Zorn is a Philadelphia-based band that has a sound which blends the intricacies and vocal style of GISM, the hard-hitting intensity and power of Discharge, and some black metal flair. The result is nothing short of incredible, and this band has truly captured some black magic on their new self-titled debut album.
The Music
Released in early March through Raleigh’s own Sorry State Records, “Zorn” is an album that does not let off the gas until it ends.
The opening track, “The Spell of The Fairy Tree” jumps straight into a killer bass line only made better by the power in Max’s bass tone. From there, the album balances melody, aggression, and dissonance in an absolutely stellar way.
Zorn establishes their musical prowess by weaving between black metal rhythms and hardcore punk grooves between and within songs accompanied by blistering guitar solos from guitarists Harley and Nao.
Just about halfway through the album comes my personal favorite track, “The Delco Devil Mosh” which opens with a haunting arpeggio leading into a more scandi-punk riff that goes back and forth throughout the song before slowing it down for an intense breakdown section.
The speed and intensity picks up until the finale “Würm,” that works well to close out the album with a slower and more melodic song that really shows the black metal influence in the band.
Last Thoughts
The only gripe I have with this album is that my record didn’t come with a DVD or VHS of them playing live. I say this because the truest way to experience this band is to see it in person with vocalist Alex waving a flaming sword at you while lyrics are ferociously belted out. Luckily for me, I will be catching a hometown Zorn show at this year’s Something To Talk About concert series in Philadelphia this June.
Zorn’s self titled album can be found on streaming services, with a digital purchase available through Bandcamp, as well as on vinyl at Sorry State Records.
If you’re anything like me, you enjoy priming the perfect playlist to soundtrack your walk to class. The only problem is, spring in North Carolina is unpredictable. Some days it’s freezing and the next you’re pretty sure it’s already summer. Luckily, I’ve got a couple playlist starters for any weather the spring can throw at you. Temperatures are in Fahrenheit.
60 Degrees
“Paws” – Adult Mom
This song from Adult Mom, the mostly-solo project of Stevie Knipe, off their 2014 EP “Sometimes Bad Happens.” It’s upbeat and feels like a good song to be played when it’s a bit cooler– early fall or early spring, especially.
“Polly” – Whitney
This Whitney track is chill while still being emotive, making it perfect for the days of spring where you’re wishing the breeze would make up its mind on whether or not it’s going to be cold out today.
70 Degrees
“Daibutsu” – Sunbeam Sound Machine
This track is groovy and catchy without any attention-grabbing lyrics– it’s like if someone made a shoegaze and pop crossover. It’s a great tempo for matching your steps to the beat on the walk across the brickyard.
“Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect” – The Decemberists
I will admit that this song is good for almost any season, given its instantly-nostalgic nature. Still, it’s got a lot of potential for spring, particularly weather that encourages you to stick a hand out of the car window while driving.
80 Degrees
“Six AM” – Inner Wave
This song makes me want to dance. At the very least, it will get me bopping my head. The low-pitched, catchy vocals paired with the catchy beat allow it to check all of my 80-degree boxes. There are a few samples from older American media in the song that are now permanently etched into my memory.
“I Came As a Rat” – Modest Mouse
Easily one of my favorite tracks off my favorite Modest Mouse album, “The Moon & Antartica,” this song is super fun and catchy while also maintaining an air of seriousness and the weird, almost discomforting instrumental atmosphere of this album.
Stormy Weather
“I Hate Everything” – Greet Death
If I could give a song the Rainy Day award, it would be this one. I saw Greet Death open for The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die at the back room of the Cat’s Cradle in 2021 and totally fell in love with their stuff. This song, off their recent EP “New Low” definitely takes the cake for my favorite track of theirs.
Blinding Sun
“Murderers” – John Frusciante
Although this song has a generally ‘chill’ vibe to it, it’s somehow super exciting to listen to it. Pretty simple guitar riffs without a whole lot of instrumentals layered over them, but still compelling.
Dull Overcast Sky
“Midtown” – Josh Augustin, Eva Alexis
This song from the frontman of Vansire is always one of my favorite semi-ambient songs to put on during a grey day– it matches my low energy without producing a low mood. Good daydreaming soundtrack.
I’ve said this before, but I could not imagine a world in which I didn’t have music to get me through things. Of interest here is how it can be used to actually be productive during the day and through long nights. I mean, I’m listening to some newly released singles while writing this.
Not all music is created equal in this regard, but there’s so many more possibilities for what study music can be than lo-fi beats streams or long jazz albums. Really, any music can help you grind through an essay or chem homework. There’s a couple rules of thumb to keep in mind, though.
Rules of Thumb
1. No intelligible lyrics
Whatever music you study with, make sure it doesn’t have lyrics you can understand. Instrumentals obviously fill this role, but any music sung in a language you don’t know, or whose vocals are too drowned out by other noise to make out are both great here.
2. Match pace of music with pace of work
Depending on the type of work you want to get done, you’ll find some music matches the intensity and tempo that you need to hone in. Completing a project last minute may call for some metal while an essay that needs steady progress may benefit more from techno.
3. Enjoy the music too
You’re not very likely to be getting much done while sitting through a “chill vibes” playlist that isn’t fitting your vibe. Making your own playlist can keep you from having to hit skip constantly to find “the right song”.
And Now, the Playlist
Music for Awkward Dates – strxwberrymilk
“Music for Awkward Dates” full album by strxwberrymilk
Yves Tumor is back with his fifth studio album, “Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)”. This extensively titled album actually has a somewhat short playtime, though not anything particularly shorter than their previous albums.
“Hot Between Worlds” keeps up Tumor’s heavy-hitting basslines and echo-y, melancholic vocals from their past works on songs like “Meteora Blues”. Unfortunately, so many tracks on here have such similar melodies that songs become difficult to distinguish from each other with a few exceptions.
The Bangers
First off, I don’t wish to imply that the songs that sound similar are bad by any means. For most of these tracks, if they come on a playlist on shuffle, I’ll gladly listen to them. There’s a lot of good introspection by Tumor on how his religious views and upbringing intersect with his queer identity. Some of the singles, like “Parody” and “Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood”, especially embody this type of discussion as well as Tumor’s percussion-heavy signature sound. They’re quite good in their own right, though I’m unlikely to seek them out independent of the greater album.
As for those exceptions mentioned earlier, “Operator” and “God Is a Circle” are definitely the highlights of “Hot Between Worlds”. While the former has the most inventive lyrics of the album, the latter has such a fresh, driving beat exemplifying Tumor’s exhaustion with feeling betrayed over and over again. The way “God Is a Circle” ends with such a climactic buildup is just perfect too.
“Operator” features Tumor’s most direct call to God yet, asking why God feels so distant. Their cries of “Hello” again and again only exacerbate that uncertainty over their relationship with God. Tumor’s trying to grapple with why there’s so much strain and hesitation which is amplified by the pervasive bass.
Official audio for “Operator” by Yves Tumor
The Flops
To be quite honest, no song on “Hot Between Worlds” is actively bad. Like I said earlier, there’s just not much differentiating many of these tracks from each other. Other than that, though, there isn’t much in the way of strong messages in Tumor’s lyrics on many tracks. They cover a lot of the same ground repetitively throughout the album, even in just 37 minutes.
Part of that issue may come from the minimal vocals on each song, leaving little room for expansive storytelling or metaphors. Songs don’t feel underdeveloped or rushed, they just feel like they need more space to work, which is something that seems to plague Tumor’s albums like “Heaven To A Tortured Mind”.
Welcome to the College Radio Blog, your go-to source for all things related to radio in educational institutions!
In this post, we’re taking a lighthearted and hilarious turn as we delve into the world of Chat GPT and its penchant for giving downright ridiculous answers to music-related questions.
Chat GPT, a state-of-the-art language model developed by OpenAI, has gained popularity for its uncanny ability to generate text that can range from incredibly informative to downright absurd.
As we explore the capabilities of Chat GPT in the context of music-related queries, be prepared for a laugh-out-loud journey into the wacky world of AI-generated responses. So, buckle up, and get ready for a dose of humor as we dive into the hilarious and unexpected answers that Chat GPT can come up with when it comes to music on college radio!
Chat GPT’s Favorite Albums
Let’s start with some of Chat GPT’s favorite albums of the last year:
Let’s analyze this list. First we have:
1. “Solar Power” (2021), a Lorde album with mixed reception. An interesting pick for best album of 2022.
2. “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” (2021), Halsey’s experimental pop record that was generally well liked. It seems Chat GPT likes pop singers on the alternative side of things.
3. “The Life of Pi’erre 5” (2021), widely considered to be an ok album from trap producer and rapper, Pierre Bourne.
4. “Vancouver Vol. III” by the Midnight. This album doesn’t exist. This is just a made up album.
5. “Dawn Chorus”, a single cover of Thom Yorke’s song of the same name from microhouse and ambient artist Jon Hopkins. This is a singular track and could be in no way considered an album.
6. “Dreamland III: The Tide is Turning” by Glass Animals. This album also doesn’t exist. In fact, there isn’t even a “Dreamland II” by Glass Animals, Chat GPT just skipped all the way to 3.
So overall, I’d say these were pretty excellent picks that encapsulate the best of what 2022 had to offer.
Chat GPT Draws
Moving on, let’s see Chat GPT try to draw some popular album covers. I don’t want to give it anything too crazy, since Chat GPT is limited to drawing with only ASCII characters, so I’ll start off with an easier one:
Not bad. You can clearly see where it tried to draw the crosswalk at the bottom of the page, and you can sort of make out the depth of the trees going into the cover. Even though it should be located on the other side, you could maybe call that little pillar on the left a light pole.
Let’s see how it handles something a little more abstract like Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion”:
This one is a little different. Instead of the iconic pattern of diagonal green pellets on a blue and purple background, we are given what appears to be the dogs from Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp” eating spaghetti.
I think it’s time to give it something even weirder, like Death Grip’s “Year of the Snitch”:
I quite like how the general shape of the cover turned out. It’s nice and circular, with little patterns of red in there. It could certainly be worse. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too abstract. Where’s the horrifying mouth holes? Where’s the creepy hand reaching onto the surface of this mysterious stained surface? Chat GPT clearly has some work to do before it can get these details quite right.
Next, we don’t have an album cover, but rather a band logo:
Instead of drawing a bear with pointed teeth, Chat GPT has spelled out “ARCA” in giant block letters. Clearly Chat GPT wants nothing to do with Radiohead and would much rather be listening to Arca, which is the best music take I have seen out of Chat GPT thus far.
Lastly, we have Weezer’s iconic self titled “Blue Album”:
Aw. Chat GPT hopes I enjoy it. Well I don’t.
Instead of showing the members of Weezer in their distinct human forms like the album cover does, Chat GPT has instead morphed them into two conjoined flesh pyramids. This was inconsiderate of Chat GPT.
Weezer has tried to keep their flesh geometries out of the public eye for years, and for Chat GPT to represent them in this way strongly goes against their wishes. I hope machine learning models can become more sensitive to issues like this in the future.
Finally, to round things off, let’s ask it one more question:
Photo courtesy of
7beachbum, under Creative Commons
I’ve been thinking a lot about what brings people to the status of being “queer icons”. Many of these people aren’t queer themselves, yet they are subject of adoration by many queer fans. And, there’s so many people who are queer themselves and quite popular who never seem to receive this distinction. My knowledge in this matter is primarily focused on musicians, so I’ll keep this discussion limited to that realm.
Allies and Icons
Kate Bush is a good example of someone who isn’t queer herself, but her music resonates with those fans. “Running Up That Hill” has been interpreted by many as a trans allegory, where God swaps the places of the narrator with her male lover. “Kashka from Baghdad” laments the situation of a gay man who “lives in sin” in a relationship with another man.
Music video for “Kashka From Baghdad” by Kate Bush
As far as icons who are queer themselves go, Lady Gaga has certainly made her mark. She not only has music directly supporting queer people, but has contributed much to queer activism. Both artists pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to discuss in mainstream pop culture for their time. Keep in mind, “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga was released four years before even the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized gay marriage.
A Would-Be Icon
So why does someone like Kurt Cobain, who similarly supported queer people during his time with Nirvana, not have the same level of recognition as a queer icon as others? Cobain’s one interview during the release and promotion of Nirvana’s Insecticide was with The Advocate magazine which promoted “Gay and Lesbian” issues. He called himself “gay in spirit” and “probably could be bisexual”. He performed with Nirvana at a benefit concert in Oregon to oppose an anti-gay ballot measure being proposed in the state.
If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the f— alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records
Liner notes for Nirvana’s “Incesticide”
Although Cobain was certainly popular enough to be known by queer fans, he’s largely left out of these kinds of conversations. I believe this may be due to the nature of Nirvana’s music. Most queer icons in music, at least in the 20th century, are women or they are men who write poppier songs and ballads. This trend is largely reflective of the perception of gay men and lesbians by themselves and wider society at the time. Gay men were stereotypically effeminate and lesbians were stereotypically butch (and any other queer people were ignored).
Even though Cobain often acted in line with these stereotypes, both in his private life and on-stage, his music was much more aggressive than the music of most other queer icons of the time. As such, there may have been a reluctance among the queer community in the 90s to adopt Cobain’s music as theirs because it broke from those stereotypes.
Concluding Thoughts
While popularity and queer subject matter may be important in making someone a queer icon, those don’t seem to be the only criteria, at least for older musicians. Actually this trend still exists to some extent today too. Rarely, if ever, are aggressive rock or hip-hop artists (many of whom are queer) seen as icons, even if they discuss the matter in their music.
