iPod Review: Music of Cecilia Razak

Song titles A-Z:“Aaron’s Party” Aaron Carter “Zombies Walk” Sufjan Stevens/Kanye West mashup

| Managing Editor

The fact that the first song on this iPod, alphabetically, is a cut off of Aaron Carter’s seminal party album notwithstanding, the track list on this MP3 player is certainly befitting that of a Cadenza editor. And Cecilia Razak isn’t just any Cadenza editor, she’s THE Cadenza editor.

While movies have always been her strong suit, the well-managed playlists featuring hip indie-rockers like Frou Frou, a strong presence from the often underappreciated soul god Sam Cooke and the complete works of Randy Newman prove an open musical taste with no fear of overrepresentation (The Beatles and Mr. Newman are obviously heavy favorites).

The iPod itself is a standard size video model, bound lovingly by a homemade carrying case fashioned from black duct tape and what appears to be some semi-official document on Washington University letterhead. Though the model allows for it, no videos populate the iPod’s memory banks; instead Razak opts for various NPR podcasts and a healthy number of playlists named for friends, real or imagined.

The music sampling leans toward the individual song based variety, as opposed to one based on complete albums. Razak’s iPod features everything from the standards (Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” the funnier “Flight of the Conchords” songs) to more offbeat attractions (the melancholy “She’s Too Good for Me” by Warren Zevon, and an hilarious meditation on the state with the lowest highest point by Canadian rockers Moxy Furvous).

A few hip-hop standards like Ja Rule’s “Put It on Me” pop up here and there but do not dominate the proceedings. One is much more likely to spend time with Aimee Mann and Sufjan Stevens than Jay Z and Girl Talk on this music mix.

All in all the music offers a good entry into Razak’s music taste. It can’t really be described as a party Pod, but it certainly offers enough variety to get a bumping groove going with some careful prep work. It certainly shows that Razak values artists who are storytellers (Randy Newman, The Zombies, Warren Zevon, Aaron Carter) which fits with one who spends so much time watching movies.

Perhaps the most refreshing element is that this iPod features no crafting: There is no artificial rounding of the music library to make the owner seem more broadly interested than she is. There are a few atypical tracks here and there, but not enough to suggest any intentional shaping. The music sticks a little too close together, but shows a broad range of the same kind of music from the ’50s and ’60s through Oasis into Radiohead and multiple remixes and mash-ups.

All in all this was not a totally inspiring listening experience, but a pleasant one, and refreshing at that. Too many iPods are bloated with tracks never listened to. This is not a problem with Razak’s iPod, and while no one will be demoting her to Music Editor anytime soon, she shows enough of a knowledge and sense of history to make her presence as ruler of all things Cadenza a happy sign for the future of Student Life.

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