Round 2

Hello again, Arts, ink readers! I hope your summers were a fresh bite of relaxation and that your Falls have galvanized the start to another year. My name is Alex Winnick, I’m a sophomore in LSA studying English and Community Action/Social Change. Clubs with which I am involved and subsequent people who inspire me include: rEDesign, (an organization that aims to involve college students in K-12 public education) the Prison Creative Arts Project, TedxUofM and 826Michigan. I enjoy drinking cold water from my washed out Tomato Sauce jar and riding my bike with gloves on. I found at an early age that music has a tremendous influence over my life, and am delighted that I get the opportunity to share its energy with you.

I return to this blog with a renewed drive for updating you all on new (or perhaps old) music that I have been listening to recently. Last year I focused my attention mostly on additions to my Hip Hop universe; this year I not only want to continue that effort but also bring in new releases to a multitude of other genres. I try my best to stay relevant in the music world by following a few different blogs, including Hypem, Sunset in the Rearview, Pigeons and Planes, Earmilk, and by using Spotify. I highly recommend using Spotify if you don’t already; it is an application that streams practically every album ever created for free. Legally. You pay nothing and the artist still makes money. It is the absolutel best way to listen to music.

As Fall is always, in my opinion, the most prime season for cutting-edge music, a number of terrific albums have already come out in the last month or so. Kanye West’s label Good Music released its compilation album Cruel Summer to mixed reviews. While I concur that it is nothing special, and absolutely nowhere on the level of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, there are a number of stellar tracks including The Morning, To the World and Clique. An unfortunate trend in the Hip Hop world lately, Kanye’s decision to reveal basically half the album before the release date left little anticipation for the real thing. Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor 2 also arrived in a cloud of disappointment. While I think we can all agree that it was marginally better than his last effort, it is almost insulting to attach the “Food and Liquor” label to it, as it doesn’t even slightly compare to his debut release. Mumford and Son’s second studio album Babel is just as cohesive and impressive as their first; they managed to maintain their specific style while also varying their lyrics and tempos enough to keep the entire album interesting. Finally, one of the best albums to appear in the last few months dropped almost two weeks ago. The debut record from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis has swept across the country in a wave of party jams and emotional videos. (See below picture) Until next week when I go into more depth, download Spotify and listen to The Heist on repeat. It will soon become the soundtrack to your Fall.