Before I start this discussion I want to make it clear that I’m not biased and have both headphones and earbuds, three of each actually, and I’m not much of an audiophile either, just someone who likes talking music. The argument I have today is simple, both have pros and cons, but which one is better?
Let’s talk headphones. Headphones (like the ones above) are good for a more immersive experience and tend to drown out background noise better. I mean there’s definitely no shortage of noise canceling headphones. For making music and DJing they are definitely preferred because they tend to have a more full sounds and are more comfortable for long periods of use. Cons? Well they tend to be more expensive, I mean the price range is all over for both but, when you really get into things, headphones are more worth spending the extra buck. But they also are less portable. If you’re not planning to wear them the whole time you’re out they do take up more space in bags and they aren’t the best for hot weather because sweat really builds up, especially with larger headphones.
What about earbuds? Well… they definitely are preferred for working out and being portable. It is easier to find less expensive more quality ones too, they are good for hot weather and take up very little space in bags. But they also have a couple drawbacks. They don’t have the same immersive experience and it’s harder to drown out background noise. And they also can get pretty uncomfortable after a while of wearing.
So where does this leave my point? Well, I use both for different things and I would have to say that headphones win with DJing, making music, studying in a loud place and sound experience. Earphones are my go to in the gym, on hot days, in quieter places, and when I need to travel with a lot of things. Which wins for you?
Leikeli47 (pronounced La-kay-lay) is a both Virginia and Brookyln raised rapper, singer and producer. Leikeli47 has never released her real name and wears a mask made of bandana, denim or other cloth material for all public appearances. Her “tom-boy” style of baggy pants, denim, hoodies, chains and butter colored Timbs mesh well with her waist length braids, eyelashes that are highlighted by her mask’s concealment of her other features and her lyrics about acrylic nails, men and braids (tuh’da flo). Leikeli47, when performing and in her music, effectively brings out the bad bitch in all of her listeners. Her lyrics exude confidence and attitude while simultaneously allowing her listeners into her life and black life which makes up for her concealed image. Her sophomore album, “Wash & Set” (2017) is the first in an upcoming trilogy, with “Acrylic” (2018) being the second in her “Beauty Series.” In this series she draws on black spaces such as nail salons and barbershops to relate to her listeners and to normalize these spaces. She is definitely a quickly up and coming rapper with an amazing flow, great lyrics and a mysterious image. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
My favorite tracks by her: Top Down, Don’t do it, Girl Blunt, CIAA, No Reload, Miss Me and Ho
Theme songs/anthems are important when identifying horror movie villains. Who can forget Michael Myers theme song, or the Jaws’ anthem? These songs place a crucial role in creeping out the viewer and notifying us that our favorite villain is about to hit the scene.
What if their theme songs were metal tracks? How cool would that be? Below is a list of slashers and what I think their theme songs would be if you were to change them to metal.
Freddy Krueger: Hypocrisy – Let The Knife Do The Talking
Freddy’s glove is a bunch of knives, and it is his tool of choice for killing. So, it is only reasonable that we let his knives do the talking (get it?). I can already imagine Freddy dancing to this song while killing his victims.
Leatherface: Cannibal Corpse – Kill or Become
This song fits Leatherface because the chorus goes, “Fire up the chainsaw. Hack all their heads off.” Leatherface loves him some chainsaw, can you imagine seeing people screaming in terror with Leatherface running after them while this song plays? I think it is perfect.
Pennywise: Slipknot – The Heretic Anthem
This song has a lot going on in it and is very in your face and aggressive. It’s a lot like IT right here. Pennywise is always in the face of his victims and is always trying to terrify them. Slipknot gives me the same feeling sometimes when I see them live, but that is okay. I can see Pennywise doing his little dance to this song now.
Michael Myers: Cannibal Corpse – F***ed with a Knife
Like Freddy, Michael loves him a good butcher knife and that is always his choice of killing. So, it is only reasonable to have a Cannibal Corpse song that involves a knife to be Michael’s song. Just like Michael’s killings, the song is short, simple, and sweet. (:
Jason Voorhees: Spite – Kill or be Killed
The story of Jason Voorhees is pretty sad, not gonna lie. Jason got bullied at Crystal Lake and ended up drowning in the lake. His mother killed the counselors who she thought were responsible for her son’s death since they weren’t looking after the kids. So, in essence, Jason’s mother’s theme was kill or be killed, and she did both. Since Jason takes orders from his mom, in is only reasonable that this is also his theme song.
Ghostface: Capture – You Call That A Knife? This Is A Knife!
The list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t have a stereotypical slasher movie on the list. And the list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t have a stereotypical early 00’s metalcore on this list. Each very fitting.
Hannibal Lecter: Left Behind – Focus on the Flesh
Hannibal Lecter is a cannibal, so it is only fitting to have a song that focuses on the flesh (I love puns). I can already see Hannibal cooking up his victims while blasting this song in the background. I imagine the scene where is he cooking homeboy’s brain while TALKING TO HIM. Creepy right?
Pinhead: Behemoth – O Father! O Satan! O Sun!
Okay, Pinhead is my favorite because he has some GREAT one-liners: “I am pain,” “no tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering,” and one of my all-time favorites “Burn? Oh, such a limited imagination!” I feel like Pinhead would love some black metal, I can see his quotes being lines of a black metal song. When Pinhead first met Kirsty Cotton, he was asked who he was. His response was, “explorers in the further region of experience. Demons to some, angels to others.” Hearing this line made me think of Behemoth and this song. I can already see Pinhead surrounded by chains with this song in the background. It’s beautiful.
Jigsaw: Whitechapel – The Saw Is The Law
Do I really need to explain this one?
What are some of your favorite slashers? What would their theme song be? Do you have a theme song?
Stay Metal,
THE SAW
BONUS!!!! Here is a fun video that I found that has all of our favorite slashes as a boy band. It’s hilarious and you should totally check it out.
I have been to a lot of shows and even though I mosh, I mainly dance. My friends have described my dancing at a show as “club dancing” (shout out to Kevin), and it’s honestly straight facts. How I dance at any metal show is how I dance when I’m out with my friends. I have been asked why I dance the way I do at shows and my only answer is because “it’s fun” and I am a firm believer that some types of metal could be club music.
When listening to metal, if it has a good, catchy beat to it that anyone could dance to (primarily death metal and hardcore), it should be played at the club! The choppiness of the riffs and beat of the drums really emphasize this notion. The heaviness and the power of the band doesn’t take away from the aspect that the music is catchy as hell.
And I’m going to be honest, I 100% believe that people could throw their asses back to some death metal, I mean have you listened to Redneck Stomp by Obituary? I can see a grind train right now. The club would be lit as hell. I grew up having dance parties with my mom, and she would play Korn, Pantera and Rob Zombie, etc.; but she would also play TLC, Usher, Lil Jon, and Snoop Dogg. So I grew up dancing to both genres of music even though they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. My mom dances the same way I do at shows, so maybe its genetic? Was I born with it? Maybe its Maybelline, who knows.
Here are a lists of songs that I believe should be played in a club that people could “get down” to:
BEST TRACKS: Maps to the Stars, River’s Edge, Opera
FCC violations: Hour of the Wolf, Opera
A year after Nick Rattigan released A Different Age on his solo project under the moniker Current Joys, Nevada-based alternative duo Nick Rattigan and Jacob Rubeck returned to the front of the scene with a magical new release Heaven Surrounds You.
My first thought when I picked up this album and read the name was “wow, what a beautiful thought”’. Heaven surrounds you. I appreciated the assertive delivery of this message. The title of this album isn’t asking and it isn’t suggesting- it’s straight up telling you that the world is a beautiful place and you don’t have to wait until you die to find happiness. At least, that’s what I thought before listening to the album. As it turns out, this album is as self-deprecating and anguished as ever. I should have known. Surf Curse: feeling like a freak since 2013. But if it counts for anything, the last track, Jamie, closes out the album with this hopeful message: I love the people in my life. All my friends keep me alive.
Though I’m a big fan of the band’s traditional rough and visceral sound, I admit that Surf Curse cleaned up nicely with this Album. Heaven Surrounds You is Surf Curse’s most mature and polished album to date, more cinematic and sounding less like it was recorded in the basement and put together on Garageband 2.2. Saccharine violin on tracks on several tracks give the album a coming of age movie-like feel.
This is the perfect album for a road trip out west, with its sunny, lively guitar and dreamy vocals. The drums are modest yet toe-tapping, taking a back seat to the more melodic instruments on the album. Even the darker sounding tracks on this album, like Opera and Trust, have sweet, cinematic breakdowns and one-two rhythms that maintain the energy throughout.
I recommend giving this album a listen if you like Beach Fossils, the Frights, or Arcade Fire.
Artist Record Label 1 LALA LALA Sleepyhead (Reissue) Hardly Art 2 (SANDY) ALEX G House Of Sugar Domino 3 CHASTITY BELT Chastity Belt Hardly Art 4 OH ROSE While My Father Sleeps Park The Van 5 KATE TEAGUE Kate Teague [EP] Muscle Beach 6 ROYAL TRUX White Stuff Fat Possum 7 ZACK MEXICO The Page The Pope and The Hanged Man Self-Released 8 OH SEES Face Stabber Castle Face 9 ROYAL CANOE Waver Paper Bag 10 MARIKA HACKMAN Any Human Friend [EP] Sub Pop 11 AA BONDY Enderness Fat Possum 12 FRANKIE COSMOS Close It Quietly Sub Pop 13 GOOD SERVICE Summer Muses Self-Released 14 SHANNON LAY August Sub Pop 15 PIP BLOM Boat Heavenly/PIAS 16 IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE Doko Mien Merge 17 MAUNO Really Well Tin Angel 18 JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD Magick Songs Dine Alone 19 INFINITY CRUSH Virtual Heaven Joy Void 20 STRANGE RANGER Remembering The Rockets Tiny Engines 21 GOOD RIDDANCE Thoughts And Prayers Fat Wreck 22 B BOYS Dudu Captured Tracks 23 NATHAN BAJAR Playroom In Real Life 24 REPTALIENS Valis Captured Tracks 25 FLORAL PRINT Floral Print Tiny Engines 26 SARAH BETHE NELSON Weird Glow Burger 27 FRUIT BATS Gold Past Life Merge 28 BODY TYPE EP1 + EP2 Partisan 29 SACRED PAWS Run Around The Sun Merge 30 FLORIST Emily Alone Double Double Whammy
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1 PEACH PYRAMID Bright Blue Oscar St 2 ERTHLINGS Indigo [EP] Future Classic 3 NEW PORNOGRAPHERS In the Morse Code Of Brake Lights Concord 4 TINO DRIMA Suitin’ Up Park The Van 5 MELTT Swim Slowly Self-Released 6 JAPANESE WALLPAPER Glow Nettwerk 7 MENZINGERS, THE Hello Exile Epitaph
Artist Record Label 1 GIDEON Out of Control Equal Vision 2 KUBLAI KHAN Absolute Rise 3 TOXIC HOLOCAUST Primal Future: 2019 eOne 4 CREEPING DEATH Wretched Illusions eOne 5 GATECREEPER Deserted Relapse 6 LEFT BEHIND “Peeling Wax” [Single] Pure Noise 7 KNOCKED LOOSE A Different Shade Of Blue Pure Noise 8 VARIALS In Darkness Fearless 9 WIND ROSE Wintersaga Napalm 10 SIGNS OF THE SWARM Vital Deprivation Unique Leader
Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain blasted out of my friend’s tiny car, which was full of tents, sleeping bags, and backpacks. We were speeding towards Shakori Hills. The grassroots music festival in the lovely Pittsboro wilderness has been an institution for 16 years. This would be my first time camping during the festival which takes place twice a year, in the spring and the fall. Shakori hosts all kinds of musicians and acts and I was ready to explore some new bands. We had reached the end of our journey and piled out of the car into a field. It only got hippier from there.
Shakori is oriented in a circle with food vendors and camping connecting the four main stages. I decided to forgo the schedule and just walk around the circle until I heard something I was interested in. One of the bands that caught my attention was People Of Earth. Their alt-rock and jazz-influenced music had the crowd jamming out and was a welcome change of pace from the bluegrass and country that the festival is known for. I heard TerraBANG from across the grounds. I was immediately intrigued by lead singer Jameilyara Moore’s smooth vocals. The upbeat and funky songs had me floating away (Checkout their song Art School Drop out). My favorite performer of the weekend might have to be Roosevelt Collier. You could see his beaming smile from a mile away and his music was just as infectious. Collier shreds on the lap steel guitar and completely stole the show with groovy almost grunge take.
There is something to be said about the environment of the Shakori, everyone knows they are in a special place and it shows with the absolute kindness and generosity of the volunteers and even the attendees. It felt like fall for the first time that weekend, the weather was the perfect backdrop for the festival. Definitely count on seeing me there in the spring 🙂 Happy Shakori!
