Daze's Guide To Slope Day

Acceptance

The Seattle, Washington based rock band Acceptance will be a long ways away from home on Friday. Their poppish punk/rock style is up with the trends of whats hot right now in the world of mainstream punk rock. Dismissing them as just another emo band is a little unfair though. They definitely have their own brand of unique electic punk with the Seattle brew of life. This is definitely a “summer” band and Slope Day seems like it would be the ideal time and venue for them to play at Cornell. By Aniq Rahman

There is only one Facebook group worth your time: “Who Cares about Ben Folds, Acceptance is coming for Slope Day!!!!!” Five exclamation marks, and deservedly so. Acceptance is sensational. Why? Acceptance has that most don’t is pure energy, passion, and raw emotion you don’t ever hear. Even though Acceptance is considered a smaller, somewhat underground band, their sound is nothing of the sort. Their full-length sounds radio-friendlyl; they have a loyal and consistent following of kids. Their album is damn near flawless, all of it – everything! Every person I have recommended Acceptanc, has thanked me profusely. Don’tmiss this band. By Adrien Prieto

Ben Folds

Amidst cheers and jeers, native North Carolinian Ben Folds will be returning to our slope once again tomorrow afternoon.
Folds’ talent peaked in the late ’90s as the frontman for the ever-popular group Ben Folds Five. The group released a number of memorable gems, with the most successful one being 1997’s melodic and meandering yet unquestionable catchy single “Brick”
Although the band broke up in 2000, Folds has embarked on a prolific solo career that has seen his music become elevated from the vaguely-termed genre of “piano rock” to something much more cross-dimensional and mature. Released in 2001, Rocking the Suburbs perhaps best embodies the pinnacle Folds’ multitudinous talent, for he played every instrument on the record without compromising the meditative quality of his lyrics. Some of the highlights of this record include the song “Not the Same,” a quirky tale of a pothead-turned-Evangelical, and the more melancholy ballad about an older man who loses his job called “Fred Jones Part 2.” Last spring, Folds released the much-anticipated album Songs for Silverman that includes the powerfully track “Late” in honor of Elliot Smith. By Jonny Lieberman

Listen, for all the naysayers out there, Ben Folds is not the whiny songwriter who only sings about abortions that we make him out to be. He is, first and foremost, an incredibly talented pianist, arranger, vocalist, lyricist. Although his solo work admittedly pales in comparison, Whatever And Ever Amen with its seamless transitions from ecstatic to reflective and back again, effortless melodies and harmonies, and virtuostic piano lines is a true masterpiece. So he’s gotten a bit older and more introspective since then. Who really gives a shit – would Folds really disappoint 20,000 screaming, drunk fans by not performing his best? Of ourse not. I’ve seen the guy stumble onto to stage incredibly hammered, where he proceeded to throw his piano bench at a mint Yamha piano. I’m heading to the slope to see him, and you’d have to be an idiot not to be there with me. By Elliot Singer

Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli is a fantastic artist. Any hip-hop fans that think otherwise are merely entitled to their opinion, and should seriously consider re-examining their musical preferences. I’m also rather sick of complaints that convey little more than “Talib isn’t thug enough to pump up a crowd.” Just because he doesn’t constantly spit words about blunts, bitches, and paper doesn’t mean he can’t lend a hand to our debauchery, and certainly doesn’t suggest that he won’t be able to sway the opinion of the hundreds of drunk skeptics who won’t even realize what they are listening to anyways. Kids, do yourself a favor; make it to the slope for Talib so I can tell you I told you so.
By Blake Horn

Talib Kweli may be the most chronically underrated and underappreciated emcee of all time. “Hip-hop purists” will try to tell you that Talib Kweli has sold out. Don’t believe that bullshit. Just because the man went and got big shot producers doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge. Yeah, his most recent album, The Beautiful Struggle, may have faltered a bit in its pretensions of being club-worthy. But can you blame him? Just because Kweli moved away from the jazz-heavy production of his earlier works hardly merits consternation – Outkast reinvent themselves every album, and no one gives them a hard time. Kweli has been a bulwark of the underground since some of us were in middle school, so show some respect. An absolutely incendiary talent when he hit the scene, Kweli has been responsible for two of the best albums to come out of the organic hip-hop movement of the late nineties: Reflection Eternal and the masterpiece Black Star, on which he teamed with Mos Def and then outshone in nearly every regard. Go and listen to “The Blast,” “(K.O.S.) Determination,” “Get By” and “Black Girl Pain” and then maybe we can talk. Ben Folds? Shit. The stage should be all Kweli’s.
By Zach Jones

Archived article by Daze Staff