Iann Dior “Industry Plant” Review

Dan Flavin
Music Editor

Best Track: Never is Enough
Rating: 7/10
Young artist Iann Dior, most known for his tracks “gone girl (feat. Trippie Redd)”  and ''emotions,” released his debut album on Nov. 8.
  After the release, many people think that Iann is looking like a young star in music. The project is full of catchy melodies and dynamic hooks that keep the tracks stuck in your mind. Iann Dior is  heavily influenced by rock music and any listener can easily tell right from the jump. He often uses guitar instrumentals and sometimes even uses classic rock drum patterns. His blend of genres creates an interesting listen.
  The production throughout the album is great. The melodic guitars and hard hitting drums throughout the project fit really well with Iann’s style. Nick Mira and Taz Taylor, who are part of the production groupInternet Money, created a solid mix and master. Nothing crazy or super special, but all very well done.
  The highlight tracks from the project are “Problems,” “Strings (feat. Gunna),” and “Never is Enough.” The second track“Problems” is a great song. The production by MjNichols and KC Supreme is very well done. The catchy guitar and high pitched whistle paired with the rock-style drums are great. The beat also has drum transitions throughout that act as  ear candy for the listener. Iann’s performance is also great because his catchy melodies carry the track. He comes up with creative flows that continue to impress us. “Strings (feat. Gunna)” is a great track, but is also very different from the rest of the project. The song has more of a trap style to fit Gunna’s normal verse. Iann Dior provided a solid chorus and verse, but the highlight was definitely Gunna’s feature. His smooth flow and voice create for a great verse. Our personal favorite from the album is “Never is Enough.” The track’s powerful beat and flow results in  high energy and a catchy chorus. The best part of the track is when the beat calms down just leaving deep guitar chords and Iann showing off his talent. He simply repeats the chorus, but he does it in a higher key with a more melodic style that creates the most memorable part of the chorus.
  The downfall of the project is how repetitive it gets. Iann has a very similar style on most of the songs and doesn’t change subjects very often. He pretty much exclusively sings about heartbreak. Although the production is very good it also gets boring late into the album. The same guitar and drum style make the project drag.
  Other than a few flaws, “Industry Plant” is a very good debut album. It has hits in “gone girl” and “Strings,” it has the slower tracks in “Flowers”, and it has genre bending tracks like “Problem.” The album’s downfall is its repetition. Overall it is a 7/10.

Nathan Donohoe also contributed to this article.

Rex Orange County’s Newest album “Pony” Sparks Delight for Listeners Everywhere

Olivia Harrison
Staff Writer

Popular indie artist Rex Orange County releases his third album titled Pony. Eclectic, unique and surprisingly powerful, Rex Orange County’s new album is a delight to listeners everywhere.
  It’s been two years since Rex Orange County’s album Apricot Princess released and listeners have been waiting for new music. Twenty-one year old artist Alex O’Connor, known by his stage name Rex Orange County,  has become a popular musical sensation over the years. Known for his indie-pop style, collaborating with artist Tyler the Creator, touring alongside Frank Ocean, singles such as “Loving is Easy,” and albums such as Apricot Princess.  His third album Pony, was definitely worth waiting for. Although the musical styles between the two albums had the same indie-pop, neo-soul, jazzy feel, lyrically the tone definitely shifts. While themes such as family, friends and being in love still exist, Pony’s lyrics take a more in-depth look into Alex’s mental health.
  With his immediate rise to fame, O’Connor was constantly in the spotlight, but behind the scenes, he was struggling, feeling as if he was stifled in his work and trapped. In an interview for NPR, Alex quoted “.... 2018 was quite tiring and strange. It was kind of just testing for me when I realized what it was like making [music] your job and playing a lot of shows. I wasn't writing much music so I was kind of uninspired, yet very busy and overwhelmed. I felt myself being really selfish, and being like, "This is not a big deal," but everything felt like such a massive deal, and started to stress me out.”
  He also says that he was “[stuck] in a tunnel that was very dark.” The first half of Pony talks about these dark times. The opening track 10/10 explores his quick rise to fame and how he feels confused and directionless. The first 30 seconds of the song he sings, “I feel like a five this year, I can’t pretend/ But if I get my sh*t together, maybe I’ll be a ten.” The less popular, brief,  but still impactful song “Stressed Out” criticizes O’Connors supposed “friends” he’s made, especially when becoming famous.
   The second half of the album features songs like Pluto Projector, Every way, and It gets Better. These songs tell the listener that things might not return or be normal but they will definitely get better.  It’s a great follow up to Apricot Princess and an absolute delight. The world might be miserable but try listening to Pony and it might make you feel a little more optimistic.

Much Ado About Nothing stirs up Mask and Zany

Victoria Platonov and Atticus Harris 

Staff Writers

Mask and Zany’s upcoming production, Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” is playing from November 21 to 23 at 7 p.m. in the Stephen J. Buck Theater. The play, being set in a college campus where soldiers are depicted as football players and students as citizens, follows the story of a soldier, Benedick and the niece of Leonato, Beatrice.

  The play’s foundation is a series of tricks and practical jokes. Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into falling in love. Claudio, a friend of Benedick, is tricked into thinking that Hero, the daughter of the governor which happens to be his soon-to-be-wife is being unfaithful to him. As a result, he looks for a way to lash out at her. Faced with this chaos, Benedick and Beatrice join forces to try and set things right, trying to find out who tricked all four of them, falling for each other in the process. The play is set in a college campus where soldiers are football players, and citizens and students.  

  Tickets can be purchased at the door, but seats are limited. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $7 for kids and students. Seats are on the stage, which can only hold about 100 people. Tickets are selling fast, so be sure to get yours.

Lil Tecca goes from Diss tracks to a career

Roberto Escamilla, Dan Flavin & Nate Donohoe

Music Corner

16-year-old rapper, Lil Tecca, marks his Billboard chart debut on the Emerging Artists list after breakout single “Ran$om” gains 8.1 million streams in its first week.

 Born Tyler Sharpe, Lil Tecca hails from Queens along with other star-studded rappers such as Nas, 50 Cent, and Nicki Minaj. He started his rap career when he and his friend decided they would diss each other through songs. Little did he know it would be the start of a career that would take off not much longer after that.

 Lil Tecca’s first upload to SoundCloud as of now is titled “No More” with 480,000 plays; however, he’s stated it’s not his first published song since he deleted a lot of songs off his page. Despite just recently garnering attention, Tecca’s lowest performing song on SoundCloud is still over 475,000 plays.

  He uses other social media platforms to draw in crowds as well. He is often seen using Triller among the more widely known apps like Instagram and Twitter, sometimes previewing unreleased music. His rise to fame skyrocketed through a Lyrical Lemonade music video posted to YouTube.

 With a promising career ahead of him, Lil Tecca hopes to ride his current wave of fame to complete stardom in the near future.

Peele gives alternative view of ‘Us’

Sarah Harrison

Staff Writer

Us is a 2019 movie written and directed by Jordan Peele who is also famously known for his 2017 hit Get Out. The movie Us is about a family of four, Adelaide, and Gabe Wilson and their children, Zora, and Jason Wilson, who are confronted by their evil doppelgangers.

    Adelaide is played by the phenomenal Lupita Nyong’o who is widely known for her performance in Black Panther earlier last year. Gabe is played by Winston Duke who is also starring in the newly released Avengers Endgame.

    The doppelgangers who are called the “tethered,” have a mission to take over their lives, and get their time on what they call “the other side.” The family embarks on a kill or be killed mission, as they do their best to escape their tethered beings.

    As they do their best to escape them, they are faced with many challenges, including encountering other tethereds. The movie concludes with what in my opinion was one of the biggest plot twists I’ve ever seen, but I won’t spoil the ending for you. If I had to give Us a rating out of 10 stars, it would definitely be 11.

“The Society” Netflix Review

Marina Skuban & Amy Tao

Staff Writers

The Society is a new Netflix original series that came out on May 10 of this year. It is a sci-fi/mystery thriller that captivates audiences within the first 10 minutes. The show begins with around 200 high schoolers leaving on a school camping trip, only to return to find that none of their families are there. Everyone has vanished. As they begin to discover more and more, they realize that they aren’t really home and they have no way of communicating with the outside world and no way of leaving.

    The Society is a complex show filled with mystery and unexpected plot twists. It has a very large and diverse cast with well developed characters. The show also talks about issues like teen pregnancy, domestic abuse, drug use, and depression. The cast is also very diverse with many people of color and people with disabilities. The characters in the show have to make some tough decisions, but they try to do better than their parents and those before them in their old home. This show also has a lot to say about how power can be abused and the struggles of making tough decisions for the greater good.

    We rate The Society 10-out-of-10. We highly recommend this show to any teenager who likes intense mysteries. However, if you are uncomfortable with violence, this show may not be for you. It is an emotional show with some mature content. Overall, Netflix did a great job with including important messages and representation in a thrilling and exciting new show. Happy bingeing!

IGOR lives up to Flower Boy’s promise

Dan Flavin Nate Donohoe Roberto Escamilla

Music Corner

Tyler the Creator’s had a lot to live up to after his Grammy Nominated album “Flower Boy,” and he definitely delivered with his most recent project “IGOR.”

    Tyler the Creator might have made the biggest turnaround, in terms of style, of any rapper ever. His music started out rough. He would rap on basic beats and say crazy stuff for attention. His childish music has totally changed into a production heavy well thought out project. He has improved all across the board in writing, production, meaning, features, and flow.

    The album starts off with a track highlighted by a distorted 808 bass and a unique sounding feature from rapper Lil Uzi Vert. The intro immediately lets the listener know, “IGOR” is not a usual rap album.

    Some top tier tracks from the album are “EARFQUAKE,” “I THINK,” “WHAT’S GOOD,” and “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.” The second track “EARFQUAKE” is amazing and will probably be the most popular song on the album. Its numbers will not only rise because of the quality of the track, but it also features rapper Playboi Carti and jazz singer Charlie Wilson. The bouncy piano layered with the heavy bass and Wilson’s high pitched vocals give the song a happy summertime feel. The thing that will drive the track away from listeners is the rough production and vocals. Tyler has reached a point in his production that he is so talented he is purposely making it sound off. The vocals are a little bit off tune and the drums are a little bit off time, but Tyler does this artistically to give the song a relatable sound.

    Another great song was “I THINK.” The track is great from start to finish. The marching drum pattern and the vocal sample blend beautifully with Tyler’s smooth flow and raspy voice. The track's chorus features vocals from female singer Solange and background from Tyler. The song’s break is a symphony of Tyler's production as the drums keep marching, a piano riff enters the mix, and so do some cutting horns. The track then fades out with the following chorus, Tyler’s production has reached a new level with “IGOR” and he proved it with the track “I THINK.”

    A very different track from the album is the ninth track, “WHAT’S GOOD.” The track’s first half is heavily distorted in all aspects. The melody, bass, drums, and vocals. Tyler has a dark choppy flow that rides the instrumental very well. The track switches the mood of the album from deep sadness to anger. The track is crucial for the theme of the album, extending Tyler’s heartbreak to the point of anger at the other person.

    Later in the album, Tyler accepts his heartbreak and decides he no longer cares. With the track “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.” With a simple drum pattern and a quiet simple flow. The track then picks up with a quick vocal sample and drop. The track is the overrun with a distorted guitar and vocals that feel like they are floating. The track is a perfect realization for Tyler to realize he can do it himself and does not need the other person.

    The album as a whole has very little flaws. If the listener followed Tyler’s instructions and came into the album with no expectations the album was great. The flows people see are because they expected Tyler to rap often and not let the production shine as much as it did. The project felt like Tyler has completed a long journey as a rapper and producer. He started out rough. People could tell he was special, but he didn’t do much with his music. The past two albums have shown how much he has grown. He is the a polished rapper, producer, and songwriter, whose talent is at a sky high level.

     “IGOR” was a great album that showed off all of his positives and only his smallest negatives. For example some of the tracks felt lackluster and like they needed another element, but other than that the project was incredible. For all the positives and lack of bad track, we rate “IGOR” a 9/10.

James’s Holzhauer’s Jeopardy streak falls just shy of a record

Olivia Harrison

Staff Writer

For more than a month, “Jeopardy” contestant James Holzhauer had become unstoppable. Holzhauer, a professional sports better from Las Vegas set records for the most money earned each episode. Eleven times during his winning streak, he went a whole game without buzzing incorrectly. In fact, Holzhauer had reached a celebrity-esque status. In Clark County NJ, the county made up a pretend holiday, Holzhauer day honoring the champion. The ratings for jeopardy also rose by 27% and was awesome for the show and its producers. ,  However, some fans were wondering if he would pass the 2004 Jeoprady champion Ken Jennings $2.52 million mark and 74-day winning streak. Sadly, Holzhauer did not get a chance to break Ken Jennings record.  In the pre-recorded episode that aired yesterday, James’ championship came to an end in his 33^rd game. He was $58,484 shy of Jenning’s mark. Yesterday, $22,002 was the amount of money that separated him from the new jeopardy champion Emma Boetccher. Nobody had expected someone other than James to win and even host of jeopardy, Alex Trebak was stunned.

     One key to Emma’s success was that she attained both daily doubles in the show’s second round. Her winning the double jeopardy’s deprived Holzhauer the chance to bet large amounts of money against his contestants, a strategy used in his previous games. In an email interview Holzhauer wrote: “By the time final jeopardy rolled around I knew my goose was cooked if Emma answered correctly. It’s a little like needing a team to miss a last second field goal. Nothing you can really do but watch. I made peace with my fate before the clue for Final was even revealed.”  Holzhauer’s reign was indeed a good one but in the end even Holzhauer himself said, “Nobody likes to lose. But I’m very proud of how I did, and I really exceeded my own expectations for the show. So I don’t feel bad about it.”

     Update: Emma Boetccher, a 27-year-old librarian from PA is no longer the reigning champion. She won $97,002 on her three-day run on the show.

Dying to Live Review

Dan Flavin, Roberto Escamilla, and Nate Donohoe

Music Critics

Florida rapper, Kodak Black, released his first project since his most recent jail sentence on Dec. 14, 2018 and it was one of his best yet.

  Kodak has had a history of legal issues, his most recent being a one-year sentence in 2018. He got out in seven months. After the jail time, he was determined to get to work and stop making the same mistakes he had in the past. He put all his time into his music and reportedly turned down six figure deals for live performances. His hard work definitely paid off with his most recent project “Dying to Live.”

  The album is riddled with great instrumentals and an improved flow. Kodak always seems to find the right flow for the beat. Songs like “Transgression” and “From the Cradle” were great. They had good flows and improved lyrics telling of how he prevailed through his struggles. Not only were Kodak’s solo songs good, but his features were great as well. Juice WRLD was featured on the song “MoshPit” and he had one of his best features of all time. He shows off his great flow and melodies, as usual, while Kodak delivers a good chorus and solid verse. Another great feature was on ZEZE with Offset and Travis Scott. The track had a great instrumental with steel drums and a vocal sample while Travis Scott had a nice chorus and Offset rapped a great verse with his classic triplet flow and witty lyrics.

  The negatives from this album come with Kodak’s repetitiveness. Throughout the album he uses the same flow. He also doesn’t rap about much, he only really talks about how he was poor as a child and has gotten really rich.

  Overall, Kodak’s most recent project “Dying to Live” is a pretty good album. Improved flow, lyrics, and instrumentals from his past work. However, due to the similarity of tracks on the album, we will rate it a 7/10.

New Artist Spotlight focuses on DC the Don

Dan Flavin, Nate Donohoe, and Roberto Escamilla
Music Critics

DC the Don, a lesser known rapper from Milwaukee, is an up and coming artist after releasing a sleuth of singles and projects that vary from hard hitting 808 bangers like “Meet Whitney!” to light singing tracks like “Motion.”
 After the release of his most recent album, “DC Dahmer,” the 19-year-old rapper has started to make a name for himself in the rap community. He has been pulling an average of around 300,000 streams on his SoundCloud since his first track was posted in 2017.
  His unique ability to change styles from song to song is starting to set him apart from the rest of the “SoundCloud rappers”. He can sing and come up with detailed flows like the ones seen on “Motion” and “Aug. 3rd Freestyle”. These tracks show not only his singing and light rapping skills, but also show that he can put meaning into his songs. Contrast these tracks with ones like “Meet Whitney!” and “Milwaukee.” These tracks are hard hitting songs with powerful 808’s and simple lines that are good for live performances and parties.
  DC the Don has more in store for listeners. He has been frequently teasing snippets of songs and hinting towards an upcoming mixtape. DC’s unique skill set and creative styles make him a real prospect in the rap game and someone to look out for in coming years.

21 Savage “i am > i was” Review

Dan Flavin Roberto Escamilla Nate Donohoe

Music Reviewers

21 Savage’s third studio album “i am > i was” dropped on Dec. 21, 2018 and ended the year on a high note.

   The album’s intro, “a lot”, starts with a vocal sample over a well done basic trap drumline and 21 rapping about his thuggish past as well as how important loyalty is to him. Loyalty is a theme throughout the whole album and has been consistent in 21’s interviews. 21 lays down a well put together first verse, but the highlight of the track is when J. Cole takes over for the second verse. 21 didn’t label any features on his whole album so when a feature like J. Cole, who is considered one of the best in the game, comes out of left field, it’s a great experience. Cole raps an incredible verse with intricate flows and meaningful lyrics that fans have come to love from the artist. He raps about his album sales with no promotions and how he still gets hate. Overall, the track is an incredible way to start the album and is one of our favorite in the project.

   Another highlight was “can’t leave without it” featuring Lil Baby and Gunna who were the stars of 2018. The track is produced by Wheezy who had a incredible year after the release of “Yes Indeed” with Lil Baby and Drake. His rolling hi-hats and simple melodies that combine with the heavy hitting 808s have become staples of his music throughout his career. Gunna laid down a catchy melodic chorus and 21 strays away from his usual choppy flow and had a smooth approach. Lil Baby had the final verse split with Gunna and showed why he blew up this year. His ability to rap with melody, but not sing, is a staple of his and Gunna’s music and it definitely showed on this track.

   The production on the track was solid. Not much stood out, but not much was wrong. A stand out track was “break da law” produced by Metro Boomin and Southside. The distorted lead is paired perfectly with a chaotic drum pattern that counters 21 simple flow, but the best part is when mid song the beat changes from the distorted lead to a simple piano over the same chaotic drum pattern.

   Like any album there are flaws. “i am > i was” was a great album, but 21’s flow got boring around the middle. A few songs just sounded the same and didn’t have much to make them stand apart. Another issue was some features didn’t work well together. They felt forced and rushed into the album.

   The positives on 21 Savage’s “i am > i was” undoubtedly outweigh the negatives. For the creative bars, solid production, lack of many flaws, and mostly well done features “i am > i was” comes out to a 8.5/10.

Bohemian Rhapsody has big night at the Golden Globes

Frany Barile and Lauren Hunt
Staff Writers

2018 was a year packed with countless interesting, moving and hilarious movies. Many were celebrated at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 6, 2019. This year’s Golden Globes were hosted by only the best: Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg. Starting with Best Motion Picture-Drama, Bohemian Rhapsody was victorious over a few other wildly popular movies this year such as A Star is Born and Black Panther.  For Best Motion Picture- Musical or Comedy, Green Book took home the award.
    As for those starring in last year’s most popular movies, there was some stiff competition. One unique aspect of the 2019 Golden Globes was that many seasoned actresses were competing against a celebrity better known for their music.  Although Lady Gaga did not claim Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama, she did accept the award for Best Original Song.
    The cast of Bohemian Rhapsody took home another award with Rami Malek winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama. The others who were nominated included Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Lucas Hedges and John David Washington.
    In Musical or Comedy, Olivia Coleman and Christian Bale took home the awards for Best Actress and Actor in a Motion Picture. 
    As for Best Motion picture animated, Spider-Man: into the Spider Verse took the win. The other nominees included Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Mirai, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
    Lastly, one of the most exciting aspects of the Golden Globes is the stars appearances. Gemma Chan, Emmy Rossum and Lady Gaga opted for romantic puffball-style gowns, whilst Janelle Monae and Charlize Theron went down the classic route.

Ski Mask the Slump God’s Sophomore Album Stokeley Review

Dan Flavin

Music Critic

 Ski Mask the Slump God known most for work with the late XXXTentacion released his second studio “Stokeley” on Nov. 30 and he made up for his lack-luster “Beware the Book of Eli” earlier in the year.

    Ski Mask is  a promising young rapper with the release of his breakout mixtape “You Will Regret” in 2017 and his past work with XXXTentacion, but when he released his debut album it only sold 12k units the first week. The album’s most popular sing “DoIHaveTheSauce?” was great, but the rest of the album was not up to par with his unique flow and funny lines. However, “Stokeley”  seems to bring back the old Ski, but with a more sophisticated style.

 “Stokeley” starts out with track called “So High” with a catchy muted guitar loop and a different opening than usual singing and catchy chorus that isn’t followed by his trademark flow. Instead, he lets the beat play and continues to sing. Right of the bat, the listener knows this isn’t a usual Ski Mask album. One of the highlight tracks was “Foot Fungus.” The track is well-produced and Ski Mask seems to perfectly weave his incredible flow over the track. Another great track is “Save Me, Pt. 2 (feat. Austin Lam).” Using a chopped and distorted vocal as the base melody and a simple drum pattern, the song is instantly totally different from a normal Ski track. Austin Lam and Ski Mask split the chorus and each sing four bars, but the best part is Ski’s flow in his verse. Ski uses his unique style of mixing long words with quick bursts of flow and again incorporates a great melodic side to the track.

     Although there were many highlights, the album is far from perfect. Ski Mask straying away and trying to create a different type of music is great, but sometimes he goes to far. Another flaw was tracks feeling boring and flat. For example, “Get Geeked” was very bland. Despite having a great beat Ski doesn’t do anything special as he just repeats the title for the chorus and doesn’t really do much with his flow. The worst track was “Nuketown (feat. Juice WRLD)”. We are huge fans of Juice, but the track felt like Ski was trying to replace his songs with XXXTentacion with Juice WRLD. Ski and X used to make this type of hard hitting screamo rap songs that were electric to listeners, but “Nuketown” feels like a failed attempt to please the crowd that misses X and Ski together.

 Overall Ski Mask the Slump God’s sophomore album “Stokeley” was  not the best work we have seen from the Florida rapper. The album still sold 51,000 units and charted number 6 on Billboard. He had some good songs like “Unbothered”, but some weak tracks like “Nuketown”. The production was good, but not many tracks stood out. Ski’s ability to rap is incredible, but his flow was boring in some of the tracks. The positives and negatives seem equal, so “Stokeley” gets a 5.5/10

     Roberto Escamilla, and Nate Donohoe contributed to this article.

Weezer ‘blesses the rains down in’ Philly

Olivia Harrison

Staff Writer

On Dec. 12, Weezer played an almost sold out show at Philly’s newest venue The Met Philadelphia. The show was a small concert to help them get ready for their upcoming spring tour with the Pixies.

     The crowd was a much older crowd compared to concerts typically attended by New Hope students. The concert started with local Philly band Mt. Joy, opening and playing a simple but full set. Though some attendees loved the Mt. Joy, others patiently waited for Weezer.

     Weezer started their set old school with the song “Buddy Holly” from “The Blue Album,” their debut album. More songs such as “My Name is Jonas” and Undone (Sweater Song)” were featured. They also played songs from their second (and most beloved) record “Pinkerton” such as “El Scorcho” and “The Good Life.” Fans also enjoyed newer songs such as “Beverly Hills,” “Feels Like Summer” and “Keep Fishin’ (with Brian Bell on lead vocals).” 

     They covered the Turtles’ “Happy Together,” “Green Day’s “Longview,” and “Take on Me.”  “Island in the Sun” was performed by Rivers acoustically in a balcony box.  Weezer also trotted out their awesome cover of Toto’s “Africa”-- which is now their most streamed song on Spotify.  Weezer wrapped up the show with a three-song encore of their own “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” (played 3x!), “Pink Triangle” and a rousing epic rendition of “Say It Ain’t So,” one of the band’s most popular songs. All in all the concert ended on a high note.