Friday, September 19, 2008

Passion Pit: Chunk of Change



Girls love when guys give the gift of music. Generally in the form of mixes, whether on tape or CD, they are supposed to be little sentimental tidbits that solidify and speak of the relationship they cherish.
Mixing it up a bit more, what if said boyfriend was a musical mastermind, cooked up the most savory catchy batch of beats entirely of his own, and it was all for you? For a while, until he showed it to everyone else.
Michael Angelakos, the leader behind the project known as Passion Pit, took this rather peculiar path after his girlfriend probably pushed him out the door to show everyone else what a delicious six course/track meal this was. Angelakos gathered a bunch of handsome looking scruffy men in glasses to accompany him for live stage performances, and the stage was set for Passion Pit to blow up and surpass expectations.
Squeezed tightly into the sardine packed Toads Place one night last May, I gazed up to the front to watch a band that I didn't quite catch the name of, for my friend and I were eagerly awaiting Girl Talk to take the stage. Passion Pit began their elaborate array of electronic pop that could give one a mouthful of cavities. Dancing as hard as we possibly could, we realized at the end of the night that this band had reigned over the main act.
As of last Tuesday, Passion Pit's freshman EP, Chunk of Change, is available in stores and on Itunes. Not many words can be used to describe the tracks; this is an album that you just have to listen to immediately, especially the songs “Sleepyhead” and “I've Got Your Number.” You'll be hearing their name pop up a lot more often, so you might as well get on the ball and like it before others do; there's obvious gloating potential here.

Promiscous Chile

What happens in Santiago, Chile, stays in Chile. This statement doesn't hold much breadth if one was to hear about what is currently going on this this sexually conservative country: teenagers around the ages of 14 to 18 are stripping down to their skivvies in public and grinding against each other at clubs holding parties from afternoon till nighttime. Tie it into the fact that American teenagers are exploring sexual acts at younger ages, and the “what happens” phrase no longer applies.

Technology has been the driving force in Chile's youth. Using social networking sites to talk to their on-line crushes, they then go to these clubs to pursue the teens they've chatted with, but never met. In most cases, they end up making out with that person among many others by the end of the night.

In Santiago, the prepubescent bodies twist and turn to 'reggaeton beats' with lyrics inviting them to “Poncea! Poncea!” Translation: make out with as many people as you can, the New York Times reported.

The country is finding it difficult to cope with the newfound promiscuity. Last year, a video popped up on-line of a 14 year old girl excitedly performing oral sex on a teenage boy on a park bench, and the pregnancy rate among young girls is constantly rising, according to NYT.

The problem doesn't lie within the teenagers decisions. There is little to no sexual education in Chile's school systems, so what they don't learn, they'll want to go learn themselves.

While it may seem a bit haywire at the moment, this was seemingly destined to occur after the downfall of the dictatorship the country was previously in. Older generations fought hard for their children to have these freedoms, but they weren't prepared to moderate them.

Take a look at our country's teenagers: aren't studies showing that our younger ones are experimenting with sexual acts earlier in their middle school careers? What is currently being tossed around and debated by our two presidential nominees? Sexual education. The United States is in need of keeping a topic this important afloat; it seems like the no sex ed/social networking combo is a recipe for disaster. If all else fails, parents might actually have to sit down and talk with their children about the birds and the bees. That works, right?