Month: January 2015

Community, Local Business

Greeley-based Company Paves the Way for Commercial Use

January 14, 2015

Drone technology has become a hot button issue in American society and by and large represents the coming age of the robotics industry. As the technology becomes more affordable, its commercial uses begin to look more and more practical. Now, many companies find themselves fighting through red tape for a chance to bring their services to the public.

In the basement of the Macy Jones Collective in Greeley, Colorado is Cloudgate Aerial Cinematography, is one such company. Cloudgate Aerial Cinematography specializes in video production using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAVs) more commonly known as drones. Blayne Chastain, 39, and Phil Van Drunen, 31, started the company around April 2013 and have worked on their own film projects along with a commercial for the “Greeley Unexpected” campaign. But, due to issues within the Federal Aviation Administration, the two now find themselves waiting for a solution to legal problems that have grounded other aerial photography companies in the United States.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: J. Cole 2014 Forest Hills Drive

January 12, 2015

Second only to folk music, hip-hop is the paramount storytelling genre of all time. It builds on the abilities of funk and blues, two great predecessors. Most typically, we see it used as a poppy-hit-machine, though at its most realized, hip-hop is an outlet for feelings of rage, frustration, and oppression. While hip-hop stars are most often characterized as hyper-aggressive chauvinists, when used correctly the genre allows them to rise above and to tell their stories.

Born in Germany and raised in North Carolina, J. Cole grew up in a house with a folk-hippie mother and a hardcore gangsta rap loving father. As such, his sounds are blended and nuanced. His new album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, is without a shadow of a doubt, his best release yet. This is the most sensitive we have seen the J. Cole character to date. He’s frightened at the state of hip-hop and the world he lives in. The album is a call to action that is partially piggybacked from Jay-Z’s Magna Carta… Holy Grail; “We need to write the new rules.”

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Features, Music, Print, Reviews

New Music Mondays: Guster- Evermotion

Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworsel, Luke Reynolds, and Joe Pisapia make up Guster, a Tufts University-birthed pop outfit, which began when Miller, Gardner, and Rosenworsel met Freshman year. Evermotion is their long awaited 7th studio album, and it’s just the dose of cheer that I needed, full of atmospheric charm, and stellar melodies.

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Features, Music, Print

Malcom’s World: Mac Miller Takes the Reins

January 8, 2015

Talking to Pittsburgh native Mac Miller is just what you’d expect. He’s a smart ass, laughs a lot and appears not to take his career too seriously, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mac Miller (real name Malcolm James McCormick) is self-made and essentially a workaholic. He knew from an early age he wanted to make music for a living and he made it happen. As a child, there was never any doubt Miller was musically gifted. At the age of six, he taught himself how to play piano, drums, bass and guitar. His older brother was getting into hip-hop in the mid-’90s and soon little Mac was pilfering his albums.

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Music, Print, Reviews

New Music Monday: Kanye West “Only One”

January 5, 2015

After months of posturing, Kanye West’s ravenous fan base have been chomping at the musical bit for something new. The details up until now have been vague at best, and frustratingly stingy. Sources close to West including funny-man Seth Rogen and musician Theophilus London have generated whispers of secret and smoky listening parties, and a rough cut of the rumored single “All Day” was briefly (as in hours) featured on Instagram. Apart from that, fans only had repeated promises that the album was finished, and waiting for release. Well, folks, it’s 2015, and there’s no new album, but we do have a new single.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Crítica del álbum: Miranda! Safari

Este verano pasado Miranda! nos presentó con su sexto álbum llevando por nombre Safari. Ahora Alejandro Sergi y Julieta Gattas (ambos vocalistas) se encuentran sin la presencia de Lolo Fuetes, quien fue su guitarrista estrella desde el comienzo de la agrupación en el 2001. El primer sencillo de Safari se lanzó en diciembre del 2013 y lleva por nombre “extraño,” en el nos ofrecen una letra muy magistral y juguetona. La letra sugiere una relación que ya no es lo que había sido y extrañan esa parte, por el otro lado son como dos desconocidos o dos extraños donde no hay marcha atrás. “Extraño” tiene un sonido que caracteriza a Miranda! y sin lugar a duda una buena elección para darnos una probadita del resto del disco.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: She & Him Classics

January 4, 2015

Nostalgia. One of the more relevant feelings in the age of “10 Things Only 90’s Kids Will Get” listicles. It’s an itch that might be scratched by watching Even Stevens, The Goonies, or old Warner Brother’s cartoons. Or maybe listening to oldies music. The clean cutting guitar of the Beach Boys, the cajoling croon of Frank Sinatra. There’s something in the sound that evokes a warmth for a better time, or at least a different one. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward make up the duo known as She & Him, a group that has built their music largely on the back catalogs of American music.

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