Social Networking Gone Wrong--Summer Wars

Anime has always been a film genre I have little interest in. I find it trivial, obnoxious, and way too melodramatic for my taste. Interestingly enough, one of my all-time favorite movies is an anime film--Miyazaki's masterpiece, Spirited Away. When I was perusing iTunes trailers a couple of weeks ago I watched a trailer for a Japanese animation film called Summer Wars. I was almost instantly interested in this film based off its revolutionary animation style. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The basic premise for this film is about social networking site called Oz (think Facebook but to the millionth power) that gets hacked by a rogue virus with apocalyptic consequences.

I watched this film a couple of days ago and I was very, very impressed. The animation style really is unparalleled. There were many sequences where my jaw dropped and I was asking myself how the hell they animated the scene. The story is also pretty engaging, although a bit dramatic for my tastes, but the animation manages to completely overshadow this. I highly recommend renting this movie. It really made me think of how social networking is so deeply engrained within our society and what were to happen if it just crashed one day. How would our society react if Facebook went offline for a week? I know I would panic (kind of embarrassing to admit) but we invest so much of our lives into social networking sites that I can not imagine a future without them. Just a thought and check out the trailer for Summer Wars below.

---Post by Karl Ryan

Upper Levels of Electro: Uppermost

Uppermost is a French Electro Artist producing electro, house and dubstep out of Paris. He is most famous for his tracks "Cake Shop is Dope" and "Equivocal." Uppermost is one of my favorite DJ's producing progressive tracks across nearly all sub genres of electro, Uppermost is continually pushing the limits of the still budding genre; most notably on his experimental tracks he released for free. These previewed tracks are some of his more experimental music, and provide unique experiences.

Uppermost-Photoelectric


This is a truly instigatingly beautiful track. Engaging the mind building energy with every 8th note.

Uppermost-Heart Rate



Heart Rate has one of the most beautifully building melodies in the short history of the electronic genre building to some bassier tones creating a truly unique experiences.

Uppermost-Mental Process



Mental Process contains some really heavy tones which dissolve into some truly incredible melodies reminiscent of that of Strobe, only more captivating.

Uppermost is a hidden gem within the Electronic scene and has not had the respnse his music deserve. Listen and Download more at http://soundcloud.com/uppermost

---Post by Gabe Piacentni

Above & Beyond--the best electronic music you've never heard

I was browsing through the iTunes electronic section the other day and came across this electronic band called "Above & Beyond". I previewed a couple of their songs off of their latest album, "Group Therapy" and was impressed, so I downloaded it. I just listened to the whole album and let me say this-I was blown away.

Their music is classified as trance, a genre I tend to shy away from, because I always thought of it as a boring and monotonous.This album completely smashed this generalization out the window. Their music has soaring vocals, amazing beats, and some of the most impressive progression I have heard in a while. Don't be fooled though-Above & Beyond has been a stronghold in the electronic industry since the early 2000's. Their previous album, Tri-Cities, was a bestseller in its genre. They also curate the best of trance music in their Anjunabeats Volumes which are released annually. These include some of their own original work mixed with hypnotic, feel-good music. Anyways, check out my favorite songs off of their new album below and let me know what you think.

Song #1: Prelude

This is probably one of the coolest songs on the album. It starts out as a heavy-hitting, dub-steppy song and quickly progresses into a chilled out beat, finishing with some of the nicest sounding vocals I have heard in a while (think Enya). I really enjoy this song because as it progresses it becomes more and more uplifting making for one of the most inspirational songs I have heard in a while.

Preview- 

Download-http://www.mediafire.com/file/nezuhsplvp9pdi6/08%20Prelude.mp3

Song #2: Alchemy
Zoe Johnston is one of the vocalists featured on a couple of songs on the album, and this one is my favorite. They distort her vocals on the chorus making for a really cool effect. I also like the analogy that they use for the chorus--people who took gen. chem. will enjoy this-- "It was alchemy, to sing to me your freedom song/To make love where there was none/Alchemy, now its all gone/And you were the golden one."


Preview-

Download-http://www.mediafire.com/file/k0yop99pk9tnd6o/02%20Alchemy.mp3

Song #3: Black Room Boy
This song features the other main vocalist on the album, Richard Bedford, and is also my favorite of his. His vocals blend smoothly with the building beat.

Preview-

Download-http://www.mediafire.com/file/wd7j639z2xjzz55/05%20Black%20Room%20Boy.mp3