Music Evaluation

http://www.behindthehype.com/music-reviews/reggae/rebelution-bright-side-of-life-review/

Rebelution is a fairly new band in the music industry. They specialize in reggae songs that are riddled with hints or electronic and dub music styles. The review presents a favorable view of the band and introduces the individual members by name to the reader; furthermore, the writer describes Rebelution’s previous success with their debut album. Beginning his evaluation with these two topics establishes the evaluator’s knowledge of the topic and furthers the legitimacy of the review. Also, the writer uses words such as “shred” to identify with his targeted audience of reggae and rock and roll music listeners. After establishing his own credit and identifying with the audience the writer moves into evaluating the actual album. He begins with a few songs that he enjoys and delves into the band’s lyric and sound choices; moreover, he focuses on the beats and rhythms of each song. However, the writer does pick three individual tracks to talk about in more detail, but before doing so he relates the triad of music to another band’s album which allows the reader to identify what he is describing and have a frame of reference for the rest of the evaluation. When talking about the final three songs the writer delves more into the song’s actual meaning rather than its musical intricacies. The writer relates the music to everyday events and describes their upbeat meanings, perfect music for a tough day or a day of relaxation. I enjoyed this evaluation because it favorably reviewed one of my favorite bands. The writer takes time to identify with his audience and demonstrate his wealth of knowledge on the subject. I especially liked his evaluation of the three compliment tracks; I too find myself analyzing lyrics and applying their message. It’s nice to have a frame of reference before hearing the actual song.

Draft Proposal

      I will be defining the word fraternity and the various meanings/connotations associated with it. The technical definition for fraternity is a brotherhood consisting of male undergraduates; however, this definition only narrowly defines what a fraternity truly is. I’d like to address the large amount of negative feelings and confusions associated with the word; moreover, I chose this word because my fraternity is the central aspect of my college life. The paper will be written for the off campus college community, consisting of older people, professors, graduates, and independents.

Greek Culture/Supermarket Pastoral

Patton Oswalt takes pride in who he is; he’s separate and unique engulfed inside his own sanctuary of knowledge. Knowledge only those dedicated enough understand. Oswalt’s world, while unique, connects him with an entire subculture of people who communicate with each other sharing information that only they can understand. We refer to these people as geeks and nerds; moreover, the Japanese refer to these people as “otaku”, describing their exclusive, esoteric lifestyles. Oswalt grew up in the 1980’s, the heyday for the nerd culture, dungeons and dragons and The Big Lebowski were supreme among their culture. Unfortunately for Oswalt, as society progresses the nerd world is becoming more open and easy to access. Individuals no longer need to dedicate themselves to a series in order to know and love it, the internet provides us with all the information we could ever need. Oswalt criticizes the world that we have created, a world where any bit of knowledge is accessed in less than a minute. A world like this does not need creativity, for modern artists and authors need only to research and remake past works and sell them to their own fan base. Oswalt not only dislikes the casual destruction of the nerd sanctuary but also critiques society’s laziness and lack of creativity; how can we progress when we create nothing new. Personally, I agree with Oswalt the sheer ease associated with appealing consumers and remaking title upon title signifies quite a slump in society. Furthermore, this has changed the meaning of geek from the reclusive subculture Oswalt knew to the common everyday smart, studying individual.

Continuing with the idea of the life and death of subcultures, Pollan describes the emerging culture of organic food producers and consumers. Together these people have developed a booming industry complete with its on literary language. This ‘Supermarket Pastoral’ allows the farmer to communicate with his consumer. Backstories and historical information now play roles in consumer purchases; believe it or not prices are not the only characters on the packaging. Pollan introduces the idea in order to bring forward the emerging subculture among organic whole foods shoppers. Also, Pollan questions whether or not the booming culture is necessarily good or bad. On one hand this emerging subculture injects new life into our society; however, it also opens the door to the industrialization of the organic market and allows for new lies in the market (with regards to back stories). While Pollan’s essay describes the emerging subculture from a consumer market, it does not interpret where it will go. For a while it may remain a separate unique part of society, but eventually organic foods will enter the mainstream industrial aspect of society and take its place right next to the dying 80’s subculture.