I am absolutely obsessed with anything out of the 60s and 70s, especially the art. The colors, typography, and illustration styles are magnificent. In high school, I actually did a project on the origins of psychedelic art, and I thought I’d share some of my favorite facts with you today!
The signature psychedelic style of the 1960s can be attributed to the rising popularity of hallucinogens, anti-war sentiments, and Eastern philosophy. In stark contrast to the streamlined, modernist design trends of the 40s and 50s, psychedelia’s goal was completely different: Artists wanted viewers to stare at their work for long periods of time to mimic the effect of a “trip.” Some elements used to accomplish this effect were brightly contrasting colors, flowing typography, and collage. Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Alton Kelley, and Stanley Mouse, also known as the “Big Five,” were some of the most influential poster designers of the time.
As new, experimental music exploded in the early 60s, psychedelic art was often paired with concert posters and album covers. San Francisco was a hot spot for the movement, seeing that many musicians lived there, including the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane.
Here are some of my absolute favorite posters that came out of the psychedelic movement:
John Myers, 1966
This poster, designed by John Myers, was printed for the Yardbirds’ concert in 1966.
Bonnie McLean, 1967
This print was designed by Bonnie McLean in 1967 for a concert starring Muddy Waters, Buffalo Springfield, and Richie Havens.
Lee Conklin, 1968
This poster for Canned Heat was designed by Lee Conklin in 1968 and intentionally printed out-of-register to create the layered, film-like look.
Bob Masse, 1966
Serving as one of the most iconic posters in rock history, this design for Pink Floyd was done by Bob Masse in 1966 for their show at the Marquee in London.
Wes Wilson & Herb Greene, 1966
Wes Wilson, one of the most well-known psychedelic artists of the time, designed this poster with Herb Greene for Jefferson Airplane in 1966.
Welcome to November’s edition of Sample Platter, where I shed light on the samples in some of hip-hop’s best beats! This month we’ve got the following songs:
Experience by Daedalus: Fans of Madvillain will recognize this accordion sample from MF DOOM and Madlib’s “Accordion.” Livin’ off borrowed time, the clock ticks faster…
I Put a Spell On You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: Not only has this song been covered by the likes of Nina Simone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Marilyn Manson, but its brass stabs also appear as a sample in Biggie’s “Kick in the Door.”
Nature Boy by The Singers Unlimited: Acapella group The Singers Unlimited have proved to be a gold mine for producers such as J Dilla, Nujabes and many more. This track was sampled by Flying Lotus on his 2007 track “Massage Situation.”
Ready or Not Here I Come “Can’t Hide from Love) by The Delfonics: This classic was sampled by Fugees, Missy Elliot and Three 6 Mafia. My favorite flip is Missy’s “Sock it 2 Me” in which producer Timbaland layers hard-hitting drums over the sample’s descending brass motif.
Mariya by the Family Circle: The vocal harmonies in the beginning of this song can also be found in J. Cole’s “Wet Dreamz.”
Liberty by Amnesty: Kanye West has appeared on every edition of the Sample Platter, and that’s because he (and his team) have a great ear for samples. Here, Amnesty’s “Liberty” was chopped up for Ye’s famous “poopity-scoop” verse on “Lift Yourself.”
Silver Soul by Beach House: DJ Dahi took the intro of this song, reversed it, added drums and 808s and sent it to Kendrick Lamar. The result is the song we know as “Money Trees” – one of my favorite hip-hop instrumentals ever.
Goin’ Down by Ol’ Dirty Bastard: Who would’ve thought to turn ODB’s guttural screams into a beat? None other than hip-hop anti-hero JPEGMAFIA, who did just that with his song “Real N—.”
ALBUM: “Are You Experienced” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
RELEASE YEAR: 1967
LABEL: Experience Hendrix LLC, Sony Music Entertainment
RATING: 10/10
BEST TRACKS: “Love or Confusion,” “Purple Haze” and “Foxey Lady”
FCC: Clean
There exist few better guitarists than Jimi Hendrix, the god of heavy rock himself. Along with being a fantastic solo musician, Hendrix had a band of his own, comprised of Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. “Are You Experienced” was their debut album, filled with some of the most influential songs in rock history. This album really shows off Hendrix’s seemingly impossible talent on the electric guitar along with his signature bluesy howl. “Are You Experienced” is the perfect combination of heavy rock, psychedelic music, and the blues.
Though many know Jimi solely for his guitar skills, he was also a fantastic poet and songwriter. Filled with lyrics that are simultaneously hallucinogenic, dreamy, and wanton, the instrumentals pair perfectly with the poetry that Hendrix so beautifully wrote.
The range on this album is incredible. From the classic hard rock anthem “Purple Haze,” to the upbeat “51st Anniversary,” to the sludgy psychedelia of “Third Stone from the Sun,” to the dreamy ballad “May This Be Love,” Jimi showcases his talent for performing music of all feelings.
My two personal favorites off the album are “Foxey Lady” and “Love or Confusion,” simply because the riffs are unmatched. You can really feel the passion behind his playing and singing, which I think the latter of the two people don’t give him enough credit for. The album was, and still remains to this day, an amazing feat of psychedelic, experimental rock.
As NC State finals are coming to an end, students are all anxious to finish their classes and get ready for winter break. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite recent reads so you have something to fill your days until the spring semester begins.
Nemesis by Isaac Asimov
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Do No Harm by Henry Marsh
The Shining by Stephen King
The Lord of the Rings Collection by J.R.R. Tolkien
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Breaking Night by Liz Murray
The God Project by John Saul
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Game of Thrones Series by George R.R. Martin
Hope you enjoy my recommendations and find something new to read over your winter break.
Dropping Plates (from left to right): Ben Burrows, Forest Britt, Aaron Huntley, and Jake Fain.
Dropping Plates is one of the newest local bands on the scene in Boone, NC. I had the opportunity to have a delightful interview with them this week! Made up of bassist Aaron Huntley, drummer Forest Britt, lead singer/guitarist Jake Fain, and guitarist Ben Burrows, they bring a unique funk-rock sound to the table. Here’s what they have to say:
Q: Tell me about how Dropping Plates started.
Aaron: Me and Forest were roommates last year at App State. I was on Facebook, and I saw that Ben had posted this ad for a drummer and bass player to create a band. I’ve known Ben because I met him through a mutual friend, and we’d jammed in the past before. I recognized him and so I just hit him up and then we jammed. It was perfect.
Q: How would you describe the music you make?
Jake: A mix between Grateful Dead and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Aaron: I know that we like to vibe, we like to jam.
Forest: We like to jam a lot. There’s a lot of instrumental influence, especially guitar solos in all of our music. A lot of our music is from different fields. We’ll have a more rock-like niche feel that’s heavier, but then we’ll also have a lighter poppy feel. We also have songs that are slow and like, just chill. So it kind of depends, but I think ultimately each song does have our individual instrumental influences which ultimately make the band Dropping Plates.
Q: What’s the story behind the name “Dropping Plates?”
Jake: So basically we were all in a group chat and we were just throwing out names, like we probably had 150 names. I was going through and I picked my top three out or whatever and I sent them to my mom. She’s like a very good outside judge of those things to see, you know, what would draw other people’s attention the most. One of them was Dropping Plates and she picked that one.
Forest: And with the name Dropping Plates, when you hear the sound of a plate dropping and crashing you know what that sound is, right? We feel like that compares to our music. We’re hoping that when you hear our band you know it’s Dropping Plates.
Ben: We were also going to be Dino Trip at first, Dino Trip or Dinosaur Party. And then we were like…”No, Dropping Plates.”
Q: Tell me a little bit about your creative process. How do you guys make music? Where do you draw inspiration from?
Forest: Really, it’s different for every song. They write music on their instruments, and then bring it to the band. Then, when we come together after we work on the songs. Everyone kind of puts their own touch into that song. It just builds until it’s a complete piece. But there’s a lot of times when it’s already a complete thing, but we’re just adding our influences into it and our sounds. For the song “Spun”, I felt like Jake kind of had that song already finished for his guitar part. We all came together and Jake started playing the song, Aaron starts coming up with a baseline, and I’m listening to Aaron play his baseline and I’ll do my drum part. Then we’ll come up with melodic lines over Jake’s guitar part. Jake will just sing, and then we’ll be like, f*** yeah. Maybe we’ll tweak it a little bit for a few songs. There’s a song on our upcoming album called “Wave” and it used to be actually a really fast song that Ben wrote but then we decided to just pull it back and play it slow. Now it’s this really beautiful, slow piece that’s closing the album.
Ben: Yeah, I think all of us have different influences for music, which I think is really cool because then it adds to a melting pot of sorts. Aaron is a lot more into jazz and methodical playing and I’m a lot more feel and rustic type of deal. Jake is like the nice mixture of the two and more Grateful Dead oriented on that point as well. And then Forest, he’s just the feel master of it all. The idea that he has what he has just in his mind I think is very cool. We’re all able to bring our own identities to our music, which is so sick.
Q: Who are your biggest musical role models?
Ben: John Mayer and the Grateful Dead for me are my top two most influential artists.
Forest: For me Hiatus Kaiyote, and specifically the drummer. His drum stuff really influences what I’m doing.
Jake: I’d definitely say just a combination of Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasio. So, Dead and Phish, just the combination of the two is my biggest inspiration for sure.
Aaron: I listen to a lot of jazz. This guy, Christian Scott, he just has this, like blaring music and it’s really cool. And Flea, obviously, from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Q: What’s the most useless talent you have?
Forest: I do parkour. Throughout middle school I was really into it and throughout high school I taught parkour classes at a gym. I would say it taught me a lot about working with kids working on yourself physically, but like, ultimately, I can do a backflip. I don’t know how useful that is.
Ben: I work for a conservation group. That’s pretty useful though. I have a really fancy tool that helps me measure water quality and dissolved oxygen and all this stuff. So I basically just put it in the water and I take the data. I can also do a really mean Scooby-Doo impression.
Jake: Oh yeah, we’re also really good at Catan.
Aaron: Super Smash Brothers too, we’re also really good at that. I know a lot of random stuff about animals too. I can play bass and drums at the same time. I use my feet on the drums and I use my hands on the bass.
Jake: I know a dumb amount of random Grateful Dead and Phish facts that I can just impose upon people.
Ben: It’s the most useless skill ever. He’ll just say some s*** that’ll blow your mind and you’re just like, why do you even know that?
Q: Have you guys played any live shows?
Jake: We’ve played four actual shows and then we played a bunch of times for an open mic.
Ben: Our favorite gig was a State though. I actually went to State my first two years. I was in a band, they’re called Friendly Reminder, they’re pretty sick. Check them out. My friends asked me if we wanted to come down and play at some philanthropy thing for their fraternity. We got to do it and it was really, really, really sick. We just played really well. It was a big crowd, but that wasn’t even what made it great. We all felt just felt connected and it was really cool. Which is why we’re sad. We had 15 shows lined up for the last month and a half before COVID, like one to three a week.
Jake: Ultimately, I’d say that we’re like gearing towards trying to become a live band. We still want to do studio stuff, because I actually really enjoyed that more than I thought I would.
Ben: We want to play. This is what we want to do with our lives. We’ll go to any means necessary to do that and get a really cool following. The goal would be to have a cult following that’s super religious to us. I’d like to see the same 50 people at our shows every time.
Q: What are you working on right now? What does the future look like for the band?
Aaron: We got a single coming out soon. We also just dropped our second music video today, “Padlock.”
Forest: And then our album, which has these singles we’ve dropped like “Spun,’ “Padlock,” and this next single, they’re all going to be a part of an album, which I think we’re gonna drop in February. We’re actually also in the process of recording another album too that’ll be released in the summer.
Q: Anything else you want to world to know about Dropping Plates?
Ben: Follow us on Facebook. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our Spotify. And just come hang. Whenever all the social distancing stuff is over, we’re happy to hang out. We want to meet people and do cool things with music. We already have a community. We’re talking to a lot of other bands right now about playing shows together, and these are bands that are way better than us. It’s cool to recognize that people see our music as a promising thing and that they like our sound. It’s cool to finally realize that all of our hard work is being noticed.
Below is a link to their new music video to “Padlock,” along with their Spotify, Instagram, and Youtube channel. Check ’em out!
