Thursday, December 20, 2012

Music Review: Karmin

Recently, I've been listening to the band Karmin a lot, which has some really catchy songs and a very interesting style.  It's a pop duo consisting of Amy Hiedmann and Nick Louis Noonan, two very talented musicians. It's really unique and doesn't easily fit into any one particular genre- a mix of hip-hop, rap, pop, and alternative can be found in their music.  The sound is very distinguishable and stands out from the otherwise homogeneous collection of typical pop music. They've recieved more attention lately with songs playing on the radio like "Brokenhearted," and "Hello."

One of my favorites by them is "I told you so," a catchy song that isn't as well known as their hit yet just as well done. The rhythm is upbeat and captivating, the chorus is simple yet catchy with some really nice harmonics, and the rap is well done. The rap, especially in the second verse, rivals that of popular artist Nicki Manaj, going really fast and delievering lyrics that are less meaningless. Amy's rap makes her talented yet underrated. However, the duo is indeed gaining popularity.

The partnership seems to work very well- Amy raps and Nick plays different instruments, including trombone and guitar. He also provides back up vocals,  and his good voice makes him a really underrated yet nonetheless talented musician. Amy can also play guitar and sings, and so the two are able to produce some excellent and varied songs.They started primarily by doing covers of various artists and posting them on Youtube. Because of their hits, Amy has started to become the face of their band, which is unfortunate seeing as Nick does great backup and insturmentals.

All in all, Karmin has been getting more attention lately by many people including myself, and it is very likely that the talent, the unique sound and the catchy hits will continue to gain popularity. Links to some of their songs below.

I Told You So: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEalWO4IjC4
Brokenhearted: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8cbak34DR0
Hello: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_I0DBUA_GI

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Frankly Speaking...

"...the best of us did not return."

Apparently, though I don't remember initiating this, I am a fan on Facebook of Donald Trump's page for the Celebrity Apprentice. One of the posts they made which recently showed up on my news feed asked the question, "Would you backstab to get ahead in the workplace?" Seeing as how I don't even remember signing up for updates from the page, I didn't comment on it, and it left my mind for awhile. The above quote from Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning made  me think of it again.

One of the themes in the powerful narrative that Frankl presents us is what happens to people in horrible situations. Do we abandon our values, our morals, and our very identity as it is stripped away from us? Or do we still have them to cling to when we suffer? We've spent time in class discussing this very idea and question.

I think that it's much more important to hold onto morals and to who you are than to trade them for something. Naturally, this is much easier to say than to do, especially in a situation as dark as the holocaust where life and death were dependent on that very decision. But whenever possible, it's important to hold onto who you are and the values you hold than to trade them off. If you loose those, you might as well be dead. Your identity, who you are, is important, and what are you without it?

The Apprentice practically runs on the famous motto, "it's nothing personal. It's just business." But we're human- our entire lives have personality to them. The workplace, albeit less personal, is still a place where people interact and where people are people. Our world functions with relationships and with people and personalities. I don't think that business is an excuse to remove identity and justify wrongness in order to get ahead.

Frankl's narrative helped me get that idea. Even in the darkest situations, where everything is removed from you and life and death hangs in the balance, morals and identity shouldn't be abandoned, but clung to. The choice wasn't to live or die, but to die whole or live empty. Of course, this was one of the worst chapters of human history and that decision was very real and very hard- I by no means mean any disrespect to the survivors of the holocaust. If anything, I simply mean that if there is a choice to keep your identity or relinquish it for an advantage, that your identity is more important. Frankl's narrative is a more extreme account of that idea.

A comment on The Apprentice question of backstabbing to get ahead read, simply, "it's nothing personal, it's just business." Frankly, I disagree.