FEATURES
Kenny Chesney Remembers Eddie Van Halen: Raw Talent, Hard Work + Friendship
The first time I heard Van Halen was in my friend David Farmer’s garage. We’d had football practice, and I went over to his house after. His uncle was playing this music I’d never heard before, and I remember thinking, ‘What IS this?’ It made me want to move. It made me curious. It made the blood go through my veins a little quicker — and want to know more about where it came from. At my house, we’d heard a lot of country music, and whatever my mom and Aunt Sharon were listening to. But this was something very different. The tone of Eddie’s guitar, the way he played… the way the whole band played. It hit a sweet spot in me that never left. I didn’t know that I’d grow up and make music for a living, but I knew whatever I did, this would be part of it. Raw talent and hard work...
This “Album Nutrition” Instagram Page Breaks Down Your Favorite Artists’ Most Used Words
Ever wonder what your favorite album’s most used words are? Well Album Nutrition is the Instagram for you. The page has created a new way to break down how you listen to albums by sharing the serving size—also known as the number of tracks—the word count, which words were used most, the release date, and the genre. How many words you should be consuming for a healthy musical diet is up to you. So far the page has broken down over 50 albums, including DAMN by Kendrick Lamar, ASTROWORLD by Travis Scott, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish, and Bangarang by Skrillex, which apparently has 8 “Shshshshshshouts” in it. Seeing what lyrics were repeatedly used throughout can help better understand the type of writers these artists are. Some aren...
Remembering Cookie Monsta: A Dubstep Pioneer and a Paragon of Kindness
Last Friday, the world lost a true electronic music icon and innovator. Tony Cook, better known as Cookie Monsta, passed away on October 2nd, 2020 at the age of 31. He left behind a storied legacy as a pioneer of the dubstep genre, an innovator of music production, and most importantly, an exemplary character and friend to all. Hailing from Nottingham, United Kingdom, Cook picked up music production as a child via Music 2000, a studio simulator game that allowed the player to create music and accompanying videos. After beginning to produce music seriously in college using Reason software, Cook performed at a college party, receiving rave reviews and pushing him to pursue a career in music. Thus, Cookie Monsta was born. Drawing influence from Rusko‘s sound, Cook began ...
5 Innovation Driven Predictions in Science and Technology
1. Capturing and transforming CO2 to mitigate climate change In the next five years, we will be able to capture CO2 from the air and transform it from the scourge of the environment into something useful. The goal is to make CO2 capture and reuse efficient enough to scale globally so we can significantly reduce the level of the harmful CO2 in the atmosphere and, ultimately, slow climate change. 2. Modelling Mother Nature to feed a growing citizenry while reducing carbon emissions In the next five years, we will replicate nature’s ability to convert nitrogen in the soil into nitrate-rich fertilizer, feeding the growing world while reducing the environmental impact of fertilizers. We’ll come up with an innovative solution to enable nitrogen fixation at a sustainable scale and help feed the w...
He Really Got Me: How Eddie Van Halen Turned ‘80s Kids Into Rock Believers
Growing up in a house with musically obsessed parents ended up being a gift, but when I was 7, it was a nuisance. Car rides packed with blaring rock music (what’s now classic rock) were annoying, especially for a kid who was only interested in baseball. Dylan, Springsteen, the Dead, the Allmans and even U2 would cut away from Mets score updates. Then summer 1988 happened. Riding back from Atlantic Beach on a mundane summer late afternoon, I heard something on the radio. ”WHAT IS THIS?!” I exclaimed. My parents, sporting bemused grins, turned to each other, then to me. “It’s Van Halen,” my mother said. “Who is Ben Heaven?!” I asked. “NO, Van Halen!” “What’s this song and what is this sound?” “It’s ‘Jump’ and those are synthesizers.” That innocuous encounter ended up introducing me to the fi...
Porter Robinson’s Secret Sky of Connectivity to Japanese Culture
It’s been six magical years since Porter Robinson’s Worlds album debuted in August of 2014. Ever since, Robinson’s unique sound, which is inspired by electro house and synth-pop, has captivated millions of fans from around the world—especially from the country of Japan. In May 2020, Robinson’s virtual “Secret Sky” music festival aired to four million fans worldwide, all spewing with excitement for his debut virtual set. Robinson himself is a huge anime fan and has always been in love with Japanese culture, consistently integrating some sort of related symbol into his songs, visuals, album covers, and live performances. His love for Japanese culture stemmed from Nintendo and Pokémon, but he also grew up watching anime and listening to Japanese music. His respect and admira...
Fenestra Launches Workshops to Show Visually Impaired Musicians the Art of Electronic Music Creation
Fenestra is a blooming global initiative that seeks to support visually impaired creatives in the discovery of electronic music production. Created in 2017, the initiative was developed in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, by the non-governmental organization Artes Liberales. Today, there are over 1.3 million people who have visual impairment. Perhaps due to their condition, these individuals are 4,000 times more likely to have perfect pitch, a coveted trait among professional musicians. Fenestra began with a mission to serve these visually impaired creatives and assist in their endeavors from a creative perspective. Fenestra is all about discovering the realms of possibility when it comes to electronic music creation. To that end, organizers have been diligent in aligning with m...
2022 Subaru BRZ: Everything We Know About the Miata Fighter
Subaru’s BRZ sports car skips the 2021 model year as it gears up for a redesign. Before you go out and snap up one of the remaining 2020 models left on dealer lots, take a look with us at its upcoming replacement. Marking the model’s second generation, the 2022 BRZ will build on the bones of its predecessor by welcoming significant dynamic and styling improvements. In other words, the 2022 Subaru BRZ promises to fix the foibles of its forebear while continuing to affordably deliver rear-drive sports car athleticism. 2022 Subaru BRZ: Turbo Power? Despite sharing its basic rear-drive architecture with the prior BRZ, the new model ought to benefit from a number of dynamic alterations, including additional chassis bracing and reworked suspension pieces. Nevertheless, we expect...
Why Africa Needs to Take Advantage of the Cloud
Sourced from ZDNet. As a unified online platform for communication and collaboration, the cloud is now widely considered to be one of the most valuable resources we have at our disposal. It’s reported that by the end of 2020, 82% of workloads globally will reside on the cloud and more than 40 zettabytes of data will be flowing through cloud servers and networks. If African businesses are to take advantage of the opportunities that the cloud will present in the next decade, there are some key numbers we should all be paying attention to: 402.5 GB That’s how much data European and American broadband subscribers used on average every month during the first quarter of 2020. This reflects an increase of 47% in broadband data usage from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. Of ...
4 Trends Shaping the Healthcare Industry in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has led the headlines in defining the challenge facing our healthcare systems this year – says Dr Ryan Noach, CEO of Discovery Health. “We have closely followed and analysed the local and global trajectory of the pandemic and have identified a tipping point for healthcare consumers to access healthcare differently, revealing opportunities for greater efficiencies in the future.” Four key trends have emerged as currently dominant in shaping the healthcare industry: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted typical healthcare patterns and created discontinuity in the supply and demand of healthcare services. The global focus on patient-centric care is driving demand for improved quality of care and healthcare outcomes. Providers and consumers are increasingly leveraging digit...
Scrap the Small-Block V-8 Swap and Sub in This Literal Tesla Crate Motor
The term “crate engine” has long been used to describe engines you could buy (typically hotted-up or modified) and install in the car or project of your choosing. Why the name, though? Because the engines ship in crates. Often, the word “engine” is used interchangeably with the word “motor,” a casual oversight of the distinction between an internal-combustion engine and a motor, which we typically use to describe an electric power source. Until now. Go ahead and call EV West’s Revolt Systems Tesla electric powertrain swap what it is: A crate motor. Literally, that’s what this wonderful creation is. A crated electric motor. Even better, it’s a bolt-in setup gunning to replace one of the most common crate engine choices out there, GM...
Pathwaves Music Production Camp for Women and Nonbinary Artists Slated for November
Placing a much-needed spotlight on marginalized identities in the music industry, a Berlin-based music program called Pathwaves is offering a production camp this November for women and nonbinary folks. Sponsored by Ableton and APRA AMCOS, an Australia-based music rights organization, the program will take place November 2nd to 6th, with some events streamed for attendees located outside of Berlin. Acceptance into the program will occur via an application process closing October 5th. Selected participants—primarily engineers and producers—will be invited to create work in a professional studio during the camp, where they’ll be mentored on technical skills through masterclasses and hands-on experiences. “The layered set-up of Pathwaves takes its inspiration from ...
