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Scene

Scene’s Best Albums of 2020

Claire Rafford, Mariah Rush, Jake Winningham, Dessi Gomez, Ryan Israel, Aidan O'Malley, Colleen Fischer, Matthew Kellenberg, Maeve Filbin and Charlie Kenney | Monday, December 14, 2020

Scene writers made their lists; they checked them twice. The albums from January were reexamined; the soundtrack to the summer was played in December. Everyone’s votes were tallied and the final ticket of 20 records — those which we most cherished, fell deepest into and held closest to our hearts and ears in 2020 —

Scene

ICWMI: In case we missed it

Ryan Israel, Jake Winningham, Jim Moster and Matthew Kellenberg | Thursday, December 10, 2020

As the first installment of Scene’s end of the year wrap-up, ICWMI touches on those albums which didn’t quite make our top 20 list — due on Monday — but deserved their praises sung in the pages of Scene nevertheless, at least in the opinion of these writers. The albums below are those “under the

Viewpoint

Moving past the standardized test requirement

Matthew Kellenberg | Thursday, October 8, 2020

Notre Dame made an obvious decision for the 2020-2021 application cycle: suspending the standardized test requirement. Testing centers had closed. Students had few options. Less obvious, yet equally sound, was Notre Dame’s decision to make the new policy “part of a one-year pilot program with the option of expanding to future terms.” Test-optional admissions would

Scene

Sufjan Stevens rises anew on “Aporia”

Matthew Kellenberg | Monday, April 20, 2020

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” — Walt Whitman Eight songs into “Aporia,” Sufjan Stevens changes course. The album, a collaboration with Stevens’ step-father and label manager Lowell Brams, begins in a characteristic vein. Meditations on familiar discord, fatalism, the end of times. Rather than

Viewpoint

It’s time to rethink legacy admissions

Matthew Kellenberg | Tuesday, February 25, 2020

“Venite ad me omnes” — “Come to me all of you,” reads the base of the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue on God Quad. The statue extends its arms toward Main Building, a symbol of our multicultural family. Yet, despite Notre Dame’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, our student body is visibly homogenous. With this in

Scene

Is DJ Khaled ahead of his time?

Matthew Kellenberg | Thursday, February 13, 2020

The sun has set off the coast of Miami, Florida and Khaled Mohamed Khaled is lost at sea. On a jet ski. “Aight, it’s dark,” Khaled tells his Snapchat audience in one video. “In a minute, there ain’t gonna be no lights to navigate us to where we need to go.” As the sky darkens,

Scene

Of Monsters and Midsize Sedans

Matthew Kellenberg | Monday, February 3, 2020

You know your favorite indie band has made it when you hear them in a car commercial. Maybe it is a spot for the practical-yet-fun Nissan Quest. Or the classic-yet-fresh Cadillac SRX. Or the sustainable-yet-hip Toyota Prius. For whichever car it may be, a commercial spot not only confirms a band’s marketability, but it also

Scene

Music taste is not subjective

Matthew Kellenberg | Friday, January 17, 2020

Music critics tend to disagree. However, when they do so, they tend to agree on why: Music taste is subjective. That is, when it comes to judging music, we are individual subjects making independent judgments. I disagree. To a certain extent, our judgments of music are determined by the cultures in which we live and

Scene

Scene’s Best Albums of 2019

Ryan Israel, Charlie Kenney, Matthew Kellenberg, Dessi Gomez, Hanna Kennedy, Jake Winningham, Ethan Utley, Mike Donovan, Sarah Kikel, Elizabeth Gregory, Willoughby Thom and Sara Schlecht | Thursday, December 12, 2019

It’s the grand finale: Scene’s official list of the top 20 albums of the year. Our writers have spent 2019 listening to countless hours of music, as our Spotify Wrappeds can confirm, and have taken this time before finals begin to reflect on the year in music by ranking our top albums. Each writer’s rankings

Multimedia

Kanye West’s ‘Jesus is King’ draws thought, ire at Notre Dame

Matthew Kellenberg | Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Kanye West’s latest album, “Jesus Is King,” is a deeply spiritual, if equally controversial, project. Religion is a common theme in West’s music, from his 2004 song “Jesus Walks,” to his controversial “I Am a God,” to his gospel-infused “Ultralight Beam.” But never has West’s focus been so defined as on his latest album, “Jesus

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