music review: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

as some of you may know, i write for an online music publication called TheRecordRaver. i reviewed Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories, which was just officially released today. below is the review i posted on the site.

NB: i go by EP on the site, so that's why i signed it that way.

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*QR* Daft Punk, Random Access Memories (2013) 4/5
The legendary French dance-music robots--behind such legendary albums as 1997's acid-house classic Homework and 2001's rainbow-disco odyssey Discovery--return with their most bombastic and ambitious record yet. But this record is vastly different from their past material: rather than making another sample-based dance album, the robots have crafted an intricate prog/dance/pop record with live instrumentation. The album sounds a bit like dancefloor classics of the late '70s and early '80s channelled through Daft Punk's trademark vocoders and sci-fi aesthetics (think "Thriller" or "I Will Survive" played by robots from the future). The resulting album can't really be called a "dance" album (at least, in the modern sense of the word), but it is a thrilling record nonetheless. The French cyborgs also change up this record by working in tandem with excellent musicians from the past and present. These collaborations are the most exciting part of the album. Legendary disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder talks about his early days in the sprawling house-history opus "Giorgio by Moroder." Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers adds a retro momentum to lead single "Get Lucky," as well as "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Give Life Back to Music." Indie frontmen Julian Casablancas and Panda Bear (of Strokes and Animal Collective fame, respectively) beautifully execute their own tracks ("Instant Crush," "Doin' it Right"). The album falls flat in a few places: over-instrumentation threatens to cloud some of the more epic tracks (particularly "Giorgio by Moroder" and "Touch"), and some of the songs ("Lose Yourself to Dance," "Doin' it Right") are a bit too repetitive. In addition, the advance promotion for the record promised an album that would alter the course of electronic dance music, something that seems a bit unlikely upon listening to the record. Regardless of these slight problems, Random Access Memories is a truly epic record. It may not be a conventional EDM album, but it is a polarizing, arresting, overblown, and head-nodding record nonetheless. --EP

the Summer 16 Project

as some of you may know, i rap (i go by the name mc freeman). for the past few weeks, however, i've suffered from a bout of writers' block. now that i'm home and bored, i need a new project to keep my mind occupied.

enter... the Summer 16 Project.

basically, what i'm gonna do is write a 16-bar verse (the typical length of a hip-hop verse) to an industry beat, record it, and publish it online for free download. i just wrote the first one this evening to the beat for "Pouches of Tuna" by Action Bronson, and my plan is to record that tomorrow. i'm gonna upload them individually to YouTube, and then put them out as a mixtape on DatPiff at the end of the summer.

my goal is to do at least one per week, but i honestly don't know. it could be variable. that's what i'm shooting for, though.

oh, and i'm recording these on my semi-decent microphone, so don't expect it to sound too mind-blowing or whatever. it's gonna be demo quality, let's put it that way.

i'm excited to put this project together! it's gonna be a fun little challenge of my writing skills, and hopefully fun for you guys to listen to! i'll post them here as they become available.

exposure (a poem)

as the Photographer
sees something
     perhaps a
     young couple
     or the way
     that the sun seems to
     drip
     like golden water through a tree

as he
     or she?
raises the camera
to eye level

as she
     or he?
peers through the
viewfinder
and adjusts the
focus
and steadies the
camera
and
ever so slowly
presses a
button

as time
s
l
o
w
s
down

as the shutters tremble
and
     for a split second
the tremors of the earth
are halted
and captured
in a still
image

i run
     unaware
through the frame
outrunning the shutters
my mind elsewhere
out of step

click.

i am caught
between the tremors
with melted features
and no identity

and yet
somehow
i have never
felt
more
     naked

playlist: aquatica

one thing you'll figure out pretty quickly is that i make a lot of playlists. i tend to post them on Facebook, but i worry that nobody really reads them or listens to them. i worry that nobody'll read 'em here either. but it's whatever, i enjoy making them. here's an old one. it's called aquatica, and it's basically songs that remind me of the beach. you might like it!

oh oh, and the format is song/artist (e.g. going to california/led zeppelin).

aquatica (playlist)
1. coastal brake/tycho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJOAdo8HQQ

2. maliblue/darius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBtMxQDplEQ

3. petrcane beach track/lone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBFl1N8yLi8

4. tides/Σ​-​fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMbiAfBjJ0c

5. sinking/sysyphe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgyM2QbvRrk

6. cataract/of oceans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9JkvJwNYpg

7. cold sand/teen daze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cs-JWK0e4Q

8. blessa (ep version)/toro y moi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LfKBP7Q_PM

9. feel it all around/washed out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-0TYeg9Rzc

10. happy home/onuinu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO2z8iCLRAs

bad poetry

well, i guess i need something to post for the three people who are gonna read this thing, so here's some absurd poetry i wrote back in my sophomore year of high school. (not absurdist, just absurd - i was trying to be a bit silly). feel free to comment/critique/swear at me in the comments below. i wrote this years ago and don't really have much personal attachment to it anymore, so frankly it's all yours to judge as you will.


one black hole can ruin your whole day
attention:
due to unforseen circumstances
all flights going to and coming from
the
airport
have been delayed
apparently there is some sort of black
hole
that is inhaling all matter around it
we apologize for the inconvenience


marge, the neighbor's caught fire again
spontaneous combustion
can be a real
inconvenience
especially @ 3 am
when your bed catches fire
because that's no fun
and it makes a lot of
noise
like a great ka-foom
that wakes up the neighbors

ka-foom


some nights you just can't fall asleep
i am uncannily aware of my own
breathing
in such a way that
i concentrate on every molecule of
o
x
y
g
e
n
moving into my lungs
and every
molecule of
c
a
r
b
o
n
d
i
o
x
i
d
e
moving out

these things do tend to happen
when one is afflicted with
a serious case of
insomnia

perhaps
i should think about
not breathing

it seems difficult

how would one be aware of
that?


nuclear holocaust survival strategies
the next time you leave your home
please listen for any and all
of the following sounds and/or
sights:
sirens
great alarum bells
klaxons
general panic
and such
these may be signs of an imminent
nuclear
holocaust
do not panic
@ the first sign of trouble
simply
enter a bomb shelter
leave all corpses in bags
do not approach strangers
do not enter tall buildings
stay calm
stay calm
stay calm
stay calm


why eating other people is probably a good idea
cost/benefit analysis of
cannibalism:
free
easy
healthy
considering the social risks however
perhaps it would be better
to eat
oneself

(these are copyright peter vilardi in... i dunno, 2010, so don't steal them, asshole)

endtroduction

hi.

before we jump into this together, let me talk about the format for a sec:

most of my text is in lowercase letters. if you don't like that, fuck off. i could care less. not having to think about capitalization clears my head and lets me focus on things that are more important to me.

when i DO capitalize something, it's for emphasis (e.g. back there, when i just did that). additionally, if i'm talking about a person/place/album/artist/something of that kind, i'll capitalize it to make the whole sentence/paragraph/&c. a little more readable. i'm not gonna capitalize my own name/pronouns referring to me, though. as the writer, the focus should be more on what i'm writing about.

i swear a lot, but that's because i'm not offended by it. if you're offended by it, i would recommend other, better, more well-established blogs with less foul language and things.

oh yeah, and i'm peter vilardi. in some circles, i'm known as mc freeman (i rap - if you could see my picture, you wouldn't believe me, but thank God this is the Internet). however, for the sake of simplicity, i'm just gonna be peter vilardi for the sake of this blog.

which brings me to content: the reason i left the blog title so open-ended is that is i'm gonna be writing about literally everything i care about at the immediate moment. playlists, music reviews, bad poetry, self-promotion, other artists i like, rants on various topics, poor attempts at humor, and other stuff.

if you like what you see and want more, you can find me on Facebook (just search my name) and Twitter (@PeterVilardi). that's assuming you don't know me, of course. i assume most people who read this are gonna be people who know me, so that shouldn't be an issue. but yeah.

so, without further ado, welcome to peter vilardi speaks.