Major Album Releases In The Second Quarter, 2014: Turn Blue - The Black Keys May 13th, 2014 Lazaretto - Jack White June 10th, 2014 Meteorites - Echo & The June 3rd, Bunnymen 2014 •Animal Ambition - 50 Cent •X - Ed Sheeran •In The Lonely Hour •Noise - Boris QUADROPHONIC NEWS - Sam Smith Quadrophonic News May 2014 Issue 9 In This Month’s Issue: • Album Reviews: Salad Days, Broken,, The Full Review Of The SECC$ Tap.e, Vol. 2, The Abstract and The Dragon... And More! Quadrophonic News • Songs About Trains!!!!!!!!! Party Inside!!!! • (Start Again In The) Month of May Calendar Joke Of The Month: Y “What Will You Never Say To A A Banjo Player?” Find The HILARIOUS B Answer Inside A Chart Of The Month 100 D 75 50 U 25 0 2007 2009 M Photo By Michael Shorris Performing At The Quadrophonic News Party Train Tracks The Abstract and The Dragon Lucas McGill '15 Julian Librizzi, ‘15 Imagine a train. It's a completely The Abstract and The Dragon is the joint mixtape that Q-Tip and ambiguous image. What kind of train it is, what Busta Rhymes released in early December of 2013. While this mixtape it's carrying, where it's going, all of these things got little to no promotion, I honestly think this is one of the best are up to you, but at the end of the day it's just a mixtapes of 2013. The mixtape is reasonably long, with 28 tracks and a train. Despite that, it's capable of carrying an total time of 1:17:22. However, one thing that A Tribe Called Quest immense amount of meaning, which depends on fans would notice very quickly is that the album is filled with remixes the beholder. To one person, a train might be a to old Tribe songs, mainly featuring Busta Rhymes. That's not to say symbol of moving forward, into a better, brighter that there is no original content. The main hit of this album is the track future. To another, a symbol of pain and bitter “Thank You,” that will also appear on Busta’s next album, which is remembrance of something left behind. For this expected to come out in 2014. This is actually one of my favorite tracks mystical quality, trains have long been a favorite off this mixtape. With Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Kid Capri making subject for songwriters. A strongly worded piece cameos, along with an amazing sample, this song would have been of music can conjure up a plethora of emotions all great with the beat alone. However, what really stood out here are the from one mental image of a train. Here are a few verses that both Busta and Q-Tip deliver. The only problem that I have of my favorite examples of this very particular with this song is that Busta tries to go back to Continued on page 7 skill. From the second it starts, “Night Train,” the first track on Bruce Cockburn's 1996 album, Charity of Night, sets a quick pace that it never falters from, like the train it describes. Aside from the fact that this song demonstrate Cockburn's guitar playing skill and style quite well, the thing that really makes this song spectacular is the way the music itself imitates a train. The drumbeat is fast and regular, like the rhythm of an old locomotive's wheels speeding Busta Rhymes bustin’ rhymes on a train with his close friend Q-Tip through the night. The women singing in the background on this track hauntingly imitate the Doppler affect, as though some ghostly train has raged past you, almost Mac DeMarco’s Salad Days silently. Even the guitar solo sounds like the Eugene Varnedoe, ‘15 brakes of a train, screeching to a halt. If you haven’t heard of Mac DeMarco, count yourself among an In this particular song, the train is a increasingly small minority. Hailing from Bed-Stuy, the Canadian metaphor for both death and freedom. The lyrics musician has recently enjoyed a meteoric rise to popularity following his capture the spirit of a dying man who carries wildly successful and widely enjoyed debut album, 2. Although not his nothing more than the weight of his decisions into first effort – Mac had previously released under the Makeout Videotape the next life, and personifies it as a train in the moniker in addition to his debut EP under Mac DeMarco, Rock and Roll night. All of these factors combined create a Night Club – 2 offered a lackadaisical approach to indie pop previously transcendent experience, like being a passenger unseen and incorporated Mac’s now signature warbly guitar and wit. His on some mysterious locomotive and watching the newly released sophomore album, Salad Days, is as much a response to real world outside slip away. Mac’s newfound fame as anything, building on the successes of 2 and "Ice cubes in a dark drink shine like incorporating a newfound confidence, refinement and maturity into the starlight, starlight shines Continue on page 6 music while not straying too far from his comfort zone, as it. What Salad Days lacks in pure musical innovation, however, it PAGE 2 QUADROPHONICNEWS 2 PAGE makes up for through its expectedly charming Continue on page 6 Still Cannot Fix This Broken Machine: A Review Pro Era: The SECC$ Tap.e, Vol. 2 of Broken Nathaniel Cain, ‘15 Britney Franco, ‘17 The long-awaited sequel to Pro Era’s first I have not been able to stay away from Nine Inch Nails’ Broken. collab mixtape dropped on Valentine’s Day, and it I have been listening to it for months, but in the past week or so, my day carried with it unexpectedly mixed reviews. After PEEP: has started with me popping my Broken cassette into my Walkman and The aPROcalypse, Pro Era’s second group mixtape set listening to it on my way to school. When I leave school, I do the same the bar so high, there was little chance for the Era to go thing (and throw in an extra run-through if I think I need it). The main higher. Unfortunately for The SECC$ Tap.e Vol. 2 these question I have been asking myself is: why is this album so addictive, if were the odds; the album was predictable, slow, and the not parasitic? production was largely unimpressive. That said, no one Broken is an eight-track EP that was released three years after song on the mixtape could be labeled as “bad,” that is, if Nine Inch Nails’ debut album, Pretty Hate Machine. Straying away from you could distinguish one track from another. All of the the more upbeat sound of PHM, Trent Reznor’s layering of sounds (the songs seem to have the same mellow, slow, rhythmic most prominent being loud, distorted guitars and machinery) combined sample, which is good for an intrepid track composed of with his thrashing instrumentals, screams, and lyrics charged with anger a verse from each member of the Era, but not good as a create a fast-paced collection of madness and rage. Reznor himself repeated theme throughout the mixtape. described it as “just one ultra-fast chunk of death” in an April 1994 The tape starts out with “Chocolate interview with Guitar World. The only times you are slightly released Strawberries,” by Dessy Hinds and Kirk Knight. Dessy from Reznor’s tight grip are during his covers, “Physical (You’re never seems to disappoint; however, the Kirk feature So)” (the original is an Adam & The Ants song) and “Suck” (originally a towards the end seems unnecessary. The next song, Pigface song). However, both of these songs are delivered with such “Pussy Facx,” gives Kirk a chance at his own verse, impeccable rawness that they take your breath away. They keep the which he does well. The airy, spacy chorus starts to get album from sustaining an anger that could result in it ultimately annoying, but in between these, Kirk’s verses are fast becoming a self-parody, but they have the same effect as their and smooth. Moving on, we hear “Sol Luna,” which was predecessors. released as a single a few months before the mixtape was Even the songs that are purely instrumental (“Pinion”, which dropped. Joey Bada$$, Dyemond Lewis, and A La $ole starts off the album, and “Help Me I Am In Hell”) carry the same weight all feature, and again, none of them disappoint. of, say, “Last”, in which Trent Reznor displays his signature self- Rokamouth and A La $ole bring what may very well be deprecation mixed with wanting something more. Each song is connected the most exciting chorus of the mixtape on the next with by Broken’s common themes (anger directed at the world and track, “Dirty Dancing.” The fast pace and guaranteed inwards, helplessness, and rawness). The songs all segue into each other, great $ole verse make this the highlight of the tape. an unexpected move that will leave you feeling as if you have been However, the Era decides to slow things back down with punched in the gut without a moment’s notice by the time you are the next track, “Give Her a Call.” Dirty Sanchez shouts finished listening to it. This is what makes this EP so unique, not only in the chorus unnecessarily and it totally clashes with the the general music world but among other NIN albums: its nonstop soft piano sample. It’s hard to tell if they were trying to causticity will leave you feeling drained and, quite frankly, wronged by go for the mellow or rhythmic, Jay-Z-esque hype track the world.