Monday, August 22, 2022

Start the semester off right with a new Scope Selects from Liv, our tasteful Talent Buyer! Don't miss out on her playlist, which features a little bit of everything – perfect for the adjustment back to campus!

Name: Liv Allen (she/her)
Hometown: Des Moines, IA
Year: Senior
Field(s) of Study: Arts Management
SCOPE Position: Talent Buyer

Spotify Playlist

Listen to SCOPE Selects: Liv Allen on Spotify

The Deep Cuts

I organized this playlist by vibe so from the top down its “songs that make me feel WEIRD” (1-39) “bangers I can walk to the beat to in public with my headphones in and feel really cool” (40-44), “Rap/ R&B tunes that make me groove'' (45-53), to “I am going to cry and need music to make it feel more movie esq” (54-62). Psychedelic and experimental music is something I have been diving into with bands like Yves Tumor using mind warping techniques like, deep echoes in Kerosene!, dissonance in Licking and Orchid, and scratching guitar solos in pretty much any of their songs, I find myself craving the unexpected. Boundaries are broken in their music, but also in the lead singer’s outspoken advocation for breaking gender binaries. Along the same lines of experimental music, I wanted to highlight the Australian band, Methyl Ethel. I remember listening to the song UBU for the first time in Seattle and being blown away. The album Oh Inhuman Spectacle scratches the itch for songs that make you feel like time has stopped in a dreamlike state. Specifically ill highlight Obscura and No Fighting (from their album Triage- also a banger) for their ability to ramp up my anticipation for the dreamy beat drops that just make me feel funky. Speaking of feeling funky, go listen to Alice Phoebe Lou’s voice right now! Something about her vibrato in songs like Only When I sends a shiver down my spine. Moving further down the list, I have bands like Crumb, Beach House, Indigo De Souza, and Grizzly Bear that should be staples in everyone’s journey into experimentalism. Someone I have been obsessed with forever is Thao. Her album We the Common was one of the very first records I bought. I would sit in my room and listen to it on repeat. It reminds me of summers in high school, my old house in Des Moines and spending time with my friends who I miss dearly. One of my favorite albums is A Man Alive where Thao moves into a more trippy vibe with tracks like Astonished Man and Meticulous Bird. To wrap up the experimental side of my playlist, I want to highlight the french songs L’amour Fou and Cool Colorado because even though I have no idea what i'm saying, they are absolute bangers. Something about French music is so neat to hear. I plan to delve into that more!

Moving further down the list, we have my all time favorite, Dominic Fike. He got me through some of the worst times in my life and simultaneously made the best ones that much better with tracks like Joe Blazey to cry to and Westcoast Collective to feel invincible to. His story is really inspirational of how he got started and I would look at that if you're curious. The album What Could Possibly Go Wrong is probably my favorite album of all time. I think back to the story the designer of the album cover recited of him working full time as a server, overworked and underpaid, depressed, stressed out with no hope left would come home to his mom who would always tell him “if you can't get out of it, get into it”. I got a tattoo of his silhouette (based on an embroidery my friend did for me for a christmas gift) with the words his mom said from the album cover on my side to remind myself of that.

To wrap up the playlist, I included great rap and R&B artists like Tyler, the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Denzel Curry, PawPaw Rod, Yeek and Noname. All these songs are just staples to have in any playlist, specifically Track07, $even, and Untitled in Grief. Then the playlist moves into sad girl terrority with artists like Mothers,and Julia Jacklin and Haley Heynderickx, how could you not sob uncontrollably? Every time I hear Haley Heynderickx I am taken back to when I had the Mission Creek internship and I was moved to tears listening to her beautiful sweet voice fill up Riverside Theatre. I hope you can connect to some songs on this playlist and make your own memories to tie to them.

Three Favorite Albums

  • What Could Possibly Go Wrong - Dominic Fike
  • Oh Inhuman Spectacle - Methyl Ethel
  • A Man Alive - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Favorite Concert Experience

I really love the moments at a concert when time seems to slow, the music seems so rich and you look around at the sea of people surrounding you. In moments like these you realize how the bands you have been compulsively listening to, the ones that made you scream sing in your car, helped you through tough times and made the good ones all the more sweet are REAL people right in front of you. One specific concert experience I can remember experiencing this awe wash over me was when I went to Alex G at Gabes with my best friend Grace. When the first big moment in the first song Gretel came on (13 seconds on spotify if you are curious) I remember getting goosebumps. Looking around at all the fans surrounding you, realizing that everyone there has been touched by these songs in one way shape or form is really crazy to me. I think back to the Cage the Elephant concert I went to when I was a sophomore in high school. I waited all day, got extremely sunburnt waiting in line alone from 7am-7pm to snag front row. My anticipation had been ramping up all day long and when they finally let us in 7 flags event center in Clive, I looked at the venue in awe of how an empty space like this would soon turn into one of the best nights of my life. My astonishment had turned into “oh crap I need to get my butt in gear” when I saw other fans that were behind me in line start running past me to try to get front row. Don't worry though, I made it. I remember halfway into the concert when they were playing Aberdeen, I looked behind me and saw the thousands of people just like me having such a good time. There is something so special about that feeling. Oh and not to flex but I also loved the time I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at the Wells Fargo Arena and Flea came over by us to change out his bass guitar. Except he didn't walk, he did a full on handstand and walked himself down the stairs. I expected nothing less from the legend. At the end of the concert we stuck around for a bit and Chad the drummer gave me his drumstick!

Hobbies / Interests / Fun Facts / Campus Involvement

This will be my second year in SCOPE and my first year as the Talent Buyer! I am so excited to give it my all with the best people in the world by my side. Outside of SCOPE, I work at the Englert Theatre! I could not ask for a job more up my alley. I began work there last year with an internship for Mission Creek Festival. I learned SO much about the industry and had amazing hands-on experience putting on a festival. After the internship ended, I got hired onto the staff. Now I do concessions and merchandise sales and have an apprenticeship shadowing the house manager and working on top secret special projects ????.

I strive to embody granola girl energy with my love for the outdoors. I am a lizard and can't get enough sunshine so I am constantly outside. I love camping, hiking, kayaking, going for bike rides, going for walks, reading in the sunshine, and gardening. My hobbies include obsessively taking care of my 50 plant children and buying even more plant children. Outside of being a plant momma, I love to play guitar, jam to some good tunes andI think hanging out with my friends is heaven on earth. I adore crafty things like painting, water coloring, and sketching. I have been super into embroidering over the past year which is so fun! I typically will do it on clothes but I have been exploring the idea of doing a tote bag because are you really a SCOPEr if you don't have a cool tote bag…? I really want to embroider more album covers soon. Outside of all these things, I guess a fun fact about me is I adore frogs and monkeys so if you find any cute photos please DM them to me plz and thx.