the time you get to this point in the article, then you didn’t read the words I have written down. Sure, the emotional and personal focus of this album is hard hitting, but the artistic beauty and perspective that Bey lends the world is more important than a few tears you might shed.
I cannot wait to see where Yaya Bey’s work will lead them. Their voice in the music industry is vital to the future depths that artists will be able to explore in the future. Dancing around diverse genres of art gives artists an appreciation of how much their own sound can develop through the billions of perspectives the world offers, and I think Bey’s “Remember Your North Star” does just that.
“Nana” is an anime that was released in 2001 which centered around two girls, both named Nana. They meet when they end up sitting next to each other on the train to Tokyo. Nana K. is on the way to Tokyo for art school and the other Nana O. Is on the way to Tokyo to pursue her career as a musician.
Coincidentally, the two end up signing a lease to be roommates without knowing ahead of time. Their personalities are complete opposites and that dynamic is what makes the show so unique.
Nana O. Is the lead singer of a rock band called Black Stones, or BLAST, an up-and-coming punk band. Nana O.’s boyfriend, Ren, is the guitarist of a famous pop-rock band called TrapNest. A band of which Nana K. is a huge fan.
Essentially to keep things short, Nana K. and Nana O. both get caught up in the music industry as the two get more entangled with the behind-the-scenes of BLAST and TrapNest.
Centering around Rock Music?
Music is a huge aspect of this show and I want to dive a little deeper into it.
I was shocked when I first watched this show that both bands that are featured in this show are huge rock bands and they dress the part too with their abundant piercings, unique hairstyles, and immaculate fashion sense.
Rock music is not heavily seen in anime and I was curious why the author of the manga decided to make a story about it.
Turns out there is a Rock and Metal fanbase in Japan. Of course, as we know Rock and Metal to be, it really focuses on the authenticity of the music. The instruments. Being able to break out of the typical conformity of a daily modest lifestyle.
I wasn’t really into Rock music at all when I started this show, but as I continued hearing their voices and sound as bands grew on me.
———
Over the course of the show, we see Nana K. go from being Nana O.’s roommate and groupie to becoming an important part of BLAST’s life. She impacts each band member in a different way. What I love about the show is that we get to see BLAST grow as a band from newbies to selling-out shows.
The musical component of this show is amazing too. It really exposes what it is like to be a musician and how the lives of people that have relationships with these musicals are impacted. How the media influences public opinion toward these bands.
The Black Stones or BLAST has four members: Nana Osaki (vocals), Nobuo Terashima (guitar), Shinichi Okazaki (bass), and Yasushi Takagi (drums)
TrapNest also has four members: Reira Serizawa (vocals), Ren Honjo (guitar), Takumi Ichinose (bass), and Naoki Fujieda (drums).
Although the anime is a lot more than what I covered if you’re in it for the music check out this video with the full soundtrack.
If the premise seems interesting and you want to watch the anime, check it out on any anime platform or read the manga too.
Cover of "The Free Wheelin' Bob Dylan," an album which Tom Wilson produced four tracks of.
When people think of some of the greatest producers of the 20th century many people think of guys like Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, George Martin, Quincy Jones, Teo Macero, or Brian Eno. One producer who doesn’t come up often and has seemed to have faded away into obscurity is Tom Wilson. Recently, I’ve been listening to some of Tom Wilson’s work nonstop so I would like to highlight him and hope he can be brought back into popularity.
Tom Wilson got his start during the 50s when he started his own record label for jazz records called Transition Records. This label would introduce a lot of people to the newest genre pushing talents in jazz like Donald Byrd and Cecil Taylor. Wilson also got to produce a Cecil Taylor album with John Coltrane as the saxophonist that would later be released as “Coltrane Time” under Coltrane’s name.
But most notably, Tom Wilson introduced the world to Sun Ra, who would become one of the greatest jazz artists of all time and an influence on many artists. Tom Wilson was not only putting artists out on his label but was also producing their albums as well as giving them a place to experiment.
After his run at Transition ended, Tom Wilson would end up at Columbia records becoming the first African American to hold the staff producer title at Columbia.
This is where he would start to produce for his most famous collaborator– Bob Dylan. Wilson started to produce for Dylan during “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” sessions. He produced four tracks on the album which many claim this is Dylans best album during his folk period. Wilson initially wasn’t too excited about working with Dylan because he favored jazz over folk but after hearing his lyrics he was “flabbergasted.”
He would go onto produce “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and “Another Side of Bob Dylan.” Their collaboration really started to shine on Dylans next album “Bringing It All Back Home” where Dylan famously went electric which would cause one of the largest shifts in rock music. You can hear Wilson’s voice at the start of Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream and you can even see him in an alternate take of the famous “Subterranean Homesick Blues” music video.
Many people credit Wilson with causing Dylan to go electric but that is up for debate, he certainly helped bring it together at the very least. Wilson and Dylan’s collaboration would end after Wilson produced “Like a Rolling Stone” but would get replaced for Bob Johnston for the rest of the Highway 61 sessions.
While at Columbia, Tom Wilson also produced the first Simon and Garfunkel album ” Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” This album at first did not do well which led to Simon and Garfunkel splitting up, but then eventually “The Sound of Silence” would gain a bit of airplay at college radio stations.
Wilson, seeing the minor success, would then create a version of the song with a rock backing band which caused it to be a number one hit and would bring Simon and Garfunkel to get back together and go on to become some of the highest selling artists of all time.
After leaving Columbia Wilson would end up at MGM where he would eventually get with The Velvet Underground. Even though Andy Warhol is listed as the producer Lou Reed and John Cale both state the Tom Wilson was the real producer of the groups debut ” The Velvet Underground & Nico.”
This album wasn’t initially commercially successful but would eventually become on of the most influential albums of all time and would be credited with many sub-genres of rock music like punk and drone. Wilson would produce the next Velvet Underground album “White Light/White Heat” which again was extremely influential and eventually loved by many.
Wilson would also produce Nico’s first album “Chelsea Girl” which again for a third time would go onto become a loved and influential album. John Cale would go onto say that “The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson.”
While at MGM, within two months of producing the first Velvet Underground album, Wilson went on to produce the first Mothers of Invention album “Freak Out” which would start Frank Zappa’s career and would be a hugely influential album being cited as a major influence on The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
He would go on to produce the second Mothers of Invention album “Absolutely Free.” Zappa states that “Tom Wilson was a great guy. He had vision, you know? And he really stood by us” and also “Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album.”
Many of the albums Tom Wilson would work on would have the same thing associated with them: risk and influence. Wilson never wasn’t pushing the norms of music and the artists he was working whether it was Sun Ra’s space jazz, Dylans electric era, or The Velvet Underground creating early punk rock Wilson pushed for it. He would bring many of the best albums into fruition and for that I hope the next time the greatest producer conversation is being discussed Tom Wilson is in that conversation.
I’m back with another installation of this series. Like I said in the first post in this series about Clairo – “Remember When” is Wallows’ third most listened-to song, and it’s popularity is well deserved. the reason it has taken over my mind.
I’ve written a lot about Wallows because they are my favorite band, so of course, I’m here to write about another one of their songs that has a strong grip on me.
It’s not just that this song is written by Wallows, the instrumentals in “Remember When” evoke a dormant nostalgia that feels like one specific moment in the past. It’s almost like reliving your favorite period of life through a song.
“Pleaser,” which I wrote a post about, used to be my favorite song by them for years, but the second I heard “Remember When” live my entire perspective changed.
From the start, the electric guitar and drum intro sucks you in entirely. The rhythm is dynamic and upbeat–simple but so inventive.
It was released in 2019, however, there is a distinct 2016 or 2017 sentimentality to it. The instrumentals have probably the most simple composition when it comes to mind. Drums, electric guitar, and bass yet there’s something magical and melancholic about it.
My favorite verse in the song is “I can still see you at the place out there when I close my eyes | Do you remember when we felt like the only two alive? | Don’t let me be one of the people that seek a lost romance | Would you go and do it all over again, given a chance?”
The emotions behind these lyrics and the line ‘do you remember when we felt like the only two alive?’ are so powerful. It brings out this sadness and longing for such a happy time in your life.
Along with the composition, the title itself, “Remember When” is nostalgic too. So many great stories start with the phrase ‘remember when’.
Unfortunately, the only downside of this song is that it’s only 2 and a half minutes long; it’s short and sweet but easy to keep on repeat.
If you ever get the chance, take my suggestion and listen to this sound on full blast with the windows down at 2 am or midnight. It will for sure make you feel something.
