Sputnik music: a place for music lovers of all genres

I have spent a good amount of my life on the internet looking for new music or listening to new music. There are a lot of websites out there that will try to point you in the right direction of what is good music and what is bad music. Out of all my searches I always come back to one website and that website is called Sputnikmusic.com. This is mainly a music review websites where avid listeners can check out what other people have to say about their favorite albums.

This website contains almost every genre from ambient to heavy black metal, anything really you name it. There seems to be a slight bias towards rock and metal genres because that is the majority of the albums that get reviewed. Nonetheless, the community reviews rap albums, pop albums and everything else as well. They rate everything on a 0-5 scale with 5 being an amazing album. This is also a site where you can find out the latest news in the music world when it comes to bands.

The community is really helpful for the most part, anyone can write a review and the staff works very hard to make sure you are using the right grammar and writing interesting reviews. They comment on users reviews to help them improve. There are a lot of useless fights because which band is overrated and which band deserves to be number one, but of course this comes with any type of media that is based on opinion.

I like this site so much because a lot of the higher rated albums are albums that I love or learn to love. The site has introduced me into a whole lot of new bands from a wide variety of genres. And for that I am very grateful.

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The future of vision?

The era of all that crazy technology in movies is starting to show itself with the new augmented

reality devices. These are devices that are essentially glasses that give you a whole new perspective on what you can see and interact with. An augmented reality device is a device that allows you to add in elements to your original experience. This means you can generate objects or pets that you can interact with if you are wearing the augmented reality devices. These glasses give you a whole new way to experience life.

Google came out with their own augmented reality device called the Google Glass but this was discontinued recently and they said they cancelled it so they could work on something more advanced. This device was used for creative purposes, medical purposes, agricultural purposes and many more. This piece of technology proved its worth in more ways than one, it was just a little ahead of its time so Google decided to work on something more advanced that way they can work everything out before unveiling it to the public.

One thing people were upset with about the Google Glass was because it was bulky and ugly. No one really wanted to wear them because they didnt look good so I suspect Google will make their new version a little more fashionable.

Microsoft also announced they were working on an augmented reality device called the Hololens

where you can generate pets into your environment and you can interact with this virtual buddy kind of like the video game Nintendogs. Although this time it is in real life and you have a more personal relationship with this bit of coding.

These devices are essentially smartphones/video game consoles for your eyes and im sure everyone will want to get their hands on one when they become available to the mass public.

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Album of the year goes to Native Construct for the time being

There are so many bands out there that copy the same style over and over until it becomes boring but yet people still keep listening to it. Native Construct’s debut album Quiet World can give you the hope that music can still be original and keep you intrigued. This album will dazzle you, surprise you, and give you that musical satisfaction that every music lover craves.

I’ll start off by pointing out that Quiet World is indeed a concept album with a very fable-like concept. Here’s what the band has to say about it:

"Quiet World is about a guy who loves a girl. The guy is a bit of an odd and eccentric person - an outcast. He's also a mute, and a little unstable, as it turns out. The girl doesn't return his feelings, but he can't bring himself to let go. As his unrequited passion for her devolves into obsession and eventual resentment, his mind begins to slip further and further away. He convinces himself that he can't be loved because of his condition and abnormalities. So he decides to create for himself a new, fantastic world of which he has complete control - a world where there are no oddballs or outcasts. A world where everyone is surrounded by people who are just like themselves: a much quieter world. It's at this point that the first track of the album, "Mute," begins. And it turns out that many of the subjects of his new world are not as content living this way as he is. In the second track we see a new character, the Archon, rise up and unite his people in the clouds with the once distant people in the sea. He leads an opposition to "Sinister Silence," as the people come to call him. The rest of the album unfolds with events within the "Quiet World" and manifestations of the enduring struggle between the Archon and Sinister Silence. The lone exception is track number four, "Your Familiar Face," which steps out of this world for a moment to give a closer look at the events prior to the first track and the tragedy of Sinister Silence."

From the first track on the album it is realized that this band really knows what they are doing. This is an album crafted in between the band members’ studies at Berklee. They wrote, recorded, and produced this album while they were in college; if that’s not impressive then I don’t know what is. Their album has so much variety in it but yet they manage to keep the tone similar enough to make it sound like all the songs belong on the same album. This also isn’t a rock album that just contains the stereotypical instruments. They include instruments like the saxophone, trumpet, piano, and many others. They are peppered throughout the album but they never feel like they were thrown in to say they put a saxophone in one of their songs. Everything compliments each other. There are so many different styles involved in this album, they get influences from jazz, rock, metal, black metal, broadway play musicals, and many other sources.

This band seems to have a lot of Dream Theater and Queen influences in their music which is a pretty big compliment because both those bands did wonders for their music genres. The last song on the album, Chromatic Aberration, their 12 minute epic, is probably the best progressive rock song I have heard in years. One thing I really liked was their ability to write catchy riffs and infectious compositions without making them sound like everything else. Their music is so complex but its easily digestable and will leave you hungry for more.

These guys are a truly talented bunch and I have already listened to the whole album dozens of times. The album keeps you engaged when youre listening to it and when youre not. Sometimes I find myself replaying certain sections of the album in my head randomly throughout the day. Overall I was very impressed.

9.5/10

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Social activism is the way of the future?

Social activism is something that is becoming more prevalent in today’s society. There are thousands of different groups trying to get their name out there using social mediums to spread the word. Successful social activism movements have been the Kony movement or the attempt to keep the government from controlling most of the internet. These were successful because they really got people to engage in the cause and made it easy for them to do so.

One of the big reasons why social activism works is because it is very simple to get involved and it does not take much effort. With facebook, twitter, and all the other social medias, one can get others to recognize the cause just by clicking one button. This can be done anywhere as well with the use of smartphones. People don’t have to spend the time of their day going out and participating in protests or other means of activism; they can be activists right from their living room couch! Which kind of takes the meaning out of the word ACTIVism, don’t you think? Social activism is the lazy version of activism, people are able to do their part with putting little to no effort into it.

Another reason why social activism works so well is because social media runs on fads and what is popular in the right there and now. Everyone wants to feel like they are included in the latest social media fad which is why certain movements are successful. If you make the movement exciting and find out a way to get people to want to tell others then you will be successful. Once it gets going, it’s the main talk for a few weeks and then it starts to die down.

That is one of the problems with social activism is it doesn’t really stick around. The really successful social activism movements will get a lot of popularity in a short time and then after a while it will die down and it will seem like not that many people care about it. Since social activism is like a fad, and fads don’t last then social activism is only effective to a certain extent.

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Has Twenty One Pilots fallen into the pit of over-production?

Just in the past two years Twenty One Pilots has risen from being rather unknown to one of the superstars in alternative rock/pop. All of this fame came mostly from their third full-length album called Vessel. This was their first album signed with Fueled by Ramen. Their fourth full-length album, Blurryface, is set to come out on May 19th, 2015 through their record label, Fueled by Ramen. Twenty One Pilots consists of two members, Tyler Joseph (vocals, piano, keyboards, ukulele, and synthesizer) and Josh Dun (drums). These two have risen to fame because of their unique take on alternative and pop. Their music features a lot of unique and infectious electronic beats with a decent amount of piano sprinkled in alongside the drum beats. Their clever hooks and lyrics keep the music interesting and fresh. After saying all that you probably think I’m going to go into detail about how Blurryface is an amazing record. Quite the opposite actually.

Blurryface has its great parts but for the most part it is rather disappointing to the seasoned Twenty One Pilots listener. The first half of the album is clearly more interesting and creative than the second half. The second half is the most uninspired work they have released thus far, minus one song, Message Man. There’s too much going on in the songs and the reason why I say that is not because theres so many different styles or elements in each song. I say it because the way the songs are arranged it almost seems like they threw in sounds just because they liked how it sounded by itself.

Their new album feels like a watered-down version of Vessel that was designed to be more radio-friendly and more accessible to a larger audience. Songs like Doubt and Polarize are probably the least creative songs Twenty One Pilots has ever written. Doubt features an auto tuned Tyler Joseph singing an over-produced chorus and Polarize sounds like a cookie-cutter pop song that gets overplayed on the radio. Throughout the album I kept thinking “hmmm I’ve heard something like that before” which isn’t what I was expecting from a Twenty One Pilots release since on their other albums I never had that thought. A lot of the songs feel like they took a certain style from another artist and tweaked it a little to make it their own instead of sticking to creating their own style like they did on Vessel or Regional at Best. Twenty One Pilots works best without all the flare that they carelessly added into this album.

Seeing as this is their first record where they actually had a lot of fame and support coming into it, I can’t say they are doomed to forever go down the road of over-production and failed creativity. This album just didn’t do it for me, each time I listen to it I get a little more disappointed which is not what you want in an album. The album had some stand out parts that make certain songs good and enjoyable to listen to but not nearly as memorable as Vessel or Regional at Best, two albums that still don’t bore me after hundreds of listens. Everything just felt like they were trying too hard, like they kept tweaking the songs to make them perfect but after all that tweaking it ended up being too much. I just hope Twenty One Pilots can go back to creating music that is unique to them instead of pulling styles from other sources.

6/10

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Growing up, something that can happen at any age

Creating a movie is a lot of work and requires a lot of different minds to put the whole thing together.  There is a level of cooperation that comes with making a movie and the best movies are the ones where everyone cooperated and worked together instead of for themselves.  There needs to be a connection between the crew, cast, and other members and indie movies provide an easy path to these requirements since they are usually small groups with low budgets.  The smaller the group, the easier it is to connect to each other in my opinion.  There are so many indie movies out there that are just god awful, then there are some that are decent enough to watch on a boring day.  Every once in a while an indie movie comes along and just blows me away with how incredible it is.  Short Term 12 is a movie that does this, and a hell of a lot more.  Short Term 12 is about a woman (Grace) and her boyfriend (Mason) who help run a home for underprivileged kids alongside a young intern who doesn’t really know what he is doing and caring women who has been working there for a while.  This is a movie about figuring out your identity, moving on, standing up for yourself, and just the pure dedication of the staff at the home just trying to make these children’s lives easier.

I will start out by saying that when I look at movies, one of the best things about them is the character development.  If a movie can get you to truly care about the characters and what happens to them, then most of the time it is a successful movie.  The character development in Short Term 12 is some of the best I have seen in a while.  You can really feel for each of the characters in the movie and begin to understand why they have their certain personalities.  Each main character has their own story and whether it only shows them for a little bit of the movie or most of the movie, you can still care for them because they are so relatable.

One of the strongest points of this movie is the raw emotion in the story.  The actors and actresses do a phenomenal job at capturing just how broken these characters are.  This is the kind of movie that will make you cry because you’re upset for the characters as well as make you cry because you are happy for the characters.  I really felt like I knew these characters when I watched this movie and I understood what they were going through.  Even the music in the movie captures the emotion of the moment perfectly.

These are just some of the reasons why Short Term 12 has made its way into my list of favorite movies I have ever seen.  If you are looking for something that puts you on an emotional roller-coaster with in depth characters then Short Term 12 is the movie for you.  IT’S ON NETFLIX.

9/10

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Google: Dictator of the Internet?

Google is a site that I believe plays a decent role in the average person's internet use. It is the most powerful search engine on the internet and it gets millions and millions of hits everyday. This company has expanded so much over the years. Since the start they've added more algorithms in order to get you the search results that you want. They use factors such as where you are or what you have searched for in the past in order to get you the links that you want to see. There is a lot more personalization of Google than there was in the past and in order to get this personalization, Google has been collecting information from numerous sources about you.

The question is, is Google some power hungry dictator of the internet? My answer to that question is no. How much control does Google really have? Do they force you to use google to search for what you want? No, but since its such an easy to use search engine that gives you the most results out of any other search engine than its kind of hard to not use it. Google sometimes blocks out certain links because it believes that we have no interest in them based on our search history. Some might say this is blasphemy but honestly if you really wanted to find things based on exactly what you searched then you could choose another search engine, its not that hard.

The addiction to Google is very real. I use Google multiple times a day to find certain things like how to cook certain foods or anything really. Now with smart phones you can literally find information about anything anywhere you go. People say that this is making society stupid but I don't qualify memorizing facts as being smart. Google is just making it easier to find out certain information so you don't have to struggle at memorizing it, therefor you can focus on memorizing the more important things. Nowadays, people need Google. Scratch that, people need a search engine to get through the day.

People love their privacy, is Google taking that away from people? Essentially, yes they are, but in the grand scheme of thing the sort of privacy that Google is violating really does not matter. Sure Google knows what kind of clothes you wear or what kind of pet you have and things like that but anyone who sees you walking your dog can see that. Does Google send personalized emails to you making fun of the things you searched on Google? If they did that would be kind of funny. Does Google have an ulterior motive that eventually they will only show you results that they want you to see and then they will brainwash society and take over the world? Possible, but highly unlikely. Google knows a lot about you as a person but all in all, the things they know about you aren't being used against you.

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Trophy Scars, a truly under-appreciated band

I’ll start out by saying that I am a sucker for concept albums, although most of the time I am generally disappointed because of the lack of coherence and diversity in the tracks.  A band needs to make all the tracks work well and make each one creative and unique without breaking the theme or sound of the album. With their album Holy Vacants, Trophy Scars have done just this; they have created a truly remarkable concept album that is great from start to finish.

The idea behind this album was originally going to be a short screenplay by the vocalist/songwriter Jerry Jones.  The album takes more of a fantasy/fiction approach to the story it is trying to tell but a lot of the elements can be connected to real life issues.  Holy Vacants is about a man and woman who are madly in love and they find out that angels blood hold the answers to eternal life, with this information they start to murder angels in order to never grow old.  Jones has this to say about the album, “The album was about being so in love with somebody that they literally destroy you,” he explains. “I had to write the album as a way of exorcising this person from my mind and soul. I wanted a Bonnie and Clyde-type story, because I’ve always loved that. There’s something beautiful about the idea of rebelling together against something and losing yourself in the rebellion to the extent that it destroys your life. It’s the doomed romanticism thing.”

Putting the rich story aside; musically, this album is a home run.  It is one of those albums that keeps you engaged throughout because of the rich story elements and their perfected classic rock style with a touch of some blues.  In a genre that is heavy in overdone guitar solos, Trophy Scars seem to have perfected this without going over the top and being too much.  Jones’ raspy vocals are perfect for the tone of the album, there is a few times where he escalates to a scream which may turn some listeners away but each scream is done with purpose and really shows his emotion behind each track.  Their ability to change up their styles on each song but keep the flow of each track intact is phenomenal.  This band has an impressive knowledge of how to truly compose a song.  The album is filled with all sorts of different instruments such as the cello, violin, organ, trombone, trumpet, and piano accompanying the guitars, bass, and drums.  There is never a point where the extra instruments seem tossed into the song, they always flow with the tone of the song.  Adam Fisher delivers a wonderful vocal performance on Chicago Typewriter where his voice gives variety to the male vocals on the album and he captures the emotion of the story perfectly.  One thing that stuck out for me is their use of female guest vocals.  Their voices fit perfectly into the tone of the album and they deliver a top-notch performance matching the vocal styles of Jones.   This is an album that keeps you engaged through every song and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a driven bluesy classic rock album for a relaxing day off.

9/10

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Convergence of Media

Media convergence is a rather simple thing to understand.  In a nutshell, media convergence is the

combining of different types of media into different media systems.  A computer is a good example of this because a computer can essentially do what a television can do, or a typewriter, game console, phone, etc.  The fact that all these different types of media can converge onto certain media systems gives us, as humans, more of an ability to connect and participate in these types of media.

Media convergence has the ability to empower us as consumers to get our voice out there.  Before all the smartphones, computers, and televisions, people got most of their news from the actual newspapers.  People would buy the newspapers and read up on all latest news happening in the world and then they would form their own opinions and discuss it amongst their friends.  There wasn't really a way for people to get their opinions out to the leaders of country or certain businesses besides by writing letters, which really didn't get them anywhere, or by protesting.  Now with media convergence, it makes it easier for consumers to voice their opinion.  Now the leaders can see the overall opinions of the population and make decisions based on the people as well as what they think will work.  Media convergence has created a more community-centered world rather than a strictly leader-centered world.

Another way media convergence can get consumers involved is the use of consumer input.  People who create the movies, television shows, video games, etc that we enjoy now can receive input from their fans on how to improve certain aspects of their work.  With the use of social media people can voice their opinions about certain television shows and the creators can use these suggestions in order to make their shows even better.  With the creation of smartphones, now people have pretty much every source of media at their fingertips, this gives the consumers the power to get involved with media even if they have a busy schedule.  They could comment on an article while riding the train to work or they could read up on a news story while they wait in line to get their coffee.  Media convergence has provided people with easier access to media which in turn creates more opportunity to be involved.

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Fred First's Blog Interview

Rebecca Blood interviewed Fred First about his blog Fragments from Floyd.  I think this blogger
takes a non-stereotypical approach to a blog.  I feel like when you think of someone blogging, you think about someone posting passionate opinions about certain word events or things happening in their lives and the lives of others.  Fred takes the approach of just writing things that are touching to his mind and heart.  He mostly writes about place and nature and steers away from trying to be controversial or voicing his one-sided opinion about a certain aspect of life.  He tries to remain neutral and passive in his posts which I believe allows the readers to focus more on the content and their own lives rather than the lives of the blogger.  When a person is just rambling about their opinions then that provokes readers to evaluate the blogger as a person rather than truly thinking about the content in the post.  People will lash out when they see an opinion that goes against theirs and sometimes they will only focus on their viewpoint.  This allows them to take certain opinions personally, as an attack to their viewpoints. This ultimately leads to less focusing on the content of the post and more focus on proving the other person wrong.  The way Fred writes eliminates this aspect and his blog allows for a place where people can just focus on what is being presented to them and interpreting it in their own way rather than arguing with the blogger.  He posts about touching stories and nature, his blog is like a peaceful place for viewers to go.  He has written about a few things such as global warming and the avian flu which provoked some people to argue with him but for the most part his blog remains passive.

As a blogger, Fred First does not seem very dedicated but that does not make him an unmotivated blogger.  He has his priorities which seem to be work but he still makes time to post things onto his blog.  His blog is a non-profit side project.  This shows that he must enjoy what he is doing and good things usually come from people who enjoy what they are doing.

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