• December Book of the Month: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

    An exploration of both human suffering and surrealist universes, Haruki Murakami’s acclaimed masterpiece, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a confusing yet fascinating experience which is sure to surprise you with every page. “A surrealist detective story, following how one man’s somewhat pitifully mundane life spirals into a violent and erotic...
  • The Rise of Meme Culture in Rap

    In April of this year, Kanye West released the track ‘Lift Yourself’. The lyrics “Poopy-di-scoop / Scoop-diddy-whoop” soon became an internet meme. Kanye, a well-established musician with well over a decade of work up his sleeve, just risked humiliating himself for the sake of a comedic throwaway track. But...
  • Why Pop Music Matters

    Pop music is often disregarded as repetitive and low-effort. Being one of the most formulaic genres and one with the greatest reach, these criticisms apply to a lot of ´artists´, who follow a pattern to produce hit upon hit. However, whether we like it or not, the genre´s popularity...
  • What makes Stephen King’s ‘IT’ scary?

    In 1957, 5-year-old Georgie Denbrough looks for his paper boat that has fallen inside of a storm drain in a street in the town of Derry, Maine. Inside the dark, he is faced with a pair of shining yellow eyes, a face covered in circus makeup, one hand holding...
  • Rediscovering Forest Hills: J. Cole and the Music of Life

    I have been a J. Cole fan from the moment I first heard his music. Though all his projects are interesting and masterful in their own way, it is 2014 Forest Hills Drive which has affected me most, and is often considered his best work. It is an album...
  • What’s Up With Kodak Black?

    Every time I have mentioned that I enjoy Kodak Black’s music to my friends, the response is generally unanimous laughter. It seems that a vast number (perhaps the majority) of hip-hop fans see Kodak Black as an uninspired, gimmick rapper. I find this reaction jarring. It is through investigating...
  • How Bon Iver Changed My Life

    I don’t exactly remember the first time I listened to Bon Iver. I must’ve been around 14 or so, but I do remember how my life changed. Before that point, I had always found it cheesy when someone talked about how a specific musician or artist had ‘changed their...