Break

Forget the body shots and wet T-shirt contests. Thanks to the global recession, students are planning on spending this year's spring break a little differently.

"With the way the economy is, I can't afford a fancy vacation," said communications sophomore Jason Kemp. "I guess the fun is going to have to wait until next year."

Kemp is indefinitely postponing his trip to Miami that he had planned for the break due to his shrinking wallet. He says that a few days of fun in the sun are not worth the cost nowadays.

Instead, he's now planning on working at his former job in his hometown of Glen Lake for the entire nine days he has off from school.

"I see it as a responsible financial decision," Kemp said. "Now is the time to save, not blow all your money on a week you probably won't even remember."

Others, like packaging sophomore Jeremy Brown, are planning on staying financially neutral during their break. Jeremy has decided not to vacation or work all week.

"I see spring break as exactly that: a break," Brown said. "I'm going to be doing a lot of sleeping and enjoying my mom's food."

Whatever your plans for spring break, keep in mind that it only lasts a week, and this recession isn't supposed to end until around 2013 by some estimates. Have fun out there!

In case you've been under a rock...

I know some of us have been listening to this album for a few months now and the hipster economy has already consumed and digested it, but for the few out there who still haven't heard Merriweather Post Pavilion, please do so before you fade away into complete irrelevance. 

This album is Animal Collective's masterwork. I've been a fan of the band for a couple years now, but none of their previous albums has drawn me in and kept me utterly mesmerized through its entirety like MPP. The album represents the culmination of AnCo's musical techniques, featuring fireside chants, Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, and sampled soundscapes that will either cause you to jump up and dance or sink into the couch in a stupor of aural bliss (please excuse the hyperbole, but the album is just that amazing).

But the reason MPP has stood out to me as such a landmark record is its incorporation of conventional music styles into AnCo's trademark sound. The album is paradox: every song sounds both familiar and new at the same time. By blending folk melodies with electronic experimentation, their influences really shine through and allow the band to reach new levels of maturity absent from their previous work. If you've listened to AnCo before and were unimpressed, this is the record that will convert you into a believer.

It may be a little too early to say, but MPP just may be that long-awaited stepping stone into the future of music. But if not, it's still a ton of fun.

Hypemachine: "My Girls", "Daily Routine", "Lion in a Coma", "Brothersport"