Music for the Masses: A New Album

By Austin Price, Editor in Chief

Singer / songwriter David W. Jacobsen is an accomplished artist with a menagerie of work to prove it. His latest album, Music for the Masses, was recently released in 2023. With 7 songs, and a listening time of 32 minutes and 54 seconds, Music for the Masses is a mixed genre album that combines humor with contemplation. Jacobsen sings of contradictions, opinions, and reflections through the lens of both a human, and an artist. The album has an unapologetic response to society’s confines and contains explicit topics. However, this raw and somewhat vulgar approach to his music gives Jacobsen an air of authenticity and a tone of realism. According to Jacobsen, “this album is about the contradictions of trying to create music that other people will like that you still like yourself,”. 

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The New Listener’s Guide to Taylor Swift’s Album Collection

By Austin Price, Editor in Chief

Taylor Swift is one of the most elite, successful, and well-known musical artists in our world today. Swift made history with her seamless transition between the genres of country music and pop music. In addition, Swift has also explored the indie and folk musical genres. She has received accolades for her songwriting, artistry, and entrepreneurship, all of which have majorly influenced the music industry and popular culture. Taylor Swift has released 10 original studio albums, 4 re-recorded studio albums, 5 extended plays, and 4 live albums. With such a massive amount of published material, I would argue that Taylor Swift is a genre all on her own. She certainly has enough music to support it.  

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The Origin of Sea Shanties

By Austin Price, Editor in Chief

Music has always been a primary form of communication between humans. Whether it be in celebration or grief, reverence or rebellion, music has remained a constant form of shared communication between human beings. Music has been consistently proven to impact one’s psychological status and draw many emotions from our society. There are countless genres of music and variations of sound. Despite these innumerable styles of music, they all share one key characteristic. This characteristic is the authenticity and vulnerability of connecting many peoples. While we cannot attribute this characteristic to one genre, I would argue that there is one genre that is prominent and even vital in human connection and distribution of information. This genre is known as sea shanties.  

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