stolafsounds

a few words on tradition, brought about by christmasfest

hokay. so.

the sound: Christmas fest. I didn't actually go, but I have been hearing about it for the past week or so. Probably even longer. It's just a really big deal around here, and I probably should have gone, because it was probably great. What I got to experience firsthand were alot of these:

  (norwegian sweaters, not grooving mannequins)

and also this, in the cafeteria:

  (lutefisk, not raw fish soaked in poison. oh wait...)*

I just wanted to point out how ridiculous we all are.
 Go Minnesota!

* I actually found out from a friend of mine that Lutefisk is soaked in lye as I prepared to try a bite. Check Wikipedia if you don't believe me)

Neil Young - After The Goldrush

Departing once again from normal blogging, we've been required to post: "a reading, anything you consider worth of sharing, your favorite poem, short fiction, fable, anything is valid as long as you can read it". In keeping with the blogs theme of sound, I've chosen a song by Neil Young, released in 1970 called After The Gold Rush

 After The Gold Rush

Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming

Saying something about a queen                                                      

There were peasants singing and drummers drumming and the archer split the tree

There was a fanfare blowing to the sun that floated on the breeze

Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970's

Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970's

I was lying in a burned-out basement with the full moon in my eyes

I was hoping for replacement when the sun burst through the skies

There was a band playing in my head and I felt like getting high

Thinking about what a friend had said, I was hoping it was a lie

Thinking about what a friend had said, I was hoping it was a lie

Well I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying in the yellow haze of the sun

There were children crying and colors flying all around the chosen ones

All in a dream, all in a dream, the loading had begun

Flying Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun

Flying Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home

This has always been one of my favorite (Neil Young) songs. When I heard it for the first time around 7th grade I had no clue what it meant, but I just loved the imagery of it - from knights and queens, to a dreaming hippie, to futuristic spaceships. Past, Present, Future.  Now when I read the lyrics again all I hear is global warming, global warming, global warming. And that was a good 30 years before Mr. Gore. Nice work, Neil.

Pro-What?!?: St. Olaf's Abortion Debate Dinner

One wonderful sound that takes place on college campuses such as St. Olaf is the sound of discussion and debate. From my own observations, I find St. Olaf's student body to be enriched by its balance of liberal and conservative-leaning thinkers. This allows for 'the big issues', often to be considered to be black/white, to be discussed in an educated manner that is, if not conclusive, at least fair.

Last night St. Olaf's Political Awareness committee hosted a debate in Valhalla Hall between the two general established parties in favor of and opposing abortion, that is the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life perspectives, respectably. The dinner was attended quite well, and it seemed quite clear that all present were interested to see how the hour-long debate would play out.

The debate opened with an opening statement from one of the two Pro-Life representatives, after which the opposing faction was allowed to ask questions. Not surprisingly, the central theme of the statement would linger as the major question that was underlying throughout the debate: When does life start?? Both sides produced supporting statistics of development that were not mutually exclusive, and began to discuss whether it was the early presence of brain activity, or 'sentience', as defined by the formation of the neocortex (when phenomena such as emotions become realized in the human fetus).

This led to an unfortunate ongoing allusion to the killing of comatose patients (is it different to take the life of a non-sentient person who has lived or a potential life?). Many other considerations, including social consequences were presented (the disparity between abortions performed and couples waiting to adopt in the U.S/ the life of a human or the well-being of the mother, etc. etc.). It all seemed to boil back down to when life actually begins. 

And of course, nobody could define this in a manner that satisfied everybody. Until the start of life can be agreed upon and scientifically pinpointed, that remains an opinion. Is it right to override half of society's opinion to prevent what only the other half perceives as wrong?  That is the question.

Solely in the question of debate, the Pro-Choice side seemed to come out on top. While both sides answered each others questions clearly (except wherever developmental science was involved), the Pro-Life reps' emotions seemed to emerge a bit too much in some of their responses, pulling focus off-topic. The Pro-Choice reps remained composed under pressure, and were able to keep focus on the matter at hand (even humorously alluding to 'Back to the Future' at one point). Both sides had their hiccups (a question from a practicing nurse in the audience forced Pro-Choice to admit their ignorance to certain developmental phenomena), but I was impressed by both sides' ability to work through such a complicated and divided issue. An hour well-spent.

A little shameless self-promotion...

Taking a break from my usual critique of sounds I hear on campus, I'm posting up a song that I've been working on on campus, and critiques are welcome. Yesterday I lugged my guitar over to our new media computer lab, where I worked this song out on GarageBand. I was working on a sound akin to the Beatles 'White Album' on this one, with fingerpicked acoustic guitar and a sort of 2 dimensional sound. Still planning on rerecording the vocals and playing with tones, but here's what I've come up with so far:

Spider, Spider

enjoy, should have a new post out sometime this week...

THE HEATER IN THE LIBRARY. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

Who studies in the library? I usually don't, because libraries make me sleepy. I think it must be somehow related to the lethargy I experience during classes. I guess evolution didn't equip my body with the ability to realize that a $whatever hundred dollar class$ is not the best time to get some shut-eye, but i figure my body and my mind must have stopped conversing ages ago so it doesn't make much difference. But I digress, the one place that i can stay awake in the library is the REFERENCE ROOM, thanks to this talkative little fella

 

The heater in that room is crackly and loud. It makes studying (and sleeping for that matter) pretty much impossible on Sunday nights. It sounds like two miniature people inside are having an epic duel.

I say we form a coalition to get this heater silenced ONCE AND FOR ALL! or at least build a machine that converts his ruckus into playing pleasant Kings of Convenience songs.

I realize it's been awhile since I've written, and one would think there'd be more featuring of music events on campus, considering that, well, it's a musical campus. And one would be right in saying so. I was planning on heading to the orchestra concert but then that power outage came along, which convinced me that nothing, let alone an orchestra concert, could possibly happen as scheduled in the wake of such a tragic event. I mean, i couldn't use the internet for like, 5 hours. It was real bad.

Go back to my last post and vote. T.I.F.N.F.

the ration station ovation? VOTE here

To hearken back to posts of old, I heard that the Hold Steady did a great job at the fall concert. Congratulations to those of you who went. I spent my weekend at Macalester's fall fest, where the hip hop group Doomtree performed. For those of you who haven't tapped in to the Minnesota hiphop scene and might appreciate that sort of thing, you should definitely check them out, but since this blog is titled stolafsounds and not macalestersounds I'll say no more.

In other news, I was thinking there was a stolafsound that can't quite decide how I feel about.

Now, we all know what this is: 

and we all know what this is:

 

so why oh why is it that when this happens:

 

this happens?

an interesting question. while some might argue that the sound of applause is a great way to make light of an unfortunate predicament, there is also an equally rational school of thought that says that after you make a huge mess in a public space, hearing all thousand or so of your peers applauding your clumsiness isn't going to help you all that much.

...or could it be a secret technique of negative reinforcement employed by the cafeteria workers to prevent us all from spilling bean soup, apple jacks, or what-have-you all over the cafeteria floor??? I'm starting to think we might have our answer, but i'll let the readers decide.

so let's put this to a vote:  is the ration station ovation a good thing?

a) yes. it's funny

b) no. it's hurtful

c) who gives a fork?

har har har. alright well please comment below and let the world know your opinion.

2/2 will have to do

Well everybody and anybody, much to your dismay or apathy (wherever you lie on that scale), I have decided that reviews of two Hold Steady albums is going to have to be enough. For one, the concert is tomorrow, and if you're going, I'm sure you're going, if you're not, you're not. Secondly, reviewing the same band 4 times in a row would be redundant. Thirdly, Connor Johnson appears to have exited the world of the Hilliboe iTunes shared library orgy that was supplying my music, so I guess I'm eating sour patch kids in silence today. Sorry.

In honor of all the weather we've had lately, and because I've thought of nothing to prepare, I'd encourage you to listen to the rain, snow, hail, brimstone, whatever the flying spaghetti monster decides to throw our way this week. White noise is relaxing, and will help you get through whatever terrible papers you have to write this week.

Until the next

Should You go to the Fall Concert? Should I?

                                        

As part 2 of 4 (assuming I finish what I set out to do), I've listened to Seperation Sunday, the Hold Steady's second album, and will continue to dole out my thoughts about the band, the album, and whether or not it's worth $10 to go see them.

After last week's review of Almost Killed Me, I honestly had my doubts about THS as worthy of my precious weekend time, or what little spare cash I possess. My impression of the band was that a somewhat clever lyricist with a sort-of-annoying voice had asked a few other guys to play some boring rock to back his poetry.

Maybe I'm getting used to them, or maybe Seperation Sunday is a better album.  Either way, I'm warming up to the idea of this band.  We're still getting the same general inputs, but things are more fine-tuned, together, and energetic on this album.  The lyrics of this album are definitely more accessible, and actually seem to be somewhat comprehensible on the first listen if you're paying attention.  The band also has gotten a burst of inspiration from somewhere; the beats are snappier, and the guitarists seem to have been given new life; they use new tones, and more original riffs than on their debut.  Also, now that we're all Minnesotans to some extent (St. Olaf students), we can all appreciate the numerous MN references that Finn continues to dish out.

One of my favorites: "drove the wrong way down 169, almost died up by Edina High).

So it's obvious that the band is still riding that dirty wave of rock n' roll "you came into the ER drinking gin from a jam jar", and yet still the album is loaded with biblical references strangely enough. "heard about original sin, guess the dude blamed the chick, the chick blamed the snake, they were naked when they got busted". I suppose whether or not that's really a biblical allusion is open to interpretation, but this album seems definitely worth a listen or two.

And, unfortunately, I am no longer to able to continue this review as the owner of said album has closed their shared library. Thanks a lot, Connor Johnson. actually thanks though, i probably should start my math homework anyway.

Strong sophomore album.  No # rating, as I only got to hear about half the album, but I'll definitely want to hear the rest of it soon. Happy sunday, to all you homework-doers.

The Hold Steady: Almost Killed Me / part 1 of 4(?)

Have you heard of The Hold Steady? I honestly hadn't until I read the signs for the St. Olaf Fall Concert, and I consider myself to be somewhat of a music tip-topper, at least to some general alternative rock extent. So, for myself and for anybody else out there who has no knowledge of what THS stands for (besides The Hold Steady), I plan to over the next 10 days, review the four studio albums the band has put out: Almost Killed Me (2004) is the bands debut album, and therefore is going first!

So I've got my sour patch kids, and my ears are open. Let's see how this goes:

Almost Killed Me (2004)

1. "Positive Jam" - 3:19
2. "The Swish" - 4:11
3. "Barfruit Blues" - 3:31
4. "Most People Are DJs" - 5:50
5. "Certain Songs" - 3:54
6. "Knuckles" - 3:46
7. "Hostile, Mass." - 3:42
8. "Sketchy Metal" - 4:17
9. "Sweet Payne" - 4:33
10. "Killer Parties" - 5:48

To give you all a basic idea of what we're dealing with here (I've now listened to the album once through) this is band that one might listen to in a bar. Or in a danceclub. Right from the get-go it's apparent that these guys are going to be nitty. and also gritty. Track 1 Positive Jam: a somewhat generic rock guitar, bass and drums-sound play a quick beat while lead-yeller Craig Finn's abrasive voice recounts a history of the United states that kind of makes you want to go wash your hands ('woke up in the 20's there were flappers and fruits in white suits' are the opening liines of this album).  The next four tracks are similarly paced: quick, generic rock sounds/beats with throaty party lyrics. When things really get moving this band sounds great. Certain Songs is the albums first slowdown piece, which somehow tugs at your heartstrings without being hokey or sentimental in any way, after which the album picks up to its original breakbody pace, which more or less continues throughout the rest of the album (with one exception, Sketchy Metal).  The final track mirrors the first, a bit more musically creative and abstract than most of the pieces. 'killer parties almost killed me'

The presence of stellar lyricism is apparent throughout this entire album. In fact I would call this more poetry-put-to-music than anything else. Finn's lyrics are definitely clever, although they sometimes seem like the sort of lyrics where you'd only be able to relate to them if you were in his shoes, and if these shoes were located wherever he was when he was in them: probably backstage in some seedy underground bar in NYC at 2AM.  Despite this depiction, it seems apparent that upon further listens, more gold might be unearthed in his consonant-heavy comments, so i give this album's lyrics a solid good/10. 

Unfortunately the backing music leaves a little bit to be desired. I found it to be for the most part boring, pretty uninteresting rock sounds, except for when the band really got moving and started rocking out (people are dj's featured some nice sounds). meh/10 for the backup band.

So all in all, I'd give this album about a 6.5/10, although my natural instincts tell me it might rise at least a point under a few more listens (keep in mind 1=terrible, 5=acceptable 10=amazing). I do tend to be more of a musical listener, but there's something to be said for interesting lyrics. I can definitely see this band being fun live, but the album could use some more musical innovation.

check back in a couple days for Seperation Sunday

What is a kor?

Well. Werent these guys something

For those of you who missed out, this is the Oslo Chamber Choir, or Oslo Kammerkoret (til alle nordmennene der ute). I was dragged, by chance, out of my sickbed to go see this choir Monday evening by a friend who had heard them earlier that day, and insisted they were worth seeing. well, hearing. and lo, hey were. We sat down in the big ol' chapel and were surrounded by the most norwegian-looking folk i had ever laid eyes on.  The first note lasted at least two minutes, the basses sang barely audibly, and slowly slowly slowly the higher voice parts joined in. Eventually all the blonde singers were fully voiced, and it was impressive. crystal clear. sopranos sang higher than i thought possible, and even though I couldn't really tell when one song ended and the other began, I was actually attentive throughout the whole 1.5 hour concert.

usually i last about 2 songs at choir concerts

and then my mind is o u t  t h e  w  i   n   d    o     w

i was royally disappointed to find no trace of them on youtube.  so instead, i give you a video of Norway's finest orchestra. Kaizer's Orchestra.