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The sound of bottles crashing to the floor cut through the bass-enriched wall of sound that rattles ears and shakes the ground. People laugh and drink their $5 bottles of beer and attempt, albeit somewhat hampered by intoxicating circumstances, to move their bodies to the music while the strobe lights, amplified by the fog that fills the building, makes everything look ridiculously cool.
This pretty much explains any night at the SmartBar, located next-door to the Metro in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. However, Tuesday night was no ordinary night, as electronic musician Moby showed off his skills on the turntables in a free event sponsored by Myspace Secret Shows.
Most listeners will be familiar with Moby through his 1999 breakthough hit album, "Play" even if they might be completely unaware of it. The album had a huge commercial presence, with every track appearing in movie trailers, commercials, or television shows.
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However, Moby's career has consisted of more than commercially acceptable, light electronic work. Before adopting the Moby moniker, he played bass for a hardcore punk band that went by the name of the Vatican Commandos. Far more relevant to this occasion, however, is the fact Moby has made a name for himself DJing at various clubs world-wide.
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There must be a distinction made between Moby's recorded work, and his presence on the dancefloor. While a good chunk of Moby's discography can best be described as "background music", his work as a DJ is rife with energy. The artist has a unique ability to take the club standards that have been saturating the foggy airspace of every mildly trendy nightclub in the nation, and make them relevant and fresh.
The atmosphere of the night could best be compared to Daft Punk's debut album, "Homework", which unlike the significantly more polished and commercially friendly releases from the band released afterwards, pretty much captures the club scene in its entirety. There are no real songs, just sonic explorations exploring every influence from hip-hop to old school rock-and-roll to virtually every electronic genre known to man.
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The focus isn't on the individual artists being blended together, or name-dropping to maintain one's hipper-than-thou image. It's about bring a loose collective of people together, and forming a community through sound, atmosphere, and dance, if only for one night.
Nathaniel Goddard, a 21-year-old Video Game Design major at Columbia College, immediately noticed the atmosphere within the club.
GODDARD: Moby got on the stage and all hell broke loose. That's when the atmosphere came alive and you could get a really big drift of what's going on. The lights mixed really well with the music, the crowd was energized, everyone was really energized, and they just kind of played off each other.
Jeremy Khan, a 21-year-old video game programming major noticed a community not based off names or faces, but through the interaction with the music.
KHAN: It's kind of non-verbal communication thing. People knew what you were thinking, you know all they want to do is rock out, or so to speak since it was a club. That was pretty much how it was the entire out, people just non-verbally communicating and dancing and having a good time.
For Columbia College, this has been Josh Sambdman, signing out.
There's a common stereotypical image of vinyl records, and the stores that sell them, that most of the populous tends to share. Odds are, these stores will be dimly -lit, the shelves will be covered with a fine layer of dust, and newest item in stock will be Steely Dan's debut LP. Although this assumption may have been correct five years ago, the vinyl record has seen a huge boom in popularity.
A simple walk into Reckless Records, located on Broadway Ave. in the Lakeview neighborhood should show a picture stark in contrast with the stereotype of yesteryear. There's rarely a time between opening and closing where swarms of concerned music fans and audiophiles aren't rummaging through the racks, looking for those rare limited-pressings or the new reissue of some classic album.
The material being sold is no longer restricted to the likes of classic rock stables and Simon and Garfunkel. Now, popular independent artists have taken to the format in full force, and even the soundtrack to last-year's big hit "Juno" is available on vinyl.
The most surprising aspect, however, is that a large majority of these people will be young.
Experts have many opinions as to why the vinyl format is becoming increasing popular amongst the college-age population. A spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America, commonly referred to as the RIAA, said that although the organization itself hasn't done any extensive studies on the matter, he personally thinks that vinyl records are possible because they're the "classic way of getting classic music. It's about nostalgia and turning listening to albums from a passive affair to an experience."
Matt Jencik, a buyer for Reckless Records, said the motivation is of a more personal matter.
"These kids of the digital age might have harddrives full of music, but they've got nothing to show for it," said Jencik. "Record collections are more personal. You can actually hold them, smell them, even taste them if you really wanted."
However, official studies into this matter can prove difficult, as it's current popularity is far more prevalent on the more "underground" level than it is in the mainstream. Additionally, a great deal of the sales making up the trend are used records, which can make the numbers even harder to gather.
A representative from Chicago record label Touch and Go, which includes acts such as Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, !!!, Slint, and the Chicago noise-rock act Big Black, said that although the label has seen an increase in vinyl sales from their catalog, the numbers don't add up to the current trend.
The RIAA's consumer reports, available to the public on their website, do indicate a slight increase in vinyl albums (referred to by their industry name, LP, which stands for Long Playing format), these numbers only reflect the sales of the major labels, and the various smaller labels under their control. Until studies that cover the entire range of the industry are conducted, the full range of this trend will be somewhat a mystery.
It's impact, however, can be felt in record stores throughout the nation, especially Reckless.
"We probably sell around 60% to 70% more LPs than we do compact discs (CDs)," said Jencik.
Although experts might have a multitude of reasons they believe the consumer is embracing the vinyl format, considering their close ties with the industry, there's a significant chance some bias might slip in. To get to the real reasoning behind this trend, one has to talk to the fans.
"I'm just a big fan of the package in general," Phoebe Madison, a 22-year-old resident of the Lakeview community, said as she was browsing through the racks of records. "They've just got a warmer sound to them, and the album
"I'd definitely put that on my wall," said Madison.
"I know makes me sound like a bit of a jackass, but the sound quality on vinyl is just better than CDs or digital. It's fact, " said Noel Fotz, a Lakeview resident. "If you want to get technical, and I assume you do, vinyl is always going to have a better sound quality, because it's not compressed like a CD. When you compress something, it's going to lose quality. A lot of people might say it's not really noticeable enough to really matter, and it's probably not, but I still think vinyl's the way to go. Besides, if sound quality's not important, you can usually get vinyl for pretty damn cheap, and I think that appeals to everyone."
"It's definitely a trend now," said Madison. "I mean, you can go into Urban Outfitters and buy turntables and record frames. That's the definition of trendy. I'm sure vinyl's just going to get more and more popular, because that's what hipsters do. They embrace something, and make it popular, drive up the price, and kill it. We might as well enjoy it while we have the chance."
---------Sources------------
Touch and Go representative
Didn't provide name
Email interview, April 15th
info@tgrec.com
Matt Jencik, Buyer, Reckless
34
Email interview, April 15th
(773) 404-9588
matt@reckless.com
Phoebe Madison
22
Lakeview Resident
In-person interview, April 13th
feebeefofum@yahoo.com
RIAA spokeperson
Didn't provide name
(202)775-0101
Phone interview, April 15th
Documents:
Recording Industry Association of America
Consumer trends
http://riaa.com/keystatistics.php?content_selector=consumertrends
Accessed on April 15th
by J. DePaolis and Josh Sambdman
Even as the Chicago Cubs face their 100th year since winning a World
Series title this season, and more so, even as they lost their second
game of the year, still their fans packed the stands for another day.
The beloved northsiders lost in a blowout Wednesday to the Milwaukee
Brewers 8-2, dropping their record to a
Wrigley Field, one of the oldest ballparks still used in Major League Baseball, is one of the most hallowed grounds in professional sports. It is the site of the infamous Babe Ruth’s called shot, historic seasons and collapses, and most important is its beauty. The ivy on the outfield walls, the brainchild of past owner P.K. Wrigley, is the most iconic part of a ballpark that has recently
Sam Zell, the owner of the Chicago Tribune (and thus, the Tribune-owned Cubs). has went on record saying he’d like to sell the team and the field separate, so he can make more money. He even is considering selling naming rights to Wrigley Field. Fans, up in arms over the decisions Zell is considering, have complained to newspapers, and even the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich has expressed his desire to see the city buy the field so that it can remain the home of the Cubs.
While time will tell what happens with the Cubs 100th year of futility, and likewise of their impending sale, one thing is for sure: regardless of what happens, fans will be back in the bleachers next year.
As always with this group, it’s wait till next year.
