Interview – The SoCC Blog

11May

By Oliviero ZanaldaNo Comments

Interview

An Interview with Yoshinobu Ozaki

Image courtesy of Tim Bruns By Oliviero Zanalda In a crowded Mcdonald’s next to Taipei Main Station, I sit across from Yoshi, a man from a rural coastal province of Japan, whose infatuation with Blues saw him drop everything and travel the world with his guitar. I met Yoshi (full name Yoshinobu Ozaki) at Rev-Nov in Taipei, Taiwan. I heard about Rev-Now by word of mouth and decided to go to their live music show on a lazy Saturday night. This underground, family-run music bar hosts a variety of performers almost every night, both local and international. Yoshi was the guest at Rev-Now, and I was impressed by his covers of classic American Blues and Folk songs. His voice not only matched the tone of industry titans like Bob Dylan but the lyrics were all translated into Japanese, yet s...

24Nov

By Marina MalinNo Comments

Artist Spotlight, Campus Events, Interview

Interview with Charlie Burg

Charlie Burg is a singer, songwriter, and producer who released his first mixtape in 2015 when he was in college. After transferring from Denison University to Michigan State, he finally landed on Syracuse University to study music industry. From there, he released a series of extended plays throughout his time in University. Originally from Michigan, he now resides in Brooklyn NY where he dropped his debut album Infinity Tall (2022). Cinematic and youthful, Charlie Burg seamlessly transports listeners from one point to another with his pastel-shaded, storytelling lyrics. The curiosity and exploration that exists in his music is shown on his album art - which he creates himself. His personable whim showed in his performance at Colorado College, students still fan ov...

4Nov

By Oliviero ZanaldaNo Comments

Artist Spotlight, Interview

An Interview With Seiji Oda

Seiji Oda is a rapper, singer/songwriter, and producer from Oakland, California. He began producing and creating music in high school. His big break hit when Seiji and his brother Nathaniel, or Lil Ricefield, released their viral hit “Trapanese,” a song that poked fun at asian stereotypes and referenced countless anime and other Japanese pop culture over a Seiji-produced beat. The song was remixed by local Bay Area rappers Daboii and Cash Kidd. But Seiji isn’t only an incredible producer, he can rap, sing, and songwrite just as well. In the past few years, he has worked heavily on his solo work, releasing one of my favorite albums of this year, lofi//HYPHY, an album that combines the two genres, the former being known for it’s chiller production and the latter known for its da...

29Jul

By Jack MadisonNo Comments

Interview, Uncategorized

Interview with Ray Angry of The Roots

Anywhere he goes, Ray Angry is probably the most skilled pianist in any direction for many, many miles. However, at Pitchfork Music Festival, he is surrounded by some of the most talented instrumentalists in the current musical canon— no, he’s still probably the best pianist here. He has album credits with artists such as Mick Jagger, Solange, Elvis Costello, Mobb Deep, and many more. This modern renaissance man walks in with a sharp green jacket on; under his large tan hat rests a calm brain that will soon shoot neurons to his fingers, they will play notes and impress tens of thousands of attendees for The Roots' headlining performance. They call him Mr. Goldfinger for a reason. Jack: So let's go back to the beginning, tell me about your early days playing piano at...

Tank and the Bangas announce new album, “Friend Goals”

27Oct

By Mimi NortonNo Comments

Album Reviews, In Case You Missed it, Interview

Tank and the Bangas announce new album, “Friend Goals”

New Orleans-based band Tank and the Bangas have been blending together funk, gospel, spoken word, and hip hop since 2011. After winning NPR’s Tiny Desk concert in 2017, they accelerated to stardom and received universal praise for their 2019 album Green Balloon. That album, along with the reputation they’ve established for their extraordinary live performances, landed them a Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist.” Now, the world is anxiously awaiting their next project: an EP called Friend Goals, to be released on November 20th. In a virtual press conference, the band shared some details about the upcoming album. Tank and the Bangas' upcoming album, Friend Goals When asked to describe the album in three words, the band agreed it’s “friendly, featureful, and fantastic.” Taria...

15Oct

By Augie VossNo Comments

Carmen DeLeon’s single “Volverás” is one you don’t want to miss

Image courtesy of Universal Music The 19-year old Venezuelan reggaeton singer is a voice for today’s young people, advocating for self-love and authenticity with catchy melodies and silky-smooth vocals. “Volverás” is one of those songs you can’t listen to just once—before you know it, it’s on your driving, cooking, homework, and shower playlists (not that I would know). Carmen says the track, her first to be released via Capitol Records, is about taking care of yourself and choosing to be surrounded by people who support you. Negative people will come along “and sometimes because you don't want to be alone, you let them be there… But it’s better to be alone than in bad company,” she explained, during a virtual press conference with Universal Music’s °1824 creative team. “You hav...

8Oct

By Augie VossNo Comments

Album Reviews, Interview

Duckwrth on New Album “SuperGood”

Duckwrth, image courtesy of Universal Music Following the August 21 release of his album SuperGood, rapper and multimedia artist Duckwrth joined Universal Music’s °1824 team to talk creative process, musical inspiration, growing up in LA, and more. Duckwrth has been a refreshing, unique voice in the rap scene since the 2015 release of his project Nowhere. Recent tours alongside Billie Eilish, Louis The Child, and EarthGang have put Duckwrth on the map—equipped with a tenacity and artistic toolbox rare of upcoming artists, it’s clear that he’s only going up from here. Duckwrth’s musical versatility is vast, enabling a diverse but still cohesive sound with gritty, heartfelt, story-driven lyricism atop a mixture of bass-heavy hip-hop beats and 70s inspired dance grooves. Super...

27Jan

By Emily FaulksNo Comments

Interview, Local Shows: Previews & Reviews, Uncategorized

Interview with Chastity Belt’s Julia Shapiro

By Emily Faulks I reached out to Julia Shapiro, indie rock singer and songwriter, as she prepares for Chastity Belt’s American Tour for their self titled album released in September. Shapiro is most known for her solo album she recently released as well as her lead vocals and guitar for all-girl garage bands Chastity Belt, Childbirth, and Who is She? After Chastity Belt cancelled their tour last April due to “health concerns,” Shapiro ventured into introspective songwriting and mixing that resulted in her first solo album titled Perfect Version that captures Shapiro’s discontent with personal imaging and searching for self growth through musings of change and stagnation simultaneously. She then continued working with Chastity Belt and the band later released their self titled album on ...

16May

By No Comments

Interview, Music

How Sound Makes Music

Over this past block, I made an episode of a podcast. It's not completely about music, but it's on how sound makes meaning, so I figured I would post it on here. In it, I interview two really wonderful members of the CC community, Jake Sabetta and Jane Hilberry (and if you're on this website, you will likely at least know of Jake). Hope you enjoy!

7Apr

By Eliza MottNo Comments

Interview, Music

With Notes of Change

Interview of TouchIt's Lead Singer Jack Douglas by Eliza Mott photo credit Emilia Whitmer Could you start by introducing yourself? Hello my name is Jack Douglas, I’m a senior and I like Rock’n’Roll. Where are you from? I was born in Denver and grew up in Atlanta Georgia So can you tell me a little bit about your band? How you guys came together? So I think we started like most (CC) bands start, it's kind of like the primordial soup of sophomore jamming in Mathias and you kind of figure out who is someone who is actually going to be someone you want to keep playing music with. So we kind of slowly just started jamming with each other and that worked out to be a core group or me and Oliver, Kyle, Ken and then we originally sought out Adam Ting bec...