Teen Star Summer Singles: An Overview

 I do not have the best history with music made by stars of teen shows. This is both due to both professionally disliking the music, and disliking the music on principle. Recently, though, my professional opinion towards teen pop music has thawed and so I wish to publically reflect this. In past couple months, four former teen show stars, two Disney and two Nickelodeon, have released new singles – all of them, in some way or another, being a shift in career for the artists. This post will be dedicated to my thoughts on each of them, as I discuss the good, the ok…and the “Miley.”

The Good

1.      “The Way” – Arianna Grande feat. Mac Miller

             Ms. Grande is the first of two of the Nickelodeon stars on this list, both from the same show: Victorious. While Grande put out a single in 2011, in many ways I think this should be considered her proper “debut” single. Unlike 2011’s “Get Your Hearts Up,” “The Way” feels pointed and focused, suggesting that she knows her artistic direction. Grande’s new track allows me to introduce an idea that will be seen throughout this review; maturity. Despite the differences in the way each track handles maturity, one of the reasons that I like these tracks is because of that theme. After hearing many of these artists make simple, bland, for-kinds-and-teens pop songs, it is refreshing to hear them sing in more adult terms.

            While Grande is not explicit, as everyone but Miley will be, she sings about desire and wanting that has more in common with lust or mature romance than teenage attraction. On that note of her singing – OH BOY, can she sing! As other critics have noted, “The Way’ has a strong Mariah Carey-vibe to it, especially in the airy vocals Grande lays down as a pre-chorus section. The song allows Grande to run her sweet, airy voice along the octave and timbre spectra. While the main vocal stays at a consistent pitch and timbre, the accentuating vocal flourishes show off, brief as they are, the stellar range of her voice.

             Mac Miller’s intro lines and verse also fit extremely well into the flow and feel of the track. Miller not only provides the perspective of the other half of the love in question. Miller also flits between teenage and adult, as he goes from talking about “it being groovy,” to watch a movie, to telling everyone how she “Is a princess to the public but a freak when it’s time.” Grande and Miller create a fun love song that flits between teenage and adult understanding of love, and show “The Way” that other teen artists should follow.

Rating: 8.0/10

2.      “Come and Get It” – Selena Gomez

Next up we have the new single from former Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez. To Specify, this is Gomez’s debut single as a solo artist. For those that might be confused, previously Gomez was backed by her own band, The Scene. The most striking feature of “Come and Get It” is its international sound, introduced from the song’s get-go. The song starts with a chant-like vocal line over a bhangra, dhol beat that lulls one in before the explosive intro. Gomez then enters in force, backed by a Skrillex-y, roaring dubstep electronic riff that fills the corners of the speakers. These two musical ideas trade back and forth throughout the song. The Indian rhythm and melody dominate the verses, with occasional dub fills, while the electronic/dub sound of the intro dominates the chorus.           

 Gomez’s production staff has apparently been rather steeped in the British pop scene of the 1980s, not only because of Bhangra influence. Much like the Police’s megahit “Every Breath You Take,” the romantic, sweet sounding lyrics are a lot darker and more aggressive than at initial listen. When Gomez sings “This love ain’t finished yet,” it is hard to tell if she means it romantically or, to borrow a term from The Fairly Odd Parents, “threatmantically.” Much like Sting, Gomez’s writers play up the darkest parts of stalking, as she sings “This love will be the death of me / But I know I’ll die happily.”The music video helps affirm the lyric’s underlying darkness, down to the black color of her dress, are a main visual in the video.

Either way, the song is a great show of maturity for Gomez, and her best work yet. While fellow teen-y boppers Amanda Bynes and Miley Cyrus struggle with the transition out of teen stardom to adulthood, Gomez has done so with maturity and grace. “Come and Get It,” is a reflection of this coming into adulthood.

Rating: 8/10

The OK

“Gold” – Victoria Justice

                

   Like the other former Nick star on this list, Victoria Justice’s debut single is another simple, fun love song. I admit it, when I first played the song, I found myself surprisingly drawn-in to the track. Justice clearly does not have the same vocal ability as Grande, but her voice fits in the pop-y aesthetic well. The lyrics are somewhat simple though there is a mention of a “Catch 22”, but I suppose that comes with aiming for a more teen audience [and just because you have a team of seven songwriters does not mean you’ll get “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” as your first single]. One of the things I DO enjoy about the lyrics, and track overall, is the nature of the relationship it describes. For the first time, in a while if ever it seems, we have a song about the girl wanting the guy to break out of the friend zone. Impossible, slander, HERESY you may ask, well I was just as surprised. This is one of the main things I laud “Gold” for, breaking both the mold on pop and real relationships by actually wanting the guy to emerge out of the deepest, coldest circle of hell that is the friend zone. I also really appreciate the music and production as a whole, with one complaint I address below. The popping, bright guitar really accentuates and compliments Justice’s voice, while the drum and bassline both dance as airily as we picture our heroine.

                   As you may notice, this song is in the “OK” category, so I do have some problems with it. The main problem I have with this song is the title word “Gold.” My contention is not with the lyric itself, but the execution in the song. Despite having Justice singing at a fairly consistent mid-range for the majority of the song, for whatever reason, someone decided it would be a great idea if she basically shrieked the word “Gold.” I cringe every time that word comes through on the song. The tie in issue is, if not for that one word, I would like this song a lot more…like A LOT. The song lulls me into this happy, pop, lala land that I actually enjoy, but hearing “Gold” shrieked far beyond her uppermost register immediately snaps me out of that happy place. That one word essentially ruins the song.

                  This is not the only problem. The other complaint I have is with the bridge…basically all of it. This is another point where I put my head in my hands and wish to know what the producer was thinking. The bridge is this semi-rapped section that features Victoria Justice trying WAY too hard to sound “street.” It just…it does not work at all. I actually think it would be possible offensive to some people, seeing how it almost sounds like offensive parody rather than a genuine performance [maybe they thought the Puerto Rican heritage would give the street flare they needed]. Not only is it borderline offensive, but it is a musical non-sequitur. There is no precedent or real reason for the bridge to be structured this way.

                 I really wanted to like this song, but the two colossal red flags prevent me from thinking its ok. I still give credit to Victoria for making what would otherwise be a fair/strong debut. Also, this song seems to be proof that she should just let the writers provide the lyrics – she co-wrote the B-side “Shake,” and that makes “Gold” almost look like Lennon-McCartney by comparison

Rating: 6.0/10

The Miley

 “We Can’t Stop” – Miley Cyrus

  I tried. I tried so very hard to find anything redeemable about Miley Cyrus’s summer jam “We Can’t Stop.” But I just cannot. “We Can’t Stop” has officially shot to the top of my “Worst Songs of All Time” list…yes, I think it is that bad. The usual criticisms will apply here: poorly written, poor beat/production, too much auto-tune, but these are not the ultimate reasons for my sheer hatred for this song. I admit, “We Can’t Stop” had the potential to be the new, definitive party song, and powerful “song of the summer” at that. The problem is that, despite having the qualities of a huge, party anthem, “We Can’t Stop” does not sound like an anthem. Miley Cyrus sounds somewhere between just bored or too stoned to care about anything, leading the song to just sound as bored and careless as she is. A song about partying all night - about essentially saying “F*** tha police” - should sound like it. “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” would be scarcely remembered relics of rock and roll if Kiss and Twisted Sister sounded as bored and “give no bothers” as Miley. The only time the song displays anything close to trying to be as anthemic as it should comes during the bridge, when background voices echo the end of Miley’s lines. These people sound like they’re at the party Miley wants to be at, but she’s so stoned that she actually just imagining that party.

                Aside from the main complaint, the song just sounds like it was written by 20 year old, I-have-way-too-much-of-daddy’s-money party monster. There is no hint of intelligence in songwriting, just a near-incoherent jumble of thoughts and drunken shout outs. The issue again is, I would forgive Cyrus and her songwriting team for the bad songwriting if she actually sounded excited about what she was singing. If she sounded excited, then the line “To my home girls here with the big butt / Shaking it like we at a strip club / Remember only God can judge ya,” would actually sound empowering and “f*** yeah, we’re all awesome at this party” – like a party anthem should be. Also, Miley, TuPac is the only one who sounds cool saying “only God can judge __” you just sound like an overly, happy drunk, party chick who just wants to “spread the love.” Just because “You Can’t Stop” Miley, does not mean that you shouldn’t stop.

Raitng: 0/10 (If you couldn’t tell already)

This review may be a bit too harsh towards Cyrus and all the stereotypes I could think of, and I apologize for that. Part of my rage towards this song is that, except for the fine minds at Rolling Stone, most other critics met the song with positive review. In essence, my build up and concentration of vile here is meant to compensate for all of their reviews.

So there it is, an exercise in reviewing teen star pop music. I gave the Good, the OK, and the “Condemn forever to the darkest corners of Space,” also known as “The Miley.”

-           

      - Jackson Sinnenberg

So maybe I have watched their shows, what’s it to ya?

Album Review: Alice In Chains, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

Just so we get this out of the way first, no the title is not referring to the band. Alice In Chains, arguably the first grunge band on the Seattle scene in the late 80s, could be considered a dinosaur by some cynics. The band has a rocky 25 year history, marked by severe drug problems and the death of original front man Layne Staley. Regardless, Alice is back with frontman William DuVall, who recorded with the band for their last album Black Gives Way to Blue. At the very least, of this new release, I can say that Alice In Chains is far from approaching “Dinosaur status.”

The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is a classics-sounding Alice In Chains record. For the longtime fans, all the elements that they love the band for are there. The riffs are heavy and distorted, the vocals harmonize in an eerily, ethereal way, and there are moments of great softness on the album. Unfortunately, things start to blend together early in the album, making it confusing to keep track of the tracks.

In better news, only the first few tracks of the album blend together which each other – and the rest of the band’s catalog, so there is enough room for new life to emerge. Tracks like “Stone” and “Pretty Done,” sound rather similar, and classic Alice-y, so they easily fall prey to the “sounds like every other song they’ve recorded” complaint, as do others on the disc. I suppose the issue is that due to the heavy and slow nature of the riffs, the elements create a hypnotic effect on the listener. The hypnosis lulls one into being unsure of the lengths and starts/stops of tracks – not exactly the affect you want to have to keep people interesting in listening.

On the other hand, the classic Alice vocal harmonies are always a welcoming touch to the tracks. The harmonies, beyond the eerie sweetness, also help to build up the sonic landscape and assist in creating a full sounding record. In addition to this, one of the disc’s other strengths is the split in aesthetic. About one third of the tracks are more acoustic-based or softer numbers, in contrast with the sludgy, heavy tracks that make up the majority. Songs like “Voices” and the title track are done in this softer fashion, and showcase the group’s lyrical ability and musical beauty. The title track also provides Alice In Chains a soapbox, from which they take jabs at the hypocrisy of Christians’ opposition to the LGBTQ movement. The band’s thoughts are perfectly captured by the line “The devil put dinosaurs here / Jesus don’t like a queer / The devil put dinosaurs here / No problem with faith, just fear.”

These two sides, the soft/melodic and heavy come together well on the seven minute-epic, “Phantom Limb.” The verses take the heavy, creeping riffs common throughout the album, while the chorus uses beautiful harmonies and echoing guitars to create this haunting track. While not an emotional climax, it defintley represents one of the more ambitious, and successful, tracks on the disc.

Overall, the album’s hypnotic, sludge- y tracks weigh the project down. Yes the riffs and melodies are heavy, interesting and rock out – but only on the first listen through. Even during the first listen, those riffs and melodies begin to blend together.  Undoubtedly the Alice-In-Chains loyalist will be pleased with the LP. Those of us who have not drunk the punch-in-chains, will undoubtedly want something a little different.

Key Tracks: “Hollow,” “Voices,” “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here,” “Phantom Limb”

Rating: 6.5/10

-          Jackson Sinnenberg, whose reviews can usually be found at The Rotation, WGTB Georgetown Radio’s music blog

 

Interview with Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games

Shovel Knight exploded on the scene a few months back with it's enormous Kickstarter efforts, becoming one of the first game ideas to raise a surprising amount of money (As of writing, the project has over $300K raised), receiving an absolutely enormous boost in fundraising after publicity efforts with the Two Best Friends and Game Grumps of YouTube fame.  In this interview, I talk to Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games (and the voice of Skullmaggeddon of Double Dragon: Neon) about the project's origins, the kickstarter rewards, and other questions.  I'd like to thank Mr. Velasco for his time and wish him the best of luck with the project!  

1. Where did the idea for Shovel Knight come from?  Did you look at the games you wanted to imitate first?  Or did the idea of a "Knight who fights with a shovel" come first?
Sean Velasco: We started with the idea of an 8-bit game built around a single mechanic. Most of our favorite games NES games were built around a single mechanic, or a couple: jumping on enemies' heads, pogo stick bouncing, whipping and jumping, jumpin' and shootin', etc. We wanted a down thrust to be our main mechanic, and we built all the ideas around that. Flipping! Stabbing! Digging! We were talking about a shovel. So we went with it, and Shovel Knight: The Shoveling Knight was born! 

2. The biggest inspirations seem to be Mega Man and maybe even a little Duck Tales, but are there more inspirations that you guys had?
Sean: Our down thrust definitely has some Zelda II inspiration. We were inspired by the collected great works of the NES, but we have also been citing things like Mother 3's emotionally engaging story, and Dark Souls' intense risk-reward structure and combat. We feel like these games are the gold standard, and so we have their greatness in mind when we are developing Shovel Knight. However, we are making Shovel Knight it's own game, with totally unique story, mechanics, and visuals. Don't expect too many direct influences, or for anyone to say "it's dangerous to go alone, take this!"

3. How did you get the famous Jake Kaufman (also known as "Virt") to do the music for Shovel Knight?

Jake Kaufman (aka Virt)
(Check out his incredible Double Dragon Neon album in the links below)

Sean: I've collaborated with Jake on over half a dozen games; at this point I can't imagine working on a game without a Jake soundtrack! Getting Jake to do something usually involves getting him excited about it; with rapid arm movements and passionate babbling, you can usually fool him for long enough to get some songs.

4. Shovel Knight has gained a lot of press for its success on Kickstarter?  How did you decide to use this new crowd funding tool?  How did you come up with the rewards, like the "Official Dirt" and "Director for a Day"?

Sean: We spent a lot of time thinking about rewards that would be awesome for backers, and not too expensive to produce or manufacture.  This idea of inexpensive but fun rewards led us to think: what if an envelope of dirt was the $100 pledge reward? After the laughter died down we thought it might make a funny addition, so we went for it. As we had hoped, people really loved it, and now we have more than 300 envelopes to send out! 

The Director for a Day and our other collaboration-style rewards are about transparency, and bringing other people into the process. We love making games and we want to share what we do with everyone... this is just the first step! Part of the Yacht Club plan is to help inspire and teach future developers.

The Bosses of Shovel Knight (an a fantastic reference to Mega Man)!

5. Can you give us a window into the team's reaction to see that the project had been funded?

Sean: At the end of our crazy Kickstarter, I would say there was electricity in the air, but we also wanted to pass out from exhaustion. It's tremendously gratifying and still sort of surreal that we are now working in an our own office, at our own company, on our own game, for a legion of wonderful fans. So I'd say we still feel how we felt on the day the Kickstarter succeeded: both wired and tired!

6. Shovel Knight had a huge boost in funding after having some play through videos from let's players like the Two Best Friends and the Game Grumps?  Did you contact them, or did they contact you?  How did you decide which people to send the game to?

Sean: The Two Best Friends did some playthroughs of a couple games we had worked on in the past, so we contacted them in hopes of getting them to look at our new game! Luckily, they were really excited about it and did a hilarious video, as did the Game Grumps. It was wonderful exposure, and we also had several Twitch TV players play the game, like on Destructoid's Mash Tactics. We tried to find people and groups that would be genuinely into the game we were making, and give them the opportunity to test it out. They generally responded really positively!

The Best Friends Zaibatsu enjoy Shovel Knight, and so will you!

7. You plan to upload Shovel Knight to the PC, but also the Nintendo 3DS, a decision that stands out to a lot of people?  Why did you choose to release it to the 3DS?  Can you give us a hint at what stipulations and restrictions Nintendo has for its store?
Sean: We grew up playing NES games, and Shovel Knight is firmly rooted in that era in the 80's. Supporting Nintendo on the Wii U and 3DS was a no-brainer as our heritage systems! On top of that, Nintendo consistently delivers fun and inventive hardware that is always game-centric. We are a gameplay-first company... so we chose Nintendo as a lead platform. That said, we are cross-platform gamers and want to release on all viable platforms!

8. When can we expect to see Shovel Knight released? 
Sean: We're hoping to get Shovel Knight out by Holiday 2013. After that, we'll be releasing our stretch goal content with a couple of free updates a few months down the line.

A possible reference to Dark Souls?

9. What are your plans for after Shovel Knight? 
Sean: It really depends on how Shovel Knight does! If it sells well and we can be a thriving studio, the sky's the limit. Shovel Knight 2? Super Shovel Knight? Shovel Knight 64? Something totally original? We don't know... let us finish this one first!

Let the digging adventure begin!

LINKS

The Shovel Knight Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight

Yacht Club Games' Website: http://yachtclubgames.com

Yacht Club Games' Twitter: https://twitter.com/YachtClubGames

Yacht Club Games' Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YachtClubGames

Sean Velasco's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/SeanyfaceYCG

Game Grumps' Shovel Knight Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcP3yp6w7Pw

Two Best Friends' Shovel Knight Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77elof_AZbk

Virt's Double Dragon Neon Album: http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/double-dragon-neon

Album Review: Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience

Hey Guys, this is Jackson, one of Ben’s co-hosts from Natural Double d20s. With my specialty being music and music reviewing, I figured this blog could use some discussion on this medium. This will be the first in a series of music reviews I do for the blog. Enjoy!

 

If 13 year old me – the age I was at when JT released his last album – knew I was a fan of a Justin Timberlake, he would enter an existential crisis. However, I have grown up and matured since then [or would like to think so], and so has Timberlake. The 20/20 Experience (1 of 2)[1] represents Timberlake’s most complete work to date, a fully realized artistic piece. Timberlake takes the maturity and intelligence that he put into FutureSex/LoveSounds and develops them further, to create the masterful work on the disc.

This is not to say the LP is without flaws; it has several. Despite this, it is still laudable as a whole body of work and represents a great artistic direction for Timberlake to take up. The flaws I find with the album are probably just based on my own musical sensibilities, so take them with a grain of salt.

One of the strongest features of The 20/20 Experience is that it is filled with the sounds of old R&B and Soul. As a friend noted to me as we listened to lead single “Suit & Tie,” the song sounds like classic Marvin Gaye. Indeed the song drips with the same soulfulness and melodic richness that filled Gaye’s 1972 masterpiece, What’s Going On. The harp is the heavy lifter on this track, as it is that specific instrument that gives “Suit & Tie” the Marvin Gaye, What’s Goin On sound. Timberlake’s artistry and charisma lends itself extraordinarily well to the Marvin sound, and is one of the classic sounds JT aims for on the LP.

Throughout the disc, JT hits Motown-style falsetto, bringing one of American pop’s most classic sounds to the foreground of the music. JT seemed to be highly influenced by Motown, as two of the albums strongest tracks – “Pusher Love Girl,” and “Suit & Tie” – sound like early and late, respectively, Motown tracks. Howver they are not purely Motown, this is Timberlake’s modern take on classic R&B and Soul, with Motown remixed with electronic music and backing vocals. I was quite frustrated by these songs when in comparison to some of the disc’s weak tracks like “Tunnel Visison.” In “Tunnel Vision,” specifically, Timberlake’s over-produced voice almost blends in completely with the repetitive electronic backing music; making the track sound generic amongst a trove of distinctly original gems.

The generic-ness of some of The 20/20 Experience’s songs is, as one might tell, my foremost complaint. With songs like “Pusher Love Girl” and “Mirrors,” a much more modern (“neo”) soul sounding, killer track, Timberlake proves that he is capable of making very distinct music.  And yet, he throws in stuff that I could find on any sort of electronic or modern R&B record. The overproduction of these tracks steals all of JT’s charisma and charm, one of the major elements that make him a great entertainer and artist. My other complaint is that JT seemed like he had too much material to try and put on one record. Either way, many of the seven-minute plus songs on the LP will have one-and-a-half to three minute outros that are a bit aesthetically different from the rest of the track. Sometimes this is quite frustrating as I found the last two minutes of “Strawberry Bubblegum,” to be much more enjoyable and interesting than the first five – as a breakdown, the first five suffer from the same overproduction as “Tunnel Vision” and others, while the last two represent the neo-Motown sound that pervades the LP. For me, this creates a feeling of disunity across the album, and the sense that, with some of these tracks, Timberlake was throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck.

Overall though, it is a good album [how can you not like an album where JT refers to Jay-Z as a “ho”?]. It is not a great album, but certainly represents a great step forward for Timberlake’s artistic ability. He took a gamble diverting from his old “pop” sound, and I believed that gamble paid off. However, I believe that JT has not yet realized the full potential of the music he is now making. JT has a lot of good ideas on this album, and I hope that he takes some of those ideas and runs with them. 

Key Tracks: “Pusher Love Girl,” “Suit & Tie feat. Jay-Z,” “Spaceship Coupe,” and “Mirrors.”

Rating: 7.5/10

-         - Jackson Sinnenberg, whose reviews can usually be found on The Rotation, WGTB Georgetown Radio’s music blog.

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[1] The follow up album due out in the fall will be called The 20/20 Experience (2 of 2)