WHISPER

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By MaryEllen Uthlaut
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/05/20

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

02/05/20

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020

ACROSS
1 Twinings
products
5 Wolf pack leader
10 Oft-misused
pronoun
14 Hall of Famer
Donovan, first
woman to
coach a WNBA
championship
team
15 One-piece
dresses
16 Georgetown
athlete
17 Compact
20 Outshine
21 Codgers
22 Shorthand writer,
for short
23 Haus husband
24 “Apollo 11” org.
27 Solution for
contacts
32 Decides
36 Attended, as
college, with “to”
38 Fibula neighbor
39 Compact
42 Thumb one’s
nose at
43 Air Quality Index
factor
44 Old flames
45 Bench-clearing
brawls, e.g.
47 Big fusses
49 Grammar, in
grammar
51 Slices in a pie,
often
56 Christmas show
60 Nutritionist’s
unit
62 Compact
64 Soaks (up)
65 Aptly named
1955 and 2019
Disney dog
66 Oboe vibrator
67 Tupelo, e.g.
68 Chips in a chip
69 Mixes in

DOWN
1 Subdues
2 Make into law
3 Common sprain
site

4 Welcome at the
door
5 Snakes in
hieroglyphics
6 Bodice trim
7 In favor of
8 Depend (on)
9 Daisylike fall
flowers
10 Zoom (by)
11 Refine, as skills
12 Open hearing,
in law
13 “24K Magic”
singer Bruno
18 Familiar with
19 Force gas into
23 Word-guessing
game
25 Cobbler’s tool
26 Swell places?
28 Margarita garnish
29 Goat with
recurved horns
30 Start of many a
workday
31 Revived Alton
Brown cooking
show “Good __”
32 Rip-__: thefts
33 Olympic vaulter’s
need

34 Home run pace
35 Indecent matter
37 Stepped heavily
40 Without a
musical key
41 Self-awareness
46 Piano __
48 46-Down, often
50 Difficult move in a
busy intersection
52 One leading a
charmed life?
53 Made an attempt

54 Needed to skip
work, perhaps
55 Closing
documents
56 “Hey, you!”
57 Deity with a bow
58 Stare in
amazement
59 Otherwise
60 “The best is yet
to __”
61 Concert gear
63 Bit of body ink

SUDOKU

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3

4

8

8
5

4
1

2
7

6

1
8

7
1

9

4
6

Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/

1 of 1
3/23/09 11:17 AM

“mitchel mingi hong.”

Before I had even set foot in
the Midwest, I felt like I had a
bit of an idea what the Midwest
sounded like. Discovering bands
that were integral to the past,
present and future of the DIY
Midwest emo scene painted a
picture in my mind about what
growing up in the Midwest would
be like. One of the first bands that
really caught my attention was
the group Empire! Empire! (I was
a Lonely Estate). As I explored the
scene more and more, I started to
listen to other bands, like Into It,
Over It., Snowing and even Ann
Arbor’s Brave Bird. The one thing
uniting all of these bands was
their label: Count Your Lucky
Stars (CYLS).
Started by members of Empire!
Empire! (I was a Lonely Estate),
Keith and Cathy Latinen, CYLS
started as a way for the band
to release a 7” they originally
recorded for a split with Florida’s
Save Mexico. In a phone interview
with The Daily, Keith Latinen
talked about the independent
label’s origin.
“I don’t think we started the
label with any great aspirations,”
Latinen said. “It was just a vehicle
for us to put out our own band’s
record, and then when we started
touring more and more, we
started to see all these incredible
bands that were also in the same
situation as us where no labels
were paying attention to them
and there was no way for people
to hear those bands. So, we just

started putting out those bands,
and it just kind of evolved from
there.”
Latinen
described
how
entering the age of the internet
changed everything for smaller
DIY bands, especially for CYLS.
“We get orders from all over the
world, and there’s no way those
people would have ever heard of
us without the internet,” Latinen
said. “It connects everything.”
Latinen talked about initially
messaging people on Myspace to
promote the label, and said “when
we first started getting orders
from anywhere we were really
excited, but when we started
getting orders from overseas, it
really kind of blew our minds.”

Latinen
emphasized
how
with increased connection to
the internet, “it’s a lot easier
to connect with people, and
invite those people to shows. A
lot of places that we played in
Michigan, the Midwest and on
tour … I never would have known
about it if it wasn’t for someone
from
that
DIY
community
reaching out to me.”
Along with the internet, he
also believes that tolerance and
openness play a large role in
DIY ethics and its growth, and
because of that mentality, “if one
DIY venue ended up shutting
down, there will be somebody
else that would pick that slack
up and there’d be a new place for
bands to play.”
As
a
newcomer
to
the
Midwest, I asked Latinen about
how he thought the Midwest
impacted his music and the DIY
community.
“I think the term Midwest emo
comes from living in these wide
open spaces, long drives, and the
earnestness and honesty that
you’d associate with the Midwest
too,” Latinen said. “And I think
that has something to do with
the openness and patience in my
music. And that’s part of being
a Michigander too — it’s that

patience and sort of appreciating
beauty for what it is.”
Latinen talked about how these
characteristics of the Midwestern
scene helped Empire! Empire! (I
was a Lonely Estate) back when
they first started playing shows,
saying that one of their first
shows in Ypsilanti “was with a
bunch of screamo bands.”
And that local DIY support
doesn’t just stop in southeastern
Michigan — it’s global. Because
of their connections with labels
across the world, the band
was able to have international
pressings of their records and
even play a series of shows in
Japan and Europe.
“It’s surreal,” Latinen said. “I
think every local scene sort of
chains together to the larger DIY
scene, and it makes you feel at
home wherever you play.”
In early 2016, the band decided
to call it quits, and Latinen took
a break from signing new bands
onto CYLS. However, towards
the end of 2019, CYLS announced
the signing of their newest group
in quite some time, Overo, along
with the release of the group’s
debut album. Shortly after, the
label announced the signing
of another new group, Singing
Lungs, along with a new EP they
would be putting out. Then, on
Nov. 4, CYLS announced the
album Tomorrow I Will Take a
Knife to Your Confidence from a
band called Anna Flyaway.
Started over 14 years ago,
the group was originally a solo
project by Latinen in college, but
later went on to include many of
his friends. Towards the end of
recording their debut album, a
series of lineup changes and the
loss of their recording engineer
indicated that the band might not
have the longevity to finish the
project. So, Latinen took matters
into his own hands, learning to
record on his own and in turn
starting a new project, Empire!
Empire! (I was a Lonely Estate),
just as the band broke up.
“It took years and years but
we finally ended up doing it. I
do sort of a stereotypical list of
New Year’s Resolutions every
year, and every year ‘Finish Anna
Flyaway’ was at the top of that
list. So I finally got to cross that
off this year,” Latinen said.
The amount of care put into the
album really shows. Between the
sincere lyrics and harmonically
rich arrangements, the album
reminded me of why I began
romanticizing the Midwest, and
the magic of this music. Check
out Anna Flyaway’s album, or any
of the other new bands on CYLS,
and you’ll see what I mean. It’s
Midwestern magic.

Keith Latinen talks DIY,
Counting Stars

RYAN COX
Daily DIY Columnist

Upcoming Shows

(courtesy of Outta This World Booking):

Feb. 6

Thank You, I’m Sorry (CYLS band)

Ness Lake

Boyfrienders

Something Missing

Button & Bella’s Music Box (Ypsilanti)

Feb. 8

Ship & Sail

Young Ritual

Holy Profane

In A Daydream

Button & Bella’s Music Box (Ypsilanti)

Feb. 9

Dogleg

Mover Shaker

Niiice

BPD

Boyfrienders

The Sanctuary (Hamtramck)

DAILY DIY COLUMN

After the release of their 2017
album, The Underside of Power,
it was unclear which direction
Algiers would take their music.
The only certainty was that their
next full-length project would
come with a lot of expectations.
With The Underside of Power,
they managed to perfect the
gospel and post-punk sound they
flirted with on their debut record.
Many fans were simply hoping
to hear more of the same. Others
wanted more noise-rock and post-
rock influences in their repertoire.
Regardless, the anticipation was
palpable. In late 2019, the fans
finally got the news they wanted,
as Algiers announced their next
release for Matador Records, There
Is No Year. The question now was
whether they would expand on the
sound of their last record or go in
a completely different direction.
Unfortunately, we may have set
our expectations too high.
This is clearly a new sonic
direction for Algiers. The novel
sound expresses a sentiment of
dilapidation
and
exhaustion,
which is best illustrated with
their heavy use of synths. This is
not to say that the project takes
sounds from synth-wave or adds
pop qualities to their music. In
fact, most of the synth lies in the
lower register which adds an
ulcer-inducing tension with nearly
every track. Often this record feels
subterranean, like on the track
“Wait for the Sound,” where the
pulsing, synth bass mixed with the
lead singer’s soulful crooning can

easily get under one’s skin. This
track also exemplifies Algiers’
decision to make this record their
least instrumentally dense, with
the synth and vocals being the
two primary forces of the song.
Quite poetically, There Is No Year
tries to be the valley that comes
after the mountain that was The
Underside of Power. The problem
surrounding the new record is the
band’s inability to fully commit
to this new style. Whether it’s on
songs like the title track, or the

closer “Void,” or in other smaller
moments, Algiers can’t seem to let
go of their post-punk roots. They
can’t fully rid themselves of the
wall-punching, bombastic energy
that has started to define them,
and the lyrical content certainly
proves the point.
Algiers have always embodied
the spirit of protest. The genesis
of their name ties back to the city
itself, which is known for having
a history of anti-colonial dissent.
Frontman Franklin James Fisher
uses his powerful lyricism and
forceful vocal prowess to create
this atmosphere. In this particular
album, he weaves a narrative

addressing
the
disintegration
of society and the individuals
that inhabit it. On the track
“Dispossession,”
he
aims
his
crosshairs directly at the current
state of America and how it has
developed from a place that once
offered so much, to one that
takes as much as it can. Each
track develops its own idea that
ultimately
contributes
to
the
overarching narrative in a way that
feels uninterrupted. Perhaps it’s
not so surprising that nearly every
word on this album comes from
an epic poem Fisher wrote titled
“Misophonia.” The poetry on this
record is almost breathtaking at
times, but it never aligns with the
music playing beneath it.
Ultimately,
this
conflict
between
verse
and
music
demonstrates a fundamental issue
surrounding the band. It feels like
they haven’t located their identity
yet. Embracing their post-punk
roots would mean having to forgo
the less-is-more approach they
have
towards
instrumentals;
favoring this new meditative
and gloomy atmosphere would
require the lyrical content to
complement this dourness better.
It seems like they are struggling
to make this decision, which is
strange considering how confident
they sounded on their previous
release. It could be that There Is
No Year is actually an admission
of this apparent lack of direction.
The album cover even alludes to
this — large block letters spelling
out the name of the band are
depicted
tumbling
above
the
picture of a man falling through
the sky. Perhaps Algiers feels as
though they are the man tumbling
through the sky, powerless in their
movement.

Algiers lose themselves on
new LP ‘There Is No Year’

DREW GADBOIS
For The Daily

There Is No Year

Algiers

Matador Records

ALBUM REVIEW

As a newcomer
to the Midwest,
I asked Latinen
about how he
thought the
Midwest impacted
his music and the
DIY community.

6A — Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com