Friday, January 30, 2008
A look at the world of music, from the obscure to the obscene,
30H!3
stage
Heavy beats, catchy rhythms, vocals that complement the rap/pop genre, and
lyrics that will make you get your grind on is what 30H!3 is all about. Two guys
rapping, talking about sex, women, drinking, partying, everything a college stu
dent wants and needs to listen to at any party.
The band consists of two friends: Sean Matthew Foreman and Nathaniel Warren
Seth Motte. Coming out of Boulder, Colorado, which has the area code 303, the
inspiration for the band name. They met in a physics class at the University of
Colorado, and, inspired by the underground hip-hop scene, came together to produce
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
30H!3 is a new face on the pop/nq scene thou consists of two college freinds who
met at the University of Colomdo. They ai signed with Photo Finish Records.
the music we know and love today. Their first album was self-titled and self-released
in 2007. The band then signed to Photo Finish records, a branch of Atlantic
Records. Their second album dropped in 2008, titled Want. 30H!3 has opened for
Jessica Simpson. played on Tje Vans Warped Tour 2007 and 2008, played in
Banboozle Left and the Pemberton Festival in British Columbia. Upcoming in the
future of 30H!3 is a year of touring. They are supporting Katy Perry on a European
tour in February, headlining the Alternative Press Tour, and making an appearance
on Warped Tour this summer. A few of their songs have been used on episodes of
The Hills as well.
What sets 30H!3 apart from most other electronica/rap bands is their in-your-face
cockiness and blatant use of sex appeal. Almost all of their songs have some sort
of sexual innuendo in between heavy bass and rhythms. For any fan of punk or
pop-punk music, the vocals of 30H!3 is what attracts listeners to them. They rap,
but their voices ooze with a somewhat hardcore background. They remind me of
today's Beastie Boys, modified for todays dance clubs. The lyrics are hard and well
delivered, with intermittent poppy elements, showing their electronica side. The
lyrics are so catchy that after a few listens, you'll find yourself dropping rhymes
along with the guys.
"Push it baby, push it baby, out of control, I got my gun cocked tight and Fm
ready to blow." From the song "Starstrukk" this lyric outlines the bands love of
riding the border between dance club music and all-out sex music. While none of
their lyrics will make you sit down and ponder your life or blow you away, they
will almost always make you get up and move or even laugh. Whether they're
singing about one night stands (see "I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby") or rolling up
to clubs with women, 30H!3 delivers a fast-paced rap performance.
Any fan of rap, hip-hop, or pop-punk music will dig 30H!3. They give a refresh
ing break from all the mainstream, overplayed dance music that today has been
reduced dawn to a single phrase that is repeated over and over to a constant beat.
Their songs don't blend together, they get you up off your feet and put you in a
dancing, happy mood. Most of their lyrics deal with what college kids have in mind
anyways: partying and having fun.
even if you stand
—John Quincy Adams
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
_~ ~,~
y;
J
the new and the old
takes center
on the pop
scene
By Nicolas Kniseley
contributing writer
ntks(X)64psu.edu
alone.
Comic book films take
world one cinema at
By Evan Koser
contributing writer
emksllo(opsu.cdu
When it comes to an artistic perspec
tive in feature films. Hollywood's
blockbusters typically lack in such a
department. The idea of an artistic direc
tion in a film is all but overlooked in
the Hollywood sector, leaving it up to
the independent film industry to fill the
void. Venues like the Sundance Film
Festival and, closer to home, the Erie
Horror Fest provide the only available
outlets for directors and producers who
feel the need to express that artistic
direction in a full-length, feature film.
In the Academy Awards, as of now,
five blockbusters are up for nomination
for "Best Art Direction." This includes
The Dark Knight, Changeling, The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
Duchess, and Revolutionary Road.
Breaking this and past nominations
down, this will be the first time since
the movie Batman (which won the award
in 1989) that a comic-book movie adap
tation has received a nomination. Aside
from these two, most award-winners
have been musicals, book-to-film adap
tations, or historical films. In 1972, the
winner was CabaTt; Schinder's List in
1993, Titanic in 1997, Chicago in
2002, The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King in 2003, and last
year's winner was Sweeny Tocki.
As it stands, Hollywood's typical
box-office hits don't ever make the list
ing of nominees. While this may seem
unfortunate, it actually opens the door to
many opportunities for independent
film-makers. For instance, the movie
many know and love, Saw, was released
at the Sundance Film Festival in early
2004. After becoming a critical success
there, it saw international release later
that year in October. This pattern is not
new to Sundance and is usually always
the case with most successful - fitrns.
This year festival will sliO‘'Vcas . e a full
length feature film by Derrick Comedy.
For those of you familiar, they got their
start on You Tube. They, too, have hit it
big and are now looking forward to con
tending for a nation-wick theatre release
of their movie, Mvstery Tem.
While it may seem like there exists
hope in the film industry for artistic
direction, most films in the Sundance
Film Festival go unnoticed by main
stream attention. What truly matters to
them is what Hollywood provides for
them. And as of late, Hollywood seems
to have an ever-growing comic-book
movie adaptation market. In light of
this, the comic-book tycoon, Marvel,
even started their own production com
pany, quickly buying the rights to as
many of—if not all of—their own char
acters that they could. Their own pro-
This week in art history
By Mike Wehrer
copy editer
mrwso94(wpsu.edu
Jan. 29, 1983 - "Down Under" by
Men At Work hit #1 on UK pop chart.
The group is an Australian rock band
with reggae influences. They won a
Grammy in 1983 for "Best New Artist."
Its members included Colin Hay, Ron
Strykert, Jerry Speiser, Greg Ham, and
John Rees.
jections show they they'll have a fea
ture-film release every year for the next
five years. Comparable to this is the
market for DC comic-book adaptations,
especially after the success of The Ark
Knight.
Also waltzing through this new door
of opportunity are movies filmed as if
they were still comic-books. With the
advent of Sin City and its critical
acclaim by movie-goers came other
films like 300 and The Spirit, both of
which incorporated a specific filming
technique to better capture the "feel" of
the respective comic-book. With Sin
City and The Spirit, both films gathered
recognition for utilizing a unique color
ing process, which renders most of the
film in black and white but retained or
added coloring for select objects. The
movie 300 was filmed mostly with a
super-imposition chroma key technique,
to help replicate the imagery of the orig
inal comic book.
1::=1
, 4
Watchmen film to debut on Itihorh 6th, 2009
Jan• 30, 1998 - Howard Stern
Radio Show premieres in Indianapolis
IN on WNAP 93.1 FM. The shock jock
moved to Sirius Satellite radio on
January 9, 2006, where he currently
broadcasts on channels 100 and 101 in
an uncensored format. He has also writ
ten Private Parts, which he later made
into a movie.
The Behrend Beacon I 5
over the
a time
Following the success of these films
is the upcoming Watchmen.
Seemingly, the film will retain its orig
inal color, but will be shot also using
chroma key technique, helping to stay as
true to the graphic novel as possible. To
help the director and writers alike, actu
al frames of the comic-book were used
for the film's storyboard. Watchmen
will be coming to theatres this March.
With the doors open to more and more
comic-book films and with the graphic
novel, Watchmen, being critically
acclaimed in Time's 2005 "100 best
English-language novels from 1923 to
present," it seems the door to artistic
direction for any type of movie is up for
grabs. Assuming The Dark Knight
takes home the award movie-goers could
start to see an influx of more comic
book oriented artistic films in the near
future.
Feb. 1, 1974 Good Times pre
mieres on CBS TV. This American sit
com was a spin-off from the show
Mau&', which was itself a spin-off of
All in the Family. It starred Esther
Rolle and John Amos and centered on
their lives in a housing project in
Chicago.
Feb. 2, 1993 - Frito Lay pays court
ordered $2,500,000 to Tom Waits for
using his song. The company had ini
tially asked Waits to use his music in an
ad in 1988, and Waits had refused. Frito
Lay then hired an impersonator to sing a
song similar to Waits' "Step Right Up,"
off the album Step Right Up.
Feb. 4, 1977 - Fleetwood Mac's
"Rumours" released. The band formed in
1967 in London with Peter Green, Mick
Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer, and Bob
Brunning. (Brunning was soon replaced
with John McVie) The band had the
most success during the late 1960 s and
from 1975-87.
Feb. 5, 1973 - Comic strip "Hagar
The Horrible" debuted This syndicated
comic strip was originally written by
Dik Browne. Since Dik's death, his son
Chris Browne has taken over the strip.
The strip is a caricature of Viking life.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO