Grandview "There is much artistry in the way the album is constructed, every detail is accounted for." [Promo]

DISCLAIMER:  I am going to fanboy pretty hard about this artist.  But I completely believe the AT LEAST 90% of such praise is completely warranted.  Ok, let's do this.

Grandview is a small time band out of Boston, MA.  They are in the same touring group as The Color and Sound, The Dirty Looks, Pray for Sound and Somos (there's free music in some of these links).  I have a friend in New York state who is into the local music scene (he's in a band up there) and this is how I was introduced to all these wonderful artists.  But what inspired me to write this post is Grandview's newest release.

Now, while I love the indie pop music from The Color and Sound, the post-rock from Pray for Sound and the pop punk from Somos, Grandview takes these ideas and mixed them into something new.  Now, maybe you're saying "Come on, indie pop punk emo alternative rock isn't anything new."  And to that, I say "you are correct."  But the new scope that Grandview creates on the genre(s) is a wonderful experience.

This is one of those albums you plug in and just listen to without doing anything else.  Experience the lyrics and the emotion of the instruments.  Considering this is their first LP, Grandview is already mature in a way few bands will ever be.

There is much artistry in the way the album is constructed.  Every detail is accounted for.  The album, entitled "Everything Between Paint and a Wall" starts with the song Paint and ends with the song Wall.  The tracklist is constructed in such a way that you feel a spectrum of emotions in the correct order.  And, while listening to it, I had the "repeat album" option on.  Not only does each song flow seamlessly into the next, but there is a transition from the last track to the first track.  This album transitions into itself.  That's as impressive as The Dear Hunter's album Act I transitioning into his next release, Act II.

I find it a beautiful experience, and I hope you will at least give them a listen.  You can stream the entire album on Grandview's Bandcamp Page.  You can buy the 11-track album for $5, and this page also offers some free (or name your price) releases.  Be sure to give those other bands a listen as well, I know you won't regret it!

Coca-Cola's Super Bowl commercial, and the media-driven culture war fad.

Anyone watching the Super Bowl knew this was going to happen.  Coca Cola's ad (below) features "America the Beautiful" sung in seven different languages.  The artistic point of the ad, it's message, is simple:  America is beautiful because we are a melting pot.  But, as many of you probably know, that particular bottle of multicultural Coke was hard from some to swallow.

Glenn Beck has publicly stated that the ad is a political divider of the people:

"It's in your face, and if you don't like it, if you're offended by it, you're a racist. If you do like it, you're for immigration. You're for progress."

Fox News's Todd Starnes also weighed in on the negative side of what many claim shouldn't be a debate.

Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. #americaisbeautiful
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014

So was Coca-Cola saying America is beautiful because new immigrants don't learn to speak English?
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) February 3, 2014

Yet, many say it's a beautiful and artistically done commercial.  They believe Coke has no hidden agenda, they're simply bringing back "Buying the World a Coke."  Of course, I lie somewhere in the middle.  The marketers at Coke are very good at what they do.  I think they wanted to stir the pot.  Not because they are pro or anti-immigration.  Because people would be talking about their advertisement.  And look at social media and news publications now!  All they want to talk about is how beautiful the ad is and how ignorant that Fox News is.  So, Coke got their wish:  press.  But they've opened up a bigger can of worms.

All of the anti-conservative information you see above came from a New York Daily News article with so much spin it made me dizzy (if you get motion sickness, be weary of following the link).  The focus of the article was bashing famous conservatives for disagreeing with the message of the advertisement.  They, meaning author Ethan Sacks, named two contributors to Fox News and wrote what I have written above.

Clearly using what we can only assume is an ad he appreciates (lest he be called ignorant), Sacks attacks the right-wing media.  He subtly, but effectively, wrote Fox News enough times in his article for us to know he's generalizing the feelings of Glen Beck, and a man who wrote "Dispatches from Bitter America" and projecting them onto an entire news organization.

It's a controversy, alright.  People fighting on social media.  News outlets using what they say is art to attack another.  Racism, intolerance, melting pot, assimilation, hate, love, acceptance.  Do we let immigrants in?  After all, that's what this country was founded on.  But "united we stand, divided we fall."  Do we force everyone to learn English and use it in public, still allowing them to appreciate their native tongue, so we can stand together?

No matter what your beliefs are on all of this, it doesn't seem like the media is using the controversy to do anything good.  All they want to write about is hateful tweets.  And Coke can sit back and watch as their advertisement creates a culture war fad, driven home by the media.  Hell, even I'm giving Coke free press by writing this.  But no more, let's leave the faux culture war alone, and focus on real immigration.

In case you didn't know, an immigration deal is currently in the works.  This is what we should all be reading, arguing about, and writing about:  real immigration law with real long lasting consequences.