Artwork courtesy of Third Worlds and Harvest Records

For the record, I never got into Death Grips until recently. I thought “Bottomless Pit” was nothing special on first listen. It was really weird for me to digest their music at the time. Then I began to listen to it again as well as listening to “The Money Store.” All of a sudden, everything changed for me. I’ve begun to understand the chaotic production along with MC Ride’s maniacal character. I was perplexed yet fascinated by the overall sound; it was a revelation to my ears. Now, I just kick myself for not getting into them sooner.

Death Grips is one of those groups that every generation has. A group that can make music that is so abrasive and so unsettling because it provides a fresh air to a music genre. It’s in no small part thanks to MC Ride’s aggressive flows and the production of Zach Hill and Andy Morin. The group has been consistently releasing albums almost yearly. This traction has created a cult-like fanbase on the internet that can sometimes be a little hostile. There’s a Twitter account called “Death Grips fans are biased” and you can find their meme-loving, wild behavior on Reddit.

Going into this album, I was thinking it was going be a continuation of older Death Grips albums. But as you start listening to the opening track “Death Grips is Online,” you’ve noticed a difference. The production doesn’t feel as fierce as it was before. It’s feeling like less of an experimental hip-hop album and heading more towards electronica. Take the track “Dilemma,” where the opening synths remind me of an old video game from the days of the Nintendo 64, while “Little Richards” features a monotonic robotic voice instead of MC Ride’s vocals. They bring a rather odd experience that can be unprecedented to longtime listeners.

For me, this style can bring something new to the table but I feel it has lost the edge Death Grips usually has. I don’t feel like my heart is going to stop whenever I’m hearing the album. The only exception is “Shitshow” which brings back the explosion but the track feels a bit rushed. I feel like I want to go crazy as I’m listening to it, but for inexplicable reasons, I can’t do it. However, tracks like “Streaky” help bring some replay value. I love the chorus and the “Don’t throw it on the ground” on the pre-chorus. It helps bring back some of the excitement that is usual in Death Grips’ music.

With the lyrics, the song still retains the freaky lyrics albeit the “softer” instrumentation. “The Fear” covers the feelings of paranoia and death lurking around the corner, while “Black Paint” can remind one of black metal for the references to giving into darkness and satisfying the “Satanic urges.” It doesn’t feel surprising to me to be reading them but it’s still nice to see that hasn’t been sacrificed with this new direction.

Overall, it’s an interesting idea that Death Grips is going for with “Year of the Snitch” but I don’t feel entirely crazy about it. It was a bit hard for me to go back and listen to it over again. It felt inconsistent and a little unfinished. So this is definitely not going to top “The Money Store” or “Bottomless Pit” in my eyes.

Will this album become a grower for me as time goes on? I wonder because the previous albums have managed to pull it. This is an album for me to pick up again before the year ends to see if it can grow. But for now, I feel slightly underwhelmed about “Year of the Snitch.”

As for the fanbase, I’m sure they have some really strong opinions about this one by now. Looks like it’s time for a trip to Reddit.

Track Picks: “Death Grips is Online,” “Black Paint,” “Streaky,” “Dilemma,” and “Disappointed”

Label: Third Worlds and Harvest Records

Listen to “Year of the Snitch” Here:

Fresh out of the oven: The Daily Californian’s cooking show, Bread with Bears.

Bears bake and break bread — UC Berkeley students talk about their college experience’s over freshly cooked naan.

The Daily Californian

Following a tumultuous season filled with controversies, scandals and shortcomings, USC basketball fans had their eyes set on the NBA Draft to see where some of their favorite stars would land. Four Trojans have declared for the draft, but only two heard their name called on Thursday night.

De’Anthony Melton

De’Anthony Melton — USC’s highest selection in the 2018 Draft — was chosen 46th overall by the Houston Rockets. His selection as a second round pick surprised many, as media outlets such as ESPN and Sports Illustrated had Melton slotted in the 20s. Despite the 6-foot-4 guard not playing a single minute this season amid an ongoing FBI scandal, NBA teams were intrigued by Melton’s size, playmaking and defensive versatility during his only season at USC. In 2016-2017, he averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

Melton will look to crack the rotation and become the steal of the draft on a Rockets team that came up just one game short of an NBA Finals appearance and already features a starting backcourt of reigning league MVP James Harden and 2017 Sixth Man of Year Eric Gordon.

Chimezie Metu

Junior forward Chimezie Metu was selected by the San Antonio Spurs as the 49th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. During his three years at USC, Metu recorded a .533 shooting percentage. (Daily Trojan file photo).

Chimezie Metu, the Trojans’ leading scorer and rebounder in 2018, was selected 49th overall by the San Antonio Spurs. Though many project Metu to spend time in the G League this season, scouts are optimistic Metu will develop into a serviceable two-way big man who can block shots (1.7 per game in 2018) and score willingly at the NBA level with his athleticism and mobility in the long run.

His opportunity for significant minutes may also come sooner than some expect with the uncertain future of franchise cornerstone Kawhi Leonard and an aging Pau Gasol. As he develops, he will look to help lead a youth movement in San Antonio that features All-Defensive 2nd Team point guard Dejounte Murray, and the 18th selection in this year’s draft,  Lonnie Walker IV from Miami.

Jordan McLaughlin

Jordan McLaughlin, arguably the face of USC basketball for the past four years, went undrafted but has agreed to play in the summer league and training camp with the Brooklyn Nets. Though McLaughlin doesn’t have the elite athleticism of his peers, there is no question in his leadership and ability to distribute the ball. In his four-year career as a Trojan, McLaughlin finished second all-time in assists and fourth all-time in scoring in USC history. USC head coach Andy Enfield, vouched for his point guard in an interview with the Orange County Register.

“He has the best court vision, probably, of any point guard in the country,” Enfield said.

McLaughlin will look to earn a roster spot with strong performances in the summer league.

Elijah Stewart

Elijah Stewart, USC’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made and games played, also went undrafted despite working out for multiple NBA teams during the pre-draft process. He will spend training camp and summer league with the Indiana Pacers. Despite going undrafted, Stewart’s elite 3-point shooting ability and defensive intensity (126 blocks in four years) are skills many NBA teams in this floor-spreading era desire. With Victor Oladipo emerging as the face of the franchise and commanding defensive attention, opportunities for Stewart to show what he excelled at in Los Angeles may be on the horizon.

The post Trojan basketballers make NBA entry appeared first on Daily Trojan.

Shh, don’t tell anyone: my guilty pleasure is reality T.V. From “Say Yes to the Dress” to “America’s Next Top Model,” I’ve watched probably hundreds of people cause unnecessary drama for fun on the weekends. I wouldn’t say this guilty pleasure is a bad thing, though, and science doesn’t think so either.

According to Psychology Today, “Guilty pleasures are, by definition, something that we know we shouldn’t do but do it anyways because it brings us pleasure.” While there aren’t really lasting consequences to watching “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” most of our feelings of guilt as people come from how other people will react. Psychologists in 1992 and 1997 studied our feelings of guilt and they established that humans use guilt as a tool to determine when we have hurt other people. This stretches a little further to say that guilt tells us when we lose social standing. We call reality television a “guilty pleasure” because most of society doesn’t necessarily approve of T.V. shows like “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Whether or not this is true — the ratings say enough people are watching that it’s worth it to produce the show — our perception of what others will think of us makes binge watching “The Bachelor” a guilty pleasure.

Whatever you like to watch on television, listen to on the radio, or eat isn’t something you should feel guilty about. In fact, that guilt might actually be lowering your belief in your self-control which is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to negative outcomes and weakening your willpower.

The emotions of guilt and pleasure are so entwined in people’s minds that sometimes the feeling of guilt emphasizes the pleasure someone feels while doing, watching, or listening to our guiltiest pleasures. Embracing our guilty pleasures instead of fighting or trying to change them may have a better result on changing bad habits and making you happier as a person. The BBC cites studies done at Northwestern University, the University of Canterbury and the University of Mainz to prove that our subconscious is more receptive to change when we embrace the habits we’re looking to change.

Shying away from your guilty pleasures actually appears to encourage you to seek them out. Psychologists don’t know exactly why, but in several studies they found those who were excited about food or the activity they were participating in were less likely to believe they had low self-control. The belief we put in our self-control creates self-fulfilling prophecies — events that occur because we say they will, like not studying for a test because you already know you won’t pass it anyway. These self-fulfilling prophecies then come true and you feel guiltier about the action, but you can’t really stop yourself from eating another piece of cake or watching “Project Runway” because you’ve already done it once, you might as well watch another episode.

Ignore the “might-as-well” attitude or don’t, most of our feelings of guilt stem from other people. In some cases this is because we use guilt to tell us when we’ve hurt another person, though in others it tells us we’ve lost social standing. Fear for your social standing shouldn’t stop you from enjoying what you enjoy because if your friends are going to judge you and like you less for watching, listening to, or eating the things you enjoy, then are they really your friends?

j.eggleston@dailyutahchronicle.com

@ladyofth3lak3

The post They’re Not Really Guilty Pleasures appeared first on Daily Utah Chronicle.

Welcome to Podlandia, a new mini-series from the Emerald Media Podcast Network designed for podcasters, by podcasters, and for everyone lookng to get started. The first episode of the series tackles the radio industry: how has it changed over the years, and as podcasts reach the height of their boom, should you start your own? If you’re looking to start a podcast, this is the series for you.

The next episode will feature two podcasters launching their own series from the bedrooms.

This series is reported, and produced by Alec Cowan, with original music and artwork produced by him also.

The post Podlandia: Should you make a podcast? appeared first on Emerald Media.

These last few weeks you’ve probably seen pictures of chain-link fences and concrete floors, heard children crying and scrolled through endless outraged tweets. The scope and complexity of the border crisis may leave students feeling powerless. We aren’t. Students, especially here in Austin, can and should make an impact in the lives of immigrants and refugees through volunteer work.

The enforcement of troubling immigration policies is not new. A 2015 report by the Detention Watch Network details the growth of America’s detention system, largely through private contractors, under the Obama administration. Now, although President Trump signed an executive order ending the separation of families detained at the border, he has allowed a historically low number of refugees to enter the U.S. and recently threatened immigrants’ due process protections. The problems for immigrants and refugees aren’t going anywhere.

We can see these immigration policy issues playing out in Austin.  Sarah Valdez, supervising attorney of the children’s program for RAICES in Austin, said ICE raids were “disproportionately aimed at Travis county … because of Sheriff Hernandez’s policy of not cooperating.” Valdez said the passage of SB4 further aggravates the challenges of her clients.

People entering this country face formidable difficulties and have for some time. Students have access to information on the problems surrounding immigration, but because of limited funds, little authority and a lack of experience, have difficulty doing anything about them. This can be overwhelming. Perhaps, however, our power lies in our schedules. If we take time to volunteer, we can be a part of the change.

Chris Kelley, a spokesman for Refugee Services of Texas, encourages students to volunteer. RSTX works with populations affected by this issue, including unaccompanied children, survivors of human trafficking and asylum seekers. Kelley said volunteers with RSTX carry out variety of tasks like “helping move a family in” or “actually work(ing) with kids at our center.”

He emphasizes the importance of volunteering, saying “we can’t do what we do without volunteers. And given that UT is right in the heart of the city where we work with folks, we couldn’t do it without UT students.”

Valdez agrees. She encourages students to be informed about their rights and to be active in the community through volunteer work. Beyond that she said it creates a sense of community, recognizing students’ age not as a weakness, but a strength. “I think that there’s definitely value in our clients who are teenagers seeing people close to their age in college, being able to look up to them, being able to talk to them and forming relationships with them.”

Kelley calls Austin “a great big neon welcome sign for refugees.” But this is only true when the city’s people uphold the values of inclusion and compassion for those seeking a new life. This is being done on the ground at RAICES, RSTX and many other organizations. Through volunteering, students can ensure their resources are used efficiently and Austin’s “welcome sign” continues to glow.

Austin is home to many organizations striving to better the lives of immigrants and refugees. By offering our time, we can amplify their impact. Along the way, we can hear the stories of those we help, giving us experience to advocate in the future.

Palmer is an English senior from the Dallas area.

Alumnus Daniel Poncedeleon has come back stronger than ever after suffering serious injury by a line drive to the head. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

Houston’s athletic talent was again on display early this month when four baseball players joined an extensive list of Cougars with pro-league ambitions.

Senior Joey Pulido and juniors Trey Cumbie and Aaron Fletcher became the newest members of the prestigious club when they were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft.

The two left-handers, Cumbie and Fletcher, went to the Tampa Bay Rays and the Washington Nationals, respectively. Pulido was picked in the 32nd round by Toronto.

First basemen Connor Hollis also signed with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent, joining Cumbie in the minors. Both will join a fellow Cougar who made his MLB debut just a year ago, Austin Pruitt.

Pruitt led the 2013 Cougars in wins, ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts before joining the Rays’ farm system.

Pruitt climbed from A, to AA, to AAA in his first four seasons before making the Rays’ 2017 Opening Day roster, where he still plays as a reliever.

Pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon is another former Cougar who recently made it to the major leagues. He was teammates with Pruitt in 2013 before getting drafted in 2014 by the St. Louis Cardinals.

By May 2017, Poncedeleon had worked his way up to AAA, but during a game against the Iowa Cubs he was struck by a line drive in the head and was temporarily paralyzed.

Poncedeleon regained movement in the following days and was training again just three months later.

On June 11, over a year after having to undergo emergency surgery on his brain, Poncedeleon was called up to the majors, though he was sent back down a few days later after not being used.

The NFL has one of the more notable former Cougars, NFL quarterback Case Keenum, who just came off a career year with the Minnesota Vikings. Keenum landed in Minnesota after a string of cuts, trades and sidelines, but he found a team where he excelled.

With Keenum at the reigns, the Vikings orchestrated the Minneapolis Miracle, a last-second 61-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs that sent the team to its first NFC title game in eight years.

Minnesota went on to lose the NFC Championship, but Keenum’s performance was enough to garner interest from a team in need of a quarterback. He left Minnesota in March to join Denver for $36 million over the next two seasons.

Linebacker Matthew Adams was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in April. Adams recorded 259 total tackles and forced five fumbles in his collegiate career. He could be a solution for the Colts’ defense, which was No. 30 in points and yards allowed per game.

Although all these athletes are a long way from becoming household names in the pros, they have the advantage of coming from the same powerhouse that shaped legendary Olympians, the highest-flying rim-rattlers in basketball history and plenty more.

sports@thedailycougar.com

—
“Former Cougars make waves in the pros” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar

The Northwest Indian Language Institute, or NILI, has finished up its 21st summer institute this week. Started in 1997 as a request by local tribes as a way to help local Native American communities teach their indigenous languages, NILI hosts a two-week on-campus institute that teaches classes linguistics, traditional ecological knowledge, advocacy and how to work with technology.

Through the years, the summer institute has expanded to no longer just be for elders and instructors, but now includes indigenous youth who want to preserve their languages in a globalized world. The institute has grown to include around a dozen different communities spanning across the country from Klamath Falls, Oregon, to tribes in Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Janne Underriner is the director of NILI and teaches an introductory class on the linguistics of native languages at the summer institute. According to Underriner, her class focuses not just on grammar, but the origin of a word’s sound.

“People really shut down when they learn sounds of languages,” Underriner said. “It’s not necessarily something that’s looked at as being fun, but for me it’s fun and I want them to think it’s fun too.”  

For institute attendees, they spend the two weeks dining together, attending classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in McKenzie Hall, and using campus dorms and local hotels. Everyone eats lunch and dinner together in Carson, and the youth in the program get to experience being on a campus and the Eugene area.

The summer institute can often be the first time on a university campus for younger attendees, according to Underriner. The scholarships to attend the summer institute are funded by a variety of university offices, including the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, the Office of Research and Native American Studies.

Much of NILI’s work revolves around not just creating teaching methods and lesson plans, but according to Marnie Atkins, who works with NILI and has also participated in the summer institute as a member of the Wiyot Tribe, it’s about preserving the knowledge in the language.

“It’s worlds of knowledge that each language holds within it, and so through that language, we learn philosophy and astronomy and science and biology,” Atkins said. “When these languages start to wane, we could lose that information if we don’t work hard to sustain it, to hold it from being lost.”

At the summer institute, it’s not uncommon that attendees will come back multiple years. According to Underriner, one attendee is in their 13th year of attendance. Since the youth program started four years ago, there’s been many returners there too. For Underriner, the sense of community across all age barriers has been a big success at the institute.

For Scott Delancey, a linguistics professor and an instructor at the institute said he wants people to understand that the summer institute and the work that NILI does with indigenous communities makes a difference.

“When I talk about NILI and programs like that, people are very skeptical and they say ‘ah well, that’s very nice but people aren’t really going to learn those languages.’ But in fact, we’re seeing young people showing up now with conversational ability in their heritage language that they acquired back home in their tribal language programs,” Delancey said. “That’s really exciting, and we see more and more of it every year.”

The post NILI Summer Institute offers native youth connection to heritage, preserves indigenous languages appeared first on Emerald Media.

SPONSORED CONTENT Life can be difficult when you are a full time student, particularly if you are living away from home. When it comes to finances, many students really struggle but they also find it difficult to make cutbacks in order to relieve some of the financial stress. With student debts, accommodation costs, food, social […]

Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

“I hope you’re not looking to be saved, because you’re going about it the wrong way!” Spewed by a town drunkard in David and Nathan Zellner’s new film “Damsel,” this warning could not have been more prescient. “Damsel” demolishes the mythic status of the American West as a land of salvation, an expectation forged in early film history. Playing like a hairbrained, Sartrean take on “The Searchers,” the film takes an ambitious dive into despair and detachment — with a garnish of gallows humor.  

The film takes place as the Wild West begins to lose its veneer as the triumph of manifest destiny. Nothing remains but soulless, empty towns and canyons, sparsely populated by a motley crew of morally bankrupt misfits. Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson), a charming, upright young man, rides into town on a journey, his miniature horse Butterscotch in tow. He is on his way to meet his fiancee Penelope (Mia Wasikowska), who lives outside town. On his way, Samuel meets Parson Henry (David Zellner), an alcoholic preacher, and recruits him to accompany Samuel and officiate his wedding. Along the way, the two are attacked by Rufus Cornell (Nathan Zellner), from whom Samuel manages to escape. Here, Samuel reveals that Penelope was kidnapped by Rufus’ brother Anton (Gabe Casdorph) and that he and Parson must save her. However, when everyone reunites, the tides turn in the most spectacular of ways — Penelope is no damsel in distress, and Samuel is forced to explain himself.

As a writing and directing pair, the Zellners are masters of tone and the reveal, even if they could use some restraint in the scope of their vision. From the opening scene, which follows a bus stop conversation in the middle of a canyon, an absurdist tone is firmly established. Think “Waiting for Godot,” but with stagecoaches. Throughout the film, the Zellners carefully stagger reveals — both narrative and cinematographic — with absolute precision. These keep the film, which is nearly 30 minutes too long, moving in fits and starts until the end, settling into a pace that whisks along like a tumbleweed. Even their camera leaves crucial information out of the frame, panning and zooming out to reveal crucial visual points with a bang. Adam Stone’s cinematography is gorgeous, framing these reveals with effortless mastery. The Zellners also recruited electronic band The Octopus Project to score the film. Their music carries the film perfectly, moving at a fever pitch that is alternately zany and menacing.

Both Zellners appear onscreen here —  Nathan has a minor role, but David Zellner’s Parson is in the majority of the runtime. David Zellner’s performance is the weakest in the film, with awkward delivery that results in a malformed character. Alternately, Pattinson has become one of our generation’s most talented and fascinating screen performers in his post-“Twilight” years, bringing Hollywood star power to indie auteurs among the likes of David Cronenberg, James Gray and the Safdie Brothers. He’s an absolute goofball here, grinning through a gold tooth and giving an uncomfortably gonzo performance. But Wasikowska steals the film as Penelope, a strong-willed, realist beacon among a valley of comically dimwitted, horny men who get in her way.

Central to her character is the film’s play on gender, which is by far its greatest asset. Penelope, the “damsel” of the film’s ironic title, couldn’t be a worse fit for this epithet. She takes control of every situation she’s in, and her trouble is nothing more than myth. Samuel, conversely, is the self-described “nice guy” with sinister intentions, employing emotional manipulation and abuse because he believes a woman owes him love. He becomes the film’s most villainous character by attempting to control her story through his own perspective. When she rightfully lashes back, all hell breaks loose. It’s a candid commentary on an all-too-prevalent behavior among controlling young men and the very notion of the damsel in distress in many film genres — chief among them the Western.

Overall, “Damsel” manages to take the mythic imagery of the West — figures in a landscape, characters leaving on horseback — and turn them into a grotesquely artificial realm, rather than a spiritual one. Still, there’s a strong presence of salvation and its pointlessness. Baptismal imagery pervades the first act, with Samuel arriving by boat and washing the drunken Parson in the coastline. In this West, everyone is looking for some connection, some opportunity to change themselves (or someone else), yet are met with nothing but loneliness and existential anxiety. The land swallows them whole and finding a new life is nothing more than peeing in the wind. It’s the American Dream as absurdist nightmare. The Zellners scream this point from a cliff — the film’s ideas are often presented as too on the nose to land with any power.

One case where this does work, however, is toward the end of the film. In this scene, Parson is having a fireside chat with Native American Chief Running Bear (Joe Billingiere). Parson gives a desperate, impassioned speech in which he begs Running Bear to take him in and show him the ways of indigenous culture. Running Bear responds simply: “What is wrong with you?” The Zellners bring not only the myth of the West, but also the bizarre desires of their characters to their knees here in the film’s only skirmish with the privilege of whiteness. It’s an amazing scene that leaves more to be desired from the film as a whole. Overall, the audience is left with an undoubtedly unusual and, frankly, fun experience of genre deconstruction, one with a lot on its mind and an absence of heart.

Grade: B

The post In ‘Damsel,’ the West is No Country for Thirsty Men appeared first on The Emory Wheel.