Smoke + Mirrors

Music is a powerful force that we have harnessed.

It has the power to inspire, to empathize, and to understand in languages and words that cannot be spoken.

It is the language of the soul.

     Today it has been monetized to a great extent, and though there is nothing wrong with being supported through art, it has come to a polarization where effort is no longer put into creating beautiful pieces so much as profitable ones. The music that the radio loves to blare constantly all day is all too often deep in appearance but shallow in reflection, much like a magic trick that is really just smoke, mirrors, and slight of hand. It is the feigning of emotion solely for a response, much like the up and coming artist Lorde points out in her song "Team", "I got sick of being told to throw my hands up in the air." 

     So that being said, I still enjoy thoroughly many modern songs and albums, and generally do not have a problem finding something that I connect with. What surprises me and has become a beautiful rarity is finding an entire album that has the same effect. Probably the first album to ever do that for me would be Linkin Park's 2007 album, Minutes to Midnight. Every single track had a rightful place for me, and I still enjoy putting the CD in my system and listening to the entire album as they mapped it out. Since then, only a few other albums have had such the pleasure of getting that same status, with many coming close. A great example of one that just so barely misses the mark in my opinion is Lorde's first album, Pure Heroine. Most of her ethereal and shadow-like mellow tracks are not only thoroughly enjoyable, but some of my go-to pieces when I want to experience my music rather than just listen to it, but there are a couple of them that I do not enjoy as well, and the distinction of the tracks is little, creating a well made album that just shies short of something legendary. Lana Del Rey's Born to Die album (and even the deluxe edition) is one that completely hits the nail on the head, providing a diverse, unique and a beautiful experience, and is near the very top of my list. 

     So what does Imagine Dragon's second studio album have to offer? In short, much more than I imagined (puns not intended.)

     Smoke + Mirrors has taken Imagine Dragons to a new level. Previously they where an extremely talented group who had worked incredibly hard to hone their skills and become something worth paying attention to, but this album changes that. Now they are a must listen to, with a far deeper and matured sound that is not afraid to try new things and seems to do them incredibly well. 

     My first experience with Imagine Dragons was a commercial about three years ago (a month after Night Visions came out) that used the now hit "Radioactive." I immediately turned to iTunes and searched for it, finally finding out a small up and coming rock band from Nevada had created it. I listened to Radioactive for months as my pumping workout song, and was amazed by how inspired the combination of dubstep and driving rock. Not to sound too hipster, but this was over a year before their first single "It's Time" gained real success.

     Since that memorable introduction, I have always had an affinity for them. Their debut album, Night Visions, was a fantastic mix of their Vegas stadium rock roots as well as a new new-dubstep/techno mix that redefined the Rock N Roll genre. I thoroughly enjoyed much of the album, though more specific tracks rather then the whole experience.

     This is where Smoke + Mirrors shines though, taking individual songs that are both memorable and very thoroughly worked on and then putting them into an incredible album playlist that makes them shine even more. From the fist riffs of "Shots" to the last sweeping melodies of "The Fall" this album creates feelings and moods in such a quick and yet meaningful way that it still surprises me.

Album Tracks

     The entirety of Smoke + Mirrors is organized very well, bringing diverse emotions and styles in a thoughtful and deliberate way. Even my reference album, Lana Del Rey's "Born To Die" does not have the same organized flow that Imagine Dragons has mastered, creating one of the few albums that ought to be listened to in the order that the artists have intended.
   
     For me the standout songs are immediately "Dreams," "I'm So Sorry," "Polaroid," and "Hopeless Opus." Dreams is an incredible one for me that touches on such a deep level it seems elementary. It is less ethereal as it is somber, and includes a satisfying yet purposeful beat that prevents the song from being melodramatic. The piano at the start sets up the mood for the powerful yet subtle lyrics. "I'm So Sorry" is the driving anthem for the album, and will likely become the next "Radioactive." Employing very driving guitar riffs and a deep, intense bass line this song is a fantastic test to see if your subwoofer is tuned well.

     Testing the Target bonus tracks was fun and exciting. Generally there are two different types of bonus songs, hidden gems and tracks that were not good enough to cut it in the actual album. Imagine Dragons includes both, and even though the entire Smoke + Mirrors album was a pleasant surprise, nothing had prepared me for the first two bonus tracks "Thief," and "The Unknown." Both of these have Reynolds singing in a more traditional and vibrato way, and it is fantastic! The music is at times busy on both of these tracks, but just to hear the way that he belts out the lyrics is more than worth is to find and purchase the deluxe album. The other two tracks are well made, but not as well thought out of, though the very last track is an acoustic feature.

Sound Quality Tests

     So how does this album sound, quality wise? In a sense, pretty darn well. I listened to it on three different pairs of varying headphones, two stereo systems, and finally a reference quality home theater, so I feel like I have a decent grip on the recordings. My sources where the "High Quality" streaming option on Spotify, and the Target exclusive edition on CD. With the headphones I first took a listen on a some well used Skullcandy Crushers, and was happily surprised to hear that the bass was not overpowering or unbearable for most of the tracks, though the can's ability to make some of the quick thumps on the tracks "Polaroid" and "Smoke and Mirrors" made it a bit messy at times. On the other sets this sound was good, but I felt something lacking, most of the tracks where not recorded for the casual iPod quality in ear cans and lower tier on ear headphones as well, leaving out many of the intricate and soft details that Imagine Dragons sprinkled into their work. The two stereo systems worked very well, though I noticed I had a far more enjoyable time with the subwoofer tuned higher than I usually have it, and the music never felt too harsh or boomy during my listens.

     What had me anxious was the studio theater system, which was always quick to point out any flaws in the recording that could literally destroy the album. A perfect example would be Woodkid's debut album Iron, which has a fantastic quality of musical writing, but poor recording has left it hardly ever touched in the collection. Right off the bat the bass was solid and the mids where astounding, but I immediately noticed a distinct harshness with the mid highs and highs. It was disappointing at some points and nearly completely distracting at others. A few songs seemed to be recorded far superior to others though, and upon learning this we backed off of the volume a bit and then everything became crystal clear and truly something worth listening to in the "full experience." What was stunning was the incredible bass that was mastered into these, it was so incredible it was literally dimming the lights during "Gold" and "I'm So Sorry," but also really went beautifully with "Dreams," "It Comes Back To You," and "Trouble."

     All in all, this album deserves not only a listen, but a dedicated listen on some good speakers. I personally have connected with the lyrics and music more than any other previous Imagine Dragons songs, and look forward to their future. 

The Chicago Typewriter

     Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Sir Francis Bacon once said "There hath no beauty without some strangeness in its proportions."  Many artists have celebrated the ordinary, such as the iconic can of Cambell's tomato soups, or a simple bowl of fruit. Sometimes it is cars, or planes, such as the striking contours of a Lamborghini Aventador, or the space-age looking Concorde commercial jet.

     I would like to speak a little bit about a strange beauty. It is the M1921 Thompson sub-machine gun. It is one of the most iconic weapons ever made, possibly second only to the still used Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 1947, or more simply put, the AK-47, which has over 30 million units spread all over the world.

The 1928 model with the classic "gangster" forward grip and deadly (and heavy) 50 round drum magazine. 

     The "Trench Broom" or "Chicago Typewriter" was first envisioned as a semi-automatic rifle instead of an automatic sub-machine gun. The struggle was finding a safe way to disperse the gasses and recoil of the round without losing the power and potential to reload a fresh round into the chamber. In 1915, General Thompson discovered the John Bell Blish patent of such a system, and began work on his "auto rifle."

     Upon discovery that the system did not work well with rifle calibers, Thompson then imagined a "one man, handheld machine gun" that could be employed in the nasty business of clearing trenches (this was the time of World War One, which was mainly fought via trench warfare)

     In 1918 the design was mostly well rounded, and was released as the "Annihilator I" but WWI ended before any prototypes where shipped to Europe. In 1919 the name of the gun was changed to the "Thompson Sub-machine Gun," and was available to civilians. The 1921 version (and the militarized M1921) variants where more reliable and better preforming, which gained the popularity among the early gangsters and bootleggers who wanted to be able to "outrun and outgun" the police. It's fearsome and intensely modern looks where accentuated by the vertical foregrip and large drum magazine, combined with the ribbed barrel and the Cutts Compensator crowning the muzzle made for quite the intimidating weapon. It preformed as menacing as it looked, spitting out over 1,200 rounds per minute of deadly .45 ACP lead, feeding from a 20 round box magazine, or fifty round drum magazines.

The original concept of the Annihilator I, looking not too different from what the infamous Thompson that it would spawn only a few years later.

     The later M1928, M1, and M1A1 models where all further refined for military use, but did not keep the looks and firing rate that the classic M1921 model had. The M1A1 was in service until after Vietnam with the U.S. military, and saw service at the hands of other militaries as late as the early 2000s.

The military wartime M1A1 model of the Thompson, though less infamous in looks and nature still quite the force to be reckoned with and an instrument of success during the many wars of its use.

     While the military weapon saw far more use and production, there are few weapons as iconic and intimidating as the Model 1928 Thompson. It is this model that the names "Chicago Typewriter" and "Trench Broom" where born for, and the tool that was used in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre to gun down 12 people. It was so infamous and instrumental in arming these rebels that the 1934 NFA act (which prohibited the use of machine guns by US civilians) was named the "Anti Tommy Gun Bill" by the news agencies covering its development.


But aside from its deadly history and infamy, what makes this gun a work of art? For me, it is the design of the weapon, utilizing the recoil of the cartridge to reprime and reload the weapon in a reliably quick way. At the time this weapon was fiercely modern, using more metal than wood and having a very unorthodox shape or using a "vertical pistol grip" at both the front and the back of the weapon, allowing it to be controlled easier and paving the way for today's modern "assault" style of rifles and sub-machine guns that we know today.

Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! And a happy New Year. -From the "Fallen Angel" movies featured in Home Alone.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare featured a futuristic take on the Thompson design, though this design is not only outdated in the present day, but would be archaic in the future that the game takes place.

Enduring Battles

     The cold air whipped at me one last time as I stepped aboard the small plane. Excitement, combined with a very natural anxiety joined me as I started to search for my seat. Tucson, I thought to myself... I was really doing this, and now, there was no turning back.
     I found my seat in the second to last row, on the aisle seat. A sweet old woman sat on the window seat next to mine, and looked oddly at me in my freshly cleaned suit and tie, with a little black name tag hanging from my suit lapel. She didn't say anything immediately, however, and I packed my carry-on suitcase into the overhead compartment, sat down, and buckled my seat belt. I had carried a Book of Mormon with me and intended to give it out, but the prospect of actually talking to a real person and then giving them it seemed to be far more daunting than I imagined it to be. Out of pure nervousness I simply opened it and began to read when the lady politely tapped my shoulder.
     "Young man," she asked, "Why do you look so handsome for a plane ride? Do you have a job interview?"
     My instincts started to take over as I responded, and the nerves subsided, letting me do what I wanted to do. I told her I was going to help the people of Tucson get to know God better, through this book. I learned that she had just lost her brother to cancer, and was flying back home from the funeral. It was the perfect time to start to talk about the beautiful truth of Christ's Atonement for us when the flight attendant interrupted me and announced to buckle up and get ready for takeoff. When She ended  her memorized announcements, I eagerly turned back to this elderly woman to resume our conversation and then give her the Book of Mormon when I realized that she had picked up one of the magazines provided and was reading it. My fantasies and visions of heroically bestowing my testimony with this little, blue book to her where momentarily dashed, and defeated. I read the book again.
     The plane started to growl to life, and began to inch toward its runway. Little did I realize that my entire life was about to be abruptly changed forever. Only a few minutes had passed before the captain received confirmation to take off, and punched the accelerator forward, lurching the entire plane in an immediate and violent pace toward the end. It was this force, this incredibly inhumane speed that triggered something deep within my mind. Something that had not happened to me before.
     It was as if someone disconnected a couple of very important wires in my brain, which made computing things and thinking rationally and logically completely impossible. Hyperventilation was the first physical symptom, causing near asphyxiation and instantly forcing me into as close to a fetal position as the seat would allow. My mind then started to fire insane and incredibly forceful questions at me, about my mission and why I was going. I was questioning my every move, why I was going, what was I going to do, and how I was going to do it. It shattered every last piece of whatever comfort or hope that I had in one single blow.
     Then the nausea of the acceleration and rapid elevation changes even further clogged and clouded my completely broken brain, only making my flight instincts further ravage my decision to board this plane to destiny. To this day I have not had a panic attack so forceful, so violent, and so painful as that fateful flight to Tucson. With every foot that we gained closer to our hot desert city I paid for in sweat, tears, and memory loss of everything I was taught and everything I loved. I could not have been more panicked if the plane decided to stop and go in a free fall into the depths of the Grand Canyon. In fact I wished that I could somehow magically fall out of the plane, and I fantasized  about the sweet possibility of maybe having this pain taken away in the instantaneous death of the drop.
     After two hours of this thorough brainwashing, and destructive spree, the plane harshly smacked the pavement of the Tucson airport, and eventually came to a stop at the terminal. Nearly abandoning all of my luggage and other fellow missionaries, I raced out to greet our Mission President and his assistants, but in my head I was hoping that someone familiar would be there to help me.
     Alas, no familiarity and no comfort came from meeting them. If anything, it seemed to be even more stressful and scary. The rest of my mission would be in this "fight or flight" mentality; I was never able to get past it. I returned home almost a year later because of its effect on me, and even today I am still plagued with nightmares of that fateful flight.


     To me, this has been one of the hardest things I have ever faced in my life. I constantly feel like I have failed, like I am some kind of second class citizen, or like I do not belong here. I think we all feel like that at one time or another, and I cannot say that my struggles are any more or any less than anyone else's, but I do know that the support that I have gained from my family and friends is the reason I am still here and still trying. Keep strong and true, know that you are loved and cared for, and that even though things do not happen our way, they will still work out.

Guernicia

 Before World War II erupted, there was a large civil war going on in Spain.

It was a horrible conflict where thousands perished and the infamous Francisco Franco became Spain's ruthless dictator.

Particularly in the Basque country, the fighting was brutal, and it is estimated that over half of the casualties were innocent civilians. 

As the war progressed, the Nationalist forces gained an incredibly powerful alley, Nazi Germany, who gave them arms, men, cargo, planes, and bombs.

     The Nazi Luftwaffe, or Air force, was developing advanced tactics to not only cripple their enemies' war machines, but to completely break the will of the entire nation to fight. They reasoned that if civilians where intentionally targeted that it would break their morale and they would soon surrender. Thus, the "Terror Bombing" chapter was indoctrinated into the Blitzkrieg tactics. There was only one problem with this new way of waging war; It had yet to be tested.
     Germany was not yet pursuing its world dominance, and so it loaned some pilots, planes and bombs to the Nationalists of Spain to not only produce another fascist country but also to test this Terror Bombing to see how effective it could be. They graciously accepted by choosing the little town of Guernicia, in Basque country.
     while Guernicia was the unofficial Head-quarters for the Republican forces, it housed one of the smallest military forces in the area, and was mainly populated by civilians. It would be the perfect testing grounds for their tactics, and they shortly afterwords prepared the Heinkel  bomber planes.
     The bombs started to drop the afternoon of April 26, 1937. For nearly two hours, hundreds of bombs fell into the once peaceful town, killing hundreds (estimated to be in the thousands by some experts) of unarmed, non-military people. The destruction was horrific, and would serve to be a template of the rest of Europe in only a few more years.

The destruction of Guernicia. Less than five years later most of Europe would look eerily similar. Eyewitness reports where horrific, detailing the incredible destructiveness of the bombs.

     The news of this bombing started to fly across Europe, and reached the ears of a native of the Basque country who was staying in Paris. Pablo Picasso, the famous cubist painter was stunned to hear about such a brutal attack on defenseless people, and not a month later had started one of his most famous paintings ever, in disgust about the massacre. He finished the 25 foot long, 11 foot high painting in less than a month, titling it Guernicia.


     Picasso used only black and white paints to depict the horrors of the bombing, giving it an ethereal contrast and making it feel like a photograph (which at the time were primarily monochromatic). Using his trademark cubism Picasso aimed to not only add complete confusion to the piece but also tell the tale from multiple angles.
     It should be noted that there are also some symbolism with all of the animals (namely the horse and the bull) but that is something that the individual should explore themselves.
     This is one of my absolute favorite paintings, and I am not entirely sure why. I remember reading in one of my Battle encyclopedia books as a young teenager and coming across a picture of this. The description talked about how people react and depict war in so many diverse ways, from such a striking, abstract, and unnatural painting like this to the triumphant horse riding victory of the Romantics. I have always been fascinated with conflicts like these, and to get a painting that depicts to me the chaos of what this new kind of war must be like captures my interest and emotions. What it must have felt like to be those poor citizens, having your entire world on fire and exploding, with nothing but the screams of your friends, neighbors and family mixed with the mechanical drone of the heartless, faceless planes above to hear. What would I do in such a horrific situation? Where do you begin in cleaning up and trying to repair all of this?
     On my last note of this painting, I cannot pretend that I understand Picasso's Cubism, and certainly not appreciate it the way that it is intended to, but I can appreciate the work that he has put into it, as well as the thought and the striking image itself that brings to my mind so many emotions and even memories. I like to think that Picasso would be proud that his painting has touched someone who previously didn't even like the movement.