What Have Your Ears Been~Feeling~?-June

I like the idea of documenting what music I have been listening to every month. Because I'm constantly looking for new songs to add to playlists I make on my 8tracks, I go through music and  bands pretty quickly. I guess it'll be nice to come back to these songs later and get all nostalgic and shit.
1. 212-Azealia Banks

I first really listened to this song in May while I was finishing up three different paintings for Finals Week, so technically this isn't a June song. But fuck it's amazing and I still listen to it constantly. The fast paced beat and amazing rapping skills are just super addicting. I'm still warming up to Azealia's other songs (I personally ain't digging the eccentric looks she puts out in her later music videos) but the only other one I enjoy is 1991.
2. Cookie Thumper-Die Antwoord

Oh look! More Die Antwoord how surprising! Cookie Thumper is their latest released song and even though I don't understand a word of the chorus, I found myself humming it constantly at work this month.
3. When I'm Alone-Lissie 

I don't only listen to rap and hip-hop I swear! When I'm Alone is always on repeat in my car, but please listen to the version above and THIS ONE. Lissie is an amazing singer and I feel like she puts so much emotion into her voice when she performs live. Perfection.
4. Wicked Game (Chris Isaac Cover)-James Vincent McMorrow

Okay, so I don't know much about this artist, or any of his other songs, I just found this beauty while I was browsing on youtube. Before you press play, take a deep breath, close your eyes...get zen and calm and think about someone you love/loved. This song is just pure feels. I love it so much.
5.Mosquito-Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This is off their latest album, which is (unf) so good. I had a major YYY phase in the eighth grade. I had an ipod nano with only The Beastie Boys and the Show Your Bones album, so it was pretty easy to get obsessed. Karen O is a rock goddess and this song just makes me want to "suck your blood!"

Alright! Have fun listening and I hope you have an amazing time in July!

The Answer: Die Antwoord

In late 2011/early 2012 I found a video that filled me with disgust, curiosity, and amazement. The video was I Fink You Freeky by Die Antwoord. It was filled with dirty, unusual, scowling faces, crude drawings on the walls and clothing of the artists. It was dark, scary, and creepy. The music was a heavy techno beat throughout the whole song until the second verse where it slowly builds up and the beat drops like a dubstep song would. The artists were rapping in both English and Afrikaans, and it was hard to tell which was which at some points. I loved it. I watched it over hundreds of times, showed all my friends. It soon became the go-to song we would all play when we got together. Listening to I Fink You Freeky now just reminds me of the late nights in the parking lot with my friends, or driving a hundred miles an hour down an empty suburban street with the windows down.

Ninja

Die Antwoord is made up of the rap duo Ninja and Yolandi Vi$$er. I think what drew me to them was not only their amazing music, but all the question that I had about them: How old is Yolandi? Who is Ninja? Are they married? Related? Where are they from? WHAT! They have a daughter together?! The list honestly went on forever. The more I researched them, the more I respected them and their music. I love performers that take on characters to the point where they don't even know where their personal self begins and their character ends. Ninja described what he does once as "documentary fiction" and he believes that he can bend his own reality however he wants. The two both are tatted with Die Antwoord album names, their own lyrics, and little pictures that symbolize their songs (like Evil Boy-a cartoon of a little boy holding a HUGE penis, based off of the song Evil Boy and the toys that they sell). I don't know, I just admire the dedication. They are basically living art.
One of the first videos that I watched was called Zef Side, a short video that introduces Ninja, Yolandi, and DJ Hi-tek. It's odd that the actor/DJ/performer always changes but they always introduce him as DJ Hi-tek. Their reasoning is that he's actually very shy and has a speech impediment, but its very obvious that its just an imaginary faceless character which I like a whole lot better. They really play on the 'foreign' style. They introduce South African slang like zef (South African swag basically), or chappies (prison tattoos one does to themselves). They are seen hanging out in a poor neighborhood, explaining how Dj Hi-Tek "has a PC computer" and put their music "all up on da interwebz" with their heavy South African accents.

Yolandi Visser in the Max Normal Days

After listening to almost every Die Antwoord song, I found myself clicking on related youtube videos from their former project Max Normal TV. It's amazing to see the difference between Max Normal and Ninja, but I found myself picking up reused lyrics and beats like "I don't like the drugs, but the drugs sure like me!" in the Die Antwoord song So What (which is fucking amazing) was actually taken from the chorus of the Max Normal song Tik Tik Tik (which is also fucking amazing). Die Antwoord is definitely has a more appealing mainstream beat-and much more graphic lyrics-whereas Max Normal TV was about being on an enlightened level of originality. The phrase 'be a creator, not a parasite' is one of the main ideas of Max Normal TV. Seriously just go watch this documentary about his career, it'll make you appreciate him so much.
If you go back even further you can find out that Ninja also went by his real name Watkin "Waddy" Tudor Jones and made not only rap music but, like, seriously beautiful soft shit. Like Moon Love, which features their daughter Sixteen. Or this smooth jazz-ish song Shaboom. Seriously this man has had like nine lives and rocked every single one of them.
These days, however, they have blown UP. Now they do collaborations with Alexander Wang, Versace has taken a liking to Yolandi's haircut, they had an ongoing 'feud' with Lady Gaga that ended with a drag queen getting dress in her infamous meat dress getting eaten by a lion in the Fatty Boom Boom music video, collaborating with artist Roger Ballen, and even doing a short film with Harmony Korine (directed Spring Breakers).
PLAYLIST GO LISTEN HERE YOU GO YUP

THE THEMIS PARTY

As an introduction I thought I'd explain a few things about myself and about something my friends and I created called The Themis Party. 
So, hi, I'm Cathy. I'm a 18 year old college student, feminist, fangirl, and many other things that I can't think of at the moment. My friend Sabrina suggested that I start this blog but I'm not really sure what to put on here yet. I'm going to try to not make my blog look like a recreation of my tumblr, but it's going to be a hard challenge. Hopefully who ever is reading this will stick around!
Okay, so The Themis Party (yes always bolded and capitalized fool!) was created during my senior year of high school in my Government class. We were assigned to partner up and create a political party. Sabrina and I (her name is gonna be on here a lot) came up with The Themis Party. Since it was named after the Roman goddess of justice, any conversation related to feminism was met with a war cry of "THE THEMIS PARTY HUZZAH!" after. I like to think that Lady Justice (the Greek equivalent of Themis) is holding the scales for gender equality, and the sword because y'all shouldn't fuck with feminists.

A lot of events have happened in the news recently and my life personally that have caused my love for The Themis Party to resurface. One of those being the whole ordeal with Texas Senator Wendy Davis. I honestly had no idea about the bill until I went online. I read a post about what was happening, clicked the link and was sent to a live video of the meeting. I saw the BAMF of a woman, Senator Leticia Van de Putte say, "At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues in this room?" and cheered with the other citizens in the capital. I cheered on Kirk Watson to keep talking, and repeating "I have seen many shades of grey tonight" to take up more time cause Senator Davis only had twenty minutes left! And when my Californian clock struck ten, and the Texan clock struck midnight, I threw my hands up in the air and yelled for my sister to come and watch. And despite the really fucked up shit that happened after, I'm glad I got to watch a historical moment take place. Those pink running shoes are going to be remembered. I even stayed up to make a collage in my sketchbook filled with pictures from that night, and a lot of text posts from Tumblr or comments from the Youtube live feed,  cause the power of Themis had inspired me. 

(Some awesome highlights from this collage: I shouldn't have to be cheering for Women's Rights. I should just have them. //"Patriarchy is when you can break the law in front of a room full of protesting women and THEY'RE the ones who get arrested"-Hugo Schwyzer //I've got a burning like my veins are filled with white hot feminist rage!)

Before this collage, I had been making little zines with Sabrina that we appropriately titles The Themizine. I mostly filled it with silly feminist things, but Sabrina put music she was listening to, actresses she admired, poems she enjoyed, etc. etc. I really enjoyed making them, and I plan on doing a ton more this summer.

The Themizine Vol. 1

Another Themis

 I felt like a total Riot Grrl this past week, listening to edgy-fuck-you-ish music, making zines, being actively involved in feminist issues. If you want to make a zine for yourself, we found this link that teaches you to make mini-zines out of plain blank paper, some folding skills, and a pair of scissors. They're super fun, easy to make, and you can do whatever you want with them. The fun part is being able to share them with your friends by copying the unfolded zine like the picture on your left here and folding up the copies for whom ever you want. Spread the word and add more members to The Themis Party! (Also side note: I really want the Ovarian Gang Sign to take off more than it has. Look at how awesome that bottom left picture is!) You can see The Themizine in more detail on Sabrina's blog which I keep linking to but no biggie its fine.

Another amazing event has happened in recent news! Prop 8 and DOMA are no more! Sadly, I don't know as much about this subject as I should, but I wanted to create a giant list of songs to party to for everyone that has benefitted from the filibuster and the good riddance of Prop 8. Most of these songs are already on a playlist I made called The Themis Party haha! But I made that quite a while ago, and I've found a bunch of other amazing songs: 

1.Bad Reputation-Joan Jett

2.None of Your Business-Salt N' Pepa

3.Been A Son-Nirvana

4.Run The World (Girls)-Beyonce

5.Map of Tasmania-Amanda Palmer

6.U.N.I.T.Y.-Queen Latifah

7.Boys Wanna Be Her-Peaches

8.Diva-Beyonce

9.Boys For Breakfast-Natalie Storm

10.All Men Are Pigs-Studio Killers

11.Can't Hold Us Down-Christina Aguilera ft. Lil Kim

12.Grown Woman-Beyonce

13.Pull Up The People-M.I.A.

14.Q.U.E.E.N.-Janelle Monae ft. Erykah Badu

15.I'm A Lady-Santogold

16.Revolution-Nina Simone

17.Warrior-Yeah Yeah Yeahs

18.Heavy Cross-Gossip

19.Independent Woman-Destinys Child

20.Bad Girls-M.I.A.

21.Survivor-Destinys Child

22.Just A Girl-No Doubt

23.Rebel Girl-Bikini Kill

24.Suggestion-Fugazi

25.Army Of Me-Bjork

26.Keep Ya Head Up-Tupac

27.Same Love-Macklemore

28.Born This Way-Lady Gaga

29.She Wolf-Shakira

30.Search And Destroy-Skunk Anansie