The Hunger Games- Mockingjay Part 1 Soundtrack

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The new Hunger Games soundtrack track-listing was released yesterday and it looks absolutely fantastic. Another example of the brilliant mind of Lorde, who is curating the album.

1. Meltdown – Stromae ft. Lorde, Pusha T, Q-Tip & Haim

2. Dead Air – CHVRCHES

3. Scream My Name – Tove Lo

4. Kingdom – Charli XCX ft. Simon Le Bon

5. TO BE ANNOUNCED

6. Lost Souls – Raury

7. Yellow Flicker Beat – Lorde

8. The Leap – Tinashe

9. Plan The Escape (Son Lux Cover) – Bat For Lashes

10. Original Beast – Grace Jones

11. Flicker (Kanye West Rework) – Lorde

12. Animal – XOV

13. This Is Not A Game – The Chemical Brothers ft. Miguel

14. Ladder Song – Lorde

My Q&A With: Loper

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Sometimes the world feels like a very small place. After coincidentally being in the same place at the same time on multiple occasions, budding singer-songwriter Loper and I finally stumbled into one another. Who is Loper? He is a teenager from the Philadelphia area with vocals that sound strikingly similar to many prominent artists currently reigning at the top of the electronic/synth/pop realm. Completely on his own, Loper is managing to make a name for himself, playing shows in the suburbs of Philadelphia and continuing to blaze forward with a fervor for music. Loper and I had the chance to talk about his music and what he hopes to learn and achieve in the future.

What initially sparked your interest in music?

I started out at age 4 in a professional theater company doing musicals so I guess I’ve just always been interested but I only started writing songs at 14.

Who would you say your biggest influences are, both in music and general?

I’ve always listened to a lot of jazz so like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald are definitely major influences but some more modern influences would be MØ, Alt-j, Lorde and Jessie J.

How is it working on your first official EP?

It’s crazy watching the songs I plucked out on my piano in my room become real. The process is slow but rewarding. I wish I could be in the studio making music 24/7 but sadly that’s just not realistic but overall it’s been a blast.

What has the reaction to “Poppin Pills” been like?

People seem to really dig it. I barely did any promo for it and it got a great response in my opinion. When I sang it at my most recent show everyone knew the words which was a little nuts. You never really think that the words you’re singing at the keyboard next to your bed will ever be sung by other people, or at least I never did.

I can hear similarities to a lot of musicians such as James Blake, Sam Smith, and Troye Sivan in your music. Do you begin working on a song with a particular sound in mind or does it evolve as the process progresses?

I normally start with lyrics after which I kind of wrap the piano around it and then the full produced version just kind of falls into place in my head. I never really know where I’m going with stuff until it gets there and then all I have to do is flush it out. Also those comparisons make me happy because those are artists I love and respect a whole bunch.

What do you hope to accomplish within the next few years?

I honestly would just like to promote this upcoming EP as long as its relevant to me, maybe tour it if it gets to that point and then hopefully I’ll be in a place in my career where I’m able to record a full LP and maybe by then I’ll have a bigger following. Those are my hopes n’ dreams anyway.

If you could tour with any three musicians, who would they be and where would be you most want to play?

Lorde, Tove Lo and probably Thomston. All three are in my lane and all three seem like hella cool people. I would love to go play AU & NZ. They seem like they have a great appreciation for live performance down there.

https://soundcloud.com/lopermusic/poppin-pills

Let’s Talk About: Lorde In Concert (Round 2)

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photoOn March 8, 2014 I attended the Lorde concert at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Tonight on September 5, 2014 I attended the Lorde concert at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. It’s quite ironic how the two dates turned out. In a span of time ranging exactly six months, things have changed so much.

In January of 2014, I decided to start Ker’s Corner as a way to express and discuss my love for music. At the time, it was a love that had always been present and was slowly beginning to grow stronger each day. A few months prior I had started my freshman year in college and was beginning to view the world differently. View my life differently. I was at a complete loss about what I wanted from my life, what I wanted to do with it and what would make me happy. Music was the outlet that allowed me to forget everything for just a moment. Tonight in her concert, Lorde discussed that moment when you first submerge underwater in a bath, how it is a moment of immense clarity. When I would listen to music, I would feel that brief moment of clarity, the moment was fleeting yet overwhelmingly comforting. Prior to the Lorde concert in March, I had been to quite a few concerts, but never did I think concerts would play such an important role in my life.

In May, June, July, and August, I saw eight concerts, more concerts than some people see in their entire lives. In September and October I am seeing five more. I realize how truly fortunate I am in being able to attend so many concerts and have such amazing experiences.  It seems a bit crazy to some people, but to me, it all finally seems to make sense. The end of my freshman year of college, around March, seemed to be a turning point in my life. I began to experience a lot of changes in my life and form vastly different opinions and perspectives and thoughts on what I wanted. This past summer I took time to really reflect on my life and discover myself, as they say. A process that really only seems to be resolving itself right about now, which is why it is funny that the second Lorde concert happened to be at this point in time.

I know I’m rambling a lot about my life and not the actual Lorde concert, but to properly convey and express my experience requires this (probably uninteresting to you) backstory so please bear with me.

As I was standing in the audience tonight as Lorde began to play “Ribs” (if you read my first Lorde review you will know that that is my favorite Lorde song, if you did not read it I just told you, so now you know) I felt this sort of peace come over me. In that moment standing there, listening to the music, eyes closed like a loser, I was extraordinarily, exceedingly, exceptionally happy. I don’t know if anything will ever result from my having this website, but in that moment it was almost as if I had an epiphany. I want to experience that moment over and over again for the rest of my life. More importantly, I want to come home and share it with those who weren’t there to experience it themselves. In A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, there is a section titled “Sky Dance” in which Leopold describes in such beautiful detail the dance of a bird. He compares the bird’s ‘dance’ to a performance set on a stage with proper lighting and the most perfect set design. His main reason in doing this is to describe this vision as best as he can to those who have not seen it. I want to do that. It sounds bizarre, but I associate passages like Leopold’s to music. I see such a strong connection between music and nature, two things that are most magnificent in their purest and simplest forms.

Putting Lorde aside, Ella aside, the qualities and attributes associated with the pop singer aside, and simply thinking of the music alone is still such a marvelous thing . Music, in a sense, is just a grouping of sonic waves; but the beauty is that individual waves coalesce to produce art that surrounds us in the most intricately simple way. It doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t have to. However, bringing Lorde back into this (thank goodness considering this is supposed to be about her concert) I am completely dumbfounded by the fact that she was criticized so greatly in the early stages of her career, and still to this day. I understand people have different interests, taste, likes and dislikes etc. but to listen to Lorde, who is producing lyrics more profound and fascinating than most people in the music industry today, at the mere age of seventeen is absolutely captivating. She is captivating.

It is nice that I was able to attend two of her concerts in the past year as I am able to look at them side by side and ‘evaluate’ tonight’s concert by comparing it to the prior concert. Tonight’s show in Philly kicked off this leg of her North American tour; a tour that will certainly be outstanding if tonight was any indication. The venue was much bigger this time around. The production much more grandiose.  She spoke for a majority of the concert, unlike last show where she barely said ten words. She is embracing herself and her talent more than ever.

As I drove home from the show (a whole two hours, meh) I listened to Pure Heroine (bet you didn’t see that coming) and (was very focused on the road but) spent a great deal of my drive admiring the sights out the window. It might appear as though I was on a concert high, but for some reason everything appeared more beautiful. The silhouette of the trees lining the road were darker and more pronounced. The hazy cloud, just transparent enough the see the outline of the moon behind it seemed more picturesque. Life seemed- seems- much more lovely.

Thank you Lorde.

(and thank you readers for indulging my most personal, irrelevant, potentially cheesy, and probably boring for you post yet).

Also, it’s currently 2:00 AM and I usually go to sleep at like 10:00, so sorry if this is terribly written. I was just too excited to write about it to wait until the morning.

SETLIST:

Glory and Gore

White Teeth Teens

Tennis Court

Buzzcut Season

No Better

400 Lux

Flashing Lights

Bravado

Biting Down

Heavenly Father

Still Sane

Ribs

Royals

Team

A World Alone

*Single Tear Rolls Down Cheek*

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1. Sorry for the excessive amount of asterisks in my posts’ titles lately.

2. I’m back at school for the year and this weekend my school is hosting a school wide BBQ that is making me rethink the Lorde concert. I’m really distraught (insert awkward laughter here that represents me actually being distraught but not wanting to sound too dramatic). As you know Lorde is one of my favorite singers and I have been looking forward to this concert the entire summer BUT I have already seen her once in concert and I don’t want to miss out on my life here. The torment. The pain. The torture. *Kristin Wiig on airplane is Bridesmaids voice* “Help me.”

Let’s Talk About: Critics

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A while ago I posted a snippet of this post but never the whole thing, so here we are. Late is better than never. 🙌

If you don’t live under a rock, you have probably heard that Lana Del Rey recently expressed her disenchantment with a critics ‘review’ of her newest album,Ultraviolence. If you do live under a rock, you are probably very pale and need some serious Vitamin D, and enlightenment as to the recent turn of events. Anyway, this ever growing confrontation between the two parties has rekindled a growing annoyance for me. Although it appears I may be writing about guacamole due to the title, unfortunately I will not. This post will actually serve to express my discontent and frustration following (and continuing to follow) the tiffs exchanged between an artist and critic.

I am a nineteen year old student. The music I listen to covers a wide range. My favorite artists vary from Lorde and HAIM to Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison with a hint of Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire and a dash of MØ and Rae Morris, etc. etc. plus about 1,000 other artists. When I begin listening to new artists, such as Lorde, that present unique and positive messages to our generation validating being individualistic or different, it is truly refreshing and inspiring. These artists present an image that is not necessarily ‘main stream’. I, and many other people my age, appreciate these unique independent artists after years of cookie-cutter, same old same old, ‘perfect’ musicians supposedly representing “us”. I consider myself a bit quirky, nerdy even, definitely not typical cheerleader-type. I appreciate that my generation is exposed to independent and alternative musicians like Lorde and Grimes offering a different concept of “pop”. Another artist I associate in this category is Lana Del Rey; she is the reason I’m writing this post.

Unfortunately, I read reviews that do not celebrate the talent of these musicians and in turn, diminish the abilities of truly gifted performers who have the courage and confidence to put themselves out there creatively. I used to feel disappointed when reading a personally critical review, now I feel anger. I have been trying to comprehend for quite some time now why the opinions of forty-something-year-olds are trusted to review and ‘critique’ music written by and for twenty-something year olds. The twenty year age difference may not seem substantial, but I would never write a review of a Jimmy Buffet album and genuinely think it would be a beneficial thing to put into the universe. As is always the case, the opinions of our generation versus the opinions of older generations are going to be inherently different for numerous reasons. Thus, is it really fair to these artists that someone in an influential position casts an opinion reviewing music created for a generation they would have difficulty understanding? The opinions that are not being heard may be the most important. They should be the opinions of our generation representing our generation.

Alas, back to the Lana Del Rey controversy. The infamous interview became uncomfortable and elicited quotes from Lana such as referencing that she wished she was dead already. These and other comments have caused reactions from the Cobain family and many others are also negatively weighing in. I will not take a stance on her personal comments or reference to dying young. I will say that I find it very unfortunate that she is being ridiculed for having particular opinions that may not be considered ‘normal’ or ‘relevant and logical.’ Some critics are quick to instigate controversy for media attention and twist statements that ultimately do nothing other than hurt the artists. I think it is quite unfortunate that flaws are enflamed and emphasized and the positive elements of the musicians are overlooked. Maybe Lana made some controversial statements. Rather than that becoming the focus of his article, I wish the interviewer had celebrated her new album as it is truly a work of art.

So there, Holy Gaucamole!