Thursday, September 29, 2011

Blessed Feathers’ album eery and emotive

Blessed Feathers’ album eery and emotive

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/blessed-feathers-album-eery-and-emotive/

From the Mouths of the Middle Class

Blessed Feathers

Listening Party / Cakes & Tapes

B-

Rocks Like: Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes

Blessed Feathers is the kind of band that exemplifies the low-budget sensibility and wandering curiosity necessary to record an album in the group’s apartment.

That’s the story behind Blessed Feathers’ newest album, From the Mouths of the Middle Class. The band spent the winter of late 2010 and early 2011 writing and recording an indie folk album that will haunt listeners.

The music itself isn’t eerie, but Blessed Feathers has a way of writing simple, yet stirring music using guitars, accordions and banjos. Both the band’s instrumentation and lyrics are minimal.

And it works. This album speaks of restlessness, and most of the songs describe treks through the country driven by a search to satisfy an ambiguous desire. The first track, “By Song Through The Americas,” illustrates this perfectly with the lyrics, “I took a trip across the Southern states / And I felt the heat, sweat bead along my face / But we’re lost in the woods / Trading thoughts for goods.”

Later in the same song the band sings, “I wish that I could hitch a ride / And pay my bills at the same time.” The band’s chosen string instruments — particularly given their association with wanderers — set the mood and complement these lyrics perfectly.

On another track, “Apple Blossoms,” the singer merrily declares that there are “apple blossoms in my hair.” Completing the picture, the music imitates hand clapping and picks up the pace to transport listeners to a lively festival. The only problem with this song is that it only lasts a minute and a half, leaving listeners feeling unsatisfied.

Still, the album isn’t flawless. During “Somebody Else’s,” the group sings, “Thinking about love / somebody else’s,” but the last syllables of the lyric slur together. If there’s a meaningful end to this lyric, it is lost. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time the album suffers from a lack of good enunciation.

However, this is a satisfying album overall, featuring music that would fit right in with Pittsburgh’s own folk music scene.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Staying healthy important but difficult in college

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/staying-healthy-important-but-difficult-in-college/

Staying healthy important but difficult in college

Posted on 26. Sep, 2011 in Magazine

A double major in the business school, 18-credits this semester, a job as an RA — Pitt student Leanne Ikeda is busy. But every week, she fits exercise into her routine.

“I plan exercise,” Ikeda said, explaining that she heads out to the gym every other day when possible. “It’s an important part of my routine for me, because it’s time just for myself. I try to work out at least every other day.”

Ikeda is only one of Pitt’s more than 17,000 undergraduate students trying to find time to live a healthy lifestyle while at college. Fortunately, Pitt provides numerous resources to help students ensure their regular routines are actually healthy and effective.

The two habits required for staying healthy, eating right and staying active, prove to be especially challenging for students. To stave off college weight gain, it’s crucial to maintain a balanced diet and avoid the temptations to over eat at buffet-style dining areas and 24-hour establishments. It’s tough to squeeze in time to work out — and the U.S. Center for Disease Control recommends two and a half hours per week.

Marian Vanek, director of Pitt’s Student Health Service, encourages all students to exercise, even if they can’t do so very often.

“Research has shown that as little as 15 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day may reduce mortality risk,” Vanek said in an email. She added that any exercise encourages healthy hearts, stronger bones, more energy, and better immune systems, and that too few people exercise even a little bit on a weekly basis.

And exercising doesn’t need to be limited to Pitt’s multiple gyms and recreation centers, Vanek said.

“Brisk walking, jogging and swimming are ways to boost your heart rate,” she said.

Take student Jennie Snyder — a senior double majoring in Spanish and communication — who’s also taking 18 credits in addition to her other responsibilities in campus organizations.

Snyder exercises four or five days every week. She can be found either using the treadmill at one of Pitt’s gyms or jogging in the park or up to Shadyside or Squirrel Hill.

By exercising, these Pitt students are also doing more than taking care of themselves physically: They’re all getting a great mental-health boost as well, according to Vanek.

“Exercise ... affects the brain; it encourages a good mood and reduces stress hormones in our bodies,” Vanek said. “Research teams have found that exercise has been shown to improve memory, attention and decision-making abilities — especially important to the college student.”

Exercise also helps keep weight in check. Researchers at Oregon State University found that a quarter of students gain at least five pounds over the course of two months early in their first year of college.

But exercise isn’t the only component to healthy living — eating right factors in as well.

Snyder eats “as many fruits and vegetables as possible” during the day. She even eats a larger, well-balanced breakfast with protein, fruit and dairy products. And she avoids late-night snacking.

Ikeda has taken healthy eating further. She recently made the decision to see Meg Mayer-Costa, the nutritionist at the Student Health Service. She hopes to take her healthy living one step further by following a healthier eating regimen.

“It’s tough on a meal plan,” she said about healthy eating. “The options aren’t as widespread.”

When students visit Student Health to meet Mayer-Costa, appointments begin with certain questions about their living situations, weights, supplements, medications and daily diets. Because every student is different, each has to be approached differently when developing a healthy-living plan, Mayer-Costa explained.

What might work for Ikeda’s healthy lifestyle might not work for another student. And by going into the nutrition center, students can learn about what’s helpful for them.

For example, although Ikeda doesn’t use them, Snyder takes vitamin C tablets because they “[make] me feel better when I think I’m catching a cold.”

Snyder contributes to a $25 billion business in the U.S. by taking these vitamin supplements. Unfortunately, it’s a myth that vitamins can cure illnesses or make up for a poor diet. Recent studies released by the Archives of Internal Medicine have shown that multivitamin use does not give us the healthy boost we once thought.

Although Mayer-Costa said that multivitamins might provide a “safety net” by adding small amounts of necessary nutrition to a daily diet, the pills cannot make up for a poor diet. And she said doctors don’t prescribe them to treat a disease because taking Vitamin C during cold season isn’t going to cure those sniffles faster.

Plus, multivitamins and the medications individuals take don’t always mix well, so everyone should consult their doctors about taking multivitamins in relation to their health needs, Mayer-Costa said.

“Students ... can take too much, too often, and [the supplements] can also interfere with each other and other medications,” Mayer-Costa said. This is why vitamin pills come in low dosages that are supposed to be taken once or twice a day.

Ikeda and Snyder keep in touch with their respective doctors and visit every year or two to make sure nothing is wrong with their physical health. They agreed that Wikipedia and WebMD aren’t substitutes for taking care of yourself. And thanks to their efforts and doctor’s visits, both have found a formula that works for them.

The best way to determine a great personal exercise routine or diet is by consulting a doctor and seeing what works best for the individual, Mayer-Costa said. Personal trainers and doctors can recommend sound work-out routines in addition to nutritional advice.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

MH the Verb album unlikely ‘Cult Classic’

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/mh-the-verb-album-unlikely-cult-classic/

MH the Verb album unlikely ‘Cult Classic’


Cult Classic

MH the Verb

Classic Cult Music

Grade: C+

Rocks Like: Kid Cudi, Jay-Z

When artists release new CDs, they have a few choices: They can continue with their old style, change their tune, or find a way to combine the two and make a recognizable, fresh sound. Pitt graduate Marcus Harris, a.k.a. MH the Verb, faced this same decision when writing his first solo album to showcase his talents.

In the past, MH was known for his ability to combine live instrumentation with electronic music. Many of his songs also highlighted social justice issues, calling for activism and a better world.

Whether he’s made more music along those lines is debatable. His first track, “Winter In America,” does a good job integrating a historical speech — President Franklin Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor — with a typical hip-hop beat line. It’s soft at first, but grows in intensity as the song goes on, until it drowns out Roosevelt’s words and expands to include MH’s usual style of hip-hop meets electro-pop.

This opening transitions into a fast-paced, fast-spoken song that proclaims in the first few lines that the reason there’s “blood in the oceans” is because of humanity’s many flaws. The song, in general, is a critique of America. It obviously has a message to deliver, but it doesn’t inspire action so much as express MH’s anger.

The song “More Time” goes, “What would you do with a little more time / if you could stop the clock / and watch the world rewind?” It’s gentler in delivery, with a simple combination of drums and synthesizer notes. It’s a good, solid song for MH that says one day people will get themselves together.

But those two tracks are in stark contrast to other songs, many of which are flirtatious club rap songs, like “Lights Off.” And the song “So Good” is a tribute to a girl who things didn’t work out with — complete with descriptive language about their sex life. It’s hard to see how this fits in with MH’s usual routine and his history as a socially conscious rapper.

There are certainly some good ideas in an album that could have been much more powerful and captivating. It simply does not do MH justice.