Spite is one of the most impressive bands that I have seen live. They have so much energy and the crowd goes crazy for them! Their music is so intense and Darius’ vocals are insane! He can transition from inhales to exhales with ease and he is a wild man on stage! He will run around, wiggle his eyebrows, and will be in the crowd’s face all the time. He is a perfect definition of a frontman! I have seen Spite four times (three times at the Blind Tiger in Greensboro and once at the Ramkat in Winston-Salem) and they always surprise me. I definitely recommend seeing them.
Spite is known as an American deathcore band out of Southern California. They employ a blend of death metal, metalcore, and a new wave of nu metal within their deathcore realm. They formed in the Bay Area with Darius Tehrani (vocals), Stephen Mallory (bass), Alex Tehrani (guitar), and Cody Fuentes (drums). They dropped their independent EP, Misery, in 2015 before they signed to Stay Sick Recordings, a label created by Attila frontman, Chris Fronzak.
With their release of their first full-length, Nothing is Beautiful, in 2017 they drew comparisons to over deathcore heavy hitters – Thy Art Is Murder, The Acacia Strain, and Suicide Silence. Spite continues to push the bar for heavy music with each album that they release.
Spite has released one EP and 2 full-length albums: Misery (2015), Nothing Is Beautiful (2017), and Root of All Evil (2019).
Favorite songs: Kill or Be Killed and The Root of All Evil.
Have you seen Spite? What are your favorite songs?
Spring break begins after this week, and in anticipation I (and I’m sure thousands of other State students) have been listening exclusively to the most upbeat music I can find. Typically I tend to gravitate toward indie and electronic music but this week I’ve mixed in some more popular music as well as some tracks that are spring break-esque that I’ve been looking forward to sharing.
The Other Side (from Trolls World Tour) – SZA, Justin Timberlake
SZA is one of my favorite vocalists and so this track gets an instant heart from me. I also appreciate Justin Timberlake’s harmonious addition to the chorus on this song. I feel like this song is great for a dance party or even the drive home from school, it definitely makes me want to get up and move.
This song is so addictive. The chorus, sung by Charli XCX, has been stuck in my head all week. I love the verses by all of the artists and think this is such a bubbly pop song perfect for listening to during a vacation. It’s a bit all over the place, chaotic, but that only makes me adore it more.
Boogie – BROCKHAMPTON
I’m sure any BROCKHAMPTON fans reading this know and love this song already, but in case you haven’t heard it yet, this track is one of the most hype songs ever made. Every time I listen, I want to go crazy and dance. It also has a chaotic element, but I freaking love this song so much. Definitely perfect for your spring break party.
Hot Girl (ft. Kari Faux) – Yung Baby Tate
I love Yung Baby Tate and Kari Faux and think this song has near-perfect lyricism. Just like Kari raps, I’ve been dreaming about getting tan lines and visiting the Bahamas. Anyway, this song has a nice beat and both singers add soothingly smooth vocals to the track.
100 Degrees – Rich Brian
This song is one of my favorites because it’s so refreshingly different from most Rich Brian songs (though I enjoy a majority of his discography). It’s such a bouncy song and features both rap verses and singing by Brian. It has such a warm-weather vibe that is sure to warm you up, even during unpredictable North Carolina weather.
Hoping you all enjoyed this list, and am wishing you all an exciting and hype spring break!
What’s going on Butcher Crew?! There has been tons of shows that have been announced and I know that it can be hard to keep up with, but I decided I would help out my Butcher Crew and make a list of the tours that will be coming through North Carolina!! The Saw will be at most of these shows, will I see you?
Monday, March 9th: Local 506, Chapel Hill
This show is going to be killer!! You have some of the most hard-hitting bands on one bill! I am mainly excited to see Kublai Khan because I love their most recent album, Absolute, and I can’t wait to hear them play those songs live!
Sunday, March 15th: Amos’ Southend, Charlotte
Literally every band on this bill I am excited for. I haven’t seen Aversions Crown or Fit For An Autopsy in a few years!!I’ve just recently seen Thy Art Is Murder a few months ago and I love seeing them any chance I get.
Sunday, March 15th: The Ritz, Raleigh
Killswitch Engage is one of the OG bands for the new wave of metal that opened the door for metalcore bands, and they are bringing another heavy hitter, August Burns Red, with them!
Friday, March 20th: The Pour House, Raleigh
Vio-lence has never been to Raleigh and this will be their first time coming here! They have some of my Local Butchers opening for them! I will be the MC for this show!
Saturday, March 21st: The Drunk Horse Pub, Fayetteville
Pathology and Pyrexia are some big-name bands that have had a huge impact on the heavier realm of music, and they are bringing some more of my Local Butchers with them to open up this show! The Saw will be there, will I see you?
Friday, May 8th: The Blind Tiger, Greensboro
Suicide Silence is hitting North Carolina again with their newest record, Become the Hunter, and they will have many of my Local Butchers with them! The Saw will most definitely be there!!
Sunday, May 10th: The Ritz, Raleigh
I am so excited to see Motionless in White, Knocked Loose, Stick To Your Guns, and Ovtlier. There is a wide variety of bands on this bill and I am very interested to see how this shows goes!! I am super excited to see all of these bands!
Monday, June 1st: The Ritz, Raleigh
Do I really need to say anything about this tour? Two of my favorite bands are touring together, so it’s a no brainer that I will for sure be there.
Sunday, June 14th: Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh
Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and In Flames will be hitting Raleigh and I am super-excited for all of these bands! I haven’t seen Megadeth in so long and I can’t wait to yell their lyrics back to them!
Wednesday, June 17th: PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte
Slipknot is bringing A Day To Remember on this run and, honestly, I love seeing the mixed genres that bands are bringing on tour with them! Slipknot and ADTR never disappoint!
Friday, September 11th: Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater, Charlotte
Let’s be real, I love all of these bands on this bill: Parkway Drive, Hatebreed, Knocked Loose, and Fit For A King. I already got my pit tickets for this show and I can’t wait to mosh to all of these bands!
Thursday, September 17th: PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte
I have never seen Judas Priest live so hopefully this will be my chance to see them!
Are you going to any of these shows? Did I miss any that you are excited about?
You’re heading to the movie theater, the newest movie with your favorite actor is playing. You get to your seats just as the (hour long!!) credits end and the theater grows dark. Suddenly you can hear low music swelling up. Film company logos flash across the screen and the music only gets louder till the opening shot of the movie begins. The music is important. It signifies the genre and style of the movie you are about to watch. If there are loud droning tones it might convey the film is suspenseful or horror. If you hear a pop song, you should expect a rom-com or some kind of happy kids movie. Music sets the tone before we even lay our eyes on the set or characters.
That sound, during the credits and not the cinematic universe, is called non-diegetic. The music and sound the characters within the film can hear and can interact with are called, you guessed it, diegetic sound. Sometimes music can change from diegetic to non-diegetic and the other way around. For example, we can hear a song as a part of the soundtrack (non-diegetic) while the movie shows us the setting of the film. Then, the film shows the character turn off the radio causing the music, which we now realize is diegetic, to stop. Directors can play with our expectations of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, which draws interest in the film.
Horror is an easy genre to hear, how directors can put us in the shoes of the character for an effect. A classic example is heartbeats. If you hear slow heartbeats in a movie while a character is walking, the character is probably calm and the viewer feels the same way. If the heartbeats are speeding up while the character is also speeding up, viewers understand that the character is scared, and running away from something. For my Introduction to Film Class, we watched A Quiet Place and discussed how both diegetic and non-diegetic sound makes meaning throughout the film. In A Quiet Place because one of the main characters is deaf the film plays around with periods of silence as the audience is immersed in her point of view. This movie creates suspense so well when it uses sound to condition the viewer into hair-raising reactions from the dramatic score and sound effects.
ALBUM REVIEW: Koenjihyakkei – Angherr Shisspa (2005)
BEST TRACKS: Rattims Friezz, Quivem Vrastorr
FCC Clean
LISTEN TO IF YOU LIKE: avant-garde, experimental, jazz
Before we get into this album in particular, it’s important to mention what “Zeuhl” is which is the musical genre this falls into. Born from 60s and 70s krautrock and coined by the band Magma’s constructed language Kobaian, there are only a handful of groups that have been able to consider themselves under this genre umbrella. As Pitchfork once put it, Zeuhl can be described by “sudden bursts of explosive improv and just as unexpected lapses into eerie, minimalist trance-rock.”
I would go on to say it is some of the hardest music to describe as it is to find. Koenjihyakkei is the side-project of Yoshida Tatsuya of Japanese Zeuhl group, Ruins, which is heavily influenced by 60s and 70s progressive music in general. This group also includes Aki Kubota (on vocals and keyboards) from another modern krautrock group, Bondage Fruit.
Koenjihyakkei’s “Angherr Shisspa” is one of the best albums to get into this genre with though.
This would be my own attempt to describe this wild album: experimental opera jazz with intensive complicated time signatures that boom and burst from huge orchestral and choral hits to single xylophonic beats. If you are looking for something like you’ve never heard before and crave the subtle balance between dissonant chord structures and ear candy, this is certainly an important listen.
The album has this way of being able to add this playful tone to something extremely avant-garde. Sometimes I feel when listening to this album that I am surrounded by a bunch of fairies that are screaming, dancing, and performing various rituals.
It is also another one of those albums that grows on you the more you listen to it, because it draws from so many different types of progressive and experimental music, it’s hard to keep track of it all on first listen. I’d consider this a hidden gem, simply given it’s status of being representative of a genre that does not get a lot of representation. Check it out if you want some new avant-garde music to listen to.
Artist Record Label 1 GREAT AMERICAN GHOST Power Through Terror Entertainment One 2 VARIALS In Darkness Fearless 3 SUICIDE SILENCE Become The Hunter Nuclear Blast 4 BODY COUNT “Bum-Rush” [Single] Century Media 5 AS I LAY DYING Shaped By Fire Nuclear Blast 6 THE AMITY AFFLICTION Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them Pure Noise 7 MY DYING BRIDE The Ghost Of Orion Nuclear Blast 8 DESPISED ICON Purgatory Nuclear Blast 9 LORNA SHORE Immortal Century Media 10 UPON A BURNING BODY Southern Hostility Seek & Strike
Artist Record Label 1 COWGIRL CLUE Icebreaker Vada Vada 2 INDIA JORDAN DNT STP MY LUV [EP] Local Action 3 YEULE Serotonin II Bayonet 4 BESHKEN Aisle Of Palm Self-Released 5 BRIJEAN Walkie Talkie Native Cat 6 CHANNEL TRES Black Moses [EP] Godmode 7 JACQUES GREENE Dawn Chorus Lucky Me 8 GRACE IVES 2nd Dots Per Inch 9 SWEELY Nice Archive Traxx, Vol. 1 Lobster Theremin 10 FLOATING POINTS LesAlpx/Coorabell [EP] Ninja Tune
Artist Record Label 1 CAVEBOY Night In The Park, Kiss In The Dark Self-Released 2 KOKO NEETZ I.T.T.I.P. Admirable Traits 3 PAPOOZ Night Sketches Half Awake 4 MARINA Love Atlantic 5 LOVING If I Am Only My Thoughts Last Gang 6 BAD SOUNDS Escaping From A Violent Time, Vol. 1 [EP] Theory 7 HAZY SEAS, THE The Hazy Seas Self-Released 8 CHASTITY BELT Chastity Belt Hardly Art 9 TURNOVER Altogether Run For Cover 10 JAY SOM Anak Ko Polyvinyl 11 BASEMENT REVOLVER Wax And Digital [EP] Sonic Unyon 12 STRANGE RANGER Remembering The Rockets Tiny Engines 13 JUDE SHUMA From The Garage [EP] Self-Released 14 BODYWASH Comforter Luminelle 15 BABE RAINBOW, THE Today 30th Century 16 MARIKA HACKMAN Any Human Friend [EP] Sub Pop 17 SOCCER MOMMY Color Theory Loma Vista/Concord 18 ROSEY DUST Keep for life Self-Released 19 DAYGLOW Fuzzybrain Self-Released 20 RUSSIAN BATHS Deepfake Good Eye 21 TY SEGALL Deforming Lobes Drag City 22 PALACE Life After Avenue A/Fiction 23 FYOHNA Radio Sampler [EP] Self-Released 24 HANA VU Nicole Kidman/Anne Hathaway Luminelle 25 KATE TEAGUE Kate Teague [EP] Muscle Beach 26 CHARLY BLISS Young Enough Barsuk 27 BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB Everything Else Has Gone Wrong Mmm… 28 BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT At The Party With My Brown Friends Saddle Creek 29 MATT MALTESE Krystal 7476 30 POW Shift Castle Face
TOP ADDS
1 PURR Like New Anti- 2 APPROACHABLE MEMBERS OF YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY Love Thy Neighbor [EP] AntiFragile 3 TENNIS Swimmer Mutually Detrimental 4 ALA.NI ACCA Self-Released 5 JANE HERSHIPS The Home Record Self-Released 6 BLANKS Blanks [EP] Self-Released 7 SOCCER MOMMY Color Theory Loma Vista/Concord 8 KYLE FORESTER Hearts In Gardens Self-Released 9 BOY ROMEO Pure Soul Self-Released 10 KEVIN KRAUTER Full Hand Bayonet
Artist Record Label 1 DOUG SHORTS Heads or Tails [EP] Daptone 2 JID Off Deez (ft. J. Cole) Dreamville/Interscope 3 VINCE STAPLES Feels Like Summer Def Jam 4 KEY! “Miami Too Much” [Single] Hello! 5 KANO Can’t Hold We Down (ft. Popcaan) Parlophone 6 DANA VAUGHNS “Lovey Dovey (ft. Jordan Ward)” [Single] The house 7 BUDDY Find Me Too RCA 8 SUPA BWE PROBLEM / FUEL Freddy G 9 RICO NASTY Ice Cream Sugar Trap 10 FOGGIERAW “I Gotta Ball” [Single] Diff Sound
My favorites: New Gods, You’ll miss me when I’m not around, IDORU
Listen if you like: Crystal Castles, Purity Ring, Kap Bambino
Grimes’ most recent album, Miss Anthropocene was released a few days ago. Grimes is known for her ethereal electronic melodies and otherworldly vocals. This album is no exception, though there is a saturnine quality to the entire album; in complement with the themes of climate change and human destruction Grimes attempted to portray. The last track, IDORU contrasts with all of that – its lyricism is all based on love, and has a softer tone than the other tracks. Some of the other main themes of the album include depression, self-destruction, and the recent experiences Grimes has been through (such as her relationship, pregnancy, and focus on ethical issues).
I have followed Grimes since I first gained an interest in synth-pop/electronic music in my teens. Her albums Visions and Geidi Primes are among my top favorites of all time. Although nothing will meet the novelty of Visions as an album truly unlike any other, Miss Anthropocene is a delicious complement to Art Angels. Her music is unparalleled by any other electronic or art-pop artist, and since her entrance into the music scene in 2007 has gained prominence and prosperity. Throughout the many years, she has Grimes has evolved alongside her music. Now 31, she is pregnant with the child of the billionaire Elon Musk and has gained much more of a celebrity status. Miss Anthropocene shows the growth of Grimes as an artist as well as a reflection on the changes within her life. Grimes shows a motivation to break out of her previous more pop-influenced albums and pull from different influences and genres, like the influence of Korean music in We Appreciate Power and Bollywood in 4ÆM. I love to see the progression in sound reflected on this newest album.
