I Listened to The Suburbs Again and it’s Still Good

I’ve had to spend more time than usual at work this week to take care of a big software project, which in the end has boiled down to a few days of getting to work before the sun came up, and leaving after it went down. The full moon just kinda followed me all the way to the office on Monday, and that was the first day that it felt like the weather realized what was going on and snapped into the appropriate temperature zone. The biscuit truck guy was wearing a fleece instead of a Hawaiian shirt, and it kind of felt like time to retire the bubblegum summer pop and punk playlist I’d been listening to since May.

I put on some spookier sounds to start (Lord Huron, we’ll get there eventually), and then somehow ended up back on that old Echosmith song, “Cool Kids,” which flipped right into their only other big single, and then “Reflektor,” which, hang on, is that a cover of the title track from that Arcade Fire album? I popped it on to check, and sure enough, yeah, that’s this song. I let that album run for a bit, and enjoyed it way more than I did the only other time I listened to it - back in 2013; the two discs on loan from the Howard County library system while I drove to go watch the Super Bowl at Gabi Garcia’s house. It’s kind of weird that I have such a specific memory of an album that I found mostly forgettable? Either way, I think I appreciated it a little more now - it’s definitely going for something different from “The Suburbs,” more dancey, less morose, equally pretentious. But then, I did the thing I always do whenever I listen to a bit of Arcade Fire - I started up “The Suburbs” again to see if I liked those other new tracks anywhere near as much as I love these old familiar ones, and yeah, sure enough, at least for me, nothing will ever come close to this album.

I don’t really know what it is, but if I had to guess, I think I’d say it’s because it was like the first non-Christian, non-Beatles album I ever listened to? It was the beginning of high school, my dad showed us this really neat Chrome thing that was scored with “We Used To Wait,” and for some reason I decided that I needed to listen to the album the track came from, so I did the same thing I later did with “Reflektor” and put the album on hold at the library. When it finally came in, I skipped through most of the tracks to get to “We Used to Wait,” but the song right before, “Deep Blue,” just opened with these super haunting vocals and guitar sounds, so I stopped there, and fell in love. I listened to a few of the other tracks, mostly disjointed from each other, but somehow still decided that this album was now my new favorite thing ever. I remember being really excited and defensive when it won at the Grammys, trying to explain to someone in my class who cared about the Grammys that “actually” it was a really cool album and was way better than whatever Katy Perry and Lady Gaga and eminem had put out that year. (Honestly, looking at those other albums now - “Teenage Dream,” “Fame Monster,” and “Recovery” respectively - I’m shocked I didn’t get made fun of in high school, because those are great albums and I was just a sheltered dork who thought that the Kardashians were the crab aliens from Star Trek.) After that, I put the album on my iPod nano, and would listen to it the rare mornings that I’d go for a run or would have to shovel snow. It just kind of became a thing I was into, and I tried my best to get my friends to be into it too. (Shoutouts to Kyle Weigle for getting into it with me, and still remembering that “Deep Blue” is my favorite track on that album.)

Either way, I listen to “The Suburbs” now almost annually, and I’m just always kinda surprised by how many of those weird lyrics I know by heart, and how deeply I’ve internalized and related to this legitimately corny album about how like, “the suburbs are killing the heart of America, man.” I think it’s because the whole thing is just the right amount of sad and reflective (and pretentious), and all the melodies are just super catchy. Nothing goes on for too long, and each track has something different and interesting to focus on before wrapping back in on itself and ending with such a quiet, serious reprisal. Anyways, I think the thing about “The Suburbs” that’s most important to me is the ending message from “We Used to Wait,” about writing a letter, taking your true self, putting it on the page, making it real, and then getting back out there and putting the waiting to an end. I dunno man, I just think it’s neat.

Song and Verse

Music, a Show About Music, and a Movie with Meaningful Words

Usually when I’m writing my articles, I like to read them out loud to make sure that they feel and sound right. This week, I cannot do that because I blew out my voice screaming during Battle of the Bands and blew out my hearing standing too close to the speakers at Battle of the Bands. So, after I’ve probably permanently damaged my capacity for consuming media¹, it seems only appropriate to talk about the last pieces of music, film, and TV that I was able to enjoy. Let’s go!

Superorganism (Music)

“Superorganism” is the recently released debut album from UK-based band/collective Superorganism.² I stumbled onto the absolutely bizarre music video for one of their singles, “Everybody Wants to Be Famous” near the end of last quarter, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting this album ever since. “Superorganism” seems to have evolved from the weird, lo-fi, deep fried, memefied “aesthetic” corner of YouTube, but instead of being grating and obnoxious, like some of those things that spawned it, “Superorganism” is super-chill easy listening. The album sports a unique sound design, with tracks dropping in and out, samples looping at variable speeds, trippy guitars sliding up and down, and a bevy of sound effects acting as a kind of souped-up percussion section. The whole thing is anchored by lead singer Orono Noguchi’s drowsy, hypnotic vocals, and each track sports a catchy, karaoke-worthy chorus. “Superorganism” is a product that can only exist because of the internet, not just because it’s about the internet, but because it absorbs a specific part of the internet’s mindset, tone, and punchlines, and gives that collage a meaningful form. This album is the result of passionate people taking memes very, very seriously, and it’s a joy to listen to. Standout tracks are “Something For Your M.I.N.D.” and “Nobody Cares.” Superorganism will be playing in Portland right after finals, on the 22nd, so give the album a listen, and if you like it, be sure make it out to their show. I’m pretty sure these weird, wonderful digital hipsters are going to be around for a while.

Atlanta (TV)

Donald Glover is a prodigy. He’s involved in every facet of the media landscape, writing for “30 Rock,” starring in “Community,” rapping as Childish Gambino, and stealing the spotlight as Lando in the upcoming Han Solo film. On top of and maybe because of all of this, “Atlanta” is his magnum opus. Combining pieces of all Glover’s earlier work, “Atlanta” is an FX comedy that ostensibly chronicles the rise of Atlanta rapper Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles (played by Brian Tyree Henry) and his cousin/manager Earnest “Earn” Marks (played by Glover). I say ostensibly because this is how Glover has himself described the show, calling the comedic rapper storyline a “trojan horse” designed to get him a show on FX where he could tell whatever kinds of stories he wanted to. The horse definitely made it into the network, because “Atlanta” frequently and joyously tells all sorts of crazy stories. Rapidly oscillating between drama and comedy³, “Atlanta” takes on strained relationships, issues of race and incarceration, and the realities of the neverending hussle that Earn and his friends face. “Atlanta” is beautifully directed (mostly by music video director Hiro Murai), it’s got a phenomenal soundtrack, and the short, half-hour comedy format is the perfect length for its singularly punchy stories. The show tackles one issue an episode, and does so without staying around too long or getting preachy. Each episode features plenty of variety, with great performances from not only Glover and Henry, but also from Lakeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz, who play Alfred’s conspiracy-theorist best friend Darius, and Earn’s pragmatic girlfriend Van respectively. The first season of “Atlanta” is streaming on Hulu, and the second season just started last week, making now the perfect time to hop on. Please enjoy this show!

Lady Bird (Film)

“Lady Bird” is the first film from writer/director Greta Gerwig, a coming of age story with familiar elements of family drama, children growing up to become their parents, and the end of high school leading into the beginning of college. What sets “Lady Bird” apart is its strong characterizations. The film is populated almost entirely with immediately recognizable caricatures: an overly-respectful/dorky Catholic theatre kid; a black-clad, heavily pierced vegan emo-couple; and a pseudo-philosophical “edgy” bad-boy rich kid. These figures spout line after line of quotable, quirky, almost Wes Anderson-esque dialogue that is clearly exaggerated, but at the same time feel like echoes of the sentiments and stories that I remember hearing all the time during high school. Somehow, “Lady Bird” is both ridiculous and real, and as the drama teacher in the film says, “it’s not important to be right, it’s important to be true.” The film certainly achieves this aim of being true, providing an extremely dense slice of life in Sacramento circa 2002. At its core, “Lady Bird” is pretty simple; there’s no villain, the conflict is straightforward, and the characters have clear motivations and arcs. Because of this, “Lady Bird” is able to focus on execution, and does so masterfully. This is a solid, meaningful film with a big heart, and you should watch it as soon as possible.⁴

Well, as always, that’s about all the time we’ve got for today. “A Wrinkle In Time” comes out this week, and it looks pretty neat, so maybe we’ll talk about that next week. If there’s something else you’d like me to cover, or if you have any questions, comments or concerns, shoot me an email. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

A Good Place to Start

This piece originally appeared in the Media/Tech column of Walla Walla University’s student newspaper, The Collegian, Volume 102 | Issue 02

Hey! My name is Matt Fennell. I’m a senior computer engineering major from Maryland (go Ravens!), and I’m here to talk to you about my absolute favorite things in the whole world: stories.

Every week, I’ll do my best to bring you my recommendations for whatever story-based content I think you should be consuming. Sometimes I’ll talk about just one new or old thing that I’ve recently enjoyed; other times I’ll share recommendations from the rest of The Collegian staff. Today, however, I’ve put together a quick list of the things going on right now that I really think you should get into. Here goes!

The Good Place—The newest sitcom from Michael Schur (“The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) is the story of Eleanor Shellstrop, a woman who dies and goes to “The Good Place,” where people are paired with their perfect soul mate to live in their perfect dream home in an absolutely perfect neighborhood (complete with dozens of frozen yogurt stores). Except everything isn’t perfect because Eleanor was supposed to be sent to “The Bad Place.” Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix and the season 2 has just started airing, so now is the perfect time to jump in. Don’t miss this one!

Libby—Technically, I’m also the technology writer, so I want to take a second to tell you about this really cool app for your phone called Libby. Libby is run by OverDrive, a company that used to manage an absolutely terrible audiobook-lending software for libraries. Libby is a new version of this idea that 1) also includes e-books and 2) isn’t absolutely terrible. If your local library uses OverDrive you can create an account with your library card and check out thousands of e-books and audiobooks straight to your phone for absolutely no charge (unless you’ve racked up late fees, which, oops, I had).

The Magicians—Using Libby, I checked out the first installment of Lev Grossman’s trilogy which is sort of a weird hybrid of “Narnia,” “Harry Potter,” John Green books and “Dungeons and Dragons.” The story focuses on Quentin Coldwater, an absolutely miserable teenager who is accepted into a magical college hidden away in upstate New York. He thinks he’s finally found his place and people as he studies the science and practice of magic, but after graduating, realizes he’s still pretty miserable. Quentin and his friends eventually embark on a quest to save a magical world somehow tied to our own. In the process they’re forced to face more than they expected and, perhaps, more than they can handle. In the end, the book is a story about dealing with depression and struggling to find joy in the circumstances and blessings we’re presented with. Please, check it out.

Well I think that’s all I have room for this week, but before I close I want to thank you for reading this far—it means a whole lot to me. I want this column to be something that’s fun to read, so if you have any suggestions, comments, questions or complaints, please feel free to email me, and I’ll do my absolute best to get back to you. Bye!

Storytime

This piece originally appeared in the Media/Tech column of Walla Walla University’s student newspaper, The Collegian, Volume 102 | Issue 01

Hey! My name is Matt Fennell. I’m a Computer Engineer, almost done with my junior year. Unlike most of you, I’m an east coast boy, from Maryland (Go Orioles!).

You may wonder what I’m doing here, in The Collegian. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure it out myself. Daniella just kinda left the office unlocked, and I thought for sure someone would’ve noticed and deleted this column before the issue went to print.

In all seriousness, I’m here for one reason. I love stories. I love TV, books, movies, podcasts, music, video games, and pretty much anything and anyone with a story to tell.  Surprise, surprise, I think everything and everyone has a story to tell. Next year, I want this column to be a place where I can share those stories with you.

I’ve put together a quick list of some of the stories I’ve been enjoying, to give you a little taste of what I hope to do.

Office Space is a Mike Judge film that somehow, despite being from 1999, feels just as current and comically tragic as every episode of his newest show, Silicon Valley. Bonus points to this one for the use of some truly inspiring hardcore gangster rap. Something about white guys smashing a printer while an angry dude shouts about the thug life in the background always makes me laugh.

Wolf in White Van is a cool little book that I read on the trip home this past weekend. It tells the story of a man left with a disfiguring scar after a tragic accident who runs a sort of choose-your-own-adventure pen pal service. He provides harmless escapism in his correspondence with his customers, until a few of them take the game too far. What sets this book apart is the way that it flows and sings, pulling you into this sad, bizarre dream of a story that the author so expertly shares. If this sounds like your jam and you want to borrow my copy, let me know!

Sawbones is the podcast I’m listening to while I write this column. It’s billed as a “marital tour of misguided medical history” from podcast emperor Justin McElroy and his wife, Dr. Sydnee McElroy. This is a fun, lighthearted and educational hour of weekly listening that covers such things as the science of Kombucha, the EpiPen crisis, and the bizarre and disgusting story of Tarrare, the man who ate everything (No really, he ate everything).

So, each week I’ll try to find a story that I, or the rest of the staff or one of you, loved  and I’ll talk about it for a little bit. If there’s a new book or movie I think you might like, or an awesome new album you can stream, or a TV show that you need to get up on, I’ll do my best to let you know. In addition to the more traditional media stuff, if something crazy is happening in the news, or in tech or sports, or just in town or on campus, I’ll try to find the story that will help you make sense of it.

Well, that’s about it! Thanks for reading this far, it means a whole lot to me.^[1] I want to do my best to make my 500-600 word chunk of this paper be something that you want to read every week. Tips or thoughts to point me in the right direction are always appreciated. You can shoot me an email at absolutely any time and I’ll do my best to get back to you.