Archival Page on Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos

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Buffalo Glooming - Blog Post Example CAPA

I’ve had quite the 3 and a half years in Buffalo. This past weekend I visited the Griffis Sculpture park in East Otto an hour drive away from my apartment. My first sight of snow all season was frost on the grass in the higher elevation area of the park. Being from NYC I’m not new to snow but being in a commuter city did make my relationship with the cold flakes a bit more intimate. My first semester at UB I remember hail the size of tic-tacs smacking me against the back of the neck as power-walked to the bus stop. The night it snowed more than a foot and the unthinkable happened; administration cancelled classes in city known for snow storms so wild it is very likely you’ll have to dig your way out of your front door.

I got to visit one of Buffalo’s many nearby park for the last time on one of the last days before snowfall takes hold of the city for atleast a few months just as I plan to leave for my next adventure. This city reinvigorated me with a newfound appreciation for nature which is something I cannot ever repay. Access to so many beautiful, natural landscapes motivated my decision to spend the summer here whenever I had the chance.

Should you come to visit Buffalo I suggest coming in the summertime when the city is most alive. With farmer’s markets every weekend, food truck festivals with free live music shows, being in the middle of some of the most beautiful parks in America, and a bustling art scene Buffalo’s summers more than make up for its rough winters.

Aside from the nature outside of the city of Buffalo some of my most fun experiences have been exploring the city’s attractions. This ranges from my regular visits to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to the Buffalo Zoo to kayaking down the Erie Canal during my first weekend as a student.

Buffalo is a growing city with a number of organizations doing great work to help the city build up on itself equitably as well as efficiently. Collaborating with the University Heights Tool Library on planting and other neighborhood beautification projects has been a lovely experience. One of the best thing about being in Buffalo is being surrounded by these types of opportunities to lend a hand in a smaller group environment that makes it easy to make an impact without navigating the bureaucracy of more large-scale operations.

Overall this is a city that will give you all that you put into it and more. Of course it is easy to stay inside your comfort zone and not put yourself out there but where’s the fun in that? Without encouraging you to jump off of a cliff into roaring rapids or give a yourself entirely to a cause just for the sake of saying you did I do encourage you to look for avenues towards positive change wherever they may be. Go Bulls.

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Archival Report on Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos

Hugo Fernandez

Travis Matteson

3/3/16

Eng 201

i.              The band Passion Pit is fronted by Michael Angelakos. The first songs were written by written by Angelakos while he was still attending Emerson College as a Valentine’s Day gift and would later make up the beginning of the band’s EP titled Chunk of Change. He would meet his first live performance band members after beginning solo performances around Boston. Angelakos released Chunk of Change in September of 2008 after signing to Frenchkiss earlier that year. Passion Pit’s first studio album Manners was released May 2009. Much of their exposure following the release of this album came from commercial ventures as tracks were used in television and advertisements.

            Announced in 2010 the album Gossamer wouldn’t be released until 2012. Passion Pit would cancel several shows that year in order for Angelakos to seek treatment for his bipolar disorder. He had been diagnosed at 17 and was being treated for it since then. He would speak openly about his struggles with mental illness through interviews with Rolling Stone and other publications.  Passion pit released their most recent album Kindred in 2015 through Columbia records. The next studio album has been teased on Angelakos’ twitter account without a release date being revealed.

         ii.            The contents of the archive contain images, audio, text and video links ranging from 2009 to 2015. This archive contains reviews and commentary on the music of Passion Pit while also offering links to interviews about not only the music but Michael Angelakos’ comments on his own mental health issues. The images section contains links to album cover art as well as the art for a track and an image of Michael Angelakos.  

            The audio section of the links includes music from the artist and radio shows. The music links redirect to song clips and full playlists including a soundcloud page with remixes to tracks. Radio show links include segments where hosts discuss Passion Pit’s music. The most recent source on the archive is a 2015 podcast where Angelakos comes on the show and discusses his views on the world as well as his feelings on himself and what his next musical venture will be. In this podcast the artist comments on his own sexuality and reveals that he is gay.

            The texts links include album reviews, interviews, and ranking on a top 100 music list as well as Angelakos’ response to a controversial article through tweets. The rolling stones and pitchfork articles include interviews with Michael Angelakos about his mental illness and how he has coped through music and expression. There are links for pitchfork reviews on Passion Pit’s EP and studio albums included. Pitchfork’s cover story on Passion Pit is several pages long and has more words by Angelakos on his creative process and his thoughts on mental illness in mainstream media.

The video section includes music as well as an awards ceremony speech and interviews. Passion Pit’s full set when they appeared on Live on Letterman in 2013 is included along with a Coachella interview from the same year. The other music links in this section are music videos for two tracks. The 2009 interview link shows a short clip of a concert and questions asked to some of the live band members after the show.  A 2013 video of Michael Angelakos accepting an award from the Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards and giving his acceptance speech is included in this section.

            iii.           This archive would be most useful to anthropologists, sociologists, and people studying the history of stigmatized issues in America. It wasn’t until fairly recently in American history that people with mental illness were given government funds through care centers and mental health awareness efforts. That alone speaks volumes about a culture where talking about mental illness has been suppressed and seen as taboo by many even into the 21st century. That being said the past few decades have seen a rise in understanding and willingness to help those with mental illness instead of attributing fear and stigma to any such person.

            Michael Angelakos has suffered from bipolar disorder since his late teens and is one of the few artists to speak publicly about the issues that come with it. Many years from now when researchers are looking back from a time with a more inclusive, understanding culture and system they would include in their search the spread of awareness. Beginning with improvements to care facilities, to federal acknowledgment of mental illness as a real and attention-worthy issue, to mainstream media platforms such as the music industry raising awareness and acceptance.

            The history behind the acceptance of a set of individual differences is what can help built through the use of this archive with an artist using the platform of music and journalism to speak for a cause. This archive can contribute not only with information on a single artist bringing light to an issue but also with groundwork for looking at other people in positions of fame who through their use of media affect the culture in which they exist. Looking at major and minor changes in culture alike by following fame during that time period is useful to anyone investigating something as dynamic as culture and media.