2016 the B-SIDE MAGAZINE 1 Staff the B-SIDE

Home , Check Yo Self, Greta Kline, Jack Garratt

ISSUE ONE | 2016 THE B-SIDE MAGAZINE 1 Staff THE B-SIDE

STAFF

We are The B-Side, U.C. Berkeley’s student-run and produced music magazine, offering music coverage, thought, and appreciation in the Bay Area and beyond. A huge thanks to everyone who had a hand in our inaugural first issue. Keep rocking with us.

Executive Board Writers

Editor-in-Chief Eda Yu Adil Siddiqee Managing Editor Meaghan Allen Jacob Elsanadi Managing Publisher Myra Farooqi Vivian Chen Communications Sofia Duarte Matt Sater Arnav Chaturvedi Kenny Zhang Photo Lead Fiona Duerr Huber Rodriguez Design Leads Conner Smith Aziz Yehia Farida Radwan Brendan Redmond Social Media Debbie Zheng Natalie Silver Web Kurush Dubash Jordan Aronson Nathaniel Wartzman George Green Brian Grossman

General Staff

Marketing Gaby Fooks Photo Kavitha George Elsie Fischer Michelle Cho Connor Tapley Ally Mason Desiree Diaz Communications Rosie Davidowitz Sam Jameson Mateo Savala Editors Logan Hansen Rebekah Gonzalez Jack Thompson Emilie Dylewski Design Lillian Tran Leka Gopal Shirin Sadjadpour Joanna Jiang Joseph Choe Web Ruvan Jayaweera

Front and back cover photos taken by Fiona Duerr THE B-SIDE 2

Frankie Cosmos would prefer staying in bed

Matt Sater via the Bayonet Records imprint. group singalongs. “I wish I could project, has far progressed past Staff writer The shift from homemade song remember the first time [the au- its humble home-recorded be- Greta Kline wishes she’d sketches to fully fleshed out dience sang with me],” she said, ginnings. It’s very much a touring written “Good Intentions Paving studio arrangements hasn’t fazed “but it still feels totally shocking band now, as evidenced by mul- Company” by Joanna Newsom. Kline in the slightest. “[It] Would and cool when that happens.” tiple references on Next Thing to Greta Kline says that Eminem’s be cool if it was possible to In Frankie Cosmos songs, tours, vans and rest stops (where “Stan” is the greatest song of all record music and make it sound it’s often the small details that Kline said her go-to snack to pick time. Greta Kline is Frankie Cos- really nice in a studio and have hit home and make the songs up is the very sensible choice of mos, and Greta Kline is a better it be full band, but also be really instantly memorable. “On the “Bugles and water”). This sense songwriter than you are. comfortable and naked in my bed Lips”, a song originally released of perpetual motion is reinforced If you haven’t heard of Kline at the same time,” she wrote in in 2013, opens with the lyric “I by the album art: an illustration of or Frankie Cosmos, her ap- an e-mail, shortly after returning watch David Blaine / and find a highway sign next to a nonde- peal can best be explained by from an ex- myself believ- script field, as viewed through a Frankie Cosmos fans. I asked tensive Eu- “Haven’t you heard / If you can’t ing / in many passenger-side window. a few friends of mine for their ropean tour. pinpoint the schmuck in the room, things.” Discussing the high points favorite Frankie Cosmos song “Someday.” it’s you” The wit and of touring, Kline said that “One The lay- depth of this of the most memorable venues lyrics, and each immediately had - Schmuck in the Room multiple songs in mind. There ered nature one-liner is we have played at was Meow were no overlaps between any of of Frankie Cosmos’s releases is a typical of Kline’s songwriting, and Wolf,” referencing the Santa Fe their answers, and none of their uniquely rewarding experience for this line in particular even caught venue/art installation. The venue’s answers matched my favorite of her fans. Longtime listeners — or the attention of magician David unique design approximates the her lyrics: “Haven’t you heard / If new ones who’ve done their re- Blaine himself, who quietly tweet- Lost Boys village from Hook, if you can’t pinpoint the schmuck search — can recognize many el- ed the event link to Frankie Cos- the Lost Boys had access to an in the room, it’s you”, from 2014’s ements of older Frankie Cosmos mos’s show (although he didn’t ungodly amount of in glow-in-the- “Schmuck in the Room”. The songs revisited and re-recorded make an appearance). Kline dark paint and bought a great PA range of responses is partially due for the new studio albums. Kline doesn’t know how Blaine heard system. to the sheer amount of material confirmed that her music is still about her lyrics about him, but At first, this neon fantasyland — Greta Kline has released over evolving even while on tour: “I’ve refers me to the people behind of a venue seems an odd fit for 40 albums since 2011 — but spent up to a few years tweaking “David Blaine’s The Steakhouse”, Greta Kline’s understated sound. also an effect of how personal and changing these songs. I’m a cheekily named DIY venue in But there’s something about her music feels to everyone who still making changes to the ways Brooklyn. “You’ll have to ask the the earnestness of Meow Wolf’s listens to it. we play certain songs from Next DBTS crew about their name — presentation, its childlike wonder, This year’s excellent Next Thing live.” but I can tell you that Cameron that does seem to mesh perfectly Thing was the second full-length With her steady increase in from DBTS is who got me into with aching sincerity that per- Frankie Cosmos album record- popularity and her continued watching a bunch of David Blaine vades all things Frankie Cosmos. ed in a studio, following 2014’s aptitude for writing heart-stop- videos.” “It’s a really amazing installation,” Zentropy, and the first released ping lyrics, her tour stops have Frankie Cosmos, whether de- she remarked. “You get lost in it, become more and more like fined as a band or as Kline’s solo and it’s beautiful.” 3 THE B-SIDE For whom the festival rolls Huber Rodriguez to the whims of their primary have become familiar elements of is no longer a foreign entity to be Staff writer demographic: rich, white kids the full time job that is attending viewed and interacted with only between the ages of fifteen and a 3-day music festival. Local craft through videos, tweets, articles, I stood in a crowd of about thirty-five. If Pitchfork, the preem- brews will fly off the tap for nine and shares. Instead, he’s a 20,000, waiting for the man inent tastemaker in purportedly dollars a pop. Recycled, organic real-life person — one who incites who might very well go down independent music despite being and heavily branded twenty-four year old Alaskan as the best rapper of all time. recently bought by publication packaging will be strewn fishermen to squeal like children. Earlier that day, I had previously giant Conde Nast, says Father throughout the And with his physical presence been harangued into seeing John Misty, Vince Staples, and grounds. comes the commoditization of his The Chainsmokers, and their Sol- ange Voter music and his message. Where brand of pandering, pedestrian registration in the 1960s experiencing protest EDM-pop had been too much to Knowles booths music was an infectious and bear sober, so I left to stake out are making will be spontaneous consequence of a spot for Kendrick Lamar. As poignant living through the the times that the crowd rapidly surrounded the political were a changin’, it can now be Samsung Stage, I found myself packaged and sold for 300 bucks in one of many classic festival a pop, with the added bonus of conundrums: unable to reach my watching emotional high school- friends near the front and unwill- ers lose their shit to Twenty-One ing to compromise my position Pilots while stoned out of your to watch with another group near fucking mind. the back. My company for the And who can afford that show thus became a pair of vaca- 300 dollar price tag? Proba- tioning Alaskan fishermen tripping bly not Compton teenagers on acid given to them by ‘some struggling to resist gang guy near the merch tent’. culture, but guys like me, that Kendrick’s latest studio album, are afforded not only the luxury To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), was of going to the show, but also a landmark political manifesto state- of criticizing everyone else that on blackness in America. But as ments does too. That doesn’t mean I’m he walked into his well-earned within going to stop attending festivals, headlining set that night at Austin the and hopefully I’ll still enjoy them. City Limits the fans going ballistic context of But it’s important to recognize and singing along to classics like excellent that the price of seeing every “Swimming Pools” and “Alright” music (which wannabe Mumford and Sons were predominately white and indeed manned; or Tame Impala that your friend Asian. The recipients of Kend- they are), iPads starred on Spotify is immersing rick’s live message that day, as you can with yourself in a world where every- he rapped about taking pride in bet white, one looks like you, reads what blackness, were hardly black — informed, and Square you read, likes what you like, an irony that extends further still liberal mil- Cash will and hates Trump. Festivals are when taking into account that the lennials will be reap Visa far from inclusive, and the more author of this piece is a 23-year- soon be whole- swipes from they cater to my (and Berkeley’s) old privileged, white grad student heartedly singing along within dozens of demographic, the more insulated from New Jersey. at a festival near you. artisan food trucks; and their attendees become from the In a way, the stark difference All the hallmarks of 2010s festival-specific phone apps cultural waves this amazing year between the characters in Ken- zeitgeist culture can be found at will be downloaded, checked in music is creating. We all want drick’s music and those in atten- a 2016 festival, glitzed up and on incessantly, and later uninstalled the same thing: a break from dance at his shows is representa- display like some kind of indie Las by every smart-phone touting work and school in the form of tive of the festival experience as a Vegas. The increasing social ac- millennial from high school fangirls pure hedonism, with psychedelic whole. In an age when emerging ceptance and legalization of mar- to thirty-something stoner bros blinders to shield us from the indie bands play upwards of 30 ijuana, as well as the emergence uniting for the modern world’s overwhelming, racially-charged festivals a year, every American of MDMA and LSD as relatively best reinterpretation of a classical political shit show that is 2016. city is cashing in, creating a common commodities (especially Roman orgy. But hey, I screamed every word world in which both hardcore and in proximity to live music) has In this way, festivals provide a of “King Kunta”, so I’m not the passive music fans alike can see placed drugs at the forefront of means by which individuals can problem. dozens of their favorite acts each festival culture. Decisions such as physically inhabit a hall of mirrors summer without committing to which EDM artist to roll for (Kygo that reflects the familiar culture we dozens of concerts. And each on Friday or Porter Robinson on constantly witness through our year, organizers get better at Saturday?) and how to sneak screens on the internet. At Austin curating their festival experience joints and spliffs past security City Limits Fest, Kendrick Lamar THE B-SIDE 4 HARDLY STRICTLY '16 Fiona Duerr 5 THE B-SIDE An open let- ter to Obama: Check yo’self

Natalie Silver next sea- Staff writer son. Even though I do not have a shrine in my any room. But is my wall — plastered intelligent with a poster of the much young- person er, much hotter, and much more looking at stoned version of this nation’s the Dubs’ president — a place of casual Starting worship? Five — Absolutely. which Yes — I love Barack Obama. includes His face is the last thing I see Kevin before the lights go off every Durant night, and that hazy black and and Steph white image of a genius thriving in Curry, two his college days is sometimes the of the best only thing that motivates me to players get out of bed in the morning. It’s in the safe to say I felt like I knew him— country until today. — could When I was mindlessly predict scrolling through Pitchfork this the team’s afternoon, I came across a head- You’re obviously not George W. Disc) and wrote an entire song probable success, it still serves as line that confused me: “Obama Bush….or Donald Trump…or about how he will never have sex proof that our president was not Discusses His Favorite Rappers: even Hillary Clinton — who is us- with white women (“Do I wanna delusional and/or high when he Chance, Kendrick, Kanye, Drake, ing Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” fuck, not hardly / That’s kind of spoke to SiriusXM’s Sway in Oc- Jay Z.” as her campaign song (the use like Barbie fucking Bob Marley” tober — which only further fuels Okay wait, hold up. Barack. of a textbook, bubblegum pop — my favorite line from “Cave my confusion around his flawed My dude, my guy, my role model: song strikes me as shockingly Bitch”), and a Founding Father ranking of still-alive rappers. I respect the shit out of you, anti-feminist, but I digress). of the this-is-not-fucking-okay And his music taste has but sometimes you make it a Obama. Sir. Please hear me attitude — Ice Cube is undeni- been equally on point. According little harder than it has to be. out. In spirit, you are a gangster ably brilliant. His voice presents to WOLB Talk four years ago, Your suuuuuuper vanilla list that rapper. When 2Pac famously listeners with an incredibly potent he ranked The Rolling Stones’ screams “Hey Malia, name five rapped, “We ain’t ready to see a formula of politics, rage and com- “Gimme Shelter” #4 on his Top 10 uncontroversial hip-hop artists black president,” in his 1998 work edy. His lyrics rage with the simul- songs on his iPod, which, as you who you also think are hot,” left of genius, “Changes”, he was taneous tenacity of Muhammad all know, sent me to Enlighten- me cringing and begging one very begging the universe for you to Ali (in and out of the ring) and the ment at Desert Trip this October. serious question: WHERE. THE come along. eloquence of Albus Dumbledore. His wedding song was Stevie FUCK. IS. ICE CUBE? I love and respect you deeply. His songs have defined gangster Wonder’s “You and I”; he’s known He started this gangster So when you told SiriusXM’s rap and used the medium to rein- and loved Chance The Rapper shit, and this is the muthafuckin Sway that your favorite current spect institutionalized oppression since he was eight years old. And thanks he gets? Let’s back up. rappers are Chance, Kendrick and racialized violence in Ameri- his 2016 Summer Playlist fea- Obama has proven to be Lamar, Kanye West, Drake and ca, specifically in the hood. tured songs from queens of R&B, absolutely woke in terms of pop Jay-Z (who you proceeded to So, in this October 28 including Mary J. Blige, Aretha culture—specifically sports and preface with the title “King”), my interview with SiriusXM’s Sway, Franklin, and Billie Holiday. music. In 2013, he picked Cal entire faith in your leadership, mo- when Obama forgot Ice Cube’s I assumed that all people intel- over Stanford in men’s hoops to rality, and most of all, intelligence, name but remembered Drake’s, I ligent enough to lead a nation reach the NCAA Final Four (which was thrown into question. couldn’t just let it be. were also boring enough to have neither team ultimately accom- One of the men who spear- Stay woke, Obama. But next zero taste, the thrill factor peaking plished, FML) and in the same headed the genre of gangster time you say Jay-Z is King...well, at maybe one of Frank Sinatra’s interview where he was wrong in rap, the mastermind lyricist who you better check yo self. more upbeat songs. But damn, his rapper rankings, he switched once rhymed “taxidermist” with Barack. Respect. gears and picked the Warriors to “thermos” (see “Pushin’ Weight”, **Writer’s note: I also love Jay-Z. I We get it, Mr. President. win the NBA championship this War & Peace Volume 1: The War promise.** THE B-SIDE 6

Aziz Yehia This skeptic-to-convert lag and myself, Deitch’s creativity, development of great novels, Staff writer time can be partially explained by skill, flow and dialogue dropped films and life-stories. the set’s unusually patient plotline. jaws — that is, until mouths twist- While we all have com- (For Monkfish) DRKWAV may be the side project ed into what Bay Area folks would plex inner worlds, honing the Zoom in on John Medeski, of three funk all-stars, but this call a textbook “thizz face.” As more-than-musical ability to hunched over keyboard, deep ambitious supergroup didn’t for my newly-made-aspiring-rap- dig, channel and express those in it. break into full dance party until per friend, one of Deitch’s early depths through “jam” is — like His lower lip is bouncing like a well into the show’s second half. grooves inspired a spontaneous psychoanalysis — a lifelong prac- jackhammer. That is, if jackham- Until then, we wandered a maze minute of cypher — along with tice. DRKWAV’s members have mers could match the rhythm of of “cinematic” Eraserhead-hallway some heavy chest bobbing, cries cultivated an inspiring degree of popcorn, popping. He’s mouthing soundscapes: murky, dissonant, of enthusiasm, and a video. jam mastery and, therein, human his notes — atonal, sporadic, yet impressively-designed, unsettling “That’s that kind of shit I was complexity flowed. rolling — and his keyboard cries and painfully lingering.One such talking about! That’s the kind of They anguished, sank in the cry we’d hear if lasers and moment cut especially deep: shit I hear in my head!” depression, stirred and, eventual- bubbles could have a baby: pierc- The beat is dead. Raw Yet Deitch held a funda- ly—come dance-time—found in ing with a prickly zing, yet frothing high-voltage hemorrhages tear mentally disorienting character. themselves far more than some with a rounder liquidity. Picture a across the open spaces. They Maneuvering shifty nudges and shimmering spin polished in the bubblebath out of control: foam writhe, they snowball, they displaced backbeats, he shaped practice room. Those who call rising and cascading over the squeeze, squirm, and howl. Then, irregular phrasing and propelled DRKWAV’s spacious depressions tub’s walls, pop-popping all the from within, a human surprise: an expansive, long-haul energetic “self-indulgent” or “boring” fail way, lathering the cold tile floor. natural piano. At first — like a far, trajectory. Imagine descending, to appreciate their plotline as a Superimpose a vein-bulging dim streetlight on a dark night — slowly slowly, into a bottomless human psycho/physical/spiritual Skerik and a dehydrated, laboring Medeski hardly exists beneath the mine shaft — securely harnessed process — without which the Adam Deitch. veil. But as tides slowly subside, to a dangling rope — steadily dance party couldn’t have been Saxophonist Skerik is throw- slow-moving chords take form realizing that, behind the pitch what it was. ing his weight front-to-back, in the depths: somber, repetitive, black, this void is just a little more They crushed. Deitch cranked to and fro, in periodic arcing soft, still — blue. So wistful, yet spacious, just a little more gaping, out some absolute filth — the undulations across two yards so true. more horrifying. kind of grease that listeners of or so. With every oscillation, I will not attempt to describe Somewhat like a slow, medita- Lettuce, his powerhouse funk saxophone howls swell — match- John Medeski’s face. I will say tive, free-time alap raga intro- band, know so dearly. Well, ing his movement’s menace, that I saw my mortality in the duction (though with far different Lettuce plus an extra dose of se- surge, and gut. Amplifiers groan mirror, felt the tenderness and notes), DRKWAV cut us down riously-box-breaking imaginative impressions of breath — his every depth within every individual so to point-size — to nothingness virtuosity — be it an afro-beat in- exhale’s corporeality magnified, inaccessibly alone in the universe — taking the time necessary to spired double-time hustle, a blast- not masked, by apocalyptic effect and, somehow, with a softening ferment our individual, judging off Latin-funk fusion bouncer, or pedals. Then, from the back, a in my chest, nodded and exhaled states into a common compost. a deep-sitting odd-time pocket human surprise: Adam Deitch some kind of humbling bitter- And from this fertile, flexible spa- (that both felt organic and arrived stands up, abandoning the beat. sweet acceptance. ciousness, we grew. in wild places). It was time for He (desperately) reaches back- Completely subjective and Essayists too, in their own Medeski to bust out his signature stage for a 12oz plastic water over-the-top, I know. But, catch- way, often mobilize a similar funky B-Hammond organ that, bottle and, turning to face the ing my doubter friend’s eyes, plotline — beginning with a though his expansive musical crowd, crushes the whole thing they glistened, wet. And, looking disorienting deconstruction of identity has far transcended his in one voracious chug. Without back at Medeski — that face I assumptions and, from this groove-man reputation, is always hype, he places the empty bottle can’t describe — his musical malleable base, constructing a tasty, tasty treat. And Skerik, — precisely, with surprisingly agile and spiritual depth was clear as significant ideas. when not honking repetitively professionalism— aside the kit day. Only later would I discover DRKWAV certainly construct- nuanced syncopation schemes, and, without further ado, dives in. Medeski cross-legged aside Tisziji ed something significant, but they stepped into his jammy prime — What what? Whose bubblebath? Muñoz (a spiritual guru first and… were far less didactic than I. They ripping full-bodied yet nimble (and Weird description, I know — but how should I say… a very special didn’t push clear-cut messages harmonically accessible) solo lines DRKWAV (“Darkwave”), too, is guitarist second) on the album or morals aside from, perhaps, that seared and soared, lifting the a weird experience. If that’s not cover of their 2013 collaboration alien-Skerik’s “without darkness dance floor into funky revelation. what you want from your music, Beauty as Beauty. But I’d already there iis noo liiight… withoouut Until, ultimately and inevitably, a reading, or life, run now. raved about this blue moment all daaarknessss, there iiiis nooo human surprise. The show’s first 5 minutes weekend. DRKWAV stayed with liiiiiight.” But this truism, that life is Skerik reached out to the met rolling eyes and dubious me — beyond gnarled technol- more than just sunshine and flow- earthlings — arm extended, palm expressions. Some friends ran. ogies and virtuosity — because ers, was more of a loose thematic open — and spoke. His last Perhaps Skerik’s demon/alien it channeled tangible spirit; not frame than any sort of “argu- word posed a question — not voice-modulator shtick seemed quite Tisziji, but in resonance. ment”— which was fortunate, in the word itself but, rather, in hokey and contrived; perhaps all Meanwhile, through the gullies considering these deep clichés voice inflection. Starting low, he that dissonant space-noise was and trenches, Deitch steadily ran are so pointless in abstraction modulated high: “gooO.” Then, just too weird or confusing. But, metric, churning grooves — rang- and so significant in experience. wriggling back earthwards: by 30 minutes, doubters’ silences ing from experimental future-jazz So, rather, they lived it onstage. “Oood.” And, then, finally, as if were roars as the crowd howled to nebulous big beats. For instru- Their deep jam was a real-time unsure of himself, he meandered for Skerik’s every wackazoid mentalists like my newly-made musicians’ saga — complete with off, upward and into the ether: utterance. Afro-Cuban percussionist friend the inwardly complex character “niiiiIIIGHHT??” 7 THE B-SIDE

Treasure-less Island Saturday: The sun before the storm

Nathanial Wartzman the distance to the right of the awaited the arrival of Young Thug. as she came on stage, I could Staff writer main stage. The air was cool, the Ten minutes turned into thirty, hear people asking if she was ground was muddy, and the vibes and the crowd grew antsy even Young Thug. No, not Young Thug, Treasure Island 2016 greeted were good. That’s when I heard though our spirits remained high. I thought to myself. But dope me at breakneck speed: with the drums. And that’s when we heard all the same. No equipment deco- forty-mph winds, an almost-can- Mura Masa, the 19-year-old “Antidote” by Travis Scott. The rated the stage. Most of the set celled Young Thug set, and — English producer and DJ took the crowd went crazy; an array of boomed, recorded, through the less fortunately — pneumonia stage, accompanied by Lon- variegated ponchos blurred speakers. And yet, the Oakland from partying in the pouring rain. don-based singer bonzai. And the together as everyone began to native — sporting a lime-green Hosted by Noise Pop and duo absolutely killed it — turning mosh. To maintain the crowd’s poncho, big clear sunglasses Another Planet Entertainment, the performance into a big dance energy, the DJ played some more streaked by rain, and surrounded this year’s celebration served party. The bass hit hard, the hip-hop hits: Kanye West’s “Fa- by countless hypemen — found a as Treasure Island’s 10 year synths were funky, and bonzai’s ther Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” and way to cater to her home turf and anniversary of the annual two-day vocals sounded amazing. They A$AP Rocky’s “Lord Pretty Flacko create a big dance party in the celebration, as well its last run on played all their most popular Jodye 2” among them. rain. I hope she got paid double its trademark man-made Treasure songs including “Firefly”, “Love- Then, all of a sudden, the for her efforts — she certainly Island (the festival announced its sick”, and “Lotus Eater” — also music stopped. Silence engulfed deserved it. move to a new East Bay location giving the audience some new, the stage as the crowd dispersed But after such a long wait late this September). unreleased tracks. The perfor- into scattered chatter. More the crowd began to grow a little Despite the ominous forecast, mance was a great mix of upbeat time passed. A short, white man annoyed — and more than a I looked forward to attending for dancing and groovy soul. wearing a Treasure Island hat and little soaked to the bone. The its intimate setting and — surpris- As the set drew to a close, makeshift poncho — which better excitement around dancing in the ingly — the rain. For a festival of the sun started to peek through resembled a plastic bag — came rain had turned into fear about its size, it was incredibly rare that the clouds. And I was left out on stage. contracting pneumonia by the Treasure Island ran only two stag- of breath more hyped than ever “Young Thug is running late time Young Thug actually made it es. The small-scale setup would for the next act — rapper Young and should be here by 5:30,” he to the stage. And when he finally lead to a lack of overlapping Thug. promised — supposedly playing did, his DJ yelled at everyone in showtimes — a huge benefit for a But ten minutes before Young a show a whole hour after he was the audience for not “turning up festival hosting such well-known Thug was supposed to come on, supposed to come on. The pour- enough,” something that didn’t artists — and, subsequently, no I began to feel a drizzle. The brief ing continued. We had already go over very well with the patient, stressful decisions. moment of sun didn’t last long. been waiting a while, and our lev- drenched crowd. I also expectantly anticipated Prepared for the wet, I pulled el of soaked was now bordering Even though the rapper the rain. It would obviously be on the hood of my waterproof on discomfort but sure, why not. played many of his old hit singles wet and cold, but, since I’d never North Face jacket, only to realize We could wait an hour. including “Stoner”, “Power”, attended a music festival in a it wouldn’t do much shortly after, “Antidote” by Travis Scott and “Best Friend”, it was almost downpour, I figured I might as as the light drizzle turned into played three more times. Close impossible to revive the hype well embrace the erratic Bay Area a steady pour. My friends and to three hours passed. Kamaiyah, the crowd had two hours earlier. weather. I quickly got soaked, but the an Oakland rapper who played Tired, soaked, and a bit letdown, I arrived early to my first set of rain’s momentum only added to a set in the early afternoon, I left Treasure Island before know- the day to ensure I could make the leftover energy from Mura even gave a second, impromptu ing whether other artists like Zhu it to the very front. The sun hid Masa’s previous set. Despite the performance, doing her best to lift and Ice Cube would even play behind a blanket of gray sky downpour, everyone in the crowd our spirits in the heavy weather. later in the night, only to find that, and blinding clouds. The Bay stayed rooted in place, gazes No formal announcement was in the end, they did. Bridge stood still and clear in fixated on the stage. All eyes made to present Kamaiyah, and, THE B-SIDE 8 TREASURE ISLAND '16 Fiona Duerr 9 THE B-SIDE

Treasure-less Island Sunday: A messiah in blue-violet light

Conner Smith Shortly after, however, the agement and unsafe equipment burning, glowing comet tracing Design lead darkness returned. And so did configuration. Yet what was shapes on a dark screen behind the rain. painfully clear was the flagrant the stage. Blake masterfully built I arrived at the swampy fes- I watched with excitement — misadvertisement of Treasure “Retrograde”, live, growing it tival grounds Sunday afternoon, and later, concern — as the stage Island as “rain or shine” — and from a mere suggestion into the just after the rain had passed. hands begin carting off equip- a serious lack of communication gripping vocal loop. Flashes of Following several apologies ment they had set up offstage. on the part of the organizers. dull red light exploded in a blazing by Noise Pop for the chaos of After several prolonged moments, Defeated by an exhausting wait white and orange supernova as Saturday, and many promises of an announcement came on the for James Blake and hesitant to the chorus dropped. improvement, I sludged through stage screens. Blake’s set would trust promises that Purity Ring Humble to a fault, Blake reit- fields of standing water towards be an hour delayed due to high and Sigur Ros would still perform, erated his shock at the amount of the main stage for a mellow winds. We waited. we decided to cut our losses and people who had lined the block performance by Mac Demarco. After an indefinite amount head home. waiting for the show and how The Canadian singer-songwriter of time, another announcement Unsurprisingly, this debacle “unusual for us”, it was. After had the crowd gently moving, appeared, reiterating that the generated a fair amount of con- rounding out a soaring rendition rather than rambunctiously show was delayed but that Tycho troversy that remains unsolved. of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”, participating, to avoid splattering would perform a surprise DJ set A seemingly insensitive note from Blake obtained total silence from mud on their neighbors to hits like in the interim — a replay of the Another Planet Entertainment vice a reluctant audience in order to “Salad Days” and “Chamber of exact same incident that occurred president Allen Scott only fanned build “Measurements”, a looped Reflection.” with Young Thug a day earlier. the flames. Eager to salvage track that required live record- The gray gloom put a damper Twenty-or-so minutes after the what was left of their reputation, ing. After layering harmonies in on the afternoon. And all the fleet- delay time, an announcement the organizers issued a formal a sonorous and deeply spiritual ing sunshine and Michael Jack- on the festival Facebook page apology and a conciliatory James hymn, he departed the stage in son-inspired antics of Neon Indian appeared. The show had been Blake concert at the Fox Theater the darkness, without goodbye, frontman Alan Palomo couldn’t cancelled due to weather. It took Monday night, free for all festival as we all stumbled numbly into sell the poorly-mixed sound and organizers still another fifteen ticket holders. The line wrapped the streets. group’s goofy, all-white attire. Tan- minutes of uncertainty before they around the block of the venue, As we left James Blake, we talized by a preview of the visuals posted the announcement on the and the interior filled quickly with were almost relieved that Treasure to come, I left early in hopes of a stage. the murmur of thousands of Island had cancelled the show, change in pace with Tycho. Noting that the wind and rain weekend warriors who decided and that Blake was able to as- The Bay Area veteran applied were visibly less intense than to push through and witness their cend to his full, illuminated glory almost-full live instrumentation to earlier, I decided to ask some rightful reward. in a private show. While the fault semi-electronic tracks, dragging stagehands and security guards And a reward it was indeed. for the weekend’s missteps can us out of the day’s doldrums with what was happening, only to James Blake captured our not be fully attributed to any one a visual and auditory experience receive mixed reports. Some souls like a messianic savior. His source, we should continue to be that proved to be the highlight of cited equipment failure due to show was spectacular, featuring critical of the way art is shared the day. Within range of Sylvan rainy conditions; others cited minimalistic live lighting, and a set with the public and cherish the Esso on the far stage, I decided scheduling conflicts due to the that oscillated between thunder- heavenly moments of genuine to listen to their characteristically delays. A brief investigation into ous electronic anthems to tender, exchange that graced the Fox stellar set while fortifying my posi- several comments made by Duke heartrending ballads. 2016’s The Theater that Monday night. tion on the guardrail in anticipa- Dumont regarding Saturday’s Color in Anything featured heavily, tion of James Blake. cancellation revealed misman- with the title track framed by a THE B-SIDE 10

The limitless space of Nicolas Jaar’s Sirens

George Green Supposedly, a press release some of the lyrics are in Spanish a 56% vote for his sixteen-and- Staff writer names this album his most “po- and some are in English fans the a-half year reign to end). And, A coin sits on a hospital-grey litically-minded record to date”, flames of confusion as you try certainly, such a prompt to ques- album sleeve. What to do? and that sounds like a peculiar to make sense of the Spanish in tion the powers that be could not Anyone that has had the fleeting description of an electronic music terms of the English. Did he sing have come at a better time for anxiety when thumbing through album. Listen, however, to the lyr- “A pasar” (“No”) or “out of sight”? Americans. But, it is at this point a couple of fresh scratch cards ics of “The Governor”: “Deicide… Perhaps the most politically in the album that I begin to feel knows. Like a chisel or a paint- Deic…Deicide. Simple and numb, charged track of all, “Three Sides concern that it is too ambiguous brush, this coin is a tool. The coin stuck on automatic” are the of Nazareth”, is also the most for propaganda and too predict- scrapes along the sleeve, and opening lines of the jazz-infused haunting. With the lines “I found able (towards the end) for art. metallic filings are ripped from track with interspersed sections my broken bones by the side of “History Lesson” changes their host – revealing beneath a of growling monotonous bass. the road” on eerie, monotonous that. It turns out that art and photograph from Chilean photog- Around a quarter of the way into repeat, and the same bass from propaganda are not mutually rapher and artist, Alfredo Jaar. this track, Jaar plays with bound- “The Governor” rearing an uglier exclusive. The completely un- Crackling of the vinyl blends aries again. His vocals swap with head, this track seems all too expected Doo-wop style, with a with the crackling of the album’s the bass as it becomes more familiar. Three and a half minutes return to Jaar’s uneasy soprano, very first track, “Killing Time”, in animated and his voice repeats in, the drums are drawn out and immediately engages. “Chapter which we are introduced to Sirens in familiar baritone “on automatic padded with some sort of choral 1: We fucked up”: Jaar begins to through a gentle, simple piano dial, on automatic…”. One gets vocals. And almost without our recount a history lesson that, as melody. The melody gathers the sense of walking into a laby- knowing, Jaar has pulled us from we progress through the song, momentum then recedes, gathers rinthine trap Jaar has elaborately a shamanistic beat into a euphor- we realise is a narrative of two momentum then recedes. The created for us and, as we meet ic chorus — the collective voices histories. “Chapter 5: We lied. ideas of “building time” and “kill- the halfway mark in the song, a seeming to repeat a small section Chapter 6: We’re done” marks ing time” already offer an insight scratching, impassioned horn of Barbor’s “Adagio for Strings” an end that not only summarizes into the metaphysical depths leads us deeper into some dark — before we hear something re- the history of political systems, that Jaar will take us to. Lines hypnosis. Energetic drums teem sembling white noise, with sparse but also succinctly reviews the such as: “We are just waiting for just below the surface, before it piano notes overlaid. A little too messages in Jaar’s own songs on the old folks to die” tarnish this all peters out at around 6 minutes predictably, Jaar reintroduces Sirens — the history of his own noir album — a bleakness that and 40 seconds. that bass. And, again somewhat album. “Chapter 6: We’re done” persists until the final song. It is It is with this colour and predictably, “I found my broken is simply a reflexive statement be- a bleakness that really isn’t to be texture that Jaar commands the bones by the side of the road” fore the end of the song. Except associated with electronic music. space around the listener. Even heralds the reintroduction of it isn’t the end. Throw everything I Jaar has done something clever in the slower and more minimal the drums. An insignificant noir said about predictability out of the here, demonstrating his maturity tracks of the album, “Leaves” soundtrack sees “Three Sides of window. What happens for the as an artist; he has broken an and “No”, Jaar fills the air with a Nazareth” fade to its conclusion last minute is almost indescrib- artistic boundary. weight of trepidation (“Leaves”) or underneath Jaar’s fragile soprano: able — it is as if Jaar has plucked Nicolas Jaar’s Sirens is all desperation (“No”). Jaar’s music “of all that he knew”. sounds and noises and waves of about these boundaries: The on Sirens is even describable It is at this point in the album energy from the very atmosphere. boundary between the grey, in terms of Fregean philosophy. that I began to question whether With them, he creates a room of scratch-card cover and his fa- There is some sense that the mu- this should be remembered as emotion, completely overwhelm- ther’s photograph; the boundary sic elicits in the listener a feeling art, or as propaganda. Jaar clear- ing the listener. And this is his between the physical vinyl crackle of anxiety or of carefree days (the ly wants us to question the politi- grand ending — the final great and the crackle of “Killing Time”; recordings of conversation with cal systems we have in place. boundary to break: that between the boundary between languag- his father as a child exemplify With the continual Chilean-Span- art and observer. es, between philosophy and art, this gloriously). But, what exactly ish dialogues, he seems to draw and between art and politics. The Jaar refers to in his cryptic, and our attention to Chile’s Pinochet list is extensive. questionably intelligible, lyrics, days (the leader stepped down is difficult to know. The fact that the year Jaar was born, following 11 THE B-SIDE

Jack Garratt on debut album, non- genre specificity, and Chance the Rapper

Myra Farooqui do so, and so he simply never line between arrogance and least important person” in a given Managing publisher did. Jack claimed he “was never self-confidence? Jack reminded venue. Laughing off the osten- good at sticking to one thing,” a himself that “it could all disappear sible irony to this statement, he Jack Garratt has effectively characteristic made even more as quickly as it seemed to come imagined, “if I went in thinking I proven to the world that he is a apparent by his stage perfor- together. Being a musician is was the most important person, jack of all trades (pun sincerely mance, in which he alone sings something I’ve been working on then it would be equally as much unintended), but more impres- and plays the piano, drums, and since I was a kid, I’ve only been of a shit show if I didn’t show up sively — a master of it all. The guitar. Growing up, he has always professionally doing it, I guess, at all.” British multi-instrumentalist is cur- possessed an inexplicable knack [for] the past few years.” And so it was after this dec- rently on tour promoting his debut for doing it all. From self-writing Jack Garratt is proud of what laration that I came to learn that album, Phase (2016), which to self-producing and self-per- he has produced and pinpoints one of Jack’s most integral keys features the hit song “Worry”, forming, Jack is a distinguished, the same feeling in the perfor- to success — professionally and originally introduced in his first EP, professional musical multi-tasker. mances of other artists for whom otherwise — is humility. Remnants (2014). After a phone Phase is the most honest he greatly respects. Referencing Humility serves as a perfor- conversation with Jack, I arrived representation of who Jack Chance the Rapper’s performance enhancer in that Jack at a few conclusions, which Garratt is. Confident in what he mance on Ellen, Jack praised remembers for whom he is there helped me better understand his has produced and grateful for the Chance’s performance and overall to entertain — and then does artistic motivations, objectives label to which he is signed, Jack artistry as absolutely honest and that all too well with everything as a performer, and personal was still reluctant to call his debut individual, and never “in spite of he’s got. He treats a show like philosophies. album as belonging to solely him the music industry” or “in spite of a unique opportunity to culti- I don’t know what to call — or to the label for that matter. a label.” Jack glorified Chance’s vate any experience he wants. Jack’s music, and neither does He genuinely — albeit, incongru- performance etiquette and Where his songs and records are he: that’s the point. Citing muses ently — decreed that the record self-written songs to indicate how immortalized by the way in which David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and “is mine, but also not mine.” I important it is for a person to sim- they were finalized in the studio, Paul Simon, Jack Garratt also sensed an authentic degree of ply “be proud of what you do,” no each live show is an outstandingly refused to categorically delimit his modesty laced in his voice when matter what that thing is. At 24, matchless event, after which he own sound. He instead empha- he discussed Phase, as it starkly Jack Garratt has already achieved hopes the audience will be just as sized the importance of creating contrasts the old stuff he used to that feeling via a truly “honest tired and satisfied as he is. music that feels right and honest write and perform in the past. To and representative” album he can Through his passion, honesty, — a creative venture that knows him, his old music was com- confidently call his first — a feel- and groundedness, it’s clear no boundaries, transcending paratively more disingenuous: ing with which he hopes everyone that Jack Garratt isn’t necessary genres and reductionist music aiming to please audiences at becomes acquainted in his or her difficult to understand. Yet, to get dictionary labels. the expense of his own personal own respect. to know him a little better, simply Curious as to whether or not and artistic integrity. He has since Jack Garratt recognized the listening to his self-representative, other artists are ever actually learned to be proud of what he audience as the “leader of the debut album, Phase, might help told to pigeonhole themselves, puts out, and so Phase was born. show.” The one-man-band even us learn what represents him he was never explicitly told to So what draws the blurry went so far as to call himself “the best. THE B-SIDE 12

Velvet Underground and Nico next year. became a mainstay in Warhol’s Max’s Kansas City, with a Warhol: The great grand- show, the Exploding Plastic Inev- backroom constantly flowing itable, which brought together all with posh associates of Warhol, father of punk? forms of art: music, dance, film, resurfaces in music history over even light, into one multimedia the next few years as a hotspot of Emilie Dylewski about image and staying in the spectacular. activity. The venue featured per- Editor spotlight, Warhol immediately With Warhol as producer, formances from up-and-coming became their manager, and they their debut album The Velvet bands such as punk precursors It may very well be that Andy were introduced to the world of Underground & Nico (1967) was New York Dolls, who were un- Warhol, pop art extraordinaire, Warhol: his Factory, his alluring released. Due to an unfortunately doubtedly influenced by their local lit the spark that began the punk fame, and all the people he timed lawsuit involving the unau- legends, Velvet Underground. rock movement. brought into it. thorized use of an image located The artist-friendly Max’s Controversial as it may be to The Factory was Warhol’s stu- on the album’s back cover, the Kansas City, however, was not pinpoint the birth of punk, a genre dio, a literal art factory in the heart release date was pushed back frequented by everyone. Located typically defined by its nature to of New York City, churning out his and the album was ultimately far from the posh surroundings color outside the lines, Warhol silkscreens, artwork and a never financially unsuccessful. Shortly of Warhol’s factory, CBGB was may be — at the very least — the ending cycle of celebrity. The after, the relationship between an affordable venue that brought great-grandfather of punk. artistic haven was covered from The Velvet Underground and War- together new bands and fans baseboard to ceiling, in tin foil hol fizzled out due to the stress without regard for connections, Let’s get there together: a and silver paint, with mirrors scat- the financial strain had on the creating an accessible space simplified lineage of punk tered along all the walls. Guests relationship between Reed and with accessible sounds. With the such as model and socialite Edie Warhol. help of CBGB, the Ramones, The Velvet Underground (key Sedgwick and Brigid Berlin (of the Warhol’s influence, however, under the influence of the New players: Lou Reed, vocals/guitar; Hearst media mogul family) would stretched beyond his time as York Dolls, saw the beginning of John Cale, keyboard/bass/organ/ stay hours if not days, amped on manager. While the band came a punk scene in New York. In this viola; Sterling Morrison, guitar; speed and subject to the spon- into its own sound under new grass-roots way, the new style of Maureen Tucker, percussion) taneous whims of Warhol. In their management with Reed back music came from the street, up. came together in New York City first appearance at the Factory, as front man, Andy Warhol The very culture that Andy in the ‘60s, alongside acts that The Velvet Underground were catapulted a mismatched group Warhol encouraged provided the evolved out of the fading rock introduced to the art “it crowd” of little-known musicians into the perfect grounds for a counter-cul- and roll scene of the ‘50s, such of Manhattan as a new vision of connected music scene of New ture of experimentation to thrive. as rock and roll rebels, the Rolling music. York. These venues, frequented by Stones who wanted to break the German vocalist Nico became The Velvet Underground Warhol, The Velvet Underground, seasoned mold of rock and roll a Factory regular, as Warhol and continued touring and producing their contemporaries, and the while holding fast to its bluesy frequent collaborator Paul Mor- new music into the ‘70s, but even culture they allowed became the roots. rissey insisted on Nico taking over towards their end, the band, by birthplace of punk. Young twenty-somethings the place of Lou Reed as vocalist. most accounts, was not truly By 1975, with the Ramones who saw music differently, The From the start, Reed was not on a punk band. Lou Reed left in and Sex Pistols, high-energy, Velvet Underground parted ways board with Nico’s involvement. 1970, his last performance cap- head-banging, and mosh-induc- from even the rebellious and Frustrated, Reed purposefully tured by a member of Warhol’s ing sets became all the rage. created a new image for the way went out of his way to show inner-circle, Brigid Berlin, at the Punk — and all its under-three- they saw music. In 1965, Warhol aggression towards Nico and in Warhol-frequented Max’s Kansas minute-song glory — was officially was introduced to the band. All total, only wrote three songs for City. The recording Live at Max’s in. her. Regardless, in 1966, The Kansas City was released the

Photos by Sameul Jameson THE B-SIDE 13 Spitting Softly in 2016: How ‘JEFFERY’ Shook Hip-Hop’s Landscape Adil Siddiqee for new blood that veered away albums of the same ilk, a shift receives airplay equal to Gucci Staff writer from hip-hop’s traditional subject towards social progressivism, and Mane or Juicy J. matter — but was still about the Internet, alternative sounds Yet what really cements 2016 Overheard in the backseat of murder, about how he didn’t “give became the face of hip-hop. as the year hip-hop changed is my car last month: a fuck”. Despite how diverse the A$AP Rocky’s “pretty,” fash- Young Thug’s most audacious “JEFFERY is the hardest shit genre grew through the ‘90s and ion-minded persona captured a contribution to the genre today in existence, man — Young Thug early ‘00s, the airwaves were young, female-inclusive audience, – his mixtape, JEFFERY, the makes 21 Savage look like a five still wrought with the gunshots as did Childish Gambino’s Tumblr most recent installment of the year-old.” and sirens gangster rap had long chick-directed, meme-riddled rap eccentric pop-trap style for which “What? Dude, he’s wearing a before established. music. the rapper is known. JEFFERY, wedding dress on the cover.” In 2004, however, a young Clearly, by the time Chance which features album art of Young “That’s the thing — he’s so (yet already lauded) producer on the Rapper was whining to Thug wearing a wedding dress, unafraid of not being seen as Roc-A-Fella Records released his college girls and Danny Brown received critical acclaim, as well hard, it wraps back around and debut album as a rapper. With was rocking straightened hair, the as a long, consistent stint of radio makes him hard as fuck.” high-pitched R&B samples and shift in sounds and image from play. For an artist so unconcerned Rap music, since its inception, gospel choirs, heartfelt personal the hardcore gangster era was with upholding traditionally mas- has pushed forth masculinity and anecdotes, and a teddy bear complete. culine identity to be so universally braggadocio as defining attributes mascot, Kanye West released Hip-hop was no longer dom- celebrated is a remarkable land- of an artist’s authenticity. The past The College Dropout. inated by the image that artists mark in hip-hop history. decades have mandated that In an era where rappers based like NWA and 50 Cent propa- Twenty years ago, there was establishing oneself among other their image off their chain size gated. The importance of being no way Thugger could get away aspiring artists requires a portfolio and teardrop tattoos, Dropout fell “hard” had largely diminished. with saying ‘there is no such of dominance — comprised usu- into another camp entirely. Kanye Through 2012 and 2013, thing as gender’ without being ally of being the least afraid to die, pushed forth the image of a “reg- Drake and Nicki Minaj continued demonized and discarded as a disregarding the most females, ular person” in place of the apex, their reigns as the biggest — and serious rap artist. Twenty years and acquiring the most curren- predator-esque character most least abrasive — rappers on ago, DMX could bark “I show no cy. Entire discographies revolve upcoming rappers wished to the charts. Kendrick Lamar’s love/to homo thugs” and go plat- around hedonism and self-indul- encompass. The material steered bombastic hardcore hip-hop inum. Twenty years ago, hip-hop gence; rappers name themselves clear of drugs and homicide; gave a nod to gangster rap, while was about aggressiveness and after guns and base their image instead, it focused on self-con- addressing the toxic and shallow detachment. on violent crime, all to make sure sciousness, sexuality, and feelings pitfalls associated with the genre. Today, it’s about showing just everyone around them is aware of inadequacy — something that, Countless other artists forged how much you care. that they are “hard”. in contrast to so many records new paths, not adhering to a What was once called being And all the above begs before it, previously had no place single, genre-defining sound. “hard” has, to an extent, become the question: With one of the in hip-hop. Yet the following years raised replaced by the desire to be “real” biggest rappers in the game Dropout paved the way for the bar even higher — from the and sensitive, to express vulnera- crossdressing on his album cover future efforts to remove the pre- aggressive, poverty-stricken bility and openness. Contrasting and countless pop/trap hybrids viously established tenants of rap depths of trap music, a surge of the cold and unsympathetic dis- receiving widespread acclaim music. Lupe Fiasco’s triple-en- upbeat and colorful new blood plays of hostility with modern-day across the board, does being tendre-riddled nerd rap scaled emerged. barefaced positivity speaks “hard” even matter in 2016? the charts by targeting students Seemingly all at once, 2015 volumes about how hip-hop has Expansion and the socially conscious. Kid and 2016 ushered in a handful of evolved, and how it’s grown into Through the ‘90s and 2000s, Cudi’s reserved, synth-heavy hip- artists with a flagrant disregard the deep and diverse genre of mainstream hip-hop teemed with hop appealed to the introverted for hip-hop image standards. Lil music it is today. felonious activity — a celebra- suburban stoner — and many Yachty’s Lil Boat mixtape collect- My friend unplugs my phone tion of extravagance and short, others, evidently. And this new ed a cult following for the sail- and plugs in his. luxurious lives. Lyrics rife with generation of “soft” rappers was or-themed, mumbling 18-year-old “Thugger! I roll me one, homophobia and misogyny, de- huge, selling out stadiums to an sporting colored dreads — the smoke to the face!” rings out from meaning those who did not fill the audience that gangster rap had same 18 year old who topped the the car stereo. roles hip-hop expected, resulted never known. charts in a collaboration with the “Honestly, that does make him in a landscape unwelcome to overwhelmingly positive D.R.A.M. sound hella hard. I’m pretty sure those attempting to work against Pushing The Envelope The College Dropout was cer- in “Broccoli”. Similarly, D.R.A.M., you’d never catch 21 Savage in the grain. tainly not the first to abandon the having garnered a considerable a dress.” Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s standards of mainstream hip-hop, fanbase for tracks like “Cha “That’s cuz he’s afraid, man. iconic, conscious rap was still but it was definitely a leader in Cha” and “Cute” proves every bit Young Thug isn’t afraid of any- rooted in conventional hip-hop catapulting an unorthodox sound as delicate as the archetypical thing.” boastfulness. Eminem’s comedic, to the top of the charts. Through hip-hop persona is calloused, yet self-hating debut broke ground 14 THE B-SIDE

4. The “I’m tired of hookup Okay, so maybe your relationship culture”: “Lover’s Spit” - Broken 5 sentimental indie wasn’t toxic or one-sided. Maybe Social Scene (You Forgot It in it was (actually) a good relation- People, 2002) ship, with great memories. But things to get you over sadly, it’s over now. Reminiscing If you’re into hookup culture, is all well and good, but it ended that’s great, more power to for a reason. Never forget the you. For those of you that are that pseudo-some- strings of unanswered texts near tired of it, Canadian indie dream the end, the emotional/physical collection Broken Social Scene is right there with you. It’s time to thing stop “swallowing words while giving head”, ignoring Vivian Chen what you really want and Staff writer settling for what’s easy (and meaningless) to 1. The “that was a bad get. It’s alright to want relationship anyways”: “Don’t Wanna Be Your more. It’s not alright Girl” - Wet (Don’t You, to pretend what you 2016) have is more than it is — or to pretend This indie classic is that you’re ok the one you blast with having less when you’re finally than you want. done with your As Kevin Drew significant other’s defeatedly puts shit — because it, “You know who doesn’t it’s time that we reach that point grow old and eventually? do some shit”. They don’t treat you right; 5. The “you you’re better off deserve without them; whatever you honestly relationship just “don’t you want”: wanna be [their] “Water Me” girl” anymore. - FKA Twigs (Sending these (EP2, 2013) lyrics in a text as a break-up Maybe you method is not thought your recommended, transient but does get nothing points for pure could be savagery.) more, but it never got there. You’re 2. The “some- not alone. FKA day you’ll Twigs leaves us find someone a reminder that that appreciates it’s totally fine to be you”: “Baby Blue” - King Krule (6 Feet Beneath the been, if only they gave “stuck with” yourself, and Moon, 2013) you the chance. But don’t worry stress of late-night fights into that if your significant other thinks too much. Eventually, you’ll find the early morning, and the five what you want in a relationship Ah, the unrequited love. Let Archy the one who appreciates the times a day that you check their is a “fee”, you didn’t need them Marshall’s guitar reverb and deep, brilliance that is you. The one who social media feed in a desper- anyways. Remember, what you smooth voice lull you into a warm actually deserves you ate attempt to keep holding on felt and what you wanted were embrace of anguished empathy “painting the skies blue” for. to something that’s not there real to you, and were therefore as he croons about the “baby anymore. And — as Victoria valid. Ultimately, don’t forget that blue” that didn’t love him back. 3. The “remember the good Legrand’s haunting voice tells us the only one that most deserves Shout along as he sings, “Girl I times, but it’s over now so — now’s the time to move on. and needs your love is you. No could’ve been someone to you,” move on”: “Some Things Last one else compares. (Except because you totally could’ve A Long Time” - Beach House maybe Twigs.) (Devotion, 2008) berkeleybside.com