Mexicans in Madrid: coming full circle in a Spanish club
As a brown Mexican-American, Spain h...
“Thank u, next” to racial identity: pop star Ariana Grande’s record of racebending
I asked 40 people: what race is Ariana Grande? The answers were inconclusive, with answers ranging from Latina, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern. The pop artist, known for her ponytail hairstyle and whistle t...
Sad Woman September: A case study for hyper-specific playlist making
In my life I have met two types of people: those who intricately craft a playlist, who will put their life and soul into this playlist, and then those with one mega playlist. For the former there is no such thi...
Sex, drugs, and segregation: the influence of Black artists and the history of rock ‘n’ roll
To an angsty teenager, nothing is more appealing than music that repulses adults, alludes to sex and drugs, and was at one point, banned in the city of Santa Cruz. Rock music, and what it represents, not only d...
Moshing With Your Mom at the Goo Goo Dolls
Sunday, September 4th marked the day of my first rendezvous with 90s American rock band, The Goo Goo Dolls. While an innate familiarity with their songs had been unknowingly instilled in me from early morning r...
Cassette Revival Now!
Vinyl records used to be the primary—or only—means for bands and labels to distribute their music and for fans to find, support, and engage with the music they love. However by 1968, it had a solid competit...
13 Tumblr Albums & Their Berkeley Counterparts
The year is 2015. You are 14 years old getting ready for school and looking for your pair of Doc Martens. Your parents come in and you quickly hide your pack of cigarettes. Your room is filled with posters of L...
The Marriage of Dream Pop and Hip-Hop
It is of no surprise that hip-hop is one of the broadest genres in music. Foundational to the vastness of its modern sound is the use of sampling, which in short is characterized by isolating the drum beat, cho...
An Open Letter to Spillage Village’s “Hapi”
“Hapi” is the 11th track on Spillage Village’s critically acclaimed 2020 release, Spilligion.
The nighttime clouds blanketed the town below and swallowed orange hues of streetlights. It’s Halloween...
The Anti-Grimes Manifesto
A SPECTER IS HAUNTING THE INTERNET — THE SPECTER OF GRIMES!
Thus Piper Samuels introduces her program for the reorientation of justice-seeking music listeners towards new electronic-pop artists.
A specter...
A Race to my Downloads with Alex G
Alex G’s 2010 self-released album, Race, is an ode to the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. Released when Alex was a mere 17 years old, the pains of being a teenager growing up in suburban Havertown...
Even Cowgirls May Get the Blues, But Country Music Remedied Mine
When lockdown hit, I returned to my childhood bedroom, with its high ceilings and austere white walls, and dreamed of being somewhere different, anywhere other than where I presently was. I became repulsed by t...
It’s the 18th Anniversary of Elliott Smith’s death: Here are Just 7 Musicians that He’s Influenced
It’s been 18 years since we lost the legendary singer-songwriter, Elliott Smith. Although he died shortly after I was born, I’ve always related to his music, since his music is often intimate and conversati...
Spotify Blend: Sweet Dreams Really are Made of Nightmares
Spotify Blend is the newest feature on Spotify. It syncs your music taste with whoever you send the Spotify blend link to and generates a playlist with similar songs you each would like. It has a song compatibi...
I don’t know about you, but both my favorite album and I are turning twenty-two: A love letter to 69 Love Songs
On September 7th, 1999, a new life was brought into the world. Though only a newborn, it was filled with complexity, somber observation, cynicism, and underneath it all, a guarded sense of optimism. Two days la...