Kirill Makarenko
Former Assistant Leisure Editor
Critical Voices: The Script, #3
As a judge on The Voice UK, The Script front man Danny O’Donoghue ought to fully understand the difference between passable music and efforts that don’t quite measure up. Unfortunately, this logical assumption does not hold; the London-based outfit swung for the fences and grounded into third on its arrogantly entitled LP #3.
By Kirill Makarenko October 11, 2012
Critical Voices: Muse, The 2nd Law
Before Muse’s latest album dropped, front man Matthew Bellamy announced it as a “Christian gangsta rap jazz odyssey, with some ambient rebellious dubstep and face melting metal flamenco cowboy psychedelia.” That may sound like a bunch of attention-starved gobbledegook, but the album The 2nd Law lives up to this bizarre description. Managing to sound both like an iconic Muse album and an amalgamation of only the most diverse musical styles, 2nd Law descends into chaos while miraculously preventing the absurd mixture of influences from becoming repulsive.
By Kirill Makarenko October 4, 2012
Saxa Politica: Technological Disconnects
We’ve all seen the signs on vending machines scattered across campus and felt the tinge of frustration and hopelessness. “Out of order,” reads the black box hammered onto an otherwise sleek dispenser. While the uncertainty of being able to purchase Coke at machines in the Leavey Center or in shadowy corners of the campus does not necessarily condemn the GOCard Office, the prevalence of frequently nonfunctional equipment points to a deeper issue with Auxiliary Business Services, GOCard’s parent institution.
By Kirill Makarenko September 27, 2012
Critical Voices: Mumford & Sons, Babel
Following three years of tours, Mumford & Sons is at last set to release its sophomore album. In a method contrary to popular practice, the English folk band has been road-testing material for the latest album, Babel, to perfect an already well-recognized sound. Though it is familiar, the resulting cacophony of acoustic instruments and front man Marcus Mumford’s rough, agonized vocals grows exhausting.
By Kirill Makarenko September 27, 2012
Saxa Politica: A Blueprint for success
This semester, the Center for Student Programs, the Center for Social Justice, and Campus Ministry collaborated to launch a daring initiative entitled The Blueprint. This set of two training sessions, which concluded Saturday, was designed to educate the leaders of student organizations on the resources available under the University’s access to benefits policies and, of course, the consequences of abusing organizational privileges.
By Kirill Makarenko September 13, 2012
Critical Voices: Little Big Town, Tornado
Nashville-based country quartet Little Big Town has seldom aimed for fame and a mainstream sound; instead, the band, which consists of two male/female couples, has released four albums centered on harmonies and a rotation of lead vocalists. But with their fifth studio album, Tornado, the band members have begun to rely heavily on electric instrumentation—the obvious result of a recent partnership with producer Jay Joyce. The result: a southern-rock-meets-bluegrass summer record perfect for a backwoods Mississippi barbeque.
By Kirill Makarenko September 13, 2012
Critical Voices: Stars, The North
“Well, the only way I see this happening is in an extended ride North.” This spoken-word introduction, borrowed from Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s 1967 documentary The Idea of North, begins The North, the sixth studio album from Toronto indie outfit Stars. The intro hearkens back to the group’s origins and the success of 2004’s Set Yourself on Fire, and indeed could not be more appropriate—a return to the basics results in an album that, while somewhat formulaic, is emblematic of a sound best described as uniquely Stars.
By Kirill Makarenko September 6, 2012
Saxa Politica: The new license to spill
In the wake of the unanimous approval of the 2010 Campus Plan by the D.C. Zoning Commission this July, students had remarkably little to celebrate. Still, the University’s apparent caving in to the demands of the Advisory Neighborhood Committee did produce a gem of a regulation—students living in University-owned apartments and townhouses are no longer required to register parties prior to their raucous merrymaking.
By Kirill Makarenko August 30, 2012
Critical Voices: Poor Moon, Poor Moon
With the success of 2011’s Helplessness Blues, any Fleet Foxes side project could easily have resulted in a successful mimicry of the original band. Members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott, however, refused to succumb to this temptation while writing as Poor Moon. With the spin-off group’s debut self-titled album, Wargo, Wescott, and brothers Ian and Peter Murray have created a remarkable, self-standing LP.
By Kirill Makarenko August 30, 2012
Critical Voices: Alanis Morrisette, Havoc and Bright Lights
With visceral and poetic hits like “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know,” Alanis Morissette has long been known for her autobiographical, emotionally charged lyrics. Havoc and Bright Lights, the 38-year-old Canadian songstress’s eighth studio album, is no exception. The LP is packed with material that draws inspiration from her recent marriage to Mario Treadway, better known from his Boston rapping career as MC Souleye, and her experience with motherhood.
By Kirill Makarenko August 24, 2012