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Media learns to improvise

 

» New ways content is presented during COVID-19

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

ore than a century after the Spanish

flu of 1918, the coronavirus pandemic
is a major event that no one expected to
happen. It has affected our daily routines
since we stay at home as much as possible.
While everyone tries to get updates on the
pandemic and stay entertained, even the
media has been affected by it.

When the pandemic began, the hosts

of The National, Adrienne Arsenault
and Andrew Chang, were in the studio
as usual. The following week, they were
two meters apart on opposite sides of the
desk. As the weeks went by, Arsenault had
to do the show from her house—outside
of the studio while Chang was still inside
the studio. Similar procedures happened
on other news shows and specials where
Global News’ Kristi Gordon did the weather
from her house, CBC News’ Susana da Silva
did reports from her backyard instead of
the newsroom, and CNN anchor Chris
Cuomo (who is the brother of New York

Governor Andrew Cuomo) tested positive
for COVID-19 and did his show Cuomo
Prime Time from his apartment.

While some news organizations still
complain about President Donald Trump’s
response to the pandemic, they are not
complaining as much they were before
the crisis really ramped up. Along with
complaints, they were previously talking
more about the impact of the pandemic and
shared positive messages that we will get
through this together. TV is now in disaster
mode and almost every channel shows
updates on the health crisis 24/7. This type
of coverage is typical for a natural disaster.

Everyday, I go back and forth between
Global News: BC 1, CBC News Network,
and the cable news channels in the US to
get all the essential information about the
pandemic. The commercials are serious
and have the same production value as a
Super Bowl commercial. They remind us
that if we all practice social distancing, we
can go back to being together again. They
even made up some fun ways to convince
us to take action and thanked all of the

 
 

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M arts@theotherpress.ca

essential workers for
keeping us safe.

While some
shows were still on
during the pandemic,
it will affect summer
TV this year and even
go beyond that. The
production of many
shows are suspended
and the next seasons
of these shows are
probably going to be
delayed. Reality shows
are especially going to be affected by this
in the case of this season of Big Brother
Canada ending early. Despite the delayed
films, a lot of movies were released straight
to digital. This may suggest that these
films would not have done very well if the
pandemic did not happen.

Though, the surge of live streaming
and social media brings an unlimited
amount of content that is still entertaining
and spreads the word on social distancing.
Like free concerts, live chats, and group

  
 
 

¢ Peach Pit’s ‘You and Your Friends’
album review

* Scrub in
e ‘Harrison Bergeron’ short story review
..and more

ee

COVID-19

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conversations (especially on Zoom which |
usually use when I do surveys). Trends also
including the “wash your hands” challenge
and the 6 PM sing The Tragically Hip songs
including “Courage” and “Bobcaygeon.” I
am even a regular watcher of a YouTube
show called No Idol No Life where I discuss
and comment on how the pandemic is
affecting Japanese female idol groups.

For us at the Other Press, we are
still online to keep you informed about
COVID-19. If we all take action, fun times
will be back.

The band that sounds like a distant
cousin of Mac DeMarco

>» Peach Pit’s ‘You and Your Friends’ album review

James Wetmore
Contributor

 

kek KK

is album sounds like those warm
summer days where you and the boys

get some foldable lawn chairs, a couple cold
ones, and sit in the garage with the door
open. I'm not sure what that means, but the
woozy guitar and softly sung vocals on this
record paints that picture in my mind. Most
of the album is about feeling alienated from
your friends and breakups, so maybe I'm
weird for visualizing it that way. The music
does carry a sense of strange nostalgia,
which seems to be acommon theme for
similar-sounding bands. Something about
the surf-rock / psychedelic guitar and laid-
back vocal performance just resonates with
warm summer nights and memories of
late-night antics.

Peach Pit’s sophomore record You
and Your Friends was released April 3. It
reminds us of past adventures—while
also referencing the social isolation many
are feeling right now amid the COVID-19
pandemic. It’s a bittersweet record that
I feel will be heavily played through
the “summer” as people gradually get
more antsy and quake at the thought
of spending another second away from
friends—strange considering the subject
matter of some songs.

Peach Pit hasn’t moved too far away

from the style they cultivated on their 2017
debut record Being so Normal; they still
embrace garage rock sounds and aesthetics
meshed with modern indie rock and emo

3

stylings. The production is noticeably
cleaner and studio effects like panning are
used more often (which is probably the
bonus of some extra studio time now that

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they likely have some extra cash kicking
around). The main difference between this
album and their first is the level of polish;
songs sound more thought out and there
are more intriguing harmonies between
the two guitars.

There are two standout songs on this
album, with “Thursday” being the first. It
sounds like a standard cut, complete with
the normal lead guitar melody throughout
the song and lyrics dealing with the fear
of being a burden to your friends. “Black
Licorice” is the second hit on this album;
it isa vibey song opening with a piano
drenched in reverb and vibrato, building
up to a wall of sound in the chorus carried
along by an avalanche of drums.

There isn’t a bad song on the album,
although there’s not something mind
blowing or completely foreign in any
of the songs either. No songs break any
new ground for the band as they stick to
the formula of guitar-driven melodies
and soft-spoken vocals—which they do
very well. It can, at times, feel like you're
listening to the same song on repeat—but
Peach Pit manages to keep it sounding just
new enough that you keep on listening.
Overall, You and Your Friends is a definite
improvement from their debut record that
manages to keep their music fresh and
entertaining while giving a timely shoutout
to the social isolation and lust for summer
that many of us are experiencing.