The blues could be described as less of a genre and more of a feeling or sentiment toward a past many of us have heard of but didn’t personally experience. Or maybe the blues was an early coping mechanism for many living through hard times in the early to mid 1900s. As with other forms of music with a historically black origin, there are many pioneers that have been forgotten, and I think it is important to mention them in order to understand why music has arrived at its current intersection of a genre-less approach. You may know about a song called “Crossroads” by Cream, which could have been the reason why Eric Clapton decided to name a festival after it. You may also know that the final song on the infamous album Blood Sugar Sex Magik is “They’re Red Hot” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Except for the fact that neither of these songs were originally composed by Cream or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were created by Robert Leroy Johnson. He lived only for 27 years in the Mississippi Delta region, but like many other greats from his time, his work went largely unrecognized until years after his death. Many view him as an early influencer to the British Blues movement that blossomed in the fifties and sixties with artists like Muddy Waters and bands like Cream and The Yardbirds. There is a legend that Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a local crossroads in order to achieve the musical success that he did in his short but impactful life. Whether this is true or not, one thing is for sure. We would not have the musical maturity and familiar ideas in blues without the recordings of those songs he made. Robert was elected in 1986 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is one of the most influential black musicians that I can think of who may often be overlooked. Playlist here.

A diverse collection of some of the sharpest raps from hip-hop's various sub cultures. Listen here.

I interviewed Yung Heazy and we talk a lot about musical creation, doing things you are passionate about, and bedroom pop. Link to his tunes here. Watch the interview here.

Here's a playlist that's good for driving. :)

The Ryne Experience, who WIDR has had the pleasure of having for our Music at the Library Sessions and The Basement Show, recently released a new album called Funky Town on 4/20. This album has an incredible sound, and Ryne Clark adds to it with his distinct vocals and range. They play a lot with their sound in this album, ranging from an indie/alt rock vibe to a more folky, funky one. Throughout Funky Town, they have some fantastic guitar riffs and melodies. The song that starts the album, titled “Paul Mashake,” has a groovy guitar melody that ends with a fantastic guitar solo. We have the pleasure of hearing this all throughout the album. They also change it up by adding some different instruments in tracks, like the folky harmonica in “NFC” and the cello in “Moonrise.” This added variety that really rounded out the album. Clark accompanies the music, and many of the tracks showcase strong and flowing harmonies. They utilized cool changes of tempo throughout some of them that kept things interesting as well. “Inner Run” was one that I thought was a lot of fun to listen to. The verses are upbeat, with quick guitar and drums, and slows down a ton into a vibey chorus. There is so much stuff I could point out about the album, but I’ll end here. The Ryne Experience has created a great, strong album, and I’m excited to see where they go next. Go give one of Kalamazoo’s locals some love and support of their new album, they deserve it!

Hi guys! I don’t know about everyone else, but I had a very real musical phase in high school where at times the majority of what I listened to was musical soundtracks. Maybe that’s because I was in the pit orchestra and always around them or because I was a huge band geek in general. Even if you didn’t listen to them growing up, I think there’s a lot to love with musical soundtracks. The music very much reflects the story that the musical is telling and is intertwined with that story. For that reason, musicals are a great way to explore different genres and styles of music. I think there are many ways to enjoy music with other art mediums and musicals are a great way to do so. To get you started here are a few of my favorite musicals chosen mostly because they have my favorite soundtracks but obviously there are a lot of other great ones out there. 1. The Book of Mormon If you have a truly sick sense of humor and a love for jazz music, this is the musical for you. It tells the story of two Mormon missionaries who go to Uganda to share the word of God which doesn’t turn out to be as easy as expected. If it tells you anything about how twisted this musical is, it was written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Robert Lopez. I grew up in a religious family, so I find the religious themes of this musical extra funny. Some of the things that the music of The Book of Mormon excels in are reaching great climaxes (very high energy, exciting moments) and combining elements of different songs into individual phrases in a beautiful way. 2. In the Heights In the Heights, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of the Latin-American population in Washington Heights. Through the music, In the Heights depicts the very real struggles that immigrants go through when coming to the United States in a very emotive way. The music has a consistently Latin style but varies between moods and tempos. The musical is mostly in English but does have a fair bit of Spanish mixed in. If you want a high energy and very emotional musical, In the Heights is the musical for you. 3. La La Land I hate myself a little bit for including this one since it isn’t the best depiction of jazz culture, but I really do love La La Land for its soundtrack. La La Land tells the story of an actress and a jazz musician who fall in love whilst navigating the challenges of having a creative career in Los Angeles. The music is primarily jazz based and has very warm, romantic tones to mirror their love story. A fair bit of the music is quite sad as well as the story depicts a realistic modern romance. I’d also like to note how beautiful the cinematography is in this movie especially with the use of color. This musical doesn’t have the talent of Broadway singers but regardless, it has a wonderful and fun soundtrack. 4. Heathers: The Musical Heathers: The Musical is based on the 1980’s cult classic film, Heathers, which tells the story of emotion in teenagers during high school and their cruel behavior towards each other. This musical leads a little more towards a rock/pop sound than the other musicals which it uses to its advantage to depict the stories of emotionally unstable young people. The music is very punchy, high energy, and extraordinarily fun. 5. Crazy for You Crazy for You is the only musical on this list that I performed in during high school, so it holds a special place in my heart. The musical was written by Ken Ludwig and the music was written by the American Jazz composer, George Gershwin. The story takes place in Deadrock, Nevada the 1930’s and is about a love triangle between a girl, a boy, and that boy impersonating Bela Zangler, owner of Zangler’s Follies in New York. Together and with others they attempt to save an old theatre in the girl’s hometown while they navigate their feelings for one another. I would attempt to provide a better description of this musical but as the title suggests, it is quite crazy. My love for the soundtrack comes from my love for Gershwin whose broadway jazz style is incredibly exciting and dramatic. 6. Be More Chill Last and probably the strangest is Be More Chill which tells the story of high schooler Jeremy who desperately wants to be cooler and allows an unknowingly evil supercomputer into his brain to do so. The music is primarily rock with many horror and videogame-esque elements to fit the futuristic theme. What I really like about this soundtrack is how raw and honestly weird it is. One of the tracks, “Michael in the Bathroom” is about a kid hiding in the bathroom during a party which ends up being incredibly heartwarming. This playlist has my favorite songs from these musicals as well as some of my other favorite musical tracks. I also recommend listening to these soundtracks/ watching these musicals in their entirety. Happy listening!

While everyone is stuck in quarantine, we are taking the time to catch up with some of our previous Music at the Library artists to see what they have been up to and what their future plans are as musicians. This week we featured Rob Lindsay! Check out the full interview here and the condensed version here.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the dudes from Dead Neighbors this week. I made a playlist of their favorites as of late. Check the interview out here and the playlist out here.

I grew up as a young kid loving skiing. It has always been one of my strong passions, largely fueled by Warren Miller’s film. Warren Miller was a ski filmmaker that created reflections of my childhood. Whether it be from scenes of base jumping, steep skiing in Chamonix, or just the sheer adrenaline that these films instill, it’s easy for me to miss that feeling. What causes this phenomena is not just attributed to the film shots, but actually the music. My music taste now has roots in these early films. My childhood musical leanings were strongly influenced by artists whose music was licensed for these films, and big names too, like The Kooks, Muse, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, and Foo Fighters. Take a kid who already watched extreme sports, place a top tier soundtrack in the film, and you have a perfect formula for nostalgia. I’ve created a playlist that encapsulates the best of Warren Miller tunes from his earlier 2000’s films if you want to relive the nostalgic memories you may have never had, but can appreciate. (Check it out here). And a closing quote from Warren that encapsulates life very well: “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older, when you do.”

This is a playlist I use for lucid dreaming or just relaxation music! Check it out here.

While everyone is stuck in quarantine, we are taking the time to catch up with some of our previous Music at the Library artists to see what they have been up to and what their future plans are as musicians. This week we featured Diego Agoytia! Check out the full interview here and the condensed version here.

To be fair, you must possess a very high IQ to truly understand and appreciate the genre that is vaporwave. It’s all at once a rejection of corporate agendas and canned music, with the hazy imagery of abandoned malls, and facilitated by the groundbreaking technology of automating the playrate in your software. It makes me wonder at how, more than 60 years after the invention of music, artists still find a way to innovate, and push the boundaries even further. Vaporwave is a testament to humans’ natural impulse to explore the unknown. It’s a shame that this goes over a lot of people’s heads. Personally, I blame the government. I don’t think there’s much doubt that vaporwave is better when listened to in the cold, and especially at night. Imagine listening to Floral Shoppe driving on a warm summer day. Now imagine listening to it on a snowy winter day at night, in bed with the window open so the weed smell clears out. I’m sure there is a minority that will prefer listening to it during the day. There’s no accounting for taste. But a lot of very smart people are saying vaporwave is better in the cold. Why does that matter? Two words. Climate change. I’d say at least half of the country believes that science is real and that global warming has been increasingly accelerating since the Industrial Revolution. But a significant minority has bought the oligarchs’ anti-climate-change talking points hook, line, and sinker. This provides a significant issue for vaporwave. As the severity of the climate-change crisis heightens, the winter snow and cold nights that cradle the appeal and experience of vaporwave will vanish, meaning that, inevitably, the blood of vaporwave will be on the hands of the oligarchs. This political-corporate agenda to hinder climate change reform is solely because of vaporwave’s disestablishmentarianist implication, and its rejection of the corporate propaganda that has become ingrained in the American lifestyle. Anti-climate change is anti-vaporwave, and anti-vaporwave is anti-climate change. But as I said, a very large minority of everyday hardworking Americans have bought the corporate bridge, and have ingested the idea that vaporwave is stupid and environmental reform is part of a scam designed to make people live even longer (which I don’t think anyone wants). These ideas go hand in hand. Everyone has been fed from the corporate hand, and has the fingerprints of the hand that feeds all over their imaginations. The difference between those who believe and those who don’t, is that the ones that don’t believe, reject wage slavery, and think vaporwave is dope; they are super cool. And those who have bought that bridge and believe vaporwave is stupid and poor people deserve to die, are super lame and definitely weren’t allowed to sit at the cool table in high school. They think we’re too gullible to know better. Don’t let the nationalist wool cover your eyes. Climate change is real, and vaporwave is dope as fuck.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Harrison Cramer, a hip hop artist in the Multimedia Arts Technology program at WMU on behalf of WIDR Kalamazoo. Harrison's favorite album this year is Heathen from Gauvi. His favorite song from it is "Climate Change". Check out Harrison's most recent mixtape, The Pass Through here. Watch the interview here. If anyone reading this is interested in being interviewed, please shoot me an email at kyle.e.petronio@wmich.edu.

"I wanted the visuals to be menacing yet cartoonish. I liked the idea of something dark eventually breaking out even when the outer layer is trying everything in its power to keep it in," said Noah Shankool about his new music video for Creeping Up. The video is comprised of intimate shots of Shankool singing, dancing, and staring into the camera. The simple scenes fit the eerie mood set within the lyrics. He released the video today (Friday, May 15th). Check out the official video for Creeping Up here.

On April 3rd, Peach Pit released their second album, You and Your Friends. I proceeded to listen to the album multiple times that day, and I think that it is a strong follow-up to their first album Being So Normal and EP, Sweet FA. The smooth and easy sounding vocals of Neil Smith matched with his bandmate’s strong guitar melodies and riffs, bassline and quick drums really show their refined sound. The accompanying lyrics are often a bit down compared to their upbeat groovy sound, making it something that can be listened to when feeling many different emotions. You and Your Friends portrays some universally experienced situations using great metaphors like in the tracks “Black Licorice” and “Shampoo Bottles.” These are two of my favorites on the album and use these metaphors to describe the loneliness and aftermath of a breakup. Go check this album out and listen to the characters, stories, and metaphors told in their music! Check out their new album here!