Tyler Conrow, @dry.oats

Click here for the article

Ryn Gross @ryn6rss

Click here for the article

Alex Duben @Sketch_Mage_art

Click here for the Crows are White review article

Abbey Haines @abbegami_paints

Glass Onion Header @loganfitch.14

Stay tuned for the article in the coming months!

Sophia Ungaro @sophiaungaro

Check out the article here

The Whale illustration by Annaleah Goldstone @annaleah_goldstone

The post Weekly Contributor Illustration Wrap Up appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Claire Boucher has always had a knack for transporting listeners to worlds of imagination with her sound alone. Even without its fantasy/sci-fi visualizer, “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth” is a gentle spacewalk for your ears. It’s an escape from the planet- one she knows is dying. However, its status as the intro is questionable. An ambient six minutes is an unusual way to begin an album holding flashier strikes like “4ÆM” and “My Name is Dark.” The former ingratiates itself in the controlled chaos that often takes form in Claire Boucher’s electro-pop catalog; we can envision the hyperactive star rollicking about in chair restraints on this track. 

“She’ll always score bonus points for manning her own discography from the boards to the songwriting and cover art, and this LP is no different.“

And that’s what Miss Anthropocene does so well: as a Grimes album, it works wonders. The underground art-pop approach puts Boucher in her element. Club-ready beats on the futuristic “Violence” and the uneasy progression of “Darkseid” are delicate concoctions only Grimes herself could’ve made, in part because she did make them herself. She’ll always score bonus points for manning her own discography from the boards to the songwriting and cover art, and this LP is no different.

Unfortunately, the climate change theme fails to be as seismic as it could be, never going far enough to make statements on our environment. There are no rallying chants of hope, no anthems for Greta Thunberg’s next march, no epic rage-fueled rants to corporate titans murdering the Earth. It’s treated as merely a subplot throughout the album like an afterthought shoved in the background of a student film to make their work appear “politically relevant.” Sadly a missed opportunity coming from an artist who turned her own sexual assault nightmare into one of the greatest songs of the last decade.

Perhaps the core draw to Miss Anthropocene is the song-to-song consistency. The fatiguing back half of Visions and trifles like the abysmal Art Angels cut “Scream” find no parallel here, it’s by far Grimes’ easiest playthrough. Because the LP doesn’t go too far out of her comfort zone, it won’t win over longtime detractors, though. Her love-it-or-hate-it mumble singing doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for now, but those who have fallen under Grimes’ spell get what they want in Miss Anthropocene.

8.6

The post ‘Miss Anthropocene’- Grimes is Still the Essential Solo Star appeared first on SCAD Radio.

You’re from the south, does your music have any southern influence?

I have a music undergrad, so I studied jazz guitar, and played in a band called The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Long, weird name, but most of us went to jazz school together, and before we graduated, we started playing music and making albums. I was on the first five albums that they put out and toured for a while… I think I grew up listening to probably one of the biggest influences ever: if you listen to my first solo album that I put out last year, it sounds like Prince’s B-Sides… But definitely [rock], soul, R&B, maybe even a little gospel and funk, that’s what I was raised on.

You have a new album out called Hurricane Fire. Describe it in one sentence.

I would say it’s groove oriented R&B and ‘80s synthwave inspired music. It’s all pop kind of music… It’s really tough because the album is a collection of songs that kind of hang together. I wanted it to feel somewhat like an old soul record, which is why if you see the album cover, it kind of feels like it might have been a throwback to ‘60s soul. But recently I’ve become a fan of St. Vincent, so there’s definitely a couple of songs in the album that you listen to where you can hear that nasty fuzz guitar.

What’s your favorite record by Saint Vincent?

The one with “Rattlesnake” on it, Saint Vincent. I knew the guy who mastered the album. The guy who mastered my album actually mastered my first one, Intake. I was sending him tracks and he said “have you ever heard of St. Vincent?” And I hadn’t. I mean, I’d heard of her because of the guitar she plays, but then I went and watched her and I was like, “oh, my gosh, this person is amazing!”… She can play all these melodies while singing. It’s a very unique, original sound that’s very hard to find in pop music now.

How long have you been working on your album?

You guys are artists as well, if I asked you how long you’ve been working on that image you’re working on, you might say a day or two, but in reality it’s been your whole life… It’s been working up to that peak of the iceberg, but underneath the water is all this experience you’ve had… I’ve been working on this maybe two years, off and on… I had a Prince tribute album that I put out on the anniversary of his death that was me covering a bunch of unusual B-side Prince songs, and some of them are done just radically different than he did. That’s free on Bandcamp. It’s called Purple Politicians.

What made you want to make it in the first place?

I started doing my own music about 3-4 years ago. I thought the best way to [start] would be a cover album, so I didn’t have to worry about writing music. I could cover, rearrange, produce, and practice production of music… I wanted to honor Prince- it was the year of his passing. I also thought it would be a great way to practice making/recording music as a producer and an engineer.

Jake- You and I are both musicians and sequential artists, and I’ve met a lot of other people in our field that partake in a musical hobby. Would you say that working in a silent medium is part of the reason we desire a sonic outlet?

I think music is a beautiful storytelling device, and we’re storytellers, it’s what we do. [The audio story] goes hand in hand with that visual story. You learn about pacing in song. You learn about arcs and story shape. All of that goes directly into what you’re doing with your visual stuff. They strengthen each other for sure.

Would you ever consider playing your material live?

I’m not out to make a ton of money doing these… but the way to really actually make money, for any aspiring musicians listening: selling music that’s recorded, you really have to play out… To do the music as it is on the album [live], I would need backup singers and horn players and the whole bit. I would love to have that, so if anyone wants to volunteer an entire rhythm section, let’s do it!

What’s next?

I have more albums coming, there’s gonna be one a year. One I want to put up next is an art album. Now that sounds weird, but I already have a song on Instagram, it’s about a sad sketchbook. It’s artist-related stuff, that students at SCAD would find entertaining and funny or interesting.

For more on this SCAD professor’s music career, click here.

The post Interviewing Dove McHargue- a Musician Who’s Also SCAD’s SEQA Chair appeared first on SCAD Radio.

Aries  (March 21 – April 19)

I’m your Venus (of Willendorf), I’m your fire (of Willendorf), and your desire.

(of Willendorf)

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

You should give me your number. I’ll be Frida Kahl-ah you later.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

I want to go out to dinner. Too bad I’m Baroque.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

You got a body like the statue of David. Rock hard and too good for this world.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

My ideal Saturday night? The center panel of Garden of Earthly Delights.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

As much as you want to be a romantic, at heart you’re a goth…ic.

Libra (September 23  – October 22)

If your crazy brain was thrown onto a canvas, it could pass for a Pollock.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

Every dinner with you feels like The Last Supper.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

Why do I get the feeling your parents looked like American Gothic when you told them you were going to art school?

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

You know you’ve partied too hard when you look like a Cubist painting.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

*Shania Twain voice* That don’t Impression me much. 

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

Are you my Dada?

The post The Horococoscope appeared first on SCAD Radio.