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(07/12/18 1:00pm)
One of the most hypnotizing songs on Tyler, The Creator’s 2017 album Flower Boy is “Boredom.” The catchy tune fastened itself to the public’s memory because of the enchanting chorus from Alex O’Connor, who goes by the stage name of Rex Orange County. The mantra “Find some time to do something,” is a simple phrase that manages to pull on the heartstrings of self–recognition, reeling listeners in from the dark and lonely corners.
(07/06/18 1:50pm)
Summer is the prime season for music. With outdoor concerts and loosely flowing wardrobe options, the desire to waste away your days dancing never seemed so tempting. But when temperatures surpass 90 degrees and the whole city all but shuts down, it creates a hazy dream of enforced laziness, and only certain playlists have the perfectly slowed ease to match it. Rather than curating a fresh one, though, here’s a short list of albums that you can play on repeat as a spiritual guide through the endlessly oppressive heat. There’s truly no better opportunity than days like these to strive for that increasingly evanescent patience of listening to a full record from top to bottom.
(07/03/18 3:16pm)
"Blues and jazz aren’t dying, they’re dead" is one of the most common misconceptions of the modern music industry. The statement may be true for purists of those genres who take up a derivative form of late greats like Miles Davis or B.B. King, but it completely neglects the current and more evolved sounds of bands like White Denim, a group that is undoubtedly rooted in blues.
(06/18/18 3:22pm)
Last Friday at Union Transfer, the Brooklyn punk rock band Parquet Courts, touring in support of their new album Wide Awake!, played a sold out show with Goat Girl—a London–based group who was, to my delight, a band of four women—and Street Stains. Though the volume of the latter two–man act’s sound made the majority of their lyrics indistinguishable, their frustrated screams of punk foreshadowed the crazed mosh pit that would later ensue with Parquet Courts.
(06/07/18 5:25pm)
I had a history teacher once who included music and art in his lesson plans as a way of demonstrating the relationship between political and cultural climates. The more I understood these connections, the more I started to recognize similar ways in which today’s politics infiltrate music; yet, rarely did I see it in rock, and even more rarely did it come from all–white male bands. Parquet Courts changed that with their new album, Wide Awake!.
(05/30/18 4:00am)
Before I started reviewing concerts, I essentially ignored opening acts, taking advice from concert–goers I knew to arrive about an hour after the official start time. Walking into a larger crowd made me feel comfortable with that decision, as if being “fashionably late” saved me from some self–perceived embarrassment of isolation.
(05/22/18 1:00pm)
Even though new music comes out every day of the year, it’s often the ones from the summer that stick with us most as the background of memories from road trips, barbecues, and warm nights out. Though it’s not technically summer yet, several artists have released music over the past few weeks that will undoubtedly be dominating the airwaves in the months to come.
(05/14/18 11:48pm)
Philadelphia has one of the most vibrant music scenes in America, and now that classes are over, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of it. Those spending the summer off–campus will be sorry to miss the live performances of some of modern music’s best up–and–comers. Here’s a short run–through of some must–see rock shows coming up this month:
(04/25/18 1:00pm)
“You want a trigger warning? My whole life is a trigger warning,” John Waters said. He was preparing the audience for the next hour. On April 24th, one of the most notorious arts innovators of our time came to campus to kick off the first round of grantees of The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
(04/16/18 1:00pm)
Just this past week, the DP Editorial Board wrote an open letter to admitted students, inviting them to consider what they may otherwise not have regarding their college decisions. It’s a call to reevaluate Penn as students. But students aren’t the only ones. As campus and political climate shift, Penn too is reconsidering itself and its role in history with initiatives such as the Penn Slavery Project. Similarly, Penn is now examining its role, both positive and negative, in World War I in an exhibit in Van Pelt.
(04/08/18 1:00pm)
The Pope of Trash is coming to Penn. That’s right. John Waters, the mastermind behind the most infamous transgressive cult films such as Pink Flamingos, Hairspray (though less so transgressive), and Serial Mom, is coming to speak.
(04/19/18 1:00pm)
Picture this: a bright purple yoga mat unrolled out amidst a sea of others. The one beside is an aquamarine. The one in front is a fire engine red. On the mats are the “yogis,” so they’re called, perfecting their downward dogs and child’s poses. But surrounding them is a van Gogh, a Matisse, a Picasso. It’s a weird image, but it’s one that’s becoming more and more popular. Okay, maybe not this exact image. While other food and fitness trends have grown in popularity with society's increasing emphasis on health and mindfulness, one unlikely trend too has surfaced: doing yoga and meditating in art museums.
(04/17/18 1:00pm)
Science and art are often considered to be two separate domains. Even though the fields actually have a lot of similarities between them in the ways they approach visual analysis, it’s rare to see them overlap at the professional level. It was in this lack of crossover that Dr. Greg Dunn and Dr. Brian Edwards saw an opportunity to create an artistic representation of science itself.
(03/31/18 1:00pm)
Far too often, overviews of art history focus on male artists. This is not to say that those artists aren’t deserving; they are. But despite having the same level of influence, why are the female artists of these same time periods so often left overlooked?
(03/23/18 2:00pm)
One of the most important mantras in art is that the images on the screen aren’t enough. To really understand a piece of art, you have to experience it in person. The torsion of Bernini’s St. Peter’s Baldachin demands a three–dimensional viewing. The light and shadow of Picasso’s cardboard guitars bring the abstract shapes together to form the whole instrument. Hans Holbein’s The Ambassadors has a memento mori that can only be fully seen when the viewer stands at an extreme angle relative to the painting’s surface. But what happens when the art student can no longer afford admission to the art museum?
(03/19/18 1:00pm)
Barbie dolls are so much more than plastic toys—they always have been. For decades, they were one of the many standards that society used to define what a physically beautiful woman should look like. With blonde hair, blue eyes, and an impossibly small waist, the dolls have exacerbated problems of body image, self–esteem, and self–worth . While Mattel, the company responsible for making the Barbie dolls, has started to make dolls representing women of different backgrounds and ethnicities, the toy representations of women are still far from accurate.
(03/13/18 1:00pm)
For anyone familiar with Penn Housing, it’s easy to say that the housing facilities aren’t exactly prime. Rooms are small, buildings are infested with vermin and their offspring, and when nothing is leaking, there’s an elevator broken somewhere. Regardless, what makes up for the somewhat lackluster interior is its facade. I’m referring to, of course, the Quad.
(03/13/18 1:00pm)
Telling my friends to read more poetry is always an uphill battle. Thanks to murky metaphysical poems like Donne’s “The Flea” and convoluted comparisons of symbolism, poetry has been pushed aside as too difficult to understand. I get it. Sometimes, it does require a lot more patience and effort that goes against everything the efficiency–oriented mind of a Penn student knows. But that’s exactly what I love about it.
(03/01/18 2:00pm)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) can be considered a landmark in this city. It’s the home of the Rocky Steps. It’s the place where the Eagles ended their victory parade. It’s the place where we (or at least most of us) dressed up for the gala that one night during NSO. But for me, the PMA was my reprieve. When I received a yearlong membership to the museum as a gift, I made it a goal to go twice a month and like most, I was first drawn to the museum’s extensive collection of impressionist artists, which soon expanded to the modern, the American, and the early religious arts. There was, of course, undeniably more than enough heavyweights from the late nineteenth to mid–twentieth centuries. Picasso, Dalí, Monet, Van Gogh, and Renoir adorn the walls of over half of the first–floor galleries.
(02/25/18 2:00pm)