Beats n’ Stuff #14: tour de beats n’ stuff (the end!)
Caty McCarthy
May 11, 2015
Illustration by Caty McCarthy We’re at the end! The end of the semester, the end of my time at Xpress, and the end of Beats n’ Stuff… the real end this time, I swear. Throughout this column I’ve written about everything that fills up my iTunes with joy, from J-Pop, video game music, J-Rock, K-Pop, K-Indi...
Beats n’ Stuff #13: The semester’s almost over, stop stressin’
Caty McCarthy
April 27, 2015
I’m the worst at not being stressed out. At this point in my college career, I think being stressed out is ingrained in my every day life, coupled with sleep depravity and a worrisome caffeine addiction that would make a doctor’s head spin. The one thing that keeps me from not going insane is mu...
Beats n’ Stuff #12: The Throwbacks
Caty McCarthy
April 6, 2015
Positive K accosts a lady in hopes that she'll want him. Not happening. (Screenshot from his music video "I Got A Man") Ah, throwbacks. The songs that make parties come alive with joy, bad dancing, and inaccurate lip-synching. Luckily, new San Francisco radio station Q102.1 has all th...
Beats n’ Stuff #11: I Know What You Scrobbled Last Summer
Caty McCarthy
March 25, 2015
I’ve had a Last.fm account for eight years. Eight. Years. Glancing at that join date is pretty daunting. In those eight years that I’ve had a Last.fm account I’ve gone through puberty, had a Myspace, deleted a Myspace, created a plethora of other social media accounts, graduated high school...
Beats n’ Stuff #10: A Girl’s Guide to J-Rock
Caty McCarthy
March 9, 2015
During this ongoing column, I’ve covered the grounds of both K-Pop, J-Pop, and even C-Pop, as well as electronic artists in those respective countries, to seemingly no end. Unfortunately, I haven’t really featured any foreign rock bands, a problem that I’m going to remedy this week. And thus,...
Beats n’ Stuff #9: Noise Poppin’
Caty McCarthy
February 23, 2015
It’s Noise Pop Festival week, so for this edition of the Beats n’ Stuff playlist I’ll be spotlighting the best artists playing around the Bay Area for the festival, and why they’re worth your due attention. For those not in the know, San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival is an annual celeb...
Beats n’ Stuff #8: ♡ heart-shaped box ♡
Caty McCarthy
February 9, 2015
Hey everybody! I’m back, with another ‘round of Beats n’ Stuff playlists for you all to enjoy and uncover your as-of-yet undiscovered new favorite artists. For those unfamiliar, Beats n’ Stuff is a bi-weekly playlist and blog around a central theme, with a typically-five-song-long SoundCloud pl...
Beats n’ Stuff #7: ~*~best songs of 2014~*~
Caty McCarthy
December 9, 2014
Here we are, at the end of all things. Or rather, just the end of my music column. I had a lot of fun writing this throughout the semester, forcing my music taste onto the readers of Xpress Magazine. I learned a lot writing this bi-weekly romp: coming up with themes for playlists is lots of f...
Beats n’ Stuff #6: polygonal melodies
Caty McCarthy
November 27, 2014
Hey guys! It has been two weeks, which means it is time for another Beats n’ Stuff. In this week’s column, I spotlight some tunes from some of my favorite video game soundtracks. From emotionally resonating scores to Drive-esque bops, video game music has evolved in ways the ch...
Beats n’ Stuff #5: noticed by senpai, at last (j-pop edition)
Caty McCarthy
November 11, 2014
As I am typing this, I have just woken up from a brief nap post-25-hour session of driving to and from Los Angeles for the sake of J-Pop supergroup Perfume. I was not always that into J-Pop, whereas I have had a library of anime theme songs on my iTunes for most of my life and that is where it...
Beats n’ Stuff #4: 47 sounds from a haunted house
Caty McCarthy
October 28, 2014
Boo! It is almost the spookiest day of the year (Halloween!!!), and if you are still pining over whatever you are going to dress up as to your PBR-stocked parties, then I have created the perfect mix of upbeat and festive tunes to get you in the trick-or-treating spirit. In this week’s Beat...
Beats n’ Stuff #3: the season of pumpkin spice lattes
Caty McCarthy
October 13, 2014
Yooo! Autumn’s my favorite season, and I always find myself listening to acoustic and string-laden music and twee pop. I went through a heavy Death Cab for Cutie phase during the fall of ’07, where I listened to the quintessential autumn-esque album Transatlanticism virtually everyday because, well, 15-year-old me did not know any ...