Good music often provides the perfect background songs for our ordinary daily activities. Music also allows us to relive a story narrated by lyrics in our imagination or allows us to escape to the beats and sounds of different instruments. By making some songs very personal to us, we often forget to acknowledge the inspiration that made it possible for these songs to exist. Here at the Clog, we’re taking the time to acknowledge the meaning and inspiration that went behind some of today’s popular songs:

John Mayer’s “Gravity:” Mayer’s “Come Back to Bed” was actually an early attempt at creating “Gravity.” It took some time for him to actually put the words and instrumentals into a cohesive and powerful song. In a concert in December 2005, Mayer explained that “Gravity” is a song so important to him that he could listen to it for the rest of his life. When addressing where the song came from, he stated, “I was in LA, and I was there for the summer, just writing tunes, and I was in the shower. And I don’t know where it came from, but it’s the damn truth you know, and I just sang, ‘gravity…is working against me.’” He also expressed that “Gravity” took on a more significant meaning; this was a song about “making sure you still love yourself … making sure you still have your head on”.

Jason Mraz’s “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry):” Mraz’s musical remedy would not have been created if it wasn’t for his friend Charlie Mingroni. Mingroni was a close friend of Mraz’s who had cancer. This significantly impacted Mraz. When facing your own personal battles, Mraz sings that “the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend the rest of your nights with the light on.” This song was made to relax the mind and soul even through one’s hardest times.

Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team:” This song was inspired by a gig Sheeran did at a homeless shelter at the age of 18. When listening to people’s stories, Sheeran was fascinated by the extreme struggles that many faced. This was especially the case when discussing substance abuse. Drugs like cocaine, a “Class A drug,” had been discussed and served as the direct inspiration for the song’s title. In an effort to mask addressing the serious issue of substance abuse, Sheeran successfully attempted to make the song upbeat.

These artists show us that by taking inspiration as it comes and transforming it into art is something very powerful. By sharing something you personally created, you can offer someone else an interesting set of lens to look through.

What inspired a work of art that you’re proud of? Share with us in the comments!

Image source: Kia Clay under Creative Commons 

Contact Karen Kwaning at kkwaning@dailycal.org.

The post Hidden inspiration behind songs appeared first on The Daily Californian.

It’s summertime, and that means more time to get those tennis shoes on, that butt twerkin’, those arms … flailing? I mean, we don’t know what you like to do, but we do know that summer is the time to exercise. Whether you’re at Cal or elsewhere, getting yourself pumped up to exercise can be a difficult process. So what’s more helpful for said activities than a couple of awesome pump-up songs? Well we can’t think of anything else, so here are a couple of tunes to help get you in the zone.

1) Fountains of Wayne, “Stacy’s Mom (Singularity x Robotic Pirate Monkey Remix)”

2) Riton feat. Sage the Gemini, “Gas Pedal”

3) James Young, “Dark Star (Kiely Rich Remix)”

4) Jeff Zheng, “Dimensions”

5) Hardwell, “Spaceman (Carnage Festival Trap Remix)”

6) Kanye West, “New Slaves (DJ Snake Remix)”

7) Smallpools, “Dreaming (The Chainsmokers Remix)”

8) Karmin, “Acapella”

Have any music suggestions that help you get PUMPED? Let us know in the comments!

Image source: will ockenden under Creative Commons

Contact Gabrielle Nguyen at gnguyen@dailycal.org.

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Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the music scene has been taking some desperate measures. With a generation ready to embrace whatever trending thing that comes up on their social media news feed, there are hundreds of thousands of artists out in the world trying to make the next best universal hit. With so many musicians coming out with so many songs, it becomes more difficult to come up with something that’s truly creative and original. Some artists will sing about anything. After taking a moment to look back on some random song titles with us at the Daily Clog, you may never look at an inanimate object in an unsexualized way ever again.

1. “Slip N Slide” by Jonn Hart featuring Kid Ink. You were definitely the cool kid on the block if you owned a Slip ‘n Slide. If your parents just had a thing against inflatable water slides, at least you enjoyed the TV commercials. But if there were ever two people in the world that could create an analogy between a Toys “R” Us product and sex, it’s Jonn Hart (that’s right, with two N’s) and Kid Ink. The painfully catchy tune has now made innocent slipping and sliding something of a forgotten past. And Hart’s serious, mentioning in his rap, “I ain’t gon’ play no games.” But why, Mr. Hart? Summer games are chock full of innocent and good fun! What’s probably the weirdest thing about this song is how the heck Hart or Ink found the inspiration. That must have been one hell of a Wal-Mart trip.

2. “Whistle” by Flo Rida. What. The. Hell. If someone told us that we were allowed to make a song about a stupid whistle, we would be making bank! Uncalled for, Flo. But of course the guy who unnecessarily splits a state’s name in half has dibs on creating a song about a small wind instrument. We would also like to mention that if it took you a while to catch on the song’s sexualized themes, we don’t blame you. He is literally singing about how to use a whistle. It really is so damn literal. But really, Flo Rida must have seen a random whistle on the ground and decided to make a song about it. We can only imagine his disparity in needing to pay his utilities bill. And just for the record, if you happen to meet a girl who doesn’t know how to use a whistle, she has a breathing problem.

3. “Crickets” by Drop City Yacht Club featuring Jeremih. It’s very unsurprising to realize that this song has nothing to do with crickets. Sorry, cricket lovers … whoever you may be. The word “crickets” only comes up like four times in the song. As A-Wolf and Kristo rap quite distastefully about a girl, Jeremih’s soulful voice sings about trying to get a girl to hang out with him but hears crickets instead of a “Yes.”  But you can’t fool us here at Berkeley. We know that crickets prevalently come out at night, so look Jeremih. It’s not that you’re ugly or you don’t have a great voice or whatever. Maybe she doesn’t want a stranger following her and singing to her in the middle of the night.

4. “Birthday Cake” by Rihanna. We can say one thing about this song: It makes a great drinking game! But if you’re ever curious — or bored — enough to look up how many times Rihanna mentions the word “cake” in this song, it’s probably more than you’ve mentioned the word in your last eight birthdays. This song is so repetitive and simplistic that it’s almost … genius. Think about it. As Rihanna sings about making someone her bitch and not having the decency to put your name on your very own birthday cake, we can’t help but dance the night away to this on replay. You wouldn’t even know this song was about a pastry unless you did a really random Google search.

The only lesson we can learn from this? The next inanimate object you see, make a song about it. By what we’ve seen here, you can make millions.

Know of any songs or song titles you just have troubling getting? Share with us in the comments!

Image Source: Focka under Creative Commons 

Contact Karen Kwaning at kkwaning@dailycal.org.

The post 4 painfully literal song titles appeared first on The Daily Californian.

If you are in or around Berkeley, you may have noticed that it’s been raining — a lot. Even though it’s summertime, nothing beats a cozy day in with tea, something to read and the perfect soothing rainy-day soundtrack. Here are 14 songs that we guarantee will make you cross your fingers for dark clouds:

1) Norah Jones, “Painter Song”

2) Andrew Bird, “The Happy Birthday Song”

3) Jack Johnson, “F-Stop Blues”

4) Art Tatum, “Stormy Weather”

5) Adele, “Daydreamer”

6) Bibio, “Lovers’ Carvings”

7) Iron and Wine, “Joy”

8) Louis Armstrong, “When You’re Smiling”

9) Feist, “Gatekeeper”

10) Zee Avi, “Poppy”

11) Carla Bruni, “Raphael”

12) Amy Winehouse, “The Girl From Ipanema”

13) Eddie Vedder, “Dream A Little Dream”

14) Frederic Chopin, “Nocturn No. 2 in E flat”

As always, you can check out this playlist on Spotify!

Image Source: pshutterbug under Creative Commons

Contact Liz Zarka at lzarka@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @Zarkotics.

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This Friday marks the start of The Electric Daisy Carnival festival in Las Vegas, where more than 300,000 electronic dance music enthusiasts will gather to rave in Sin City. Even if you couldn’t make it this year to see big names like Avicii, Hardwell, Calvin Harris and Knife Party perform live, we at the Clog have made a playlist of seven songs that will get you in the P.L.U.R. mentality.

1) Alesso and Dirty South, “City of Dreams”

2) Calvin Harris and Florence Welch, “Sweet Nothing”

3) Tiesto ft. Quilla, “Walls”

4) Major Lazer, “Original Don (Flosstradamus remix)”

5) Zeds Dead, “Rude Boy”

6) Porter Robinson, “Say My Name”

7) Empire of the Sun, “Alive”

As always, you can check out this playlist on Spotify!

Image Source: Caesar Sebastian under Creative Commons 

Contact Liz Zarka at lzarka@dailycal.org.

The post Playlist of the week: EDC jams appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Benjamin Zander’s TED Talk might be the best speech you’ve never heard of. Seriously, it’s amazing. In it, the American conductor uses classical music (that’s right) to humor, manipulate and inspire members of his audience to their feet — even bringing some to tears, and it’s not hard to see why. This speech was emotional and exhilarating, making it one of the best we at the Clog have seen in a while. So before you start your day (or maybe when you get a break from it), do yourself a favor and watch the video here. But in case you don’t have the 18 minutes to spare (and you promise to watch it later), here are the key points to take away from the talk:

Be a ‘one-buttock’ player. That’s Zander’s descriptive term for the exact number of buttocks you should be sitting on (literally or figuratively) while playing the piano. Strange term, huh? Perhaps, but consider this explanation: Great pianists are moved by the music they play, so whether you are studying Bach or biochemistry, let your passions move you. That’s something that every Cal student should remember.

A great leader doesn’t doubt the capacity of the people he or she is leading. Zander is a conductor, so his power lies in the ability to awaken possibility in other people. Thus, it is imperative for Zander to have confidence and trust in the people that he conducts, which is why he believes that a truly great leader empowers others.

Success is how many shining eyes you have around you. Shining eyes are the looks of inspiration, respect and passion that surround a great leader. At the end of his talk, Zander asks, “Who am I being that my children’s eyes are not shining.” In other words, how can we improve ourselves so that we inspire the people around us? It’s definitely something to think about.

Whether you’ve just finished your senior year or have just submitted your SIR, Zander offers extremely insightful lessons that any and all Cal students can use. His remarkable ability to communicate valuable lessons and profound emotions is what separates this speech from so many others.

Image source: World Economic Forum under Creative Commons

Contact Griffin Mori-Tornheim at gmoritornheim@dailycal.org.

The post TED Talk of the week: Benjamin Zander on ‘shining eyes’ appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Because many of us are home for the summer, we’re surrounded by the love, affection and home-cooking family and friends we grew up with. So it’s totally understandable that we’ve been having impromptu childhood flashbacks. To help you revisit those sweet ’90s childhood memories and marvel at how much time has gone by as we prepare for another semester of college, here’s a playlist of 19 awesome songs that were big when we were little:

1) Naughty By Nature, ”O.P.P”

2) Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

3) Sublime, ”Caress Me Down”

4) Lauryn Hill, “Doo Wop (That Thing)”

5) Save Ferris, ”I Know”

6) Destiny’s Child, “Say My Name”

7) Hole, “Celebrity Skin”

8) Weezer, “Buddy Holly“ 

9)  Sugar Ray, ”Fly”

10) Red Hot Chili Peppers, ”Give It Away”

11) The Notorious B.I.G., ”Hypnotize”

12) Counting Crows, “Mr. Jones”

13) Foo Fighters, ”Everlong“ 

14) Radiohead, ”Exit Music (For a Film)”

15) Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life”

16) Len, “Steal My Sunshine”

17) Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know”

18) The Flaming Lips, “She Don’t Use Jelly”

19) House of Pain, “Jump Around”

As always, you can always check out this playlist on Spotify.

Have any favorite songs from the nineties? Let us know in the comments section!

Image source: Vinni123 under Creative Commons 

Contact Liz Zarka at lzarka@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @Zarkotics.

The post Playlist of the week: ’90s nostalgia appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Jeff Zheng/Courtesy

Jeff Zheng is a second-year student here at Cal majoring in computer science, but what separates Zheng from the rest is that he’s also an aspiring music producer and DJ. Zheng produces electronic dance music from his small Unit 1 dorm room — all while trying to handle a heavy load of coursework. Zheng is originally from southern Florida and began producing music soon after he arrived at Cal in fall 2012. Zheng produces music with his partner, best friend and fellow Cal student Nikka-Sher Piterman. Together, they form the music production duo known as First Class. So what is the life of a student DJ really like? We at the Clog decided to find out.

The Daily Californian: First off, how did you and your partner, Nikka, meet — and how did you two decide to start producing music together?

Jeff Zheng: I met Nikka through a mutual friend here at Cal. We initially did not intend on working on music together. I hadn’t even started producing music when I met him. But after I produced my first track, he was impressed and persuaded me to take music more seriously than just a hobby.

DC: Can you describe your music style?

JZ: I started off listening to electronic music during the “revival” era of EDM, when artists like Alesso and Porter Robinson became popular, so my music is heavily influenced by their usage of bright and loud synthesizers. When I sit down to create songs, I focus on the melody first, then the bass line, while other musicians tend to do vice versa.

DC: Explain to us the process of sitting down and creating a song. It must be difficult with the limited resources you have in a small dorm room.

JZ: Well, I never know when I’ll start producing a song. It often occurs when I’m just walking around campus and some catchy melody pops into my head. I try to rush as quickly as possible to a table and jot down the melody on my laptop. If that’s not possible, I’ll sometimes record a really, really embarrassing audio file on my iPhone of me singing the melody. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done. After that, it involves a lot of experimenting with sounds with a synthesizer and a lot of trial and error. There are probably dozens of (different) variations … of the songs that I have produced. Having a quiet room definitely helps. I lived in the mini-suites in Unit 1 these past two semesters, and it tends to be pretty quiet around there. And now that I’m moving into an apartment, I’ll have more room to put a new keyboard and microphone to help with the creative process.

DC: Tell us about your past experience in music and/or music production.

JZ: I used to the play the piano — up until junior year in high school — but I never enjoyed it. It was always frustrating to me to have to play the music of other composers, especially those that have been dead for over a century now. However, I think to gain that fundamental understanding of music for the type of music that I produce now — it was necessary that I had all of that intense training in classical piano music.

DC: Do you think your major of computer science ties, in any way, to your passion for music?

JZ: Computer science, in many ways, is a lot like making music. The way you compose a melody is similar to the way you code a program. Both involve a lot of asymmetrical thinking at times.

DC: Since you’re clearly very passionate about music, have you considered being a music major?

JZ: I would choose to be a music major in a heartbeat if Cal offered courses in audio production. I’m not as interested in the performance of live instruments as I am with producing, and I don’t think I could go through another music theory class again. I’m definitely considering a minor in music, though.

DC: How often do you study? How do you keep up with your music while trying to maintain a decent GPA?

JZ: I try to keep a balance between school and producing, but often times, I lose track of time when I get locked in on a track. I guess, like most Berkeley students, I study when midterms and finals come up, and I try my best to put music in the backseat (then).

DC: How has being a student at Cal inspired you and influenced your music?

JZ: Well, quite honestly, the wide availability of … incense in Berkeley is pretty great. It’s nice to light up some … incense and relax before you produce a song. But on a more serious note — not that incense (isn’t) serious business — all the friends here I’ve made over these past two semesters at Cal have really inspired me. This might sound really corny, but I’ve made so many friends at Cal who are so passionate about what they do. I have a good friend who is an English major here at Cal, and … I asked her why she was doing it, what was she going do later on. And she told me that she just loves it. She loves to read, and she loves to write, and she’s passionate about literature, and why waste your time on something you don’t love when you could be pursuing something you really enjoy? So hearing things like that always pushes me further in making music. Knowing that there are so many people who are so passionate and in love with what they are doing with their lives here at Cal really inspires me to keep doing it. Some people may think it’s a waste of time, but there are so many people at Cal who understand where I am coming from. It’s not a waste of time if you love what you are doing.

DC: How has being in the Bay Area influenced your music?

JZ: Well, I’m originally from south Florida. Coming to Berkeley was really cool because the EDM scene in the Bay Area is booming. Back at home, I only had a couple of friends I could talk to about EDM shows coming up or whatever, but here at Cal, there is a serious population of EDM lovers. Every time I mention a DJ’s name in a conversation with a group of people, there’s always a couple of them who know what I’m talking about, and it’s awesome! Also, there are always EDM festivals or DJ’s coming through Oakland or San Francisco or just around the Bay Area in general, and I always have friends who are down to go with me! So basically, just knowing that I have all these people around me who are interested in the type of music I make — who know it even better than I do sometimes — and who can give me constructive criticism and honest opinions about my music is really helpful.

DC: What are your aspirations for the future?

JZ: I never thought my music would actually be good enough to be published by a label, but surprisingly enough, I was contacted by a Greek record label two months ago. However, their terms were extremely restrictive, and they didn’t have much to offer me in the way of promotion. But even those tiny successes have given me confidence that I have the potential to make music a career for myself. I recently decided to start up a music label with Nikka and another one of my close friends Jared Jones, aka Protejay  —you should check out his music, called California Records. It’s still in the early stages, but we have big plans ahead of us. As for school and Cal, I still plan to graduate after these next three years and get my degree in computer science. I think it will help me with my music, and even though music is what I’m most passionate about, getting that degree will help me be skilled in other areas.

If you’re interested in checking out some of Zheng’s music, click here.

If you’re interested in checking out the music Zheng and Piterman have produced together, click here.

Contact Gabrielle Nguyen at gnguyen@dailycal.org.

The post The Clog interviews Cal student and aspiring music producer Jeff Zheng appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Liz Zarka/Staff

Whether you’re lounging on the beaches of SoCal, getting ahead by taking summer classes at Berkeley or vacationing in faraway destinations (in which case we’d be very jealous of you), your summer needs a playlist. The Clog’s got you covered. Here’s a playlist with 12 tracks that’ll be the perfect background music for your summertime adventures, whatever they may be.

1) Waaves, “King Of The Beach”

2) Pacific Air, “Float”

3) Star Slinger, “Mornin‘”

4) Girl Talk, “Summer Smoke”

5) Chad & Jeremy, “A Summer Song”

6) Frank Ocean, “Monks”

7) Animal Collective, “Summertime Clothes”

8) Coconut Records, “Summer Day”

9) Beach House, “Zebra”

10) The Zombies, “Summertime”

11) Slightly Stoopid, “Closer To The Sun ”

12) Best Coast, “Our Deal”

As always, you can also check out the playlist on Spotify!

Have any favorite summer songs? Let us know in the comments!

Contact Liz Zarka at lzarka@dailycal.org and follower her on Twitter @Zarkotics.

The post Playlist of the week: our summer music spins appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Sarah Branoff/Staff

This past weekend was the musical event of the year for many Cal students as they attended the annual Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington. Some of us at the Clog road-tripped up north to the land of legalized marijuana and North Face jackets (which were even more prevalent there than here in Berkeley, if you can believe it) to see headliners like Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Alt-J and Steve Aoki. The festival lasted four days, and for the small, small price of $350, tickets included camping on the grounds with the rest of the 100,000 festival-goers. The food was horribly overpriced and the weather more chilly than we California-blooded folk would have liked, but the music was absolutely epic. Macklemore was extravagant and cocky in a way that only Macklemore could’ve been, and as a native Seattle resident, he exposed a more genuine side than fans usually get to see as he expressed his love for the Pacific Northwest. The soothing British voices of the Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party made us melt, and the electric vocals of Grimes were pleasantly and shockingly smooth.

Genres ranged from rock to trap to alternative, but many bands included hints of multiple genres in their performing styles. Even amid the mosh pit of Dropkick Murphys, for example, one could detect folky bagpipe tones, while Capital Cities managed to incorporate both electronic melodies and a teen-pop boy band feel. We were able to explore lesser-known bands, like Wild Belle and Tekekinesis, that are sure to make it big in the very near future. We were obviously rocking our Cal gear for the entirety of the festival, and our Berkeley pride swelled a little with every “Go Bears!” that was yelled at us. At one point, we ran into another group of Cal students and burst into the Cal drinking song (definitely impressing the Oregon State and Washington U friends we had made). Between crowd surfing to Imagine Dragons and lying on the grassy hill listening to the visibly intoxicated but still mesmerizing Edward Sharpe, the most magnificent characteristic about the festival was the location itself. The Gorge Amphitheater (located in George, Washington — cute, right?) is home to one of the most amazing views the Clog has ever seen. From nearly every stage at the festival, Sasquatchers could witness natural beauty at its finest — you could see huge, dropping cliffs and wide river forks slicing through the massive valley. After four days without any obligations (or a shower), dancing in the rain on Monday afternoon provided Cal students with a pretty magnificent “yolo” moment as they relished in being young and surrounded by beautiful music. The tickets were expensive, and the drive back to Berkeley was long, but the experience was worth it all — without a doubt.

Contact Sarah Branoff at sbranoff@dailycal.org.

The post Rain, mosh pits and Macklemore: the Sasquatch Festival experience appeared first on The Daily Californian.