The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Friday, September 23, 2016 — 5A Classifieds Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com ACROSS 1 Out of practice 6 Blue stone 11 It doesn’t last long 14 Casual opening 15 Saudi neighbor 16 Part of un giorno 17 Crayfish habitat 18 Employees 20 Seminal discovery by sports historians? 22 Newspaper supporters 25 LAX stat 26 “You got me there” 27 Comprehensive text on mints? 32 Card game 33 Certain cross- country traveler 34 Crane’s construction 36 “One Mic” rapper 37 Reaction to Bugs’ continued evasiveness? 41 Common ID 43 Soaps actress Rylan 44 Some kissing sounds 47 Snap 48 How a snail moves? 51 Lend __ 54 “That’s so cute!” 55 Brine-cured delicacy 56 “I plotted against Caesar completely on my own!”? 61 “Doubtful” 62 Be enamored of 66 Relative of -ista 67 View from the Eiffel Tower 68 Traction aid 69 Cold and wet 70 Fragrant compound 71 Quite a while DOWN 1 Kid 2 A, in Acapulco 3 Mess metaphor 4 Canter cousin 5 “Am I clear?” 6 Dieter’s choice 7 Milwaukee : mine :: Marseilles : __ 8 Last of three Catherines 9 Calligrapher’s array 10 Searches (through) 11 Philatelist’s source 12 Peloponnesian region 13 Nature spirits of Greek myth 19 Plains tribe 21 List substitute: Abbr. 22 Cadillac model 23 Hägar creator Browne 24 TV’s “Through the Wormhole,” e.g. 28 Invoice heading no. 29 Initiation 30 Ryan of “Sleepless in Seattle” 31 Night sch. staple 35 Bit of adverbial wordplay 38 Confessional music genre 39 LBJ’s successor 40 Real head-turner in the animal kingdom 41 Deeper into la-la land 42 “From Here to Eternity” Oscar winner 45 Coverage- providing org. 46 __ symbol 49 Bit of equestrian gear 50 __ Beach, Hawaii, home of the 2005 Little League World Series champs 52 “__ suspected!” 53 Salon procedure 57 Hawaiian strings 58 Agitated state 59 Pothole warning 60 Farm female 63 Org. assisting museums 64 Amtrak unit 65 QB’s stat By Jeffrey Wechsler ©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 09/23/16 09/23/16 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: RELEASE DATE– Friday, September 23, 2016 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis xwordeditor@aol.com WWW.CARLSONPROPERTIES.- COM 734‑332‑6000 FOR RENT In “Amazing or Malaising,” Daily Arts Writer Harry Krinsky decides if a piece of culture is won- derful or trapped in malaise. Apple Music and Spotify have a bunch of problems, but it’s easy to overlook them because only 10 years ago the music industry was hemorrhaging from an epidemic of illegal mp3 downloading. For example: one of the tabs in the Apple Music app is called “For You.” The tab features a constantly updated list of playl- ists that Apple Music thinks you will like based on the music you already listen to. Spotify has a similar feature. They are both effectively useless. Here are the playlists Apple Music has curated for me and stored in the “For You” section of the app. 1) I Aint Saying She a Gold Digger… 2) Meek Mill vs. Drake 3) Inspired By Lauryn Hill 4) Gucci Mane Essentials 5) Hipster’s Paradise, Vol 1. (Which features hip underground artists like Kanye West, Tyler the Creator, Lupe Fiasco and Frank Ocean.) I have basically never used the Apple Music “For You” sec- tion. The only two playlists I have found remotely useful have been “Lil Wayne Guest List 2000- 2010” and “Drake’s Pop Culture Lexicon.” The main problem with these computer generated playlists, is that they have the dis- tinct feel of something made by a computer. They are not mixtapes your significant other made you, or even the “Summer Pregame 2015” playlist your roommate whipped you up. They are the product of algorithms. I recently listened to Gucci Mane’s new album, so they hit me with the “Gucci Essentials,” I listened to Erika Badu the other day. Lau- ryn Hill. Possibly they know I just moved into an Airbnb in Williamsburg, “Hipster’s Para- dise Vol 1.” The point is that the playlists are entirely predictable. It is so clear that an algorithm sucked up my listening data, and spit out some set of lame playlists that I will likely disregard unless they have the words “Drake” and “Lexicon” in them. The “For You” tab is corny and robotic. It’s easy to see where technology came in and pushed the amorphous “soul” of music discovery out. For some reason, though, we don’t look at the tab to the left, the “New” tab, in the same light. While “For You” features pseudo-personalized recommendations that we see through immediately, the “New” tab helps users find music that’s not just new to them, but new to existence. I think the normal reaction to finding out there is tab that helps you find new music is probably somewhere between excitement and ambivalence, but the truth is, this feature is some- thing every fan of creative, non- homogenous music should be afraid of. Today, music discovery is so accessible that it’s a legitimate millennial hobby. Like, I spend between 30 minutes and two hours a day scouring blogs for new tracks by new artists. This hobby is so ubiquitous that find- ing new songs comes with its own sort of social capital. Every friend group has the friend who “always finds music before it blows up.” There are entire websites devot- ed to supplying readers with new music. I think the music blog sphere, while at times over- whelming, is certifiably amazing. We are in the golden age of music discovery. There are a seemingly infinite amount of tracks scat- tered across the internet, with no barriers to entry other than access to a computer and time. There is an entire ecosystem of blogs with different tastes they cater too. There are blogs that post every 20 minutes, sharing strange interviews or obscure shitty mixtapes. Then there are blogs like Hypetrak that post less frequently, filter out a little of the garbage, but are often steps behind those high output blogs. Then there are websites like The Fader or Complex, whose posts are more often a validation of fame than a stepping stone towards it. Yeah, it can take two hours of scouring the internet before finding a mildly likable track, but that’s the point. (Maybe you can see where I’m going with this. I’m 21 and I’m already lamenting the loss of a simpler time. But when culture and technology move so fast, it’s a lot easier to get nostalgic.) The first problem with Apple Music’s discovery platform, is it distills the blog scouring pro- cess into something anyone can do. More importantly, it distills the blog scouring process into something anyone can do in five minutes. There are playlists like “Apple A-List Hip Hop” or Spoti- fy’s “Rap Caviar” that search the internet for trending songs, and spit out the top 15 most trending songs. Those playlists are then presented to the user in order of popularity. In other words, it tracks the popular “about to be popular” songs. Yeah, I’m salty that Apple Music has made my literacy with the music blog-sphere a nearly useless quality, but that isn’t why these playlists bum me out so much. Right now these playlists track and identify hype. They notice what is trending and synthesize it. The same robots who made the laughable “For You” tab make the unfortunately legitimate “New” tab. Though, the true reason to worry about these playlists goes beyond the inauthentic distilla- tion of hype. We should worry because the logical next step for these behemoth distribution platforms is for them to manufac- ture hype, not just track it. It’s important to note that the tab in the center of the Apple Music’s app is the “radio” tab. Similarly, it’s important to note that the only Spotify advertise- ment I ever hear is for their week- ly discovery playlist. The internet is slowly but surely killing radio, so why did Apple Music invest millions in deals with Drake, Zane Lowe and Dr. Dre to pro- duce radio shows? When Spotify was first explained to me, it was pitched as Pandora but with the ability to choose your own songs. So why is Spotify pushing a fea- ture that chooses the songs for you? Why is radio back from the dead, resurrected by the technol- ogy that killed it? The Answer, I think, is that the next frontier of these big companies is to control exactly what we discover. In corner- ing the music discovery space, Apple and Spotify are effec- tively mass producing trendi- ness. They are Urban Outfitters for your ears. Most music fans roll their eyes at mega popular songs because they often feel like they were manufactured for radio, but openly embrace songs that haven’t yet become popular, even if they are des- tined to do so. It used to be that the underground or the yet to be discovered artists were the ones pushing the envelope of music. I think this is still true, but can anything that can be found on the front page of Apple Music’s mobile app really be described as underground? You would never think any of the “For You” playlists are actual- ly for you. Why would you think anything in the “New” category is actually anything new? Internet Music Discovery in 2016: Malaising HARRY KRINSKY Daily Arts Writer How Apple and Spotify are becoming Urban Outfitters for our ears The future of ‘For You’ MUSIC NOTEBOOK Each night this past summer ended with the same routine: me, my friends, Crosby the dog, a couple bags of Tostitos “Hint of Lime” chips, tropical mix Hi- Chews and banana bread (if it was a good night) all adorned by some nice citronella candles in my buddy Matt’s quintessential- ly Midwestern back yard. Music played, too. Often you hear people talk about their summer “song” or “anthem” or “jam.” Each of those terms are fairly clichéd, but that’s irrelevant. What’s more important is that, for any type of music to become at all emblem- atic of any amount of time, it needs to seep in organically. It should be there as you’re there — unforced and unprompted. That’s just what happened with Whitney’s Light Upon the Lake. I don’t remember exactly when it started playing or how it was suggested. On the third, maybe fourth night in the back- yard, however, someone had to notice. It’s good stuff. Julien Ehrlich’s voice is weepy, sensi- tive and unlike anything we had ever heard. Former Smith West- erns guitarist Max Kakacek’s gentle touch is quite complemen- tary. It’s not easy to quantify music. In fact, it’s more unnecessary and damaging to the experience than it is productive. That being said, looking back on it, each night now seems numbered, compart- mentalized to its own tracklist. The first night we went to the backyard? That was definitely a Light Upon the Lake night. The night we sent our Elder friend off on his two year Mormon mis- sion? “Golden Days” worked. Undoubtedly the best way to get a grip on what was happening was to embrace the soundtrack behind it. Whitney simply made too much sense for us to ignore. On “The Falls,” for example, Ehrlich sounds confused, admit- ting, “Cause I’m not too sure I know / Which way the rising river flows / On the night I lose control / Oh dear, don’t you let me go,” stirring in all of us a dan- gerous cauldron of college-aged fear and anxiety. He also simul- taneously highlights his own understanding of our need for togetherness — in that defining moment (whatever and whenev- er it is), in the uncertainty lead- ing up to that moment and in the aftermath. Maybe it’s that sort of wisdom that makes me giggle a little bit and even shed a tear whenever I talk about Whitney’s influence on our summer, until I real- ize that I’m acting like every- body’s grandfather. But that’s a really good thing; it speaks to the enduring quality of the album. However great our sum- mer was, the ten tracks on Light Upon the Lake enhanced it on another level, and they followed us everywhere, in the best type of way. Whether it was the delicate jam of “Dave’s Song” (“And I know how to keep you hung up but I won’t do it again / Oh I know I wish you were my friend”) or the adventure that is “No Matter Where We Go” (“I can take you out / I wanna drive around / With you with the win- dows down / And we can run all night”), there was a mood for everything. We heard it after coming home from a Fourth of July party, dur- ing which we saw “acquain- tances” from high school who we definitely had no desire to see again. We heard it while camping at Devil’s Lake State Park in Wis- consin. We most definitely heard it at Pitchfork Music Festival, where they played 20 feet in front of us. And most importantly, we heard it at Matt’s house with the chips and Hi-Chews and dog and, most importantly, us. I hope to hear Light Upon the Lake for a while even after this year. I’ve been listening as I walk around campus, but it isn’t quite the same. Whitney preached that “When it’s coming to an end, at least the rain won’t come again,” and it sure seems like something came to an end. I guess I’m just hoping something hits me again. I’d even take rain. JOEY SCHUMAN Daily Arts Writer My summer of ‘Light Upon the Lake’ Following a brief period of namelessness, the four-piece post-punk outfit hailing from Calgary, Alberta have returned with a glossier, more accessible sound. Originally known as Viet Cong, the band elected to change their name fol- lowing protests and at least two canceled book- ings — both of which were in response to accusations of cul- tural appropriation, racism and glorification of the Vietnamese guerilla army. Playing shows as “Matt, Mike, Scott, and Daniel” (their first names) for several months, they settled on Preoc- cupations after a friend wrote them a list of name suggestions. Returning now with their sec- ond eponymous release, Preoc- cupations debuts a tighter, more organized and vocally-centered sound that’s less fixated on being loud than it is on dupli- cating the same uneasiness that permeated their 2015 self-titled release as Viet Cong. Opening with leading single “Anxiety,” Preoccupations does just that. With an ambient, creepy introduction just over one minute in duration, drums and guitar break the silence suddenly and forcefully. Fol- lowing shortly is vocalist/bass- ist Matt Flegel’s grating growl, an instrument just as central to the Preoccupations sound as the jangly, hollow guitars that hang over the percussive musings of drummer Mike Wallace. Tied together by a simple, melodic synth line that frequents the remaining three minutes of the track, “Anxiety” is a call to arms, and its most readily quot- able lyric is a reminder of the urgency of life: “I’m not here purely for the sake / Of breath- ing, I am wide awake.” No single track matches the guitar line in “Continental Shelf,” and the “Silhouettes” bass line is still without equal, but there are flourishes of intense accessibility sprinkled throughout the album. It’s hard to disagree with the aforemen- tioned synth line of “Anxiety,” and for the first ten seconds of “Stim- ulation,” Preoc- cupations does an impeccable impression of The Strokes (after which a discor- dant guitar puts an abrupt end to the façade). It’s difficult to argue that any song off of Viet Cong aside from “Silhouettes” or “Continental Shelf” ever had a sliver of hope for main- stream success. Almost all of them threaten to scare away less open-minded listeners with prolonged, droning builds — see the first three minutes of “March of Progress” — or brow- beating percussion (or both). On Preoccupations, however, the band seem to have acknowl- edged (or at least subconscious- ly realized) this risk, and while songs like “Monotony” and “Zodiac” aren’t likely to draw listeners in, neither should they turn anyone away. More than just being accessi- ble, some moments — especially “Fever” and the four-minute mark of “Memory” — explic- itly recall new wave. A third of the way through “Memo- ry,” the band emerges from an impatient percussion line in a moment positively reminis- cent of New Order. Propulsive yet subtle bass and synthesizer build into Dan Boeckner’s fea- ture (the sole feature on the album). With his nostalgic, Bowie-esque voice, Boeckner strengthens this New Wave impression and provides an intriguing (and welcome) con- trast to Flegel’s generally harsh vocals. Though it’s tempting to try to equate “Memory” to Viet Cong’s “Death” – both function as anchors for their respec- tive albums, each clocking in at just over 11 minutes long – “Memory” is pared down, less frantic and more ambient. It’s a good summation of the album as a whole. Where “Death” rails listeners with relentless pounding and wall-of-sound jamming, “Memory” spends its last four minutes fading slowly into nothingness, as memories themselves tend to do. Following “Memory” is the second single, “Degraded,” in which synthesizers are unabashedly front and center and Flegel, in a rare (and brief) moment of indulgence, sings about relationship woes: “Won- dering how long it might take to leave you / I can’t improve.” “Degraded” is certainly a sty- listic exploration, but the final quarter of the album is where things get interesting. “Sense” is uneasy but pleasantly ambi- ent, with Flegel trading his typical growl for a falsetto, and segues directly into its other half, the low-key “Forbid- den,” whose final seconds are intriguing but wholly unsatis- fying. The album is closed out by guitar-heavy “Stimulation,” during which Flegel observes that “We’re all gonna die,” and “Fever,” a pulsing, powerfully repetitive outro on which the synthesizer, in tandem with Flegel’s voice, takes center stage. Whether or not there was actually speculation that their “identity crisis” would have any effect on their ability to put out quality material, their official return should dispel any wor- ries that listeners may have had. Though some may be displeased with the general departure from the unforgiving intensity of Viet Cong, Preoccupations is an album by the same band as the former, minus their more violent tendencies. Whether or not it is an indication of matu- rity is unclear and irrelevant; the band is back and they know who they are. SEAN LANG For the Daily The artists formerly known as Viet Cong are back and more accessible Preoccupations ushers in a new era for controversial indie band A- Preoccupations Preoccupations Flemish Eye AMAZING OR MALAISING ALBUM REVIEW