What's up you guys?

This week has been...unconsciously long, so to bring my mood up I've been listening to songs. A lot of you probably don't know, but I love Korean music. Like, I LOVE Korean Music, it is awesome,  poppy and, in my opinion, a lot more entertaining than American music. Just saying. Anyways, as I was saying, I was listening to "Knock Out" by G-D and T.O.P. , two popular Korean rappers, when I realized that I've never seen this duo perform the song on popular music shows like they did their other songs. This struck me as strange because the song had received a lot of positive feedback and quickly gained popularity, so as I did with Rebecca Black, I did some research. Apparently, the song was banned because of the inappropriate lyrics the song displayed, but when you really look into it, the lyrics, or word, that was found 'inappropriate' was "bbeokigayo." Bbeokigayo is a slang word that literally means "Knock Out." The word was deemed inappropriate because of the lack of 'real meaning' behind it. This seemed like such a a dumb reason to me that I had to go into the way songs are 'censored' in Korea.

When a song is deemed inappropriate by the media, such as live music shows, they are banned from being performed. This then leads the artists or their label company to change those specific aspects of the song until it is allowed to be performed. A lot of the times a song is labeled as inappropriate because lyrics either hint or promote sex, drugs, or any ideas that are seen as morally wrong by society. This, to me, is ridiculous in comparison to the songs played on the radio in America today. Korean lyrics seem to be nothing in comparison to the American songs today that promote sex, drugs, partying, and straight up inappropriate behavior. Personally, I think the Koreans take it too far in deciding whether a song is appropriate or inappropriate. There are also times in which a song is considered inappropriate because the music video to the song contains 'unneeded' material that promotes unlawful activities.

Here is a list of popular songs that were originally banned from being performed on music shows. These songs have either had their lyrics changed to fit the criteria of an appropriate song, or they have not and are continued to be banned for it.

1. GD & TOP- Knock Out This song was banned due to the slang word bbeokigayo
2. DBSK- Mirotic The lyrics in the song were deemed too sexual
3. Rain- Love Song In the MV of this song, Rain is seen running on the street, an illegal act in Korea
4. GD & TOP- Don't Go Home The rap in this song was deemed to have inappropriate lyrics
5. Taeyang- Move This song's lyrics were said to be dirty
6. Taeyang- Take It Slow The lyrics were said to be dirty
7. Taeyang- After You Fall Asleep the lyrics are said to be dirty
8. Se7en- Drips  The song was also said to have inappropriate lyrics                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

It's time for Quaver's Quick Review, Take 2!

Do Make Say Think’s album, Other Truths may seem like a ripoff at first. For full album price, you get only 4 songs! However, the shortest song on the album is only 8:03, and the album has nearly 45 minutes of beautiful music.

The four tracks on the album are titled after the four words in the band’s title. The Canadian Band wrote these songs in the two year span between their critically acclaimed album You, You’re a History in Rust. The songs typically repeat their unique riff over and over again in different ways throughout each song, resulting in a jazzy feel. The only vocals in the song are moans from Akron/Family, another experimental rock band from Oregon. 

The album cover for Other Truths. Good luck finding the title of the album, or the band's name.

The first track, Do, is hands down the best track of the album. The song starts off with a slow guitar riff, and you can hear the guitarist’s hands slide up and down the neck. Once the drums and bass kick in though, you feel more motivated. This is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I’m trying to get things done, as it gets me motivated. The stereo effects in this song are also pretty fantastic. With good headphones, when I close my eyes, I can tell approximately where all the sounds are coming from. The drummer is right in front of me, the bassist on the left, and the guitarist on the right. Do is a beautiful track, and is definitely worth a listen. Every time I hear it, something new pops out.

Unfortunately, the next three tracks aren’t nearly as epic as Do is, but still hold their own as fantastic songs. Make starts off with a slow jazzy bit, but doesn’t quite pick up or capture the imagination quite like Do does. It has some cool drum beats and some interesting harmonies, but the song lacks the appeal that Do has. It isn’t as driving. Some of those rum beats that come in about about 5 minutes in the song are beautiful to listen to though.

Say is the longest track on the album, starts out with nothing but some quiet, screechy guitar feedback. However, then a lonely bass line breaks the near silence, and opens up the slow, mournful ballad quite well. About three minutes into the song, the song builds up to a melancholy climax. A fun thing to do with this song when you’re feeling sad is to play it simultaneously with rainymood.com. The rain really brings out the slow, mournful jazz songs. Say is really quite beautiful.

Think is, in my opinion, the runt of the album. It is the shortest song, at only 8 minutes. It is the jazziest feeling song, and doesn’t quite build up to the same climactic choruses that the other songs do. The main riff is a slow jazzy guitar riff that is inquisitive in nature. As the ringing of the strings subsides, it feels like the guitar is asking a very open-ended question.

Overall, this album is a must-buy. All four of the songs are fantastic in many situations, and are calming and pleasing to listen to. As the average attention span of a human shortens, and songs feel the need to be as imposing as possible to gain popularity. Do Make Say Think has hit it out of the park with this one, and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. 

--
Quaver

Tuesday, March 22nd, Chris Brown angrily stormed out of the Good Morning America TV studio after smashing a window in his dressing room and tearing off his shirt.

In 2009, Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna. In his GMA interview, host Robin Roberts asked him questions about his Rihanna situation, though he was expecting questions about his new album "F.A.M.E". During the interview, Brown was obviously uncomfortable with the questions, but Roberts persisted. Brown later said, "I really kind of kept my composure throughout the whole interview, although you can see me upset. When I got back I just let off steam. I didn't physically hurt anyone, I didn't try to hurt anyone, I just wanted to release the anger that I had inside me because I felt that I worked so hard for this music and I felt like people kept just trying to take it away from me. I got very emotional, and I wanna apologize for acting like that."
 
However, it seems the publicity has done Brown good. According to an Apple spokesman, Brown's album, "F.A.M.E", on the Jive record label, was the top downloaded album on Apples' iTunes store the first day it was released.

Fans seem to be split on Brown's actions. On a MTV message board, an enthusiastic fan writes, "We love you Chris!! There's no reason for anyone to even ask him about Rihanna anymore, ABC should have had something better to talk about as that is old".

Brown is also scheduled to preform on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars". Thousands of fans of the show are expressing their outrage. "His freak out on GMA proves how scary and unpredictable he is. If ABC does not do the right thing and ban him, I will have no choice but to not watch that episode," wrote chadcronin on the official "Dancing" message boards.

Personally, I believe Brown's Outburst was unprofessional and uncalled for, especially since he's already swimming in deep water. He should have handled it in a more professional manner.

You can go here, here, or here to learn more about this issue.

<3 NatAttack

All right you guys, I know many of you have already heard about "Friday" by Rebecca Black and I know a lot of you either groan or laugh when it is mentioned, but we still have to remember guys, she's only human. 

Hey guys, it's time for Quaver's Quick Reviews! Every Friday, I will review some artist that hopefully few of you have never heard of.

Chiptunes is a underground form of music which is made by a Gameboy and a modified cartridge Rainbowdragoneyes, a self-proclaimed “one-man killing machine” meshes poppy 8-bit instruments with slightly disturbing auto-tuned lyrics. Rainbowdragoneyes first gained notoriety when a song from this album, “Creatures ov Deception” was put on Rock Band. Rainbowdragoneyes then gained popularity for authoring one of the fastest and hardest charts in the game, and doing it with one of the poppier tunes in the franchise. However, the lyrics are a far cry from the pop hits of today, as Rainbowdragoneyes screams about twisted forms of torture and death as he alternates between an autotuned voice and deep metal growling. All songs from this album can be found on the artist's website. 

The bottom half of the album had to be censored for your viewing pleasure.

Released on March 3rd, Rainbowdragoneyes' second album opens with a song named after that date. The album opens with some simple synthesized sounds that are uncharacteristic of the rest of the album. 3.3.11 isn’t particularly catchy, and it has no lyrics. It feels like the red-headed-step song of this album.

The next song, Creatures ov Deception shows off Rainbowdragoneyes’ characteristic’s style (and hatred of the letter ‘f’). The 8-bit intro is simple and cheerful, and feels great. Soon after the poppy synthesizers, the man behind the music begins to sing. With a slightly Slavic timber, Rainbowdragoneyes belts out lyrics about disguised alien creatures who burn down a village. The singer’s perspective switches between from a hero who attempts to fight off the disguised aliens, and the monsters themselves. This all occurs while the the happy, poppy, catchy Gameboy chiptune music plays in the background.

After Creatures of Deception, the album’s titular song sounds similar, but the synthesizers take on a more mellow tone, and Rainbowdragoneyes begins to growl more and more. The quest for an elixir of truth is diagrammed. There is one particularly nasty verse that is growled in the satanic language Enochian. The vocal pattern to this song however, sounds exactly like Creatures ov Deception. I hoped that there would be more variety.

This song changes up the formula used in the past two songs and incorporates more of a jazzy feel. The background synthesizers are more upbeat, but the lyrics detail a horrible, horrible torture. A lot of the lyrics in this album are just unnecessarily cruel and violent. Rape Castle, in particular, uses many inappropriate words and has lewd suggestions. Other songs deal with cannibalism, and he makes many references to his favorite pastime: devouring Christians. According to the the artist, “they are more pleasing to the pallet [sic] and the also scream the loudest”.

Overall, I really enjoyed the instrumental tracks. All of the tunes were catchy, and the instruments used brought back nostalgic memories of Mario and Link on the old-school Gameboy. However, I am disappointed with the death metal lyrics. I am not a fan of normal death metal, but chiptunes are an undiscovered, underutilized form of geeky music that will hopefully become more commonplace in the future.

Motorhead at SXSW 2008		.